Chapter 33: It Is Enough That Our Consciences Are Clear

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“Yao, wake up. Quickly.”

Qiu Yiyao felt a sharp pain across her face. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at Qiu Shengming’s scarred face.

His brows were tightly drawn, his features filled with worry.

“Dad?”

“You’re finally awake. You nearly scared me to death.” Qiu Shengming let out a sigh of relief.

Qiu Yiyao studied his face carefully, then turned to look around. The familiar pink curtains in the guest room fluttered in the breeze.

She had come back again.

Qiu Yiyao closed her eyes helplessly. The figures in the tunnel rose vividly in her mind.

It was them—the survivors from her train carriage.

The scene played through her mind like a film, as though the people hiding in the darkness were warning her, or reminding her that everything was destined to happen and that she could never escape.

Suddenly, a man’s face appeared. He had dark skin and wore simple clothes: a white T-shirt and black trousers. He sat alone near the tunnel exit, frowning pensively.

“So it was him.”

Qiu Yiyao sat upright at once. It was the man who had been taken away by the police that day—the one accused of killing someone with his motorcycle.

Thinking of the man’s reaction at the time, Qiu Yiyao instinctively felt that he must have recognized her as well. Perhaps he had even come to the area that day specifically to find her.

At the thought of this possibility, Qiu Yiyao threw off the covers and prepared to get out of bed. She had to find that man.

Qiu Shengming did not stop her. He merely assumed she was hungry.

“I made your favorite sweet-and-sour fish. You spent the whole day sleeping and didn’t eat anything. Be sure to eat more later.”

At his words, Qiu Yiyao looked toward the window.

Sure enough, the afterglow of sunset shone through the glass, bathing it in red.

“When did I come back?”

“Come back? From where?” Qiu Shengming asked, his face filled with confusion.

Yet the more he acted that way, the more convinced Qiu Yiyao became that it was all an act.

She knew that no matter what she said now, he would insist that it had been a hallucination, a dream.

She bent down to put on her shoes. Though she had stepped through the woods in the dark and covered them in mud, they were now clean as new.

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“It’s nothing. I’m not having dinner. I want to go out for a walk.”

Qiu Shengming froze. “Why don’t you eat first? I’ll have Xiao Bai accompany you.”

“No need. We don’t get along.”

Qiu Yiyao knew that Qiu Shengming wanted Bai Peiyu to keep an eye on her, in case she tried to run away again.

But when she opened the door, Bai Peiyu was already waiting outside.

She turned back and glared resentfully at Qiu Shengming. Unable to control herself any longer, she cried out in anguish, “What exactly do you want from me? If you want me dead, just say so! Do you really have to watch me every day like this? What value do I have to you? Am I really worth all this?”

Her voice broke with sobs. The sight of the face of the person closest to her made her feel even more heartbroken and helpless.

Qiu Shengming’s eyes filled with shock. His own eyes reddened, and remorse spread across his face.

“Child, it’s Daddy’s fault. You’ve been under so much pressure lately. I was only afraid you might run into bad people outside. If you don’t like it, I’ll have Xiao Bai—”

But Bai Peiyu interrupted him coldly. “You don’t need to explain yourself to her. As long as our consciences are clear, that’s enough.”

“Hah! A clear conscience? Clear before whom?”

Qiu Yiyao was so furious she nearly laughed. Thinking of everything that had happened since she returned, her anger surged again.

“You locked me up here, and you still think you’ve done nothing wrong?”

She rushed to the table and yanked open the drawer. Taking out a bottle of medicine, she hurled it viciously at Bai Peiyu.

“I’m not sick, so why do you keep saying I am? Do you want me to truly become insane one day, so I’ll willingly let you torment me? Or perhaps lie down obediently and let you eat me?”

“What nonsense are you talking about, child? You’re my Yao. How could I eat you? You’re a person, not some little animal.”

Qiu Shengming’s voice trembled with sobs.

His scarred left cheek quivering, he looked at her helplessly. Qiu Yiyao turned away, unwilling to meet his gaze.

“Don’t wear that face while pretending to care about me. It makes me sick.”

Qiu Shengming stared at her profile for a long while before letting out a heavy sigh.

“Yao, I always believed your illness would get better. I never imagined it would suddenly become this serious. It’s all my fault. All my fault.”

He shook his head repeatedly, his face full of regret, and pounded his rough hands against his chest.

Bai Peiyu’s expression hardened. He stepped forward and pulled his hands away.

“This isn’t your fault.”

At that moment, a woman’s voice came from the doorway.

“Well, what a feast.”

It was Li Zhen. Wearing a floral dress, she led Congcong to the guest-room door.

Seeing the three of them gathered inside, she put on a concerned smile that was only half sincere.

“Why are all of you hiding in here? Did something happen?”

Qiu Shengming seemed unwilling to let her see his true emotions and deliberately coughed twice.

“No. Xiao Bai and I came to call Yao to dinner.”

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Without turning around to look at her, he called out casually, “Yao, Xiao Bai, come on. Let’s eat.”

Qiu Yiyao remained where she was in silence, calculating how she might slip away later.

When Qiu Shengming left the room, Bai Peiyu strode over to her.

“Come on. Eat.”

“I’m not eating. Who knows whether you poisoned the food?”

Qiu Yiyao did not want to waste any more words on him. She snatched up her backpack from the table and carefully inspected its contents. Her wallet, the dry rations, and the fruit knife were all gone.

Furious, she turned and thrust out her hand before Bai Peiyu.

“Where are my things?”

“Don’t know.”

Bai Peiyu raised his hand and smacked her palm hard.

“Stop wasting time. Eat. Don’t make me use force.”

The pain made Qiu Yiyao jerk her hand back. Gritting her teeth, she shouted, “Go ahead if you dare! If I’m afraid of you, I’m not Qiu Yiyao!”

She grabbed her backpack, slipped around Bai Peiyu, and hurried toward the door.

It did not matter if she had no food. She could always go hungry for a few meals.

And the fruit knife did not matter either. Even if she had held it, she might not have been a match for the other person.

Her only goal was to leave the town. Whether she had to crawl out or be carried out, she had to try.

But clearly, Bai Peiyu had no intention of letting her go.

He stretched out his large hand and seized the strap of her backpack.

With a forceful tug, he pulled her backward. She fell straight into his arms.

“Bastard, let go!”

Furious, Qiu Yiyao raised her fists and struck him twice in the chest.

Bai Peiyu did not even frown. That little strength seemed incapable of causing him the slightest harm.

He turned his head toward the window, where a shadow could faintly be seen moving outside.

His expression darkened. Lowering his head, he leaned close to Qiu Yiyao’s ear and spoke in a tone that sounded half threatening, half conciliatory.

“If you want to get out, cooperate obediently. Without my help, you won’t be able to go anywhere. You’ll only die faster.”

Qiu Yiyao stared at him in disbelief.

Was he finally admitting it? Admitting that everything from the previous night had not been a hallucination, but had truly happened?

“What? You don’t understand? Do I need to repeat myself?”

“You said it yourself—liars are puppies.”