"You brainless idiot," Chu Zhang snapped. "If this gets out to outsiders and the media decides to blow it out of proportion, do you have any idea what kind of trouble you'll bring upon the group?!"
Chu Wang’s face drained of color instantly.
He looked flustered, and as he looked up at Chu Zhang, there was even a hint of a plea for help in his eyes.
"Big brother, bro, I didn't think it through..." Chu Wang stammered, trying to defend himself. "I didn't know it would..."
"You didn't know?" Chu Zhang was so amused by his stupidity that he swiped his hand across the desk, scattering the documents onto the floor. "Get over here and read it yourself."
Chu Wang froze, then quickly snapped out of it, crawling forward on his knees a few steps before stopping. He reached out, grabbed a sheet, and lowered his head to read: "'Life-or-death... agreement'?"
In an instant, an indescribable surge of shame and annoyance rushed from his chest to his head. His lips trembled, his hands shook, and the pain in his ankle—which had already been treated with medicine several times—suddenly made itself felt.
It was clearly a minor injury with no lasting damage, but in this moment, Chu Wang found it unbearable.
It was Chu Zhao! It really was Chu Zhao!
She was the one who told Big Brother about what happened at Yunlan Mountain... She had even shown him the life-or-death agreement she signed that day!
How could Chu Zhao do this to him?
Didn’t she always boast that she would protect him forever, that no matter what he did wrong, she would always shield him first before even talking about what happened later?
Chu Wang still remembered when he was seven. He had smashed a Tang Dynasty tri-color glazed pottery horse that their father intended to give away as a gift. When their father demanded to know who did it, it was Chu Zhao who stepped up without a second’s hesitation to take the blame. Afterward, she was forced to kneel by their father and even locked in a confinement room, yet she never changed her story.
How could the Chu Zhao who cared for him so recklessly suddenly change?
Just because of that bet with Su Jingmo yesterday? Over such a trivial thing?
*“Chu Wang, you will pay the price.”*
The last words Chu Zhao had said to him on Yunlan Mountain echoed in his ears for no reason.
Chu Wang’s eyes widened, still unable to believe it. She really had done what she said and was here for revenge. It wasn't enough for her to ram her car into him; she had to get Big Brother to discipline him, too!
***
"Big Brother, it’s Chu Zhao! She did this on purpose..." Chu Wang cried out, anxious and angry.
"Shut up!" Chu Zhang’s tone turned even colder. "You still have the nerve to bring up Chu Zhao?"
"Does it do you any good to tease her, humiliate her, treat her like a circus monkey for others to see, and provoke her until she has a public breakdown?"
"I..." Chu Wang instinctively wanted to argue, but he stammered to a halt.
He wanted to say that he hadn’t expected Chu Zhao to be provoked into a public breakdown... He had been frightened by the sight of her breakdown, too, and even now, the thought sent a shiver down his spine.
Besides, regarding the racing, he had given her a chance to choose—it was Chu Zhao herself who said she would race for him. Could that really be blamed on him?
The more Chu Wang thought about it, the more he felt that was exactly how it was. He felt that his Big Brother, who was now sticking up for Chu Zhao and scolding him, must be out of his mind.
"Big Brother, it was her own free will! I didn't beg her to race for me! If anything, when did you start caring so much about Chu Zhao, enough to scold me over her?"
"Heh." This time, Chu Zhang was truly laughed to anger by Chu Wang. He looked at Chu Wang as if he were looking at a single-celled amoeba.
Suddenly, Chu Zhang asked, "What is Chu Zhao’s last name?"
Chu Wang felt it was a strange question. "Chu, of course."
"What is your last name? What is mine?"
Chu Wang found the question even weirder. "Chu..."
"So you do know," Chu Zhang interrupted him directly. "You led an outsider to laugh at the Chu family. If the whole of G City starts spreading rumors that our family has a hereditary history of mental illness, will that make you, our family’s little young master, look any better?"
Chu Wang went silent.
Chu Zhang’s expression was indifferent. "You always say you look down on Su Jingmo, yet he manipulated you twice in one game. If he handles this right, he could bite a few chunks of meat off the Chu family. Chu Wang, if Chu Zhao hadn't cleaned up your mess and retrieved these things, it wouldn't just be me disciplining you right now."
*[Chu Zhao! Chu Zhao! Chu Zhao!]*
Chu Wang felt an intense hatred. He hated his brother’s implication that he was inferior to Su Jingmo. He also hated that Chu Zhao was clearly trying to take revenge on him, yet his brother framed it as her "doing it for his own good" and "cleaning up his mess."
