Chapter 173 If anyone's to blame, it's Shi Yuanxing for loving you.

Qin Shuzhi's consciousness swelled, and he slowly opened his eyes, only to see his hands bound by hemp rope.

She suddenly regained her senses and realized that she was on a ship, and that she was lying on a corner of the deck with her hands tied.

Qin Shuzhi instinctively struggled, only to find her hands were tightly bound.

"woke up?"

Qin Shuzhi looked up at the sound and saw Qiao Wenbo walking out of the cabin.

"Qiao Wenbo, you broke your promise."

She struggled to stand up, but found her legs and feet numb and weak.

My body hasn't recovered from the electric shock.

Qiao Wenbo walked up to her and stood in front of her, looking down at her. "No, I will absolutely keep my promise regarding the deal. I left the original research manuscript with them, and I believe it has already been delivered to Uncle Shi by now."

The "they" he referred to were Tian Zhiyi and his group who secretly followed and protected Qin Shuzhi.

Qin Shuzhi's heart sank, and she looked at him warily, "Then what do you mean by kidnapping me?"

Qiao Wenbo slowly squatted down to meet her gaze, and cruelly curled his lips, "Naturally, it's to settle accounts with Shi Yuanxing."

Settling accounts?

Qin Shuzhi frowned at him, "Yuanxing has never done anything to wrong you."

"Doesn't he have it?"

Qiao Wenbo suddenly stood up again, angrily saying, "He was doing well abroad, why did he come back? And even if he did come back, why did he target me? Why did he drive me to such a dead end?"

Qiao Wenbo's eyes were filled with rage as he pounded his chest, "It's all because of him that I've ended up like this."

Qin Shuzhi thought to himself: Your fate is the result of your own actions, the result of your own lawbreaking and disorderly conduct. What does it have to do with anyone else?

But seeing his somewhat manic state, Qin Shuzhi dared not provoke him with words, lest she cause herself unnecessary harm.

Moreover, there's no point in arguing now; what she needs to do is find a way to save herself.

So she quietly observed her surroundings and found that the ship was docked at the pier and had not sailed out, but there were no other ships docked around.

The dim light after sunset gave the place an eerie, quiet chill.

"Stop looking, no one will come to save you."

Qin Shuzhi, whose thoughts had been read, looked up at him and asked, "What exactly do you want?"

Qiao Wenbo squatted down again and gave her a sinister smile. "Aren't you Shi Yuanxing's darling? He ruined my reputation and left me with nothing. I want him to lose his love. Isn't that fair?"

Seeing the madness and ruthlessness in his eyes, Qin Shuzhi was horrified.

Oh no, is he planning to murder me?

"Qiao Wenbo, calm down."

Qin Shuzhi tried to remain calm and reason with him, "The crimes you committed before could at most result in imprisonment, and you can start over after you get out. But if you kill someone, you'll be sending yourself to your doom."

"Hahaha……"

Qiao Wenbo laughed loudly, looking up at the sky.

"Go to jail?"

He raised his hand to look at his watch. "Once I've dealt with you, I'll be flying far away. By the time I retrieve your body from the sea, I'll already be in a foreign country."

Seeing the shock in Qin Shuzhi's eyes, he sighed with sympathy and pity, "Shuzhi, don't blame me. If you have to blame someone, blame Shi Yuanxing for loving you."

"You died for him."

After Qiao Wenbo finished speaking, he grabbed Qin Shuzhi's arm and pulled her up forcefully.

Qin Shuzhi was exhausted and staggered as he was dragged to the railing.

The railings here are not very high, only reaching thigh level. When Qin Shuzhi looked down, all he could see was an endless, bottomless sea.

Her body was pushed forward, and she was so shocked that her heart almost stopped.

"Wait, wait a minute, please wait..."

She shouted.

Qiao Wenbo actually stopped, pulled her back a little, and looked at her, "Do you have any last words?"

Qin Shuzhi, now temporarily safe, gasped for breath, "No, no, I... I can't swim, I'm afraid of water..."

Qiao Wenbo was stunned for a moment, "Nonsense, do you think you can swim if I throw you in?"

