Chapter 133: An Even Crueler Truth!

Chapter 133: A More Cruel Truth!

She wept as she licked her ice cream; as the rain mixed with the cream, the sweet, cloying treat took on the taste of mud.

Suddenly, she began to run frantically, as if chasing after the beauty she had lost.

Her long hair flowed, dancing in the wind. The hem of her small dress billowed, reminiscent of the scene where Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen part ways in *A Chinese Ghost Story*.

Resolute. Tragic. Heart-wrenching.

Wearing Tang Zhong’s white sneakers, still warm from his feet, she sprinted past the Lovers' Path, past Mingli Lake, past the Ink-Washing Pool, past the statue of Su Shi, and out of the school gate.

She rushed to the roadside, and a taxi screeched to a halt beside her.

The elderly driver had initially intended to scold her—to tell her that she should watch where she was going, that dashing into the road like that was dangerous—but upon seeing the young girl’s tear-streaked face and her red, swollen eyes, his heart softened. Instead, he said, "Oh, little girl, what’s the matter? Why are you out so late, and where are you headed?"

Qiu Yihan pulled open the back door, climbed in, and sobbed, "Driver, please take me to Blue Sea and Blue Sky."

"Oh my, that’s a high-end residential area. It’s quite a distance from here," the driver remarked, though he started the engine regardless.

As the taxi drove on, the sound of soft weeping continued from the backseat. Hearing the girl cry so sorrowfully made the driver’s own eyes sting. While driving, he tried to console her: "Little girl, did you have a fight with your boyfriend? Or did something happen at home? If it’s something at home, don't cry. Crying is the weakest thing you can do; it never solves any problems."

"And if it’s a fight with your boyfriend, even less reason to cry. A while back, I picked up a girl—boy, she was crying so miserably. I tried to console her, and she told me she’d broken up with her boyfriend and didn't want to live anymore. And guess what happened a few days later? She was holding hands with another boy when she got into my cab. She was even feeding him ice cream in the backseat."

"Look on the bright side. What does that old saying go? Three-legged toads are hard to find, but two-legged men are a dime a dozen. Aren't you just looking for a 'two-legged toad'—a man? Leave it to me. Your uncle here will help you find one."

"I'm not looking for a toad. And I don't want a man," Qiu Yihan sniffled.

"Then what do you want?" the taxi driver asked.

"I want Tang Zhong," Qiu Yihan said, her nose twitching.

"Is this Tang Zhong a toad or a man?"

"He..." Qiu Yihan thought for a moment before saying, "He is my friend."

"Oh. Then he’s a man," the driver concluded. "That’s even less reason to cry. You’re such a pretty girl; are you afraid you won't find another friend? Hey, all you have to do is wave your hand, and men would line up from your school gate all the way to Blue Sea and Blue Sky."

"I don't want a man."

"Yes, yes, yes." The driver, thoroughly baffled by the young girl’s logic, decided to surrender. "You want a toad. Uncle can help you find a toad, too."

Blue Sea and Blue Sky was located near Mingzhu Sea and was one of the few high-end developments in the city with a sea view.

It took nearly an hour to drive there from Nanda University, even without traffic.

When the car stopped at the entrance of the villa complex, Qiu Yihan fumbled through her pockets, only to realize she had no money on her. Because she had been performing on stage, she had left her wallet with Luo Huan. Luo Huan had remembered to give her the sweater, but not her wallet.

"Uncle, could you wait for me for a moment? I... please, I won't run away. I’ll have someone bring you the money as soon as I get inside." Qiu Yihan wiped away her tears.

"Sigh. Good girl. Go handle your business. I drove for an hour, and you cried for an hour—my heart has melted already. Hurry back inside. It’s cold out, and it’s still raining," the driver said.

"You have to wait for me, okay?" Qiu Yihan urged. "I’ve noted your license plate number. I’ll have someone bring you the money in a bit."

"Go on, go on. I know you won't skip out on the fare. People who live in places like this wouldn't stiff me for such a small amount," the driver said, waving his hand.

Once Qiu Yihan entered the complex, the driver honked his horn twice at her retreating figure before his car quickly vanished into the darkness.

Qiu Yihan turned back to look, and she began to cry again.

The driver’s kindness had brought her a sense of warmth. The world wasn't as cold as she had felt just moments ago.

There was hatred, but there was also love.

When Qiu Yihan pressed the doorbell of the villa, a group of people immediately rushed out.

Leading the way was her grandmother. Despite having had her feet bound in her youth, she moved with surprising speed, as if unaffected by it at all.

