The entrance was sweet, yet carried the potent warmth of alcohol, with a sour tang that made the taste complex and peculiar, but unexpectedly pleasant.
Not long after the fruit wine went down, her head began to spin.
She wanted to go to the restroom to induce vomiting, but lost consciousness in the corridor.
Her body temperature was alarmingly high.
She fell into a dream of exquisite beauty, a dream filled with her beloved boy, their lips meeting, their passionate kisses…
As the first rays of the sun pierced through the glass and into the room, she groggily opened her eyes. Once she was somewhat fully awake, the strange discomfort in her body made her frown involuntarily.
Just as she was about to get up, her neck was suddenly gripped tightly.
Then the world spun, and she was pressed against the cold, hard wall.
“How dare you—drug me?!”
The man’s low growl reached her ears.
Though only two years older than her, his voice was still magnetic and deep, incredibly pleasant to hear.
But at this moment, his voice was laced with a raging fury, as if it would burn her to ashes.
She instantly sobered up, her eyes widening as she clearly saw the man before her.
It was Qin Yusheng.
He was completely naked.
His eyes were bloodshot red.
“You’d better not let Fu Yanxue know about this, or else…”
The man gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.
His expression was utterly terrifying.
Her mind went blank. Even after the man left, her body trembled uncontrollably.
Looking at her own marked body, she finally realized.
Last night was not a dream.
Who had harmed her?
Was it Zhao Shuhui?
But Zhao Shuhui knew nothing about her and Qin Yusheng, nor did she know that she had donated a kidney to Qin Yusheng!
If not her, then who could it be?
She returned home, and Li Huiyun anxiously asked where she had been, missing for a night. She went upstairs without a word, locking herself in her room.
She stayed at home for a full half month before she had the courage to go out.
The Zhao family was at their wits’ end. Zhao Shuhui was preparing for her exams, her father worried and borrowing money everywhere, and her mother taking care of the household. The burden of earning money to support the family suddenly fell upon her.
Working two jobs a day, she could barely make enough for the family of four to live on.
Three months passed like this, and her symptoms of vomiting became more pronounced.
Li Huiyun stood by the bathroom door, watching her vomit, her eyes filled with worry. “You should still go to the hospital for a check-up.”
The family couldn’t afford any extra money, but at Li Huiyun’s strong insistence, they went to the hospital.
What awaited her was a bolt from the blue.
She was pregnant.
The child in her belly was Qin Yusheng’s.
Under her father Le Haitian’s questioning, she finally cried and revealed Qin Yusheng’s name.
Le Haitian and Li Huiyun went to the Qin family to confront them.
Old Master Qin stepped in to resolve the matter.
It wasn’t until Qin Yusheng furiously found her at the coffee shop where she worked that she learned about it.
Looking at the man before her, his eyes full of hatred, he accused her of ruining his relationship with Fu Yanxue, with whom he was preparing to get married.
How had she ended up in this situation after all the twists and turns?
The world spun, and she collapsed straight onto the ground.
In the moment before she lost consciousness, the man’s eyes remained cold. He merely watched her fall, with no intention of helping her.
After so many years of secret love, she ended up with her beloved boy looking at her with hatred and utter indifference.
As she fell to the ground, her heart seemed to shatter into pieces.
When she learned that she was to marry into the Qin family, Fu Yanxue came to her house, crying and begging her, telling her how much she loved Qin Yusheng, and asking her not to steal her man. She was helpless and unmoved; the child in her belly needed a father.
Seeing that she was unmoved, Fu Yanxue began to curse, slapping her across the face repeatedly.
Her already unattractive face was disfigured by jealousy, becoming terrifyingly hideous.
Fu Yanxue had always been gentle and weak, like a little white rabbit. This was the first time Zhao Shuyao had seen Fu Yanxue so terrifyingly enraged, and she could never forget it.
The wedding date arrived as scheduled. On the wedding day, Fu Yanxue was in a car accident and was rushed to the hospital, becoming a vegetative state, unconscious.
Qin Yusheng abandoned her and rushed to the hospital, not returning home for half a month.
When he returned to the marital home, his face was grim, his chin covered in stubble, his eyes fixed on her with malice. Then, disregarding her screams and resistance, he said:
“This is what you wanted? Wealth and status! I’ll grant it to you!”
The man left without looking back, slamming the door, leaving her alone in the cold room, in excruciating pain.
When Sister Wu heard the commotion and rushed over, she opened the door and saw her lying in a pool of blood.
She thought she could finally escape this agonizing marriage, but unexpectedly, Old Master Qin treated her even better.
She had no other requests, only wanting to go abroad.
Escaping was not a solution, but she could no longer process such heart-wrenching, life-worse-than-death emotions.
She watched helplessly as the man she secretly loved looked at her with such hateful eyes.
She desperately tried to explain her innocence, but in the man’s heart, she was already deemed the culprit, the executioner, the murderer.
After fleeing abroad for several years, she healed her wounds.
The Old Master did not urge her to return home. Seeing that she was living a relatively happy life abroad, he was also relieved…
When Zhao Shuyao opened her eyes, she found that it was already dark. Qin Yusheng stood motionlessly outside the car door, staring at her.
Zhao Shuyao was startled awake, all sleepiness gone. She sat up and wiped her face, only to find it covered in tear stains, her eyes still swollen and painful.
“What kind of dream did you have? Crying and making such a fuss, you were like a madwoman.” Qin Yusheng’s voice was cold, filled with disdain.
Zhao Shuyao lowered her eyes, pursed her lips, and climbed out of Qin Yusheng’s car without a word, then walked away without looking back.
“Zhao Shuyao?!” Qin Yusheng frowned fiercely and called out to her retreating back.
Zhao Shuyao did not look back, only continuing forward, entering the gates of Tan Gong on her own.
When Qin Yusheng returned to the residence, he found that Zhao Shuyao had already locked herself in her room.
He tried the doorknob, only to find the room door tightly locked.
“…” Suppressing his anger, not understanding why this foolish woman was acting up again, he tried to convince himself not to bother with her and went downstairs.
He sat on the sofa, scrolling through his phone and browsing the news, but her appearance as she got out of the car kept replaying in his mind.
Her eyes were red and swollen, her face streaked with tears.
What kind of nightmare had she had? She had cried out so loudly in the car, no matter how much he called, she wouldn’t wake up.
Qin Yusheng’s brow remained tightly furrowed. After a moment of thought, he made a phone call.
Soon, his subordinate sent him all the investigated information.
Scanning Zhao Shuyao’s profile at a glance, Qin Yusheng discovered that Zhao Shuyao had attended the same high school and university as him.
She was even Xue’er’s cousin.