Chapter 97: Zhou Zhuoyi Bullies Xiaoyuan: When Has Zhou Zhuoyuan Ever Been This Scared…

Cold, bleak moonlight filtered into the room, coiling around Zhou Zhuoyi. His back was to the window, his features shrouded in shadow, making him look like a vengeful ghost come to claim a soul.

Zhou Zhuoyuan’s heart leaped into his throat. He slapped away Zhou Zhuoyi’s hand, slick with ointment, and sprang to the far side of the narrow bed, his voice fierce to mask his fear. “What the hell are you?!”

Zhou Zhuoyi switched on the lamp, his expression one of pure innocence. “It’s me, Little Yuan. I came to help you with the medicine.”

Only after Zhou Zhuoyuan got a clear look at him did the tension in his nerves ease—and in its place surged a towering rage that made his head throb. “You really are insane! Who let you in here?! Who said you could call me Little Yuan?! Did they yank out your brainstem during that surgery?! Why can’t you ever understand plain speech?!”

Zhou Zhuoyi paused for a moment, then asked, his face drained of color, “Do you hate me that much?”

Zhou Zhuoyuan was done tangling with him. He let out a cold sneer. “Hate you? That’s too kind a word for it. I’m disgusted by you. Just seeing you makes me want to vomit.”

Zhou Zhuoyi’s lips quivered. It took him a long while to find his voice. “Why? I’ve already moved out of the Zhou Family. Why do you still hate me? After you came home, I treated you the best. I like you so much—why am I the one you hate most?”

Zhou Zhuoyuan’s mind blanked out for an instant at those words, as if every vein in his body had frozen solid. When he spoke again, his tone was utterly calm. “So you’re saying you always knew the people around you didn’t like me—that they weren’t good to me at all. Is that right?”

He’d still fallen for that so-called novel after all. Zhou Zhuoyi wasn’t some flawless, saintly figure.

This time, genuine panic flickered across Zhou Zhuoyi’s face. He stared into Zhou Zhuoyuan’s eyes, devoid of any warmth, and rushed to defend himself. “Yes, but that’s because you were always mean to me! I never spoke ill of you, but every time you lashed out at me, everyone else saw it!”

Zhou Zhuoyuan paused, then pressed on. “So you knew they started despising me even more because of you. Right?”

The wind howled fiercely that night. A few leaves blew through the window and pattered to the floor.

Zhou Zhuoyi clenched his teeth. “I knew. That’s why I’ve defended you so many times. What else was I supposed to do—tell me!”

Zhou Zhuoyuan offered no reply. Instead, he bore in aggressively. “You claim you like me. Then swear it—swear that when you saw everyone around you turning against me with disgust, you didn’t feel even a flicker of smug satisfaction or joy.”

Zhou Zhuoyi fell silent, at a loss for words.

He could swear without hesitation that he’d never deliberately turned others against Zhou Zhuoyuan.

But this question? He had no answer for it.

When bystanders scorned Zhou Zhuoyuan, he did feel a twisted thrill.

Part of it fed his vanity—being more likable than his twin brother. And part of it was his desire to be the only one who treated Zhou Zhuoyuan kindly, to be his one true savior.

He simply hadn’t realized how extreme Zhou Zhuoyuan could be.

No one could save him.

Zhou Zhuoyuan fell quiet for a moment, then let out a soft sigh. “That’s not what liking someone looks like, Zhou Zhuoyi. Go. I never want to see you again.”

But Zhou Zhuoyi didn’t slink away in defeat as Zhou Zhuoyuan had expected. Instead, he ground the leaves beneath his foot and shot back, “Then what does it look like? Like with Pei He? Is he better to you than I am? Would he forgive you just as quickly—even if you wanted him dead?”

Zhou Zhuoyuan’s pupils shrank to pinpricks.

“What?” His mind buzzed like a swarm of angry bees, his lips trembling as he forced out the word.

Zhou Zhuoyi flung back the mosquito netting, his ashen face ghostly in the lamplight. “I said, if you find me so repulsive, why hold back? Why not just let me die? Isn’t that what you wanted all along?!”

Zhou Zhuoyuan’s fingers dug deep into his palms. Suddenly, he couldn’t find his voice.

The bed was tiny. When Pei He slept there with him, they had to lie on their sides just to fit. Zhou Zhuoyi clamped a hand around his ankle and yanked, trying to drag Zhou Zhuoyuan closer.

The hand was slathered in sticky, chilled ointment. Zhou Zhuoyuan’s face went white as a sheet. He wrenched free of Zhou Zhuoyi’s grip. “You’re a psycho! Get out! Don’t make me hit you!”

Zhou Zhuoyi seized his wrist instead. They grappled on the rickety little bed, which squeaked with every movement.

Zhou Zhuoyi’s strength was far greater than Zhou Zhuoyuan had imagined. He couldn’t overpower him no matter how he tried.

Ignoring the punches raining down on him, Zhou Zhuoyi fought to pin Zhou Zhuoyuan beneath him. “Do you know what it feels like to die on an icy operating table? Do you know the despair of realizing that no matter how hard you fight, you just… can’t… live?”

While Zhou Zhuoyuan was lost in a daze, Zhou Zhuoyi suddenly seized his two slender wrists and pinned them above his head.

The position made it hard for Zhou Zhuoyuan to exert any force, and with his stamina already depleted, he couldn’t break free for the moment. Zhou Zhuoyi, who had come prepared, pulled a length of binding rope from his pocket and swiftly tied his wrists together in a few deft motions.

