I floated in front of Mo Xueying, but she couldn't see me. She walked straight through my body and stepped up to Fu Hanyi.
The girl was barely 1.6 meters tall, thin and petite. Standing in front of the towering Fu Hanyi, she looked like a tiny chick that could be crushed with a single squeeze of his hand. Yet she held her head high, glaring at him without a shred of fear.
I hadn't expected her to be this brave—to dare lecture him even after finding out who Fu Hanyi really was. She was the only female friend who knew about my relationship with Fu Hanyi, and she knew everything about us inside out.
That day, after I left the cruise ship, I had called Mo Xueying and told her everything that had happened. After offering a few words of comfort, she said she would come pick me up. But just a few minutes later, I ran into the thugs. In my desperate reluctance to let go, I had dialed Fu Hanyi instead of her for help, missing my only chance of survival.
"Sincerity?" Fu Hanyi squinted coldly, that same contemptuous expression returning to his face. "Do you mean her sincerity toward me, or toward those other men of hers?"
Mo Xueying froze for a moment, then asked in a low, serious voice, "What other men? Ha, Fu Hanyi, are you referring to Yuanyuan working at the nightclub? You of all people should know that her working part-time there at night was to earn money to buy the medicine that kept you alive! And yet, you pretended to be poor to deceive her.
"Besides, even though she worked part-time at the nightclub, she was only selling drinks. She never slept with any man. Even if some customers tried to get handsy, my cousin was the lobby manager there. He always looked out for Wen Yuan and never gave those men a chance. From beginning to end, Yuanyuan only loved you. She gave you her whole heart, working herself to the bone to save up money for your medicine. And yet, not only did you play her for a fool, but you also slander her like this! Fu Hanyi, doesn't your conscience..."
"Where was she on the night of the twenty-eighth last month?" Fu Hanyi coldly cut her off.
Mo Xueying froze, her expression shifting slightly.
I gasped silently as I listened. I had thought Fu Hanyi hadn't bothered to investigate whether the photos were real or fake, but it turned out he had.
On the night of the twenty-eighth last month, a drunk customer had asked me to act as his designated driver and take him back to his hotel. I was reluctant at first, but he offered five thousand yuan. That was a tempting sum of money for me. Five thousand yuan was equivalent to half a month's worth of commission from selling drinks. At the time, I was only twenty thousand yuan short of the money needed for Fu Hanyi's medicine. This five thousand yuan would shorten that time significantly.
Tempted but cautious, I had called Mo Xueying and asked her to meet me at the hotel to pick me up. If anything went wrong, two people would be better than one.
And as it turned out, something did go wrong. Once I got the customer to his room, he started getting handsy with me. His drunkenness had been an act, designed entirely to lure me to the hotel so he could take advantage of me. Fortunately, I had alerted Mo Xueying, so the man didn't get his way.
I had wanted to tell Fu Hanyi about this, but Mo Xueying advised me against it. At the time, neither of us knew his true identity, and we assumed he had no idea I worked at a nightclub.
Looking back now, he must have known my every move. I had been in the palm of his hand all along. From the moment I met him, I was destined never to escape his cruel game.
How laughable that back then, I actually worried he would carry a heavy emotional burden if he found out I was working at a nightclub to save up for his medicine. No man would want his girlfriend mingling in such a decadent, fast-paced environment, after all.
"Telling Fu Hanyi will only hurt your relationship," Mo Xueying had advised me. "Since nothing bad happened, it's better to let sleeping dogs lie. If Fu Hanyi minds and you end up losing this job, how long will it take for you to save up enough for his medicine?"
Mo Xueying's words had struck a chord with me. The commissions for selling drinks were high; I could raise enough money for Fu Hanyi's medicine in less than a year. Not wanting to lose this part-time job, I had concealed that minor incident. Furthermore, I clearly remembered Fu Hanyi telling me that day he was driving a night shift, and I was afraid telling him about it would distract him from driving safely.
I thought only Mo Xueying and I knew about this. I never expected Fu Hanyi to know as well.
But how did he find out?
Mo Xueying voiced the exact question running through my mind: "How do you know what happened on the twenty-eighth?"
Fu Hanyi, of course, disdained to answer such a confrontational question and took a step to leave.
But Mo Xueying stretched out her arm to block him, explaining urgently, "Fu Hanyi, since you know what Yuanyuan went through on the twenty-eighth, then you should know that she didn't let that man have his way! She was cautious and notified me beforehand. I was already waiting for her at the hotel. That man didn't get to take advantage of her at all. Yuanyuan is clean!"
A cold, mocking curl formed at the corner of Fu Hanyi's lips. "Are you trying to tell me that a woman who works in a nightclub is pure and chaste?"
Mo Xueying froze for a second, then quickly pulled out her phone. "Fu Hanyi, I recorded a video when I rescued Yuanyuan that day. It can prove her innocence!"
Fu Hanyi said nothing.
Mo Xueying began searching through her photo album for the video.
That day, when she burst into the room, she had indeed recorded a video of the man, aiming to prevent him from retaliating against me afterward. I never imagined that one day, it would serve as evidence to prove my innocence to Fu Hanyi.
But was there even any point?
Since Fu Hanyi knew I had taken a customer to the hotel that day, he must have seen the hotel's surveillance footage. Although I had entered the man's room, Mo Xueying had rescued me less than a minute later. If he could see me go in, he could see me come out. In less than a minute, the man wouldn't even have had time to take off his pants. What could possibly have happened between us?
And yet, he insisted on believing that I was loose. He distrusted me so deeply that even if she showed him the video taken inside the room, it wouldn't change his contempt for me.
Yet Mo Xueying was still frantically searching for the video, as if finding it would vindicate me and clear my name.
I looked at this silly girl with an aching heart, a warm rush of gratitude for her friendship swelling within me.
But Mo Xueying couldn't find it.
"I forgot I got a new phone—the video isn't on this one. But Fu Hanyi, Yuanyuan was only selling drinks at the nightclub! And she only took that part-time job to save up money for your medicine because it paid fast!" Mo Xueying was still trying her best to defend me. "Yuanyuan sacrificed so much for you. Fu Hanyi, you can't be this heartless..."
The fact that Mo Xueying couldn't find the video only made Fu Hanyi's expression grow more contemptuous. He coldly cut her off. "Are you going to tell me next that she even sold her own blood to save up for my medicine?"
Looking at the mocking sneer on Fu Hanyi's face, Mo Xueying's eyes widened. She probably hadn't expected him to be so cold-blooded. It took her a long moment of stunned silence before she found her voice: "She actually..."