"No, brother, we've never had any grudges against each other, have we? You killed someone, fine, but can't you at least let me die a little more comfortably?"

Seeing her pitiful, tearful face, Qiao Wenbo, perhaps genuinely moved by a pang of pity, actually considered it for a moment and asked her, "How do you want to die? Shall I cut your wrists and bleed you out?"

Qin Shuzhi's eyelids twitched violently in fright, and she quickly shook her head, "...I, I'm afraid of pain."

Qiao Wenbo's patience ran out. "You're not afraid of pain or water, you're afraid of dying."

Qin Shuzhi, "..."

Nonsense, life is precious, who isn't afraid of death?

If she dies like this, Yuanxing will surely suffer and feel guilty for the rest of his life.

Qin Shuzhi tried everything to reason with him, "Have some mercy and buy me some poison? At least let me leave with some dignity, okay?"

Qiao Wenbo narrowed his eyes, then his face turned angry. "You're trying to stall for time?"

Once Qin Shuzhi's scheme was exposed, her hands were bound, so she could only take advantage of his unpreparedness and kick him away with all her might before turning around and running away.

However, before she could run two steps, her hair was roughly grabbed.

Qin Shuzhi was being dragged towards the side of the boat. "You madman, let me go! Help, help me..."

She struggled and screamed, but Qiao Wenbo forcibly dragged her back to the railing.

This time, Qiao Wenbo didn't waste any words and reached out to push the person down—

"Wenbo!"

Suddenly, a shout came from behind to stop him.

Qiao Wenbo suddenly stopped moving and turned around to see Shi Qingman rushing over.

Upon seeing her, Qiao Wenbo panicked for a moment. He stopped pushing Qin Shuzhi down, but still held her tightly in his hands.

Shi Qingman frowned as she glanced at the still-shaken Qin Shuzhi. "Qiao Wenbo, what are you doing?"

Qiao Wenbo didn't answer her question, but instead asked, "How did you find this place?"

Shi Qingman gave a wry smile. "I was just trying my luck, I didn't expect you to actually be here."

The boat was bought in her and Qiao Wenbo's names. In the morning, Shi Yuanxing sent people to search all the properties under Qiao Wenbo's name but found no trace of him. She didn't know where Qiao Wenbo might be hiding, so she searched all the possible places.

This was the last place she could think of.

Unexpectedly, he really was here, and... he even brought Qin Shuzhi here by kidnapping.

Looking at the man with stubble and a sinister, obsessive expression, Shi Qingman felt like she hardly recognized him anymore.

"Qiao Wenbo, how did you become like this?"

She asked in anguish, "Why did you betray me? Why did you do those things?"

How did I become like this?

Qiao Wenbo shoved Qin Shuzhi to the ground and angrily shouted at Shi Qingman, "The person in this world who has no right to question me is you."

Shi Qingman's face turned pale instantly.

"You're saying I betrayed you?"

Qiao Wenbo laughed sadly, his eyes bloodshot as he looked at Shi Qingman. "And what about you? Where do you place me? Ten years, we've been engaged for ten years now, and all you ever care about is your career. Do you know how people outside laugh at me? They say I'm just a dog kept by your side, Miss Shi, a dog that can't even enter the Shi family's gate."

Shi Qingman's pupils contracted sharply, and her face turned even paler.

"Back then, you said the Shi Group would be ours in the future, and I even gave up the opportunity to revive the family business to work with you to run the Shi Group. But so many years have passed, and does Uncle Shi have any intention of handing the family business over to you? No! His heir is Shi Yuanxing. There's no hope of inheriting the group, and you refuse to get married. I've worked so hard for the Shi Group all these years. Even if I were a dog, I would still have put in the effort. The group makes such a lot of profit every year. What's wrong with me secretly seeking some benefits for myself and looking for another way out?"

"You always say your family has treated me well, but have I given back to the Shi family any less?" Qiao Wenbo became more and more agitated as he spoke.

"And you, Shi Qingman, didn't I give you my heart? But when all you cared about was your work, did you ever look back and even glance at my sincerity?"