Su Xinghui sat in the car, the night outside the window was like thick ink, swallowing up all the light.
She looked down at the documents in her hands, her knuckles white from the strain. Those cold numbers, transaction records, signatures, all turned into sharp blades, pressing against her throat.
——The fate of the Su family is in her hands.
But the price is... Ye Qingliu.
The one who reached out to her when she was most helpless.
Memories flooded back like a tide——
That year, Su Xinghui was ten years old.
Her parents took her to a business dinner, where the adults were chatting and laughing, but she was forgotten in the corner. Bored, she sneaked out of the banquet hall and wanted to play in the fountain in the garden.
But the manor was too big and she got lost.
As the night deepened, dark clouds gathered overhead, and the rumble of thunder echoed in the distance. She, wearing a thin, little dress, walked increasingly hurriedly through the unfamiliar corridors, finally stopping before an unfamiliar courtyard, bewildered.
The rain fell at that time.
Big raindrops hit the stone pavement, splashing cold water. She huddled under the eaves, her eyes red, but she stubbornly refused to cry.
"Are you lost?"
A cold voice came from behind.
Su Xinghui turned back suddenly——
A boy about her age stood by the pillar, his gray-blue eyes like two cold gems in the dim light.
He was wearing a well-tailored suit with a silver badge on his collar, and he exuded a calmness that was inconsistent with his age.
She nodded blankly.
The boy walked a few steps closer, took out a candy from his pocket and handed it to her: "Want to eat it?"
It was a lemon candy, and the wrapping paper shimmered in the rainy night.
Su Xinghui took it hesitantly and whispered, "...Thank you."
The boy said nothing, but turned and walked to the other end of the corridor. After a few steps, he stopped and looked back at her: "Follow me, I will take you back."
His tone was calm, yet strangely reassuring.
Su Xinghui clenched the candy tightly and followed.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the shadows of the trees outside the corridor were swaying in the wind, like monsters with bared fangs and claws.
She was a little scared and unconsciously moved closer to the boy.
He seemed to notice it and slowed down his pace slightly.
"What's your name?" she asked in a low voice.
"Ye Qingliu."
"My name is Su Xinghui."
Ye Qingliu hummed and said nothing more.
A few minutes later, they returned to the brightly lit banquet hall. Su Xinghui's parents were anxiously looking for her, and when they saw her return, they hugged her in their arms.
When she looked back, Ye Qingliu had disappeared.
Only the lemon candy was still lying quietly in her palm.
The cold air from the car's air conditioner jolted Su Xinghui back to reality. She huddled in the backseat, her body trembling uncontrollably. Her fingertips clutched the thin copy of the document, the edge of the paper nearly digging into her flesh.
Nothing can happen to parents.
The thought weighed down on her like a rock, so heavy she couldn't breathe. Her mind flashed back to the image of her parents in the candid photo, their faces slightly tired but still smiling gently at her, and then it was overwhelmed by the shocking accusations in the document.
Twenty years in prison? The Su family's downfall? That wouldn't just be the collapse of a business empire; it would be the uprooting of the very foundations of her family ties. Her parents would have to spend their final years behind bars...
She didn't dare to think further. Her heart seemed to be tightly grasped and kneaded by an invisible hand, and every beat was accompanied by sharp pain.
But...Ye Qingliu?
The moment the name came to her mind, a sharper, colder fear gripped her.
He was the sweetheart of Ye Fanshuang's heart that she had carefully treasured for seven years. He was the one that she had never thought of truly hurting even though she envied him.
When Ye Fanshuang mentioned him, the light in his eyes that could not be hidden, almost with piety...
Su Xinghui suddenly closed her eyes, her stomach churning violently, and a strong sour and rusty taste surged in her throat. She covered her mouth tightly, trying hard to hold back from vomiting.
"Help us...get rid of Ye Qingliu."
The old man's voice, like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue, and Ye Linyuan's cold, condescending look, which showed he was confident of victory, replayed and amplified repeatedly in her mind, forming a huge, suffocating echo.
"Get rid of"... The bloodiness and coldness contained in the word itself made her feel cold all over.
Was she, Su Xinghui, actually being forced to become the knife that was handed out? Pointing at an innocent person who had even shown her a little kindness? Pointing at the person that Ye Fanshuang cherished like a treasure?
No choice... No choice...
The old man's words tightened her mind like a spell.
The secretly taken photos that Ye Linyuan showed, the document that was enough to send the Su family to hell, and the Chao family's old man's unfathomable and terrifying influence... the idea of resistance just emerged when it was ruthlessly crushed by the cold reality.
What could she do? Call the police? The evidence was in their hands, and their connections and power were unmatched, which would only hasten her parents' disaster. Tell Ye Fanshuang? Could Ye Fanshuang stand up to the entire Chao family and Ye Linyuan?
This would only drag Ye Fanshuang into a more dangerous situation, and might even trigger the conspiracy against Ye Qingliu prematurely. Tell Ye Qingliu? She might not even be able to see him easily, let alone gain his trust.
Despair was like cold sea water, rushing in from all directions, drowning the mouth and nose, and taking away the breath.
She felt an unprecedented loneliness and vulnerability. The halo of the Su family's eldest daughter was completely shattered at this moment. She was just a puppet with her weak spot pinched, unable to move.
"Miss, are you okay?" The driver glanced worriedly through the rearview mirror at her extremely pale face and her fists clenched until her knuckles turned white.
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