She tilted her head, with an innocent smile on her lips that Qin Ying had never seen before, and her voice became gentle:

"We used to be so happy... growing up together, studying together, hanging out together. On rainy days, he would hold his only umbrella over me, with half his shoulder soaked. I was fifteen, he was eighteen..."

Qin Ying subconsciously took a half step back, and her back hit the rough wall heavily.

Gu Ping'an's expression instantly went from gentle to frantic. She suddenly ripped open the pearl necklace at her collar, and the round beads clattered to the ground.

"It's all because of you! Because of that ridiculous engagement between you two."

The incandescent light above her head flickered, and Gu Ping'an's eyes became more and more crazy, casting a strange shadow on her twisted face:

"Sun Hongmei, Qin Meihua... they're all pawns! I did all this just to make Han Zhou see clearly that you're not worthy of him!"

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly covered her face with her hands, tears and blood dripping from between her fingers.

"I don't want to kill anyone, I really don't want to..."

The sobbing stopped abruptly, and she raised her head suddenly, with thick hatred surging in her eyes, and her voice suddenly became sharp:

"But that bastard Jin Wen Ge! He knew I disguised myself and went to the exam hall to frame you, and he actually used this to blackmail me!"

Her eyes were suddenly filled with fear, as if she had returned to the place that had originally haunted her nightmares.

In the reed marshes on the outskirts of the city, Jin Wenge pressed her against a damp tree trunk, his leather shoes crushing the reeds. The damp, musty smell, mixed with the scent of alcohol, approached with a grin. She lay on the ground in despair, her panting mixed with the chirping of cicadas piercing her eardrums:

"Who the hell do you think Fu Hanzhou is? Why wouldn't he let you be with me? Now if you just obey me, I'll keep my words to myself..."

After that day, there was always dirt in the cracks of Gu Ping'an's nails that could not be washed off.

"He wants me to accompany him, like a dog!"

She suddenly ripped open her collar, and the hideous scar on her collarbone glowed pale in the cold light.

"I endured it again and again until he said he wanted to marry me and if I didn't agree, he would make everything public..."

She smiled strangely, and the look in her eyes when she looked at Qin Ying made people feel particularly gloomy:

"Just so happens, your good sister Qin Meihua said that you were featured in Zhao Shunxi's wall newspaper, and I felt that my chance to marry Han Zhou had come..."

She shook the iron bars frantically, and the sound of the chains colliding was so loud that it hurt her eardrums:

"He didn't even let me go in such a public place like the rehearsal room. He simply didn't treat me like a human being... So, he deserves to die! Hahahaha..."

Her eyes became even more confused and crazy:

"When I saw him drink up the sleeping pills in the teacup in one gulp, I knew I was free..."

She suddenly approached the iron railings, handcuffed her wrists, and her eyes were like poisoned knives:

"He crawled out of the room covered in flames, and I finally saw clearly - I saw the fear in his eyes, exactly the same as when I looked in the mirror every day!"

The lightning outside the window illuminated Gu Ping'an's distorted face.

She suddenly became quiet, slumped to the ground, and stared at the ceiling with empty eyes:

"Qin Qinghua too!"

Suddenly, she let out a roar like a broken gong, the blood vessels in her neck throbbing, and she twisted madly like an earthworm trapped under her skin:

"After the bombing was exposed, he knew so many secrets. How could I not kill him to silence him?"

Before she finished speaking, she giggled strangely again, and her laughter was mixed with the crisp sound of handcuffs hitting the iron chair, echoing in the enclosed space.

The smile on her face suddenly froze. She suddenly lowered her body and moved closer to the iron bars. The fine lines at the corners of her eyes oozed blood.

"The way he begged for mercy was hilarious—his face was covered in snot and tears, and he even tried to strip me of my clothes before he died."

When she mentioned "stripping clothes", she suddenly tugged at her collar with her handcuffed hands, her tone sinister:

"All men are lustful. If he weren't so mean, he wouldn't die so quickly!"

She rushed forward suddenly, her eyes fixed on Qin Ying with a venomous, ruthless look.

"But he's right—you do deserve to die!"

Qin Ying was slightly shocked, and a hint of surprise and complexity flashed in her eyes. She pursed her lips tightly, and her hands clenched into fists unconsciously. She seemed to want to refute, but she held back and just looked at Gu Ping'an coldly, with a hint of disdain and pity in her eyes.

The shadow cast by the interrogation room window swayed violently on Gu Ping'an's face.

The wind from outside leaked in through the gap of the half-open window, lifting the loose hair at her temples.

Memories wrapped around her neck like a poisonous snake, and her pupils suddenly contracted, as if she saw the night wind from the reeds penetrating the iron bars.

Qin Qinghua's twitching fingers emerged in his memory, his nails covered in mud and grass dug deep into the soft soil, and the sobs that escaped from his throat mixed with blood foam were crushed into powder by the draft.

The moonlight penetrated the layers of reeds and condensed into cold frost in Qin Qinghua's wide-open pupils, reflecting his own distorted face, making him look like an evil ghost floating out of a deep pool.

At that time, what she felt was not fear, but a bloodthirsty relief.

"They all said I was crazy..."

She suddenly curled up like a shrimp, gripping the handcuffs tightly with both hands, leaving red marks on her wrists.

"But I just want Han Zhou to look back at me..."

The last few words turned into sobs and dissipated in the humid air. She slammed her forehead against the iron bars, making a dull thud.

"But he never sees me! Never me!"

Qin Ying suddenly stepped forward, and her hand gripping the iron railing suddenly exerted force, and the cold metal stung her palm.

She looked at the bulging veins on Gu Ping'an's neck, which trembled violently with his roar, and suddenly remembered the photo of Qin Qinghua's body in the file:

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!