About ten minutes later, the car stopped at the entrance of a high-end hotel. He woke up Su Ruiyi, and the groggy girl followed Ou Yunchen.
"I have something else to do. If you don't want to go home, just sleep in the hotel. I'll get a room card at the front desk. You can wait for me in the lobby."
To his surprise, Su Ruiyi, who had agreed readily just a moment ago, vanished the next second. When Ou Yunchen, having gotten the room card, went to find her in the lobby...
Ou Yunchen grabbed a hotel attendant and anxiously asked, "Hello, where is the tall, thin girl with green hair who was sitting here just now?"
The attendant replied, "She went to the bar on the second floor."
Ou Yunchen cursed her for being so troublesome in his mind and then hurried upstairs. As expected, the girl was at the bar, downing one drink after another.
Ou Yunchen hooked an arm around Su Ruiyi, apologizing to the people around him.
Su Ruiyi, tipsy, held up her glass, "You're here, come on, drink, my treat!"
"Stop drinking..."
"Today, all your drinks are on me!"
Seeing that he couldn't possibly drag her away, Ou Yunchen decided to pull Su Ruiyi's hat down to prevent her from being photographed in this state, and then carried the drunkard away quickly.
Entering the room, Ou Yunchen bent down and tossed Su Ruiyi onto the bed from his shoulder. He panted for a moment and said, "Stay in the hotel, and when you sober up..."
Before Ou Yunchen could finish, Su Ruiyi suddenly jumped up from the bed, grabbed him, and threw up...
"Ugh... I'm sorry, I drank too much, I just couldn't hold it in..."
Ou Yunchen, who had been holding back all the way, finally exploded...
He didn't care if he hurt the young lady, he dragged her by the arm towards the bathroom.
Ou Yunchen pulled Su Ruiyi to the edge of the bathtub, turned on the faucet, and before the water could fill, he threw the sitting Su Ruiyi into the tub. Water splashed everywhere, thoroughly soaking Ou Yunchen as well.
The cold water instantly sobered Su Ruiyi. She looked up, shivering, at Ou Yunchen, who stood there with a stern expression.
"It's cold..." Su Ruiyi complained softly.
Ou Yunchen unbuttoned his shirt, took off the wet garment, and threw it forcefully into the bathtub, hitting Su Ruiyi.
"Ouch..."
Ou Yunchen suddenly braced himself on the edge of the bathtub and glared ferociously at the drenched Su Ruiyi.
"Are you done messing around!"
"I'm not messing around..."
"You say you're not messing around! The housekeeper said you've been drinking for two days and two nights, and you want to drink more today? Do you go crazy every time you see alcohol? Have you looked in the mirror? Do you see what you look like right now!"
Ou Yunchen grabbed Su Ruiyi out of the water and held her up to the mirror to see how disheveled she was. But Su Ruiyi's tears poured down like rain.
She remembered the hurtful words she overheard outside their door on New Year's Eve. Those scenes had been replaying in her mind like a virus these past few days...
How could those hurtful words come from her father's mouth? Why didn't her father love her beautiful mother? Why did he keep another woman outside?
Su Ruiyi roared, "You're the same as them, you don't understand how I feel at all."
Ou Yunchen paused, "What feelings do you want?"
Su Ruiyi desperately wanted to say she wanted her father to love her mother, wanted them to care about her, wanted them to get angry when they saw her strange hair color...
She also wanted them to know that her daughter should be scolded for a hangover, at least have someone like Ou Yunchen yell her awake...
But the words got stuck in her throat, and she found herself unable to speak.
"I want a happy family like other people's children."
Ou Yunchen's grip on Su Ruiyi's hand suddenly lost its strength. He was a bit angry, a bit inclined to scold, but looking at the pitiful young lady...
What constituted a happy family for her? Did women in big houses all fail to find happiness? Concern and love were what she needed, wasn't that happiness?!
It made sense. Su Ruiyi had never received such simple emotions from Madam Su or Xu Shuming. A happy family was never something a child like her should possess.
Ou Yunchen turned off the faucet. He sat by the edge of the bathtub with his back to Su Ruiyi, water from his hair dripping onto his forehead. They both sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts.
— Su Ruiyi's inner thoughts —
"I thought you understood me best in this world..."
"Abandoned, trampled, forgotten in a corner, with no one paying attention..."
"I saved you, so I started to hope someone would come and save me too..."
"I once longed for just once, even if only once, when I was hiding in a dark alley, someone would walk towards me..."
"I don't want that person to turn and run away, I want him to tell others that there is still someone in this corner who wants to live..."
"You won't understand, will you? Can you tell me how you forget pain and live again?"
— End of Su Ruiyi's inner thoughts —
Su Ruiyi looked up at Ou Yunchen, feeling a bit guilty, "How much was your shirt? I'll pay for it."
"No need."
"Why?"
"No reason."
"Then what can I do to make you not angry?"
"I'll give you money?"
Ou Yunchen smiled, even with a hint of mockery, "What do you think money can buy?"
"Everything. I've bought many things with money, even my best friends were bought with money."
"And later, was she still by your side?"
"No, but I knew she was short of money, and I couldn't keep her. At least she was a friend once, and she made me happy for a while."
In her world, what couldn't money buy? She didn't care if it was genuine; she only wanted companionship. Since she couldn't get it from her parents, she would demand it doubly from others.
Therefore, whether it was friendship or love, everything in the world had a price. If she couldn't afford it, she would double the price, and she would always get it.
A moment later, Ou Yunchen stood up. He grabbed a towel and wiped himself dry, then closed the bathroom door and left.
When Su Ruiyi tidied herself up and came out wrapped in a towel, she found the room empty. She lay on the bed, burying her head in the soft down pillow.
Drowning one's sorrows in alcohol was not easy. Often, as the alcohol took effect, the sorrow only deepened.
She had thought she was the last straw holding her parents' marriage together, but she was greatly mistaken. Only by seeing herself as too important did she realize that her father hated everything about the Su family. Her tantrums and antics could not earn her even a shred of paternal love.