Chapter 4
Chapter 4
While Lu Ze was receiving emergency treatment, Gu Xurou stood outside the hospital room, kicking and hitting me like a madwoman.
She drove the pointed toes of her high heels into me, bashed me over the head with her purse, and slapped me with hands tipped with sharp acrylic nails.
I endured it without a sound until Lu Ze emerged.
His head was wrapped in gauze, and his face was pale from blood loss.
The instant she saw him, Gu Xurou abandoned me and rushed over in distress.
“Ah Ze! Ah Ze, are you all right?”
Lu Ze said nothing. His gaze traveled past Gu Xurou and settled on me.
My face was covered in cuts and bruises, but my expression remained calm.
I raised my eyes to his and said softly, “Do you understand now? Making other people suffer will never quench your thirst. The person you truly want to punish is yourself.”
Before I had even finished speaking, Gu Xurou charged over and kicked me viciously.
The blow sent me crashing to my knees. I looked wretched, yet I kept my unblinking gaze fixed on Lu Ze.
Gu Xurou did not notice where I was looking.
She wrapped her arms around Lu Ze. As she examined his injury, her eyes reddened with heartache.
“Ah Ze, you’ve suffered so much. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again. I’ve hired caregivers from America at an exorbitant rate…”
Gu Xurou took Lu Ze by the arm and led him toward his room.
But I could feel it.
His gaze remained on me the entire time.
Gu Xurou refused to let the hospital fire me.
I had hurt her beloved Lu Ze. Simply dismissing me would have been far too lenient a punishment.
“Make her clean the restrooms.”
I was put in charge of all dozen or so restrooms in the hospital.
Gu Xurou would even bring people along to dump entire buckets of paint across floors I had just cleaned.
“There. Clean it up.”
The paint dried quickly in the open air. It was impossible to scrub off.
She ordered her people to force my head down against the floor. “Can’t get it clean? Then lick it!”
The acrid smell of paint flooded my nostrils.
My eyes instantly turned red.
Jiang Yan, I’m so happy.
Do you know how afraid I was before this?
I was afraid Gu Xurou only wanted Lu Ze’s money, or the status of being Mrs. Lu.
If that were the case, no amount of revenge would be anything more than a dull, inconsequential game.
But now I knew.
Gu Xurou truly loved Lu Ze.
She loved him enough to forgive him time and again. Enough to endure violence and pain yet remain unable to leave him. Enough to make him her entire world.
It was wonderful.
Taking away someone’s entire world brought me far more joy than killing her ever could.
Gu Xurou had no idea my eyes were red with excitement.
She thought I had finally reached my breaking point.
She crouched before me smugly and jabbed a sharp fingernail into my forehead.
“Let me tell you something. If Ah Ze weren’t still in the hospital, and if I weren’t worried about public opinion and causing another scandal, your punishment would be far worse than this.”
Gu Xurou left with her lackeys.
I lay on the restroom floor, laughing soundlessly.
Poor Gu Xurou. She was sane.
Only sane people said things like “worried about public opinion.” In the vocabulary of people like us, there had only ever been three things: I want it. I don’t care. I take it.
I climbed to my feet and admired Gu Xurou’s beautiful retreating figure.
A sane woman who loved a man like Lu Ze this deeply…
She was utterly doomed.
…
Gu Xurou had no idea she was doomed.
She happily stayed by Lu Ze’s side.
They strolled through the small garden hand in hand, looking as perfect together as the leads in a romantic drama.
But Gu Xurou could not spend all her time at the psychiatric hospital. She also had to manage the company under Lu Ze’s name on his behalf.
Whenever Gu Xurou was away, the highly paid caregivers she had hired were responsible for looking after Lu Ze.
They were like Gu Xurou’s hands and eyes.
They cared for Lu Ze, but they also watched him.
They made sure he did not hurt anyone, made sure he cooperated with his treatment, and made sure he kept to a healthy routine.
Gu Xurou was desperate for Lu Ze to get better. She did not realize that trying to control him this way was bound to backfire.
Sure enough, only a week later, the beast confined in the iron cage was let loose.
Lu Ze broke the ribs of a caregiver who had tried to force him to go outside for exercise and threatened to report him to Gu Xurou if he refused.
As the doctors rushed the caregiver away for emergency treatment, they cried out in panic, “Hurry! Notify Miss Gu…”
“I’d like to see who dares!”
Lu Ze slammed a foot into the door.
Silence fell.
The doctors exchanged helpless looks, none of them knowing what to do.
Lu Ze stared at the bloodstains on the floor.
Then he said, “Qiao Yuchu is still here, isn’t she?”
“Have her take care of me.”