Volume 1, Chapter 62: Do You Really Love Zhiyi?

"Sister Xiangyi, I have to go now."

Meng Xiangyi wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Her lips were swollen and flushed from Bo Congnan's kisses, looking as delicate and tempting as a freshly plucked fruit.

Seeing this, Bo Congnan's Adam's apple bobbed. He raised a hand to gently stroke Meng Xiangyi's lips, leaning in close to murmur in her ear, "Wait for me to come back. I want you to wear high heels for me."

Hearing those words, Meng Xiangyi's cheeks instantly flushed crimson.

The statement was heavy with sexual innuendo; how could Meng Xiangyi possibly fail to understand?

Lowering her gaze to avoid looking at Bo Congnan, she gave a shy nod of assent.

Bo Congnan curved his lips into a smile, turned around, and left.

How could a person be so utterly shameless?

Clearly, just yesterday, Bo Congnan had been heartbroken to the point of despair, desperate to fly off to Country M immediately to bring me back.

Yet at this very moment, he was flirting with my sister inside a hospital ward.

I was once again consumed by anger, wishing I could kick the two of them over with a single blow.

Bo Family Private Airport.

The moment Bo Congnan arrived, he spotted a figure standing far off at the entrance.

Bo Congnan narrowed his eyes slightly.

This was the Bo family's private airfield; ordinary people could not possibly gain entry.

Who on earth could be waiting for him there?

As Bo Congnan drew closer, he discovered that Shen Yikang was standing out in the snow, looking utterly haggard.

"Dad, why are you here?"

Bo Congnan had not expected it to be Shen Yikang.

His father-in-law was a timid man who avoided trouble at all costs. With the upcoming trip to Devil's Island fraught with extreme danger, Bo Congnan had never expected Shen Yikang to make the journey.

To his utter astonishment, Shen Yikang was actually waiting for him at the private airport.

This was completely unexpected.

Shen Yikang's brows were furrowed with an inescapable sorrow. Standing amidst the snow, his breath billowed out in white puffs as he spoke, "Zhiyi is my daughter. Now that she's alone on Devil's Island with her fate completely unknown, how could I, as her father, not worry? I know you're heading to Devil's Island, and I want to go with you to bring her back."

"Dad, Devil's Island is extremely dangerous, and there are rebel factions there. One wrong move and you could lose your life. Are you sure you want to go? If..."

Cutting him off as if having made a resolute decision, Shen Yikang spoke with unwavering determination, "Even if I have to risk my life, I am going to bring that girl back. She carries my blood; she is Shen Yikang's own flesh and blood. There is no way I'm going to abandon her!"

In just the span of a few hours, Shen Yikang had grown visibly gaunt.

The exhaustion in his eyes was impossible to conceal, and the fingers hidden beneath his sleeves trembled slightly.

Clearly terrified, he was still going ahead unconditionally to Devil's Island to search for me.

That complex surge of emotion welled up in my chest once more.

Ever since Meng Xiangyi returned to the household, Shen Yikang had never undergone the complete one-eighty-degree transformation that Fang Lanru had.

He would still punctually send me birthday gifts, though he always prepared two: the larger one for Meng Xiangyi, and the smaller one for me.

For birthday banquets, he would hold both Meng Xiangyi's hands and mine while we cut the cake.

After cutting the cake, he would always tell me—

"Zhiyi is younger and has a smaller appetite. Let's give the biggest slice to your sister, alright?"

Seemingly nothing had changed, yet it felt as though everything had changed.

It was the first time Bo Congnan had ever seen such a resolute look in Shen Yikang's eyes, and he knew that no amount of persuasion would work.

Besides, since he was heading to Country M alone anyway, having someone along for company wasn't a bad thing.

The plane took off shortly after.

The weather today was far from pleasant; the sky was shrouded in an oppressive, gloomy gray, as if it might begin to pour at any moment.

Looking down from the aircraft window, Bo Congnan felt an inexplicable surge of anxiety the closer they got to Country M.

He was afraid—afraid that when he finally found Zhiyi, she would be in a harrowing, unrecognizable state.

He almost wished he wouldn't find her at all, so he wouldn't have to face any of it.

