chapter 7

After lying back down on the bed, he quickly fell asleep.

He covered me tightly, but I just stared blankly at the pitch-black ceiling.

Whenever I closed my eyes, memories of the past would come flooding back.

When I was twelve, Zhou Yan came to the small town with his mother to recuperate, and that was how he met me.

Back then, I was always hungry.

Whenever my mom and dad finished arguing, they would make me stand in the courtyard as punishment.

My younger brother would smugly hold up a chicken leg and gnaw on it right in front of me.

He would say to me, “Hey, useless girl, Mom says you’ll only ever get to eat what I leave behind.”

Zhou Yan would walk right in, pull me away in front of my mom and brother, and take me to his house for a meal.

My mom, still fuming after her fight with my dad, couldn’t vent her anger on me.

She would shout angrily from behind, “If you like her so much, why don’t you just make her your child bride!”

He would suddenly stop, turn around and smile, “That wouldn’t be so bad. Better than starving to death in your house.”

After the college entrance exam, my parents finally ended their years of dysfunctional marriage.

My dad just left and never came back.

My mom warned me, “Tang Yi, you’re already eighteen, an adult now. I have no obligation to keep supporting you. Don’t expect me to give you another cent.”

I struggled through four years of university with student loans and scholarships.

Zhou Yan worked desperately, and after saving up enough money, he started a business with some partners.

In our senior year, he missed my birthday because of a drinking party.

But late at night, he still showed up downstairs at my dorm with a bouquet of flowers.

He shoved the flowers into my arms and hugged me tightly:

“Yiyi, I will give you the best life.”