"…Whatever comes after this can wait. The marriage has already been concluded, Nainai."
Uncle Sanxing's words rose from the noise in the living room and went straight into Zhan's ears, igniting a fresh wave of fear inside him. Since waking from the crushing panic he had battled for hours, he had never imagined he would hear such words again. What Nainai herself had said earlier should have been enough...there had been no need for repetition.
In that moment, his body felt unbearably heavy, his heart trembling violently with fear.
"So now, Sanxing, you married the boy off while his father is still alive? Have all of you....Bozai included...forgotten that he has a father?"
It was the first time Zhan had ever heard Nainai call Uncle Elder by his real name. Whatever shock rippled through everyone in the living room multiplied inside Zhan's already overwhelmed mind. After signing the marriage certificate and enduring the applause and congratulations, Yibo had not said another word to him. He had simply turned around and left with the people he came with.
That silence plunged Zhan into confusion, anxiety, and a deep sense of unease.
Aunty Shui was the first to pull aside the curtain and enter the room. When she looked at Zhan, the strained expression on her face told him there had been no change...no misunderstanding, no reversal. Everything that had happened minutes earlier was real.
She moved closer and pulled him into a hug.
"Pray, Zhan," she said softly. "Pray. Say thanks heaven's."
Instead of prayer, the sob he had been holding back burst out of his chest. His body shook uncontrollably as he cried, clinging to Aunty Shui while she murmured words she hoped would comfort him.
A few days before that day…
"You don't know who Pepe really is. You don't know him. There is nothing he wouldn't do for this plan. Right now, he has ordered me to find you wherever you are and eliminate you before he returns to the country."
To Malo's surprise, Yibo smiled.
A slow, wide smile.
He kept his eyes on Malo and said calmly, "I think this is where your real job finally begins, Malo."
Malo stared at him, stunned, mouth slightly open, unable to speak. Yibo gestured to the chair behind him, signaling him to sit.
"You'll get tired before we're done."
As if against his will, Malo stepped back and sat down. He rubbed his face with one hand and said quietly,
"I'm listening."
"I knew Zhan long before I met you that day. Before I knew what Peng was planning. And I knew Peng through Zhan as well…"
Yibo shook his head slightly before continuing.
"Not just through Zhan...I've seen them together before. That's why I asked you who he was the day we met. The way I saw him, he didn't look like someone who would associate with people like you. Once you told me his intentions and everything he was planning, I decided I would establish myself firmly in Zhan's life and marry him before Peng could."
Malo let out a short laugh that interrupted him.
"You think marrying him will make Pepe abandon what he's doing? You think he'll just step back and let everything go? Let me tell you something...you don't know Pepe. You truly don't. The moment he entered our world, everyone relaxed around him, obeyed him without question. That alone should tell you who he is. He has money...enough to get anything he wants if he sets his mind to it. He could have you erased in no time. So understand this clearly, Lion: you're not just stepping on someone's toes...you're stepping on mine too."
Yibo shook his head calmly and replied, "First, I'm not stopping at just marrying Zhan, Malo. I want Peng arrested for the crime he's planning to commit. That's why I asked for your help...to do this properly. Second, you told me yourself that Peng never acts without your counsel. That tells me something very important: there is nothing he can do to me with you by his side."
For nearly three full minutes, Malo said nothing. He simply stared at Yibo. Then he let out a dry, humorless laugh, never taking his eyes off him.
"You're planning to catch Peng? Pepe himself? Lion, how exactly do you intend to do that? Where is your evidence?"
Yibo answered evenly,
"I don't have it. Not yet. That's why I wanted to marry Zhan first...before gathering it. If I cut Peng off this way, I'm certain he'll lose control. And when he does, he'll give us more than enough evidence. That's where your role becomes even clearer."
This time, Malo remained silent. He stood there, rigid, watching Yibo...his expression showing that the plan had begun to convince him.
