Outside the gates of Imperial College, a Mercedes E-Class sedan came to a steady stop. A stunning girl in a light purple dress walked towards the car.
Initially, the girl had a smile on her face, but when she saw the man getting out of the car, her smile froze.
"Leo Bloomer, why is it you? Where's my sister?" The girl's tone was displeased.
Leo could only shake his head since he couldn't speak.
The girl glanced around and took a few steps forward, reaching for the car door. She didn't want anyone to know that her mute brother-in-law was picking her up.
Every time someone mentioned her sister's mute husband, she felt embarrassed.
Just as the girl was about to get in the car, a female voice came from behind, "Isn't this Tina Henley, the campus belle of Imperial College?"
Tina's body stiffened as she instantly recognized who was speaking.
Turning around, Tina forced a smile on her face. "Diana, it's you. Are you going out?"
"Yeah, I just happened to see you, so I came to say hello." Diana casually replied, but her gaze intentionally swept over Leo.
"Tina, who's this man? Oh, I know, he must be your chauffeur working for your family, right?" Another girl pretended to be curious and asked.
Tina's face showed an awkward smile. "He... he's my sister's..."
"I got it!" The third girl's face lit up with a newfound discovery. "He's your mute brother-in-law, right?"
Hearing this, Tina's gaze turned cold, and she fell silent. She opened the car door and got in.
"Leo, what are you dawdling for? Let's go!" Tina yelled out of the rolled-down car window. Her good mood had been significantly affected by now.
Leo silently got into the car amidst the disdainful and contemptuous glances from the three girls. He started the car and quietly drove away from the gate of Imperial College.
Tina took out her phone and dialed Sophia Henley's number.
"Sis, didn't we agree that you'd pick me up? Why did you let Leo come instead?"
"What? Something came up and I couldn't make it. Hmph! You're the only busy one. Don't ask him to come again in the future. I'll take a taxi back myself!"
Seated in the backseat, Tina angrily hung up the phone. Then she turned her gaze to Leo, who was driving, becoming increasingly displeased.
"Hey, Leo, don't think you're suffering greatly by being a son-in-law in our family. If it weren't for our Henleys providing you with food and shelter, you, a mute, would have starved on the streets. I advise you to divorce my sister. When that time comes, the Henley family will give you some money. You can live your life however you want, as long as you don't appear in front of me again. Are you even listening to me? Can't you say something?" Tina vented her frustration and then sneered, "Sorry, I forgot you're mute again."
Leo tightly gripped the steering wheel. He had endured this kind of life for four years.
When Leo was six years old, his parents disappeared, and he was raised by his grandmother. With her meager retirement pension and the money he earned from collecting garbage, Leo managed to finish university.
Leo vividly remembered that on the day of his university graduation, his usually strong-willed grandmother fell ill.
The hospital test results came out quickly-malignant gastric cancer, in its advanced stage.
As Leo gazed upon his grandmother's frail form, lying in that hospital bed, sorrowful tears streamed down his face. He made a solemn promise deep within his heart to do whatever it took to grant his grandmother more time, even if it meant just an extra year or even a mere month.
Leo began borrowing money from people he knew, started crowdfunding online, and even kneeled in the bustling city center, the busiest pedestrian street, begging for kind-hearted people's help.
Miraculously, Leo finally managed to raise the money he needed.
The ones who provided the money were a couple. They not only funded Leo's grandmother's treatment but also married their eldest daughter to him.
On that day, Leo felt a ray of light shining into his dark life.
Shortly after his marriage, Leo discovered how naive he had been. The reason the Henley family helped him, the reason they were willing to marry their daughter to him, was solely because of superstition, believing that he could bring good luck to their daughter, so she could recover from her illness.
In other words, Leo was merely a tool. Once he had served his purpose of bringing good luck, he found that he lived under the roof of the Henley family like a dog.
A year later, Leo's grandmother passed away. After organizing her funeral, Leo felt that life had lost all meaning.
He remembered one stormy night when, due to a trivial matter, he was kicked out of the Henley family.
With nowhere to go, Leo wandered aimlessly on the streets, letting the rain pour down on him.
Unconsciously, Leo found himself at Lover's Bridge. It was a famous spot in Langstel, where couples would come on Valentine's Day to have dates.
Lover?
Love?
These were all luxury goods that Leo couldn't afford.
As he looked at the rolling river water beneath the bridge, the idea of jumping crossed Leo's mind.
He thought that if he jumped, everything would be over, and he would be freed.
The moment this thought entered his mind, Leo couldn't suppress it anymore. One of his feet stepped over the railing.
"Young man, jumping into the river on such a stormy day is not a wise choice."
A deep, hoarse voice rang in Leo's ears.
Leo turned his head and saw an elderly man with graying hair standing next to him, holding a black umbrella. His face had a somewhat ambiguous smile.
"I can give you a chance to change your fate. Would you like that?" The old man's voice was full of temptation.
Leo didn't know if he was hallucinating or not, but he instinctively nodded.
From his pocket, the old man pulled out a syringe containing pale blue liquid.
"Give me your hand."
Leo hesitated, his face showing a nervous expression.
"Are you afraid?" The old man's expression turned playful. "You're not afraid of death, so what could you possibly fear?"
Leo extended his right hand, and the old man injected the liquid from the syringe into his veins.
"Remember, for the next three years, you will become mute. After three years, you will have a different life. But you have to survive these three years..."
With an umbrella in hand, the old man slowly disappeared from Leo's sight.
Leo wanted to call out to him, but all that came out of his mouth was a hoarse sound.
From the moment Leo became mute, he lived in the Henley family worse than a dog.
For the past three years, every year at the exact same time he was injected with that blue liquid, his body would experience extreme pain. It felt like millions of ants were relentlessly biting him, and even his head would feel swollen, as if it could explode at any moment...
After each bout of pain, Leo had a vague sense that his body had undergone some changes, but he couldn't articulate exactly what those changes were.
Year after year, he endured, and tonight at nine o'clock, it would mark that exactly three years had passed. This was the moment!