Chapter 34: Kneeling Down
Su Xingye held nothing back; the punch landed with brutal force.
He stood coldly, his eyes fierce and bloodthirsty, radiating a wolf-like ferocity.
“What’s wrong? Did I hit a nerve?” Gu Yichen suddenly smiled, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with a chilling gaze. “You dared to harbor such filthy thoughts, yet you can’t face them?”
He turned to Su Nian. Seeing her bewildered and confused expression, his gaze softened slightly. “Nian Nian, your brother Su Xingye… do you know about him…”
Su Xingye’s eyes flashed with sharp intensity. Without uttering a word, he charged forward again, his cold, hard fist swinging straight at him.
But this time, Gu Yichen was prepared. The two exchanged blows, their fight fierce and intense.
Su Nian grew frantic, wanting to rush forward but fearing she might get caught in the crossfire. She could only stand by the bedside, helpless with worry. “Stop fighting!”
Her words caused Su Xingye to hesitate for a brief moment. That split second of distraction was all Gu Yichen needed to land a punch.
“That one was payback,” Gu Yichen said coldly.
A surge of blood rushed to Su Nian’s head, and the words burst from her lips before she could think: “You dare hurt my brother?”
She charged forward recklessly. She knew all too well that Su Xingye’s amnesia had not yet fully healed; he could not afford another blow to the head.
But Shen Yuxi was faster. He stepped in, caught Su Nian, spun her gently in a half-circle, and pushed her softly back onto the bed. “Go back. Don’t hurt yourself.”
Having undergone specialized training in restraint techniques, he subdued Gu Yichen with ease. “Mr. Gu, please calm down and keep quiet.”
Gu Yichen’s brows furrowed; the anger that had risen from Su Nian’s biased words gradually subsided under the weight of reason.
He looked at Su Nian, and sure enough, her eyes were wide with fury. His heart trembled, and a surge of endless regret flooded his mind.
He had clearly come to seek reconciliation, so why did he always end up angering her, pushing her further away?
“Nian Nian, I only care about you,” Gu Yichen said, giving up his struggle. Shen Yuxi then released his grip. “I just don’t want to see you hurt again.”
Su Xingye’s affection was a ticking bomb, unpredictable in when it might detonate.
Su Nian steadied her emotions and replied coldly and resolutely, “Mr. Gu, we are already divorced. This has nothing to do with you, and there is no need for your interference.”
Gu Yichen’s ambiguous words and actions, coupled with Su Xingye’s uncharacteristic demeanor, flashed repeatedly through her mind, hinting at something she was only beginning to realize.
Shocked? Absolutely! She had always believed their bond was purely familial. From childhood onward, Su Xingye had stood by her side as an elder brother—caring for her, shielding her from life’s storms—never once crossing the line between man and woman.
Su Nian’s mind was in turmoil; it was no small challenge to suddenly stop viewing Su Xingye as her brother and instead see him as a mature man.
“Nian Nian, don’t listen to his nonsense.” Su Xingye’s gaze upon her remained as warm and gentle as ever. “I am your brother, have always been, and always will be. Do not let your thoughts wander into absurdity, nor burden yourself with unnecessary worries.”
Su Nian stared at him fixedly, unable to discern the truth in Su Xingye’s words, yet her initial suspicions began to fade slightly.
“Mr. Gu, I have already stated my terms: either you kneel, or you leave. There is no third option.” With a cold expression, she could only vent her pent-up frustration on Gu Yichen.
Gu Yichen’s expression turned slightly grim. Was he really expected to kneel and beg her right in front of Su Xingye and Shen Yuxi?
If it were in private, he might have considered it.
“Nian Nian…” Gu Yichen attempted to persuade her, but Su Nian simply turned her face away, leaving him staring at the back of her head.
He swallowed his frustration, feeling utterly embarrassed and humiliated. The thought of storming off flashed through his mind, yet in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to leave.
Shen Yuxi’s suspicious “interrogation,” Su Xingye’s dangerous affection, and Su Nian caught squarely between them—all weighed heavily on his heart, making it impossible for him to rest easy.
A real man kneels when he must; he might as well treat this moment as proposing to Su Nian.
After all, when they first married, he had owed her a proper proposal ceremony.
But thinking about it is one thing; actually carrying it out is exceedingly difficult.
From the corner of her eye, Su Nian saw Gu Yichen’s expression turn grim, shifting between dark and ashen.
A surge of stifled anger rose within her. With a cold smile, she asked, “Back then, I loved you bitterly for so long, pouring out every ounce of my emotion. And you? Deceived by Shen Wanrou, you drew close to her while freezing me out, turning me into a laughingstock in everyone’s eyes. So what, just because I was humble and devoid of dignity before you, now that it’s your turn to lower your stance before merely two people, you can’t handle it?”
