Chapter 24

TRANSLATOR – ANNIE

“If you don’t make things clear, don’t even think about leaving through this door.”

Her face was full of anger. She pushed his hand away and walked out. He held her, ignoring her struggle, he kissed her hard. Her back was pressed against the wall, touching the cold wallpaper. She felt like a piece of felt, getting kneaded and squeezed by him, almost unable to breathe. There seemed to be some kind of pain in his force: “Tell me.”

Her lips were tightly sealed shut. Her two hands on his chest resisted. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t escape from his lips, which followed like a shadow. He sucked fiercely, as if he was hating something: “Tell me!” His breath was mixed with a faint fragrance of medicine. It was the bitter and sweet smell of the bear gall porridge he had eaten in the morning. She felt the familiar vomiting feeling come up again, her stomach feeling acidic and her throat tightening. He grabbed her waist forcibly, forcing her to look at his eyes, those eyes so much like Zhenrong…

She pushed him away and rushed to the bathroom. She finally vomited. She kept vomiting and vomiting, as if she was about to throw up all of her gastric juices. When she finished vomiting, she was exhausted. He handed her a glass of warm water and a towel. With a strike of her hand, she flipped over the cup and the towel, almost hysterical: “Yes! I just got pregnant, so what? What do you want? You raped me, do you want to force me to give birth to your child? You already forced me like this! What else do you want?”

The two stared at each other fiercely. He resisted the urge to tear her to pieces, and said every word clearly: “Du Xiaosu, I know what you are thinking. Let me tell you, don’t even think about it.” He couldn’t help snarling. “Stop your wishful thinking!”

He slammed the door and called the butler: “Look for someone to look after Miss Du. If anything happens, you all will hold responsibility.”

He took the fastest flight home. The autumn was more obvious in the north than in the south. Lei Yuzheng even forgot to wear a windbreaker. He buttoned up his suit, and when he stepped down the airplane stairs, he found a familiar car parked not far away.

The driver saw him from a long distance away, so the driver came out and opened the door for him. When Lei Yuzheng saw Lei Yutao, he was still very calm, “Brother, why are you here?”

“I came to send some guests away, but didn’t expect to receive you.” Lei Yutao smiled, “Why are you back?”

“I came back to see mother and father.”

“You are out of luck. Father went to Henan and our mother isn’t at home either.”

Lei Yuzheng did not make a sound, Lei Yutao patted him on the shoulder: “Let’s go. I’ll accompany you. Let’s eat some good food. Looking at you like this, you are almost as thin as Zhenrong was before.”

Of the three brothers, Zhenrong was the thinnest. Mentioning him, the two brothers fell silent and stopped talking.

The place that Lei Yutao picked was very quiet. It was not a private restaurant, but the home of Grandpa Tan, who used to be in charge of the cafeteria. It has been more than ten years since old Chef Tan passed away. It was rare that his son had learned 70% to 80% of his craft, but he did not use it as a career. It was even rarer for him to cook. Just occasionally, when old friends said hello in advance, he would cook a couple pots free of charge as most of the people who came were people with generations of friendship. The Tan residence was a quiet siheyuan. Two acacia plants were planted behind the gate. Now the leaves had all fallen. Looking from the large glass windows facing south, the small residence seemed quiet and silent. Occasionally a sparrow flew down, pacing solemnly on the square brick floor, seeming to be counting the fallen leaves. When a gust of wind came, the sparrow’s white feathers would be blown up, so it would flap its wings and fly away again.

Little Chef Tan came to serve the dishes in person. While he was referred to as “Little Chef Tan”, it was only because there was an “Old Chef Tan”. Little Chef Tan was already over fifty years old. With a beaming face, he uncovered the lids one by one. They were all stewed food. In particular, that dish of “Buddha jumping the walls” was made very authentically. Even just the smell of it was mouth-watering.

