Here is the polished version of Chapter 21.
Ever since being rejected by Zhou Du, Chu Luyao was determined to prove her resolve. Every day, she posted a new letter of repentance online.
From the very beginning of her mistakes to the realization of her true feelings, she dissected her errors word by word.
Her emotions were sincere, her attitude humble and pleading.
The attitude of a portion of the netizens began to shift, turning from vicious abuse to pity.
Marriage is just a chaotic mess of chicken feathers anyway; life is always like this. Making do is just how people live.
When Zhou Du saw those letters of apology, he found them somewhat absurd.
People always learn to cherish only after they have lost; they only know pain after they have been wounded.
If he hadn't left back then, would Chu Luyao be apologizing like this now?
Zhou Du laughed self-deprecatingly. Human desire is truly a bottomless pit.
His life now was very good.
He had walked through so many landscapes he had never seen before.
He was finally living for himself.
After leaving Chu Luyao, his physical condition had actually improved significantly.
Although he was still in the late stages of stomach cancer, when he went to the hospital for check-ups, the doctors finally stopped frowning and sighing at him.
In the limited life he had left, he kept moving, kept traveling.
Now, he knew exactly what he wanted. He would absolutely never go back to his past life.
Zhou Du boarded a plane to Tanzania.
He wanted to see the wildebeest migration. Communication there was difficult, and that silence was exactly the kind of peace he was seeking.
While Chu Luyao was still trying every method to find Zhou Du, her assistant in China suddenly sent an urgent message: Yaodu was in trouble.
After Chu Luyao kicked Song Yuhuan out of Yaodu, she had exposed his atrocious behavior online.
She had cut off all his paths, destroying both his personal life and his career.
In reality, whenever Song Yuhuan appeared, people cast looks of disdain and contempt at him.
The luxury goods and real estate Chu Luyao had showered him with were ruthlessly reclaimed.
The meager savings left in his cards couldn't support his lavish spending habits.
He couldn't bear the failure of his schemes, nor could he tolerate returning to the starting point of a destitute life. Privately, he contacted several companies that Zhou Du had suppressed in the past, banding together to target Yaodu.
Then, using his identity as Zhou Du's former secretary, he filed a real-name report accusing Zhou Du of tax evasion during his tenure.
Under Zhou Du's leadership, Yaodu had leaped from a small micro-enterprise to a leading local giant in just a few short years.
The original competitors couldn't beat him and had swallowed their anger for a long time. Now that they finally caught a chance, how could they not fight back?
Song Yuhuan was already paranoid and ruthless, willing to do anything to achieve his goals.
As long as he could take revenge on Chu Luyao and Zhou Du, he didn't care about the consequences.
Why should Chu Luyao live better than him?
Song Yuhuan didn't think that was enough. He bribed former colleagues, stole relevant documents, and forged evidence of tax evasion, exposing it all on the internet.
He even started a new account, claiming in a livestream that Chu Luyao had used "casting couch" rules on him, trying to use him to drive Zhou Du away and seize Yaodu's shares.
In an instant, the stock of Yaodu—the company Zhou Du had painstakingly built for eight years—crashed once again.
Chu Luyao's image was damaged beyond repair. As soon as she landed in China, she was taken directly from the airport for investigation.
Inside the company, several of Zhou Du's old subordinates couldn't stand Chu Luyao anymore. They resigned one after another, taking large groups of the core team with them to start their own ventures.
Yaodu was teetering like a collapsing skyscraper, in imminent danger.
Many companies watched like tigers eyeing their prey, waiting for Yaodu to fall so they could carve up the carcass.
Chu Luyao spent these three months in agony, facing internal strife and external aggression.
But fortunately, Zhou Du was meticulous in his work. All the material data and financial records had been backed up separately.
After the authorities investigated and found no evidence of tax evasion, the matter was dropped.
However, Song Yuhuan's crimes of rumor-mongering, theft, and forgery were now ironclad.
Upon learning that Chu Luyao had submitted the relevant evidence to the police, he simply couldn't accept this ending.
Song Yuhuan completely lost his rationality. He vented his entire chest full of rage onto Chu Luyao.
He staked out Chu Luyao's house day and night, waiting like a hunter. After enduring for several days, finally, late one night, he saw that familiar figure under the streetlamp.
Song Yuhuan slammed the accelerator to the floor. The car roared out of the shadows.
With a loud BANG, he sent Chu Luyao flying.
That very night, the car accident made the headlines.
Song Yuhuan broke four ribs and was arrested on the spot.
Although Chu Luyao was rescued in time and luckily kept her life, Song Yuhuan had struck with lethal intent. The impact directly shattered Chu Luyao's spine.
She would have to spend the remainder of her life in a wheelchair.