Chapter 64: Dying Love -1
Pei Yunji had been involved in a car accident. Her condition was critical.
The accident was so severe that an investigation was immediately launched.
And eventually, investigators discovered something that made everyone turn toward Meng Zhi.
She had been the last person Pei Yunji had met. When people came to confront her, Meng Zhi desperately tried to explain.
"It wasn’t me."
Her eyes were filled with panic.
"Please believe me. It wasn’t because of me. How can an accident be someone’s fault?"
But no one wanted to listen. Pei Yunji’s parents eventually arrived at Meng Zhi’s home.
The house itself was barely standing.
Its walls were cracked, the roof leaked whenever it rained, and most of the furniture had already been sold to pay off debts.
Yet Pei Yunji’s parents demanded compensation.
They wanted Meng Zhi’s father to pay for the debt incurred by Pei Yunji’s medical treatment.
Meng Zhi’s father was already frustrated with his daughter. This was the final push, so he decided to sell her.
He began sending marriage proposals to wealthy older men.
If one of them took a liking to Meng Zhi, he would marry her and provide her father with money, connections, and a better life.
Meng Zhi remembered the day she knelt before her father. She clutched his trousers desperately.
"Father, believe me."
Her voice trembled. "It wasn’t me. If you sell me to those old men, they’ll kill me. Please, Father. Have mercy on me. I am not even 16 yet!"
She sobbed. "I promise I’ll find a way to earn money. I’ll work. I’ll do anything."
Her father didn’t even look at her. Instead, he spoke coldly. "On the day you were born, you took my wife away from me."
Meng Zhi froze.
His voice became filled with hatred. "I should have made your mother abort you. A child like you is a curse upon me."
He clenched his fists.
"If only I had been wise enough to stop your mother from giving birth to you."
Those words crushed the last remaining hope inside her. Meng Zhi suddenly felt as though life had become meaningless.
Maybe dying would be easier. Maybe if she disappeared, everyone would finally be happy.
She almost gave up. But before she could do anything, the men who had come to take her away arrived.
They were generals of the army.
They had spent decades climbing the military ranks and possessed considerable wealth and authority.
Unfortunately, by the time they had reached those positions, they were already old.
Few women were willing to marry them. As a result, they remained wealthy bachelors, and Meng Zhi had become the perfect solution.
Several soldiers grabbed her arms. She struggled desperately.
"Father! Mother wouldn’t be happy! Do you really want to sell me? Look at me! I’m your daughter, Little Meng! Father, you said you would raise me like a pearl! Please! I promise I’ll be a good girl!"
Her vision became blurry. Tears streamed down her face, although she could barely see them anymore.
However, even under the bright light, her father remained cold and unyielding.
Everything around her seemed distant. It felt as though she were watching someone else’s life.
’That isn’t me. I’m not Meng Zhi. I’m not the cursed child.’
She wanted to believe that.
She wanted to imagine that if she weren’t Meng Zhi, perhaps the world would have been beautiful.
Perhaps she would have friends. Perhaps someone would love and protect her.
But that dream never came true; she was taken away.
Her new husband was Nan Yongji. At least, that was how Meng Zhi was asked to address him.
To her, he was nothing more than another monster.
He abused her, forced her to eat food thrown onto the floor, treated her like a servant and forced her to clean his entire residence.
Even when she was sick or bleeding from her private parts, he showed no concern.
He never saw her as a person, only as something he owned.
"If it weren’t for the womb you have, you would have died long ago. Who would keep a calamity like you around? Thank god I have consulted with a fortune teller; as long as I treat you harshly, no bad luck will befall me."
Eventually, Meng Zhi began believing that the entire world was rotten. It was filled with cruel people.
Selfish people, powerful yet stupid people. She had once read in textbooks. Power given to a fool leads to catastrophe... and she started to feel the entire world was foolish.
No one ever looked at her and thought,
’She’s just a human being. Maybe none of this is her fault.’
She fantasised that one day, when she was gone, everyone would regret it.
Her father, who sold her; her fiancé, who ignored her; and the so-called kind people who never stopped to help her.
She thought she had let go all of her feelings and was numb, but then came the final blow.
Meng Zhi learned that her former fiancé, Zhaun Yun, was going to marry Pei Yunji.
She was devastated. The last thread connecting her to the life she once dreamed of snapped.
That night, she escaped from Nan Yongji. She ran without knowing where she would go.
She only knew that she had to see Pei Yunji. She had to ask her why.
Why had her best friend, who was the only hope of her life and the only person she had told about how much she loved her fiancee, married her fiancee?
Eventually, she arrived at the wedding venue. The place was decorated beautifully. Flowers covered the entrance and music played in the background.
People laughed and talked. It looked like a celebration from another world.
Meng Zhi stumbled inside. "Pei Yunji!"
Her voice echoed through the venue. The conversations gradually stopped. Pei Yunji came outside with the other guests.
The moment they saw Meng Zhi, the entire atmosphere changed.
Whispers immediately spread through the crowd.
"Look at her. How ugly."
"She’s practically skin and bones."
"Who would marry her now?"
Someone laughed. Another person sneered. "Zhuan Yu was smart. He dodged that bullet."
The laughter grew louder while Meng Zhi stood at the entrance, frozen.