Without Me

PRESENT

It has been eight days since Li Ye Han left hospital and did not show up again.

Yao Xi couldn't be happier. She didn't want to see him, afraid that she would not be able to get the courage she showed a few days earlier. And for the rest of the night she couldn't fall asleep. She mused. It was only when the faint glow of dawn began to drip inside the hospital room, Yao Xi managed to control her trembling heart.

She felt more mentally stronger than the last confrontation with Li Ye Han, but not yet enough to face him again. Yao Xi still was not sure of her heart. Still, the only thing she wanted right now is to strengthen her assertiveness and get rid of this poisonous love that once cost her life.

While she was happy that Li Ye Han did not show up again, her grandfather's absence caused uncertainty and anxiety in Yao Xi.

From the day he quarreled with Li Ye Han in front of her unit's door, Grandfather Li never visited her once.

She was sorry, but she wondered more about the reason for his absence. Yao Xi felt that there was something more behind it.

Knowing Old Li and his temperament, only something very important could stop him from visiting his granddaughter, and Yao Xi had been wondering what had happened in the last few days.

Has something bad happened to Li's family? Or maybe Li Ye Han told his grandfather something unkind and the old man needed a few days in peace?

Yao Xi did not know. The only thing that was one hundred percent sure was the fact that something had to happen and she had to make sure everything was all right.

Borrowing a cellphone from one of the nurses, Yao Xi dialed the phone number of the old mansion.

"Here is the residence of the Li family, how can I help you?" The monotonous voice of one of the many servants in the villa sounded in the handset.

Yao Xi: " It Yao Xi speaks, I would like to talk to Senor Li. Is he at home right now? "

"The master is unavailable at the moment," she replied dryly, as if talking to some sales representative who wanted to sell some unnecessary equipment.

In the whole family only the grandfather treated Yao Xi well. Even the servants did not hesitate to criticize her when her grandfather was not around, and Yao Xi never complained to that. She endured everything in silence, not wanting to disturb her grandfather with such trifles. However, the more Yao Xi did not react to similar taunts, the more courageous the servants became.

Everyone knew that Senior Li would soon be retiring and would give power to the most competent heir, Li Ye Han. And knowing that Li Ye Han did not like Yao Xi, no servant would have to be afraid of being punished for rude treatment of someone like Yao Xi. In the end she was his wife only by name. They did not even have a decent wedding or wedding reception. In the Yao family, everyone knew that they had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for more than three years. So if that did not prove that Li Ye Han was not interested in her, what could be the prove?

"And when will he be available?"

"Miss Yao, please do not cause trouble in this estate. If an old master would like to contact with you, he would do it himself, wouldn't he? "

The servant's voice was filled with sarcasm. She even dared to call her "Miss Yao", which was a total lack of respect. This meant that she did not take Yao Xi as a member of the Li family at all.

Yao Xi was used to it and it did not bother her at all. Nor did she want to belong to that family, in which everyone, apart from his grandfather, seemed to have some serious psychological problems.

In the handset, Yao Xi heard strange crackles, and a second later a screeching voice, dripping with poison, said: "How dare you call here and cause problems? I do not want to hear you calling here again, or you will regret it! "

Yao Xi's muscles tensed instantly, and her eyes narrowed dangerously into stomata. From the first sound she recognized this squeaky voice. Almost immediately before the eyes of Yao Xi appeared the image of an elegant middle-aged woman, with blood-red lipstick on the lips, expensive jewelery and the eyes of a vulture.

Huang Zhi Rui was the mother of Li Ye Han and technically, the mother-in-law of Yao Xi. But she was also the most perfidious person in the whole Li family. She came from an influential family; she was proud and arrogant and considered herself the center of the entire universe, and anyone who had a lower status than her considered unworthy of her royal gaze.

Li Ye Han's mother has never come to terms with the fact that her outstanding, perfect and brilliant son married someone as insignificant as Yao Xi.

For Huang Zhi Rui, having a daughter-in-law like Yao Xi was the most humiliating thing in the world and she did not refrain from reprimanding Yao Xi at every opportunity. She annoyed the life of Yao Xi in every possible way.

It was even worse when Huang Zhi Rui could do nothing about it because she did not have any real power in this family. And the word of senior Li was absolutely undeniable!

And that's why Huang Zhi Rui hated Yao Xi even more.

But Yao Xi was not the same shy and intimidated girl anymore. She died and returned, passing along all eighteen floors of hell on the way. Literally and figuratively. She survived the pain that could not be expressed in ordinary words, because it was too far from the truth. There was nothing that could harm Yao Xi in any way. The more so someone like her so-called mother-in-law.

Yao Xi: "Madame Huang, spare yourself a breath. You'll still get wrinkles from these nerves, and at a certain age, even the best plastic surgeon in the world will not be able to help. "Yao Xi's lips curled in a malicious smile as she pictured Huang Zhi Rui's expression and almost laughed. "And if Grandpa personally tells me not to contact him, I will of course respect his decision, but your word does not matter to me."

Huang Zhi Rui: "You ... You ... You ..." sounded like a broken record that stuck, repeating the same fragment of the song over and over again. And before she could strain her brain to find the right words, Yao Xi had already hung up.

She will never let anyone treat her like a dog again. Maybe she was nobody, no parents, no background or any influential acquaintances, but that did not mean that everyone could do whatever they wanted with her, and she would not defend herself.

Yao Xi was just an ordinary woman, and although she did not care about the opinions of other people about her, it still did not mean that she would allow herself to be used so that everyone could do what they liked with her. That Yao Xi died in a musty and cold dungeon from the wounds inflicted by a man who was her entire world.

Now only strong and brave Yao Xi is left who is not afraid of anything. Even death.