Chapter 383: Abandoned by the Times

Chapter 384: Destined Life

How many days has it been...?

I looked at the marks on the wall and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Twenty days.

I've been trapped here for twenty days!!

For these three weeks, I only get one bottle of mineral water and one bag of bread each day.

Due to severe malnutrition, my whole body is starting to lose strength.

In this midsummer season, I'm locked in an extremely stuffy small room, with no proper place to relieve myself, so the room is filled with a foul stench.

Countless maggots and flies are swarming in the room, and innumerable cockroaches are crawling all over the walls.

How funny... My current situation is really making me laugh.

I, who usually can't even tolerate dust at home, am now living with cockroaches every day.

In the first few days, I ran around trying to avoid them, but the space here is so small that I couldn't escape no matter what.

I have to let them crawl all over my body.

The touch of cockroaches is soft and cool; when they crawl over my arm, it tickles, and you can barely feel their slight weight.

I really fear these things, but I can't escape. Every day, I feel goosebumps all over my body, but I know that while I'm sleeping, they lean against me, gently rubbing their forelimbs.

They talk to me at night, using my body for warmth. I can casually pull a cockroach out of my hair.

In this dark and narrow room, I have no hygiene products, only insects... only countless insects...

But who am I exactly?

Am I Zhang Lai Di, who at seven years old had to cook for the whole family every day after school, or Zhang Chen Ze, who at thirty-three had cars sent to pick me up when entering major companies?

I have two completely opposite lives; that doesn't make sense, right?

One of them must be a dream.

Yes, I must be hallucinating.

If I have to choose now... I want to be Zhang Lai Di.

I don't want to die.

I've lost; I really give up.

These people have no regard for the law in their eyes. If I still don't agree, he will definitely let me starve to death here.

If I don't become Zhang Lai Di, I'll just be a corpse.

I'm a human... not a pig. I shouldn't be locked in a small room every day, with eating, drinking, and excreting all mixed together.

I want to stand up; I want to shake off the insects on my body; I want to change into cleaner clothes; I want to take a bath; and I want to eat a juicy peach.

I want to be Zhang Lai Di.

What kind of unattainable dream was I touching before?

I delusionally tried to escape from here and start another life anew.

The ten years in Chengdu were the most absurd dream in my life.

I was wrong; I won't dare anymore.

As long as I can leave this room, I'll agree to anything.

I'm willing to be Mrs. Ma; I'm willing to stay in the village; I'm also willing to have children for him.

My life was destined from birth to be this way; I was just struggling in a dream-like state.

If one could completely escape these circumstances through their own efforts, why would there be so many tragic people in the world? That wouldn't be fair to them.

Now, my dream has awakened, and I should return to my original life.

Cockroach friends... do you think I'm right?

But why hasn't that butcher come to find me?

Wasn't it said that as long as they starve me for five days?

Now it's already twenty days!

Luckily, in this room, I can distinguish between night and day, and I can vaguely hear sounds from afar; otherwise, I would have gone mad.

What's happening in the village lately?

A few days ago, I could always hear police car sirens and faintly hear arguments, but these days, it's quieted down.

But I don't even have the strength to speak; I can't call for help.

Who can save me?

It wasn't until evening that the door of the room was finally opened.

This was the second time the door had been opened in twenty days.

"Son of a bitch..."

Ma Tu Hu stood there irritably. He looked back to make sure no one was around, then turned and closed the door.

I gasped for air, reaching out my hand, trying to say something, but I realized my arms had become shriveled.

When did this happen...?

"You son of a bitch, what the hell were you doing in the city?!"

He asked anxiously,

"Why did so many police come? It's made it so I haven't dared to come over for several weeks..."

"Let me..."

I finally uttered two words, using up almost all my strength,

"Go..."

"Still let you go?"

Only then did I see he had an oil lamp in his hand. He placed the oil lamp aside and reached to undo his belt.

I was a bit dazed and didn't know what he was doing for a moment.

"Locking you up, this woman, is so troublesome... It seems I can't wait for you to soften up; I have to do you first."

Wait... wait a minute...

I finally reacted, but my thinking was extremely sluggish now. All the words I wanted to say were like cars in a pile-up, stuck in my throat, and I couldn't say a word.

He slapped me to the ground and started tearing at my clothes.

I had no strength to resist at all.

Can you let me say something?

I agree... I agree to everything, but please don't touch me like this...

Please...

"Huh..."

After pulling down my pants, he showed a look of disdain,

"You wretched woman... you're dirtier than a pig."

I was breaking down. The dignity I had accumulated and the persistence I had maintained for so long all crumbled at this moment.

What grave sin did I commit for my life to be so miserable?

What should I do?

At that moment, I was like a corpse; no matter what this foul-smelling man did to me, I couldn't move at all.

"You wretched woman..."

Seeing I had no reaction, he reached out and slapped me across the face.

I was slapped many times, and my mouth was full of the taste of blood, but I didn't make a sound.

Until he stopped moving on me, I shed tears.

This is my life.

It's the life that was destined for me from the day I was born.

They say that on the day I was born, there were six infants in the delivery room, five of whom were boys.

My old man and my mom happily asked the doctor,

"Which boy is ours?"

When they learned that the only girl was their child, their faces turned dark and they turned to leave. If the doctor hadn't stopped them, I might not even have parents now.

"Really wretched..."

Ma Tu Hu stood up, put on his pants, and just when I thought everything was over, he dealt me another blow.

He took out his phone from his pocket, which had been used for who knows how long, and started taking photos and videos of me from various angles.

Whether it was appropriate or not.

Illegal... He's breaking the law again...

But wait... why should I care if he's breaking the law?

This is my future life; I'm not a lawyer; I'm Zhang Lai Di.

In my most helpless, desperate, and filthy state, he carefully photographed me.

Now, I couldn't even lift my hand to cover my face.

"You wretched woman, aren't you the one who loves to report people?"

He turned his phone around and waved it in front of me,

"If you dare to report me, I'll spread these photos everywhere, got it?"