Married A Man I Hate - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Failed Wedding Escape

“Can we not get married?”

“……”

Yue Wangzong didn’t react for a moment, thinking he had misheard.

It wasn’t until he saw Fu Li pick up the clothes and scarf from the ground and quickly chase after him that he realized Fu Li had truly taken an interest in Yue Qingfei.

After just one meeting?

Under the streetlamp, Fu Li caught up with Yue Qingfei.

Yue Qingfei’s face was illuminated very brightly, and the exhaled white mist blurred in front of the tip of his nose and his curled eyelashes, yet it did not hide his bright eyes at all, which looked like stars.

The accumulated snow reflected countless tiny fragments of rainbows that fell upon his face, shimmering together, dreamlike and ethereal, enough to make anyone who locked eyes with him lose their mind.

Yue Wangzong picked up his phone, walked to the side, and made a call.

Fu Li said who-knows-what, but Yue Qingfei finally stopped charging forward like a little bull calf, obediently put on his clothes, and even proactively got into Fu Li’s car.

The heater was very strong, and there was no unpleasant smell of tobacco or leather, only a faint, woody fragrance when Fu Li drew near.

“What are you doing?”

Yue Qingfei climbed into the car using both hands and feet, avoiding the man who was leaning inside. “We are not married yet, what you are doing is breaking the law.”

Fu Li placed the overcoat beside him. “Your snow boots are wet. If you keep wearing them you will get sick. I would suggest you take them off; you can step on my coat, it will make you feel more comfortable.”

Yue Qingfei widened his eyes, looking at this guy who spoke like an AI robot.

“Actually,” Fu Li paused as his hand held the door, “any act of coercion is equally illegal after marriage as well.”

Yue Qingfei froze, his face flushing with anger. But thinking of the things Fu Li had promised him, he held back the urge to jump out of the car and escape again.

“Is everything you just said true?”

“Yes,” Fu Li started the vehicle. “I am sending you home now. I will handle the engagement banquet, don’t worry.”

“Then can we not get married?”

Hidden behind the gold-rimmed glasses, a pair of long, narrow black eyes swept over from the rearview mirror, casting a fixed glance at him.

“I’m sorry, that matter won’t do.”

Yue Qingfei had guessed it, but he still wanted to fight for it. However, no matter what he said, Fu Li only replied with “I’m sorry, we need to get married,” looking exactly like a 404 error popping up in a search bar.

“Then what about the other matter?”

Yue Qingfei leaned forward, holding the back of the front passenger seat, looking at Fu Li. “You said you could help me find him, is that true?”

Fu Li was silent for a moment, then chuckled softly. “Yes, consider it as satisfying my curiosity. After all, a person who looks exactly like me, and at the same time has a subtle relationship with my future partner…”

“You are not allowed to call me that.”

“Okay,” Fu Li nodded, “and at the same time has a subtle relationship with my future wife, I also want to find him very much.”

Yue Qingfei was just about to retort that he was not his wife, but quickly thinking of the things Yan Song had once warned him about, he hurriedly said, “No.”

Fu Li raised an eyebrow.

“I, I don’t want to look for him anymore.” Yue Qingfei hugged the black overcoat, avoiding the probing gaze in the rearview mirror. “Just act as if you’ve never heard this name, and you are not allowed to mention it in the future either.”

“Okay, wifey.”

“……You’re not allowed to call me that either!”

The car headlights swept across the fountain in the Yue family’s front yard and the villa’s French windows.

A servant came out from the main door, but seeing that it was Yue Qingfei sitting inside the car, they retreated back inside.

Fu Li stepped down. While buttoning his suit jacket, he looked at the servant standing indifferently on the steps, lost in thought.

Yue Qingfei did not wait for him to open the car door; holding his snow boots, scarf, and overcoat himself, he ran barefoot into the villa in a flustered yet very energetic manner, not even willing to turn his head to glance at him.

Fu Li put on his black leather gloves and leaned against the car, looking at the dark brown double wooden doors at his own leisure, seemingly waiting for something.

A few seconds later, the door was pulled open a crack.

Yue Qingfei poked his head out. “Although I still hate you very much, thank you for driving me back. Bye-bye.”

“You’re welcome. See you at the city hall tomorrow.”

“City hall?” Ready to close the door, Yue Qingfei tilted his head. “To do what.”

Fu Li crossed his arms, copying his mannerism, and tilted his head a bit. “To get married.”

“……”

Keep dreaming!

Who would want to marry a bad guy who calls someone “wifey” the very first time they meet?

After taking a shower, Yue Qingfei dragged a suitcase out from under his bed, stuffed clothes into it, and continued his fifth escape attempt.

Suddenly, a corner of a photo peeked out from the lining compartment.

Yue Qingfei froze. He pulled out that group photo from last year’s Pulaidisi summer camp; there were many people on it, except for Yan Song.

“I am just a ship repairer, of course I am not qualified to take photos.”

He pulled out a folded piece of A5 paper from the compartment again, unfolded it—it was a black-and-white line sketch of the profile of a man wearing a baseball cap, rugged and deep-featured, with a very light mole beneath his left eye.