Yibo continued,
"That's why I told you your real work starts now, Malo. From now on, you won't just report Peng's movements to me...you'll help me gather every piece of evidence we can use against him."
Malo continued to stare at him. Then he raised both hands and held his head, exhaled deeply, and lifted his gaze again.
"Then how do you think you're going to escape this situation now?" he asked. "How do you plan to pull yourself out of his grip, now that he already knows everything?"
Yibo replied immediately, maintaining eye contact.
"If you handle him the way I'm about to explain."
Malo narrowed his eyes at him.
"I don't understand."
Yibo adjusted his posture slightly and said,
"Peng already trusts you...and every piece of advice you give him. So from now on, instead of doing the work you've been doing for him, you'll begin to play with his mind… just like I hinted the last time."
Yibo couldn't quite read the look Malo gave him. He couldn't tell if it was surprise, confusion, or doubt. He swallowed slowly, watching Malo's throat move, then decided not to overthink it. He pressed on, his voice firm and confident.
"I told you before that you would stop working for Peng, Malo. You will stop helping him...without him realizing it. From this moment on, I want you to begin calming him down. Make him believe this issue isn't as serious as he thinks. After a few days, assure him that you investigated me and found nothing alarming. Convince him that the killing he mentioned would only bring complications, nothing else. Then suggest that removing me from the marriage plans with Zhan can be done quietly, without blame...especially him. Because if anything happens to me now, suspicion would immediately fall on him from Zhan's family, especially if an investigation begins. That is the idea I want planted in his head, all the way until the marriage between Zhan and me becomes an undeniable fact."
Malo nodded, showing he understood, though he had already begun forming a question before Yibo finished.
"And if he believes all that...then later finds out about the marriage?" Malo asked. "How do I get out of this? How does your plan continue if he realizes I lied to him?"
Yibo leaned forward slightly, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers before replying.
"He won't realize you lied. He'll only think his own judgment was wrong. More than that, he'll start suspecting that I have personal motives concerning Zhan too....especially since I returned while he was already in conflict with him."
Yibo continued calmly,
"When he realizes he's been misled, he'll lose control. He'll fall back on his original thought...that he should never have listened to you...and will decide that I must be eliminated by any means necessary. That's when we start collecting solid evidence against him. By then, his judgment will be clouded. He won't be cautious."
When Yibo finished, Malo fell silent. He lowered his head, staring at the floor. The carpet beneath his feet became the focus of his gaze, as though he were searching for answers within its patterns. It was clear that Yibo's words had sunk deep into his mind.
Yet there was nothing in the plan that he could immediately fault. Nothing that directly implicated Peng either.
Only one question echoed in his thoughts....splitting and repeating itself relentlessly.
What happens to me when all this is over?
If Peng were destroyed and lost everything, who would he depend on?
His mind flashed back to the poverty and desperation he had endured after losing all he had accumulated...before Peng appeared and began funding him, guiding him onto the path he wanted him to walk.
The money Yibo was paying him now...and the money still coming from Peng are huge....but no matter how large, would it last? Or when everything ended, would Yibo continue to support him?
He bit his lower lip and looked up at Yibo. But before he could speak, Yibo nodded once and said,
"You don't have a problem with me, Malo. You know that."
That was Yibo for you...he often understood things that didn't need to be spoken. A fleeting thought crossed Malo's mind that perhaps choosing medicine as a profession had suited Yibo perfectly. He nodded in agreement.
What Malo didn't know was this:
His thoughts were one thing....Yibo's thoughts were something else entirely.
And so events continued to unfold.
Exactly as Yibo had calculated, everything happened accordingly. Malo manipulated Peng, easing his fears and convincing him that Yibo posed no threat. In fact, he claimed that he and his associates...Josh included...had already confronted and intimidated Yibo, forcing him to abandon his plans.
Josh and the others confirmed this story in front of Peng after Malo paid them, instructing them to say that only to calm down Peng as he was already in a bad mood.
***
In the days that followed, Yibo visited Zhan twice.
The first visit was encouraged by Duan, who personally advised Yibo that it would be wise for him to see Zhan at least once before everything unfolded. Yibo believed it would help steady Zhan's emotions and dispel the lingering doubt he had noticed in his eyes during their last meeting at the hospital with ministry officials present.
Yibo went....and he would later swear that he enjoyed that visit far more than he had expected. Everything he had imagined beforehand dissolved the moment he arrived. The weight and tension he had carried diminished until it was just him and Zhan, sitting together, talking...nothing else mattered.
The second visit was prompted by Malo.
Malo asked Yibo to return to the house so he could confirm whether the man reporting to Peng from inside the household was still active. He suspected a rift had formed during the time Peng was in Africa. If Yibo made the visit without Peng knowing, it would confirm the suspicion. Malo planned to investigate further before removing the informant entirely from their strategy.
Days passed after Yibo's visit, and there was still no sign that Peng knew about it. Malo later confirmed that Peng's attention had shifted almost entirely...he was now obsessively focused on what he believed was his imminent breakthrough in obtaining Xiao Die.
And so the days slipped by, carrying him steadily toward this day...the day he finally sent those people to Zhan's parents, after making it clear to them that they were not to leave the house until they had exhausted every possible means to secure the marriage.
He knew they were professionals. Just by listening to the way they spoke, by meeting their eyes, anyone would have believed every word they said...even knowing they had been hired and that none of it was genuine. Yet no matter how closely he examined them, he couldn't find a single crack, a single sign that betrayed their performance.
That was why he believed there was no reason to worry. What he wanted would surely come to pass.
What he failed to understand, however, was the tightness wrapped around his chest...as though a rope had been wound around his heart and pulled tight...ever since the day he finalized everything with them. It had been two days now.
From that moment, the pressure in his chest had never eased. With every passing hour, instead of loosening, it felt as though the rope was being pulled tighter. That was why he hadn't gone anywhere for two days. He had even canceled a surgery the day before...something he couldn't remember doing without a serious excuse. The hospital hadn't protested. Even the CMO, who usually questioned him, said nothing, as though he had grown accustomed to Yibo's increasing absences.
He dragged himself through those two days, writing more than he thought possible. And even when the work distracted him for a while, the moment his thoughts returned, everything came rushing back.
Especially when he thought of Zhan...how distant he had deliberately become from him. A distance he had created himself. Somewhere along the line, he had decided it was better to keep space between them until the plan was complete, until everything was finished.
Because every time he spoke to Zhan, he felt something stir inside him...something he couldn't explain. And now, with everything so close to unfolding, he feared he might expose himself. That was why he disconnected the line Zhan used to reach him and set the phone aside, alone with the turmoil inside his chest.
That weight...
That nameless weight.
The only thing he knew was that it surfaced whenever something tried to drag his attention back to the very thing he had spent years running from.
It was around seven in the morning when he stood in the kitchen, holding a bottle of water, rereading the message confirming that the people he had sent were ready and only waiting for the signal to proceed to Zhan's parents' house.
He swallowed the water slowly, feeling it slide down his throat, while images he had tried to forget over the past few days flashed before his eyes...his mother's face, her smile, her tears.
Her tears.
There had been far more tears than smiles.
Beside her, he saw A Bo...that familiar smile that never seemed to leave his face. Then the image shifted. A Bo, soaked in blood, staring back at him.
Everything froze when his father's face appeared.
His thoughts locked in place, and he didn't know how long he stood there in the kitchen before the sharp knock on the door dragged him back to reality.
He blinked slowly, exhaled, tossed the empty bottle into the trash, opened the fridge for another bottle of water, and headed for the door, which was still being knocked on insistently.
He opened it...and froze.
Duan stood there.
"Duan?" Yibo asked, stunned, staring at the familiar smile on his face.
"From where? What are you doing here?"
Duan raised an eyebrow.
"From where? You're getting married and you're asking me that? No matter where I was in the world, you'd still find me here."
Yibo shook his head, as if trying to shake off the disbelief.
"You didn't say you were coming. We talked last night."
"I was already home with Mom when we spoke. I arrived yesterday morning."
Yibo could only nod slowly, still staring. Duan brushed past him into the house.
"Move aside, let me in."
Yibo closed the door and followed him inside, sitting across from him and studying his face. When Duan noticed, he laughed.
"So this is the groom?" he teased. "Are you sure this wedding is actually happening?"
Yibo shook his head.
"That aside… why would you put yourself through the stress of coming all the way from Macau? You know this isn't exactly a real wedding. And you left your wife behind...did you come alone?"
Duan nodded.
"She's there. My two younger sisters are with her. And about it not being a 'real' wedding...at least you said not exactly. As for the stress… if I'd known you truly didn't love this man and that it was just the wedding itself pushing things forward, I wouldn't have bothered."
A dry smile...one Yibo couldn't remember wearing in a long time...spread across his lips. Seeing Duan filled him with a warmth he couldn't describe. Even as they talked, part of him felt as though it wasn't real, as though Duan couldn't truly be sitting there in front of him.
They talked for a long time....about things that never came up over the phone. Yibo spoke openly about Malo, explaining why he trusted him and why he believed Malo wouldn't betray him, despite Duan's doubts. He also admitted that he hadn't spoken to Zhan in two days, afraid that any misstep now could ruin everything. Since Duan had never supported his closeness with Zhan anyway, he simply nodded in agreement.
They moved from the living room to the kitchen, where Yibo start preparing something for them to eat. While there, he called the people he had sent, who confirmed they were heading to Zhan's parents' house as instructed.
As Yibo poured water into a pot on the stove, Duan called his name.
Yibo turned...and before Duan even spoke, Yibo noticed something in his eyes. Something rare. Something serious.
"What is it?" Yibo asked quietly.
Duan bit his lip, released it, then shook his head.
"There's something I need to tell you....something we've never talked about."
He paused, then continued.
"You can't run from your past, Yibo. You can't escape where you come from. Anyone who tells you that a person can simply create a new version of themselves and erase who they were is lying. You will never wake up one day and find that everything that happened to you has vanished forever. I don't know who you were, or what happened, or why you're separated from your family. I don't even know if you tell yourself that nothing can be fixed. But I've never seen you make even the smallest attempt to look back...let alone try to repair whatever was broken between you and your parents or relatives. Because this....this life you're living....is fake."
He gestured around the kitchen.
"All of this is fake. You're living inside a dream you built yourself, letting your mind keep adding walls while the world keeps moving forward...now you.want. to dragged someone else into your life. You still think marriage is insignificant, like everything will pass and disappear. But no one controls their fate, Yibo. You don't know what tomorrow holds. So my advice to you is this...please, start trying to confront your past from the very beginning. Fix what you can. That way, if things don't go the way you expect, they won't collapse and destroy you all over again."
The words struck Yibo hard, pressing against the weight already crushing his chest. And somewhere inside him, Duan's final words took root, sprouting questions he couldn't silence.
What was Duan afraid of in this marriage?
What did he think would change?
Change enough to shatter him more than everything he had already survived?
What was marriage, really?
They were still standing there when Uncle Sanxing called, urging Yibo to come immediately if he truly intended for the wedding to proceed. Without another thought, Yibo grabbed his car keys, pulled Duan along, and headed straight for Zhan's house.
It never even occurred to him to change his clothes...to shower, to wear a suit, to prepare like a groom was supposed to.
And since fate had already been written…
The wedding took place.
So let us follow Yibo and see for ourselves...
What is hidden inside this marriage?
What could possibly destroy him more than every disaster he has already endured?
Do you think the truth will finally come to light?
Zhanxianyibo💚❤💛