Chapter 3 Broken Commitment
Four years ago, the Zhou family had indeed promised that Zhou Qingyan would stay abroad for ten years before returning.
Because Zhou Qingyan and I really didn't get along.
In senior year, shortly after the engagement, I got a guaranteed spot to Beijing University.
The next day, Zhou Linchen found me.
Under the school's big banyan tree, a gentle breeze blew.
Yet he made this request.
"Li Xia, Qingyan wants this guaranteed spot. Give it to her. She needs it more."
Zhou Qingyan's best exam score ranked outside the top hundred.
She did need this guaranteed spot more.
Otherwise, she couldn't get into a key university, let alone become Zhou Linchen's junior.
Although Zhou Linchen was very handsome and my fiancé.
I didn't agree.
I was someone who valued my future greatly. I wouldn't be swayed by looks.
Even if the other party was my future sister-in-law.
After being refused, Zhou Linchen left with a very ugly expression.
After the college entrance exam, the first Marriage Lot draw.
He said he drew a bad lot.
According to the Zhou family's Ancestral Rule, without a good lot.
Although engaged, he still couldn't marry me.
He asked me to wait a year, until next year's draw for a good lot, then marry.
The second year, the day before the draw.
Zhou Qingyan, attending junior college, found two classmates to block me.
"Li Xia, my brother doesn't like you at all. The engagement is just to repay a debt. Even if he draws a good lot tomorrow, he won't marry you. Break up with him quickly."
The first part, she was right.
My dad saved Zhou Linchen and was crushed under the car, never waking up.
The Zhou family owed our family a life-saving debt.
So shortly after the funeral, the Zhou elders came to propose marriage between the families.
At that time, I also thought the Zhou family was repaying the debt.
But Zhou Linchen told me he truly liked me.
Not just to repay, he wanted to protect me for life in place of my dad.
He would be a good husband and give me a warm, complete home.
At that time, the Li company went bankrupt, owing many debts. Looking at Grandpa on the sickbed with that expectant gaze, I had no choice but to agree to the engagement.
After that, I fought with Zhou Qingyan and her friends.
I broke a leg and stayed in the hospital for a month.
She was disfigured by my scratches and was sent abroad overnight by Zhou Linchen for plastic surgery.
Soon, the Zhou family made a promise.
For ten years, they wouldn't let Zhou Qingyan return, nor let her bully me again.
Only four years had passed, and Zhou Linchen agreed to her return.
He even secretly gave her the necklace only the Zhou matriarch could wear.
At that moment, I was extremely disappointed in him.
By afternoon, Zhou Linchen finally returned.
I smelled the perfume on him again, much stronger than last time.
This time, Zhou Qingyan came back with him.
She still wore that necklace around her neck, as if returning to show off.
But when she saw me in pajamas.
Her expression changed instantly, as if realizing something.
She yelled angrily.
"Li Xia, how are you qualified to live in the Zhou house!"
She said and raised her hand.
A slap was about to land on my face.