66 Farewell

I think... I won't come back.

A suicide note was found in Meng Yuxing's hospital room. The first sentence of the note expressed her wish that the police would make the note public.

So on the afternoon of the day she committed suicide, this suicide note was seen by netizens on various platforms.

"My suicide has nothing to do with anyone else."

I have been suffering from illness for many years and have long been tired of this kind of life.

When my kidney transplant failed this year, I knew that my life would never have a chance to continue. This decision had been swirling in my mind for a long time, and when the moment finally came, I only felt relieved.

The only person I miss is my younger sister, Song Qinggui.

I know that my emotions at this moment may be seen by many people as the repentance of a bad person, or crocodile tears.

But this is my last chance to speak, and I still want to apologize to Qinggui.

I found you and decided to raise you, but you've suffered so much. It's my fault.

If only time could turn back, I think I would still be at the Changli Island pier in the rain, holding that little girl's hand, soaked to the bone. Only this time, I want to be a very, very good older sister.

Unfortunately, I will never have that opportunity.

Take care of the rules.

Song Qinggui spent a lot of money to hire a funeral beautician to restore Meng Yuxing's appearance after his death.

Meng Yuxing died from a fall from a high-rise building; his bones were shattered and his muscles turned to mush. This was a very difficult task.

During the period of waiting for the repair results, Song Qinggui indulged in sleep.

Sleeping has been her way of healing herself since she was a child; all she wants to do is sleep.

Every day, Xue Lu forced her to get up and eat three meals a day. The rest of the time, she stayed in bed, curled up in a ball, until the day Meng Yuxing's remains were restored.

Song Qinggui held a simple farewell ceremony for Meng Yuxing.

Meng Yuxing had no relatives; the only people who attended the ceremony were Song Qinggui and Xue Lü.

Just as Meng Yuxing's stretcher was about to be placed into the crematorium, a man barged into the mourning hall in a mad manner.

The funeral home staff couldn't stop him; he ran to Meng Yuxing's side and clung tightly to the stretcher.

Song Qinggui and Xue Lu then realized that the man with a full beard and disheveled clothes was Feng Zhe, who had been missing for a long time.

With bloodshot eyes, Feng Zhe pulled several stacks of red banknotes from his shoulder bag. He laughed at Meng Yuxing's corpse and said, "You bitch, I won the bet! I made money! I knew God wouldn't always treat me this unfairly! I really made a fortune this time! I'll treat your illness; if this kidney doesn't work, we'll wait for the next one! We don't need that bitch Song Qinggui! I can treat your illness! I can give you a kidney transplant! Did you hear me?! Wake up!"

The funeral home security guards arrived and dragged Feng Zhe out.

Feng Zhe cried out, “Let me go! Let me go! Where are you taking my wife? Where are you taking her?! Song Qinggui, you bitch! You ruined me and killed Xingxing! You are ungrateful! You deserve to die a horrible death! I must have been blind to fall for you! To believe your lies! You filthy bitch! You deserve to die a horrible death!”

Xue Lu reached out and covered Song Qinggui's ears, and Song Qinggui closed his eyes in pain.

...

Song Qinggui returned home, collapsed into bed, and slept for fourteen hours straight.

When she woke up again, Xue Lu was sitting by her bedside.

It was dark outside, but the bedside lamp in the room was on.

Song Qinggui asked groggily, "What time is it?"

Xue Lu handed Song Qinggui a glass of water: "Two in the morning."

"I slept for so long..."

"Feng Zhe was taken to the police station in the afternoon. The police had him undergo a mental evaluation, and he was found to be insane."

“He’s gone mad…” Song Qinggui was stunned.

"He must have seen the news about Meng Yuxing online and couldn't handle it, so he went crazy."

"What about his money..."

“It’s not real money,” Xue Lu said. “It’s ghost money. He kept saying he won the bet, and that it was the money he won. When the police asked him where he won it, he said it was Baihua Street. But there’s no Baihua Street in Lancheng, only Baicao Street. So the police checked the surveillance footage of Baicao Street on a whim and found that he robbed a funeral shop of ghost money that was on display outside.”

"Then what is he now..."

Attorney Xue: "I went to the police station, took him out, and sent him to the inpatient department of Lancheng Mental Health Center."

Song Qinggui nodded: "Thank you, you've worked hard."

Xue Lu felt a pang of sadness: "Qing Gui, we are husband and wife, why are you being so polite to me?"

"I...I want to sleep a little longer, you should go to sleep early too."

Xue Lu nodded helplessly.

He knew that Song Qinggui had not forgiven him yet; she was just too busy with other things to pay attention to him.

He turned off the room lights, closed the door, and put on his coat. He was going somewhere.

When he took Feng Zhe to the mental hospital, he received a text message from an unknown number:

"When are you free to chat? —Saxon"

At the Shangri-La Hotel in Lancheng, Xue Lu knocked on the door of the presidential suite, and Saxon, dressed in a bathrobe, opened it.

At three in the morning, the two sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the night view of Lancheng and drinking red wine.

"Mr. Saxon, what brings you here so late at night?" Xue Lu had no time for leisure.

"Young man, don't be nervous." Saxon smiled. "I'm here today to say goodbye."

