Chapter 40 If... if I didn't have...

If, if she hadn't fallen out with Li Zhoudu, Li Li swore she would have rushed forward without hesitation and bitten this shameless person to death.

Ironically, when you are in a weak position, the whole world can bully you.

Li Li, maintaining her composure, repeatedly wiped her mouth with the hand she had used to slap him, removing the glossy lipstick. She seemed generous, saying, "It's alright, Tan Su. My uncle is hosting a banquet today, so I'll just consider it a dog bite."

"Since we'll never see each other again and no one loves you, just consider it pity on my part."

Her words were quite harsh. Although Tan Su's expression didn't change, it was easy to tell from the strength with which he gripped his wrist that he was already angry.

Just then, footsteps sounded in the corridor. She said, "You'd better let me go now, or if I just yell 'pervert,' you might be going to the police station for a chat today."

Li Li shook off Tan Su's loosened hand, walked around him and went into the house, bumping into Li Zhoudu who happened to be out looking for someone.

His gaze swept warily over Tan Su, who was standing still, and he asked her, "What were you doing just now?"

Li Li remained silent.

——

She stopped speaking to Li Zhoudu from that day on, but that didn't stop him from taking a leave of absence and staying home to keep an eye on her.

While waiting for her visa, Li Li packed some untouched bags, jewelry, and watches at home, intending to give them to Fang Xuan to use.

When the call connected, Fang Xuan said she was interning in another city and was not in the city at the moment.

Looking at the pile of belongings on the bed, Li Li fidgeted with the small ball on the chain, and said sadly, "Before I left, I was hoping we could have a meal together."

There was silence on the other end of the phone, but Li Li didn't want to put pressure on Fang Xuan, so she cheered her up and said, "It's okay, you go ahead and do your thing. We'll make another appointment when we have a chance!"

Although, once she left, no one knew when she would return.

Fang Xuan hung up the phone, stirred her coffee, and nimbly hopped onto the counter, picking up her cup before the cat hairs flew up.

When I was young and naive, I used to boast and joke that financial relationships were more stable and lasting than romantic relationships.

When a man and woman break up, they can simply stop seeing each other; but when money becomes involved, they will chase each other to the ends of the earth.

When Fang Xuan said those words, she was just joking about how unreliable relationships are, never expecting that they would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Fang Yulin's new creditors called to harass her again, and she realized that a Macau ban couldn't stop a gambling addict's hands.

That day, after the drinking party ended, Tan Yi waited for his car to pick him up. Standing on the empty street, he glanced back and saw Fang Xuan standing motionless not far behind him.

He could almost see dignity and the awkwardness of reality locked in a fierce battle within her heart. Tan Yi withdrew his gaze; he had no energy to consider another person's thoughts.

Tan Yi opened the car door and got in. Fang Xuan, as if waking from a dream, stepped forward and clung tightly to the car window.

Filled with immense panic, she asked him, "Do you know how to get rid of all that trouble?"

Tan Yi asked her expressionlessly, "How much money do you owe this time?"

"Six hundred...forty-something."

"Get in the car," he said.

Tan Yi returned to Hong Kong and hired a lawyer for Fang Xuan to come to her home.

The other party suggested that she get her parents divorced as soon as possible, complete the division of property, and keep the only remaining property in the city.

"Where's my dad? He's still..." Fang Xuan pressed.

"This is the only way. Let him blacklist his credit score and then announce it widely on his WeChat Moments. Only when he can't borrow any more money or even a penny from relatives and friends will the gambling stop."

The lawyer said, "That's how gamblers are; they'll try to win back every penny they have. I've even seen people take money scraped together from their families and gamble it all away while trying to pay off their debts. You still have a house."

Fang Xuan didn't speak for a moment, as many images flashed through her mind.

Before she was fifteen, the family of three lived happily together; when she was sixteen or seventeen, her parents had intense conflicts but eventually reconciled; and until the abscess ruptured last year, she always thought the other was a very good father.

How can someone suddenly become so despondent and completely lose hope at such a rapid pace?

Is it difficult?

Tan Yi watched her coldly from the side: "Is it really that difficult to give up on someone as rotten as him?"

The lawyer's proposed solution was laid out on the coffee table. As Fang Xuan chased away the corn and brought the coffee to the living room, she suddenly overheard Tan Yi arguing.

He was on the phone with Tan Congxu, saying, "Yes, Li Li is leaving."

"soon."

"...Talk about marriage? How can I talk about marriage with her in this state?"

After someone across from him said something, Tan Yi suddenly kicked the chair and yelled, "What the hell do I think I am, ordering someone else's precious daughter around like that? Do you think I can just get married whenever I want and tell people not to leave whenever I want?"

"Does the Li family owe me money or a favor? Li Li trusts me, so she deserves to be pushed out as bait for Tan Su time and time again?"

"They listened in the car and monitored the house, but they didn't capture anything substantial. Tan Su wouldn't leave anyone with any leverage!"

"What more do you want me to do? How much more do you want me to sell the cats before you're satisfied!"

"Do you think you can absolve yourself of innocence by blaming me now?"

Tan Congxu sneered on the other end of the phone: "You know perfectly well what happened before."

When Tan Yi made the call, Fang Xuan was standing not far away.

She remained calmer than she had imagined when she heard these vile schemes and plots.

She even thought with a sense of balance that she had finally shared Tan Yi's shameful secret.

——

Before leaving, Li Li told Ling Wei that she was bored at home these past few days and wanted to go back to Jixi for a visit.