Did he beg her for help? Since she had already rammed her car into him, why couldn’t she just let him rot? She had already stopped caring about him!
Chu Zhang watched as Chu Wang slammed a fist into the floor, showing no regard for the very hand a professional racer needed for his career. Chu Zhang’s face grew darker. Chu Zhao’s influence on Chu Wang was far greater than he had anticipated.
Without further hesitation, he dialed a number and gave a concise order. "Recall the team and send Chu Wang to the confinement room."
"The confinement room?" Chu Wang looked up, incredulous. "Big Brother, you’re sending me to the confinement room?"
Chu Zhang’s tone remained calm. "It’s just to let you cool off for three days. You’ll be fed as usual."
"Is this about the food?" Chu Wang’s eyes were bloodshot with rage.
In a hellhole like the confinement room, other than Chu Zhao, who else in the family had ever actually been sent there?
"I won't go!"
Chu Zhang had already risen from behind his desk. As he passed Chu Wang on his way out of the study, he left only a light, airy comment.
"If Chu Zhao can go, why can't you?"
"She has covered for you so many times; it’s time you went once to learn a lesson."
If Chu Zhao went, how could it be the same as him going?!
Chu Wang instinctively wanted to retort, but as the words reached his lips, his eyes widened. He looked at Chu Zhang’s retreating back in disbelief.
Had Chu Zhang known all along?
The Big Brother who valued rules above all else had known that Chu Zhao was taking the fall for him? Did he know everything, yet still insist on punishing Chu Zhao even more severely every single time?
What was the difference between what Chu Zhang did and what he himself had done?
If he was accused of treating Chu Zhao like a dog, then what about Chu Zhang? Had he treated her any better?
Chu Wang’s eyes were blood-red. He couldn't grasp the source of the rage burning in his chest, a rage far fiercer than anything he had felt before. He felt stifled and pained, unable to find the answer.
It was all Chu Zhao’s fault! It was Chu Zhao who made him feel strange, who made him feel unlike himself.
He had to hate her even more.
***
— Suian Hospital —
"Today, I went to Aunt Wang’s porridge shop. Before I could even open my mouth, Aunt Wang had already recited the breakfast I wanted, just like calling out a menu," Chu Zhao said, pulling up a stool to sit by Aunt Chun’s hospital bed, resting her chin on her hands with a bright smile.
"Aunt Chun, you wouldn't believe it. Aunt Wang has such a sharp tongue; she’s at the level where she could go on stage and perform crosstalk!"
"You child," Aunt Chun said with a laugh, tapping the tip of Chu Zhao’s nose. "Teasing Aunt Wang like that—if she finds out, just wait until next time when she puts salt in your sweet porridge."
"Don't! That would be awful!"
Chu Zhao crinkled her nose as she spoke, looking as if she had already tasted it, which only made Aunt Chun laugh even more.
Aunt Chun lowered her eyes, watching the smile in Chu Zhao’s eyes. Her expression held both relief and a fleeting, firefly-like spark of sorrow.
She reached out to touch the pearl hairclip Chu Zhao used to pin her bangs back, saying sincerely, "Our Zhaozhao looks so beautiful with her forehead showing like this."
"Don't wait until you come to see me to dress up properly."
"You're twenty, such a beautiful age. Zhaozhao, you must bloom with all your might."
Chu Zhao blinked rapidly, forcing down the sudden wave of bitterness rising in her heart. She gently took Aunt Chun’s hand, tilted her head, and pressed her cheek into the palm that was far from smooth, yet brought her such peace.
"Aunt Chun," Chu Zhao said, her voice very soft. "I only need you to look at me."
The hand Aunt Chun was moving to stroke Chu Zhao’s head froze.
*[Your body has recently shown symptoms of atherosclerosis, which is a complication of chronic kidney disease.]*
*[I asked the doctor, and he said your symptoms are currently mild and still within a manageable range.]*
*[Aside from the necessary treatments, you must maintain a positive mindset in your daily life. Only then can you better defeat this illness!]*
The words Caregiver Su had spoken to her the day before echoed in Aunt Chun’s ears.
Aunt Chun looked down at Chu Zhao, who was snuggled into her palm like a weary bird returning to its nest, full of attachment. She gently stroked Chu Zhao’s dark hair, like a breeze scattering fine sand—hoping to brush away the scars of this child, who in her eyes was always a radiant treasure, and reveal the purest soul within.
She didn't know how to respond to her.
Life and death were chasms that even the legendary goddess Nüwa could not bridge. The living were on this side, and the dead—well, they had their own destinations.
But Chu Zhao, the one thing she couldn't let go of, what would become of her?