On the first night of making it official, what is she thinking?

[Chapter One: Meeting You Again]

I never imagined that five years later, I would run into Zhuo Yiran again in such an awkward way.

Five years ago, we were a couple; five years later, I am a call girl selling my body, and he is the client who paid to buy me tonight.

I sat on the bed at a loss, feeling nothing but torment.

Zhuo Yiran unhurriedly opened a bottle of red wine, then slightly raised his arm and poured the entire bottle over me.

The icy liquid ran down my neck, piercingly cold and sticky.

I stood up and gave a faint bitter smile: "Let me go take a shower first."

"No need. The smell on you disgusts me. This is just right."

Zhuo Yiran curved his lips into a smile, his eyes full of the gloom before a violent storm: "Strip!"

I knew he wanted to humiliate me, but I had no way out.

Mom was still lying in the hospital waiting for treatment, and I needed a large sum of money, just like back then.

Under Zhuo Yiran's gaze, I pulled down the zipper of my dress, unfastened my bra, and took off my underwear. When I finally stood before him completely naked, I saw the desire in his eyes intertwined with hatred.

"Nice body. You must have made plenty of money all these years." His voice was still so cold, without a trace of warmth.

I froze for a moment, and a chill spread from the bottom of my heart to my limbs. I wanted to defend myself, but had no strength to refute.

Suddenly he reached out and yanked my wrist. The soles of my feet, stained with red wine, were very slippery. I shuddered, and my whole body pitched toward the ground.

The cold, hard marble made me ache sharply. A buzzing sound rang out from the back of my head, and I unconsciously let out a soft moan: "Mmm..."

Zhuo Yiran not only didn't help me up, but instead bent down and gripped my jaw tightly: "So you know pain too? I thought your heart and your body were made of stone?"

I stiffened my body, my voice as faint as a mosquito: "I'm sorry..."

But he smiled viciously: "Too late."

As the words fell, his burning tongue pried open my teeth.

The almost biting kiss quickly filled my mouth with the taste of blood. Zhuo Yiran seemed to dislike this taste. He frowned slightly, released my lips, and turned to bite at my chest.

My body gradually became covered with the marks of his bites and the blood imprints of his nails. The searing pain made me curl up my limbs uncontrollably, but unexpectedly this enraged him, whose desire was already ignited.

He straightened up, his long fingers gripping my hair tightly: "Why are your legs clamped so tightly? Only now you remember to act innocent?"

Enduring the pain, I stretched my body open for him.

Zhuo Yiran scanned me up and down with that unfathomably deep gaze, then suddenly reached out both hands and scooped me up from the floor, flinging me hard onto the bed. Immediately after, his sturdy body pressed down on mine.

The tight press of our bodies made it hard for me to breathe, but Zhuo Yiran showed no tenderness at all. Instead, without any foreplay, he invaded my body!

The tearing pain instantly shattered all my strength and endurance. I couldn't hold up and struggled, resisting.

"It hurts, get out, get out..."

"Heh..."

Zhuo Yiran let out a disdainful soft laugh. His large, well-defined hand easily gripped both my wrists and raised my arms above my head, while his other hand tightened around my slender waist.

"Tao Liangyan, the night is still long. I will make you pay back, drop by drop, with interest, all the pain you once caused me!"

No!!

When the pain nearly suffocated me, he began to thrust wildly inside my body.

[Chapter Two: The Client Becomes My Brother-in-Law]

When I opened my eyes again, the faint cold scent of Zhuo Yiran still lingered in the air, but the bedding beside me had long gone cold.

If not for the five-hundred-thousand check placed on the bedside table, I would have thought everything last night was just a nightmare.

Forgetting someone is harder than liking someone. I sniffled and didn't let the tears fall.

Which call girl can sell for five hundred thousand a night?

I was worth it.

I rushed to the hospital. After sending Mom into the operating room, I sat back on a bench in the hospital corridor, my eyes dry and sore and swollen, yet without the slightest drowsiness.

'Click, click, click...'

In the quiet corridor, the crisp sound of high heels suddenly rang out. I instinctively turned my head, and when I saw who was walking over, my eyes widened in shock.

Feng Xiaoya?

She is my father's illegitimate daughter from outside. It was precisely because of this that my parents divorced. What I never expected was that no sooner had Mom and I moved out of the house than Feng Xiaoya and her mother moved in, and she became the heir of the Feng Group.

Feng Xiaoya was very surprised to see me and quickened her pace toward me.

