When Chu Qingqing stepped into the old house, it was not completely dark.
The sycamore tree in front of the door still stood obliquely, with branches swaying in the wind and fallen leaves covering the stone path, just as before.
But her heart was like being cut by a random blade, bleeding profusely.
This old house that accompanied her growth, in her eyes, now looked like a cold cage.
She walked into the hallway with heavy steps. The lights in the living room were dim, and the air was filled with a dull atmosphere. Father Chu Zhengnan sat in the middle of the sofa, wearing a dark suit, with his back straight, holding a teacup in his hand, but he hadn't taken a sip for a long time.
"Dad." She finally spoke, her voice dry and trembling, "What do you mean by marriage?"
Chu Zhengnan slowly raised his head, his brows full of heaviness. He looked at his daughter as if he was looking at a kite that would be blown away by the wind and rain.
"Sit down." His tone was calm, but he could not refuse that he felt stuffed.
Chu Qingqing did not move, just stood there, her eyes full of stubbornness and anger.
"Dad, what's going on?" Didn't you say that I can do whatever I want after graduation? You said before that you support my dreams and want me to live freely and happily... But why do you want me to get married now?" She gritted her teeth, her eyes red.
"Because you are not young anymore." Chu Zhengnan said lightly, "And this marriage is not an ordinary marriage—I owe the other family a life."
Chu Qingqing's heart was shocked, as if she had been hit hard.
"You owe a life?" What life?" She asked, "Then why do you want me to pay it back by marrying? We could just help them. Why marriage?"
"Qingqing!" His father's brows sank, and his tone suddenly became sharp: "Do you know that they saved me and saved you? If it weren't for that family, you would have died by now."
"Me...dead?" Chu Qingqing was stunned, her eyes full of shock and confusion.
"When you were two years old, you had a high fever, and the hospital had issued a critical illness notice. It was the master of the Shen family who invited the best doctor and personally signed a guarantee for the operation..." Chu Zhengnan's eyes were dim. "I promised the old man of the Shen family that as long as you grow up, I will allow you to be his daughter-in-law."
"So... in order to repay a favor from decades ago, you want me to marry someone I have never seen?" Chu Qingqing's voice became higher and higher, almost with a sharp cry, "Dad, have you ever thought about me? Have you ever asked me if I am willing? You used to hate that kind of patriarchy the most, and you used to... respect my choice the most!"
"But now your mother is gone." Chu Zhengnan finally lowered his head, and there was a bit of fatigue in his voice. "I don't have the ability to hold up the sky for you anymore."
"So you are going to push me out? The so-called "protection" in your mouth is to use me as a tool to pay for a life?" She completely collapsed, and tears fell in big drops.
"I won't marry!" Chu Qingqing shouted out of control, "I won't marry!" You can't force me like this! This is my life!"
"You are too willful!" Chu Zhengnan slammed the tea table, the porcelain cup cracked, and the tea spilled all over the floor.
The living room fell into a dead silence.
The father and daughter confronted each other, one with red eyes and tears, the other with red eyes and burning anger.
After a long time, Chu Qingqing murmured, "Dad... you have changed..."
She finally couldn't support it, her body softened, and she fell to the ground.
The servant Xiaolin hurried forward but was stopped by Chu Zhengnan with a wave of his hand. He said coldly, "Send her back to the room, lock her up, and let her reflect on herself for two days."
"Yes..." Xiaolin hesitated for a moment but finally did not dare to disobey.
Chu Qingqing looked at her father with despair, and her eyes blurred her vision. She stopped struggling and let Xiaolin help her leave the living room, her steps heavy like a prisoner being taken to the cell.
The door slammed shut and locked heavily.
At this moment, fate truly imprisoned her.
The living room was strangely quiet, with only the clock on the wall ticking.
Chu Zhengnan sat stiffly on the sofa, motionless, his face pale, and the corners of his lips trembling.
He suddenly coughed violently, and a mouthful of black and red blood stained his handkerchief.
"Xiao Lin... Xiao Lin!" He shouted with difficulty.
The servant Xiao Lin hurried back and panicked when he saw the blood on the sofa: "Master! Why are you coughing up blood again? Didn't the doctor say that you can't get angry recently?
"She... is too much like her mother." Chu Zhengnan closed his eyes and said hoarsely, "Stubborn, sensitive, willful... I can't tell her... I have at most three months to live. I want to find a home for her to rely on before I die."
"But why don't you tell her the truth?" Xiao Lin couldn't help crying, "The lady is not the kind of unreasonable person." If you force her, she will only be more painful..."
"If she knows, she will be even more unwilling to marry." Chu Zhengnan shook his head weakly. "She would rather die with me."
He leaned back on the sofa with his head raised, his eyes red, and tears silently slid down his cheeks.
"You don't understand. After Wanwan left, I only had Qingqing... She can't be without support, can she?
The voice became softer and softer, and finally only heavy breathing remained.
At this moment, Chu Qingqing slumped on the carpet in the room, and her tears had dried up. She looked out the window at the gradually darkening sky; her mind was blank.
Why?
Why did everything change overnight?
She studied hard to control her own life;
She looked forward to the future, wanting to stand shoulder to shoulder with her father and show the world that her father is not alone.
But now, she was like being labeled as a "chip," being pushed into the abyss of an unfamiliar fate.
She didn't know where her father's obsession came from, and she didn't know whether the end of this so-called "road of fate" was light or destruction.