The Sickly Beauty Gives Up Struggling [Rebirth] Chapter 199

Li Rong didn’t move. His gaze gradually turned icy, and his fists clenched tightly within his sleeves. “What did you just say?”

Cen Xiao leaned lazily against the table, seemingly oblivious to Li Rong’s wariness and anger. “Compared to Song Yuanyuan, I’m much more interested in you. Do you understand?”

The truth was that his feelings for Li Rong were complicated.

Growing up in a stifling family environment, he had always harbored a subtle resentment toward Li Rong, whose circumstances were so drastically different from his own.

There was a time when he wanted to escape with Li Rong, but Li Rong had never been able to understand his predicament.

When they met again later, Li Rong’s aloofness and indifference struck a chord in him. He couldn’t deny it—he was captivated by Li Rong’s appearance and even more by his brilliance. The more Li Rong kept his distance, the more Cen Xiao wanted to close the gap.

For this, he had been able to endure and scheme for four whole years, battling his parents and gradually stripping Cen Qing of his power in Blue Pivot District 3.

Of course, it was exhausting and draining, but every step closer to having Li Rong made his blood boil with excitement.

He knew that this wasn’t a “normal” way of expressing affection, but he had never seen what normal feelings looked like.

He both loved and hated Li Rong. He wanted to possess and plunder him, yet he also felt tenderness and pity.

These two extreme and contradictory emotions had always coexisted within him—equal in strength, peacefully interwoven.

Li Rong was so shocked by his words that he didn’t react for a long time.

He had imagined countless reasons why Cen Xiao would target, despise, or humiliate him. He had always believed it was because of the enmity between Hongsuo and Blue Pivot, or perhaps because Song Yuanyuan had provoked a rivalry between the two men.

But he never expected this.

Li Rong’s shame and fury grew, his teeth chattering, the veins in his neck standing out. “In your dreams!”

The intense emotions left his chest tight and his heart aching faintly. He thought he must have lost his mind to have come here with Cen Xiao. Cen Xiao just wanted to toy with him.

“You fulfill my desires, and I’ll fulfill yours. That’s the law of exchange in this world. If you don’t want to, you can leave—I won’t stop you.” Cen Xiao spoke leisurely, his tone relaxed.

Because he firmly believed that Li Rong had no other choice. His four years of meticulous planning had ensured that Li Rong would have no other way out.

No one else dared to help the Li family, but he did. No one else was willing to meddle in the Li family’s affairs, but he could.

Because his power was something others feared.

Li Rong’s hand had already reached the doorknob.

The handle was icy, the chill seeping through his palm, leaving his entire body cold and his heart numb.

His emotions screamed at him to leave now—immediately—and to grab a rock from outside and smash it over Cen Xiao’s head.

But reason kept him rooted in place.

His legs felt as though they were filled with cement, impossibly heavy, planted firmly on the ground and unable to move.

Just this morning, he had said that he didn’t even have the right to kneel. Now he finally had that opportunity, but it somehow felt even more humiliating than kneeling.

Li Rong’s eyes reddened as he lowered his gaze and let out a derisive laugh.

In the end, he realized he had nothing left to hold on to, nothing he could protect.

Facing away from Cen Xiao, he couldn’t see the flash of pain that appeared in Cen Xiao’s eyes after that derisive laugh.

Cen Xiao had hoped, even if just a little, for some form of affection—but, of course, all he received was disgust and tolerance.

Li Rong slowly let go of the doorknob, as though he was letting go of something he had always clung to—something fragile and precarious, which would soon disappear completely.

Step by step, he was being eroded and stripped of his rights. Now, all he could see was a single, narrow path ahead—the research on Luyinxu that his parents had dedicated their lives to. It was his only hope for survival.

He decided he no longer cared about anything. Even if he became a hollow shell, a walking corpse, as long as he could complete the Luyinxu research, he could die in peace.

Li Rong reached for the buttons on his graduation gown and undid one.

His fingers were slender and pale, the skin so thin that the veins beneath were clearly visible. His nails were faintly white but completely devoid of shine.

His thick eyelashes trembled, his lips were taut, and his neck flushed red as the gown gradually loosened, revealing the clean white shirt and suit pants underneath.

Taking off the graduation gown wasn’t the hardest part. The hardest part was what lay underneath—the intimate layer closest to his body.

He had to do such a thing in front of Cen Xiao, but he had no other choice.

Li Rong’s fingers began to tremble uncontrollably, the tips icy cold.

“Don’t move,” Cen Xiao suddenly said.

A thin layer of sweat broke out on Li Rong’s back. Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, the next second dragged him right back into h*ll.

Cen Xiao stepped forward, his hand resting on Li Rong’s waist, his gaze boldly wandering under the graduation gown. “I suddenly think you look better like this. Keep it on—I’ll pay for the gown.”

Li Rong suppressed the urge to push him away and mocked, “The Third District really is generous. Too bad there’s no such thing as an impenetrable wall. Let’s see if the Third District can still hold its ground in Blue Pivot once this gets out.”

Cen Xiao’s smile deepened. He liked the way Li Rong looked when he was sharp-tongued and rebellious. Li Rong was otherwise too pale and frail; only when he glared did he seem truly alive.

“You don’t understand me.”

The fabric of the graduation gown was smooth and thin. Cen Xiao’s palm, pressed against Li Rong’s waist, could faintly feel the warmth of his skin.

