It took a couple of days especially because Dr. Sheng was very concerned, but Ru Yin Yue was finally allowed to be discharged from the hospital. Over the last few days, she had not seen Si Zha Nan at all.
It was almost as if he wasn't concerned about her health. Even when she was finally discharged, he didn't show up to pick her up. So she had to call a taxi and return by herself.
When she reached Crescent Villa and alighted from the taxi, she caught sight of auntie Yi hanging the clothes out in the front yard, presumably to dry them in the sun. The housekeeper almost dropped the laundry when she caught sight of the madam. A smile of relief spread across her face.
"Madam, you are finally home."
"Yes. I was hoping to return earlier, but the doctor was worried about infection and such." Ru Yin Yue waved the bag of medicine gently. "Seems like I'm on antibiotics for at least a week."
"As long as you are okay." Auntie Yi massaged her chest. "I was really worried, you know?"
"Sorry about that. I'm all right now."
"Yes…" Auntie Yi trailed off, then her eyes widened when she remembered something. "Oh, right. You should go into the house. Young master seems to be in a bad mood."
"What? Why?"
"Uh…your parents are here."
"Huh?" Ru Yin Yue was taken aback. She couldn't help but repeat incredulously. "My…parents? But how? Mom shouldn't be allowed out of the hospital. Her condition still isn't very good."
She still remembered how her mother was hooked up to many machines and intravenous drips. There was no way the doctors would let her out, even to go home. Not unless Si Zha Nan had arranged for such medical devices to be installed inside the house.
"No, this isn't madam's mother. These two people, they claimed to be your adoptive parents."
"What are they talking about? I have no adoptive parents." When auntie Yi shook her head and responded, Ru Yin Yue stared at the older woman as if she was mad.
"I don't know. You should go inside and see for yourself."
With a frown, Ru Yin Yue hurried through the front door, her heart pounding anxiously. She caught sight of an unfamiliar couple sitting on the couch, opposite a gloomy Si Zha Nan. He raised his head to give her a cold stare.
"This matter, you should resolve it yourself."
"Huh? Resolve it myself? What do you mean?"
"Bu Hui, where have you been?" The lady greeted her. Ru Yin Yue gaped at her.
"What did you call me?"
"Come on, Bu Hui. Have you already forgotten your name?"
Ru Yin Yue buried her face in her palm. These fraudsters couldn't even get her name right and they wanted to trick their way inside the house. "My name is Ru Yin Yue. You have gotten the wrong person."
"How can that be?!" The lady exclaimed, outraged. "You're the precious daughter that we adopted! There's no way we can be mistaken!"
"Yet it's clear that you've mistaken me for someone else." Ru Yin Yue rolled her eyes and folded her arms. She glanced at Si Zha Nan. "What did they want?"
"Of course we're here to live with you, our elder daughter." The lady beamed, amused, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Bu Hui, your parents worked so hard to raise you. Now that you're having such a good life, it's time for you to repay us." the man finally spoke up. Ru Yin Yue couldn't believe how shameless they were.
"Have you called the police yet?" Ru Yin Yue asked Si Zha Nan, who was surveying the whole thing indifferently.
"Police? Why?! Bu Hui, why are you ignoring us?"
"I am not Bu Hui!" Ru Yin Yue shouted. "And you are not my adoptive parents! I was raised by my mom! My mom was the one who raised me all by herself, to the point where she fell sick! I have not met either of you before, what kind of stupid game are you playing?!"
"Why are you doing this?" The woman looked sad. "Is it because we drove you out of the house and disowned you when you got pregnant?"
"What? You were pregnant?" Si Zha Nan sat up, looking at her sharply.
"Of course not!" Ru Yin Yue clutched her head, exasperated. "Why are you believing their lies? I don't even know who they are!"
"We are very sorry for what we did." The man hung his head, showing remorse. "We ask you for your forgiveness, Bu Hui. You will forgive us, right? After all, we took care of you and raised you for eighteen years, despite you not being our blood and flesh."
"You did no such thing!" Ru Yin Yue stormed, unable to take this farce anymore. "Stop lying!"
"My goodness, it seems that our daughter is suffering from amnesia."
"Don't worry, Bu Hui. You forgot your medication. Here."
The woman took out a bottle of pills that looked very suspicious. Brainwashing drugs, perhaps?
"You must have forgotten to take them. No wonder you lost your memory."
"Are you seriously going to let them play such stupid games?" Ru Yin Yue asked Si Zha Nan, trying not to lose her temper. "Just kick them out of the house."
"I told you, you resolve this matter yourself."
Ru Yin Yue let out a frustrated sigh before she reached for her smartphone and called the police. The couple panicked and jumped up.
