bigabreads Chapter 426 - 424: Bonus -
Chapter 426 - 424: Bonus -
Xu Su had no capacity to listen to him. Her mind was still consumed by the look she had just seen in Zhou Mochen’s eyes.
She had never seen Zhou Mochen with that kind of expression before...
Helplessness, pain, and panic all fused into one, making her realize with a start that the invincible man from her memories seemed to have reached his breaking point.
Xu Su clenched her fists and looked at the two men grappling with each other.
As expected of childhood friends from similar backgrounds, their fighting styles were surprisingly alike. They traded blows, each punch and kick aimed to kill, neither holding anything back.
The killing intent in Zhou Mochen’s eyes was so thick it was almost tangible, and Shen Chen wasn’t exactly a man of high moral character himself.
He had offered to take three punches, and after the third, the last shred of his guilt vanished. Looking at his vicious expression, an outsider might have thought *he* was the one whose girlfriend had been stolen by his brother.
Xu Su didn’t step forward to stop them. She sat at the foot of the bed, watching with a blank expression until the fight spilled over in her direction.
The bedroom was spacious, but not large enough for a brawl between two men nearly 1.9 meters tall. With nowhere left to dodge, Xu Su simply got up and walked out.
’Whether I consented or not, what happened, happened. Zhou Mochen needs to vent his anger, and Shen Chen is the perfect punching bag.’
’Whatever kind of beating he gets, he deserves it.’
’As for whether Zhou Mochen can win?’
Xu Su wasn’t worried in the slightest. Never mind that Shen Chen had already taken three punches; even without that disadvantage, Zhou Mochen would never lose. She had seen for herself just how vicious he could be in a fight in her past life.
Xu Su didn’t want to stay there. She blinked, fighting back tears, and opened the door to leave.
The burly men standing guard at the door exchanged glances, unsure if they should stop her. Their orders were to guard the door and let no one *in*.
While they hesitated, Xu Su was already walking away with large strides. She wanted to go back to the private room from the dinner party. Her purse was still in there, and she had to get it back.
As she passed the public restroom on that floor, Xu Su paused and walked over to the mirror above the sinks.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, a clear sign she had been crying. Her lips were less obvious; they were naturally red, so the slight swelling wasn’t as noticeable. The worst part was her ear.
Shen Chen, for whatever perverse reason, had worried her earlobe with his teeth for at least half an hour. As a result, her right ear was now crimson, as if it might start bleeding. It burned with a searing heat and still had a tingling numbness...
Xu Su stared at her reflection with a blank expression. Suddenly, she grabbed the glass hand soap dispenser and hurled it at the mirror. The glass shattered, splintering the image of the girl within into a thousand tiny shards.
She reached down, picked up a shard of mirror from the sink, and raised it to her face. Before she could slice her own skin, a hand shot out from her side, grabbing her wrist and stopping her.
"Don’t do anything foolish."
A gentle male voice broke the silence. Xu Su snapped out of it as if waking from a trance, her grip loosening enough for the newcomer to take the shard from her hand.
After tossing the dangerous shard aside, Si Xuan looked down at the girl who had been about to self-harm. "What happened?"
"Don’t look at me!" Xu Su turned away, hiding the right side of her face from him and keeping her head bowed.
’To be seen like this by someone she vaguely knew... Xu Su wished the ground would swallow her whole.’
’She must have been out of her mind to even think about going back to the private room for her purse!’
"My apologies," Si Xuan said, pulling his gaze away from her ear and letting it rest on the delicate nape of her neck. He asked softly, "Where is he? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Xu Su knew he was asking about Shen Chen. After all, she had left with Shen Chen and hadn’t returned for a long time, only to be found in a state like this...
...and about to disfigure herself.
No one piecing it together would assume anything good had happened.
Xu Su kept her head down, unsure of what to say. Si Xuan tentatively raised a hand to pat her shoulder. "Where do you live? I can give you a ride home."
"No, thank you." Xu Su took half a step back, avoiding his hand. "Could you get my purse for me?" she asked in a low voice. "It’s... not a good time for me to go back there."
After a few seconds of silence, Si Xuan nodded.
Before he left, he flagged down a waiter, briefly explained that he had broken the mirror, gave him the private room number, and asked him to keep an eye on things here.
He didn’t specify what the waiter should watch. The waiter assumed he meant to stand by the broken mirror to prevent other guests from getting hurt, but Xu Su knew. He was afraid she would try to harm herself again.
Si Xuan returned quickly. Along with her purse, he handed her a baseball cap. "Here," he said. "This will help cover things up."
The cap was large—it was probably his. Xu Su hesitated for only a second before taking it.
The bun she had put her hair in before leaving home was already coming loose. Xu Su simply pulled it out, letting her long, wavy hair fall. She had nice hair, so she just ran her fingers through it a few times before putting on the cap.
Her waist-length hair was more than enough to hide her ear, and the brim covered her swollen eyes. The only problem was that his head was bigger than hers, so the cap was too large.
Xu Su fumbled with the strap a couple of times but couldn’t get it right.
"Let me," Si Xuan said, reaching for the adjustment strap. He fixed it in a couple of quick motions, then pulled his hand back. "You can look up now. Isn’t your neck getting sore from keeping your head bowed like that?"
"Thank you, Si Xuan." Xu Su lifted her head, tugging the brim down low. "Can I give the hat back to you next time we meet?"
’We go to the same school. Even if the group chat doesn’t organize another get-together, I’ll have a chance to return it once the semester starts.’
"Sure. And it’s fine if you don’t," Si Xuan said gently. "Do you need me to take you home?"
Xu Su shook her head. "No, thank you. I’m going home with my boyfriend."
"The one who came to get you earlier?" Si Xuan’s brow furrowed. "You’re going home with him?"
He had mistaken Shen Chen for her boyfriend.
She didn’t know where the sudden urge to confess came from. Maybe it was because she had no one else to talk to, and Si Xuan felt like an old friend, easy and comforting to be around. Or maybe it was because he had appeared at just the right moment and had already seen her at her absolute worst, so she wasn’t afraid of him knowing more.
In any case, Xu Su gave a wry twist of her lips and said bluntly, "Not him. The man who came to get me from the private room is my boyfriend’s brother. They grew up together."
"He’s the one who kissed my ear until it looked like this."
She laughed self-deprecatingly. "They’re probably still fighting in there. I’m a real femme fatale, aren’t I?"
"Is that why you were going to cut your face with that shard?" Si Xuan’s pupils constricted. "To punish yourself for someone else’s mistake?"
Xu Su had no desire to listen to platitudes. She gave a dismissive nod. "I wasn’t trying to punish myself. I was just sick of it all. Sick of being hounded by people. This face is the root of the problem. If I ruin it, they’ll finally leave me alone."
’Sick of it...’
Si Xuan’s expression grew thoughtful, and he said nothing.
"Well, I should get going." Xu Su waved a hand at him. "Thanks for today. And don’t worry, I’ve calmed down. I won’t do anything foolish again. You were right—I can’t punish myself for what someone else did."
Before she could turn away, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "You weren’t there," Si Xuan said. "You don’t know that we decided on a group activity. Let me tell you about it."