Shi Weichong led Shi Jin to his suite, arranged for him to sit on the sofa in the living room, made him a cup of hot cocoa, opened two easy-to-digest snacks and placed them in front of him, then casually put on a coat, walked to the door and said, "I'll go to the kitchen to make you something to eat, you can use these to fill your stomach, I'll be back soon, I'll bring my phone, call me if you have anything."
Shi Jin smiled and nodded, stuffing snacks into his mouth while waving his hand to signal him to go quickly.
Shi Weichong was amused by his impatient look, and told him to eat slowly, closed the door and left.
The room became quiet, and the smile on Shi Jin's face slowly faded. He wiped off the snack crumbs on his hands, stood up, and walked around the room that served as both a living room and a study. He glanced at a half-written notebook on the desk, stopped and walked over, reached out and touched the handwriting on the notebook, turned to the title page, and sure enough, he saw the familiar words "Gift to Younger Brother" on it. He tightened his fingers, gently covered the notebook, and turned to Shi Wei Chong's bedroom.
He remembered that Shi Wei Chong usually put more important things in the drawer under the bedside table...
here.
He turned his foot, walked to the bedside table on the right, squatted down, touched the small lock hanging on the second drawer, and was too lazy to find the key, so he just pried it open violently and pulled the drawer open.
The things inside were exposed: several documents, a photo frame, a gun, and several boxes of bullets. These were all the contents of the drawer. Shi Jin
found what he wanted, reached out and picked up the gun, then touched a bullet and put them all in his coat pocket. He stood up to leave, and when he turned around, his eyes swept across a large photo frame facing down deep in the drawer. He paused, squatted back, and reached out to take the photo frame out.
The photo frame was a bit old and must have been there for many years. Shi Jin turned it over, and then a family photo taken on New Year's Day of a certain year appeared in front of him. In the family photo, Shi Xingrui's position was hollowed out, leaving only a few children sitting around the sofa. His heart trembled, and his eyes scanned his brothers who were still teenagers. Finally, he found himself on Shi Wei Chong's knees, smiling foolishly and holding a toy.
The old times rushed in front of him when he was off guard. He tightened his hands and carefully scanned the people in the photos. He found that except for him, the smiles on the faces of the five brothers of the Shi family were all stiff and forced. Their eyes were either dark or gloomy or empty, and they did not have the spirit of youth at all.
The house in the background of the photo was decorated warmly and festively, with New Year decorations everywhere that symbolized happiness and reunion, but the people in the photo, except for the young him, were not really happy.
Fake. Why do you have to wrong yourself to show this? Are power and money so important!
He couldn't help being angry and wanted to remove the photo frame and pull out the photo, but when he opened the cover of the photo frame, he saw another photo hidden inside. He was stunned and pulled out the photo.
A woman holding a child and smiling happily appeared. He instantly recognized that this was Xu Jie, Xu Jie when she was young. His expression became tense, thinking of all the things he had experienced in the past, he wanted to tear the photo into pieces immediately.
But he didn't do that. He suppressed the urge to tear the photo into pieces and looked at the child in Xu Jie's arms.
It was a fat and white child, probably only a few months old, smiling foolishly, and there was no trace of the future Wei Chong. His nose suddenly felt sour, as if all the strength had been drained out of his body, and he sat on the ground.
He didn't dare to imagine how Shi Weichong felt when he treasured these two photos. If... if those things hadn't happened later, Xu Jie wasn't so scheming, Shi Xingrui wasn't so twisted and ruthless, would Shi Weichong have an ordinary, happy family? Would he be able to enjoy the same kind of beauty that he enjoyed when he grew up under the knees of his adoptive parents?
He lowered his head and put the two photos together, looking at his brothers in the photos, looking at his young self and Shi Weichong as a baby, his fingers slowly tightened.
It's not because of power or money... It's just for love, the love of his father and the love of his mother. When Shi Weichong and his friends were forced by their mother to act in front of their father, the oldest Shi Weichong was only in his early teens, still just a child. In order not to anger their mother and to get close to their father, what else could they choose except to obey?
The children are innocent, and the bad ones are the adults who force and guide them to do bad things.
He slowly stood up with a blank expression and walked outside, his pace getting faster and faster.
"Jinjin, where are you going?" Xiaosi had a bad feeling and asked quickly. Shi
Jin did not answer, but walked forward with his head down. He soon left the building where Shi Wei Chong lived. He looked around and found the deepest building in the nursing home. He walked quickly - the person he was really looking for should be locked up there.