Yue Qingfei squatted on the floor, his chin resting on his gathered knees, not standing up until his legs went numb. He sat down before his desk and opened the laptop’s browser.

Below the search box, his history automatically popped up:

[My passport has been hidden away, can I reapply for it myself? I am already 19 years old] [What should I do before sleeping to dream of mom and dad?] [Scammed out of ten thousand yuan, cannot call the police, what to do?] [Is the final exam for the Economics Department of Jinggang University hard?] [How to repair a leaking attic?] [How to find someone, budget ten thousand yuan] [Which hospital is cheap for neutering stray cats in Jinggang, I have a lot of kittens] …… [Fu Li]

Yue Qingfei pressed the enter key and regretted it a little; he should have added a few more keywords, since there were so many people in the world named Fu Li.

[The Eldest Son of the First Wife of Tiehang King: Fu Li Returns to the Country, Do Wealthy Clan Grudges of Ten Years Dissolve?] [The Mystery of the Shipwreck Case Unsolved, the True or False of the Returned Eldest Son is Hard to Discern] [The Son of the First Wife Returns to the Country for Half a Year to Establish Authority, the Two Heroes of the Wealthy Clan Start a War for Success]

Yue Qingfei: “……What kind of headlines are these.”

Without him needing to expend effort to search, countless media outlets had already listed Fu Li’s practically perfect resume: at three years old, he appeared on a magazine cover with his mixed-race supermodel mother; at six years old, he moved to the United States; undergraduate at Harvard, joint-majoring in Economics and minoring in Statistics; varsity rowing team; Summa Cum Laude…

Yue Qingfei began to get dizzy from reading the words, and also dizzy from looking at Fu Li’s arm muscles as he raised his arms to shout when the rowing team won the championship—they looked like they could knock out a little bull calf.

But, they looked so similar.

Yue Qingfei looked down at the sketch in his hand.

But his Yan Song didn’t even know how to speak English, and when he spoke, he occasionally carried a very cute plateau accent—the tone was flat, and the pronunciation was a bit non-standard. But he would listen to him speak seriously, far more sincere than those wealthy kids, and was his best friend at the summer camp.

They would share food by the lake, lie on the repaired moon boat to look at the stars, and jump into the lake water to avoid the security guards patrolling with flashlights…

So this was not his Yan Song.

Besides, if it really were Yan Song, how could he not tell him?

Yue Qingfei nodded secretly to himself, packed up his things, and would leave in the middle of the night.

His phone rang; it was a message from his older cousin, Shi Yun.

[Sister]: [Screenshot of a money transfer] [Sister]: Yue Qingfei, was the money I gave you to buy clothes used by you to buy teething sticks to chew on? Throw away that washed-out white rabbit sweatshirt of yours. [Long-legged Fei Rabbit]: The rabbit sweatshirt isn’t washed out, it can still be worn. [Long-legged Fei Rabbit]: I am saving all the money. Sister, if you don’t have enough to spend in America, just tell me. [Sister]: Did I ask you to save it? The new brother-in-law I found does boxing, he is extremely generous. When sister saves up a bit more money, I will bring you over.

Yue Qingfei sat up with a start.

[Long-legged Fei Rabbit]: Does boxing? He won’t hit you, right? [Sister]: Do I look like a punching bag? Besides, don’t you know your sister by now?

Yue Qingfei recalled the fight his sister had with his aunt and uncle when she left home back then. He nodded, chatted for a couple of sentences, and still didn’t mention the matter of him being forced into marriage.

In the second half of the night, Yue Qingfei was woken up again by voices downstairs.

The attic floor was thin; he could often hear the servants secretly cursing his aunt and uncle. This time it was the sound of his uncle making a phone call.

“He said they are going to the city hall tomorrow to get the certificate, there will definitely be no problem.” …… “If he runs away again, my family still has a daughter, can’t she also…” …… “Yes, yes, yes, I will keep a good eye on the person.”

Yue Qingfei opened his eyes in a daze, climbed up, dressed neatly, and escaped after the villa had become completely quiet.

This time, combining his previous failed experiences, he made ample preparations and spent a lot, lot of money, determined to leave Jinggang and never come back.

Just after he got into a vehicle, his uncle’s phone call came through.

Yue Qingfei naturally didn’t answer. He turned off the phone, leaned against the car window, and continued to sleep.

In his dream, the South, where it wouldn’t snow, was waiting for him.

He wanted to have a life of his own, just as his mom and dad had hoped; he didn’t want to be obedient and sensible, he wanted to learn to refuse others, just as Yan Song had taught him.

In the second half of the night, the snow was too heavy and the night road was hard to travel, so the van stopped at a service station.

Yue Qingfei bought two ham sausages, shared one with the driver master, and turned his back, grumbling that the things in the service station were expensive—a ham sausage actually cost five yuan.

A large yellow dog wagged its tail at him.

“No way, I only have one ham sausage left!”

“Ying ying ying~” [Whining noises]

After Yue Qingfei finished eating half of the ham sausage, he turned on his phone; the screen was filled with missed calls and text messages.

[Yue Wangzong]: I have already sent a text to your sister saying you ran away from home, see what you’ll do now.