However, he had not expected that while he was smug about Cai Yirenâs confession, his girlfriend was undergoing suffering.
âYes.â Lu Weixi answered curtly.
A stab of pain shot through Qin Zhiguâs heart, as he seemed to recall that after that incident, Lu Weixi had been down for quite some time. Theyâd even planned a trip with a few friends, but she had called it off. Sheâd excused herself saying she was ill and didnât want to step out. Only, who knewâ¦
âWhy did you not tell me?â
Lu Weixi fell silent for a moment before responding, âAt that time, I⦠didnât have the courage.â
Back then, she had only been a twenty-year-old college student. Having faced such a situation and even having an audio recording of it, how could she ever muster up the courage to tell Qin Zhigu.
âMoreover, more than once, Iâve told you I do not like your big brother and Iâve hinted that I hope you wouldnât include him in any future plans. But you didnât listen.â
âIâ¦â Qin Zhigu was stunned into silence. Lu Weixi had indeed expressed distaste for his elder brother Qin Zhiyou from the very beginning, especially after her twentieth birthday. Little did he know that his dear brother had been taking advantage of her all this while!
âDid he ⦠threaten you after that incident or even force you into anything?â
Lu Weixi fell silent. She said nothing, simply taking a slow sip of her black coffee.
âYou donât need to hide it from me! I already know everything!â Qin Zhigu was in pain, his hand on the table tightly clenched into a fist, âIn the summer vacation of our senior year in college. During the Qixi festivalâ¦â
Lu Weixi was taken aback. She hadnât expected that Qin Zhigu would know even about that!
Qin Zhiyou might have taken advantage of her on her twentieth birthday, but afterwards, every time he tried to ask her out, she harshly rejected him. Running into him occasionally, she would avoid him at all costs. Of course, she held extreme disdain for Qin Zhiyouâs outrageous behavior.
Aside from stealing her first kiss and the incident on her twentieth birthday, he had kissed her twice more. Once during Qixi and another time during the Lantern Festival.
She nodded, âYes. He said that he would delete the audio recording if we cleared things up. I refused to meet with him out of the campus, so we sorted things out in the Osmanthus Forest near the east gate.ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
She had just returned from shopping with Qin Zhigu when Qin Zhiyou called her out. He did delete the recording in front of her but as soon as she sighed in relief and was about to leave, Qin Zhiyou moved in closer and kissed her shamelessly. After managing to wriggle free with much struggle and delivering a hard slap to his face, she wordlessly turned and left.
But Qin Zhigu was so far away, unable to see her struggles. He had assumed that she had at least half-willingly given inâ¦
âWhat about later on? Did you guys meet privately?â
âVery rarely. At that time, my parents were getting a divorce, and he had just graduated. On the rare occasion that we would meet, Iâd run away before he could even say anything.â
What she said was the truth, and after the Qixi festival, she really wanted to clear the air with Qin Zhigu. But each time sheâd gathered courage to call him, heâd disregard it altogether. And in person, she simply did not have the courage to bring it up.
The next incident was the Lantern Festival in the following year.
PS: Thanks to Qingshin. Mol Li, Little Xuexi, and Tianjie Xiaoyu Reng Ru for their contributions, mwah~