Donghai City Public Security Bureau, Criminal Investigation Detachment, corridor outside the interrogation room.
Bai Xialin sat next to Gu Yebai, half an arm’s length away, yet she pressed her calf lightly against his pant leg.
Her hair was still messy, strands stuck to her damp neck, revealing a strip of pale shoulder. The strap of her dress had slipped down to her arm, and the folds of her evening gown were bunched messily around her waist, as if they had been roughly handled and then hastily straightened.
She kept her head down, her eyelashes lowered. Her pupils, black with a hint of purple, gleamed in the cold light, looking almost unreal. Her fingers traced idle circles on his knee.
“So… what’s going to happen to us?”
Her voice was soft, like shattered glass fragments, tinged with a nasal tone, yet also carrying a languid satisfaction.
Gu Yebai didn’t answer. He just swallowed.
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded from outside. The door was yanked open, bringing in a gust of cold air.
Baek Jeong-hun burst in first.
His tie was askew, his hair a windblown mess. His eyes were red-rimmed as if he had just been crying, the whites shot through with blood. He looked like a bowstring stretched to its limit—one touch and it would snap.
Back in the hotel’s surveillance room, when he saw his daughter being stuffed into a sack, he had truly broken down. Half of those tears were an act, but half were real.
He had immersed himself so deeply into the role that even now, the ferocity hadn’t dissipated. It felt like a fire was burning in his chest.
One step behind him were Gao Hongzhi and Ya Xinyao.
Gao Hongzhi’s face was ashen, his fists clenched so tight that his knuckles were white, as if he might crush something at any moment. Ya Xinyao’s face was deathly pale, her whole body swaying as if she might faint at any second.
“Are you both all right?”
“Oh… thank heavens!”
“You made it back alive… thank goodness…”
Ya Xinyao’s voice trembled. Tears welled up instantly, her tone carrying the choked sobs of a survivor. But Baek Jeong-hun ignored them.
His gaze locked onto Bai Xialin almost immediately.
His bloodshot eyes swept over his daughter: first the dark purple hickeys and scratch marks on her neck and shoulders—marks that matched the ones on Gu Yebai’s body, like paired evidence of mutual branding. Her violet evening gown was in disarray, the skirt crumpled and bunched at her waist, with even a few small tears.
What he cared about, of course, was not that custom-made evening dress worth 180,000 RMB, flown in from Paris by Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad.
That dress, in his eyes, wasn’t worth a single strand of his daughter’s hair.
Realizing that his daughter had suffered irreversible physical harm—that her first time was gone, taken from her, unwillingly given to someone else—Baek Jeong-hun’s teeth ground together audibly. His knees gave way, and he couldn’t help but fall to the ground.
“Xiaolin…”
“My Xiaolin…”
His voice was squeezed from his chest, hoarse as if scraped by sandpaper.
He acted as if he knew nothing, roaring with a voice nearly overflowing with hatred. “That kidnapper… I’ll tear him limb from limb! I’ll kill him with my own hands!”
He shifted the blame for his daughter’s tragic situation entirely onto the so-called “kidnapper.”
Bai Xialin’s shoulders trembled. She instinctively moved closer to Gu Yebai, her voice soft and tearful:
“Dad… no…”
“Let me explain…”
“It wasn’t the kidnapper who took it…”
“The situation is like this…”
Just then, Officer Li, who had been conducting the interrogation, also walked out of the room, his expression grim.
“Have you caught the suspect?”
Baek Jeong-hun asked like a provoked beast, his voice a roar.
“Not yet.”
Officer Li shook his head.
“Allow me to explain the course of events tonight, as well as the perpetrator’s motive.”
Baek Jeong-hun nodded, stood up, and positioned himself beside his daughter like a wall. Gao Hongzhi also placed his hand on Gu Yebai’s shoulder, his face twisted with pain, as if tonight’s events had aged the man ten years in an instant. Ya Xinyao bit her lip, seemingly forcing herself to empathize with the heartache.
As Officer Li calmly and professionally recounted the events, the parents listened intently. Every detail cut into their nerves like a knife.
When he reached a critical point—the kidnapper threatening with a dagger, forcing the two to have sex—Baek Jeong-hun abruptly turned his head to look at Gu Yebai.
“So it was you…”
“You took my daughter’s…”
His eyes looked as if they could devour someone. The bloodshot eyes held a terrifying mix of anger, pain, and murderous intent.
The fluorescent light hummed.
Bai Xialin’s tears fell with a plop, but she dared not make a sound.
She just lowered her head even further, her fingers digging tightly into Gu Yebai’s wrist, as if afraid he might disappear the next second.
Gu Yebai felt like the whole world was spinning. He lowered his head, his voice dry as sandpaper rubbing together: “I… I’m sorry.”
