Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 45
Xia Zhiyao’s heart lurched. Ignoring everything else, she hurriedly pushed at her parents.
“Mom, Dad, listen to Mr. Ken. Go home first! I’m fine. I really am!”
Gripping her skirt, she held back her tears and continued,
“Look. Mr. Shen treats me very well. He really does! I eat well and sleep well every day, and he gives me beautiful clothes. You truly don’t need to worry. Please, go!”
When she reached for her father’s arm, he instinctively tucked his right hand behind his back.
But Xia Zhiyao had already seen it.
Beneath dirt and scabbed blood, his right palm was missing the ring finger and little finger. All that remained were two dark red, scabbed stumps wrapped in filthy gauze.
!!!
Xia Zhiyao screamed in horror.
“Dad! Your hand!”
She seized his hand. At the sight of the mutilated wounds, her tears broke free.
“It’s all right… It’s all right. Yaoyao, don’t be afraid.”
Her father tried frantically to pull his hand back. Forcing a pale smile, he attempted to reassure her.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore. It hasn’t hurt for a long time… I did it to myself by accident. It’s really nothing…”
How could it possibly have been an accident?
The cuts were so clean. Someone had clearly hacked his fingers off while he was alive!
Xia Zhiyao’s shaking hand hovered over the wounds, desperate to touch them but afraid to. Immense grief crashed through her chest, nearly robbing her of breath.
It struck her with sudden clarity: this was what happened to people who disobeyed. If she did not remain at Shen Yu’s side—if she did not possess that small amount of value that interested him—her parents, and even she herself, would end up like this or worse.
In that instant, all her resentment and grievance vanished.
As long as she could protect them, as long as she could send them safely home, she would accept being that demon’s plaything for the rest of her life.
“Thirty seconds remaining, Miss Xia,” Ken reminded her again.
Xia Zhiyao started and wiped her tears away forcefully.
She could not cry.
She had to let her parents return to Huaguo with peace of mind. She had to remain behind and shield them from all the evil in this world.
“Mom, Dad, please go!”
With all her strength, Xia Zhiyao pushed them away.
“I’m really fine! Mr. Shen… he won’t hurt me! As long as you get home safely, I won’t be afraid of anything!”
Her mother looked at her daughter’s resolute face, her heart twisting in agony.
She understood that no matter what they did, they could not take their daughter with them.
She turned and struck her forehead heavily against the ground before Ken.
Xia Zhiyao’s father knelt beside her.
“Mr. Ken, could you please pass a message to Mr. Shen for us?”
Her mother raised her head. Mud and streaks of blood covered her forehead as she begged humbly.
“Yaoyao is still young. We spoiled her, and there is so much she doesn’t understand…
“If she says the wrong thing and offends Mr. Shen, or… or if one day Mr. Shen loses interest in her…”
Choking on her sobs, she bowed deeply once more. Facing the distant black SUV with its tightly closed windows, she remained prostrate.
“When that day comes, we hope he can… spare her life.”
Her father also bent low, his body trembling. On this foreign soil, he surrendered the last of a parent’s dignity to the man who had taken their daughter.
Xia Zhiyao covered her mouth, crying so hard that she nearly fainted.
Her mother rose and embraced her one last time. Her rough hand stroked Xia Zhiyao’s delicate cheek as though trying to carve her daughter’s face into her heart.
“Yaoyao, once we return, we will never leave the country again.”
Her mother gazed into her eyes through tears.
“We’ll wait for you at home. We will never move. No matter when you return, you’ll be able to find us… Don’t forget the way home.”
“I won’t! I won’t forget… I’ll come back. I promise…”
Xia Zhiyao nodded frantically, her words tumbling out incoherently.
“Yaoyao, remember this. No matter what happens or how terribly you’re wronged, dignity and chastity… none of that matters! Staying alive is the only thing that matters.”
Her mother’s voice was resolute.
“Even if only for your mom and dad, you must live. No matter… no matter how difficult life becomes, you must keep living. Do you understand?”
