Chapter Seventy-Four

"...I can more or less guess what tricks Zhou used. He learned to cherish too late, and his change was also because of you."

"Mr. Yi, could you ever love someone who raped you, who kept you like a pet at his side? If you resisted, he would beat you. No matter where I ran, he would hunt me down and drag me back to humiliate me. He handcuffed me to the bed for a whole day and night, then threatened to send videos of me being violated to my parents. Someone like that—even if he became a saint in the future—I would never forgive him!"

Yi Xiaoyu's mouth twitched involuntarily. He truly hadn’t expected Zhou to be such a beast.

"...Zhou... I really didn’t know he did those things to you."

Yi Xiaoyu seemed to understand the young man before him a little better now. If that fat bastard ever tried even one of those things on him, with his own temper, he’d castrate him—even if it meant getting a divorce first!

If what Chu You said was the truth, he shouldn’t have come to persuade Chu You to return to Zhou’s side at all.

"I stayed with him for more than two years, and I never felt the joy of college life. I felt ashamed even facing classmates and my parents. Now I live in this foreign city under a false name, and until he completely forgets about me, I don’t dare go home to see my parents or contact my friends. The pain he gave me can’t be offset by his own suffering. If I were to go back and be kept by him as a pet again, I think I’d truly be close to death. All this time, the only thing that kept me going by his side was the hope that one day I could escape and live my own life." Chu You closed his eyes, took a gentle breath, and spoke softly. "The car he bought me—I never drove it. The house he bought me—I can't live in it now. I never squandered his money. So what I owe him, I’m confident I can pay back within five years after graduation."

Yi Xiaoyu had prepared a whole speech on the way here. He’d thought that, with his eloquence, persuading a student to change his mind would be nothing. But after hearing Chu You’s words, Yi Xiaoyu, who had already begun to side with him, suddenly found he no longer wanted to help Zhou at all.

What had happened between Zhou and Chu You—and the resentment that Chu You felt—had gone far beyond anything he had imagined.

As for Zhou, Yi Xiaoyu could only think, "Serves him right." Yet, remembering how Zhou had clung to him and wept in utter despair not long ago, Yi Xiaoyu couldn’t quite let it go. In a low voice, he asked, "Is there really not even the slightest change in how you feel about Zhou?"

"There is." Chu You didn’t hesitate. "The first time I ran away, he thought something awful had happened to me, and after that he treated me much better. He stopped hitting and scolding me, was gentle, even carefully asked me if I hated him."

Yi Xiaoyu was a little surprised to hear this from Chu You. "And after everything, you felt nothing at all?"

Chu You answered calmly, "Except for disgust, nothing at all."

"..."

"You said you wouldn’t tell Zhou that I’m alive. Is that true?"

"If you don’t want me to, I won’t." Yi Xiaoyu raised a hand to rub his temples. "After what Zhou’s done to you, I can’t defend him anymore. I’m only worried for you. Living like this, hiding out abroad—what about your parents?"

Chu You looked at the floor in silence, his gaze steeped in sorrow.

"Let me tell you, Zhou will never forget you. Even if you live in this city for ten or twenty years, even if Zhou gets married, the moment you reappear, he’ll remember that you’re the one he once loved to the point of death. And when that day comes, I don’t know what he’ll do, but it certainly won’t be any more gentle than now."

"Are you saying I should just rot away here for the rest of my life?"

"I’ll tell Zhou you’re alive, and then you come with me."

"What do you mean?"

"What’s your major at university?"

"***"

"Perfect. You can return to V City and continue your studies at your old university. I’ll arrange for you to work as an intern at my partner’s company. I can promise you this: as long as I’m around, unless you want it, Zhou won’t even be able to lay a finger on you."

This way, Zhou would have a chance to climb out of his despair, and it would also be fair to Chu You.