Returning - Chapter 166

Chapter 166: Player in the Game

When Zhao Yu woke from her deep sleep, before even opening her eyes, she heard Xue Zi'ang's delighted voice: "She's awake!"

The anesthesia must have started to wear off, because the area around her right chest and shoulder hurt terribly.

Her eyelids were incredibly heavy, and just opening them took immense effort.

Seeing how weak and powerless she was, Xue Zi'ang asked nervously, "Does it hurt? Should I call the doctor?"

Glancing at Xue Zi'ang, who was leaning over her bedside, and then at Xue Zhan, who sat on the edge of the bed with equal concern, Zhao Yu managed to force a small smile with her lips, but she truly couldn't make a sound.

The surgery had just finished, and she still needed oxygen. Through the mask, Xue Zhan and Xue Zi'ang couldn't even see the curve of her lips.

Xue Zhan, still uneasy, pressed the button to call the doctor.

Fortunately, everything was normal; she was just extremely weak post-surgery.

The moment his worry subsided, Xue Zi'ang could no longer contain his fury and fear: "Zhao Yu, do you not care about your life at all? What about our promise of mutual trust?"

"You believed I could rescue you from Miao San, and I believed I could protect you, believed every word you said. But in the end, you fuck..."

He forcibly swallowed back the curse, plopped angrily into the chair, and glared at her fiercely for several seconds before demanding, "Do you know I was scared to death when I saw you get stabbed? I thought..."

His voice inexplicably cracked with emotion. With Xue Zhan right there, Xue Zi'ang felt even more embarrassed. Grinding his teeth, he simply fell silent.

Zhao Yu knew perfectly well that both he and Xue Zhan would be angry.

Hearing the catch in his voice made her feel a surge of guilt. She moved her lips to say sorry, but still couldn't manage it.

When she first found out about the trouble Zhuang Yiqing had caused by keeping a young lover, she had conceived this plan.

That was why she hired a private investigator to identify the men who acted on Zhuang Yiqing's orders.

Even back then, she had decided to make the act real, to allow herself to be genuinely hurt, because that would make the performance far more convincing.

But she also knew that if everyone knew she would get injured, they would never agree to the plan. So after agreeing on mutual trust, she had once again deceived them.

Watching her try and fail to speak, Xue Zhan sighed and said flatly, "Alright, let her rest properly."

Of course, he was just as furious as Xue Zi'ang.

He also wanted to question her—why, after everything he had done for her, did she still have to deceive him again?

But seeing her like this, he truly couldn't muster the anger.

No one inflicts such cruelty on themselves without reason.

She had merely tasted too much suffering, bred too much hatred, and harbored a diehard determination for revenge, so she was willing to pay any price to ensure everything was done perfectly.

Ultimately, it was his own oversight. He had thought their plan was sufficient to convince Xu Chengyan and that she could rest easy, but it turned out...

To ensure her safety, he had hired the best combat instructors to drill Xue Zi'ang hard for two months and had people secretly protecting her.

Yet, just as Xue Zi'ang had lived up to expectations by intercepting Miao San when he came to kidnap her, she seized the chance to feign panicked clumsiness, deliberately giving Miao San the opportunity to wound her.

So resolute, so cruel to others, but even crueler to herself.

She had no idea how anxious he felt when he got the phone call from Xue Zi'ang, his voice trembling with urgency, telling him she had deliberately let herself be stabbed.

"Zhao Yu." He remained silent for a long moment before speaking again, "This is the last time. If there's a next time, I absolutely will not meddle in your affairs anymore."

"Right," Xue Zi'ang chimed in. "If there's a next time, I'll..."

"I'll follow your lead and stab myself too."

The threats from this uncle and nephew were truly... each more un-intimidating and peculiar than the other.

Zhao Yu wanted to laugh, but as she strained to curve her lips, tears fell first instead.

It must be, she thought, because the wound hurt too much.

"Is it very painful?" Xue Zi'ang stood up quickly to check on her.

"Then I won't talk, I won't agitate you. Rest well."

Just then, Xue Zhan's phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he reached out and stopped the hand Xue Zi'ang was about to use to wipe her tears. "Leave it."

Xue Zi'ang didn't react at first, but then his eyes fell on the phone and he understood. He murmured to Zhao Yu, "It must be Xu Chengyan."