“I was hungry a few days ago, so I specifically called to let Little Chef Tan cook it, saying that I was coming today to eat.” Lei Yutao personally scooped a spoonful of the “Buddha jumping the walls” for Lei Yuzheng, “You got the long end of the stick.”

Little Chef Tan closed the door for them and went to the front yard to work. The room was very quiet. The walls were painted white, no longer the original brick wall. The furniture hadn’t changed much, although the purple water chestnut-colored eight immortal lacquer table and the chairs were later furnished. The original stools had been broken by the children in their play fights. This was a place they often came to when they were young, coming to visit to play with Grandpa Tan. Grandpa Tan loved the children dearly and made noodles for them. He even took care of a white rabbit, to specially give them to play with.

The “Buddha jumping the walls” was very fragrant, Lei Yutao glanced at him: “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I want to get married.”

Lei Yutao’s expression was very calm. His tone was also very calm. He ate a piece of the meat and asked: “Who do you want to marry?”

He gripped the cold silver chopsticks. In his bowl was the “Buddha jumping the walls” that Lei Yutao scooped for him. Its fragrance was alluring. Like the biggest temptation in the world, he could not restrain himself, just struggling desperately. He was like an ant, getting caught in a sudden drop of rosin, struggling desperately, knowing that it couldn’t break away, but continuing to struggle.Thousands of years later, in the condensed amber, people could still observe the last lifelike powerlessness of its struggle. But what can be done? Who was not an ant in front of fate?

Lei Yutao asked again: “Who are you going to marry?”

He stopped making a sound.

Lei Yutao slapped his chopsticks on the table and sneered: “You don’t dare to say it? It’s Du Xiaosu, isn’t it?”The anger he finally suppressed was uncontrollable again, “Have you gone crazy? The last time you came back, when I called you early in the morning, it was that woman who answered the phone, and I knew something was wrong. At first, I just expected you to be muddled and that the freshness of your obsession would pass, yet you turned out to even start to daydream! Do you want our parents to die of anger? She’s Zhenrong’s fiancée, even if Zhenrong is gone, you can’t marry her!”

“I met her first.”

“Lei Yuzheng, you are not a three-year-old child. You know in your heart that you can marry anyone, just absolutely not Du Xiaosu. Even if you are shameless, our Lei family has a face!” Lei Yutao was extremely angry, “All relatives have seen her. They all know that she is Zhenrong’s fiancée. Think about our dad. He did two heart bypasses this year. You know what the doctor said! Even if you are going to die from this, endure it! I even hid news of your accident from him. Yet you, you’re personally trying to cause his death aren’t you!”

“Zhenrong is gone, why can’t I marry her?”

Lei Yutao slapped him with ferocity: “Are you crazy?”

Lei Yuzheng did not hide. The corners of his mouth split, but he did not move. Just like when he was beaten by his father when he was a child, he didn’t say anything nor begged for mercy, just looked at him.

Lei Yutao calmed down slowly: “If you are really crazy, I won’t stop you, but there is one thing, you should know. I have 10 million ways to make you wake up. If you don’t believe me, just try.”

He knew it was a hopeless situation and this was just a dying struggle, but what use was this?  Lei Yuzheng was discouraged. How painful could it be? In the end, it would just be tearing off that part of his chest and from then on, continuing to live. What he lost was just a heart, how painful could it be?

“Don’t touch her.”

Lei Yutao smiled. Reassured, he picked up the chopsticks again, “I know you will just be muddle for a while. Take a good rest and take care of your injury. Don’t let your parents know about the mess, spare them the worry.” He gave him another spoonful of meat, “Eat while it’s hot. I know you still have to go back to make arrangements.”

It was Lei Yutao who sent him to the airport and watched him get on the plane. In the large airplane landing site, only Lei Yutao stood alone in front of the car. Lei Yuzheng remembered a long time ago – in fact, it wasn’t that long ago – he brought Zhenrong back. His elder brother also stood there like that – waiting for him alone. At that time, desolation had filled the family.

