Chapter Twelve: Fish Bath, Have You Been Following Me All Along?
“Fu Shiyong, Yi Yi…”
His completely muddled mind seemed to hold onto only these two names, etched deep into his bones.
The harsh roar of the garbage truck was swallowed by a flash of lightning.
Inside the private room.
Yu Yue was just about to kiss him.
But the man forcefully pushed her away.
“Yu Yue, there’s still work to be done at the company. Take Yi Yi back to the villa first; I’ll come back later.”
Before the words had fully left his mouth—
He didn’t even give her the chance to protest.
Fu Shiyong dashed out of the restaurant as if something urgent had come up.
When he met the manager, he asked hurriedly, “Have you seen a woman? Very beautiful, but… very thin!”
The garbage truck’s compartment was back in place.
Yu Zao lay among a heap of kitchen waste, swarmed by mosquitoes and flies.
Her persistent high fever left her too weak to move a single finger.
Her whimpers were faint and indistinct, but if one listened closely, only one sentence could be made out:
“Shiyong… Yi Yi… my child…”
“Stop the car!”
At the very last second before the garbage truck could leave—
A limited edition Rolls-Royce worth over ten million surged forward, blocking the way.
The man behind the wheel growled lowly.
Those black eyes, bloodshot to the point of dripping crimson, were terrifying enough to make anyone’s soul shatter with just a glance.
Minutes later.
The completely unconscious Yu Zao was wrapped in a blanket and carried into the car.
The manager, trembling with fear, forced a smile and explained, “Director Fu, I thought she was just a beggar sneaking a meal, so…”
“A beggar?”
Fu Shiyong’s voice was calm but hoarse and deliberate, full of imposing authority.
His lips, red as poppies yet sharp as blades, curled slowly.
“Then you should go and experience what it’s like.”
“What?”
Suddenly, seven or eight bodyguards appeared, surrounding the restaurant manager.
Breaking legs, fracturing hands.
The screams were chillingly harsh amid the thunderstorm.
And in Jingbei, there was now one more beggar, made into a human pig!
By the spotless floor-to-ceiling window of the private room.
Yu Yue gritted her teeth.
She furiously overturned the table.
Her hysterical emotions twisted her otherwise ordinary face into a grotesque mask.
Clenched fists, with carefully manicured fingers, dripped viscous, murky blood one drop at a time.
“Yu Zao, you wretched woman!”
“Just like your mother, thinking you can do whatever you want because you have a face like a goddess!”
“No! I said, whatever you, Yu Zao, have, I, Yu Yue, will snatch away exactly the same!”
“Just you wait… wait for me. Today you’ve ruined my plans, and I’ll make you suffer a thousand times over!”
Outside the private room door.
Fu Yi Yi ran in tearfully, his little arms clutching at her leg.
“Mommy, don’t cry, don’t be angry. Did Yi Yi do something wrong? Mommy, please don’t leave me. Yi Yi will change, Yi Yi will be a good child.”
Three years ago, on that stormy night,
The two-year-old child and his father were left to rely on each other.
They cried together for an entire day and night.
The next day, little Yi Yi had a high fever and nearly died.
When he woke up again, only Yu Yue was by his side.
Since then, that instinctive dependence made him fiercely loyal to this “mother.”
“Yi Yi, if the wicked woman bullies Mommy and tries to take Mommy’s things, what should our precious one do?”
Yu Yue squatted down with a gentle smile.
But behind those eyes lurked a dark, wild fury filled with revenge and jealousy!
Fu Yi Yi puckered his lips and, with the solemnity of a little adult, patted his chest.
“Don’t worry, Mommy. Whoever dares to bully Yi Yi’s Mommy, Yi Yi and Daddy will make her wish she were dead!”
Rumble—
A bolt of lightning startled Yu Zao awake from a nightmare with a shriek.
“Yi Yi? Fu Yi Yi? My son, my son?”
The IV needle was still attached to the back of her hand.
