cage

"Ugh..."

With too many serious injuries to his body, Fang Chengyin moved slightly and began to cough up blood intermittently.

Jiang Zhi was on edge. "I'm not afraid, Cheng Yin isn't afraid."

He lowered his head and kissed Fang Chengyin's lips. The cherry blossom pattern on the back of his neck continued to glow. At the same time, the blurry flesh on Fang Chengyin's body began to heal.

When he was separated from me, his face was already pale, and the cherry blossom pattern had faded. He smiled with difficulty: "Chengyin, does it still hurt?"

Fang Chengyin leaned over and hugged his neck, but for some reason, the vengeful ghosts seemed to break free of their restraints and began to pounce on Jiang Zhi.

"Jiang Zhi?!"

Fang Chengyin frantically hugged the person tightly and raised his hand to push away the monsters, but the ghosts seemed to be controlled by something, their empty eyes only seeing Jiang Zhi's exposed skin.

"Get out! Get out!!"

The vengeful ghost seemed unable to see him and began to gnaw at Jiang Zhi. The bites split open and bled as if torn apart by a ferocious beast.

"Jiang Zhi, Jiang Zhi!"

Fang Chengyin cupped his face in his hands and found that Jiang Zhi had lost all strength and was enduring the torment. "Jiang Zhi, Jiang Zhi..."

He was powerless, unable to do anything, unable to scare away those monsters, all he could do was hold them in his arms and protect them.

Tears dripped onto the back of my hand, mingled with the blood, and fell from my fingertips onto the cherry blossom pattern on the back of my neck.

"Well!"

"Ahhh!"

"Run! Run!"

The wailing of a hundred ghosts pierced Fang Chengyin's ears with sharp voices. Fang Chengyin looked up in confusion at the cherry blossom pattern that was glowing with blood. After looking up, he saw the fierce ghosts crawling out in pain, but they could not get out no matter what they did.

The next second, they were all drawn in, and Fang Chengyin suddenly hugged Jiang Zhi. There was no pain; instead, he saw countless black, fluffy substances enter the cherry blossom pattern.

Soon the bloodstains disappeared, and the cherry blossom pattern cracked open like a mark.

"It's alright..." Jiang Zhi said sullenly.

Fang Chengyin looked at him from behind and saw Jiang Zhi's smug smile. "Thank you for saving me, Chengyin."

Fang Chengyin pushed him away, stood up, and almost fell back down. Although the wound had healed, the excessive pain could not disappear in a short time.

Jiang Zhi supported his waist and casually pulled him into his arms, nuzzling Fang Chengyin's neck like a puppy: "The dog can't walk anymore, Chengyin will carry you."

Having witnessed this person's shamelessness, Fang Chengyin knew that this leech couldn't be removed anytime soon. He glanced at the bitten skin and, in the end, couldn't bear it, so he carried the person on his back.

As I stepped out of the canopy of trees, I heard the distant sound of police sirens and the faint red and blue lights.

Fang Chengyin was somewhat dazed and asked out of the blue, "You can heal my injuries, but what about your own?"

Jiang Zhi was in excruciating pain, his eyes darting back and forth, "Mine... needs, needs to be loved every day, every day..."

"Why did you save me? The Fang Chengyin of five years ago is gone. I am not him now."

Jiang Zhirou smiled: "Yes, you should have died five years ago... Now, now every wound is crying out in pain for me..."

Fang Cheng paused, tears streaming down his face.

The person on the side of her neck was breathing very weakly and continued, "When you leave, it always hurts so much, Chengyin, Chengyin... Don't leave me again, don't sneak away when I close my eyes..."

Jiang Zhi spoke haltingly, incoherently and repeatedly mentioning their past and the five-year gap in their waiting.

Fang Chengyin tilted his head and nuzzled his cheek, then turned and walked into the shadows, shaking off the sirens.

·

Standing at the entrance of Jiangshang Hospital, Fang Chengyin swiped Jiang Zhi's phone and saw a familiar number—Qi Xi's.

"Can you help me?"

He hung up the phone and carried Jiang Zhi into the hospital.

Qi Xi arrived quickly and said, "When you two are dating, how come you always end up in the hospital with each other's relationship?"

Fang Chengyin ignored his teasing and said sincerely, "Please."

While Jiang Zhi was in the emergency room, Fang Chengyin sat in the long corridor. The deserted corridor was occasionally filled with one or two evil spirits.

"You're the one who ruined him!"

"You ruined him. He was so happy five years ago, but he's in so much pain because he had to save you!"

"Come with us and atone for your sins!"

"Come with us, and set him free!"

The evil spirit kept urging him on.

Fang Chengyin looked up, his eyes cold, then grinned, "I'm not leaving."

This Fang Chengyin, whom they had been haunting, was different. The evil spirits were so frightened by him that they scattered, shouting, "He's gone mad! He's gone mad! Jiang Zhi's lover has gone mad!"

"Run! Run!"

"Jiang Zhi will settle accounts later!"

