"Kneel."
Just as Chu Zhao stepped into the study, a teacup came flying toward her face. Along with it, crashing against her ears, came her father’s frigid, furious command.
As if expecting it, Chu Zhao tilted her head and dodged.
The teacup shattered behind her, the sound of porcelain breaking ringing out sharply.
"You dare to dodge? Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Chu Teng’s face was twisted in rage. "That was a banquet co-hosted by our Chu family and the Shang family—it was your sister’s engagement party!"
"Do you despise Xiaofu so much that you had to cause a scene at her wedding banquet?!"
"It wasn't enough to spew venom at Xiaofu; you even went and threw wine at her fiancé! How did our family end up raising a wretch like you?"
"You’ve dragged the reputations of both the Shang and Chu families through the dirt!"
Chu Zhao stood her ground, her heavy, jet-black bangs casting a shadow over a face so pale it lacked all color.
The stark contrast between black and white made her silence feel like a heavy, suffocating shadow, dark to the core.
Chu Teng loathed this dismal air about her. Unable to contain himself, he threw another teacup at her.
"Speak!"
"You were so articulate at the banquet just now. Why are you playing mute now..."
The teacup whistled through the air and struck Chu Zhao hard on the temple.
Chu Zhao’s body swayed slightly. Vaguely, she felt her father’s voice drifting further away from her.
She was listening. She was taking every word her father uttered and absorbing it into her ears with grim focus.
But for some reason, once those words entered her mind, they refused to piece together into coherent sentences that she could understand.
Sister? Sister’s fiancé?
Shang Que, sister’s fiancé?
A warm liquid trickled down from her temple, trailing across her face like a line of blood-stained tears, settling on her eyelids.
Oblivious, Chu Zhao looked up at her father.
"Dad, Shang Que... isn't he my fiancé?"
Chu Teng was startled by her appearance, but upon recovering and registering the content of her words, his expression turned even more disgusted.
"Who told you he’s your fiancé?!"
"The Shang family only said they wanted to marry into the Chu family; they never said it had to be you!"
"You are a daughter of the Chu family, but isn't Xiaofu one too?"
"But... isn't she supposed to be called Shen Fu?"
Chu Zhao truly did not understand.
She took a few steps forward, reaching the desk. She fixed her eyes—so purely black, incapable of holding even a speck of color—directly onto Chu Teng.
"Dad, am I not the only biological daughter of the Chu family?"
"Wasn't it me who exchanged tokens with Shang Que and met with his parents?"
"Then why, when the engagement invitations were sent out, did the name become Chu Fu..."
*Slap!*
Chu Teng’s palm landed heavily on her face, the force knocking her head to the side. Her ears rang, and a cacophony erupted inside her brain.
She felt like a train track crushed repeatedly by heavy locomotives; save for the deafening roar, the world grew blurry and silent.
"You know perfectly well that her name is Chu Fu! Once Xiaofu changed her surname, she became a child of the Chu family!"
"Your sister is so well-behaved. If we could, your mother and I—the whole family—would wish she were the one born from your mother’s womb!"
"..." Chu Zhao’s lips parted. She lowered the hand she had raised to press against her ears to try and hear clearly.
Her father’s tirade continued: "And you have the nerve to bring up the betrothal? Even after exchanging tokens and meeting the parents, Shang Que was still dissatisfied with you!"
"If it weren't for Xiaofu being so likable, do you think our engagement with the Shang family could have continued?"
"Ever since we brought you back, you’ve done nothing but add to our troubles. If we had known it would come to this, we never should have brought you home... Xiaofu is different. She..."
Chu Zhao watched her father’s mouth move, opening and closing. The roar in her ears grew louder, growing so chaotic that the scene before her began to warp—
Her father’s cold, cruel face blurred into a shadow with a gaping maw.
Deep, viscous, black liquid poured continuously from that giant mouth, flooding over her like a tidal wave.
Her limbs felt weighted, she could not breathe, and finally, she began to sink.
At the very last moment, before her consciousness faded completely, Chu Zhao forced her eyes open. All she could see was the look of utter loathing in her father’s eyes.
— Yuchun Hospital —
The familiar scent of hospital disinfectant filled the air. Chu Zhao did not open her eyes. She remained motionless, like a hermit crab cowering in a shell it had finally managed to find.
