The man's bedroom door was unlocked, and Qi Chen opened it directly.
The scene that greeted him startled him; everything that could be thrown away was scattered on the ground.
His sister-in-law, who had been clubbing with him last night, was curled up in bed with her head buried in her knees. All that could be heard was her sobbing; her expression was hidden.
As she moved, there was a faint sound of chains rattling.
Meanwhile, his usually calm, composed, and gentle older brother sat on the edge of the bed with his back to the girl, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. He looked up when he heard the noise.
As the white smoke dissipated, Qi Chen saw that the man's pale forehead was covered in a red mark, as if something had hit it.
He gasped, his pupils dilating as if in an earthquake.
No way?
Could it be that my sister-in-law smashed this with something?
Before he could even react, a deep, cold voice reached his ears, "Have you seen enough?"
"Brother," Qi Chen tried to step forward, "about last night..."
The latter's single glance froze him in place.
Qi Shen said expressionlessly, "Get out."
The three words carried a chilling, biting storm, reflecting the man's deep, dark eyes. The instinct for survival made Qi Chen subconsciously shut his mouth.
Before leaving, he glanced inside again and noticed a gold chain on the girl's fair ankle.
-
Even though it was daytime, the deep, silent bedroom seemed shrouded in an invisible and intangible darkness.
The closest distance, the furthest hearts.
Neither of them spoke again after the argument.
Qi Shen received a phone call midway through the journey from his old residence in Beijing. He told the person on the other end that he wouldn't be going back.
Fang Zhiye recovered from his initial excitement and looked at the things she had scattered on the ground, feeling a sense of loss.
With a flick of her ankle, the gold chain connecting the other end to the bed frame jingled. Her eyes reddened as she looked at the man's lonely back, and she said in a low, hoarse voice, "When do you plan to let me go? I will definitely go to the National Theater this time."
Qi Shen tilted his head back, a faint smile curving his thin lips. Without turning around, he said in a calm tone, "Now you don't even want to call me 'brother' anymore, is that it?"
Fang Zhi's eyes flickered, and he pursed his lips, remaining silent.
Qi Shen didn't seem to care about her answer.
He slowly stood up, turned to look at the girl he was arguing with, and said to himself, "Zhizhi, I'll give you time to think it over. Come back to the old house with me next month to finalize the engagement. We'll get married after you graduate."
He didn't say when he would release her.
He seemed to be immersed in his own world, and it became impossible to tell whether he was insane or calm.
......
It was during my annual leave that I discovered I was locked in my bedroom.
We share the same bedroom, so we see each other all the time.
Qi Shen personally served her three meals a day. When she stubbornly refused to eat, Qi Shen would forcefully feed her. Apart from their constant intimacy day and night, they barely communicated.
Most of the time, he would talk, and she would close her eyes and not look at him.
As for Fang Zhi's most frequent question, it was always the first thing she asked the man when he was going to let her go, and all she got in return was Qi Shen's endless silence.
-
Lin Yisheng only learned from her husband a few days later that Fang Zhi had been imprisoned.
She found it hard to believe that in this century, someone would trap a person in such a way.
She wanted Cheng Shiyan to take her into the Southern Palace, but this time Qi Shen was determined to cut off all of Fang Zhi's social interactions.
Even when his brother intervened, the man refused to budge.
Furthermore, the villa where Qi Shen and Fang Zhi lived was now heavily guarded, making it impossible for her to sneak in. With all these methods failing, her only recourse was to contact Qi Shen, the source of the problem, and negotiate properly.
-
The night was already half over, and after the intense lovemaking, I realized I had no strength left to drift off to sleep.
The cool moonlight streamed through the window and fell on the girl's tired, pale face. Qi Shen gazed at her with focused, infatuated eyes.
In less than two weeks, she went on a hunger strike, stared blankly into space without speaking, and refused to sleep—doing everything that was bad for her health. He could no longer tell whether she was taking revenge on herself or on him.
His little girl was like a flower about to wither, her vitality seemingly slipping away at an accelerated rate.
"Do you really want to leave your brother that badly?"
A man's voice asked a question in the air, so softly it seemed to dissipate with a gust of wind.
Realizing that she was willing to sacrifice her health to leave him, Qi Shen felt as if a needle had pierced his heart. The sharp pain gradually spread throughout his body, from initially making him breathless to eventually turning into numbness.
Is he really that unworthy of her staying?
In the dim light, the man's usually rational and profound eyes were filled with endless confusion and pain. He didn't want to let go, but could he watch her continue like this...?
Qi Shen's fingertips trembled slightly.
After closing his eyes and remaining silent for a long time, the man took out his phone and agreed to Lin Yisheng's request to meet with him.
The next day, he went to Lin Yisheng and Cheng Shiyan's house alone, and they talked for a long time in the study.
After the conversation ended, Lin Yisheng gave him some private space, and the woman left the study and closed the door.
The quiet study, set against the backdrop of the utterly desolate man, resembled an empty, desolate grave.
Qi Shen looked around.
Besides the man's belongings, there are also the woman's personal items here. Mirrors and lipsticks on the bookshelf all reflect the love between the man and woman and the atmosphere of home.
When he walked up to her, her eyes were filled with indifference and hatred towards him. Was this really what he wanted?
He looked down at his hands.
"Imprisonment is not love; love is tenderness and compassion. When you see her shed tears, you feel frustrated and heartbroken..."
"How do you know she doesn't have feelings for you? Sometimes people are like sand in your hand; the tighter you hold on, the faster it slips away. You might as well let her go. If you can eventually find happiness with her, that will be true happiness..."
Lin Yisheng's words were still echoing in my ears.
Qi Shen could no longer distinguish his own feelings. After he let go, would his little girl come back to him?
He was sensible but incompetent before, so he was the one left behind in China; now that he has the ability, the result is still the same.
The man stayed in Cheng Shiyan's study from dawn till dusk, finally leaving covered in smoke.
His expression was desolate. As he passed by Cheng Shiyan and Lin Yisheng, he glanced at them and left three words that were both light and heavy: "I let go."
Watching the man's departing figure, Lin Yisheng murmured softly, "Has he come to his senses?"
"So what if you can't figure it out?" Cheng Shiyan's eyes were deep, seeing even more deeply than Lin Yisheng's. "He's already made his decision, hasn't he?"
As a man, he understood Qi Shen's thoughts better and more thoroughly. Could Shenzi really watch as his relationship with his beloved girl, which had been intertwined for over a decade, deteriorated to the point of becoming like strangers and enemies?
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