The evil spirits fled, and the corridor returned to peace.

Fang Chengyin stopped laughing and looked at his hands, which were now completely healed. He didn't know what Jiang Zhi had done to him, but in the end, it didn't turn out well.

He can hear the evil spirits talking now, which he couldn't do before.

Fang Chengyin's phone vibrated. He picked it up and saw that it was Song Zixin.

He cried after calling out, "Mom!"

"Yinyin, don't cry. I'm sorry I can't cook with you anymore. I'm so sorry." The voice on the other end was gentle. "Mom doesn't regret anything. I don't regret anything I've done these past few years... Take good care of yourself from now on."

Before Fang Chengyin could say anything, Song Zixin had already put down her phone, and her voice, now fading into the distance, said, "Hello, I am Song Zixin. I have come to turn myself in."

Fang Chengyin covered his phone, squatted down on the ground, and curled up into a ball.

It was just an ordinary night, yet he lost everything.

He wanted to see Song Zixin, but he knew the media had already swarmed there, and going there would only cause her trouble.

For so many years, his paparazzi-like sense of smell has kept him constantly on guard, making sure he never appears near her.

Not being able to be by her side was the best way to protect his mother. He had always been this strict with himself, even when he missed her terribly.

Everyone has their own suffering, and they have to bear it all themselves...

But if that happens, he won't have a mother anymore, he'll never have a mother again...

After an unknown amount of time, a pair of hands were placed on my shoulders.

Fang Chengyin looked up and saw Jiang Zhi. His wounds had been treated, but he still looked very unwell.

"Are you hungry? I'll go buy something to eat." Fang Chengyin said and was about to get up, but his legs went numb from squatting for so long, and his whole body was swaying.

His waist was grabbed and he was lifted up. Fang Chengyin was so frightened that he hugged his neck.

The next second she came to her senses: "I can do it myself..."

Jiang Zhi smiled and said, "But it's faster for me to carry you."

He couldn't bear such a fascinated gaze. Fang Chengyin withdrew his hand, and when his fingertips brushed against his chest, he could feel the intense beating there.

"Jiang Zhi, you can forget me. If I could forget you five years ago, then you can forget me five years later."

Jiang Zhi stopped and remained silent for a while before placing the person on the hospital bed. He then leaned close to the person, took his hand, and placed it on the cherry blossom pattern on the back of his neck.

"You think this is magic?" Jiang Zhi chuckled, his breath brushing against the side of his neck. "Actually, it's the cause and effect that started when you stole a cherry blossom branch and stuffed it into my desk back in your first year of high school. Cheng Yin, I don't want to forget you."

He suddenly bit his tongue, smearing the blood onto Fang Chengyin's trembling eyelids: "Did you taste it? The rusty taste of the pain I've inflicted on you over the past five years."

Fang Chengyin clenched his hands, then released them: "I will not be with you."

Jiang Zhi pinched his chin and pecked the corner of his lips: "I've said it before, I will keep pursuing you until you like me. Fang Chengyin, I'm not so bad that I can't catch your eye, am I?"

Finally, she pressed her forehead against Fang Chengyin's shoulder, letting out a broken breath: "Fang Chengyin, you've been my accomplice for a long time."

·

Fang Chengyin didn't push him away, but just stared blankly at the dark night outside the window. It was autumn, and the leaves always liked to sway.

"Don't always live like a tragic drama at such a young age!" Qi Xi walked in, complaining like an old man.

He's been working overtime for three days straight, so it's understandable that he's a bit irritable.

Fang Chengyin wasn't used to being overly affectionate with Jiang Zhi in front of outsiders, so he pushed him away. Jiang Zhi just turned his head to glance at Qi Xi, and then continued to pester Fang Chengyin like a mangy dog.

Qi Xi couldn't bear to watch any longer and said impatiently, "If you don't want the antidote, I'll take my leave now."

Jiang Zhi abruptly released Fang Chengyin and asked seriously, "The antidote has come out?"

"Oh!" Qi Xi really hates young couples. "Soft's antidote, take it orally for three consecutive days, three times a day, before each meal."

Qi Xi finished quickly, put down the medicine and instructions, and left without worrying about it.

Jiang Zhi quickly picked up the instructions and read them carefully. Then he unscrewed the small glass bottle that looked like an oral syrup and handed it to Fang Chengyin.

Fang Chengyin didn't move, but instead asked him, "What exactly happened to me after your father took me away?"

Although he had seen many things from his memories before, he did not see what happened after Jiang Yuecang took him away.

Jiang Zhi put down his hand and rubbed the medicine bottle with his fingertips: "My father and aunt both don't want us to be together. So the poison you've been given was given to you by someone at my father's behest."

"He's using me to control you?" Fang Chengyin continued, seemingly having grasped something.

Jiang Zhi laughed: "No."

Without any persuasiveness, Fang Chengyin took the medicine bottle and drank it down in one gulp. "Jiang Zhi, we're even."

