Free Web NovelChapter 81: Chapter 81: A Cruel Twist of Fate
Six days after the incident, as she lay dying, Tang Yuanxiao had returned. He hadn’t listened to the villagers at all. Instead, he had walked straight toward her with a murderous look on his face. Before she could even open her mouth to explain, he had seized her by the throat...
Su Li gasped for breath, her mind fixated on a single question. ’If Tang Yuanxiao really did catch the human traffickers in our past life and heard the same story from all four of them... then that means in our last life, he...’
The implications were horrifying, and Su Li trembled all over.
’If my guess is right, then in our last life, Tang Yuanxiao didn’t believe the village rumors at all. He must have convicted me based on the traffickers’ testimony, believing that I sold Little Tang Mo.’
’How much he must have hated me...’
’Tang Mo was sold, Mrs. Tang died unable to rest in peace, and I... I never even said I was sorry to him...’
Su Li couldn’t bear to imagine it.
"It can’t be. It shouldn’t be... It can’t be..." Su Li muttered, shaking her head, but she couldn’t convince herself.
Watching the train pull further and further away, she unconsciously staggered after it. "Tang Yuanxiao... Tang Yuanxiao..."
’Tang Yuanxiao, get off the train and make things clear... Explain it to me! Tell me it’s not like that. Tell me I’m just overthinking things...’
The middle-aged attendant who had spoken with Su Li earlier saw her turn back instead of leaving and hurried over to ask.
"Young lady, what’s wrong?"
Su Li didn’t hear the attendant. Her eyes were fixed on the receding train, and waves of dizziness washed over her.
Seeing that Su Li was still stumbling forward, the middle-aged attendant rushed to stop her.
"Young lady, what’s the matter? You seemed fine just a moment... Whoa, miss!" freeweɓnovel.cøm
He had just started after her when he saw Su Li suddenly pitch forward and collapse onto the ground.
"Miss! Young lady, what’s wrong?" Only the attendant’s anxious shouts echoed across the platform.
On the departing train, Tang Yuanxiao suddenly glanced out the window. For a moment, he thought he heard Su Li calling his name...
He listened carefully, but heard nothing.
’I must be hearing things,’ he thought to himself.
*******
In the train station’s staff lounge, the middle-aged attendant and two colleagues gazed down at the unconscious Su Li, their faces etched with worry.
"She was perfectly fine a moment ago, then she just collapsed..."
"I don’t know what happened. She even scraped her forehead."
"A little scrape on the forehead is one thing, but being unconscious is the real problem. Why isn’t Old Zhang here yet? We need to get her to a hospital. It’s making me anxious just leaving her like this..."
"Exactly... Oh, look, the poor girl is crying..."
Su Li still lay perfectly still, but large tears began to stream from the corners of her eyes. She was weeping in her sleep.
Seeing this, the three attendants fell silent.
"She must have gone through something terrible. Her heart is full of sorrow..."
The attendant murmured, no longer in a rush to send her to the hospital.
A few minutes later, they saw Su Li’s eyes flutter open and breathed a collective sigh of relief.
"She’s finally awake..." But their relief was short-lived. Su Li’s eyes were open, but she simply stared blankly upward, not moving for a long, long time.
The attendants’ hearts jumped into their throats again.
"Young lady? Are you all right?"
"Miss, please say something."
"Oh dear, she’s not responding at all. I’m afraid something’s really wrong. We have to get her to the hospital..."
Just as the middle-aged attendant was gathering people to take Su Li to the hospital, her eyes finally stirred.
"I’m fine. Really... Sir, thank you."
Though she said she was fine, she was trembling uncontrollably.
"Shaking like this and you say you’re fine? Young lady, are you in pain somewhere?"
"You must be hurting somewhere. Let’s get you to a hospital."
"I... I’m not in pain. I just feel... a little cold..." Su Li said hurriedly, her voice trembling as she hugged her arms tightly.
’It was just so cold. A chill had seized her heart, and she couldn’t stop herself from shaking.’
"Cold, you say? Here, put this on..." The attendant quickly grabbed a military greatcoat from the side and draped it over Su Li.
"Here, drink some hot water." Another colleague, an older woman, quickly poured a cup of hot water and handed it to her.
Su Li clutched the greatcoat tightly around herself and cradled the warm cup. After a few deep breaths, she finally began to calm down. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"The shaking has stopped. That’s good. Drink up while it’s still warm," the woman urged gently, patting Su Li on the back.
"That’s right, have a drink," the attendant chimed in from the side.
Su Li obediently took a few sips, but her face remained deathly pale and her expression was distant.
"Young lady, whatever you’re going through, try to look on the bright side. It will all pass..." the woman advised earnestly.
Su Li slowly nodded. "Okay. Thank you... Thank you."
Ten minutes later, Su Li stood on the street, watching the setting sun, her face a mask of utter bewilderment.
She had no way of ever investigating if her past life had unfolded as she now suspected.
But she could no longer convince herself that her old assumptions had been correct.
’If everything was as I now suspect, I can only imagine Tang Yuanxiao’s fury in our past life. Forget nearly choking me to death; he probably wouldn’t have been satisfied even if he’d killed me hundreds of times.’
But Su Li couldn’t understand one thing: if her past life was really as she suspected, why hadn’t Tang Yuanxiao had the police arrest her?
With testimony from the human traffickers, she wouldn’t have been able to clear her name even if she had ten mouths to speak with. She would have undoubtedly gone to prison. Yet, for some reason, Tang Yuanxiao hadn’t taken that step.
Was it because he saw how utterly broken she was and took pity on her? Or was there some other reason?
Su Li mulled it over for a long time without an answer. Then, a sudden thought about Mrs. Tang made her freeze.
’Back then, Mrs. Tang had hated me to the core. If she had known about the traffickers’ testimony, she might have actually tried to kill me...’
A violent shiver ran through Su Li, and she had to brace herself against a wall to stay upright.
Even though it was all just speculation, deep down, Su Li knew that the truth was likely what she had surmised.
’If it weren’t true, then based on how Tang Yuanxiao handled the accusations of her affair in this life, he would have surely investigated both Tang Mo’s disappearance and the affair in their past life. But back then, he had returned and condemned her outright.’
’He must have already confirmed everything with the traffickers back then. That’s why he returned and immediately condemned me, without the energy or will to investigate the affair, choosing to divorce me outright instead...’
If that was really the case, then all the pieces that didn’t fit suddenly fell into place. Even her previous nagging doubts were resolved.
’Tang Yuanxiao believes me in this life, but he didn’t in our last life, all because of that iron-clad testimony from the human traffickers...’
Su Li clutched the fabric over her heart, gasping for air.
She knew the heavy burdens she had carried, the suffering she had endured in her past life. But what about Tang Yuanxiao?
She knew nothing of the burdens he had carried, of the hatred he must have felt...
Su Li sank weakly to the ground, clutching her head and panting.
The sky was growing dark. People hurried along the street, their footsteps quickening as they passed her one by one. Some even stopped to ask what was wrong.
Su Li was numb to it all.
She remained crouched on that bustling street, wanting to cry but having no tears left.
As the sky grew completely dark, Su Li slowly rose to her feet. She dragged her numb legs forward, shuffling ahead unconsciously and muttering to herself.
"What a cruel twist of fate..."
Fate was cruel, allowing her to discover these clues only after being reborn... and leaving her with no way to ever confirm them.
What a cruel twist of fate. In their last life, she and Tang Yuanxiao had spent a lifetime hating each other...
