Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Zhao Youcai’s Suspicion

Zhao Youcai had managed supplies for years. His greatest strengths were reading people and picking holes in their stories.

This state Su Yufen was in was clearly not as simple as being overwhelmed by the sea breeze.

A string of suspicion in his heart was gently plucked.

From that day on, Su Yufen became a completely different person.

The spitfire who would stand at the fishing port with her hands on her hips, shouting and spitting as she argued with people, was gone.

She grew quiet and withdrawn. Her gaze was always unfocused, filled with an indescribable terror.

At home, she was like a frightened rabbit. The slightest raise in Zhao Youcai’s voice or a sudden movement would make her flinch violently.

She became unusually diligent—or rather, she was unusually avoidant of Zhao Youcai.

Before, she would chat idly with Zhao Youcai after dinner.

Now, the moment the bowls were cleared, she would dive into the kitchen or the backyard and dawdle for ages before coming out.

Zhao Youcai tried to ask her what had really happened that day, but she would always stammer and avert her gaze, claiming she was tired or had a headache before quickly slipping away.

What made Zhao Youcai even more suspicious was that she began to avoid any form of intimacy.

In the past, when Zhao Youcai had a few drinks at night and was in the mood to hold her, she might be impatient at times, but she would never refuse.

Now, the moment Zhao Youcai got close, she would stiffen instantly as if burned by a branding iron. She would instinctively shrink back, her eyes filled with unconcealable fear and resistance.

“What are you hiding from?”

One evening after dinner, Zhao Youcai frowned and grabbed the wrist of Su Yufen, who was trying to slip away to the kitchen.

Her hand was ice-cold and trembling slightly.

“I’m… I’m not.”

Su Yufen flinched in fear and tried to pull her hand back, her voice tinged with tears. “I just… I just wanted to go wash the dishes.”

“Since when can’t the dishes wait?”

Zhao Youcai stared at her pale face and evasive eyes, the cloud of suspicion in his heart growing heavier.

“Su Yufen, you tell me the truth. What in the world happened at the docks that day? Did that girl Su Tang say something to you?”

When he mentioned Su Tang, he clearly felt the arm he was holding tremble violently.

“No! She didn’t say anything! Really!”

Su Yufen shot her head up, her eyes filled with pleading, even a hint of desperation.

She wrenched herself free and practically fled into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.

Zhao Youcai stood frozen in place, his expression so dark it looked like it could drip ink.

Her reaction was a dead giveaway!

’Su Tang definitely said something!’

’And it must have been something that hit Su Yufen exactly where it hurts—something absolutely devastating!’

He thought back to Su Yufen’s panicked expression, as if the sky were falling, and her abnormal avoidance and fear over the past few days…

The seed of doubt in Zhao Youcai’s heart grew wildly like a vine, wrapping around him so tightly he could barely breathe.

’What on earth is the secret?’

’What could make this fierce, headstrong woman so terrified?’

’Does it have something to do with me?’

Once a crack appears in the trust between a husband and wife, suspicion seeps in like the salty sea breeze, penetrating everything.

The atmosphere in the house became oppressive and tense.

Su Yufen lived under the shadow of a colossal fear, on edge day and night.

She was terrified that Zhao Youcai would suddenly discover the truth, and even more terrified that Su Tang might expose everything on a whim.

Although she tried to act as if nothing was wrong, Su Tang’s words would flash through her mind the moment she closed her eyes.

All her energy was consumed by the panic this secret brought.

Like seaweed drained of all moisture, she was wilted and listless. How could she have any energy left to bother or pick a fight with Su Tang?

All she wanted was for Su Tang to keep this secret forever, allowing her to live on borrowed time under Zhao Youcai’s suspicion and the threat of his explosive wrath.

As for causing trouble?

She no longer even had the courage to go near Su Tang. If she saw her figure from a distance, she wished she could dig a hole in the sand and bury herself.

Su Tang’s nonchalant threat had become a blade hanging over her head, completely severing all her fire and energy.

She was trapped in a cage of fear of her own making, living every day in terror.

And outside this cage, Zhao Youcai’s scrutinizing eyes swept over her again and again, tirelessly trying to find the hidden secret.

In Su Yufen’s eyes, her days had become a long, silent torture.

She became paranoid, seeing threats in every shadow.

A lingering glance from Zhao Youcai, a cough of unclear meaning.

Even just him sitting there, smoking in silence, would make her heart pound, suspecting that he knew something or was plotting how to trick her into talking.

She didn’t dare look him in the eye and was always avoiding his gaze.

The immense mental pressure was suffocating her, making even sleep a luxury.

「Deep in the night.」

The sea wind moaned as it passed through the cracks in the window, carrying the damp, salty smell of the ocean.

Zhao Youcai was snoring, asleep on the inner side of the bed.

Su Yufen was curled up on the outer edge of the bed, her body as stiff as a rock. Her eyelids were heavy, but her consciousness was adrift on a stormy sea.

In her dream, there were bizarre, chaotic fragments.

The flashing neon lights of a dance hall in Shanghai, the blurred face of a man with foreign features, the bone-chilling clash of surgical instruments, and Su Tang’s eyes—all-seeing and as cold as the deep sea…

“…No, don’t…”

A broken whimper escaped her throat, and her body twitched unconsciously.

“…Don’t tell him… I’m begging you…”

Her voice was muffled, thick with tears and desperate pleading.

“…The boat tickets… burned… all burned…”

The fragmented words, like ramblings in a dream, were exceptionally clear in the quiet night.

“…It hurts… so much…”

She curled up even tighter, as if resisting some invisible pain, and a fine sheen of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Zhao Youcai’s snoring stopped for a moment.

He hadn’t actually been sound asleep.

With a heart full of suspicion, heavy as a stone, how could he possibly sleep peacefully?

Su Yufen’s suppressed, tearful sleep-talking seeped into his ears.

He held his breath, opened his eyes in the darkness, and listened intently.

“…Shanghai… can’t go back…”

Su Yufen let out another muffled mumble, rolled over with her back to him, her body still trembling slightly.

’Shanghai?!’

That single word struck a sensitive nerve in Zhao Youcai.

He had been mulling it over all day while calculating his inventory. She was evasive during the day, but her dreams at night held no secrets.

Zhao Youcai’s heart sank. A wave of cold anger and even deeper suspicion made him want to drag Su Yufen out of bed right then and demand an explanation.

He lay there motionless, listening to the suppressed sobs and broken sleep-talk of the woman beside him.

’Su Yufen really was hiding a secret from him.’

The next day, Su Yufen woke up with heavy, dark circles under her eyes, looking listless and with an even more unfocused gaze.

She didn’t even dare to eat breakfast at the same table as Zhao Youcai. Claiming an upset stomach, she took a bowl of congee and hid in a corner of the kitchen to eat it.

Zhao Youcai, his face dark, ate his dried salted fish in silence.

He chewed forcefully, but his sharp gaze swept over Su Yufen.

Her hand holding the bowl trembled slightly. She ate her congee distractedly, her spoon clinking against the rim of the bowl several times.

’That dazed look, as if her soul had been sucked out of her—that’s not an upset stomach. That’s a guilty conscience, plain and simple!’

Su Yufen’s sleep-talking was like a will-o’-the-wisp ignited in Zhao Youcai’s heart.

Once suspicion began to fester, it could no longer be suppressed.

He began to quietly search for evidence.

He stopped confronting Su Yufen directly. That would only make her clamp shut like a frightened clam, and he wouldn’t get anything out of her. He would have to investigate on his own.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep