My Ex Who Dumped Me Comes to Hook Me Up Every Day - Chapter 13

The two options hardly needed comparison.

Liu Zhi unequivocally chose to agree, but he maintained the utmost caution, saying, “Fine, but you have to come here first.”

The eyes of everyone present darted back and forth between the two women, each trying to guess what Jin Zhou would choose.

Though they didn’t know where this young woman in the black suit had suddenly appeared from, this was, after all, a matter within the hospital. Hu Qingshu didn’t want to involve innocent people.

Just as she was about to speak, Jin Zhou agreed directly, “Alright.”

Jiang Yuhuai couldn’t help but say, “Jin Zhou, don’t risk yourself for me.”

Without looking up, Jin Zhou replied coolly, “Chong Sheng is my client. I have a responsibility to her. Dr. Jiang, don’t flatter yourself.”

Jiang Yuhuai froze, the pain in her abdomen impossible to ignore, her embarrassment and worry twisting together.

She bit her lip, her face pale.

A flash of impatience crossed Liu Zhi’s eyes. “Enough talk. Are you coming or not?”

“Immediately.”

Jin Zhou began walking toward them, step by step.

Liu Zhi watched her every move intently. “Raise your hands. Don’t try anything.”

Jin Zhou had no intention of provoking him. She raised her hands. “My hands are empty. You can relax.”

As she approached within a certain distance, Liu Zhi extended his knife-wielding right hand toward Jin Zhou, while his left hand maintained its grip on Jiang Yuhuai.

Jin Zhou obediently positioned herself beneath the blade’s edge. Feeling secure, Liu Zhi finally loosened his grip on Jiang Yuhuai’s neck.

Seizing the opportunity as the knife shifted, Jiang Yuhuai finally had a chance to move. She slipped her hand inside her coat to reach for something hidden within.

Just then, the elevator at the end of the corridor opened.

Several figures in white coats emerged, shouting, “The police are coming up the emergency stairs! They’ll be here in two minutes at most!”

Liu Zhi’s pupils dilated violently at the news.

He immediately tightened his grip, retracted the knife, and turned toward Jiang Yuhuai, who was now closer.

“Don’t come any closer! One more step and I’ll kill her!”

The blade pressed against Jiang Yuhuai’s neck, freezing her movements. Jin Zhou also froze, making no further moves.

“I have to get out of here… I have to get out… No, I can’t escape now. The police are here. I can’t escape.”

Muttering to himself, Liu Zhi suddenly lowered his head to glare at Jiang Yuhuai. “I can’t leave now. It’s all because of you! All because of you!”

Having learned that the police were on their way, Liu Zhi’s emotions spiraled out of control. His left hand tightened around Jiang Yuhuai’s neck, and the knife in his right hand pressed upward unconsciously.

Deprived of oxygen, Jiang Yuhuai’s face began to turn purple, and she started coughing uncontrollably.

In a moment of carelessness, the knife grazed her neck, leaving a thin line of bl00d.

Tiny droplets of bl00d seeped from the wound.

Jin Zhou clenched her fists. If this continued, Liu Zhi might accidentally kill Jiang Yuhuai before the police arrived.

She couldn’t afford to wait passively any longer. She had to find a way to change the situation.

Subduing an armed assailant with bare hands required overwhelming physical strength and exceptional mental fortitude.

Rescuing a hostage barehanded demanded even more stringent conditions.

To avoid harming the hostage, the rescuer needed to completely divert the assailant’s attention onto themselves.

Yet despite these daunting requirements, for Jin Zhou and Liu Zhi in their current circumstances, such a feat wasn’t entirely impossible.

After all, Liu Zhi was a senior executive who spent most of his time in air-conditioned offices, physically frail and slender.

Jin Zhou’s ability to subdue Jiang Yuhuai was largely due to her natural physical advantage as a woman and the element of surprise.

Although Jin Zhou was a lawyer, she wasn’t the stereotypical kind who relied solely on verbal sparring.

Due to the nature of her profession, she often faced retaliation from opposing parties in her cases.

