Chapter Fifteen: The Indifference of the Vast Plains

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In the hospital corridor, Wen Zhi’s legs trembled uncontrollably. The doctor’s preliminary diagnosis was an allergic reaction—Zhuang Sui was allergic to beef and was still being resuscitated inside. She hated herself for not asking proactively; a child would never truly know her own allergens.

Half an hour passed, yet the girl had not emerged from the emergency room.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps approached from nearby.

“Why are you here?”

A familiar voice rang out overhead. Wen Zhi, clutching her knees, leaned against the wall and slowly rose, her numb legs forgotten in that moment.

Bo Ye showed no patience to listen and immediately sought out the attending physician.

In less than a minute, the man understood the situation.

Cold, piercing eyes shot toward her. Before Wen Zhi could process his approach, a strong grip seized her neck.

“I thought you had settled down!”

His roar sent a shiver through her body.

“Zhuang Sui is mine. How dare you touch her!”

Her oxygen-starved mind raced desperately—Zhuang Sui belonged to him?

Right, Zhu Wan had said he had a child with that white moonlight...

Wen Zhi dropped the hand restraining Bo Ye, allowing his brutality.

This matter was her fault from the start. No matter how much she argued, if anything happened to Zhuang Sui, she could not bear the consequences.

A life for a life—she could accept that.

Only, her life seemed utterly worthless.

Bo Ye’s gaze flickered with a trace of doubt as he saw her lowered hands.

“Do you think I’ve been lenient with you all this time? You’re only lucky to be pretty. If it weren’t for the child in your belly—”

He released her then, and Wen Zhi collapsed against the wall like a marionette, gasping for breath.

“If anything happens to her, the child you carry...”

Wen Zhi strained to lift her eyes to him, summoning the last of her strength to say, “No... the child is innocent.”

The child was another life. She would repay with her own, but the child was blameless.

Bo Ye loomed over her, eyes blazing with scorn and mockery.

His expensive leather shoes slightly lifted her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his with nowhere to hide.

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“What? You’d destroy others’ children without mercy, but protect your own better than anyone else?”

His interest waned, and he withdrew his foot. “I thought you’d be a pretty ornament in the Bo family, but you just had to cause trouble...”

“I’ll take the child for an abortion soon. Get out of the Bo family.”

Wen Zhi’s strength returned a little.

This man, filled with hostility, was utterly unfamiliar and terrifying.

No one who was being plotted against would treat their “target” kindly at first, even if he didn’t know Wen Zhi was, like him, a pawn being manipulated for family gain.

Yet during this time together, she had found a glimmer of chivalry in him. He had helped her several times. In many moments, Wen Zhi almost believed he was different from others in dark W City.

What could she do? She truly had no leverage. Without the child, what would become of the Wen family?

Wen Zhi stood, trembling step by step as she approached him. “No... please.”

“Beg me?”

He smirked, as if hearing a joke, the familiar smile there but with a cold edge she had never known.

“You’re only nineteen, right? You’ll have plenty of chances ahead. Why waste yourself on me?”

His words sent a chill through her.

What did he take her for? A woman who could be sold anytime in exchange for profit?

She had dignity.

She had once thought he was a good man. She had truly believed that...

[Then I should regret not killing her just now.]

Wen Zhi’s mind swirled with chaos, as if opposing him would somehow make him regret his earlier harsh words.

“Whoosh—”

Bo Ye’s fist brushed past her ear with terrifying speed. He was clearly a martial artist; Wen Zhi’s ear stung painfully from the swift strike.

Behind him, Ran Wu gasped, “Miss Wen!”

“Don’t think I’m afraid to hit a woman!”

Bo Ye gripped her jaw. Wen Zhi’s face twisted in pain, yet remained beautiful. Her round eyes stubbornly met his gaze. In several moments, he had nearly fallen captive to those eyes...

Realizing this only fueled his fury. To Wen Zhi, he was a wild beast out of control, ready to explode and hunt at any moment.

“This is your own doing. I’ll make you regret it.”

Bo Ye threw her face aside.

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His words were calm now, no longer filled with rage, as if he had settled into cold reflection.

Wen Zhi closed her eyes and stood up.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She had barely taken a few steps when his voice came again from behind:

“As long as you’re in W City, I will make you—and the Wen family—suffer unbearable pain.”

Hearing the name Wen family, her slender shoulders trembled. After a moment’s hesitation, she resumed walking, slowly fading into the distance.

—

Wen Zhi felt like a lost soul as she left. Where could she go? The Wen family? But did she still have a room there?

That villa? It was Bo Ye’s home. What if going to the Yu Hang family now brought trouble to her?

She felt like one awaiting cruel execution. If anything happened to the child, her death would be a life for a life. If all went well, Bo Ye wouldn’t let her go either. Either way, she was doomed. She could not die in this unfamiliar W City.

She bought a plane ticket back to Z City. The flight was soon—boarding in half an hour.

All she wanted was to leave this strange city. Now, sitting in the airport lounge, seeing the messages she had sent not long ago felt bitterly ironic.

Her phone buzzed nonstop—messages from the Wen family and Yu Hang. She knew why the Wen family was searching for her.

She reported safe to Yu Hang, then turned off her phone.

On the plane, she slept and dreamt a long, reluctant-to-end dream.

She dreamed she was seventeen again—grandmother was still alive, Shen Dan was there, friends were there, she was still in high school, and the Wen family hadn’t come to care for her yet.

Wen Zhi wished all that now was just a dream.

Until a pair of hands shook her awake, a flight attendant gently rousing her.

Yes, on the way here she had seen so many families arriving at the airport, all in pairs, traveling together.

Wen Zhi stepped off the plane, the bittersweet feeling of returning home flooding over her.

Her eyes stung faintly.

Only after the long journey back to her own home and pushing open the old door did the long-held tears burst like a flood.

Grandmother’s memory had faded; the key was hidden in the flower pot by the door.

Now the flowers in the pot had withered, and grandmother had been gone a long time.

In truth, she had long been alone.