“I know what I’m doing. Trust me, I won’t be in any danger…”
This was the very first time Yu Yao had ever seen Zhao Chuji look so grief-stricken and miserable. Disoriented and at a complete loss, she could only try her best to comfort her.
“But you’re already hurt!”
Zhao Chuji lifted her head, her tear-brimming eyes glaring fiercely at Yu Yao. She was choking with sobs, yet her hand reached out with absolute gentleness to touch the scratch left by a tree branch on Yu Yao’s face.
“It doesn’t hurt. It has already scabbed over.”
Yu Yao lowered her head, feeling a bit self-conscious, but her eyes couldn’t help but lock onto Zhao Chuji.
Crystal-clear teardrops clung to Zhao Chuji’s eyelashes, perpetually on the verge of falling. Her dark, obsidian eyes were moist and luminous, a flush of crimson had spread across her cheeks, her eyes were completely bloodshot, and she was biting her lower lip tightly…
Looking at her like this, Zhao Chuji truly resembled a pitifully adorable, weeping kitten!
Yu Yao knew she shouldn’t be thinking this way. In front of Zhao Chuji, she ought to be repenting for her own recklessness and coaxing her until she was forgiven… But Zhao Chuji looked so incredibly beautiful and endearing when she cried that Yu Yao simply couldn’t tear her eyes away.
How could someone look so utterly captivating even while weeping?
Gradually, Zhao Chuji stopped crying and stared at her blankly.
Before Yu Yao could wipe the expression off her own face, Zhao Chuji let out a cold laugh a few seconds later, abruptly turned around, and began walking back…
Oh no!
Chuji was genuinely furious!
Zhao Chuji walked ahead at a blistering pace. No matter how much Yu Yao called out to her, she refused to stop.
The situation in the village was still uncertain. If there were still villagers who hadn’t been brought under control, it would be immensely dangerous for Zhao Chuji to walk alone like this.
Yu Yao deeply regretted her momentary lapse into infatuation just moments ago. She closely trailed behind Zhao Chuji, waiting for the perfect opportunity to rush forward and wrap her arms tightly around Zhao Chuji’s waist.
“Chuji, please don’t be angry anymore, okay?”
She coaxed her in a low voice, completely throwing away her dignity as the elder: “It was my fault! I shouldn’t have put myself in harm’s way…”
Zhao Chuji’s body was incredibly stiff, and she gave a weak, token struggle.
Perhaps because she had no defense against Yu Yao’s shameless persistence, she stopped struggling when she couldn’t break free, simply allowing Yu Yao to hold her.
“Yu Yao, you are doing this on purpose just to make me suffer!”
She finally condescended to speak to Yu Yao again, her tone still carrying an immense sense of grievance, her voice practically grinding through her teeth: “I was already terrified from being stalked and harassed by that boy.”
“And yet you still went ahead with such a dangerous stunt…”
“You don’t care about me at all!”
“How could I possibly not care about you?”
Yu Yao immediately cried out at the injustice: “My actual plan was to keep it a secret so you wouldn’t find out. I just didn’t expect you to arrive so much earlier than I anticipated, letting you see all of this…”
Yu Yao offered her apology without delay, gently tugging at Zhao Chuji’s sleeve.
“My dearest, most adorable, beautiful, and kind-hearted Little Sister Chuji, can you find it in your heart to forgive your older sister just this once?”
She blinked her eyes rapidly, deliberately acting cute and spoiled to win Zhao Chuji over.
However, she couldn’t truly guarantee that she wouldn’t rush in headfirst if she encountered a similar situation in the future.
Thus, she quickly changed the subject: “Chuji, I really did order a small cake for you. Let’s go pick up the cake first, alright?”
Zhao Chuji shot her a glare, still looking like a puffed-up ball of anger, but she didn’t try to bolt forward again. She silently allowed Yu Yao to hold her hand and lead her back to the car.
Seeing Zhao Chuji quietly take her place in the passenger seat and fasten her seatbelt, Yu Yao finally let out a massive sigh of relief.
Now, she finally had enough time to explain everything to Zhao Chuji properly.
“Chuji, please don’t cry.”
“You might think I was just trying to be a hero, but if I had to do it all over again, I would still choose to cooperate with the police to save those poor women.”
“Just like how I have never once regretted saving you.” Yu Yao sighed softly. “No one can guarantee they will go through life without ever hitting a rough patch.”
“Today, I reached out my hand to them in their hour of dire need. In the future, if I ever find myself stranded and helpless, it might not be them, but there will be thousands upon thousands of people just like them who will reach out to extend a helping hand to us…”
“But I did make a mistake.”
“If I ever encounter something like this again, I will plan it much more meticulously.” Yu Yao breathed a soft sigh. “I am truly sorry for making you worry and panic like this again!”
Originally, she had believed that providing financial support for Zhao Chuji, ensuring she lived a life free of material worries, and helping her achieve her dreams would be the best way to nurture the female protagonist.
But humans are not unfeeling plants or trees. She had long since come to view Zhao Chuji as her own younger sister. Because of that, while she wished for Zhao Chuji to lead a peaceful and smooth life, she also hoped that Zhao Chuji could experience the profound beauty of universal love.
To live a full life in this world, one must possess core spiritual pillars.
Since she was focused on driving, she couldn’t turn to observe Zhao Chuji’s expression. She only felt an profound silence settle over the interior of the car.
