Shadow and Light: The Bride Who Clicks Her Way to Love-Chapter 145 - 146: Her Stubbornness

Su Xingyu asked him for details.

Ling Weilong told her that several fashion brands in the city were holding a joint show, and one women’s clothing brand called "Yuexiao Sha" originally wanted him as the photographer. But he had an emergency that day and couldn’t make it, so he recommended her to them.

They had seen her work and thought it was good, so they asked Ling Weilong to contact her for a trial.

Su Xingyu was short on work and asked Ling Weilong for the time, agreeing immediately.

Ling Weilong advised, "Xingyu, give it your best! Yuexiao Sha is a good brand, with very tasteful clothes. Oh, take a good lens and show your skills. Once this shoot is successful, more people will come to you for work."

Su Xingyu hung up the phone but was worried; what good camera did she have?

She counted the money in her wallet, apart from the secondary card Lu Shifeng had given her, she had only small earnings from her recent sporadic work, meagerly enough, hardly sufficient to buy a camera. She sighed and took all her change to the largest digital mall in the city center, picking and comparing, bargaining with all her skills...

Finally, she bought a lens suitable for her current camera and good for portrait photography.

"SLRs make you poor for three generations..." Su Xingyu held the new lens as she went home, feeling both joy and the pain of expense, silently determined to capture the Yuexiao Sha show perfectly, otherwise, how could she justify the big expense on the equipment?

When she returned home, she met Lu Shifeng.

The man didn’t wait for her to have dinner today; he had already eaten and was hastily heading to the study.

As he passed by, he glanced at the equipment in her arms and let out a barely audible cold snort.

Su Xingyu felt a chill on her scalp from his snort, doubting she had heard wrong, but his gaze was so terrifying, it sent shivers down her spine and made her deeply aware once more—he didn’t like her doing photography, never liked it.

Not wanting to cause extra trouble, she didn’t bring the lens into the bedroom but placed it in the small lounge he seldom visited.

At night, she was pressed under the cool silk sheets of the large bed and rough-handled; her face turned pale from pain, biting her lower lip, but no matter how recklessly he pushed, she summoned all her strength to endure, not daring to provoke him.

She was afraid, afraid that his anger levels were at their peak these days and that he might do something more extreme.

Being punished in bed was better than him banning her from taking photos again. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

But he did not let her go.

That night, when she shivered uncontrollably from pain beneath him, he suddenly lifted her chin, pressing his slightly rough fingertip unexpectedly to her lip wound, "Why didn’t you push me away?"

She gasped in pain, her bright eyes clouded with a thin layer of mist, "Does it work...?"

A weak voice tinged with sorrow and resignation.

His gaze was icy, and his voice seemed to freeze, "Is it so hard to admit a mistake?"

"What did I do wrong...?" The mist in her eyes thickened, spreading layer after layer like moonlight, "Lu... Shifeng, in your eyes, I’m just an object, when you like me... you kiss a bit, touch a bit, show off in front of others, when you don’t like... you torment however you want, even if... I die, it wouldn’t matter to you..."

He increased the force of his grip, and she felt as if the bones in the area he held might snap.

His voice was ominous, "A woman of fickle affection."

She moaned in pain, cold sweat streaming from her forehead, fearing her bones might really break.

Fickle affection, is that the crime he pinned on her? Just because she didn’t immediately and unquestioningly agree to sever ties with Ouyang Yi that day, he resorted to various means to torment her?

A mist of tears overflowed from her eyes, spreading across her pale cheeks.

She looked at him in sorrow, realizing this marriage was a mistake from the start. If he didn’t trust her, why marry her?

He increased the grip’s pressure further, "Admit you’re wrong. Say you’ll never associate with Ouyang Yi again, never defy me."

She closed her eyes, refusing to look at his cruel face, biting her lip without saying a word.

Though she didn’t want to provoke him, mustering all her strength to withstand his savage assault, she... had her limits.

She would never admit to a mistake she didn’t make.

"Very good." Lu Shifeng sneered, his demeanor darkening as he invaded her body more fiercely than before.

Su Xingyu felt as if she was being torn into countless pieces, crushed into lava, writhing, and suffering... She didn’t know how she survived this long night, as if all her endurance and non-resistance couldn’t earn a shred of his pity; the weaker she acted, the crueler he became, leaving her body stained with marks of red and purple, mixed with blood, bite marks, shocking.

This was not even an act of **, but a torture, and she was the lamb at the slaughter, with nowhere to escape.

Every night thereafter, he demanded her more cruelly than before, forcing her to submit and admit wrongdoing.

Yet she remained stubborn, enduring the severe wounds and blood all over her body, suffering to the point of passing out yet biting her lip, saying nothing, as if this was the only way to maintain her last ounce of determination.

Hurting so much at night led to poor spirits during the day.

She walked in a daze these days, often missing steps when descending stairs; barely managing to hold the handrail to prevent falling. Mrs. Gui watched with worry, making old chicken soup to nourish her body, yet she had no appetite to eat.

Mrs. Gui worriedly scolded, holding her hand and soothingly advised: "Young Miss, why are you upset with the young master? When he acts up, even the old master can’t control him! Just humble yourself a bit, admit a mistake, huh? We women are destined for this..."

"I don’t accept fate." Su Xingyu softly replied.

Mrs. Gui stared at her in disbelief.

Su Xingyu gently withdrew her trembling hand from Mrs. Gui’s grasp, her voice still soft but resolute: "Lu Shifeng can do whatever he wants, but I won’t let him dictate my destiny. Whether it’s photography or making friends, I’ll make my own decisions. I’m not his appendage... Mrs. Gui, we women are not men’s appendages, it’s not like we must follow whatever they say."

"Young Miss!" Mrs. Gui worriedly exclaimed, nearly in tears, why persist in a standoff with Lu Shifeng?!

Lu Shifeng, since childhood, never saw women as equal to him! In his eyes, women are weak, objects needing orders and protection, so he won’t marry an aristocratic lady for a suitable alliance! Because an alliance, using the wife’s family’s strength, is a humiliation to him! He only needs an obedient, submissive wife who follows all his orders...

From beginning to end, it has always been like this.

For such a person to marry a wife like Su Xingyu, is it fortunate or unfortunate?

Su Xingyu looked at Mrs. Gui, her initially distracted gaze gradually focusing, "Don’t worry about me, I know what I’m doing. If Lu Shifeng doesn’t like me as I am, then..."

She lightly smiled, the smile like a fragile specter.

Mrs. Gui felt a chill in her heart, Young Miss... was she implying, divorce?