“Actually, Qu Yun and you are not on the same path at all. If it weren’t for Gu Chengyuan, you two would not have come together.” Tang Yongzi suddenly stopped the car.
Due to inertia, You Ran's body fell forward. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt and had to brace herself with her hands at the last moment.
The impact was too strong, and a dull pain spread through You Ran's wrist.
"You mean, you want me to leave him?" You Ran gently twisted her wrist, feeling intense pain.
“Even if you don’t leave him, he will leave you,” Tang Yongzi said, her voice seemingly tinged with a cold fragrance.
"Then what does all this have to do with you?" You Ran's tone suddenly relaxed.
Tang Yongzi turned her eyes, which held a fresh and charming quality, toward You Ran.
"What I do with him is none of your business. Whether Qu Yun is sincere or not, please understand that I am his girlfriend now. Whether you betrayed him first or he dumped you first, you are now his past." You Ran smiled serenely at Tang Yongzi. "So, whatever happens between Qu Yun and me, you, this shadow of the past, should step down. There has never been a place for you between us... I'm very sorry."
Tang Yongzi's eyes flickered, and after a long while, he snorted softly, "It's been a few years, and you've become quite sharp-tongued."
"Should I thank you for the compliment?" You Ran smiled again.
"I've said my piece. Whether you believe it or not, just ask those who knew the inside story back then..." Tang Yongzi hadn't finished speaking when her phone rang. She answered it and waited for the other end to say a couple of sentences before lazily replying, "I understand."
Then, she hung up the phone and said, "Qu Yun is waiting for you at the hotel where you are staying. You can ask him about everything."
"I understand." After saying that, You Ran opened the car door and jumped out.
Tang Yongzi saw through her intention, raised an eyebrow, and said, "You don't mean you want to walk back?"
"The thought of you touching my man makes me uncomfortable, so it's better for me to leave on my own." After saying this, You Ran didn't care to look at Tang Yongzi's expression. She wrapped her scarf tightly around her hands and walked up the mountain path.
The snow was still falling, not heavily, but the wind still stung my face slightly. Although my boots were thick, they couldn't keep out the low temperature of the snow, and my soles started to feel stiff.
The mind is chaotic, but in this world of ice crystals, it freezes into a chaotic solid.
She told herself that she shouldn't believe Tang Yongzi's words... at least, she shouldn't believe them entirely.
She carefully recalled every detail of her time with Qu Yun, picking up every fragment of memory and examining it closely.
You Ran remembered that it was she who asked to date him; she had always been the one to take the initiative.
If Qu Yun was determined to take revenge, he could have easily been completely obedient to her from the beginning, making her feel supreme happiness, and then cruelly pushed her down, severely hurting her to show Gu Chengyuan.
But he didn't do that; he stayed where he was, waiting for You Ran to come closer on her own.
You Ran was certain that if it weren't for her initiative, their relationship would have ended long ago, let alone the word "revenge".
You Ran was certain that Qu Yun was not, as Tang Yongzi had said, solely focused on revenge.
Realizing this, You Ran should have felt relieved, but she couldn't, because there was a thorn stuck in her heart, and she had to find Qu Yun and ask for the truth.
Despite the wind and snow, You Ran felt no fatigue. She walked step by step back to the hotel, back to the room where they had stayed for less than two days.
Qu Yun waited for her in the house. In his eyes was a knowing look; he knew what had happened.
The warmth from the indoor heating wafted towards her, causing You Ran to shiver.
"What did Tang Yongzi say to you?" This was Qu Yun's first question.
“She talked about herself, you, and Gu Chengyuan,” You Ran said.
"Do you believe what she said?" Qu Yun asked, his lips slightly pursed.
"I don't know... I just want to know one thing, Qu Yun, one thing, you can't hide it from me, okay?" You Ran said, her lips starting to feel numb from the movement, the blood congealing, and a feeling of swelling.
"Go ahead and ask," Qu Yun said, trying to step forward, but You Ran raised her hand in a gesture to stop him, so he stopped.
“I only want to ask one question,” You Ran looked carefully into Qu Yun’s eyes, pronouncing each word clearly: “That night, you said, ‘Because I am Li You Ran,’ what did that mean?”
Qu Yun's lips remained pursed, showing no sign of loosening; his expression said it all.
You Ran covered her face with her hands; the gloves were furry, but she couldn't feel anything when they touched her cheeks.
You Ran thought to herself, how wonderful it would be if the heart could also freeze.
“That day, before you took me, you said something to me: ‘Because you are Li Youran…’ I thought, I thought that was what every woman dreams of. I really thought so. You’ll never know how I felt when I heard those words. I even felt like I could die of happiness.” Qu Yun couldn’t see Youran’s expression because her hands were covering her face, but her voice was pale and weak: “But today I realized that what you wanted to say was, ‘Because I am Li Youran…Because I am Gu Chengyuan’s sister,’ right?”
"I guess the day Gu Chengyuan and Tang Yongzi betrayed you was your birthday, isn't it?"
"You grab them on the bed, you're devastated, you're heartbroken, and what's worse, you run over your cat."
"That's the day you least want to remember in your life, your birthday, so you don't want to drive anymore, or even tell anyone about it."
"But that day still came, so you drank to forget it, and you got a little drunk."
