代练牛

Chapter 401 Engagement! (1)

?Eight hours later, at 6:00 pm, the atmosphere within Chen Yulan's quarters at the Dragon Pearl Banquet Hall is a stark, silent contrast to the earlier tension.

The room, once a sanctuary of elegance, now mirrors the aftermath of a tempest.

Amidst the turmoil, a woman sits on the bed, her figure small and defeated.

The quilt she clings to offers scant comfort against the scratches and marks that mar her skin, hidden just below the neck.

Her lips, swollen and bruised, tremble as she whispers fragments of broken thoughts, her voice a fragile echo of her inner confusion. "...Why... Wei... Why this way..."

The bed, a chaotic jumble, bears the most painful symbol of the tragedy - a patch of red on the mattress, cruelly signifying the violent theft of her innocence.

The feathers from the torn pillows are scattered around her, like mute spectators to the injustice inflicted upon her.

Scattered on the cold floor are the remnants of her bridal dress, once a garment of significance, now torn apart and discarded.

Each piece, a fragment of a dream violently shattered, lies in stark evidence to the brutality of the act committed.

"So annoying..." Zhang Wei muttered under his breath, a spectral figure silhouetted against the twilight. The room behind him was a landscape of disarray, mirroring the turmoil within his thoughts.

As he stood by the open window, the smoke from his cigarette spiraled into the cool evening air, blurring the lines between shadow and light.

His shirt, unbuttoned and disheveled, was a visual echo of the chaos that had unfolded. His gaze, distant and unfocused, seemed to pierce beyond the walls of the room, as if searching for an escape from the reality he had crafted.

Turning from the window, his annoyance broke the silence. "When will you stop crying? Do you want to flood the room with tears?" His tone was edged with irritation.

Since waking, Chen Yulan had done nothing but cry.

The ceaseless flow of her tears seemed like a river without end.

Could she not find a moment of quiet?

Chen Yulan, her eyes red and swollen from tears, lifts her head slightly. Her body curls protectively around her knees, the quilt drawn tightly around her.

Her gaze, filled with a sense of betrayal and incomprehension, meets his. "Y-You had promised me..." she manages to utter, her voice breaking with each word.

He had given his word!

He had promised not to harbor such thoughts about her, to leave her untouched in her innocence – But now everything seems like a cruel joke in the aftermath of what has happened!

"Hm?" Zhang Wei raises an eyebrow, a flicker of amusement crossing his features at her words. To him, her insistence on that promise, even now, seems both innocent and cute.

After everything that has occurred, the broken vow seems inconsequential, yet it's all she clings to amidst the wreckage.

He wonders, almost detachedly, at her naivety. How can she still hold on to a promise, a mere string of words, when the reality around them speaks of a far graver breach?

As Zhang Wei strides towards her, his face etched with amusement, Chen Yulan instinctively recoils. His approaching figure sends a wave of fear through her, her voice stuttering in a desperate plea, "Wei, I-I beg you, stop it..." She hides her face, her skin turning pale with the dread of enduring any more torment. Her body, already pushed to its limits, trembles with the fear of what might come next.

Zhang Wei, finding amusement in her fear, lets out a laugh as he halts at the edge of the bed. "Look at me," he commands. Chen Yulan, with trembling reluctance, lifts her head. Her eyes, wide and brimming with tears, reflect a deep-seated panic. To him, her tearful, frightened eyes seem almost adorable, adding to his cruel amusement.

Then, with a casual, almost offhand tone, he drops the bombshell. "I lied," he declares, his words echoing.

The promise – it was all a lie. As simple and as shattering as that.

"Huh?" The word escaped Chen Yulan like a gasp, a sharp intake of breath that was more felt than heard. It was a cruel slice of reality, cutting through the last thread of hope she had been clinging to.

She flinched visibly, the word "Why...?" slipping from her lips almost unconsciously, a plea for an understanding that seemed as distant as the stars.

Her eyes searched his face, looking for an answer, any answer, that could make sense of the chaos that had become her world.

"Why...did you lie?" The question from Chen Yulan was more than a query; it was a search for some semblance of reason in the chaos. Her eyes, though clouded with tears, held a flicker of resolve as they locked onto Zhang Wei's.

"Because..." Zhang Wei's response began with a hint of mischief, his smile incongruously playful as he gently cupped her face in his hand, "...a man who doesn't lie isn't charming enough."

"..."

Yulan's expression crumbled at his words, her face speechless.

Why was he still not serious?

Does all it resemble only as a joke to him?

Her gaze unconciously drifting towards the window. A desperate thought of escape, of ending it all, flickered in her mind.

But Zhang Wei, as if reading her thoughts, interjected calmly, mind.

But Zhang Wei, as if reading her thoughts, interjected calmly, "Yulan, don't even think about it."

"Why are you always thinking of dying over these small issues?" His words were flippant, carelessly thrown into the heavy air between them.

!!

Small issues?

The phrase struck Chen Yulan like a physical blow.

To him, was the violation she had suffered just a 'small issue'?

The insensitivity of his words pierced her already fragile heart.

As she sat there, her resolve to end her suffering growing stronger by the second, Zhang Wei's sigh broke through her thoughts. It was a sigh of resignation, lacking any real concern.

"Okay, if you really want to die, go ahead. But remember, you won't be just killing yourself, but also our child," he stated, his tone casual, almost indifferent.

"Huh?" Chen Yulan's reaction was instantaneous.

Her lips parted, words failing her as she struggled to grasp the implications.

How could that be possible?

Chen Yulan's mind was a whirlwind of confusion and disbelief. "'How could that be possible...?' she wondered, her voice barely more than a whisper.

But Zhang Wei offered no clarification. Instead, he flashed a 18:53

mysterious, almost taunting smile, as if challenging her to test the truth of his words.