He hated Wang Lu, yes… but Lei Zhao appreciated the effort that Wang Lu did—helping her overcome that struggle so Yan Mei could be herself again.

If Lei Zhao were to be in that position, how could he have done it?

”I… have no idea.” Lei Zhao rested his back on the rest of his chair, sighing as he did not expect how bad Yan Mei’s past experience was. “She must have struggled so much. She must have…”

Lei Zhao did not want to continue the sentence. But this, however, was enough for Wang Lu to understand what he meant. Wang Lu drank the glass of water at the side as he also heaved a sigh, getting Lei Zhao’s attention.

”The man that you’re looking for. His name is Gu Zhi.”

Hearing this, Lei Zhao looked at Wang Lu, seriousness evident in his eyes.

”Gu Zhi? Why is he attacking Yan Mei in the first place? Do you know the reason why?”

Wang Lu stared straight into Lei Zhao’s eyes. He was hesitant to answer him at first, but now that he’s here and remembering that Yan Mei’s life is at stake and that she may be having those attacks again, he knew he had to tell Lei Zhao.

Wang Lu wanted so hard to protect Yan Mei in every way he could. But he’s no longer her husband. Lei Zhao is her husband now and he has better and quicker ways to protect her than Wang Lu could ever do.

Wang Lu hated that fact, but he knew that.

In order to protect Yan Mei, the woman he loves in the arms of another man, he would have to tell what he knows.

”I started investigating him since I saw him at the warehouse. It started because of his sister.”

Lei Zhao furrowed his brows, curious.

”Gu Zhi’s sister? What could the connection be? Why let Yan Mei suffer this much?”

Wang Lu let out another sigh. He finished drinking his water before he could even finish the breakfast meal on their table. He then started narrating how he met Gu Zhi’s sister, Gu Ren, and how Yan Mei could possibly be related to Yan Mei’s torture.

~ Flashback ~

Gu Ren was walking at the sidewalk. She walked with no confidence as she was usually bullied for being ugly and fat.

As she walked everywhere, she would always have her head hung low, and her steps small. She would always be afraid bumping on to someone, scared that they might attack her for bumping into them.

As she was walking, some students wearing the same high school uniform as Gu Ren stopped her in her tracks, making Gu Ren stand still, her head hung low.

”Wh-what do you want?” She stammered as she asked, the three boys laughing as one of them grabbed Gu Ren by the hair.

”I know you’re rich! Come here and give us money!”

Without Gu Ren’s reply, the other guy started dragging her to a nearby alley, the two guys with him making sure to block the scene so no one would suspect a thing. Since it was already night time, Gu Ren going home, it was easier to attack her during the dark.

”N-no!” Gu Ren started fighting back, her nails digging on the man’s arm. “I’ll give you the money you need! Let me go!”

The boy who dragged her released her, the three boys already laughing out loud as Gu Ren stumbled on the ground. The other guy started getting her bag, getting all of the contents out. The moment her wallet came out, Gu Ren was teary eyed as she looked down on the ground, daring not to move or else they would hurt her.

’Why is it always like this? Why do they bully me so much? Is it because I’m ugly and fat? Is it because that I’m this way?’

Tears started escaping from Gu Ren’s eyes. The boys laughed as they started sharing the money to each other, checking the other contents of her bag.

”Now that you have what you want, I can go now, right?”

”Ha!” The other boy exclaimed, grabbing Gu Ren by the hair one more time, making her wince with the impact that he did. “You think we’re done doing this, huh? The fun is still starting!”

Gu Ren’s eyes widened in fear, “N-no! Stop! I—”

The other boys started stripping her off from her jacket. Gu Ren thought that she was not going to be assaulted since she was fat and ugly, but turns out that she was wrong.

’Men… they could be really scums if they want to!’

”Hey!”

The three boys instinctively stopped when they heard another man’s voice. Gu Ren raised her head and her heart started beating loud when she saw the handsome face of a man in a suit. It was quite dark in the alley, but with this mysterious man’s appearance, Gu Ren could not help but see how captivating he was despite the dim light around them.

”Who are you, huh!?” The guy released Gu Ren’s hair, making her stumble to the ground. “Why are you—”

”If you don’t stop this, then I would certainly beat you guys up and punish you in every way I can. I have the power to do so.”