The people outside the ward did not know she was awake. Their voices drifted in clearly through the gap in the door.
"What depression? Chronic neurasthenia, can’t handle any stimulation..."
"I think she’s just been devious since she was a child, overthinking everything every single day. She's just jealous that she can't compare to Xiaofu in any way, and that’s why she’s driven herself to this state!"
"Why should the whole family have to walk on eggshells just because she has a twisted mind and a jealous heart?"
"Besides, this kind of mental illness is easy to fake. Who knows if she's just putting on an act!"
Chu Zhao’s fingers trembled. She felt that the fluid dripping through the IV line into her body wasn't a healing medicine, but a cold spring from the depths of an icy abyss, freezing her to the core.
"Dad, please don't say that. Big sister doesn't want to be like this."
"She lived outside since she was small. After she was brought back, there were already my brother and me in the house. It’s natural that she would feel lost and upset."
"My brother is fine, he is your and Mom's biological child, but I am just..."
Chu Fu paused, her thick, dark eyelashes drooping. Her delicate, beautiful face looked sorrowful and fragile, pitiable to behold.
"I am only an adopted daughter, yet Mom, Dad, and my brothers dote on me so much. When Big sister sees this, of course she feels uncomfortable. When it comes down to it, I owe her..."
"Xiaofu." A deep, magnetic male voice suddenly interrupted, cutting off the rest of her words.
The moment she heard it, Chu Zhao knew who it was. Her former fiancé, her sister’s current one—Shang Que.
The man’s voice came through, clear as day.
"It was me who didn't like Chu Zhao. It was me who wanted to break off the engagement."
*[Chu Zhao, I approached you and set that engagement not because of some partnership between the Shang and Chu families!]*
*[It was me... I genuinely liked you!]*
*[I liked you, so I wanted to be with you, and that is why I agreed to the engagement!]*
"Xiaofu, you are the one I truly love, and the only one I want to be with. I was the one who insisted on rushing the engagement ceremony. If Chu Zhao wants to hold a grudge or lay blame, she should come at me."
"How does she have any right to blame or accuse you, making you sad?"
*[Zhaozhao, may I call you that?]*
*[If I call you Xiao Zhao, I keep thinking of the story from 'Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre', and I'm afraid we might end up with such a tragic conclusion.]*
*[Besides, I don’t want to be Zhang Wuji. If I love you, I will be devoted to you forever, and I will never change.]*
*[Zhaozhao, as long as I am here, no one will ever be able to hurt you again.]*
*[I will protect you.]*
...Never change.
So, a person's "forever" can be so fleeting.
Love, too.
Like fireworks, gone in an instant.
But why, then, can hatred, disgust, and loathing—why can these negative emotions last for so long?
Long enough to span the thirteen years since she was brought back to the Chu family at age seven?
Chu Zhao couldn't understand. She opened her eyes, her pale face void of all expression.
Perhaps, if one has no expectations, one cannot be disappointed.
At this moment, she didn't feel sad. She only felt an instinctive urge to escape—to flee to somewhere quiet.
It was all too loud. The voices outside, the roaring in her head, the large patches of light spots before her eyes, and all those things she might never understand—it was all just too loud.
When there comes a time when she no longer even has the urge to escape, perhaps then she will truly be free.
Chu Zhao stared at the empty IV bag, her gaze shifting downward to the tube where only a small amount of liquid remained.
Once this liquid ran out, air would travel through the thin, transparent tube and into her body, merging with her blood. At first, it might not matter—
But very soon, she would feel chest tightness, difficulty breathing, intense chest pain, a weakening pulse...
*[Zhaozhao, you must take good care of yourself. Try to find things that make you happy and live your life earnestly, okay?]*
*[You are the only thing I care about now.]*
In her haze, the voice of the warmest person she had ever known echoed in her memory.
"Aunt Chun..." Chu Zhao whispered silently. She struggled to lift her hand to press the nurse call button.
But at that moment, the roar in her ears became deafening.
As her fingertips trembled and her arm fell limply back down—
She locked eyes with a pair of gentle, beautiful, yet cold and pitying eyes.
It was Chu Fu.