"Jinjin!" Xiaosi realized his intention and his voice unconsciously rose, "Don't be impulsive." Shi Jin
ignored it and rushed into the deepest building. He relied on his agility to avoid all the caregivers, came to the floor where the patients were, and quickly looked at the rooms one by one.
"Jinjin, please stop, please." Xiaosi was about to cry.
Shijin still didn't answer, and quickly found the wards on this floor and walked towards the next floor.
"Jinjin, don't do this..." Xiaosi's voice was filled with tears.
Shijin found that his body suddenly became heavy, he finally stopped and said in a deep voice: "Remove the buff."
"Jinjin, let's go back, baby is still waiting to see you again." Xiaosi begged.
"Remove it." Shijin repeated, "Don't force me to lock you up."
This is a threat. Even if Xiaosi never said it, Shijin could infer from the details that every time Xiaosi was locked in the small dark room, he could not pay attention to the increase in the progress bar in time, and that as long as Xiaosi's consciousness was turned off, the buff on him would be interrupted.
Xiao Si had no choice but to remove the buff from him and continue to persuade him. Shi Jin
was completely indifferent and continued to move forward. Finally, he found what he wanted in a ward in the deepest part of the inpatient department. The light was on in the ward, and looking inside from the observation window, he could see a woman in a hospital gown, sitting at the table with her head down, reading a book.
Reading? So leisurely.
Shi Jin sneered, pushed the door open rudely, strode closer in the astonished eyes of the woman, took out the gun from his pocket, touched her forehead, and opened the safety catch.
"Long time no see, Xu Jie." He smiled, full of malice.
Xu Jie slowly widened her eyes and looked at him in disbelief.
"I heard that you were really crazy?" Shi Jin knocked on her forehead with the muzzle of the gun and looked her up and down. "It seems that your old friend took good care of you. You look so old and ugly now."
After being locked up for so long and being mentally tortured by the nurses at that time, Xu Jie has long lost her former refinement and elegance. She looks more than ten years older. Her body has become bloated, her skin is pale and loose, and the long scar on her face has slightly distorted her facial features. Her eyes are cloudy and lifeless, and her hair is frizzy and gray. She looks like an old lady.
"Shi Jin." Xu Jie gritted his teeth and said, his eyes turned fierce and hateful, "It's you."
"It's me, I'm here to take your life." Shi Jin's finger touched the trigger, his eyes turned hateful, "Everyone can be forgiven, brothers, their mothers, everyone has their own difficulties, everyone has their own helplessness, some are even complete victims... They are just not worthy of being mothers, and you, you are the biggest evil!"
Xu Jie tilted his neck back, not afraid of his threat at all, and cursed: "You damn bastard. You don't dare to do it, Wei Chong will not allow it."
"Bastard? You're right, not only me, but all the children in the Shi family are bastards." Shi Jin's finger touching the trigger slowly pressed down, his eyes almost bleeding with hatred, "We would rather be without parents and be bastards born and raised than have a father like Shi Xingrui and a mother like you."
The sound of running came from the corridor outside. Xu Jie smiled and said, "You are wrong, my son needs me, he is here to protect me."
"Really?" Shi Jin also smiled and pressed the trigger hard, "It's a pity that eldest brother will no longer be your son in the future, he is just my brother."
Seeing that he was really going to do it, Xu Jie finally panicked, and quickly raised her hand to push his arm, saying, "No, you can't--"
Bang.
Those years of torture by darkness, so many days of waiting to die in agony, the hatred and unwillingness that accumulated day by day in the heart, seemed to be shot out with this shot.
Puff.
The heart seemed to have a hole in it, and the hidden and swelling malice inside poured out, as if to drain out the soul.
"No——!" Xiaosi screamed.
Shi Weichong rushed into the ward with sweat on his head, watching Shi Jin retract the gun, and then Xu Jie's body leaned back. His mind was confused, and he almost fell to the ground, saying: "Xiao Jin, what did you do..."
"She's dead..." Shi Jin turned to look at him, threw the gun aside, "...in my heart. Big brother, I have revenged."
Clank.
Xu Jie fell to the ground with the chair overturned. She covered her forehead and gasped for breath. Her body trembled uncontrollably. She was obviously frightened.