A tall figure suddenly walked out of one of the VIP wards, just happening to block Feng Xiaoya's path.

"Why did it take so long?"

The person turned around, and it was actually Zhuo Yiran?!

The atmosphere seemed a bit awkward. Feng Xiaoya clung tightly to Zhuo Yiran's arm, looking at me with panic and helplessness in her eyes.

As for Zhuo Yiran, he was silent for only a few seconds before bringing Feng Xiaoya over to me, lightly kissing Feng Xiaoya's cheek, his lips full of smiles: "Xiaoya, it's rare to see your sister. Why don't you introduce us?"

Feng Xiaoya's face was a little pale: "Tha... that... brother-in-law... is now my fiance. A few days ago my mom sprained her ankle..."

Brother-in-law, fiance.

What a clever double meaning.

I forced a smile: "Is that so? Congratulations."

Gripping the armrest beside me tightly, I silently cursed myself for being useless. Didn't I say my heart wouldn't hurt anymore? Why, upon hearing this, did it still feel like a fishbone stuck in my throat?

Zhuo Yiran didn't seem too interested in the expression I was forcing. He looked down at his wristwatch, "I have a meeting this afternoon. I'll go help Auntie with the discharge paperwork first."

"Mm, okay, thank you Yiran. I'll talk with my sister a bit more." Feng Xiaoya stood on her tiptoes and took the initiative to kiss the corner of Zhuo Yiran's mouth.

Only after Zhuo Yiran went downstairs did she take the initiative to sit beside me: "Sister, we haven't seen each other in so long. I have so, so much to tell you."

Suppressing the churning pain in my heart, I also learned from her and showed a harmless smile: "I don't think Miss Feng and I have anything to talk about."

Feng Xiaoya seemed not to expect me to be so direct. The smile on her face instantly stiffened, and she looked at me for a long time before stammering an explanation: "It was brother-in-law who chose to be with me, because back then..."

[Chapter Three: Nothing Left]

Feng Xiaoya's words were like a sharp knife, stabbing into the past I didn't want to recall.

In my sophomore year of college, Mom fell ill. Because I had to bear the cost of Mom's treatment, I chose to drop out of school.

I don't know how Zhuo Yiran's mother found out about my relationship with Zhuo Yiran. On the day I dropped out, Zhuo Yiran's mother came to me and, with a threatening and commanding tone and five hundred thousand in cash, told me to call Zhuo Yiran and end the relationship.

I did call Zhuo Yiran. I said I was with him only for his money, that I was about to take the money his mother gave me and run far away, and that he should be sensible and not come looking for me again, and not to be so shameless...

But!

After hanging up the phone, I did not take that money.

I just didn't want to drag Zhuo Yiran down because of myself. It had nothing to do with money.

But I had indeed overestimated myself, thinking I was so free and easy. In fact, within a few days I began to miss Zhuo Yiran. That feeling of longing made me waver and break down.

At that time, Feng Xiaoya, who was a freshman and told me everything, learned about this and volunteered to go find Zhuo Yiran for me, saying she would explain everything clearly for me. But after that, I waited a long time and never saw Zhuo Yiran. Even Feng Xiaoya stopped meeting me.

The past was like a meat grinder, grinding my heartache sharper, making my head spin. Yet Feng Xiaoya kept chattering on with a look of showing off, still standing before me and talking endlessly.

"Sister, I really did go explain things to brother-in-law for you back then. But, but after I finished explaining, brother-in-law didn't want to contact you. He even told me that the person he actually liked was me, that it was good you left, and that we could be open about it."

So Zhuo Yiran had already been with Feng Xiaoya long ago!

"Is that so? Then congratulations. Lovers finally become a couple."

I truly had neither the desire nor the strength to fantasize about the scene of them embracing and loving each other. I turned around and was about to leave, but suddenly stopped in my tracks.

If the person Zhuo Yiran truly loved was Feng Xiaoya, why would he still hate me for so many years?

"Family of the patient Tao Meiqin--!"

The light in the operating room suddenly went out. The chief surgeon pushed open the door and walked out. I hurried over: "Doctor, how is my mom..."

"Ah!"

Before I could finish asking, the doctor let out a heavy sigh: "The illness was delayed too long. I'm sorry, we did our best..."

My vision blurred, and my body pitched forward weightlessly, "Thud--!" I fell hard to the ground.

"Sister! Are you okay?"

