Chased by My Heartless Ex - Chapter 55

Zhou Siyu’s heartbeat was erratic. In this negotiation, she had almost laid all her cards on the table, laying herself bare and breaking down the facts for Xu You.

She clearly understood that Xu You was not some little girl who would obey her every command. If Xu You refused, she would have no recourse but to invest more effort into creating new encounters, new intersections in their lives.

Waiting, there was nothing else she could do.

In the hallway, their breaths intertwined, one deep, one shallow.

The matter involved Yu Yao, and Xu You couldn’t simply refuse without considering her. Yu Yao had been instrumental in helping her find her footing, calling Yu Yao her savior wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Starting a software company was Yu Yao’s dream, and the effort, resources, pride, and hopes she had poured into it now rested in Xu You’s hands. Xu You began to feel resistance and the urge to escape.

She didn’t want to be the pivotal move on the chessboard, the one that determined someone else’s fate.

“Please leave our home. Even if you’re the owner, once you rented the place to us, you have no right to barge in unannounced and disrupt our lives.”

The inner bedroom door swung open. Xu Tian, her shoulder-length hair tied into a low ponytail, strode angrily to the doorway.

She had overheard about eighty percent of the conversation. Her sister’s accusations were heart-wrenching, and she couldn’t even imagine what kind of attitude or agreement they had reached during that Christmas phone call to make her feel so sweetly deceived. Looking back now, it felt like swallowing a fly coated in sugar, disgusting, yet impossible to spit out.

She stepped out and positioned herself between Xu You and Zhou Siyu. Though her presence was naturally weaker in a confrontation with Zhou Siyu, she was fearless when it came to protecting her sister. The toe of her cotton slipper kicked at Zhou Siyu’s shin, and as Zhou Siyu instinctively stepped back to avoid it, Xu Tian swiftly pulled the door shut, sealing herself and her sister safely behind the white walls.

“Sis, are you going to agree to her? Let’s talk to Sister Yaoyao. The company hasn’t even started renovations yet. Maybe we should leave Beicheng, return to Hushi or persuade them to come with us to Australia. As long as we’re here, that wild dog will sniff us out.” Xu Tian stared into Xu You’s eyes, her gaze pleading.

Xu You’s mind was in turmoil. She truly didn’t know what the right decision was or how to help Yu Yao.

Leaning her shoulder against the wall, she thought for a long time before straightening up, looking utterly defeated. Step by step, she walked to the sofa and picked up her phone.

Xu Tian approached her, pushing the bag of milk tea in her direction. Xu Tian set it aside on the floor and sat down next to her, trying to reason with her and awaken the righteous defiance in her kind-hearted sister.

She should fight back, she could fight back. No one should be a reason for her to lose courage or compromise.

“Are you really going to forgive her?”

“Let’s pack up and go to Hushi. We’ll terminate the lease and stay quietly in Hushi until the art exhibition begins. I’ll call Yu Yao myself and explain the situation.”

As expected of sisters bound by the same blood, they spoke at the exact same time.

Xu You didn’t answer the question, only shaking her head to convey her stance. Overjoyed by this response, Xu Tian poked straws into both cups of milk tea, placing the jasmine green milk tea by Xu You’s hand. She bit the straw of her own cup and bounced back to her room, dragging out a large suitcase to gather all the bits and pieces she had scattered around the house.

While tidying up, she slipped to the door and peeked through the peephole. Zhou Siyu was still there, standing directly opposite the entrance, holding an unlit cigarette between her fingers. Her gaze, devoid of warmth, was fixed intently on the door, her expression inscrutable.

Disgusted by her creepy behavior, Xu Tian flipped her off through the door, made a childish face, and then nonchalantly walked back to the living room as if nothing had happened.

Her sister had said Zhou Siyu was exceptionally persistent. To avoid running into her, they had decided not to leave the house for the next couple of days, making do with the frozen meals in the fridge until she left.

Xu Tian agreed and couldn’t help but wonder how many days Zhou Siyu’s so-called guilt-ridden love for her sister would keep her standing out there.

After dinner, Xu Tian went to take a shower in her room, while Xu You tiptoed to the front door.

It was equally quiet on both sides of the door. The motion-sensor light in the hallway was off, and peering through the peephole, the pitch-black night had swallowed everything in darkness. Unable to make out the situation outside clearly, Xu You was about to look away when the sensor light suddenly flickered on.

Before the hallway lit up, the screen of Zhou Siyu’s phone had already glowed, a small, bright spot that illuminated her face slightly. Even through the door, the anxiety in her striking eyes was unmistakable.

Then came the sound of hurried footsteps. Zhou Siyu strode quickly to the elevator and pressed the button several times.

Immediately after, the entire hallway was bathed in the warm glow of the overhead light. As if sensing Xu You behind the door, she suddenly turned her gaze toward the tightly shut crimson security door.

Her eyes held too many emotions for Xu You to decipher. Soon, the elevator doors opened. Zhou Siyu’s eyes lingered for a few more seconds before she hurriedly stepped inside and left.

By the time Xu Tian finished her shower, towel in hand and water dripping from her hair, she ran into her sister sitting on the sofa. Before she could even scold herself for running around with wet hair, Xu You, already fully dressed, stood up and handed her down her jacket.

“What’s going on?”

As she asked, she noticed the three large suitcases by the door and suddenly understood. Wrapping her hair in the towel and pulling on the down jacket, she followed Xu You as they made a hasty transfer that very night.

