Sweet Temptation: After Rebirth, The Campus Heartthrob Can’t Hide His Feelings Anymore - Chapter 74

With a “beep,” the call was disconnected.

Xu Zhizhi held her phone, lowered her head, and raised a hand to rub her throbbing temples.

That one phone call had shattered all her good mood.

The sliding door to the balcony opened, and Zhou Xuci walked out, wrapping his arms around Xu Zhizhi from behind.

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Xuci gently kissed her hair.

Xu Zhizhi leaned back, resting her head in the crook of his neck, and shook her head lightly. “It’s nothing.”

She didn’t want to pass her negative emotions on to him.

Zhou Xuci reached up and smoothed the bangs that had been tousled by the evening breeze. “Tell me. I want to hear it.”

Xu Zhizhi looked up, gazing at Zhou Xuci’s handsome profile. “You’ve never asked about my past.”

Zhou Xuci lowered his gaze, a dim light gathering in his eyes, and said softly, “Because I didn’t want to make you relive painful memories.”

Xu Zhizhi turned around, opened her arms, and hugged Zhou Xuci, whispering, “When I was little, I really wanted a home because a home is a harbor, it can shelter me from the storms and hold up a piece of the sky for me.”

“I lost my mother when I was six and my father when I was seven. Some said my fate was too unlucky, that I brought misfortune to my parents. Back then, I didn’t have the strength to fight against the doom imposed on me, so I could only frantically seek protection, searching for even the slightest warmth of a family.”

“I spent an entire year in an orphanage. I witnessed the darkest and most twisted sides of human nature. I experienced the stinging pain of kneeling in icy water during the coldest winters in the south. After the pain became numb, it no longer hurt.”

“It was Uncle Shen who found me and brought me from the orphanage to the Shen family. That was when I felt the warmth of a family again, something I hadn’t known for so long. Uncle Shen treated me extremely well, with genuine sincerity. I knew his kindness was bought with my father’s life, but I was so young back then, just a little warmth was enough to satisfy me.”

Xu Zhizhi let out a soft sigh. “That feeling of being abandoned by the whole world, that sense of loneliness and despair, I can still feel it to this day. I’m afraid of being abandoned again.”

“So, even though Sun Xiuya didn’t like me, I desperately tried to please her. I bowed and scraped, just wanting to fit into the Shen family, to have a taste of family warmth.”

“But she had manic episodes. When she went mad, she would whip me, lash after lash across my body. During the Shen Group’s crisis, Uncle Shen was stationed abroad for three years. I lived under Sun Xiuya’s abuse, treading carefully for three years.”

Xu Zhizhi’s tone was calm, almost detached. “Everyone said the Shen family’s adopted daughter was so well-behaved, meek and submissive, like a doll that could be manipulated at will.”

She buried her head in Zhou Xuci’s chest and whispered, “Actually, I was just scared from the beatings. Sun Xiuya told me that as long as I obeyed, I would have food to eat.”

“I’m so afraid of hunger. When I’m hungry, my stomach condition flares up, and the pain is unbearable. I… I’m really scared of pain.”

Zhou Xuci’s hand rested on Xu Zhizhi’s head. Even though he already knew about her past, hearing her describe it so lightly.

His heart couldn’t take it.

Even breathing tugged at his heart with pain.

“I didn’t dare tell Uncle Shen the truth. I wasn’t sure if he would take my side.”

“Uncle Shen and Sun Xiuya had been married for twenty years, while I was just an adopted child. I was afraid of being abandoned a second time, so I didn’t dare resist Sun Xiuya either.”

“Zhou Xuci,” Xu Zhizhi said sorrowfully, “I’ve been living so pathetically. Just give me a bowl of rice, and I’ll be utterly obedient.”

Disaster had stripped away all her sharp claws, leaving only docile compliance.

Shen Yu was right, she was just a dog raised by the Shen family, wagging her tail and seeking favor at the mere offer of a bone.