"I was unlucky, and I was too shameless, so I delivered myself into their lap."
“You opened the door, you saw me, you thought of Gu Chengyuan, you thought of Tang Yongzi, you thought of how they were in bed, and you decided to use me to take revenge.”
So, you slept with me.
"After you sobered up, you regretted it. Although you, Qu Yun, are not a gentleman, you are not beyond redemption. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been tripped up so badly by Gu Chengyuan. You regretted it. You felt sorry for me. You felt that it was despicable to take revenge on a little woman. So your attitude towards me began to change. You tried every means to make me stay, bought me my favorite food, bought me my favorite comics, and smiled at me... It turns out that all of this was not because you fell in love with me. You were... making up for me... that's all."
On her way back, You Ran pieced together all the scattered puzzle pieces, creating the complete truth.
Actually, it wasn't that difficult; she should have thought of it earlier, but... she didn't want to.
You Ran kept her face covered, not daring to look at Qu Yun, afraid to hear his admission.
She heard Qu Yun walking towards her, and she felt him wrap his arms around her tightly.
After a long silence, Qu Yun said softly, "You Ran, I love you, and I will never leave you."
These were the words You Ran most wanted to hear from Qu Yun. She put a lot of effort into it, but ultimately got nothing.
But today, at this unexpected moment, I heard it easily, without any effort.
Qu Yun indirectly acknowledged her guess with these words.
Upon hearing these words, You Ran's trembling hands calmed down.
The room fell into a silence so profound that it gave one the illusion of hearing the snowflakes falling outside the window.
No one can predict the passage of time; in such circumstances, a second and an hour seem to be equal.
In the quietest moment, when even the air seemed to stop flowing, You Ran suddenly pushed Qu Yun away.
Her strength was astonishing, and her anger was like frozen ice—it had no temperature, but its power was even greater.
As she pushed Qu Yun away, You Ran quickly pulled a key from the pocket of her down jacket—the key to Qu Yun's house, the key she had refused to hand over before.
She threw it at Qu Yun with all her might.
The key traced a metallic gleam in the air before its tip struck Qu Yun precisely in the corner of his eye.
Blood quietly seeped from the wound, staining Qu Yun's eyes.
Qu Yun did not dodge, nor did he close his eyes, letting the thick blood enter his eyes.
His right eye turned red, a true blood red.
You Ran remembered how she felt when she first saw Qu Yun's eyes after he took off his glasses; she thought he was like a demon.
Now, stained with the scent of blood, his demonic aura is even stronger.
"You hurt me," You Ran stated a fact.
Qu Yun did not answer, but stared directly at You Ran with his bloodshot eyes.
"And now, I've hurt you too," You Ran continued.
Qu Yun's face, made even more elegant and refined by the blood, was captivating.
“So,” You Ran said, “we owe each other nothing, and from now on, we have no further connection.”
Yes, Qu Yun is a demon, and she is a mortal. She couldn't resist the temptation, she provoked him, she was punished, she was tired, she had no strength left.
She doesn't want it anymore.
You Ran no longer wants Qu Yun, nor this seemingly real but actually fake relationship.
After saying that, You Ran picked up her bag and rushed out the door, but Qu Yun caught up with her at the stairwell.
"Let go before I do anything rash." You Ran didn't look at Qu Yun and stubbornly continued walking forward.
At this moment, she was being pulled by Qu Yun and was unable to move at all, but her feet were still struggling to move forward.
She doesn't want to look back, never.
From the moment the questioning began, Qu Yun remained silent. He said nothing, but simply reached out and pulled You Ran, preventing her from leaving.
The wound on his forehead was still bleeding, the blood flowing down his face and dripping down his jawline.
Qu Yun didn't wipe it with his hands; instead, he used his hands to hold You Ran.
They seemed to be engaged in a tug-of-war in the corridor.
"Let go," You Ran said for the second time.
Qu Yun still held You Ran's arms tightly.
"Let go." You Ran made this request for the third time.
Qu Yun pulled her into his arms, his hands gripping You Ran's neck and covering her face.
"Let go, let go, let go!!!" You Ran seemed unable to bear Qu Yun's resistance and struggled hysterically.
She grabbed Qu Yun's hand and bit it hard.
She used great force with her mouth, her teeth instantly piercing through the flesh. A sweet, metallic liquid surged like a tide into You Ran's lips and teeth, flowing into her throat and suffocating her.
You Ran let go of Qu Yun's hand, squatted on the ground, and coughed uncomfortably.
She kept coughing and spitting out blood, which fell to the ground.
A hand gently patted her back, and You Ran knew it was Qu Yun's hand.
You Ran suddenly became vulnerable, like a child who had suffered a great injustice, and burst into tears.
Her tears flowed like a spring, falling drop by drop to the ground, mingling with the bloodstains.
You Ran burst into tears, as if she was putting all her strength into this action. The tears seemed to be washing her eyeballs out, causing a painful, sore feeling.
Her voice echoed in the corridor.
You Ran cried, her voice hoarse, her body trembling, unable to discern what was happening around her.
“This won’t do… I’ll take her back… Don’t be stubborn, Qu Yun, you don’t want to see her cry herself to death here… She’ll calm down… Let me take her.”
You Ran vaguely remembered that it was You Lin's voice.