"Quick! Feed our daughter the medicine before she does anything too drastic!" the man said, dashing forward to seize Ru Yin Yue. The woman nodded, already uncapping the bottle to grab a couple of pills. Ru Yin Yue struggled when the man grabbed hold of her arms and watched helplessly as the woman approached her, trying to force the pills into her tightly shut mouth.
All the while this was happening, Si Zha Nan simply sat on the sofa and watched, not even lifting a single finger to interfere. He shook his head and wondered inwardly how did such a stupid and clumsy woman managed to deceive him and climb into his bed again and again.
Ru Yin Yue twisted her face away from the woman's hand, and then she kicked the guy's leg with such force that he let go of her arms to howl in pain. She rammed an elbow into his face, knocking him over. Then she spun around and shoved the woman back, sending her toppling over. The bottle shattered and the pills spilled onto the floor.
"Bu Hui! How can you do this to your own parents?!" the woman demanded. Ru Yin Yue had enough. She stomped on the lady's foot, probably twisting the ankle. The woman shrieked.
"For the last time, I am not Bu Hui. I am Ru Yin Yue." She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out her identification card. "Look at this. This is my real name, Ru Yin Yue. Also…"
She displayed a photograph on her smartphone. "This is my real mother, Ru Yin Xing. She took care of me since I was young, all by herself, even though my father abandoned her. I have never met the two of you in my entire life. So stop pretending!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!" the woman screeched. "How can you not be adopted?! You must be adopted, so that it will be revealed later that you are a child from a rich and influential but very secretive and mysterious family! Either that or you live with your father, who remarried and now you have to live with a stepmother and stepsister! Only to also find out that your biological mother is from a powerful but secretive family!"
"What the hell are you even talking about now?!" Ru Yin Yue wanted to smash the woman's face, but she resisted the urge. "Do you think I'm some kind of cliché female lead from a trashy CEO story? What kind of stupid setting is that? Ugh, I don't want to waste my time talking nonsense with you!"
With that, she called the police. While she was dialing the number, the man lunged at her, but she shifted her body out of the way and allowed him to crash into the woman. She then mercilessly stomped on the man's spine, causing him to howl and black out. The woman struggled underneath him, but with a twisted ankle, she couldn't push him off and was trapped.
The police took thirty minutes to arrive and they arrested the fraudulent couple, handcuffing them and taking them away. A few of them collected the evidence, taking the pills and broken bottle.
"Isn't this the experimental brainwashing pills? To erase someone's memory?" One of the policemen murmured. "How did they get hold of these? Aren't they supposed to be banned?"
"We'll find out when we interrogate them," his colleague said.
Meanwhile, another policeman was asking Ru Yin Yue and Si Zha Nan questions, taking down statements for the record. He raised an eyebrow and stared at Si Zha Nan after Ru Yin Yue explained everything.
"Let me get this straight. So you basically did nothing but sit there while these two tried to assault your wife?"
"What happens to her is none of my business."
"But…but isn't she your wife?"
"So what if she is?"
The policeman gaped at Si Zha Nan, not sure if he heard the guy correctly. He then turned to a waiting Ru Yin Yue. "Are there any other statements that you would like to make?"
"No, I believe that's all."
"I see." The policeman nodded and snapped his notebook shut. "If there are any other questions, we'll contact you again."
Ru Yin Yue watched the police car drive away, the two strange people in the car. She turned to glare at Si Zha Nan.
"What was all that about?"
"I don't understand your question." Si Zha Nan maintained an indifferent expression. Ru Yin Yue clenched her fists, seething inwardly. She wanted nothing more than to slap the bastard in front of her.
To think that he was her first love. The more time she spent accompanying him, the more she saw his true colors. How did she fall in love with scum like him?
No…Si Zha Nan wasn't like this in the past. He was so much gentler, so much kinder and more helpful. He had never been this cruel to her before.
Not until…that night. Right before they graduated from high school. His attitude had changed, and ever since then he hated her. She didn't know why, only that it had something to do with Zhou Ni Yao.
"You could have stopped them from entering the house. You know who my real mother is. Why would you even let strangers claiming to be my adoptive parents into the house? Clearly they are frauds."
"That's rich, coming from someone who lies and deceives people."
Ru Yin Yue felt tears well up in her eyes. In Si Zha Nan's eyes, she was that kind of person, after all. There was no use talking to him.
Spinning away, she angrily stomped up the stairs and returned to her room.
Dr. Sheng was right. Xia Ning Xue was right. Once she finally became financially independent, she would have to leave him.
Her heart couldn't take any more of this torture.