Fang Cheng stood up and said, "Don't follow me."

Jiang Zhi pulled him back, switching to a different persona, just like when he was controlling a demon: "Fang Chengyin, don't force me!"

This was the last thing Fang Chengyin saw about Jiang Zhi before he lost consciousness. When he woke up again, he was in an unfamiliar environment.

He turned his head to look at the bedside table, where there was a photo of him and Jiang Zhi. They were both wearing Yanyang No.1 Middle School uniforms and sitting on a stone bench on the back hill of Yanyang No.1 Middle School, which was rarely visited by people, surrounded by lush greenery.

Jiang Zhi had many injuries on his face, and I was using a band-aid to treat his wounds.

Fang Chengyin walked out of the bedroom. There was no one else in the house. The house was decorated in a cool color scheme, as if no one had lived there for many years.

There was a wall in the living room that was a few square meters in size, with many photos on it, mostly pictures of him and Jiang Zhi playing together. Jiang Zhi was smiling brightly, with pure and happy smiles, but there were injuries on Jiang Zhi's face or arms.

The refrigerator was crammed full of food, but there was no sign of cooking on the countertop.

He turned on the TV, and every channel was broadcasting content related to Song Zixin.

Zhang Weike was arrested last night, and Song Zixin is also under investigation. Due to the seriousness of the case, no one except her lawyer is allowed to contact her.

Most surprisingly, "Singing" was quietly released in the early hours of the morning.

Many media professionals watched it immediately out of a desire to criticize, but were stunned after watching it; the plot took everyone by surprise.

The screenwriter made extensive changes to the original work, removing all misogynistic elements and refining the character played by Song Zixin.

She didn't follow the old path of "Slipping Down," but truly portrayed the predicament and struggles of women.

Viewers have expressed a different opinion about Song Zixin, and at the same time, Song Zixin's speech for the premiere of "Singing" has gone viral online.

"You deceived me out of my uterus, my youth, my labor, and the courage to look to the future! I've become a wife of a gay man who can only walk with her head down. And you, how dare you shamelessly say that you only cheated? Before this society is so equal that it doesn't distinguish between men and women, why can't the terms 'wife of a gay man' and 'cheating' be discussed in detail? One day, homosexual marriage fraud will not be a false legal concept."

Public opinion began to reverse at this point, and they began to firmly support Song Zixin, a national treasure-level actress.

Even though she was already imprisoned.

"My darling, from now on, Mommy is free."

These are the words Song Zixin said at the end of the video, gentle and loving.

·

“Auntie.” Jiang Zhi sat in the interview room, looking at Song Zixin, who looked tired but was full of energy.

Song Zixin asked, "How is Yinyin?"

“Auntie, I am not the same person I was five years ago, nor is Chengyin. In the five years since you abandoned him, he has been able to take care of himself.”

A look of dejection crossed Song Zixin's face, but he didn't want outsiders to deny their mother-son relationship: "I had no choice—"

"Was it out of necessity? When you were forced to leave the industry, you could have directly announced his existence, but you didn't. In the following twenty years, you didn't have a single opportunity. You blamed him because he ruined your acting career."

"No!" Song Zixin exclaimed, "No..."

She cried because she couldn't deny what Jiang Zhi had said; for the sake of her career, she had considered giving up her child more than once.

The only reason she didn't give up was because the child always looked at her pitifully with his big eyes.

“Chengyin is an adult and has the right to choose. If you still love him, you shouldn’t continue to be so selfish.”

"It's precisely because I love him that I can't accept you two being together! Isn't Fang Bokang's example enough?"

"Fang Bokang? You actually compare your son to scum like Fang Bokang?" Jiang Zhi sneered. "You've met Zhang Weike, haven't you? He had so many relationships with Fang Bokang and he's perfectly fine, so how did he get HIV?"

Song Zixin was taken aback.

Jiang Zhi continued, "He was already having an affair while you were still pregnant."

"What did you say? What did you say?!"

Song Zixin shouted out in a fit of rage.

When she was told she was pregnant, she was facing online backlash because of the airing of "Slippery," and she was experiencing serious physical and mental problems.

Fang Bokang wasn't by her side during that time; he just came back on time every Friday. She didn't notice anything, nothing happened.

Because of her serious psychological problems, the doctor once suggested that she have an abortion. She went to talk to Fang Bokang about it, and Fang Bokang advised her not to act impulsively.

As a professional in psychological medicine, Fang Bokang pulled her out of the abyss of depression, but at the same time, he instilled in her many ideas of housewife.

She only realized now, belatedly, that many things had been foreshadowed all along.

Jiang Zhi stood up: "Cheng Yin will take good care of herself, so you don't need to worry."

Song Zixin stood up, clenching her fingers tightly: "Please don't touch him, please..."

The meeting time had arrived, and the investigators walked in.

Jiang Zhi didn't agree to anything, but simply bowed deeply to her.

The iron gate slammed shut, cutting off the two men's conversation.