The milder forms of harassment included leaving rotting dead rats to intimidate her, while more severe measures involved hiring thugs to ambush and corner her.

Though her opponents eventually paid the price for their actions, Jin Zhou had endured considerable physical hardship.

To improve her physical fitness and ability to handle dangerous situations, she systematically studied Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) and even achieved respectable results in amateur competitions.

In close-quarters combat, even against an armed opponent, Jin Zhou was confident in her ability to subdue them.

In other words, if she could get close to Liu Zhi and momentarily distract him, she could save Jiang Yuhuai.

This wouldn’t be difficult.

After all, Liu Zhi harbored extremely strong personal feelings toward the divorce lawyer standing before him.

Having grasped the key, Jin Zhou took two decisive steps forward without hesitation.

Startled by her sudden approach, Liu Zhi, who was acutely aware of any external changes, instinctively recoiled, lifting his head to glare at her as if facing a formidable enemy.

Jin Zhou made no further move, merely sizing him up before saying lightly, “Mr. Liu, I thought you would hate me, but it seems the opposite is true. You’re actually grateful to me.”

For someone who had lost his reason, a provocation was highly effective.

Liu Zhi repeated each word slowly, “Grateful… to you?”

“After the divorce, the assets under your and Chong Sheng’s names will be redistributed based on fault. Once the verdict for abuse comes down, a few years in prison should be enough for you to reform.”

Jin Zhou tilted her head, her eyes gleaming with undisguised mockery.

“All this is thanks to me. Yet even now, you refuse to lay a hand on me, choosing instead to use an insignificant doctor as leverage. If that’s not gratitude, what is it?”

Liu Zhi’s hand froze. Though Jin Zhou’s reasoning was absurd, he couldn’t deny the uncontrollable surge of anger rising within him.

Jin Zhou pressed on, “I have a question I’d like to ask Mr. Liu. Would you be so kind as to answer it for me?”

Liu Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly, waiting for her to continue.

His attention wavered, causing his grip to loosen slightly, finally allowing Jiang Yuhuai to gasp for breath.

Witnessing this, Jin Zhou maintained her composure and asked, “You love Miss Chong, don’t you?”

Liu Zhi smirked as if he’d heard a joke. “Me? Love her? Are you kidding?”

Jin Zhou stared directly at him, her gaze piercing through his pupils as if to see into his heart.

Her voice was unwavering. “Because of your infidelity, Miss Chong stopped loving you. You tried to win her back, but you couldn’t change the fact that she’d abandoned you. So you chose to retaliate against her, just like you’re doing now, right?”

Liu Zhi’s expression froze, though his eyes betrayed his anger and humiliation.

In a sense, Jin Zhou was right.

From the moment he first saw Chong Sheng, Liu Zhi had been captivated by her.

He had extended a helping hand, pulling her from the quagmire of her family life.

Later, they married. He respected her, loved her, and gave her the best of everything he could offer.

They lived happily, but their happiness was short-lived.

The turning point came when Chong Sheng joined that foreign company.

Thanks to her diligent work ethic and exceptional abilities, Chong Sheng rose from an ordinary employee to the regional head of the foreign company in C City in less than two years.

Liu Zhi watched helplessly as the ordinary woman who had once struggled to survive in their rural hometown transformed into a high-ranking executive at a multinational corporation.

She climbed higher and higher in her field, becoming increasingly radiant and dazzling.

Yet, he felt no joy in her success.

Liu Zhi began to long for the past.

He missed the obedient and docile Chong Sheng of old.

He missed the Chong Sheng who used to gaze at him with admiration and adoration, treating him as the center of her world.

One day, Liu Zhi could no longer suppress the possessiveness raging within him.

With utter hypocrisy, he suggested she quit her job to focus on conceiving a child and become a carefree housewife.

Unsurprisingly, Chong Sheng refused.

From that day forward, their arguments became relentless.

The final breaking point came in their fifth year of marriage.

After years of fruitless attempts to conceive, Liu Zhi began to suspect there was something wrong with Chong Sheng’s body.

They went to the hospital for tests.

The results revealed that Chong Sheng’s uterus was congenitally underdeveloped, making it virtually impossible for her to conceive naturally.