After a moment, that wasn’t enough for him. He pinched the fabric between two fingers and lifted it.

Li Rong’s breath caught as he grabbed Cen Xiao’s arm. “You said you could help me get into Hongsuo, but you haven’t done anything yet.”

Cen Xiao raised an eyebrow, entirely unfazed by the pressure Li Rong exerted on him. He nonchalantly rolled the gown further up, revealing the white shirt covering Li Rong’s waist and back.

The suit pants fit snugly around his slender waist and hips, outlining graceful curves.

“You don’t need to worry. Isn’t this evidence I’m leaving for you? Didn’t you start recording as soon as you entered? You can record, you can even film. From now on, we’re tied together. Do you still think I won’t help you?”

Li Rong’s face flushed crimson—partly because of Cen Xiao’s actions in lifting his gown, and partly because Cen Xiao had exposed his intentions.

He really was recording. It was the first time in his life he had done something so sneaky right under someone’s nose.

He didn’t dare claim to be an upright gentleman, but his parents’ teachings had always made him ashamed to resort to underhanded tactics. Now, his unnatural and awkward behavior betrayed his guilt.

Cen Xiao, on the other hand, was his complete opposite. Cen Xiao had no bottom line, no moral compass, and could even voice such shameless demands with a straight face.

Li Rong knew very well that to deal with someone like Cen Xiao, he would have to be even more shameless, even more cunning.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to learn.

Cen Xiao had seen through his recording from the start but hadn’t stopped him. Even after making those outrageous demands, he still offered Li Rong the option to leave.

Li Rong was now certain—Cen Xiao’s so-called “deal” was serious. Whether Cen Xiao genuinely liked men or was simply fixated on him, Li Rong had finally found his “path to kneeling.”

Li Rong directly placed the phone recording on the table and said calmly, “You’ll wear protection, won’t you?”

Basic hygiene knowledge—he still had that.

“Of course.” Cen Xiao seemed a little surprised by Li Rong’s acceptance.

Although he was fully aware that Li Rong had no other choice, it had been only a short time since they’d started this conversation, yet Li Rong was already mentally prepared.

On one hand, Cen Xiao felt relieved—it was always easier to deal with smart people. On the other hand, he was faintly uneasy. If someone so easily let go of their most cherished pride, it meant their state of mind was already deeply unhealthy.

Li Rong lowered his gaze, his expression unusually cold. He said softly, “I have no experience. I’m afraid you won’t enjoy this much.”

Cen Xiao laughed. “You’re quite considerate for someone in your position.”

From childhood to now, Li Rong had been the one and only person he fixated on. Naturally, Cen Xiao had never shared such intimacy with anyone else.

But he was surprised: Li Rong had been in a long-term relationship with Song Yuanyuan, yet he had absolutely no experience at all.

Li Rong was someone who acted decisively once he made up his mind. He exhaled deeply, and apart from the obvious trembling of his eyelids, he said nothing more.

The past four years had tempered him into someone far more patient and enduring. Bad things had piled onto him endlessly, suffocating him, but once he got used to it, he managed to carry on.

He was still beautiful—beautiful drenched in sweat, beautiful gritting his teeth, beautiful with a slight furrow in his brow.

Happiness was a luxury. Li Rong had never intended to gain anything from his clashes with Cen Xiao. But what happened in that moment sounded an alarm within him.

He’d grown up sheltered, too inexperienced in battle, and too naïve about the realities of society. If he continued like this, he would suffer—whether at Cen Xiao’s hands or someone else’s.

At the very end, Li Rong tilted his head slightly, gazing out the window.

His eyes turned red. A single tear, barely noticeable, fell from the corner of his eye onto the pillow.

It hurt—physically and mentally. Yet deep in his heart, an odd sense of redemptive relief began to rise.

Why did he survive that disaster?

His parents had both died, drowning in waves of curses and insults. From that moment on, every trace of joy in his life felt like a betrayal.

He deserved pain. He deserved suffering. Only then could he feel at ease—only then could he truly remember everything that had happened in those years.

In this world, he was the only one left to remember.

But his body and mind seemed to want to save him, constantly hinting that he should forget, that he should accept the dopamine of happiness.

But he couldn’t forget. He didn’t care about saving himself. He had always lived on the edge of a cliff, surviving while walking toward death.

Li Rong reached out and turned off the recording on the phone. Then, trembling, he stood up, grabbed the shirt that had been discarded to the side, and hastily draped it over himself.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

As Cen Xiao had said, the recording was evidence.

If the day came when everything was torn apart, he wouldn’t care about appearances or dignity anymore.

His voice remained restrained and rational, as if nothing had happened—as if he were still neat and composed.

Suppressing the discomfort in his body, he walked toward the bathroom. He didn’t turn on the hot water but instead adjusted it to cold.

The icy water poured over him from head to toe, making him shiver violently.

His skin immediately tightened, trying to preserve the warmth of his body, but the freezing water mercilessly drained it away.

Through the veil of cold water, he looked at everything under the lemon-yellow bathroom light, as if he were staring into his future—blurred, distorted, chaotic.

A single door separated them.

Cen Xiao looked at the disheveled bed and reached out to touch the pillow where Li Rong had lain.

His hand paused over a spot where he felt a faint dampness.

Frowning slightly, his expression grew complicated. As the sound of water trickled from the bathroom, he murmured softly to himself, “You cried… Why does it make my heart ache so much?”