Shi Weichong was stunned for a moment, then he quickly passed Shi Jin and rushed towards Xu Jie. He helped her up from the ground, looked at Shi Jin, and said, "Xiao Jin, you... do you still hate me?"
"I don't hate you." Shi Jin put his hands in his pockets, turned his head to look at him, glanced at Xu Jie who was holding him tightly and looking at him with hatred, pulled the corner of his mouth, and said, "Brother, Xu Jie is not crazy at all. She is lying to you. She was just calling me a bastard."
Xu Jie's expression changed and he lowered his head.
Shi Weichong was stunned again, then turned his head abruptly to look at Xu Jie.
Xu Jie hurriedly pretended to be crazy, trembling and talking nonsense.
Shi Weichong frowned, and his expression slowly hardened - the look in Xu Jie's eyes just now did not look crazy...
"I know you want to stay here, partly because you want to take care of Xu Jie. She is so pitiful, crazy and miserable..." Shi Jin retracted his gaze and clenched his fists in his pockets, "But brother, she is ruining the rest of your life. No, she may be trying to pull you back together and let you deal with me... I'm too tired and don't want to be so tired anymore. I have just taken revenge, so I don't hate you anymore. I forgive you, brother, you are free." After that, he walked out.
Shi Weichong's heart tightened, and he quickly let go of Xu Jie, stood up and tried to pull him, and said anxiously: "Xiao Jin, where are you going? I, I made you noodles..." Shi Jin
dodged his hand and said without turning his head: "Brother, take a good look at your mother's appearance, don't delay your own life for her, if you see clearly, then this year's reunion dinner... I'll wait for you." After that, he walked away quickly.
Shi Weichong wanted to chase him and called: "Xiao Jin, Xiao Jin!"
"Don't leave, don't chase that bastard!" Xu Jie suddenly grabbed Shi Weichong's leg and said fiercely, "He wants to kill me! Did you see that? He wants to kill me, Weichong, he wants to kill your mother!"
Shi Weichong stopped involuntarily and looked down at her. Meeting her eyes full of hostility and murderous intent, he couldn't believe it, and his eyes gradually became desperate. He said, "Mom, it turns out you were really lying to me..."
Xu Jie's heart tightened. Thinking that she had been seen through, she simply continued to sell herself miserably. She said, "I just wanted to be close to you. You didn't want to come to see me at first...Wei Chong, I did it to save my life. Shi Jin is so bad. He locked us up, disfigured my face, sent people to torture me, forced you to hand over Ruixing, and now he wants to kill me! Wei Chong, he wants to kill me! Did you see what he looked like just now? You are my son, you have to help me get revenge, help me kill that bastard!"
She called him a bastard all the time, and she didn't realize her own problems at all.
Shi Wei Chong shook his head, looking at the unreasonable, twisted and strange woman in front of him. The last bit of hope in his eyes was finally extinguished. He bent down and pulled her hand away, saying, "No more."
"What?" Xu Jie looked up at him.
"Before you repent, I am no longer your son. You... take care of yourself." Shi Wei Chong suppressed his emotions, turned his head away from her, walked to the side, picked up the gun on the ground, and walked out.
Xu Jie was stunned, then went crazy, screaming: "No! You are not allowed to leave! Wei Chong, you are my son, you have to listen--"
Bang!
The door of the ward was closed and locked. Xu Jie stopped calling out, collapsed on the ground, recalling everything that had just happened, couldn't help but scream and pull his hair, saying frantically: "No! It's not like that! Wei Chong, you've obviously turned to me again... Shi Jin, you ruined everything! You devil! I'm going to kill you!"
...
Shi Jin came to the seaside behind the mountain of the sanatorium, stood on the edge of the cliff surrounded by the fence, took out his clenched hands from his pocket, and slowly opened his palms.
A bullet lay quietly in his palm, which was the bullet he was going to shoot into Xu Jie's head.
"Go ahead." Xiao Si stammered to him, and said, "The progress bar starts to drop..."
"I know." Shi Jin replied, looked at the bullet for a few seconds, suddenly took two steps back, raised his hand, and threw the bullet hard into the sea.
The cliff was quite high, and Shi Jin could not hear the sound of bullets falling into the sea. He looked at the gently surging sea and said, "Xiao Si, I won."
Xiao Si: "Jin Jin..."
"I won." He looked down at the ring on his finger, his eyes calmed down a little, "My adoptive parents and Lian Jun like me this way... I won, everything is over."