That was the youngest son his parents loved the most. They had already endured the pain of losing a child. For the rest of the year, he and his eldest brother tried their best to prevent their parents from thinking about it again and remembering the sorrow of the white-haired sending the black-haired.

They hoped to use time to heal their pain, and hoped their parents could forget it. If he stubbornly took Du Xiaosu home, the important thing was not the rumors, but that for the rest of his parents’ lives, they would always think of Zhenrong because of her.

He had really gone crazy, to think that he would have such wishful thinking. So Lei Yutao waited there specially, waiting to block him, waiting to slap him awake so that he would stop dreaming.

After getting off the plane, the driver came to pick him up. He called and asked the butler: “Before you got on the plane, you said Miss Du was asleep. Is she awake now?”

“She’s up.” The butler said, “She said she wanted to go to the hospital to get medicine, so the driver took her there.”

His heart sank. He was furious: “Didn’t I tell you to look after her?”

The butler was scared and trembling: “I specifically asked the driver to accompany her. She said she was uncomfortable…”

“Which hospital?”

After hearing the address, he threw his phone and told the driver: “Give me the car. You go home first.”

Du Xiaosu felt herself trembling. Although the hospital was private, it seemed quite formal. After paying the money, she went to the operating room on the third floor. She was alone in the elevator. She tightly squeezed the bag in her hand. The mirrors on the walls reflected her pale fingers. Those tens of seconds seemed as long as half a lifetime. When she finally reached the third floor, she got out of the elevator but suddenly heard the bang of the door on the stairs. She looked back instinctively, but saw the most unlikely person to be here.

His face was grim. He approached her step by step, his chest still rising and falling slightly, likely because he had run too urgently up the stairs. She had no grief nor complaints. She just looked at him.

He didn’t say anything, but grabbed her arm and dragged her out.

“What are you doing?” When she saw him again, she knew that it was just that she didn’t want to see him again, not wanting to see such a similar face to Zhenrong’s, not willing to think of the past matters involving him. When any matter involved him, she made mistake after mistake, so many mistakes that she deeply hated herself. Already, there were nurses curiously looking over. His grip was extremely tight, making her hurt, but she couldn’t get out of his grip.

“Do you believe me?” His face was calm, his voice even more so: “If you don’t follow me, I can demolish this place.”

She shuddered. She absolutely believed that he was the worst demon among the nine layers of hell. Committing heinous crimes was as easy as a thought. She slapped him and scratched at his face desperately. He didn’t evade, but just took her downstairs. His car was parked in front of the hospital gate, he stuffed her in and fastened his seat belt.

All the doors of the car were locked by him, and the car was speeding on the road. In fact, she didn’t want to die at all. She always wanted to live well, but he always had a way to force her to make her feel hopeless. She went to grab the steering wheel. He was merciless. He slapped her with enough force that she crashed back against the car window. She covered her face for a long while, unable to recover. He slowly said word by word: “Du Xiaosu, don’t force me. If you do, I can even commit murder.”

His eyes were red. She didn’t know he got there so fast, but she knew those weren’t just empty words. He was not a human being at all, but a frenzied demon who could do anything. He was driving as if he was desperate, but they kept on encountering green lights along the way. She knew she wouldn’t be able to escape again. Finally, the car stopped in front of the villa. He got out of the car and dragged her into the house.

She kicked and bit, hit and kicked at him, but he simply picked her up, went into the house and kept going upstairs. He viciously threw her on the bed in the master bedroom, like throwing a bag of rice, brutal and emotionless. She leaned over there, breathing hard as she looked at him. He also panted as he looked at them. The chests of them both rose and fell violently. He stretched out his hand and gripped her neck, just like that day. He grit his teeth: “If you want to die, die far away. Don’t let me know!”

The back of his hand was full of veins that popped out. She didn’t move, as if she wanted to let him strangle herself like this, but in the end, he didn’t use more force. Instead, his arm dropped, and he watched her intently.