That evening, Liu Zhi used a business dinner as an excuse to go drinking with friends at a karaoke bar.

It was there that he first met Yang Xiya. She spoke softly, calling him “Brother Liu,” pouring his drinks, and smiling sweetly, revealing two charming dimples.

In short, she was an utterly endearing woman.

Fueled by alcohol, they ended up in bed together, half-willing, half-reluctant.

It was supposed to be a one-night stand, until Yang Xiya came to him later with a report.

“You have a son,” she said.

That day, Liu Zhi was in a state of euphoric joy.

After all, what man wouldn’t want his own flesh and bl00d? Who wouldn’t want a son to carry on the family line?

He made a decision: Yang Xiya’s child must be recognized as a legitimate heir. The stigma of being an illegitimate child was unseemly, so he pulled some strings to have the boy registered under Chong Sheng’s name.

Chong Sheng threw a fit over this, but Liu Zhi knew her weakness. One sentence was all it took to silence her.

“Sheng Sheng,” he said, “the Liu family can’t die out. I was forced into this. I promise, this will be the last time.”

Chong Sheng believed him.

Up to this point, everything seemed to have worked out perfectly.

The only unexpected development was that Liu Zhi gradually developed feelings for Yang Xiya.

However, his guilt over this lasted only a day or two.

After all, it was Chong Sheng who couldn’t bear children; she had wronged him first.

Once he rationalized it, Liu Zhi luxuriated in the meticulous care of both women, living a blissful life like an emperor.

This continued until Chong Sheng discovered his affair with Yang Xiya and demanded a divorce.

Liu Zhi refused, and for the first time, he struck her.

He would never forget the look in Chong Sheng’s eyes that day.

Perhaps it was disappointment, perhaps relief.

Whatever it was, from that moment on, he knew he had lost her forever.

Liu Zhi’s voice was hoarse as he asked, “What are you trying to say?”

Seeing his fluctuating expression, Jin Zhou knew she had struck a nerve.

This man is the epitome of hypocrisy, she thought.

A twisted sadist who abuses both body and mind, a betrayer who can’t control his lust. He has barely a shred of conscience left, yet he dares to utter the word ‘love.’

Her eyes burned with undisguised loathing as she spat out two words:

“Disgusting.”

Rage surged through Liu Zhi, his eyes widening to reveal bloodshot veins that crisscrossed his pupils like a demonic web. The veins in his neck bulged, turning him into a grotesque caricature of a fiend.

Perhaps Jin Zhou had struck a nerve. He abandoned his pursuit of Jiang Yuhuai and recklessly lunged at Jin Zhou’s chest with his knife.

Jin Zhou had anticipated the attack, but the close proximity made a full evasion impossible. She chose to avoid a vital area, bracing herself for the blow.

The blade tore through her clothing, carving a deep, bone-deep gash across her shoulder. Bl00d gushed forth, staining most of her shirt crimson.

Pain shot through her, her heart racing uncontrollably. Jin Zhou winced slightly.

Witnessing Jin Zhou’s injury, Jiang Yuhuai lost her usual composure. Her fingers trembled as she fumbled for her high-intensity flashlight.

Jin Zhou didn’t remain still.

She sidestepped Liu Zhi’s follow-up slash with fluid grace, seamlessly transitioning into a straight punch.

Liu Zhi’s reaction speed couldn’t match Jin Zhou’s. Unable to dodge in time, the knife was sent flying from his hand by her fist.

Only then did the crowd belatedly erupt in gasps of shock.

The next moment, the emergency exit door burst open.

A team of highly trained police officers surged out.

“Everyone, hands on your heads and get down! Don’t move!”

The command froze Jin Zhou in place for a few seconds.

Seizing the opportunity, Liu Zhi retreated several steps to create distance and positioned himself beside Chong Sheng.

He pulled a half-full water bottle from his bag, while his other hand held a lighter with a flickering blue flame.

Watching the entire sequence unfold, Jin Zhou’s brow furrowed.

Something was off about the liquid in that bottle…

Wait, that’s—

Alcohol!