"Aunt Ting, can you take off your veil?"
"Hmm..."
He Tingting removed her veil, revealing an exquisitely beautiful, snow-white face that seed so fragile and pitiful. To describe Aunt Ting as naturally stunning would not be an exaggeration at all.
"Aunt Ting, you’re so beautiful."
Li Zhiyan’s words made He Tingting’s face flush with heat, and she couldn’t help but recall the ti he’d mistaken her for soone else.
But what exactly was the relationship between Xiao Yan and Zhao Shumin? There was more than a twenty-year age gap between them.
Zhao Shumin could easily be Li Zhiyan’s mother. If her guess was correct, wasn’t the whole situation a bit insane?
"Xiao Yan, is there a reason you’ve co to see ?"
"Aunt Zhao asked to bring you so trauma wine."
"It works really well."
"I see..."
After taking the trauma wine, He Tingting’s eyes beca misty. She rembered how her parents had passed away when she was just a teenager. Left helpless and alone, she hadn’t felt any warmth or love from the world since then.
Later, when she married Zhao Liang, she thought it marked the beginning of happiness. Little did she know, what awaited her was an endless abyss.
Her fate was even more miserable than Zhao Shumin’s.
"Aunt Ting, let help you apply the trauma wine."
"No need..."
Clearly flustered, He Tingting’s voice trembled. But Li Zhiyan was eager to see what kind of abuse Aunt Ting had suffered.
"Aunt, let help you. You can’t reach your back, and you got hit there today too."
"If you don’t apply the wine promptly, the injuries will only get worse."
As he spoke, Li Zhiyan gently took Aunt Ting’s arm. When her sleeve was rolled up, He Tingting shut her eyes tightly.
Li Zhiyan was imdiately overco by a feeling of shock and horror.
"What a beast!"
He Tingting’s arm was covered with marks from being whipped with canes. Her delicate, snow-white skin was crisscrossed with long, thin wounds.
"Xiao Yan, you must think it’s ridiculous."
"No, Aunt. Let apply the dicine for you."
Li Zhiyan opened the trauma wine and carefully began to apply it to He Tingting’s wounds.
"Aunt, hasn’t he ever beaten you so badly that you fought back?"
"I’m an orphan, Xiao Yan. No one has ever stood up for . I have no money, no skills—how could I leave this place?"
The despair in He Tingting’s tone was overwhelming.
Her words made Li Zhiyan feel a pang of sorrow.
"Aunt, it’ll be okay. Nowadays, we live in a society governed by law. You can report him for dostic violence! And jobs are available everywhere these days—you won’t starve."
"I can help you find a job, Aunt Ting."
"Plus, you likely didn’t even register your marriage, so you’re technically still single. Getting away from soone like that brute should be simple."
"Xiao Yan, thank you, but if he cos after , he’ll kill . People like him are capable of murder. I’m terrified he might dig up my parents’ graves."
"He’d do sothing as awful as that?"
Li Zhiyan was utterly appalled. Zhao Liang was indeed a complete monster!
"He’s done things like that before in the village. That family was nearly driven to their graves, yet they didn’t dare to resist."
Li Zhiyan recalled his own hotown, where village bullies existed as well. But even they couldn’t remotely compare to soone like Zhao Liang.
"So this is my fate, Xiao Yan. My miserable life. Keep as far away from him as you can. Your future is still bright—it’s not worth clashing with scum like him."
"Aunt Ting, don’t be scared. There’s no such thing as fate."
"You’re single, so it’s certain you can escape this tornt."
"Aunt Ting, let help you apply so dicine on your back."
At that mont, He Tingting’s body started to tremble faintly. But Li Zhiyan was already behind her, lifting up her shirt.
"Xiao Yan, it’s so ugly..."
"Not at all, Aunt Ting. Your skin is the whitest and most beautiful."
The sight of the scars left by the whip marks made Li Zhiyan unable to bear looking any longer.
He quickly applied the dicine, though the burning sensation from the trauma wine made He Tingting cry out in pain.
"Aunt, did you collect all these cardboard pieces?"
"Yes. He forbids from working, so the only thing I can do is go out and pick up scraps."
Seeing He Tingting’s long, pale hands and imagining her daily struggle collecting trash, Li Zhiyan felt an intense sense of anguish at the injustice.
"Aunt, let get you a part-ti job. You can work at my bubble tea shop. I’ll pay you 3,000 a month, and you can work whenever you’re available."
"Three thousand!"
He Tingting couldn’t believe what she was hearing. To her, that sounded like a fortune. The money in her possession totaled just over ninety yuan. Every ti she accumulated several hundred yuan from picking up scraps, Zhao Zhihao would snatch it away.
What shocked He Tingting even more was the revelation that Li Zhiyan himself owned the bubble tea shop!
"Xiao Yan, that’s too much. If you can let work part-ti, even 1,000 a month would be more than enough."
"Aunt, 3,000 is standard pay. After all, we’re in Shanghai."
After lowering Aunt Ting’s shirt, Li Zhiyan suddenly embraced her from behind.
"Xiao... Xiao Yan..."
At that mont, He Tingting’s face grew even redder, as if it was on fire.
"Aunt, trust . Don’t be afraid of Zhao Liang. Once we gather enough evidence, scum like him will go to prison."
"Your life isn’t destined to be like this."
"I’ll head back now. Make sure you apply the rest of the dicine to the rest of your injuries."
"Alright, child. Take care."
After they parted, He Tingting trembled as she stood up and escorted Li Zhiyan to the door.
Only after Li Zhiyan left did she return to her room, locking the door behind her.
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