Zhou Xuci’s eyes reddened as he whispered, “Zhizhi, you must remember, everything you’ve endured, you’re innocent. You’re the victim.”

Xu Zhizhi lifted her head, gazing deeply at Zhou Xuci, and reached up to gently touch his face. “I know. None of this is my fault. I shouldn’t be trapped in self-doubt; I need to move forward.”

She was willing to lay her wounds bare, proving that these scars had become part of her past.

“Brother,” Xu Zhizhi buried her face in the crook of Zhou Xuci’s neck, breathing in his fresh scent of cedar. “Thank you. You’ve given me the strength to turn toward the light.”

It was you who pulled me, step by step, out of the abyss.

Thank you for being here.

Zhou Xuci lowered his head and kissed her cheek.

“I’ll always hold your hand and walk forward with you.”

Xu Zhizhi nodded. “Sun Xiuya just called me. She’s started going crazy again, and I still let it affect me.”

She said with a hint of frustration, “But it won’t happen anymore.”

“Because I’m stronger now than I ever was.” A confident, calm smile spread across Xu Zhizhi’s face.

Zhou Xuci pinched her cheek affectionately and praised, “Our Zhizhi is truly amazing.”

Xu Zhizhi stood on her tiptoes and planted a fervent kiss on Zhou Xuci’s chin. “I’ll work even harder to earn money, and then I’ll take care of you.”

“Where did you learn that move?” Zhou Xuci chuckled, amused.

Xu Zhizhi held him tightly, her heart swelling with sweetness, and teased, “You’re just too likable, more suited to being secretly kept at home.”

“Not as likable as you,” Zhou Xuci cupped her face. “Today, our ‘Snail Girl’ was handing out snacks in the lab, and quite a few people came asking for your WeChat.”

Xu Zhizhi looked up and quickly pecked his lips, smacking them lightly. “Sour.”

“Right,” Zhou Xuci admitted without hesitation. “I’m jealous.”

“I didn’t add anyone,” Xu Zhizhi glared at him. “What about the line of juniors and seniors in your lab every day asking you to fix their computers? How do you explain that?”

Zhou Xuci shrugged. “I don’t know how to fix computers. Asking me is useless.”

“But if my computer broke, would you fix it? Hmm?”

“Yes.”

“Zhou Xuci, you’re such a hypocrite.”

Zhou Xuci grinned. “Only for you.”

On the other end, Sun Xiuya, who had been hung up on, was utterly enraged. Her manic episode flared up, and she smashed everything in sight.

“Paid off? Hahahaha, how ridiculous.”

“What Xu Zhizhi owes me, she can never repay in this lifetime.”

“What right does she have to be a puppet? She’s only fit to be my dog, forever the Shen family’s lowly mutt!”

Sun Xiuya let out a terrifying roar.

A servant cautiously approached and reminded her, “Madam, it’s… it’s time for your medicine.”

Sun Xiuya seemed to have lost her mind. “Get out!”

The servant hurried away with the medicine, not daring to provoke the madwoman any further.

The April sunlight was warm, bathing everything in vibrant green, full of life and vitality.

Shen Yu came to find Xu Zhizhi again.

He had decided to persist relentlessly.

He had changed a lot, no longer as dissolute as before, his attire growing more refined and scholarly.

Shen Yu intercepted Xu Zhizhi on the campus path.

“Xu Zhizhi.”

“There’s a school football match next week.”

“Can you come cheer for me?”

Xu Zhizhi carried her drawing board, walking briskly uphill.

Shen Yu walked backward, wearing a fresh-looking football jersey printed with the number 10.

It was his favorite football star’s number.

Looking at the sunny and refreshing Shen Yu, for a moment, Xu Zhizhi felt as if she had returned to that bright and brilliant midsummer.

But Xu Zhizhi had already walked far away.

Xu Zhizhi declined, “Sorry, I don’t have time.”

Midsummer was too sweltering.

She had fallen in love with the gentle April spring.

…