Without realizing it, Bo Congnan's left hand began to tremble. He covered it with his right hand, deliberately regulating his breathing.

Ever since boarding the plane, Shen Yikang had remained exceptionally quiet, staring fixedly at a pendant in his palm.

It was a miniature racing car.

I had given him this pendant when I was a child.

It was a replica of the car driven by my favorite racing driver when they won the NJ International Championship, a treasured piece I had collected for a long time.

I had gifted it to him the year Shen Yikang was diagnosed with a heart condition.

To think he had kept it all this time.

Yet what good was it now?

I was already dead, reduced to a headless female corpse.

I would never call him "Dad" again.

Even if heaven were to grant me a chance to start over, my only wish would be to sever all ties with the Shen family and never lay eyes on them again for eternity!

Gazing down at the small pendant in his hand, Shen Yikang's eyes suddenly grew moist. Abruptly lifting his head, he asked Bo Congnan, "Do you actually love Zhiyi or not?"

If he loved her, how could he have abandoned her on their wedding day? If Bo Congnan hadn't deserted her, why would Zhiyi have run away from home in the first place?

Had she not run away, she never would have ended up trapped on that wretched Devil's Island!

Yet if he didn't love her, why marry her at all?

Before the wedding, after winning a championship, Bo Congnan had proposed to me, though I hadn't agreed right away.

The Shen family soon caught wind of the matter, and they had always been eager to align themselves with the influential Bo family.

Although I wasn't Fang Lanru's biological daughter, she had no intention of losing such a massive backing for no reason.

Within days, she was interrogating me about why I hadn't accepted the marriage proposal.

Bo Congnan had been there at the time.

They had both stared at me like that, as if my rejection of Bo Congnan was some monstrous crime.

Leisurely putting down my chopsticks, I fixed a calm, heavy gaze on Bo Congnan until he grew fidgety and began darting his eyes away.

I had done it on purpose back then.

The reason I rejected Bo Congnan was because I had discovered he was secretly funding the construction of a top-tier racing training ground in Country M for Meng Xiangyi behind my back.

It cost a hundred million!

It wasn't the money that mattered to me; what broke my heart was that he hadn't mentioned a single word of it to me from start to finish.

Moreover, I had previously caught Bo Congnan secretly hiding one of Meng Xiangyi's high heels.

Convinced beyond a doubt that their relationship was far from ordinary, I had casually refused to marry him.

When I turned him down that day, I hadn't confronted Bo Congnan, so he had no idea of my true reasons.

Yet he still felt too guilty to meet my gaze—a look of such palpable panic sparked by a simple refusal that I would never forget it for the rest of my life.

One could only imagine what else he and Meng Xiangyi had done behind my back when I wasn't looking.

Right there in front of my family, I smiled and asked, "Is it really me you want to marry?"

At those words, the entire dining table fell silent.

I even deliberately flashed a smile at Meng Xiangyi, whose face barely concealed her mounting awkwardness.

She clearly understood the subtext of my words.

Perhaps she hadn't expected me to be so direct, blurting it out right in front of the family.

Just as Fang Lanru and Shen Yikang looked like they were about to grow suspicious,

Bo Congnan stepped forward, swearing oaths and making solemn vows that I was the only one he had ever wanted to marry from the very beginning, promising to treat me well for the rest of his life, or else be struck by lightning and meet a wretched end.

Fang Lanru was immediately pacified by his empty words, turning her wrath back onto me, "You ungrateful girl, Congnan has already sworn such an oath, what more are you acting so coy about?"

She immediately grabbed Bo Congnan's ring and slipped it onto my finger.

And it was on that very day that I caught the first flash of hatred in Meng Xiangyi's eyes.

She hated me.

My greatest regret was that, despite sensing something was wrong, I had still allowed myself to be coaxed and convinced by Bo Congnan's sweet talk.

If I had stood my ground that day, perhaps we never would have gotten married at all.

Bo Congnan's voice trembled slightly. "Of course I love her. She is the only woman I have ever loved in this world."

No sooner had those words left his mouth than the entire aircraft was suddenly rocked by a violent turbulence.