Julia was lying on the bed, covered in soft tubes. A few doctors in white coats were monitoring the situation beside her. Blood was flowing out of her body, carried in a large glass instrument. Other people’s blood was being transfused into her body.
Clarice stood outside the window, her eyes red.
This blood exchange surgery lasted for several hours. Julia was forced out of the operating theater and pushed to the intensive care unit. When Clarice’s mother, Gladys, saw Clarice, she scolded her. “You know what happened between her and that man. Why didn’t you stop it!”
“Don’t you know that your sister has heart disease? Can her body withstand such torture?”
“If anything happens to Julia, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”
Clarice looked like she had heard a joke.
She looked at her beautiful mother and only asked her one question. She asked Gladys, “Who caused Julia to have congenital heart disease?”
Gladys could not answer.
Clarice looked around at the people standing beside her. These people were all core members of the family.
A bleak smile appeared on Clarice’s lips. She said, “Within our family, there are a total of thirteen siblings in this generation. Four of them died young, one was deformed, three were demented, Julia had inherited heart disease, and the remaining two, although healthy, were sent by you to manage the family branch in other countries because of their average IQ. This is equivalent to exile.”
“My cousin Louis and I are healthy and intelligent. Since we were young, in order to compete for the position of heir, we have done many ruthless things that aimed at each other’s hearts!” Clarice looked at her handsome cousin with a self-deprecating expression. She asked everyone present, “Could it be that he and I were born vicious and inhumane?”
“No, you’re the ones who made us learn to be bad children since we were young!”
“Every one of you is a coward! You don’t dare to disobey the rules of the family. You will bow your heads and be villains for the rest of your lives. You will marry whoever you are told to marry. You will marry whoever you are told to marry! Yes! You have married people and wives. You have a lot of lovers outside. You have a carefree and happy life. But have you thought about how pitiful the children you gave birth to are!”
“Is Julia wrong?” Clarice looked at her mother. She said, “She’s braver than you. She’s my pride. She’s the most respectable person in our family. But none of you understand…”
Clarice did not care what effect her words would have. She was focused on Julia’s condition and left the operating theater floor to go to the floor where Julia was hospitalized.
Julia’s physical fitness was poor to begin with. Coupled with the torture of her illness, she, who was 1.7 meters tall, only weighed 90 pounds. After the surgery, she looked even weaker.
Clarice stood outside the ward for a long time.
The phone in Julia’s bag suddenly rang. Clarice picked it up and stared at the caller ID, frowning.
She finally picked up the phone.
On the other end of the phone, Bruce’s excited voice sounded. “Hey, Julia, I got the role of Victor. You’re right, I should be more confident in myself. I’ll get a lot of money this time. I plan to change houses and prepare a cloakroom for you. You won’t have to worry about having nowhere to put your clothes in the future.”
Bruce was just a child from an ordinary middle-class family. Ever since he started dating Julia, he had been under a lot of pressure. However, this person was like a pine tree. The snow could not collapse and the wind could not blow. He was determined and devoted.
Clarice listened to Bruce’s excited voice on the phone and suddenly understood why Julia was doing this.
There was such a person. He did not have much money, but he was very hardworking and had great potential. He had earned 100,000 USD. He would invest 90,000 USD in you. He had to live on the remaining 10,000 USD. There was also another person who was very rich. He could give you a rich life. If you married him, you would not have to worry about food and clothing. He had hundreds of millions of assets. He was willing to spend hundreds of millions to support you, and he was willing to spend the rest to support his other lovers.
Who would you choose?
Clarice looked at the pale woman inside the door and said to the man on the phone, “You have to love her well, Bruce. She almost risked her life for you.”
Bruce was stunned to hear Clarice’s voice.
His heart tightened and he quickly asked Clarice, “Where’s Julia! What’s wrong with her?”
Clarice said, “I won’t tell you where she is for the time being. If she makes it through this time, I’ll allow you to see her.” If she doesn’t, then there’s no point in meeting.
After hanging up the phone, Clarice walked out of the hospital.
An umbrella was held over her head.
Clarice looked up and met Zhuang Long’s concerned gaze.
Her heart was so cold that there was no warmth at all. In the past, her young but strong face had finally taken off all its strong armor at this moment, revealing a hint of exhaustion and weakness. She leaned on Zhuang Long’s shoulder and said, “Ah Long, hug me.”
Zhuang Long did not waste any time. He hugged her tightly.
On the way back, Clarice told him about Julia. Zhuang Long listened and said nothing.
Seeing that he was silent, Clarice knew what he was thinking. She asked, “What about you? If you agree to marry me, if you admit that you love me, I’ll marry you.” She blinked, and there was a coquettish look on her face that all girls her age had. “Ah Long, I actually especially envy Julia. Will you be my Bruce one day?”
Zhuang Long’s heart tightened.
He said nothing, but the hand around Clarice’s waist tightened.
Between loving her and protecting her, Zhuang Long wanted her to be healthy and safe. He did not want something as painful as changing her blood to happen to Clarice.
Seeing Zhuang Long’s plan, Clarice sneered and said self-deprecatingly, “Then, I will definitely marry someone else and marry a branch family that is outstanding in all aspects. He might not love me, and he might have a large number of lovers outside, but we will still get married and act like a loving couple in all public places. We won’t love each other, but we will sleep together…”
As she spoke, the smile on her lips became even more cruel. “Just like what we do every night, we make love until we die. I will also do such things with other men.”
Zhuang Long’s entire body was tense. He did not say anything and his expression was especially ugly.
Clarice laughed softly. She asked him, “Even so, you don’t mind?”
Zhuang Long answered Clarice with his actions.
He pressed Clarice against the back of the car. He lay on top of her and attacked her like a wild wolf. Clarice did not cooperate with him, but a faint smile appeared in her eyes.