”Ha!” The other guy scoffed, the three boys already standing confidently as if to challenge the man who is alone. “Oh, yeah!? Then try us!”

The three boys charged at him. Even though the man was alone, he could easily evade through their attacks. It was as if he had studied fending for himself for a long time, showing little effort in handling them and was always on the defensive, not bothering to go to the offensive at all!

”Th-this!”

Once the man saw an opening, he single handedly knocked them out to sleep with one hit behind the head, Gu Ren, blinking her eyes in surprise as she saw what had happened before her.

She felt like she was a damsel in distress, and that finally, her prince charming had come to save her!

Another man came from behind the mysterious man who saved her.

”Bring these punks home to their houses and inform their parents of what happened.”

”Yes, Mr. Wang Lu.”

’Wang Lu?’

His name rang in Gu Ren’s head like a song in repeat. Her heart started to beat erratically as the man, Wang Lu, started approaching her. The moment he was in front of her, he knelt down, got a handkerchief, and proceeded to wipe the tears on her face.

”You should have gone home earlier,” Wang Lu said, his words comforting the girl. “Why are you out alone?”

”I…” Gu Ren blinked her eyes a few times, not knowing what to say. “Th-thank you,” she just said, Wang Lu giving her a small smile as he put the handkerchief on her hand, standing up as he walked away to leave.

”Go home. Your family must be worried about you. If I did not notice you being dragged away when I was in the car, who knows what might’ve happened to you.”

Gu Ren was still sitting on the ground, surprised and at the same time ecstatic with a handsome man rescuing her. It was at that time then that Gu Ren realized that she had fallen in love with him in an instant.

~ Present Time ~

”So, it was because that you saved Gu Zhi’s sister that everything got mixed up?” Lei Zhao asked, Wang Lu, nodding to answer his question.

Wang Lu told Lei Zhao that since then, Gu Zhi’s sister, Gu Ren, started stalking him until she confessed to him. When Gu Ren confessed to him, Wang Lu rejected her calmly.

”I didn’t know that her love for me was so immense that she took the rejection like a big deal,” Wang Lu mumbled, but it was enough for Lei Zhao to hear. “She followed me everywhere so when she confessed to me, Yan Mei was actually waiting for me at the restaurant and I pointed at her, and probably, that’s when things started to get awful.”

”Hmm, I see.”

Lei Zhao could already deduce from this point the possibilities and the connections of all this. With Gu Zhi being the one who kidnapped Yan Mei and with Gu Ren knowing who Yan Mei is because of her obsession with Wang Lu, they could deduce that Gu Zhi did this to get back at Wang Lu.

But why? It seemed that Gu Zhi had more motives than that. Is his love towards his sister that great to make him do things that are unfathomable?

”When I knew that Gu Zhi was the one who kidnapped Yan Mei, I was so outraged that I killed him myself.

Hearing this, Lei Zhao was snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at Wang Lu with a surprised look on his face.

”But if you killed him yourself, then why is he—”

”I know,” Wang Lu interrupted him, “I don’t know why he is alive. I saw him dying and his lifeless body with my own eyes. I made sure that he was… but why?”

Silence befell the two, Ye Xing also dumbfounded as he listened and took notes of what they talked about during their conversation.

It was as if that even though they had talked about this together, they reached another bottleneck—wanting to look for more clues as to why the man who was supposed to be dead… turned out to be alive and well.

A

/N: Hy guys so we are going to be having a challenge this month! In order to give back since you guys have been showing me lots of love I have decided to hold a challenge!

Yes a challenge and a chance to win $30 Amazon gift card , discord nitro and a 100 coins!

So the challenge is a race for top fan and top voter from 1st -31st January

The number one top fan will get $30 Amazon gift card, discord nitro, shoutout too and 100 coins plus a special privilege concerning the book.

2nd place will get $20 Amazon gift card and 100 coins

3rd place will get $10 Amazon gift card and 100 coins

1st place top voter will get 100 coins and discord nitro

Then the 2nd and 3rd place top voter will also get 100 coins which is valid for 1 year!

So keep voting, commenting, review. Let the race begin!

Love, Chichii. Happy new year!!!!!!!