Zhou Zhuoyuan was so furious he wanted to headbutt him. “Psycho! Beast! What the hell are you doing? Let me go!”

Zhou Zhuoyi gazed at him and suddenly let out a soft chuckle. “It’s okay. I’ll forgive you. No matter how badly you treat me, I’ll forgive you—because from now on, you’re mine.”

A chill ran down Zhou Zhuoyuan’s spine. He struggled desperately, and the skin behind the Buddhist prayer beads chafed raw and bloody once more.

Zhou Zhuoyi pinned him down, his brows furrowed tight. “Don’t move. You’re hurting yourself, and it pains me to see it.”

He freed one hand to caress Zhou Zhuoyuan’s face. “I’ve already prepared a house up in the mountains. There’s no signal there—no one can find us. You’ll be locked to the bed, and I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life. Little Yuan, I love you. I’ll be good to you forever.”

Zhou Zhuoyuan’s face drained of color in an instant. His mouth opened and closed, his usually clear voice now hoarse and raspy. “Zhou Zhuoyi, I’ve never once felt sorry for you. If it weren’t for someone using my life to blackmail me, you wouldn’t be alive today. Why don’t you go love the person who threatened me instead of deluding yourself here!”

Zhou Zhuoyi’s eyes turned fierce in a flash. He lowered his head to gnaw at Zhou Zhuoyuan’s lips, only to have Zhou Zhuoyuan bite him back and draw blood.

Zhou Zhuoyuan turned his head away and coughed violently, his bloodied teeth chattering. His voice came out even harsher than before. “Go die, you beast—go die… Mmgh!”

Zhou Zhuoyi clamped a hand over his mouth, fingers digging into his cheeks and leaving bruises on the bit of flesh he’d only recently put on.

He stared coldly as Zhou Zhuoyuan glared back at him with feigned composure. After a moment, he wiped the blood from his own lips, then sank his teeth into the tender spot at the juncture of Zhou Zhuoyuan’s shoulder and neck with ruthless force—as if he meant to chew through bone and swallow it whole.

The body beneath him began to tremble. Zhou Zhuoyi didn’t let up, determined to tear that chunk of flesh free.

Until a sharp sting hit the web of his hand where it covered Zhou Zhuoyuan’s mouth.

Zhou Zhuoyi jolted in alarm and jerked his head up.

Zhou Zhuoyuan’s beautiful eyes were wide open, his lashes soaked with tears. Even his hair was matted into damp clumps by sweat and tears, curling messily against his pale face. Tear tracks had already dried on his cheeks, but fresh tears kept welling up in huge drops.

Zhou Zhuoyi slowly lifted his hand from Zhou Zhuoyuan’s face.

The moment he could speak, Zhou Zhuoyuan picked up his curse in broken gasps. “Go die… I should have… killed you long ago…”

But paired with the tear-streaked face and the steady stream of tears rolling down, the words held no menace at all. They only made him seem pitiable.

Zhou Zhuoyi reached out to wipe away his tears, but Zhou Zhuoyuan flinched hard as if terrified, turning his head away with a choked whimper from his throat.

It was too much. Zhou Zhuoyi had only bitten him once—he hadn’t even done anything else yet—and here he was, looking on the verge of collapse from the bullying.

A sharp ache stabbed through Zhou Zhuoyi’s chest.

Under Zhou Zhuoyuan’s gaze of raw fear and helplessness, he carefully untied the binding rope.

Zhou Zhuoyuan was still too stunned to realize he’d been freed. He barely struggled as Zhou Zhuoyi inspected the marks on his wrists.

The medicine kit sat on the room’s only table. Zhou Zhuoyi fetched it over and tended to Zhou Zhuoyuan’s wounds.

The bite mark on his shoulder was deep, with blood seeping from two spots. Zhou Zhuoyi disinfected them with a cotton swab.

Once the wounds were treated, Zhou Zhuoyuan was still crying steadily, mumbling something under his breath. Zhou Zhuoyi leaned in close, startling him into another shiver—”go die” came out in a quavering pitch.

Up in the mountains, they could cut ties with the world so easily. With Pei He gone, there would never be a better chance than now.

Zhou Zhuoyi’s nose stung with emotion.

He yanked the blanket over, wrapped Zhou Zhuoyuan up, and pulled him into his arms. “I’m sorry. I was just joking. I’m sorry…”

Soon, the front of his shirt was soaked, the cold tears piercing his heart like steel needles.

When had Zhou Zhuoyuan ever been this afraid?

Of course not. Not long ago, he’d gotten into his dream school, A University, and he had a lover he cherished. What Zhou Zhuoyi wanted to destroy was all the effort Zhou Zhuoyuan had poured into his past and every hope he held for his future.

If he let this chance slip, Zhou Zhuoyuan would never belong to him.

The wind howled fiercely, drowning out even the cicadas’ cries. Zhou Zhuoyi repeated himself over and over, both to comfort Zhou Zhuoyuan and to convince himself: “I was just joking with you. I’m sorry. I didn’t prepare any house on the mountain, and I have no intention of locking you up. I simply couldn’t bear the thought of you hating me, so I wanted to give you a little scare. I’m truly sorry, Zhou Zhuoyuan…”

From now on, it would no longer be “brother” or “Little Yuan”—just Zhou Zhuoyuan.