I was completely bewildered now.
I muttered softly in confusion, "But I still have memories in my head about you and Grandma fighting. They feel so real—I can even recall Grandma holding my hand when I was little, taking me to visit relatives…"
At this moment, I didn’t know whether it was my memory that was faulty or my mother’s.
Seeing my skeptical attitude, my mother hurriedly said, "Your father is still lying in bed. Although his leg is broken, his mind isn’t damaged. Wait until your father wakes up, and ask him whether you ever had a grandmother!"
Hearing my mother’s words felt like another bolt from the blue striking me. I halted my steps. "Dad’s leg is broken? What happened?"
At this, my mother’s gaze involuntarily fell on the ancestral tablet in the room, and I followed her line of sight.
The three characters "Yu Qingzhou" came into view, and at the same time, his breathtakingly handsome yet utterly arrogant face flashed through my mind.
"Did he do it?" I pressed.
My mother didn’t answer me. Although she didn’t say it outright, I knew that silence meant acknowledgment.
It was indeed Yu Qingzhou who had done it—he had broken my father’s leg.
In an instant, I felt both anxious and furious. I was worried about my father’s leg and angry at myself for not listening and getting involved with the opposite sex!
I said with difficulty, "It’s because of me that he did that to my father, isn’t it?"
My mother fell silent again.
"Mom, I’ll go see Dad," I said.
My mother nodded without stopping me. I hurried to my parents’ bedroom and saw my father lying on the bed with his eyes tightly shut. My nose instantly stung, and I called out to him softly, but there was no response from the bed.
I quickly turned to my mother beside me and asked anxiously, "Mom, didn’t you say Dad’s leg was broken? Why can’t I wake him?"
"After that accident happened to your father, he’s been unconscious ever since," my mother choked out. "Jing Yao, it seems he still hasn’t forgiven you… That’s why your father can’t wake up…"
Looking at my father on the bed, whose hair was already graying, I felt unbearably distressed. Thinking about how my parents had cherished and protected me since childhood, I was filled with guilt. If only I hadn’t struck up a conversation with Song Lin—then my father wouldn’t be like this!
I wiped away my tears and made a decision. I stood up and headed out—I was going to find Yu Qingzhou!
"Jing Yao! Where are you going?" my mother cried out in alarm. "Don’t run off again. With your father like this, if something happens to you too, I don’t think I could go on living!"
I stiffened and replied, "I’m going to find him. I take responsibility for my own actions. What right does he have to punish my family?"
"Find him?!" My mother’s pupils suddenly contracted sharply. She sternly refused, "No, you can’t. Jing Yao, you’ll anger him!"
I clenched my fists, took a deep breath, and said to my mother, "Mom, I’ve seen him."
My mother’s body stiffened instantly. She looked at me in disbelief, her lips trembling at this moment. "You’ve seen him?"
I nodded seriously and told my mother about how Yu Qingzhou had saved me. While she was still immersed in shock, I immediately ran out of the room.
I entered the main hall, where Yu Qingzhou's spirit tablet was still on the incense altar. Without hesitation, I grabbed the tablet and rushed back to my room.
Once inside, I sat on the edge of the bed, my eyes fixed intently on the tablet in my arms. I wasn't sure if Yu Qingzhou was inside, but I wanted to try!
I called his name while shaking the tablet vigorously. "Yu Qingzhou, are you there?"
No one answered.
I called out several more times, but still, there was no response. Could it be that Yu Qingzhou had nothing to do with this tablet?
Then, an idea struck me. I raised the tablet and said in a deliberately menacing tone, "Yu Qingzhou, if you don't answer me, I'll smash this thing!"
As soon as the words left my mouth, a cold, damp breeze blew in from the window. That striking figure in red was now sitting on the windowsill of my room.
"You've grown bold. Go ahead and try smashing it," Yu Qingzhou said coldly to me.
Of course, I didn't dare smash it. I just wanted to force Yu Qingzhou to appear this way. I admit there was an element of gambling involved, but didn't I win the bet?
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare," I immediately fawned, placing the tablet on the table.
The red robes shifted, and in the blink of an eye, Yu Qingzhou was by my side. He sat on my bed, looking at me with a cold expression. "What do you want from Benjun?"
I cautiously glanced at Yu Qingzhou, my mind already calculating. Actually, he didn't seem that terrifying…
At the very least, he probably wouldn't kill me, since I was, in name, his wife.
After a brief moment of thought, I knelt before Yu Qingzhou with a thud. The moment I knelt, I saw his body stiffen slightly.
With tears streaming down my face, I pleaded with Yu Qingzhou, "Husband, I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so foolish as to let Song Lin take me back. It was my fault. If you want to punish someone, punish me. I take full responsibility for my actions. Please spare my parents—they're innocent. I beg you."
I thought to myself, with my tearful, pitiful appearance, Yu Qingzhou would surely show some mercy.
But to my surprise, Yu Qingzhou abruptly stood up, grabbed me by the collar, and lifted me off the ground.
His face turned unusually dark, sending chills down my spine. "What did you just call me?"
"Hus… husband?"
I saw the corner of Yu Qingzhou's mouth twitch when I called him "husband." He threw me onto the bed, leaned over me, and pressed down. "You said that quite smoothly. Have you called other men that before?"
Looking at his handsome face so close to mine, I felt as if my breath had stopped. The air around me was filled with Yu Qingzhou's scent, fresh and clear like a mountain spring.
"Xue Jingyao, you're avoiding my gaze," he said, pinching my chin and forcing me to look directly at him.
His eyes were as deep as a dark pool, as if they could swallow me whole.
I didn't know how to answer Yu Qingzhou, especially since I…
"Well… does calling celebrities 'husband' count…?" I asked softly, my voice filled with guilt.
After I said this, I felt the grip on my chin tighten. Then, Yu Qingzhou stood up and kicked me off the bed, sending me tumbling to the floor, my vision swimming with stars.
"Shameless," Yu Qingzhou snorted coldly.
I rubbed my sore bottom as I got up from the ground, not caring that he called me frivolous. Anxiously, I said, "You've scolded me, you've kicked me—can you please wake my dad up now? From now on, I'll handle the trouble I cause myself. Don't involve my parents."
Yu Qingzhou's handsome brows furrowed. He told me, "What happened to your father wasn't my doing."