Only while alive was there hope.
“I understand… I’ll take care of myself. Don’t worry…”
“Time is up, Miss Xia.”
Ken stepped forward and forcibly separated the three of them. “Let’s go.”
Several bodyguards in black came forward, took Xia Zhiyao’s parents by the arms, and hurried them toward a minivan on the other side.
“Yaoyao! Take care of yourself!”
“Yaoyao!”
Her parents’ cries gradually receded.
Xia Zhiyao stood rooted to the spot like an abandoned child, watching helplessly as the vehicle carrying all her hopes and everything she cherished started moving. It kicked up a cloud of dust before finally disappearing at the end of the road.
When not even its shadow remained, her legs gave way. She collapsed to her knees, dug both hands into the earth, and released broken, stifled sobs.
Perhaps that had been the last time she would ever see them.
“Miss Xia.”
Ken offered her a pristine white tissue, his voice calm again.
“Wipe your face. You should stop crying.”
He lowered his voice in warning. “Mr. Shen probably won’t want to see you like this.”
Xia Zhiyao shuddered.
Shen Yu.
His name acted like a switch. Her wailing stopped instantly, leaving only muffled sobs.
“Thank you… Thank you, Mr. Ken.”
She accepted the tissue and clumsily wiped the tears and mud from her face with trembling hands.
Struggling to steady her spasming breaths, she staggered to her feet and walked numbly toward the black armored vehicle.
Ken opened the door.
Xia Zhiyao climbed in, returned to her corner, and lowered her head, not daring to look at the man beside her.
Shen Yu remained in the same position, lounging lazily against the seat.
He did not so much as glance at her. “Drive,” he instructed flatly.
The convoy slowly pulled away.
Silence filled the cabin, broken only by the occasional sob that escaped Xia Zhiyao.
She stared down at her filthy fingers and the muddy hem of her skirt. Her heart still ached fiercely from the parting.
Only after a long time did she recover enough to turn toward Shen Yu. Looking at him through swollen red eyes, she said hoarsely,
“Th-thank you, Mr. Shen…”
Xia Zhiyao sniffled.
“Thank you… for saving my parents…”
Even if he was a demon, even if he ruled everything here, her gratitude at that moment was genuine.
Shen Yu turned his head. His deep black eyes settled on her badly swollen eyes, then swept over her tear-streaked, dirty face with a trace of disgust.
How ugly she looked when she cried.
Her makeup had run and her dress was filthy. She resembled a little stray puppy that had rolled through a mud puddle.
Pitiful and ridiculous.
“Oh?”
Shen Yu raised a brow, his tone teasing.
“You think saying thank you is enough?”
Xia Zhiyao froze and looked up at him in confusion.
For some inexplicable reason, her blank expression improved Shen Yu’s mood.
Her hysterical cries and tragic farewell outside had made his head throb.
He despised such sticky displays of emotion.
Frightening her was far more entertaining.
“If you’re so grateful, how do you plan to thank me this time?”
Xia Zhiyao’s mind instantly went blank, her grief buried beneath immense panic.
It was a fatal question.
How could she thank him?
Yesterday, she had offered to organize his library, and he had made her kneel all night. Her legs still hurt.
Money? Money was the last thing he lacked.
Her life? It already belonged to him.
Her body? That seemed to belong to him as well.
Everything was his. What did she have left to offer?
Shen Yu watched her turn into a terrified little quail and found himself inexplicably delighted.
He leaned back again, closed his eyes, and let a faint smile curve his lips.
“You don’t know? Take your time.”
“It’s a long drive home. You’ll have the whole journey to think carefully.
“But if we reach home and your answer still doesn’t satisfy me…”
He paused. His face chilled, and his voice abruptly deepened.
“Then the punishment continues.”
Xia Zhiyao jolted. She quickly shut her mouth, curled into her corner, and racked her brain for a suitable way to repay him.
At last, the cabin returned to the silence Shen Yu preferred.
With his eyes closed, Shen Yu smiled.