Xiao Si resisted the urge to cry, and said, "Well, you won, Jin Jin is the best." Shi
Jin smiled meaninglessly, then slowly lost his expression, lowered his head, sat down on the grass, raised his hands and hugged his head.
"I really want to kill Xu Jie." He suddenly said, "And Fei Lin, Rong Xili, Xiang Qing... They are not worthy of being mothers. How can money and resources be more important than children? Everyone can be less hard-working... It's all their fault, it's all their fault. I'm also very unwilling. Why am I the only one who remembers everything? Why?" He slowly grasped his hair and slowly let go, "But no... If I kill them, everyone who has finally found happiness will fall into pain again... I don't want that."
Xiao Si said, "Jinjin, I'm proud of you."
Shi Jin's eyes became a little empty. After a long time, he whispered, "But... I'm so tired."
The night breeze blew gently, and Shi Wei Chong appeared behind Shi Jin without knowing when. He stood for a while, then came to Shi Jin's side and sat down with him.
"Xiao Jin, thank you." Shi
Jin did not move.
"I'm sorry."
Shi Jin finally moved. He put down his hand, looked down at the grass under his feet, and said, "I'm sorry for prying your locker."
"It's okay." Shi Weichong replied, raised his hand and touched his head, "You're just too tired."
Shi Jin did not avoid his hand, put his arm on his knees, bent down and put his head on it, looked at the dark sea, and said, "Brother, accompany me to watch the sunrise."
"Okay." Shi Weichong agreed, took off his coat and put
it on him. Shi Jin gave it back to him with disdain and moved to the side.
Shi Weichong was stunned, then his eyebrows warmed up, put on his coat again, and moved to his side.
Shi Jin did not hide, and continued to look at the sea.
...
The progress bar was dropping bit by bit, at a slow speed that was annoying. Shi
Jin looked at the sea, sorting out his memories bit by bit, from childhood, to adolescence, to near death, to another warm life, and then back here, meeting Xiao Si, meeting Lian Jun... In
the deepest part of the night, he suddenly asked in his heart: "Xiao Si, when did you live in my body?"
Xiao Si replied after a while: "After you were disfigured... I'm sorry, I watched you go to the most tragic end without lending a hand. At that time, I wanted to learn more about your background before sending you away, but in the end, not only did I not find anything new, but I also caused you to suffer for so long."
"So early..." Shi Jin smiled, buried the lower half of his face in his arms, and narrowed his eyes. "I can understand your thoughts. You don't have to say sorry... It's great that I didn't go through the most painful time alone. You were with me. Xiao Si, thank you."
The progress bar suddenly dropped sharply. Xiao Si realized something and was silent for a long time. He tried his best to suppress the desire to cry and said, "No... Jinjin, I'm happy to be with you for so long."
"Me too." Shi Jin closed his eyes.
Shi Jin thought of the original Lian Jun, whose eyes were dead, whose health was so poor that he would feel uncomfortable for a long time if he ate a few more mouthfuls of food, and whose temper did not seem to be very good... Then he thought of Gua Er, who was annoying because of his talkativeness, Gua Yi, who was not easy to mess with, Gua San, who seemed stable but would occasionally play tricks, Gua Wu, who was stable and reliable, Gua Jiu, who was sleepy and had a good temper, and Uncle Long, who was vicious in words but soft in heart... Finally, he thought of Li Jiuzheng, who was smiling more and more, Rong Zhouzhong, who was gradually wiping off the thorns on his body, Xiang Aoting, who was getting warmer and warmer, and Fei Yujing, who was trying hard to learn to open his heart... Finally, he thought of his adoptive parents.
He even thought of Shi Xingrui, who was actually very good to him.
In the end, there are more good things than hardship. There is nothing to be unwilling about, as long as everyone is happy.
Shi Jin opened his eyes, looked at the fish belly white that appeared in the sky, and called out: "Big brother."
"Hmm?" Shi Wei Chong turned his head to look at him.
"I really have forgiven you." He turned his head to look at Shi Wei Chong, and met his eyes, "So you should forgive yourself too. Our ancestors said that those who know their mistakes and correct them are good children. Let's correct our mistakes and let ourselves go, okay?"
Shi Wei Chong's eyes were a little red, his Adam's apple moved, and he tried to smile at him, saying hoarsely: "Okay... okay. Thank you, Xiao Jin." Shi
Jin smiled and took the initiative to lean over and hug him.