Feng Xiaoya crouched anxiously beside me, opened her designer bag, rummaged through it, and then held out a stack of cash in front of me.

"Sister, Auntie Tao has been ill for so many years. Now that she's gone, it's actually a kind of release. I know you have no money. Take this money as compensation from me and Yiran for being together. Use it to bury Auntie Tao, and then don't show up again..."

"Smack--!"

I raised my hand and knocked away the hand she held before me. The bright red bills flew and drifted like snow in the uniformly white hospital corridor...

Enduring wave after wave of dizziness, I stood up. Under Feng Xiaoya's astonished and aggrieved gaze, I forced the corners of my lips up and smiled.

Feng Xiaoya seemed badly frightened by my expression: "Sister, I was doing this for your own good..."

Heh.

I was still smiling: "Feng Xiaoya, pick up your money and put it away. Zhuo Yiran choosing to be with you is his freedom. It has nothing, not a cent, to do with me. And! Remember, from now on, don't throw money at me again. Zhuo Yiran is a person, not an object to be measured by money!"

"Wah wah wah... wah wah wah..."

Feng Xiaoya stood there crying, as if I had bullied her inhumanely.

Behind me, a powerful aura suddenly enveloped the space. Before I could turn around, my wrist was gripped fiercely, and right after, Zhuo Yiran's voice rang out.

"What did you do to her?!"

[Chapter Four: Are You Satisfied?]

With Feng Xiaoya crying like this, even if I said I did nothing, I'm afraid Zhuo Yiran wouldn't believe me, right?

I didn't want to explain anything either. Shaking off the large hand clamped on my wrist, I walked toward the operating room.

Mom hadn't been wheeled out yet. I had to go wait for Mom...

However, my wrist was seized again. A tremendous force pulled me back to where I was and flung me toward the chair beside me.

"Bang--!"

I fell hard onto the chair, my head knocking heavily against the wall. Warm liquid from my brow ran down my forehead, across my cheek, and splattered onto the chair.

I was in great pain, but Zhuo Yiran showed no trace of pity or regret.

His hand was still clamped on my wrist, pulling me up from the chair. His eyes were full of frost, and even the breath escaping him was so cold: "Tao Liangyan, don't be shameless!"

Under his pull, another drop of blood welled from the wound, but it dripped onto my eyelashes and into my eye.

I looked straight at him stubbornly: "Zhuo... Young Master Zhuo, what exactly do you want from me?"

Zhuo Yiran's face turned completely cold. Pulling my hand, he flung me in front of Feng Xiaoya.

"Apologize to my fiancee!"

Apologize?

I stiffened my body, looking at Feng Xiaoya's tear-streaked face, not knowing what I had actually done wrong that required an apology.

"Yiran..."

Feng Xiaoya, who had been crying from beginning to end, finally spoke, her soft voice still choked with sobs: "I'm fine, there's no need for sister to apologize to me. It's only right that sister is angry with me now. It's my fault. It's that I shouldn't have loved you, shouldn't have been with you..."

I didn't know whether Feng Xiaoya's words, which poured fuel on the fire, were intentional or unintentional. I only knew that as her words fell, the pressure from Zhuo Yiran behind me dropped even lower.

But after a long silence, he did not continue to glare coldly at me. Instead, he coaxed Feng Xiaoya with gentle tenderness: "All right, stop crying. Xiaoya, remember, no matter what others say, you are my, Zhuo Yiran's, fiancee."

"Mm, I understand, Yiran."

"Good girl..."

Can you please just let me go?!

Ignoring Zhuo Yiran's lips kissing Feng Xiaoya's forehead, I slowly bent down. Even without a mirror, I knew how pale my face was.

Clenching my fists tightly, letting my nails sink deep into my palms, I forced myself to slowly speak: "I'm sorry..."

If only an apology could keep me away from this heart-wrenching torment, then I am willing to apologize.

"Family of the patient Tao Meiqin--!"

Behind me, a nurse's shout rang out. I straightened up and turned around, just in time to see my mother's body being wheeled out.

"Xiaoyan, it's Mom who dragged you down..."

"Xiaoyan, you must live happily..."

"Xiaoyan, don't cry. Mom will always be by your side..."

Mom's words still echoed in my ears, but the only one who had depended on me and kept me company, my mother, lay there and would never rise again.

The draft blowing through the corridor made me feel cold again and again, a cold that seemed to seep from my skin into every nerve in my body. I trembled shiveringly, staggered over to the mobile hospital bed, gripped the icy iron railing, and, after being told by the nurse, slowly pushed my mother toward the morgue.

