Her chin was suddenly gripped tightly without warning. Zhou Xizhi’s contemptuous, cold pupils reflected only the woman’s pitiful pleading.
“It does change—that’s why you’ve become so vicious and scheming. You really do hide it well.”
With that, he raised his hand and tossed Yan Yi’an aside.
He had arrived in a blaze of fury, and he left in the same manner.
It wasn’t until the police took her away from the hospital that Yan Yi’an understood what he meant by not wanting to see her again.
Zhao Ruoruo stood behind the crowd, smiling at her and waving slightly, clearly striking a victor’s pose.
Yan Yi’an smiled. She knew Zhao Ruoruo had to be faking it.
The police brought Yan Yi’an back to the station for investigation on the charge of deliberately causing a car accident with intent to harm Zhao Ruoruo. She knew this was Zhou Xizhi’s doing.
The vehicle was severely damaged, and the dashcam had mysteriously disappeared. Faced with Zhao Ruoruo’s accusations, Yan Yi’an was like an executioner awaiting judgment, with no way to defend herself.
“Miss Yan, staying silent won’t do you any good. You’d better cooperate actively with the police investigation,” a police officer advised her kindly, sighing slightly. How could someone so beautiful have such a vicious heart?
Amid the sighs, Yan Yi’an finally lifted her head slightly, her entire being drained of luster. “Can I make a phone call?”
The next day, someone posted bail for Yan Yi’an. When Zhou Xizhi learned of it, he was so furious he threw his phone. Wen Xiao said with trepidation, “I heard the Zhuang family from Nancheng intervened and got Miss Yan released on bail.”
The Zhuang family was one of the most prominent wealthy clans in Nancheng, so the local police naturally extended them some courtesy.
Zhou Xizhi sneered. This woman really was something. But even if she fled to the ends of the earth, he would drag her back.
Outside the police station.
Zhuang Jinghao looked at the pitifully battered “paper-thin figure” with both heartache and helplessness. If she hadn’t truly hit rock bottom, would she have never planned to contact him at all?
Zhuang Jinghao had a heart condition. When he had an attack as a child, he ran into Yan Yi’an, who fortunately got him to the hospital. The two had known each other ever since.
But three years ago, she suddenly vanished without a trace—until Zhuang Jinghao saw her on television, transformed into a celebrity.
“How did you end up looking so bedraggled? I thought celebrities all wore evening gowns and jewelry?”
Despite his refined, gentle appearance, his tongue was sharp and acerbic the moment he opened his mouth. Yan Yi’an had no energy to deal with his venomous remarks. She merely raised her hand and, with all the strength she could muster, thumped him once on the chest. The force was light, yet Zhuang Jinghao winced with a sour ache.
“Thank you. Take me to Fangcheng, will you? I need to see someone.”
Fangcheng?
Zhou Xizhi’s territory. Wouldn’t that be walking right into the lion’s den?
Yan Yi’an could see Zhuang Jinghao’s concern and tugged at the corner of her mouth to reassure him. “I’m not going to die—I’m going to save a life. I’m here to see Elder Zhou.”
Elder Zhou, Zhou Muheng, was Zhou Xizhi’s grandfather. He had once been a man of formidable authority, but he had long since handed the company over to Zhou Xizhi to manage and now spent his days in leisure at home.
Yan Yi’an waited outside the Zhou family villa for an hour before she was finally invited inside.
She limped along the way, eyes half-lowered, focused only on the path beneath her feet. She knew that an old man was standing at a window above, observing and sizing her up.
“Mr. Zhou, your guest has arrived.”
A mellow voice came from within, carrying the vicissitudes of time through the heavy door. The butler gave a slight nod and opened the door for her.
Zhou Xizhi shared a certain resemblance with Elder Zhou in his brows and eyes—sharp and imposing. However, the deep wrinkles at the corners of Elder Zhou’s eyes, carved by the passage of years, lent him a touch more gentleness than Zhou Xizhi, yet they did nothing to conceal the disdain in his gaze toward Yan Yi’an.
She was nothing but a clown putting on a show. Had she not been audacious enough to claim she wanted to strike a deal with him, she wouldn’t even have qualified to stand outside the Zhou family’s door.
It had been many years since anyone had dared to come before him with such boldness to discuss a transaction.
Yan Yi’an’s face was pale and bloodless as she quietly swallowed her saliva.
Her clear, melodious voice carried a hint of weakness as it flowed slowly through the stifling air. “I apologize for the intrusion, Mr. Zhou. I came this time hoping to make a business deal with you. I know… you don’t care for Zhao Ruoruo, and you’ve always wanted to select a well-matched granddaughter-in-law for President Zhou. I believe I have a way to help you with that.”