She instinctively tried to pull it off.
But before she could get out of bed, a male voice emerged from the dim corner, freezing her in place.
“Why are you looking for Yi Yi? To keep using your innocent son to lure me again?”
Fu Shiyong had not slept all night.
Outside was the last darkness before dawn.
His sexy, handsome jaw was rough with blue stubble, a bit unkempt.
Yu Zao froze.
In the modest single hospital room, the air instantly thickened.
“You’ve been stalking me all day?”
The man put one hand in his trouser pocket, his tall, upright figure approaching slowly as he bent down.
A cool scent of mint enveloped his broad shadow, pressing down like a flood.
“Jealous? I can give Yu Yue everything you want.”
“Money, status, happiness, love, trust!”
“Even Yi Yi will love this new mother very much. The three of us will live happily together.”
If words could kill,
Yu Zao would already be gravely wounded, battered inside and out by these casual remarks!
Her hand on the bedsheet, knuckles white, nails digging deep into the soft fabric.
But she was truly in pain!
So much pain…
“Like a filthy voyeur, spying on someone else’s happiness.”
“Yu Zao, does that despicable feeling suit you?”
“The perfect life you abandoned your husband and child for three years ago—is this it?”
Her delicate cheek was forced to meet his gaze.
Fu Shiyong compelled Yu Zao to look him in the eyes.
“Selling yourself to survive, scorned and spat upon by all.”
“Yu Zao, what happened to your dream of being a painter? Your global touring exhibitions?”
“Penniless, destitute… it seems these three years, you’ve grown accustomed to this life?”
His voice dropped sharply.
The man roughly turned her face away.
Several hundred-dollar bills were thrown on the floor, the Italian handmade leather shoes sneeringly stepping on them.
“Take the money and get out of Jingbei.”
“A filthy woman like you, don’t ever appear before me and Yi Yi again.”
“You don’t deserve it!”
With that, he left.
But as the hospital room door slammed open—
Yu Zao, who had been silent all along, smiled brightly and asked,
“Fu Shiyong, why did you save me?”
After a brief silence,
He turned his back to her and sneered,
“If garbage rots in front of my door, stinking up the place, should I just ignore it?”
Bang!
The door was slammed so hard the wooden frame shook.
A long while passed.
Yu Zao slowly crouched to the floor and picked up the scattered bills one by one.
When she reached the last note,
Without warning, she bit her battered lips tightly, curling into a miserable ball, crying silently.
Her heart bled.
“Good, just like this, Fu Shiyong. Hate me more, despise me more.”
“After all, I will soon, very soon, die…”
Driving away from the hospital garage, Fu Shiyong suddenly slammed the brakes, clutching his inexplicably panicked and aching chest.
He felt dazed.
He clenched the “sapphire” cufflink in his trouser pocket.
Its sharp edge dug into his flesh, the pain helping him stay somewhat alert.
CarPlay’s AI system sensed his accelerated heartbeat.
Peppa Pig’s cartoon figure popped up, prompting, “Hey there, your heart rate is abnormal, make sure to take care of your health~”
“Hey, brat!”
“I want to eat durian, no! Actually, your son wants to eat it.”
“Hey, brat, your wife is so bored, come gossip with me for a while?”
“Hey, brat, sob sob… my boss harassed me at work today, quickly comfort me…”
“Hehe, Fu Shiyong, did you know? I actually really like Peppa Pig!”
Clang!
With a loud noise, Fu Shiyong’s handsome face darkened as he punched the CarPlay screen.
A sizzling sound followed, mixed with the scent of blood, as the system broke and shut down!
“Yu Zao, did I owe you something in a past life?”
“What did I do wrong? What did Yi Yi and I do wrong?”
“Why did I ever love you? Why?!”
Buzz buzz buzz.
A message from his assistant came through.
—[Chairman, regarding Miss Yu Zao’s incident at the Golden Leopard, there are some new developments. Would you like me to report them to you?]