Humiliation, naked humiliation.
An Ran trembled all over, not knowing whether it was from being scalded or from being angered by the man's words, and dared not speak up to refute him.
"I... didn't... I..."
Her repeated explanations only resulted in her throat being tightly squeezed.
"An Ran, have I not told you that you are just a substitute?" His cold words mercilessly struck her,
"You are so disgusting, how can you be worthy of being her substitute?"
The man's words were like sharp blades, cutting her flesh over and over again.
She dared not refute, could not refute.
The big hand that was stuck in her throat seemed to want to take away her last breath.
Because she could not breathe, she coughed violently, and her pale face, devoid of blood, turned red.
Just when An Ran thought she was about to die, FuLengyu suddenly released the hand that was pressing on her throat and instead fiercely pinched her chin.
His strength was astonishing, as if he wanted to crush her jawbone.
She cried out in pain.
"An Ran, you will live your whole life to atone for her, you will never be able to escape!"
Yes, she could never escape.
From her father's suicide, to his mother lying in the ICU, to Fu Lengyu's white moonlight in his heart.
The scalding water flowed more and more recklessly from the tap, scalding her body and mind with fear, and the heat irrigated every pore in her body, making a clamor.
The tears in her eyes could no longer be controlled and fell down like beans.
"No, no, it's too hot," she cried out.
Her clothes were all soaked through, sticking to her skin as if they were burning her heart.
Fu Lengyu looked at the woman in front of him, his words as cold as the frost in October, matching the freezing temperature."Ah..." it hurt.
An Ran cried out in pain, and accidentally fell into the bathtub again.
The tears that welled up in her eyes mixed with the scorching hot water on her skin.
Fu Lengyu stood up from his half-crouched position, his gaze as cold as ice.
He laughed sarcastically twice and said, "How pretentious."
After that, Fu Lengyu left without any hesitation, and just before leaving the room, he spoke again with a chilling and ominous tone. "Don't let me find out that you have any involvement with any other man."
Finally, An Ran summoned up the courage to climb out of the bathtub, and her skin was uncomfortable from the hot water. The 50-degree hot water was not too hot to drink, but it was really uncomfortable to soak in.
An Ran opened her palm and lightly touched her chin. As soon as her palm touched her skin, it hurt.
She wanted to cry out loud, but she was a young girl who had just come of age. When she thought of everything that had happened recently, she forced back her tears.
Looking at her reddened skin, she changed her clothes and went downstairs, being careful every step of the way because it hurt so much.
She took out the 1 million yuan check that had been hidden under the bedding and withdrew all the money from the bank. Then she took a taxi back to the An family home.
Song Yi hurriedly walked up to her and called out softly,
"Miss, I couldn't find you just now. I was so worried." She reached out and placed An Ran's weak and boneless hand in her palm, patting it as if to coax her. "Miss, Master has left, and Madam is lying in the hospital. You must take good care of yourself and live well."
An Ran sighed heavily in her heart, her chest rising and falling. She gave a bitter smile. "Song Yi, don't worry, I will." She withdrew her hand and contacted the funeral home. The phone was answered.
"Hello, my address is XX Anjia, and I need to give a lavish funeral for a family member," said An Ran over the phone.
The voice on the other end responded calmly, "How much do you need for the funeral expenses? We have a package available."
An Ran, feeling exhausted, replied, "One million."
Being in the capital, the person on the other end was used to dealing with wealthy clients and didn't show any surprise.
"Okay, I'll send someone over right away," they said. "Okay," An Ran said before hanging up the phone.
Song Yi looked at An Ran with concern. "Miss, the master's funeral expenses were only 500,000 yuan. Where did you get this money from?"
An Ran took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice, not explaining the source of the money. "Anjia has gone bankrupt, and this house will be seized by the court."
As she spoke, An Ran pulled out a wad of cash from her pocket. This was her only pocket money left since her bank account had been frozen.
She handed the cash to Song Yi and said, "Song Yi, you've worked hard for so many years. Take this money and buy a house or start a small business to support your family."
Song Yi refused to take the money and tried to give it back to An Ran, but An Ran deftly dodged it.
"Song Yi, just listen to me," An Ran said firmly.
Meanwhile, the sound of a car engine could be heard outside. An Ran went out to see that the people who had arrived were from the funeral home. After a brief exchange, An Ran stood to the side.
She followed those people from the crematorium all the way to the burial site, which was a feng shui treasureland with an astonishingly high price. Her eyes and eye sockets were red and terrifying, but her tight eye sockets did not shed a tear.
The funeral home staff arranged everything and left. An Ran looked at Song Aunt who was standing aside and said softly, "You can go now. I want to be alone with my dad for a while."
Song Aunt didn't say much and sighed, "Oh... okay." Then she followed the others and left.
An Ran knelt down, and her tears could no longer be restrained. They flowed down her cheeks and hit the tombstone one by one.
"Dad, I'm so tired, so tired..."
An Ran placed her hand on the photo on the tombstone and slowly caressed it, as if she were looking at a rare treasure. Suddenly, she seemed to have thought of something, and her tone became slightly sharp. "Being alive is really exhausting..."