Zhou Muheng raised his eyes. “And your terms?”
“For this car accident case, I hope you can hold back President Zhou’s pressure on the various forces in Nancheng, allowing for a fair and just trial.”
A fair and just trial?
A flicker of interest emerged in Zhou Muheng’s sunken eyes. Everyone was saying that the car accident was deliberately orchestrated by her to harm Zhao Ruoruo, and she still wanted fairness and justice?
His thin lips pressed tightly together before releasing another low, muffled voice. “How exactly can you help me?”
“Can a woman who has served time in prison enter the Zhou family’s door?”
The woman before him appeared frail and thin, yet the light shining from her eyes was exceptionally resolute.
Yan Yi’an carried herself with neither arrogance nor subservience, her features delicate and striking—so much so that Zhou Muheng was inexplicably reminded of someone.
A little girl he had watched grow up since childhood. Unfortunately, the old had lived to see the young pass away. A fleeting moment of desolation and regret flickered through his heart.
Yan Yi’an could read no expression on Zhou Muheng’s deeply lined face, but this was her only chance.
“I have evidence that Zhao Ruoruo orchestrated the car accident. You won’t need to step forward, and it won’t affect your relationship with President Zhou. I’ll hand it over to the police and let Zhao Ruoruo face judgment. I’m only worried that President Zhou might do something irrational in the meantime…”
Zhou Muheng’s gaze turned mocking and dark once more.
She truly was calculating—holding onto evidence without easily revealing it, and daring to bring her lifeline to him?
Yan Yi’an clenched her palms tightly. Even if everyone from now on believed she was vicious and scheming, she was merely trying to find a way to survive.
As Yan Yi’an walked out the main gate, Zhuang Jinghao hurried over to meet her, urgency written across his brows and eyes. “How did it go? What did Elder Zhou say?”
“He… should help me.”
Hearing this, Zhuang Jinghao relaxed slightly, but then worry crept back in as he looked at Yan Yi’an with suspicion. “How is Elder Zhou going to help you? Right now, all the evidence points to you. He has no reason to go against his own grandson.”
“He doesn’t like Zhao Ruoruo. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Yan Yi’an urged him to get in the car and leave quickly before Zhou Xizhi caught up with them. Though Zhuang Jinghao still had doubts, getting out of Fangcheng was the priority for now.
Yan Yi’an hadn’t told him about the evidence. She was afraid Zhou Xizhi would go after Zhuang Jinghao. If she hadn’t been truly unable to find anyone else to post her bail, she wouldn’t have risked contacting him.
In the end, before they could leave Fangcheng, Zhou Xizhi’s men blocked their path on the road. Over a dozen black vehicles pressed in around them, forcing them to a stop on the bridge.
Zhou Xizhi, in a impeccably tailored suit, advanced step by step like a messenger from the underworld, his long legs carrying him closer. The wind scattered the stray hairs across his forehead, and in his pitch-black eyes, fury mingled with chill as they bore straight into Yan Yi’an.
Zhuang Jinghao saw the situation and quickly got out of the car, blocking Zhou Xizhi before he could open the door. Maintaining his composure, he said, “Mr. Zhou, what is the meaning of this?”
Zhou Xizhi was a wolf, his eyes gleaming with a cold blue light. He cast a frigid glance at the woman inside the car, and a faint smile curled at the corner of his lips. Already hooking up with another man so quickly?
He raised his hand and threw a fierce punch, knocking the refined pretty boy to the ground. Yan Yi’an immediately jumped out of the car—this savage, Zhou Xizhi…
But just as she stepped out, her slender arm was yanked back by a powerful force from behind, slamming her hard against the car body. Pain shot through her as if her entire body were falling apart.
“What? Worried about him already?”
Zhou Xizhi grabbed her by the hair, forcing her chin up. Meanwhile, his bodyguards hoisted Zhuang Jinghao up from the ground and began beating and kicking him, tormenting him right before her eyes.
“Zhou Xizhi, let him go! He has a heart condition…”
“Stop it… you madman!”
Yan Yi’an pounded and struggled, but instead, Zhou Xizhi yanked her scalp so hard it burned with pain.
Zhou Xizhi laughed with delight. “Cursing me? Can’t take it already? What do you say—should I cripple his legs too as an apology to Ruoruo, so you can taste what helplessness feels like…”
“Hm?”
Zhou Xizhi’s tone was cold and detached, but there was no hint of jest in it. Yan Yi’an was terrified, panicked. “No, don’t… I beg you…”