I instinctively turned to leave, but then I heard a familiar voice.
"Are you Fu Hanyi?" The tone was tinged with the timid, cautious hesitation of someone poor.
I looked back. It was my mother, He Huifang.
We hadn't seen each other for only three days, yet her hair had already turned half-white. Streaked among the black, it made her look even older. She wasn't even fifty, but she looked like an exhausted, withered old woman.
Fu Hanyi must have heard her, but he only turned slightly, his gaze sweeping over my mother with cold indifference. Then, he lengthened his stride and continued walking forward.
He didn't recognize her.
Mother anxiously chased after him. "Mr. Fu, you know my daughter, Wen Yuan, don't you?"
I froze. Why was Mother bringing me up? Did she come to find Fu Hanyi because of me? But I was already dead—what could I possibly have to do with him anymore?
Yet, my name made Fu Hanyi stop.
He turned slowly to look at my mother. His eyes were icy; the slight curl of his lips held no trace of a smile, revealing only the sarcasm and coldness of someone in power looking down upon an ant.
"I don't know her," he replied coldly.
My heart felt as if it had been slammed onto a bed of nails—pierced through with pain. The man I had worked multiple jobs for, just to save up money to save his life, was claiming he didn't know me!
Mother was stunned, as if she hadn't expected such an answer, but she didn't press him. Instead, tears suddenly streamed down her face. Sobbing, she asked, "Mr. Fu, Yuanyuan has been missing for three days. Do you know where she is?"
Mother's tone was imploring, but it was met only with Fu Hanyi's apathy. He called out to his assistant, "Xiao Zhou, give this lady the address of the police station. Or, help her file a missing person's report."
Fu Hanyi's heartlessness made Mother cry even harder. "Mr. Fu, the police just found Yuanyuan's phone. Her last call was to you. But the police said they couldn't reach you, so I came to bother you. Mr. Fu, what did Yuanyuan say to you in her last call?"
Fu Hanyi remained as cold as ever. Standing a head taller than my mother, he looked down at her from his height. "I receive countless calls every day. How would I know which one was from your daughter?"
Mother stood there, drenched in tears, clearly not expecting Fu Hanyi to be so cruel.
I, too, was filled with fury. I clenched my fists and swung them hard at Fu Hanyi. But I was dead; no matter how hard I struck, my fists passed through him as if through air. I couldn't hurt him in the slightest, forced to watch as he was surrounded by bodyguards on his way to a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Mother stood where she was, mocked by the passing guests.
"In this society, anyone thinks they can just try to climb the social ladder."
"Dressed so shabbily—probably another mother trying to sell her daughter."
"How shameless."
"The ribbon-cutting ceremony is about to begin. Move along, you loiterers." A security guard approached and shoved Mother. She was frail; she stumbled twice and fell to the ground.
I rushed over to help her up, but my body passed straight through hers.
Not far away, the ceremony began. Fu Hanyi held the golden scissors and, amidst a tide of applause and congratulations, cut the red silk. Reporters snapped pictures frantically. Everywhere, faces were twisted into expressions of sycophancy.
Fu Hanyi remained aloof, high and distant as a god.
Mother lay on the ground, as insignificant as an ant. She looked at his distinguished figure and murmured, choking back sobs, "Yuanyuan, such a precious soul... how could you have loved him? You should have listened to me back then."
I could no longer hold it in. I knelt before Mother, tears streaming down my face. "Mom, I was wrong. I was so wrong."
When Fu Hanyi was hiding his identity and dating me, I had once shown my mother a photo of him. She saw his extraordinarily handsome features, and even though he was dressed poorly, his aura was clearly exceptional. She had told me then, "Yuanyuan, he is not an ordinary man. You won't be able to keep him."
After all, she had once been a wealthy lady herself; she had a sharp eye for people. She told me not to fall too deeply, but I hadn't listened to her warning, pouring all of my heart into Fu Hanyi.
Mother helplessly crawled up. She took out her phone and entered a string of numbers, but after hesitating for a long time, she didn't call. Those eleven digits were my father's number, but the two of them hadn't spoken in years.
Mother must have wanted to ask him for help, but in the end, she went to the police station to file the report. My soul, meanwhile, drifted back to Fu Hanyi's side.
He was in a KTV room, drinking with several young wealthy men. I was dead, yet he was reveling in a party. On his handsome, carefree face, there was not a hint of sadness at the news of my disappearance.
As drinks were passed around, one man suddenly brought me up. "Brother Yi, are you really no longer interested in that Wen Yuan?"
Fu Hanyi leaned back against the sofa, crossing his legs with an air that easily dominated the other men in the room. He swirled the red wine in his glass, a mocking smile curling his lips. "Just a bit of fun. Not worth mentioning anymore. It's a mood killer."
*A bit of fun!*
My soul, floating in the air, shuddered. I had known he looked down on me, but hearing such insulting words so bluntly still made my heart ache as if it were being torn apart.
"Exactly. A man, who hasn't slept with a few women? Once you're bored, you just toss them aside," another man said, currying favor with Fu Hanyi. "That woman was just a poor, shabby girl; she isn't even fit to carry Miss Liang's shoes. How could she be worth Brother Yi's thoughts?"
"But she was quite pretty," the first man said.
Fu Hanyi glanced at him coolly. "You want to sleep with her?"
The man stood up, bent over to pour Fu Hanyi a drink, and smiled lewdly. "That depends on what you think, Brother Yi."
"As you please," Fu Hanyi replied, his expression cold and indifferent, without a second of hesitation.
I drew a sharp, cold breath, my heart sinking to the depths. This was the man for whom I had given everything, the man I had worked myself to the bone to save! He was not only cold and heartless toward me, he had reduced me to a piece of entertainment for the upper class.
"Thanks, Brother Yi." The man happily clinked his glass against Fu Hanyi's, as if I were already his for the taking.
Little did they know, I was already dead. They would never be able to toy with me again.
For some reason, Fu Hanyi didn't drink the glass the man had poured. He silently lit a cigarette, and just as he took a drag, his phone on the table began to ring.