Their destination was Yu Yao’s home. Once the four of them met up, Xu You’s tense heart finally relaxed.

Fortunately, that creep hadn’t set up an ambush downstairs as a diversion, their escape had gone smoothly.

Upon learning about Zhou Siyu’s proposal, Yu Yao and Xu Tian spent nearly half an hour venting their frustration together. Yu Yao had chosen to set up her company in Beicheng, thousands of miles from home, precisely to avoid relying on connections to get things done. Yet here was Zhou Siyu, using such terms to pressure and manipulate Xu You, utterly despicable.

But neither of them, one just starting out in society and the other with only a high school education, fully realized that without connections, getting things done was difficult, and rising to the top was nearly impossible.

After hiding at Yu Yao’s place for two days, Xu You took Xu Tian on a flight to Shanghai.

The traces of their brief stay were completely erased by the cleaning staff who came by. The Western-style house returned to the state it was in when they first saw it, the air purified and carrying a faint woody fragrance.

Xu Tian was quite satisfied with this, but Xu You said nothing and quietly switched the scent to a fruity aroma.

A sudden crisis struck half a month later. At that time, Xu Tian had just been seen off by Xu You at the airport when Xu You received a call from Mai.

Mai’s Chinese had long passed the highest level of the HSK exam, but in this call, her sentences were jumbled, her tone frantic, and she kept slipping into French. Standing in the airport terminal, Xu You listened for just a few seconds before sprinting to the counter to inquire about the earliest flight to Beicheng.

Yu Yao, fight, badly injured, in the hospital.

With Msi’s choked sobs ringing in her ears, Xu You felt a nerve twitch in her brain, and her mind uncontrollably conjured up bloody scenes.

Knowing Yu Yao’s temperament, usually calm but easily provoked when challenged, just like when she had returned from abroad and ended up fighting Zhou Siyu all the way to the police station, Xu You knew that if Zhou Siyu had fought back, Yu Yao might still be standing before them now. But this time, she had no idea how terrible the scene might have been.

The earliest flight was in four hours. After checking the train schedules and comparing the options, flying directly was still the fastest and most convenient choice.

While buying the ticket, Xu You realized she hadn’t brought her ID with her. Using her ID number, she purchased the ticket, hailed a cab, went home to grab a change of clothes and important documents, and then rushed through the VIP channel to board the plane just in time.

At 30,000 feet in the air, she was too anxious to focus. Every time she closed her eyes, terrifying images flooded her mind.

At the ICU entrance, she saw Mai with bloodshot eyes. After changing into sterile clothing, Xu You went in for a quick look. The vibrant person she had bid farewell to was now lying lifeless on the hospital bed, wrapped in bandages. When she came out, she held Mai, and the two of them wept silently in each other’s arms.

Leaning on each other for support, Mai slowly recounted the details of the fight to Xu You.

The design company they had hired had delivered plans riddled with problems. When the construction team arrived on-site, they found it impossible to start work. Yu Yao went back to the design company, but the other side brushed her off, taking advantage of the fact that she was a woman and claiming she didn’t understand the process. They refused to refund the money and wouldn’t agree to redesign the plans. The situation reached a stalemate, and tensions ran high.

Faced with nearly six figures going down the drain, Yu Yao refused to be taken advantage of. She “sat in” at the design company for two days. The other party, with their connections and tactics, had someone lure Yu Yao to a blind spot without surveillance on the afternoon of the second day, today, and beat her up as a “warning.”

Mai had been called by the police after a passerby reported the incident and rushed to the scene in a panic. By then, Yu Yao was already in the operating room. With no friends in China to turn to, Mai had no choice but to call Xu You.

After comforting Mai, Xu You left her luggage at the hospital and went alone to the police station to get more information.

The outcome was predictable. Without solid evidence, suspicion remained just that. The police could only promise to investigate actively, but there were no guarantees.

Sitting on the steps outside the police station, Xu You’s curly hair was tossed about by the cold night wind. Exhaustion was etched on her face, and her heart felt shattered.

A deep weariness seeped from her bones, leaving her with a sense of powerlessness and helplessness.

A young police officer on his way home from work saw her on the verge of breaking down and kindly offered some advice.

“Cases involving connections are hard to push forward.”

“Only with even stronger connections is there a chance for the situation to turn around.”

The young officer stood tall and strode confidently into the cold wind. His words struck a chord with Xu You, and she suddenly thought of the person with the toughest means among her acquaintances in Beicheng.

[Let’s meet at 8 tomorrow morning.]

Zhou Siyu, unable to sleep, had been scrolling through her past conversations with Xu You over and over. She could almost recite every line, long or short. When a new message appeared beneath the red exclamation mark, she instantly sat up in bed.

Rubbing her eyes again and again to make sure it wasn’t a hallucination born of anxiety, she quickly replied, “Okay.”

Then, cautiously, she added:

[Where should we meet?]

Xu You massaged her temples and typed back a line of text.

Late at night, Xu You went to the hospital to pick Mai up and bring her home. Yu Yao had many injuries, with blood seeping through several spots on the stark white bandages, each patch a shocking sight. The most severe damage was to her upper body: her collarbone was fractured, four ribs were broken, and her lung had been punctured, causing a pneumothorax that necessitated immediate surgery. It took a lot of persuasion before Mai agreed to leave.

Xu You spent the entire night sitting on Yu Yao’s sofa, fists clenched, waiting until the first light of dawn touched the sky before rushing out the door.