The progress bar finally dropped back to 20, and then after flashing a few times, it did not get stuck and continued to drop.
Xiao Si couldn't hold back her tears and called out, "Jinjin..."
"I'm here," Shi Jin replied, letting go of Shi Weichong and looking at the sunlight slowly spreading out from the end of the sea horizon. He smiled, but his eyes were still red. "You are so powerful. You can turn back time and save the world, so you can definitely come back to find me, right?"
"I don't know, Jinjin... I love you."
Shi Jin smiled with the corners of his mouth: "I love you too... I'm sorry, I said I would introduce you to Lian Jun, but I haven't been able to do it."
"No, it doesn't matter... it doesn't matter..."
The value on the progress bar became less and less, and soon reached the single digits. As the progress bar dropped, Shi Jin felt that the cry of Xiao Si in his head became more and more blurred. He felt nervous, raised his arms and hugged himself, buried his head and pressed his face against his arms, and whispered: "Don't cry, Xiao Si, I can't hear you clearly."
Shi Weichong noticed that he was not right, frowned and put his hand on his shoulder, and asked worriedly: "Xiao Jin, what's wrong with you?"
Shi Jin didn't say anything, concentrating on catching Xiao Si's voice.
8, 7, 6... 3, 2, 1...
Xiao Si's cry became intermittent, and the progress bar began to flash wildly. Finally, the progress bar returned to zero, and Xiao Si's cry suddenly weakened.
No...
Shi Jin refused silently, hugging his hands so hard that they turned white.
"...Jinjin..."
Xiaosi's voice suddenly reappeared. Shi Jin was stunned, then suddenly raised his head, covered his ears tightly to isolate the outside noise, and tried to hear its words clearly.
"I... leave... a special... gift... Don't... goodbye."
After a vague and intermittent sentence, Xiaosi's voice disappeared completely, and the progress bar stopped flashing. After pausing for two seconds, it dissipated like smoke.
Shi Jin's body and expression froze together. After repeated attempts, he found that no matter how hard he tried, he could not see the progress bar in his mind as before. After hearing Xiaosi's voice, his lips tightened a little, tears slowly filled his eyes, and he lowered his head and pressed his face on his arms.
Goodbye.
He said silently, hoping that he was just dreaming now.
Goodbye... I must see you again.
"Xiao Jin, what's wrong with you? Xiao Jin?" Shi Weichong was frightened by his series of inexplicable behaviors. He quickly put his hands on his shoulders and anxiously touched his head, trying to lift his head up. Shi Jin
hugged himself tightly and was unwilling to raise his head.
Both of them focused on what was in front of them and did not hear the footsteps slowly approaching.
Finally, the footsteps stopped behind them, and a hand stretched out in front of Shi Weichong, then gently fell on Shi Jin's head and rubbed it gently.
"Shi Jin." A voice that was familiar to the bones rang out.
Shi Jin's muffled crying suddenly stopped, and he froze for a while without moving.
Shi Weichong was stunned, and looked at his owner along the hand, then frowned, and looked down at Shi Jin who was unwilling to raise his head, slowly retracted his hand on Shi Jin's head, and stood up and walked away.
"Shi Jin." The voice of the visitor sounded again, with caution and tenderness, "Look at me."
The temperature on his head, the voice in his ears, all of this was so clear that it could not be an illusion.
His heartbeat gradually accelerated, and Shi Jin finally raised his head, looking towards the source of the voice with a pair of red eyes.
Lian Jun stood behind him, full of fatigue after a long journey. He bent down to help Shi Jin wipe his tears and asked, "Why are you crying? I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. I'm here to take you home."
"Lian..." Shi Jin opened his mouth and tears oozed out again. He suddenly stood up and hugged him, hugging his shoulders tightly, wanting to bite him, and said bitterly, "It's gone, it left me... Why are you so slow, why didn't you come earlier?"
Lian Jun hugged him back with satisfaction, tilted his head to his face, and sighed, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry."
"Why are you still so thin..." Shi Jin didn't know what he was saying. He just felt that his empty heart finally settled down. He tightened his strength, his nose was sore, and in this warm embrace, he indulged himself and released all his emotions.
At the end of the horizon, the sun finally jumped out of the sea. Shi Wei Chong bathed in the morning sunshine, looking at Lian Jun and Shi Jin hugging each other, he breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt relieved.
So it's like this... A new day has finally arrived.
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