Zhuo Yiran was still standing in place with his arm around Feng Xiaoya's shoulder. His expression shifted slightly, his thin lips moved as if he wanted to say something.

But no matter what he said, I no longer wanted to hear it...

So as we brushed past each other, I spoke first: "Seeing me this miserable--are you satisfied?"

Are you all satisfied?! !

[Chapter 5: Thrown Out the Door]

"I'm not just saying this, but you're an adult too. We're not some charity. If you don't have money, then don't come to the crematorium. Just find some random place and bury her. If you don't say anything, probably no one will know."

"This money really is all I have. I beg you, I beg you..."

Under the scorching sun, I begged everyone in the stifling crematorium, yet hit a wall again and again. In the end, because my mother's body had begun to slowly deteriorate in the high temperature, the people at the crematorium took pity and put my mother into a freezer. But they also gave me a final notice: only one night. If I still couldn't come up with the money for cremation by tomorrow, I would bear the consequences.

The cruelty of reality stripped away what little self-respect I had left, so after leaving the crematorium, I went straight to Feng Xiaoya's home.

A three-story villa, brightly lit. In the first-floor living room were dazzling arrays of fine food, and many exquisitely dressed wealthy ladies chatted and laughed. Only I, in canvas shoes and jeans, stood out among them like a thorn growing inward against the flesh.

"Why did you come?"

Accompanied by a servant, Lin Liuzhen walked step by step up to me in a brand-name formal dress. Her eyes, with their exquisitely painted eyeshadow, looked at me with the same disgust one might show toward garbage.

I knew I had come at the wrong time, but who would have thought that though she and my mother were both my father's wives, my mother could not even afford to die, while Lin Liuzhen was still rich enough to pass the time hosting parties every day?

In order not to affect the party's atmosphere and make Lin Liuzhen hate me even more, I stepped forward and lowered my voice to negotiate: "Aunt Lin, could you give me the three hundred yuan monthly living allowance for a whole year in advance?"

After my father died, the will left a small portion of money to me and my mother, but Lin Liuzhen bribed the lawyer and turned that small portion into three hundred yuan a month for me and my mother.

"On what grounds?!"

Lin Liuzhen's face was full of domineering arrogance, and her words were even more biting and mean: "Back then, being willing to agree to give you three hundred yuan a month was already the limit of my benevolence."

"That was my father's money!" I could not help raising my voice. This woman would always be this shameless!

"Your father is already dead!" Lin Liuzhen looked at me with a cold smile and added, "Tao Liangyan, in the Feng family now, I call the shots. If you can't stand it, you can get lost, or else... find a lawyer and sue me!"

Sue her...

That is something only rich people can afford to consume.

"Aunt Lin..."

I had no choice but to soften my tone again and plead, setting aside my self-respect: "My mother died of illness. I need some money to cremate my mother..."

"Is that so."

Lin Liuzhen nodded as if suddenly understanding, but then she parted her red lips and smiled even more ruthlessly: "Kneel down and beg me, Tao Liangyan. Begging someone requires the proper attitude, doesn't it?"

It was like a huge stone pressing on my chest. I was suffocating, and even my limbs gradually turned cold.

All the gazes around me gathered on me. Although they did not speak, the smiles hanging on their faces were so mocking.

I wanted so badly to turn around and leave, but in the end, I still slowly bent my knees...

"Aunt Lin, I beg you, I really need the money..." To make Lin Liuzhen happy, I bit my lower lip, gathered all the strength I had, and smashed my head against the floor.

I begged again and again, and Lin Liuzhen remained unmoved throughout, until I lay on the floor with no strength left to exert, only then did Lin Liuzhen raise her voice and shout: "Security!"? !

I gave a sudden start and fully woke from my original dizziness. I stared at her with wide eyes, while Lin Liuzhen savored the fine wine in her goblet, her face full of delight.

Only after the security guards lifted me up did she say with a completely innocent face: "I only taught you how to beg someone, but I didn't say I would definitely agree."

I truly misjudged this woman's viciousness!

"Throw her out for me!"

As Lin Liuzhen's voice rang out again by my ear, I was dragged out of the living room by two tall, broad-shouldered security guards. When the main door opened, I blurrily saw Feng Xiaoya walking toward this side, and then the two security guards flung me out the door.

"Bang--!"

Neither off to one side nor the other, I landed exactly right in front of Feng Xiaoya's toes!