She pulled Qiu Yihan into her arms, calling her "precious" and "darling," scolding her, "Hanhan, you scared me to death! You were going to be the death of me! How could you run back at a time like this? Even if you wanted to come home, you should have called me so I could send a car to pick you up at the school gate. Have you forgotten what happened last time? If anything happened to you, how would I go on living? I couldn't live without you!"

Qiu Yihan’s mother, Zhang Yun, and her father, Qiu Hongtu, could only follow behind the grandmother. Seeing their daughter’s red, swollen eyes and tear-stained face, they exchanged a silent look, both sensing that something was terribly wrong.

Suddenly, her grandmother exclaimed, "Oh, my little ancestor! Why are you wearing so few clothes? Just a sweater on the outside, and nothing underneath—child, why didn't you put on more layers? I told you, don't stay at the dormitory, but you insisted. Now look, you’ve suffered, haven't you? Come inside, hurry, come inside."

Surrounded by her grandmother, parents, and two maids, Qiu Yihan returned to the grand, palace-like villa lobby like a little princess.

One maid rushed to dry her hair with a clean towel, while another brought warm water to wash her face. Her mother draped a blanket over her, and her grandmother knelt down to untie her shoes—this had always been the life Qiu Yihan lived.

"Oh, my little ancestor. Whose shoes are these you're wearing? They’re so smelly. Are these a boy's shoes? Hanhan, how could you wear a boy’s shoes? Where are your own?"

Qiu Yihan didn't answer, her eyes fixed firmly on her father, Qiu Hongtu.

Seeing her daughter in such a wretched state, Zhang Yun felt a pang of heartache. She took her daughter’s hand and sat her on the sofa, instructing the maids to boil some ginger soup, then asked, "Yihan, what’s wrong? What happened? Can you tell Mommy?"

Qiu Yihan stared at Qiu Hongtu and said, "Father."

Qiu Hongtu sat down across from her, his face full of doting affection. "Yihan, what do you want to say to Father?"

"If I were to be with Tang Zhong, would you oppose it?"

"What?" Her grandmother was the first to jump up. "Yihan, you want to be with Tang Zhong? Absolutely not. That’s out of the question. I don't like him. He isn't worthy of our Hanhan. Why him, of all people?"

Zhang Yun looked at her daughter with alarm. "Yihan, why would you ask that?"

"If I wanted to be with him, would you threaten him? Bribe him? Would you hire people to beat him—"

"Yihan!" Zhang Yun interrupted, angry. "How can you speak to your father like that? How could your father ever do such a thing? He loves you so much; you’ll hurt his feelings."

"That’s enough, Zhang Yun," Qiu Hongtu said, waving his hand. He looked at Qiu Yihan with a stern expression. "Yihan, I know why you’re asking these questions. My answer is, yes, I would."

"You are Qiu Hongtu’s daughter. Only a handful of people are worthy of my precious girl. I have raised you for so many years; I won't watch you get tricked by some punk just like that. You are still young and don't understand anything. You certainly don't know how to choose a partner. But I have lived for decades and have seen countless people. I must choose a good husband for my daughter. While your mother and I are here to take care of you, in the future, that man will be the one to do so."

"Therefore, for any man I don't approve of, I will threaten him if I can, and bribe him if I can—and if he cannot be threatened or bribed, I wouldn't mind using other methods to drive him away. Yihan, you might hate me now, but one day you will thank me."

Qiu Yihan sat there in shock, forgetting even to cry.

Everything he said was true. Everything Tang Zhong had said was true.

Her father was truly capable of such things; he would truly go after the boy she liked for her own sake.

Tang Zhong hadn't lied to her. He wasn't the devil; her father was.

She didn't know what to do. She couldn't speak, she couldn't cry, and she sat there shivering.

Her grandmother rushed over and hugged her, complaining, "Hongtu, why say these things to the child? Why tell her this? Be good, Hanhan; Father was just trying to scare you. Who told you to run out in the middle of the night? Will you be a good girl from now on?"

Qiu Yihan felt as if she were being stretched from within.

Like a balloon constantly being inflated, ready to burst with a 'bang' at any moment.

She leaned against her grandmother’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

She was just so, so tired.

***

After Qiu Yihan ran past him, Tang Zhong stepped out from the shadows of the woods, picked up the rose that had been dampened by the rain, and sighed softly as he watched her retreating figure.

"I once liked you too," Tang Zhong said gently. "But... love requires the courage to never give up."