Returning - Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Turning the Tables

Xue Zhan arrived at the hospital late the next morning.

By then, Zhao Yu had already been moved to a regular ward. The red splotches on her skin had mostly faded, she no longer needed oxygen, only an IV drip remained in her hand, and though her throat still pained her, she could now speak.

His purpose was simple: to ask the victim's opinion regarding the perpetrator's punishment. But before Zhao Yu could say anything, Xue Zi'ang, already brimming with indignation and his face dark with anger, declared he absolutely would not let Yu Fei off easily.

"I have no opinion. I defer entirely to Director Xue's judgment." Apart from a flicker of mild surprise when she learned Yu Fei was the one behind it, Zhao Yu's face remained utterly expressionless.

Her voice was still terribly hoarse, gratingly uncomfortable to listen to. Xue Zi'ang quickly reached for the water glass on the table and said gently, "Have some water first."

Zhao Yu didn't drink. She didn't even glance at him, just said flatly, "President Xue, please leave as well."

Xue Zi'ang's hand froze mid-air, the offered water glass suspended rigidly.

These were the first words she had spoken to him in days.

After leaving the observation room in the middle of the previous night, she had kept her eyes closed even when awake, clearly signaling her refusal to engage with him.

He knew she was physically weak and needed rest, so he had temporarily swallowed all his explanations and apologies, simply keeping a quiet vigil by her bedside.

He had thought that after a night's rest, her attitude might soften somewhat. He never expected to be met with such an indifferent and distant "President Xue."

Did she truly... intend to break up with him?

Forcing down the bitter ache and fear churning in his chest, Xue Zi'ang retracted the water glass, offered her an exceedingly gentle smile, and strove to keep his voice calm: "Zhao Yu, about what happened that day, I can expl—"

"Who is Xu Miao?"

The sudden question instantly shattered the composure he had so painstakingly constructed. He gripped the water glass, staring at her in disbelief. "What... did you say?"

Xue Zhan, already on the verge of leaving, also stopped at those words, turning back to look at Zhao Yu with considerable astonishment.

Zhao Yu gave a small smile. "That night, when you called out to me... it was that name."

Xue Zi'ang was stunned speechless, utterly unable to refute it.

He had absolutely no recollection of what he might have said that night while drunk, during their incessant lovemaking. If he had... indeed called out Xu Miao's name, he couldn't deny it, because before, he truly couldn't forget her.

No, it was more accurate to say he thought he couldn't forget Xu Miao. But in reality, that wasn't true. He had already found his answer.

Yet before he could speak, Zhao Yu continued, her face still blank: "That night, I looked through your phone. I know I shouldn't have pried into your privacy, but I was just curious—who was the person whose name you called out even when drunk, the person you were still thinking of while you were in bed with me? I even thought it was some new girl you'd met..."

She paused, letting out a self-mocking laugh. "I was so stupid. I actually believed I was really your girlfriend. I even arrogantly thought I had the right to deal with any woman trying to steal my boyfriend. And then... guess what I found?"

Tears slid silently down her cheeks. She laughed even as she wiped them away with her hand, the self-derision in her expression deepening. "It turns out, she was the girlfriend you once loved deeply. Your friends were saying in the group chat that you and she were a match made in heaven, that you never should have broken up, that you... should reconcile. So that's why she called off the wedding that day... That's why, that day, you abandoned me alone at the Xue family home—"

"No, Zhao Yu, that day I was—"

"From the very beginning, I was just a substitute for Xu Miao, wasn't I?"

That sentence landed like a thunderclap, violently exploding within the cramped hospital room, instantly freezing the very air.

Xue Zhan looked at Xue Zi'ang in shock, while Xue Zi'ang himself, stricken with astonishment, had turned ashen as death.

Zhao Yu's face remained a mask of self-mockery. "Ye Zi was another one of Xu Miao's substitutes, wasn't she?"

Xue Zi'ang stared at her blankly, his lips moved, but no sound came out.

Zhao Yu kept smiling. "I saw Xu Miao's wedding photos in your group chat. She really is... very beautiful. Especially that mole near her eye, just like Ye Zi's. No wonder people in the company always said your relationship with Ye Zi was special. No wonder Ye Zi herself felt that you treated her differently from others. It was all because of that mole. So what about me?"

She raised her head, staring directly at him. "May I ask, President Xue, what part of me resembles Xu Miao? That night, I studied her photos for ages, but I still couldn't see it. What exactly is the resemblance? Can you tell me? What specific quality qualified me to be this substitute?"

"Your best buddies were cursing you out in the group chat, saying you had the nerve to find substitutes everywhere but lacked the guts to win Xu Miao back. I'm genuinely curious... exactly how many women like me have had the great honor of being President Xue's substitute? And the fact that I got the official 'girlfriend' title—does that mean this substitute, me, was more qualified than the others?"

Xue Zi'ang's grip on the water glass was white-knuckled, his ten finger joints pale from the sheer force. His lips felt parched, his throat acrid with bitterness. He just stared at her for a long moment, still unable to utter a single word.

What could he possibly say? Deny her accusations?

But from the very start, from the first moment he noticed her, it was precisely because her temperament was so remarkably similar to Xu Miao's. How could he deny that?

Watching his silent confirmation, the smile on Zhao Yu's face grew even wider, the tears flowing even more freely. "I was such a fool. I knew from the beginning that a woman like me wasn't qualified to be with you. I understood from the start that President Xue, a man never lacking for women, could never truly be interested in someone like me. So... why did I still believe it?"

"My lips spoke so clearly, my mind understood everything perfectly, yet I still threw myself in headfirst without looking back. And in the end, just as expected, it was all just a joke."

"President Xue, Xue Zi'ang, for the sake of the half-year and more I've been with you, for the sake of my... barely passable performance, whether as a substitute or merely a tool for your release—could you... please let me go? Stop rejecting my resignation? Stop using Xia Nan to force me to see you? Can you?"

"You told me to attend the annual meeting. I went. But you never came. I waited for you for so long, but you never showed. I thought I was going to die. When I was most terrified, most helpless, where were you? Did you go looking for Xu Miao again? Do you have any idea how desperately I wanted you by my side at that moment?"

"Actually... if you had been there then, maybe I could have convinced myself. Told myself that being a substitute wasn't so bad. That at least, you would spare me a tiny fraction of the concern you had for Xu Miao. But... you weren't there. I was a complete joke, obediently going to the annual meeting, humiliating myself in front of everyone, and in the end, I still couldn't wait for you."

In the quiet ward, only the sound of her low, choked sobs echoed through the air.

Xue Zhan stood in silence, watching the two of them expressionlessly.

Xue Zi'ang remained equally silent, his face pale, his eyes rimmed red, sitting motionless on the edge of the bed, watching the tear-streaked face of the woman before him.

After a long time, he suddenly shook his head, murmuring, "I won't let go. I won't let go, I won't..."

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