She waited for a while, but received no response. Just as she was contemplating whether to turn on the music to break the awkward tension, she heard Zhao Chuji speak in a soft, quiet voice…
“Yu Yao, you have your grand ideals of universal love. You are willing to disregard your own life and death and throw yourself into danger for it. I can understand that.”
“But for the time being, I do not possess such noble sentiments.”
“And I don’t care what grand blueprints you have for the future,” Zhao Chuji bit her lower lip tightly, tearing open the packaging of a band-aid with a touch of vented frustration. She meticulously and tenderly applied the band-aid over the scratch on Yu Yao’s face—
“You can guard your world, but I only want to guard you.”
Driving as fast as they safely could, the two of them finally arrived at the bakery right before closing time, successfully retrieving the small cake Yu Yao had ordered.
Even though she didn’t want Zhao Chuji to dwell on unhappy memories, Yu Yao still pressed for more details, terrified that the boy might try to pull some malicious stunt later on.
Zhao Chuji already knew how the school intended to handle the matter: they were going to order the boy to transfer schools.
However, Zhao Chuji had also received numerous messages from concerned classmates warning her to stay vigilant: when that boy, Zhao Qun, was dragged away by his parents, his emotions were still incredibly volatile. He was screaming at the top of his lungs that he had done nothing wrong, and he had furiously sworn an oath that he would definitely return to find Zhao Chuji in the future…
The moment they stepped out of the car, Yu Yao’s phone began buzzing with a flurry of missed calls and notifications. Splitting her attention between two tasks, she busied herself replying to messages while simultaneously asking Zhao Chuji about the incident.
Because of this distraction, she completely failed to notice that when Zhao Chuji fed her a piece of the cake, they were using the exact same spoon.
Zhao Chuji stared at the spoon, her knuckles tightening around it. A deeply hidden, secret joy flared within her eyes, yet on the surface, she kept her eyelids lowered, projecting an aura of profound dejection…
“Sister Yu Yao, I’m really terrified that he’ll come back. The moment I picture his contorted, hideous face, I get so scared that I can’t fall asleep at night…”
“Don’t be afraid!”
Hearing Zhao Chuji speak like this, Yu Yao completely forgot about replying to the messages on her phone. She immediately shifted to comfort her: “The conditions in the town’s guesthouse aren’t great anyway. Why don’t you sleep in my room tonight?”
“Go to sleep early once we get back to the room. Even if you have a nightmare, don’t be scared. I’ll be right there keeping watch beside you…”
But that night was destined to be a sleepless one.
After the rescued women finished giving their official statements, the police began investigating their families. Among them was the daughter of the elderly woman Yu Yao had seen during the day.
To have a daughter who had been missing for so long suddenly brought back by the police filled the entire family with boundless joy.
After being subjected to such horrific torment for so long, their precious child had long since become emaciated, reduced to mere skin and bones, her appearance altered beyond recognition. Yet her mentally unstable mother burst into tears the very instant she laid eyes on her daughter: “My baby, you have suffered so much…”
They set off firecrackers and launched fireworks. The loud, crackling “pop-and-bang” of the firecrackers echoed late into the night, symbolizing that all the misfortune clinging to their beloved daughter had been thoroughly blasted away, welcoming her rebirth.
No one in the neighborhood raised any objections. Everyone belonged to the same town; they all knew how incredibly difficult life had been for this family. Now that they saw them reunited with their daughter, everyone was sincerely happy for them.
“Sister, the sound of these firecrackers is making my head throb with pain. Can you cover my ears for me?”
Using this perfect excuse, Zhao Chuji smoothly and rightfully wrapped her arms around Yu Yao, shrinking herself entirely into Yu Yao’s embrace…
That night, amidst the endless, rolling thunder of firecrackers, Zhao Chuji held tightly onto Yu Yao…whose entire body was stiff, yet who rigidly maintained her hands over Zhao Chuji’s ears to block out the noise. In the midst of exercising the absolute limit of her patience and self-restraint, Zhao Quji silently swore an oath to herself…
She was absolutely going to capture Yu Yao, this fleeting gust of wind!
In truth, at an even earlier time, she had already developed a sticky, dark, and suffocating desire for possession over Yu Yao, a feeling identical to what Zhao Qun felt, except she had consistently chosen to deceive herself.
She didn’t know if this was a intense crush, or something far deeper love.
But none of that mattered.
She only knew that every single second of every single day, she wanted to see Yu Yao, to touch Yu Yao, and to become the absolute center of Yu Yao’s universe.
The moment she discovered Yu Yao had vanished today, her heart had spasmed violently, and her mind had gone entirely blank.
She was furious at Yu Yao for recklessly throwing herself into danger, but she was even more enraged by her own utter powerlessness. She had clearly made strategic arrangements, yet she had still allowed an accident to happen to Yu Yao.
For one fleeting, dark moment, the impulse to lock Yu Yao away had actually reared its head once more: if Yu Yao were turned into a completely compliant puppet, then she would never have to live every day in constant fear and anxiety again…
But a wind that is locked away in a cage will only gradually dwindle into absolute stillness.
Therefore, she could only make herself stronger, expanding her cage until it became as vast as the horizon, allowing this gust of wind to soar and fly with absolute freedom under her protective canopy.
There would come a day…
In the enveloping darkness, she tightened her embrace around Yu Yao even further.
Yu Yao would belong to her completely and entirely!