Grandma said, "That's fine, go and light some incense for Grandpa before you leave."

Finally, Li Zhoudu led her and Ling Wei, a group of three, back to sweep the tombs.

White flowers were placed before the tombstone. Li Li apologized to Li Pusheng in her heart, saying, "I'm sorry, Grandpa. I'm about to do something very rebellious."

She's been thinking these past few days that she can't just leave like this.

At the very least, we should reach a consensus with Tan Yi about the future and then say goodbye properly.

How could she possibly fixate on that dinner that Li Zhoudu ruined, the moment of their separation?

After lunch, Ling Wei took a nap in her room. Li Li came out of her room and heard Li Zhoudu still talking on the phone next door.

When her aunt asked her where she was going, Li Li said that she felt tightness in her chest and wanted to go for a walk outside, and that she would be back in a while.

Spring is in full bloom, and the vast fields outside have sprouted lush green rice seedlings, stretching out as far as the eye can see like an oil painting.

If she had a pen in her hand, she thought she could definitely draw something very good.

Li Li secretly clenched the documents in her pocket. She picked up her phone and found that she couldn't hail a taxi nearby, so she could only continue walking.

After walking for about twenty or thirty minutes, she passed a small market where grandmothers and aunts were selling fruits and vegetables. She saw a van stopped in front of the store and Wang Zhuokang coming out after buying cigarettes.

Wang Zhuokang had just disembarked from the ship and was on leave at home. He had just returned from running errands in the city when he turned around and saw Li Li, recognizing her.

The two were not acquainted, but Li Li took the initiative to say, "Hello."

He asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Li said she had something urgent to do and needed to get to the airport. Could you give her a ride?

If Wang Zhuokang had thought one step further back then, he would have known that the Li family had their own car and driver, so why would it be his turn to drive them?

But Li Li was already an adult, and her expression seemed too normal at the time, so Wang Zhuokang naturally didn't refuse and readily agreed.

Li Li sat in the back of the van. The light-weight vehicle bounced along the uneven road. She smelled a faint odor of gasoline in the back and felt a little nauseous.

As she forced herself to close her eyes to rest, she heard Wang Zhuokang's phone ringing in front of her. Li Li instinctively said, "Don't answer it."

She looked into Wang Zhuokang's eyes in the rearview mirror and said without changing her expression, "I want to sleep, it's too noisy."

Wang Zhuokang's call was from a friend inviting him to dinner and drinks that night. When Li Li mentioned it, he briefly replied with a voice message: "I'm taking someone to the airport, you don't need to wait for me tonight."

Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw that the anxiety and distress in Li Li's eyes had finally subsided.

An hour and a half later, he dropped the person off at the airport on the outskirts of S City. Li Li got out of the car, turned around, and bowed to Wang Zhuokang.

She said, "I'm sorry to have troubled you today."

Li Li watched Wang Zhuokang's car drive away before turning around. She ran towards the airport, faster and faster, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

It was already dark when Wang Zhuokang drove back to Jixi.

He didn't notice the unusually bright lights along the way. After getting out of the car and going inside, his mother hastily cooked him a bowl of noodles and told him to eat it with the leftovers from lunch. The Li family was still calling for help.

Wang Zhuokang sat down at the table, swallowed several large mouthfuls, and asked Tongzhi, who was about to leave, "What happened to the Li family?"

Tongzhi said, "The person is missing."

Wang Zhuokang stopped eating and said incredulously, "What?"

"The little kitten from the Li family, the girl named Li Li, has disappeared."

Tongzhi was terrified: "How could a girl, only in her early twenties, just disappear like that in such a small place as Jixi? Could something really have happened to her?"

Then, he started speculating wildly: "Or is someone jealous of how successful his family has been all these years?"

Wang Zhuokang immediately realized something was wrong. He picked up his phone to call Li Zhoudu, but at that moment a deafening car horn blared at the door.

Shortly after Li Li was discovered to be missing, her family reported her missing to the police.

The police immediately checked the surveillance footage of all intersections and supermarkets along the way, and finally found that she had gotten into a van three hours earlier.

As Wang Zhuokang dialed a phone number, he opened the door and was immediately knocked to the ground by Li Zhoudu, who was leading the group at the door.

Amidst Tong Zhi's shrill scream, Li Zhoudu pulled Wang Zhuokang up from the ground, his eyes bloodshot, and asked, "Where is my sister?"

"Speak up! Where's my sister?!"

——

After getting into the car, Li Li sent Ling Wei a text message saying she was fine and that her family shouldn't worry. She didn't turn on her phone again.

She had so many things she wanted to say to Tan Yi.

Tell him how difficult it was for him to secretly run away and hitch a ride in a minibus from the countryside to see him;

What I want to say is that I don't care whether what Li Zhoudu said is true or not;

I was thinking, why don't we secretly get our marriage certificate back in mainland China first, and then I'll go abroad? No one will know then.

I want to say, I will wait for you, you absolutely must come find me.

All those exciting, sweet thoughts came to an end the moment she pressed the keypad code and pushed the door open.

Tan Yi, wearing a bathrobe, turned around on the sofa, against the backdrop of the deep, inky night.

Fang Xuan, who was beside him, bent down to help re-wrap the bandages on his hand. She didn't move when she heard the voice, but asked, "Is that Dai Zhe?"

It's like the balloon in your heart has been popped, or someone has slapped you across the face.

Li Li shivered, feeling as if she had woken up from a dream.

-----------------------

Author's Note: For the sake of the plot, the kitten's behavior is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable [pity].