Chapter 4

Chapter 4

During the year I spent with Xu Heyi, I hadn’t exactly been idle.

Through Young Master Xu, I accumulated a tidy sum of wealth and resources.

I hadn’t left to hide from him. Everything was ready, and it just so happened that it was time for me to move to another city and develop my career.

Xu Heyi searched for me like a man with nothing left to lose.

At last, two months later, he found me in Beijing.

In truth, it would have been hard for him not to see me, because my posters were all over the streets.

I had debuted as a model.

Xu Heyi came to my studio and said he wanted to see me.

That day, he stood in front of my enormous poster.

Staring blankly, lost in thought.

I walked up behind him. “Do I look good?”

“You do.”

Only after answering did Xu Heyi realize it was me.

He turned to look at me, as if he wanted to take in all seven months we had spent apart in a single glance.

“Shengsheng… you really do look good.”

Xu Heyi’s eyes reddened.

But I had no interest in reminiscing with him.

“I’m very busy, Mr. Xu. Please keep it brief.”

The unfamiliar form of address left Xu Heyi dazed for a long moment.

“Shengsheng, I want to apologize. I’m scum. I did so many things to hurt you…”

“Stop.” I lifted my eyes lazily. “What did you do?”

“I shouldn’t have doubted you the day we parted. I shouldn’t have pushed you away when you came to me for help. And I definitely shouldn’t have let you disappear without doing anything…”

Aside from the first one, the rest were all part of the book’s plot.

It seemed Xu Heyi had awakened his self-awareness too.

“Since you’ve read the original text, you should know that everything I did in defiance of the plot was revenge.”

Xu Heyi said, “I know, Shengsheng. I accept all of it. You can take even harsher revenge on me, as long as you’re willing to forgive me.”

“Forgive you?”

I smiled and lit a slim cigarette. “But I’m the vicious female supporting character. In my dictionary, the word ‘forgiveness’ doesn’t exist.”

Xu Heyi lowered his head, the rims of his eyes turning even redder.

It was hard to imagine this was the same young master who was usually aloof and arrogant.

After a long while, he looked at me with bloodshot, peach-blossom eyes and asked,

“Tang Xuesheng, did you ever love me?”

“I did. I loved you so, so much.”

My eyes curved as I lied without the slightest burden.

After a two-second pause, I added, “Kidding.”

The hope that had just sparked in Xu Heyi’s eyes was snuffed out.

Seeing his expression, I couldn’t help laughing out loud.

“Xu Heyi, why do you always fall for my lies?”

“From now on, I’ll believe anything you say, Shengsheng. As long as you’re willing to forgive me.”

Forgiveness again.

I crushed out my cigarette and moved closer to him.

“When the police rescued me, I weighed only thirty kilograms. I was so thin I looked like a skeleton with two eyeballs stuck in it.”

I breathed softly beside Xu Heyi’s ear. “It was winter. The heavy snow nearly sealed off the mountain. I was wearing thin summer clothes, and all my wounds were exposed. Xu Heyi, do you know how ugly I was that day?”

I lifted my head and looked at the poster in front of me, three people tall.

In it, I had dark hair and red lips, cold and world-weary, a natural-born stunner.

“You can’t imagine it, and you can’t empathize. You don’t understand anything, yet you still dare to hope for my forgiveness. Isn’t that ridiculous?”

Xu Heyi’s face went pale.

I also told him I had a boyfriend now. More than one, in fact.

Xu Heyi didn’t believe me.

But with even the slightest bit of asking around, he would know I wasn’t lying. I changed boyfriends at lightning speed.

Perhaps in the original book, I really had loved Xu Heyi.

But I was awake now, and I loved myself above all else.

I just hadn’t expected Xu Heyi to still refuse to give up.

A few days later, he appeared again.

Under the dim lights of a bar, Xu Heyi found me.

“I asked around. Those boyfriends of yours are just pretty faces. Hardly any of them are reliable.”

“So?”

“Break up with them. I’ll pour every resource the Xu family has into you.”

I laughed. “But I don’t care about that.”

“Then what do you want?”

My gaze drifted toward a corner.

A man was sitting there.

I had noticed him a while ago. Even with his back to me, he had broad shoulders and a narrow waist. The muscles in his arms were lean and powerful, and not even his shirt could hide his excellent physique.

I pointed at him. “That’s the type I like now. I’m not into your kind anymore.”

Xu Heyi’s expression darkened. Under his gaze, I walked straight over.

I poked the man’s back with my fingertip.

“Hey, handsome. Want to come over to my place and see my cat?”

The man turned around.

But I couldn’t smile anymore.

I would never forget that face, not even on the day I died.

Xu Xiaoyou.

When I was fourteen, he was the first police officer to break open the cellar door and pull me out of the darkness.