Every word she spoke seemed steeped in the taste of blood.
Su Nian took a deep breath, suppressing the surging heaviness in her chest, and coldly fixed her gaze on Gu Yichen, whose expression was gradually filling with guilt. “Gu Yichen, either be ruthlessly heartless so that we part ways forever and never interfere with each other again, or completely cast aside your pride and dignity. Otherwise, maintaining your aloof posture while verbally begging for reconciliation will only make me despise you!”
After venting everything in one go, Su Nian felt her oppressive mood lift slightly. Looking again at the man whose face had darkened with gloom, her eyes held a complex mixture of emotions.
She still remembered the exact moment she fell for Gu Yichen: it was on the campus basketball court, when he sank a shot, radiating an arrogant coolness and a brilliance like the midday sun.
Su Nian pressed her fingernails into her palm, ready to hurl another biting remark, but she was stunned to see the figure who had always been arrogant, powerful, and cold in her memories slowly bowing his head before her.
She looked down at him, just as he once had, her expressionless gaze fixed on his humiliation.
The room was utterly silent, so quiet that even the sound of breathing seemed audible.
“Nian Nian, are you satisfied now?” Gu Yichen asked earnestly.
Today, he had truly cast aside all his dignity.
Su Nian pressed her lips together, offering no reply.
Was she happy? Of course; the taste of revenge was sweet. Yet Gu Yichen’s actual act of kneeling left her somewhat conflicted.
Her original intent had simply been to drive him away, to make him stop clinging to her.
Shen Yuxi’s expression turned solemn as he gazed at the cold Su Nian, his mind drifting back to the moment they first met.
The tender little girl, weeping on a desolate mountain path after her mother’s passing, was comforted by him for a long while until he coaxed a smile from her. He then gave her the lollipop he had originally intended to share with Shen Yuhuan.
She told him, “You’re just like my brother; you’re both so kind to me. Mama said never to marry the one you love, because that brings only pain. Instead, find someone who treats you well. Since you treat me so kindly, when I grow up, I’ll marry you, okay?”
It was a heartwarming encounter, yet it marked the beginning of a nightmare.
She was the eldest daughter of the Su family, a wealthy heiress far beyond his reach. After her family tracked them down and both he and Shen Yuhuan were beaten, he relented, accepting the arrangements her family had made.
He never lied, so on that day, he wrote down “his” identity on a piece of paper.
—Gu Yichen, nine years old this year, about to go abroad, and would only return when he grew up.
Though deeply disheartened, she still smiled and said she would wait for him to come back to the country.
But after three years apart, when he and Shen Yuhuan escaped from the laboratory, covered in blood and mud, collapsing dirty and exhausted onto the ground, she did not recognize him.
From that moment on, he sealed away those memories. Even when Shen Yuhuan asked, he never uttered a single word; otherwise, using the name “Gu Yichen,” it would have been far too easy to find Su Nian.
Because of that one lollipop, they caught the Su family’s attention and became test subjects for the S serum, enduring three years of life as laboratory mice.
It was also within that very laboratory that he was given a name—Hope.
Joy.
Shen Yuxi’s thoughts returned to the present, his heart tightening. Everything he had endured, Shen Yuhuan had also experienced, and many criminals indeed stemmed from unfortunate childhoods.
He had never once doubted Shen Yuhuan.
Yet, setting aside emotion and viewing the matter rationally, Shen Yuhuan did indeed meet the criteria for “judgment.”
“Huan, where are you?” The moment the thought crossed his mind, Shen Yuxi immediately placed the call.
He couldn’t help but overthink it: Shen Yuhuan had arrived in the US and departed alone, and right around that time, a prisoner had escaped from a jail in the neighboring city.
Su Nian’s heart tightened, and she instantly turned her gaze toward Shen Yuxi.
She understood; because of Gu Yichen’s words, Shen Yuxi now suspected Shen Yuhuan.
That dog of a man is nothing but a calamity!
“On my way back,” Shen Yuhuan replied with a smile.
Shen Yuxi paused for two seconds, his voice as calm as ever: “Didn’t you have a psychology seminar tonight? Has the meeting concluded?”
“I made an early exit. Nian-nian has been far too disobedient; how could I turn a blind eye after she posted something like that on her Moments?” Shen Yuhuan chuckled lightly, his languid tone laced with mockery. “She was practically inviting me to return—of course, I had to grant her wish.”
Su Nian felt a flicker of relief, never having anticipated that the social media post by that blond, blue-eyed man would inadvertently spare Shen Yuhuan from disaster. Otherwise, once Shen Yuxi arrived at the psychology symposium, he would have immediately noticed Shen Yuhuan’s absence.
“I’ll wait for your return,” Shen Yuxi whispered softly.
Author: No more words needed—red envelopes await in the comments~
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