Xue Lu was puzzled.

Saxon raised an eyebrow: "Although the statute of limitations has expired, there have been quite a few police officers hanging around me lately. They probably know that even if they can't do anything to me about what happened sixteen years ago, I still have other leverage over me. The police in China are really resilient, quite different from those in Mexico."

"So, you're scared?"

Saxon shook his head: "It's not that I'm afraid of the police, it's that I'm afraid of wasting time. I'm not young anymore, and I want to use my limited time on more worthwhile things. Mexico is more suitable for me."

Xue Lu took a sip of red wine: "You didn't call me here just to hear me wish you a safe journey, did you?"

Saxon chuckled: "I understand a little now why Qing likes you. Your temperament must be very much to her liking."

Xue Lu didn't bother to respond to that, gazing absently at the streetlights outside the window.

After a long silence, Saxon began to tell his story: "My mother was Chinese, a very gentle, kind, and brave woman. She met my father in Hong Kong and was tricked into coming to America by him. After she became pregnant with me, she discovered that my father was a drug addict and also a domestic abuser. When I was about five or six years old, my father had a drug overdose and lost his mind, grabbing a knife to attack me. To protect me, my mother fought with my father and accidentally killed him. She had to raise me and couldn't go to jail, so she packed a few clothes, took all the cash in the house, and, carrying me, fled all the way to the border. We crossed the barbed wire and entered Mexico. There, she met my adoptive father, and the two of them got married."

Xue Lu listened and commented, "That's quite a legendary experience."

“My adoptive father was very good to us. I can say that I felt an unprecedented fatherly love from him, and my mother must have been very happy too,” Saxon continued. “When I was thirteen, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. By the time it was discovered, it had spread throughout her body, and she passed away within six months. After that, I lived with my adoptive father. I didn’t really know him. I only knew that his job required him to travel frequently, and when he was away, he would have his employees guard our house. Until I was sixteen, I was playing in the hills behind my house when I witnessed him ordering two uncles I knew to hang two people. I was terrified and ran away, but he found me and brought me back. He no longer had that facade of a loving father; he revealed his true colors. I knew his secret, and I only had two choices: death or to follow him. I chose the latter.”

"So you inherited the gang?"

Saxon shook his head: "It wasn't inheritance, it was taking over. I took over the gang. When I was twenty-one, I blew his head out with the revolver he gave me."

"Why?"

“Once evil thoughts arise, there’s no turning back.” Saxon still laughed: “The more people I killed, the more money I got, and the more greedy I became. I started to crave power. I’m clearly more talented, more ambitious, and more ruthless than him, so why should I be subordinate to him?”

Xue Lu felt a sense of irony: "You really are something, so wicked yet so self-righteous."

Saxon smirked: "What's there to hide? It's the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. But after all, I grew from a human into a beast. Meeting Qing awakened some of my human side."

Xue Lu looked at Saxon with a sharp gaze.

Saxon didn't take Xue Lu's hostility seriously: "When I see her, it's like seeing my sixteen-year-old self."

“Your story is not bad.” Lawyer Xue lost his patience: “But if you called me here to hear you talk about your love for my wife, I’m sorry, I cannot accept that.”

Xue Lu stood up to leave, and Saxon also stood up to see him off.

“I’ll be on a plane to Mexico in five hours. China is great, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back,” Saxon said. “I’ve already had those four paintings packed up and placed at the hotel reception. Whether you keep them or burn them is up to you and Qing.”

Xue Lu remained silent, and as he reached the door, he was stopped by Saxon.

"Oh, by the way," Saxon said casually, "that gossip writer, her name is... yes, her name is Chen Fangqi, I've already had someone take care of her. Tell Qing, this is my farewell gift to her."

Lawyer Xue turned around: "Deal with it?"

“Don’t worry, she’s not dead.” Saxon laughed again, this time with a sinister and terrifying laugh: “There are many ways to live that are more painful than death in this world. You just need to know that she won’t bother you anymore.”

...

When Song Qinggui woke up again, it was nine o'clock in the morning. Her stomach was growling with hunger. On the dining table in the living room, there were already sandwiches made by Xue Lu, as well as a note.

"Microwave it for a bit, don't eat it cold. I'm going to the office to take care of something, see you tonight."

Song Qinggui ate while spacing out; she still felt very sleepy.

She slept on and off for almost a day and a night, but she was still so sleepy... Moreover, her heart felt uncomfortable, as if it was pounding and her heart rhythm was not very regular.

Never mind, I'll go to the hospital after I finish eating... When you're middle-aged, minor illnesses can easily turn into major ones, and she still wants to live a little longer.

Just then, the phone rang. Song Qinggui picked up the phone and saw a name that was quite unexpected.

"Hello? Miss Xu?"

Xu Xiaofeng: "Are you free? I'd like to talk to you about work."

"Work?"

Xu Xiaofeng: "I've started my own studio. Are you interested in being my executive public relations manager? The salary might not be as high as what Xue's offers, but I promise you won't be shortchanged."

Song Qinggui thought for a moment and said, "Where are you? I'll come find you."

[Author's Note]

Haha, family, I overestimated my typing speed.

It probably won't be finished until tomorrow, or at the latest the day after! I swear to God!