Chapter 166 Turning the Page

She was about to refuse when, before she could even utter a word, Sheng Tingzhou had already swiftly reached out his hand.

He spoke in a lazy tone, leaning back on the sofa armrest.

"Is my uncle going to give me a gift?"

Zhou Yuce stood on the other side of the screen, his posture upright.

"It's a birthday present for Zhiwei."

Sheng Tingzhou chuckled softly.

"The things you gave her, aren't they also gifts to me? She's my girlfriend now, so aren't the things you gave her mine?"

He spoke slowly and deliberately, enunciating each word slowly and deliberately.

"Thank you, Uncle. I appreciate your kind gesture."

"By the way, do you know my company address? Just send it there. I'll have someone sign for it to avoid any trouble."

Zhou Yuze felt as if someone had poured a bottle of aged vinegar down his throat, the sourness spreading all the way to his heart.

The man he'd known as a brother since childhood had brazenly taken her away from him.

Why?

Now that the person belongs to someone else, it's perfectly legitimate.

He had nowhere to vent his resentment, and even a single accusation seemed superfluous.

"Give the phone to Zhiwei, I have something to say to her."

Sheng Tingzhou didn't even lift his eyelids, still fiddling with his phone with his head down.

His tone was casual and nonchalant.

"She's right next to me, just say it, I'll put it on speakerphone."

After he finished speaking, he indeed turned on speakerphone and placed his phone on the coffee table.

Zhou Yuze: "..."

This person... can really turn shamelessness into art.

The room was eerily quiet.

"never mind."

The screen went dark instantly after the call ended.

Sheng Tingzhou casually tossed the phone back into her arms and let out a sneer.

"Tsk, Uncle really has a lot of free time. He traveled all this way just to deliver a worthless gift? Who cares about these things these days?"

Song Zhiwei took the phone.

“He used to be like this... During the years I was abroad, he would send me something every year on my birthday. Sometimes it was a book, sometimes a scarf, he never stopped.”

She paused, her gaze slightly unfocused.

“I remember one year, the gift he sent got lost in the mail, and he actually flew to London himself to send me a replacement. He said that Zhiwei’s birthday couldn’t be without a gift.”

Her uncle used to really love her.

In those years, she was alone and helpless in a foreign land.

Only he knows what she needs.

But now, there's no going back.

Time has changed, people's hearts have changed, and identities have changed.

Sheng Tingzhou leaned lazily against the sofa, then suddenly raised his hand and gently flicked her forehead with his knuckles.

"You softened your heart just because of a gift? I saw your eyes soften for a moment just now. You're too easy to coax!"

Song Zhiwei frowned, her head tilting slightly from the impact.

She looked up at him and hesitated for a moment.

“Besides birthday presents… Zhou Yunsheng and Zhou Yunhan used to bully me all the time, stealing my allowance, tearing up my homework, and even calling my mom a jinx.”

Her voice lowered a few decibels.

“My uncle always stood up for me. He would stand at the door every time without saying a word, but they never dared to do it again.”

Zhou Yuze held up an umbrella for her during her most vulnerable years.

Regardless, she always remembered this warmth in her heart.

Sheng Tingzhou snorted coldly: "Then why don't you mention that I fought for you when we were kids?"

"ah?"

Song Zhiwei stared wide-eyed, completely bewildered.

She quickly went through all the moments since she met Sheng Tingzhou in her mind, but she had no memory of fighting at all.

She first met Sheng Tingzhou on her eighteenth birthday celebration.

She was wearing a light blue dress that day, having just returned from abroad.

Everything in China still feels unfamiliar to me.

The banquet was crowded, and amidst the clinking of glasses, she only remembered someone introducing her to others.

"This is Sheng Tingzhou, the young master of the Sheng family."

The two simply nodded and smiled, exchanging no more than three sentences.

Since then, although we occasionally meet at family gatherings.

But the two were not familiar with each other at all, and could not even be considered friends.

How could he possibly have helped her?

That's an absurd claim.

Sheng Tingzhou reached out and pinched her cheek, his tone slightly annoyed.

"Song Zhiwei, have you completely forgotten about me?"

She shook her head blankly: "I... am I having memory problems?"

Sheng Tingzhou reminded him irritably.

“In your third year of junior high, you went to the senior high school to find your uncle, but you couldn’t find him, so you came to me instead.”

He released her face and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You were crying like a little kitten, your face was covered in bruises, and you were standing at the classroom door, your hands were shaking.”

She was startled, and a blurry image suddenly flashed through her mind.

It seems like one day, under the blazing sun, Zhou Yunsheng stood blocking the path behind the teaching building, a mocking smile on his lips.

He snatched the silver hair clip from her head.

"You think you're worthy of wearing this?"

He chuckled and casually tossed the hair clip into the air.

She rushed forward to grab it, her fingernails scraping blood off the concrete, but she still couldn't catch it.

She fought back desperately, but the difference in strength was too great.

He was pushed to the ground in no time, his cheek slamming against the steps, burning with pain.

As a result, he was beaten so badly that he had no chance to fight back and could only curl up in the corner, his tears falling to the ground drop by drop.

When she was desperate, she ran to the classroom to find Zhou Yuze.

She had abrasions on her face that day, and the bruise at the corner of her left eye had started to turn purple.

She grabbed a figure in a black school uniform at the end of the corridor, her fingertips trembling slightly, and asked, "Could you call Zhou Yuce for me?"

"He's not here. What do you need him for?"

The voice was cold and devoid of emotion.

"No...it's nothing."

She dared not let anyone see her injury, fearing it would attract more attention.

She bit her lip, turned and ran, her steps faltering.

Song Zhiwei looked up abruptly, her voice trembling: "So...it was you that day?"

It turned out that the figure was not Zhou Yuze, but Sheng Tingzhou.

Sheng Tingzhou glanced at her sideways: "Otherwise what?"

He raised an eyebrow, his tone carrying a hint of disdain.

"You think Zhou Yuze waits for you in the classroom every day? He took the day off that day."

"I'm actually so ordinary-looking that you wouldn't recognize me at all."

He gave a soft hum, shifted his gaze to the window, and his voice suddenly lowered.

Her face flushed, and she said a little embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, that day... I didn't dare to look up."

It wasn't that she didn't want to see the other person's face clearly, but rather that she was afraid her swollen, red eyes would frighten them.

At that time, she would rather swallow all her grievances than look at the expressions of strangers.

Sheng Tingzhou asked again, "Didn't Zhou Yunsheng tell you that I beat him up?"

“I ambushed him in the back alley and beat him so badly that he didn’t dare to come to school for half a month.”

Song Zhiwei tried hard to recall.

She originally planned to wait until she got home from school to find her uncle that day.

She planned to tell him the whole story.

But before get out of class was over, Zhou Yunsheng suddenly ran back.

His face was bruised, his clothes were wrinkled, and he was clutching the hair clip tightly in his hand.

He lowered his head, his voice trembling slightly: "I'm sorry, here you go."

She thought he had a change of heart.

Without giving it much thought, the matter was moved on.

"No... I really didn't know it was you who helped me."

She looked at Sheng Tingzhou, her heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

It turns out that he had stood up for her many years ago.

But she remained completely unaware of it.

Sheng Tingzhou looked at her with a calm and deep gaze.