Chapter 1: I Will Take Responsibility for You

Bang!

Zhou Yubai had just finished showering and returned to his room when a loud crashing noise rang out.

In the next second, a scorching-hot body crashed into his arms.

A soft, uniquely feminine fragrance filled his nose. He looked down and met a pair of moist, doe-like black eyes.

Shen Chuning bit her rosy lips with her pearly-white teeth, a soft whimper escaping her lips. Her slender, pale arms wrapped tightly around the cool, firm body in front of her, finding great comfort in it.

Zhou Yubai could stare down the barrel of a gun without flinching, but at this moment, his ears turned red.

Still, his sharp and severe face grew even more stern, the veins on his neck pulsing. He pried off the soft hands clinging to his waist and said coldly, “Shen Chuning, men and women should keep their distance. Let go!”

“No!”

Her voice trembled with stubbornness and a sob, like she had suffered the greatest injustice.

Her doe-like eyes brimmed with tears, and her bitten lips were already bleeding.

Zhou Yubai’s breath hitched slightly. His eyes darkened as he stared at her, the veins on his neck pulsing harder.

This girl had always feared him. Every time she saw him, she’d run as if he were a wolf chasing her.

And now, after being drugged, she wasn’t scared anymore?

Shen Chuning, oblivious to his reaction, pressed herself closer. “Brother Yubai, I’m so hot… so hot…”

Her delicate hands roamed over him.

At some point, she had pulled off her coat, leaving only a pink undergarment loosely hanging from her neck. Her fair skin had flushed pink from the drug.

Before Zhou Yubai could react, her slender legs wrapped around his waist, her hands hooked around his neck. She pressed her bloodied lips to his, clumsily trying to force them open.

Zhou Yubai’s expression turned even colder.

He had always known Shen Chuning was delicate but he hadn’t expected her to be this bold.

“Shen Chuning, do you even know what you’re doing?” he growled, pushing her off.

Shen Chuning blinked at him, her tearful eyes full of grievance. Her puffy cheeks and tear-streaked face looked like she was about to cry. “Brother Yubai… wuwuwu…”

Zhou Yubai’s heart skipped a beat.

He had known her since she was little spoiled and pampered by her father and brothers.

Who had the nerve to drug the precious daughter of the Shen family?

Steeling himself, he scooped her up and carried her out into the night.

With a splash, a bucket of ice-cold well water drenched her from head to toe. The heat in her body subsided, and she gradually came to her senses.

Confused, she looked around: sturdy mud walls, a small courtyard, a water well in the corner, and a row of three blue-brick tile-roofed houses.

This was…

Her eyes landed on the tall, tanned man before her.

Zhou Yubai’s home!

“Ah—!”

She stumbled back with a scream.

Zhou Yubai quickly reached out to cover her mouth. His house was right next to the village’s sent-down youth point, where a dozen educated youths lived. If they heard this, her reputation would be ruined.

Just as he reached out, she jerked away, and his hand accidentally landed on something soft.

Zhou Yubai froze, his ears burning even more.

He immediately withdrew his hand and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Comrade Shen, I’m sorry. But don’t worry I won’t do anything to you. Just don’t scream. If anyone hears, it’ll ruin your name.”

“I… I’ll take responsibility for you,” Shen Chuning stammered, cheeks red, lips trembling.

Zhou Yubai frowned slightly. Who asked her to take responsibility?

He handed her some clothes. “Put these on first. Don’t catch a cold.”

Shen Chuning took the clothes. Her hazy mind gradually cleared.

Then she remembered.

She had dressed up to meet Chen Ziyun, the educated youth she adored.

When she arrived, he wasn’t there. Female youth Wang Yumeng gave her a glass of water and told her to wait inside.

After drinking it, she fell asleep.

She had a long, vivid dream.

In the dream, she had slept with Chen Ziyun, and their affair was discovered by others at the youth point. Word spread fast. Since she already liked him, she had no choice but to marry him.

But Chen Ziyun refused. He even called her a shameless woman.

Her father and brothers, in order to fulfill her wish to marry him, gave up everything for her dowry. Only then did Chen Ziyun reluctantly marry her.

After the wedding, he never touched her.

Manipulated by his gaslighting, she remained grateful to him so much so that she handed him her family heirloom, the jade koi pendant.

He demanded fine grains, fashionable clothes, a wristwatch. She worked herself to exhaustion to provide for him.

Her father and brothers, heartbroken for her, gave her everything money, food, support. They themselves went hungry.

Her father went to work in a stone quarry to earn more for her. He died in an explosion.

Her brothers gave her the compensation money she sent it all to Chen Ziyun, who was in university.

And what did she get in return? Divorce.

She begged him to stay. Her eldest brother sold the house and took out a high-interest loan to send her to the city. Pressured by debt, he eventually hanged himself.

Her second brother risked arrest by entering the black market to earn money for her. He was imprisoned. Only her third brother, who served in the army, wasn’t dragged down with her.

When she finally found Chen Ziyun in the city, she discovered he had been with Wang Yumeng all along. Their entire relationship was a setup to take her family’s wealth and heirloom.

Right after she learned the truth, a speeding car came straight at her.

In the final moment, someone shoved her out of the way it was her third brother.

She watched in horror as he was thrown through the air and landed in a pool of blood.

She passed out.

When she woke up in the hospital, Zhou Yubai was by her side.

Her third brother’s dying wish had been for Zhou Yubai to look after her. She later saw Chen Ziyun and Wang Yumeng on the news they had become nationally famous entrepreneurs.

To avenge her family, she disguised herself as a reporter and stabbed both of them on stage at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Neither survived.

She was executed for intentional homicide.

The memory of that dream made her heart pound.

Lately, she didn’t know what had come over her she had become obsessively infatuated with Chen Ziyun.

But before, she had never liked pretty boys like him.

What she truly liked was someone like her third brother tall, bronze-skinned, upright and valiant, a true soldier and protector of the nation.

When she awoke at the youth point earlier, her whole body was burning. Chen Ziyun’s face loomed closer…

And with the fear from her dream swelling inside her, she didn’t hesitate. She grabbed something and struck him on the head.

After he collapsed, she ran.

The moment she saw Zhou Yubai’s house, she rushed inside without thinking.

Now, looking up at the tall man in front of her and recalling how he had protected her in the dream compared to how stern and gruff he looked now she suddenly felt wronged.

Tears welled up and streamed down.

Zhou Yubai panicked. Why was this spoiled girl crying again?

Just as he was trying to figure out what to do, a commotion came from the youth point next door.

“Shen Chuning, you shameless slut! Come out here! With all these people around, you still dared sneak into the youth point and seduce our male comrades?!”

“You think just because you did something indecent, Comrade Chen will have to marry you? Ha! Dream on! We’re going straight to the brigade office and the commune to report you as a female hooligan!”