Chapter 75: Unspeakable Secret

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Unspeakable Secret

Although it was just a casual question, Li Yan’s body instinctively stiffened. The issues surrounding her family background were an eternal ache in her heart—an unspeakable secret she was entirely unwilling to bring up.

Seeing the change in her expression, Su Yunzhou looked apologetic. "I’m sorry. I won’t ask about it again!"

His gentleness helped Li Yan’s complexion improve significantly. However, a faint trace of sorrow remained in her eyes. This was the knot in her heart—a knot that had weighed on her for far, far too long.

"PHEW." She let out a long breath and pulled Su Yunzhou down to sit on the sofa. "I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t want to hide it from you; I just genuinely didn’t know how to talk about it."

Su Yunzhou gently stroked her shoulder. "Just tell me whenever you’re ready. I’ll always be here."

That phrase, ’I’ll always be here,’ loosened the knot in Li Yan’s heart just a fraction. Finally, she began to speak in a quiet, distant voice.

"More than a decade ago, something happened to my family that left me with a deep-seated inferiority complex for a very long time. That’s why we fled to this city." At this point, Li Yan tilted her head and leaned against Su Yunzhou’s shoulder, seeking a bit more warmth and a sense of security. Her tone was subdued as she continued her story.

"My hometown is a simple, rustic little county. But the more simple a place is, the easier it is for local ruffians to breed. That man was one of the head thugs."

Su Yunzhou repeated the phrase in his mind. That man had to be her father.

Every small town had a few people like that. They might have received some education, but with mediocre grades and an attitude too proud for menial labor yet unfit for white-collar work, they chose to return home and rot away, becoming parasites on their families. If their families were relatively well-off, they would slack off for a few years before finding a way to take over the family business or using connections to secure a job. If their families were poor, they would simply drift through life in a daze. Perhaps one day they might wake up, but by then, they would have long lost the courage and ability to face reality, leaving them with no choice but to hide in a carefree, delusional world of their own making.

As Li Yan spoke, a faint outline of her irresponsible father began to form in Su Yunzhou’s mind.

"My mom was already pregnant with me at the time," Li Yan continued. "Even though her parents disapproved, she had no choice. Plus, he promised over and over again that he would turn over a new leaf and live a proper life.

"Eventually, they held a wedding.

"My mom said that back then, he really did seem like a changed man. But that only lasted until I was born. When he found out I was a girl, he claimed it didn’t matter—that sons and daughters were the same—but he noticeably grew lazy.

"My mom saw it all and worried constantly, but she had no other options and could only bury those thoughts in her heart.

"Then, when I was five... I still remember it to this day. That night, a bunch of people suddenly broke into our house. They were holding iron pipes and gleaming knives, demanding that he pay them back.

"My mother and I huddled together in terror. We had no idea what was going on. It was only from the mouths of those debt collectors that we learned he owed nearly a hundred thousand in gambling debts.

"The news was a devastating blow. In that era, a hundred thousand yuan—can you imagine what kind of money that was?

"But the damage was done. My mother figured there was no use in complaining anymore. She just begged the creditors for a grace period, asking for time to gather the money.

"Since everyone was from the same area, people knew exactly what kind of background and means each family had. The creditors didn’t push things to the absolute brink; they gave them five days to scrape the cash together.

"I was still young, but I remember my mother taking me door-to-door, begging relatives and asking for help. By scraping together everything she could and mortgaging the house, she only managed to raise a little over eighty thousand yuan.

"That man said he would figure out a way to get the rest. He claimed he had thought it over carefully and realized the card games had been a setup from the start. He blamed himself for being stupid and letting them lead him down the garden path step by step."

At this, Li Yan’s face revealed an undisguised viciousness. This was the first time Su Yunzhou had ever seen such an expression on her face. It was a look born only from absolute, extreme disgust toward another human being.

"My mother and I both thought he would take that heavy stack of eighty thousand yuan to settle the debt so we could start our lives over," Li Yan continued.

"But... we waited all night, and he never came home. It wasn’t until the next day when the police showed up at our door. They told us he had stabbed someone to death and was now on the run. They had come to question us as his family members to investigate the situation."

Hearing this, a flash of surprise crossed Su Yunzhou’s eyes. Without needing to think too hard, he could guess what happened next. With a father like that...

No wonder...

Alas!

Sometimes, life was just like that. One wrong step led to a lifetime of mistakes. It was often said that a man’s greatest fear was choosing the wrong path, and a woman’s was marrying the wrong man.

That was no joke.

Furthermore, hoping for someone who was a complete lost cause to change was practically impossible.

But he never expected that the events Li Yan recounted next would infuriate him even more.

"I still don’t know exactly what happened, but he was caught not long after he ran. The creditor didn’t survive," Li Yan said.

"He went to prison. After staying in our small town, where gossip and rumors were flying everywhere, for a while, my mother changed my surname and we left. We went to Rongcheng to stay with a friend of hers.

"Aunt Fang is truly a wonderful person. She was a childhood classmate of my mother’s. Once she understood what we had been through, she helped us as much as she could. I started attending school in Rongcheng, which was also when I met Liu Yiyi."

Li Yan took a deep breath before continuing, "Those times were extremely hard. To put me through school and take care of me, my mom had to work several jobs at once. She took on every kind of grueling, exhausting work you can imagine.

"But gradually, our lives got back on track. As I grew up, I almost forgot that man existed. However, right when I started my senior year of high school...

"I came home one night, and that man had reappeared.

"He seemed like a completely different person from my memories. His face was covered in weariness and exhaustion, and his movements and expressions had become meek and submissive.

"He begged us bitterly. He said he had wronged the two of us, that he shouldn’t have been so impulsive back then, that...

"In the end, my mother’s heart softened, and she took him in temporarily. He behaved very well at first, but it was all just a disguise."

Li Yan gritted her teeth. "I don’t know where he met them, but he got mixed up with some sleazy cronies and brought them home every few days. One of them even tried to grope me while I was asleep! Thank God my mother caught him.

"After that incident, my mother completely lost hope. She told him to get the hell out, but he just stayed there, refusing to leave no matter what. He even said that since I was his flesh and blood, if she wouldn’t take care of him, he’d make his daughter do it. He said, ’Even if I die, I’ll drag you two down with me!’

"He had grasped my mother’s weakness. With my college entrance exams fast approaching, my mother had to suffer in silence for my sake. But he only escalated his behavior."

Li Yan’s breathing grew rapid, her knuckles turning white as she clenched her fists. "He started drinking heavily. Every day he demanded money from my mom to go out and fool around. If he had a good time drinking, he’d come back with a cheeky grin; if he was unhappy, he’d fly into a rage and violently abuse us in all sorts of ways.

"One day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I got into a fierce argument with him while he was completely drunk."

At this point, Li Yan brushed aside the hair on the side of her head, revealing a long, narrow scar. "This is from him hitting me that day. Afterward, my mother took me to the hospital to get patched up and bought my favorite fruits. She said, ’Mom is so sorry. From now on, you have to take good care of yourself.’ I didn’t understand the meaning behind those words at the time. It wasn’t until later that I realized my mother..."

As she spoke, Li Yan began to cry. Her quiet whimpers soon turned into loud wailing.

"SOB."

"I really hate him. If it weren’t for him, my mom wouldn’t have suffered so much her whole life.

"She wouldn’t be spending the rest of her life in prison.

"And I wouldn’t have lost my family.

"..."