The three words seemed forced out of his throat.
Baek Jeong-hun stared at him, the blood in his eyes even more pronounced.
“Sorry?”
He repeated the word, his voice very soft, yet carrying a calmness that sent chills down one’s spine. “Does ‘sorry’ fix anything?”
“Dad! Don’t yell at him!”
“I love him! I did everything willingly!”
Bai Xialin suddenly stepped in front of Gu Yebai, like a mother hen protecting her chicks. Her voice was choked with tears but unusually firm.
Baek Jeong-hun swung a punch.
It hit the wall beside him.
The dull thud of bone hitting bone was clearly audible. Blood immediately seeped from his knuckles.
But he seemed to feel no pain. He just stared at Gu Yebai, his chest heaving violently.
“Brother Bai…”
Gao Hongzhi seemed to want to step forward and comfort his old friend.
“Old Gao…”
Baek Jeong-hun turned his head, his voice terrifyingly low.
“Your son and my daughter… this happened.”
“I need an explanation.”
“I absolutely cannot let this go, understand? She’s my only daughter! She’s the most important person to me!”
Gao Hongzhi paused.
He knew very well this was no longer about money or business concessions.
“No!”
Ya Xinyao immediately stepped forward, her voice trembling but resolute:
“Name your price! But my Xiao Gu is going to marry our Hongyi! They’re already engaged!”
“What did you say?”
Baek Jeong-hun snapped his head around, his eyes cutting like knives: “So my daughter just loses her precious first time like that?”
“Giving it to this brat?”
“And then this brat just abandons my daughter and goes off to enjoy his own happiness? Is that it?”
“And you dare mention money? Do you think I need your filthy money?”
The blood in his eyes deepened. This man in his rage—even if he pulled out a knife the next second, it wouldn’t be surprising.
The air in the corridor seemed to be sucked away.
Only Baek Jeong-hun’s heavy breathing and Bai Xialin’s stifled sobs remained.
Gao Hongzhi looked at his son and let out a deep sigh. Ya Xinyao stood firmly by Gao Hongyi’s side, protecting her daughter’s interests.
Gu Yebai watched the different reactions from the people around him, feeling his soul being torn in four different directions, as if about to be ripped to shreds.
“Son, what happened back then was unavoidable. We won’t blame you…” Gao Hongzhi’s voice was low, carrying a father’s helplessness.
“And Old Bai, your daughter…”
“Yes, it was my daughter who initiated it, I won’t deny that. My daughter loves your son, I admit that too. But so what?”
Baek Jeong-hun gritted his teeth, his voice growing harsher:
“I admit, I really do appreciate this kid. But if he really tries to just walk away without a care, then he’s no better than scum! My daughter sacrificed herself for him!”
“Either this kid becomes part of our Bai family… or he becomes our enemy.”
“And you, Old Gao! Are you looking down on my daughter?”
“Is my daughter the kind of cheap slut who can be bought off with money after losing her first time?”
“Say it!”
Gao Hongzhi stared at the man who had been his close friend moments ago but now looked ready to throw a punch at him. He took a deep breath.
“The young people’s affairs should be decided by the young people themselves. Old Bai, our family owes you for this, but my son’s happiness can only be decided by my son!”
“No one can force his decision! Not even me!”
“Son, let’s go home!”
“Xiaolin…”
Gu Yebai murmured softly.
Back in the secret room, when the kidnapper threatened them with a knife, Bai Xialin had stepped forward.
When they learned that they would be released if that act happened, Bai Xialin had also thrown caution to the wind… What should he do now?
“Xiao Gu Gu, you go.”
Bai Xialin suddenly looked up, her voice soft as melting butter, yet her eyes held a nearly sickening tenderness.
“I told you, I don’t regret it.”
“Even if you don’t choose me, I accept it willingly.”
The more she acted like this, the more it stirred Gu Yebai’s conscience. Maybe he would never be able to sleep peacefully again…
‘Don’t worry, before school starts, I’ll give you an answer.’
‘And I’ll give Hongyi an answer too.’
‘Ah…’
‘I feel like a prisoner about to step onto the guillotine.’
‘There is no right choice.’
‘Both paths lead straight to a hell of pain.’
‘For now, I need to go to the hospital to see Hongyi, make sure she’s okay.’
‘Even if in her eyes, I might already be tainted.’
‘Sometimes I miss the days in Linchuan… No one liked me too much or hated me too much. In Linchuan, I was a free king. I wrote books, chatted with a few readers who appreciated my work, and the days passed easily…’
Now.
Gu Yebai felt he had completely lost his freedom.
In some sense, he had become a slave—or rather, a pet was more accurate…
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