"Chen Qingmian, why wasn't it you who got into trouble? I shouldn't have taken you home in the first place."
Chen Yu'an's eyes were filled with disgust and hatred as he looked at the woman.
Chen Qingmian's face was full of panic. "It wasn't me. Chen Yu'an, believe me! I really didn't do anything!" Chen Qingmian knelt on the ground and crawled desperately towards the man. Although they were so close, she just couldn't reach him.
The winter night was bitterly cold. Chen Qingmian was still wearing a nightgown with only a thin coat draped over her. At this moment, even that meager coat was only sloppily hanging on her elbows, barely covering her chest.
Tears streamed down like broken pearls, falling non - stop.
An hour ago, she was thrown out of the bed by Chen Yu'an. She had never seen such a Chen Yu'an before, so sinister and terrifying. She was scared.
Since Chen Yu'an brought her home from the orphanage when she was eight, the man in her memory had always been gentle and elegant.
"Why did you send that kind of message to An Ya?"
Chen Yu'an's voice was cold and emotionless as he looked down at her.
What message? She had absolutely no idea what message he was talking about!
She looked up blankly, her eyes filled with shattered confusion. "What message...?"
"Still not admitting it?"
"I really don't know what message!"
"It seems I've spoiled you all these years." The look in Chen Yu'an's eyes when he looked at Chen Qingmian was no longer the gentle one of the past. There was only disgust in his eyes as he said, "I really shouldn't have taken you home in the first place."
Chen Yu'an's words were like a lightning bolt, striking directly at Chen Qingmian's heart. She opened her mouth in disbelief, wanting to explain, but what could she explain?
She didn't even know what Chen Yu'an was talking about. Finally, until the man turned around and left, she couldn't make a sound.
Uncle Wang beside them couldn't bear to watch. Chen Qingmian had grown up under his watch. He couldn't believe that the little girl who was afraid to even step on an ant when she was young would do such a thing now.
But the facts were right in front of him, and he had no choice but to believe it.
He looked at the frail woman in the cold wind, his old face filled with worry. "Miss, just tell the truth quickly. Apologize to the master, and he'll forgive you."
It had always been like this. No matter what mistake Chen Qingmian made, as long as she blinked those big eyes and called out "Brother, I was wrong" to Chen Yu'an, he would immediately forgive her.
"What on earth did I do wrong?" Chen Qingmian raised her head proudly. Her voice was unusually calm, and her eyes were full of stubbornness and unwillingness.
In the cold wind of the night, a fleeting strange look flashed across Chen Yu'an's eyes, but before Chen Qingmian could figure out what it was, it disappeared quickly.
She no longer called him Chen Yu'an, nor did she call him A Yu. He still remembered that in the third year after he brought her home, Chen Qingmian started to resist calling him brother. She would only use the "brother" card when she was unhappy.
Chen Yu'an didn't really care about these things. It was just a title, and she could call him whatever she liked as long as she was happy.
Over the years, he had taken good care of her. He taught her to be brave and helped her gain confidence.
In the imperial capital, Chen Qingmian could do whatever she wanted without any restraint. No one dared to say a single word against her.
Uncle Wang sighed as he watched her stubborn look. His voice was a bit more urgent than before. "Miss An was raped!"
Chen Qingmian couldn't believe her ears. She blinked her eyes. "What?"
"Why did you ask Miss An to go to that kind of place at night!"
Only then did Chen Qingmian understand why she was thrown into the snow by Chen Yu'an in the middle of the night. It was because of An Ya, his fiancée, who had been defiled.
He thought she was the culprit. She had sent a message to An Ya. If she hadn't sent that message, An Ya wouldn't have taken a shortcut on that deserted path, wouldn't have been targeted by the hooligans, and wouldn't have been defiled.
"You think... it was me who did it?" Chen Qingmian was terrifyingly calm. There were still tear - stains on her face, and snowflakes were stuck on her eyelashes. She looked resolute yet broken.
"Isn't it?"
Chen Qingmian suddenly looked up, and her gaze met Chen Yu'an's cold and emotionless eyes. So... all these years, she had been such a despicable existence in his eyes.
Then why did he take her home in the first place?
Chen Qingmian was speechless.
She stared directly into Chen Yu'an's eyes on the steps. The white snowflakes in the night sky landed on her long black eyelashes, and her pink lips were frozen purple.
She opened her mouth. Her voice was not loud, but it could clearly reach the man's ears.
"Chen Yu'an, do you really... not believe me?"
Chen Qingmian's voice echoed in the empty yard.
Time passed by second by second. Chen Yu'an stared at the frail woman lying on the ground. His voice was cold. "I don't."
After saying that, he didn't even look at the woman lying in a mess outside the door. He turned around and walked into the house.
In the cold wind, Chen Qingmian could faintly hear his voice. "Uncle Wang, pack up the miss's things and send her to..."
She couldn't hear the rest. Everything happened so fast that she didn't even have time to think before she was on a plane to Mexico.
It was only at this moment that she was sure that Chen Yu'an really didn't want her anymore.
...
Three years later, in the imperial capital.
"Miss, I'm very sorry. The minimum educational requirement here is junior college."
This was the 58th time Qingmian had heard the same words.
"Thank you. You've worked hard." Qingmian bowed to the recruiter, picked up her resume, and left the office without hearing the discussions behind her.
"I can't believe such a beautiful girl only has a high - school diploma."
"What's so strange about that? Look at how beautiful she is, but she has so many calluses on her hands. She must come from a poor family. Usually, people like this stop studying after nine - year compulsory education. She's at least gone to high school. That's not bad. Well, with her beauty, who knows what kind of life she's had before. Haven't you heard the saying that beauty is a disaster for the poor?"
When Chen Qingmian was sent abroad by Chen Yu'an back then, she had just been admitted to university. She didn't even get to experience the wonderful university life and was sent to Mexico. She hadn't even seen the gates of the university, let alone get a university degree.
With only a high - school diploma, in the imperial capital, no one would even hire her to sweep the streets.
Chen Qingmian had sneaked back this time, planning to take the college entrance examination again and go to university.
Qingmian wandered aimlessly on the street. Her mind was in a complete mess. She really didn't expect it to be so difficult to find a job in the imperial capital. She was still thinking about the college entrance examination, but looking at this situation, she might starve to death before even entering the examination room.
Cars were coming and going on the street. She didn't notice a black Cullinan slowly stopping beside her.
A tall man got out of the driver's seat and bowed to her. "Miss, the master sent me to pick you up and take you home."
Qingmian recognized this man. He was Chen Yu'an's assistant, Tan Si.
Qingmian was stunned for a moment but quickly hid her emotions. Life in Mexico had been tough these years, and she had long learned how to hide her emotions and adapt to different people.
She should have known that as long as she returned to the imperial capital, she would be under Chen Yu'an's surveillance. She was taking a gamble, betting that Chen Yu'an wouldn't send her back to that hellhole again.
If Chen Yu'an had been willing to investigate what happened that year, he would have known that it wasn't her who did it. But he was so stubborn that he sent her to Mexico, and she had been away for three years. Chen Qingmian was sent to a strange country by her dearest brother at the most innocent age when she still had beautiful illusions about the world and was just starting to have feelings.
When Chen Qingmian saw the man, she subconsciously pulled at her sleeve, trying to wrap herself up more tightly.
She gave Tan Si a bright smile. "Assistant Tan, long time no see." Her eyes were cold.