Both he and Xue Zhan knew that tears had always been Zhao Yu's most powerful weapon.

A scene like this, of course, had to be witnessed by Xu Chengyan.

The call was from the bodyguard stationed at the stairway. Ostensibly for Zhao Yu's protection, it was really just to prevent outsiders from entering—after all, they couldn't let Zhuang Yiqing's people discover too much yet.

Xu Chengyan, returning from the interrogation site, had been seething with anger. He was furious that Zhuang Yiqing had meddled in his affairs without permission, and even more irritated that he needed Xue Zhan's consent for the bodyguards to let him through just to visit someone in a hospital room.

But the moment he reached her bedside and saw Zhao Yu's tear-streaked face and watery eyes, his anger was instantly blocked in his throat.

"You're awake?"

Zhao Yu wanted to turn her head away and ignore him, but she still couldn't move.

She could only shift her gaze away and slowly close her eyes.

The tears that had pooled in her eyes trickled from the corners as she shut them, tracing her earlier tear tracks and seeping slowly into her oxygen mask. Xu Chengyan couldn't help but clench his fists. He turned, pulled a tissue from the cabinet, and prepared to wipe her face.

Xue Zi'ang beat him to it, blocking his hand. Using the tissue in his own hand, he carefully dabbed away each tear, his voice thick with unabashed hostility: "Save it."

"She doesn't want to see you at all. Stop coming here to anger her."

Xu Chengyan, uncharacteristically, did not retort. He simply stared fixedly at Zhao Yu.

He had seen her in so many guises—dazzling, sultry, licentious, dejected... but he had rarely ever seen her cry.

To be precise, apart from the physiological tears squeezed out from over-stimulation in bed, she had never cried while fully conscious.

Inexplicably, he suddenly recalled that night on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the Zhao Yu who had actively seduced him to a hotel, and after making love with him, lay on his chest, weeping silently.

The her back then—it wasn't actually tears from an overly intense orgasm, but genuine sorrow, wasn't it?

That whole night, she had been completely out of sorts.

And their first time together, when her emotions were so wildly abnormal; that time at the club, when she trembled all over after seeing blood.

Those moments seemed to be the only times she had ever shown vulnerability in front of him. And right now, she was probably even more fragile than she had been during any of them.

He didn't even need to think about it. Faced with something like this, she must be terrified and helpless, aggrieved and furious.

Xue Zhan spoke, "I showed President Xu some face by letting people allow you a single look."

"Since she doesn't want to see you, President Xu, please leave."

Xu Chengyan showed no sign of leaving whatsoever, but his gaze shifted to the cabinet.

Lying there was the fruit knife the doctor had removed from her chest, its blade still bearing dried blood, deep and glaringly red.

Xue Zhan's tone grew sharper: "President Xu, you can see for yourself. Her condition, both physically and psychologically, isn't good right now. Your presence here serves no purpose other than to remind her again and again of what she just endured."

This time, after a moment of silence, Xu Chengyan finally stepped away.

But after only a few steps, he stopped. He turned to look at the person on the bed, still tightly shutting her eyes while tears continued streaming down her face.

His voice heavy, he said, "I will give you justice."

Zhao Yu slowly opened her eyes. She stared at him blankly, her lips parting slightly, and spoke with great difficulty.

"She was right. It's what I deserve. We're even now. Let me go."

Her voice was tiny and somewhat hoarse, the words fragmented and halting, but Xu Chengyan still heard them very clearly, and understood what she meant.

Zhuang Yiqing had dared to send people to abduct her so openly. This time, she was lucky and got rescued. But if he caused trouble for Zhuang Yiqing, that woman might be even more vicious next time.

But why should his woman have to fear Zhuang Yiqing?

Who he chose to be with, who he wanted to sleep with—what did that have to do with her?

Watching Xu Chengyan stride away, fists clenched and radiating fury, no longer bearing any trace of his usual elegance and composure, Xue Zhan couldn't help but glance thoughtfully at Zhao Yu.

Witnessing her perform this act firsthand, as a bystander—the experience was truly extraordinarily subtle.

After all, he and Xue Zi'ang had once been players in this very same game, trapped within her snare.

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