Chapter 32 The Swan "You have nothing now, but you still..."
The name Qin Man is known to everyone in Xilai.
She is a beautiful swan, dancing solo at a charity gala, her beauty unparalleled. She is a youth tennis champion, radiant with youthful spirit.
She has many titles, each like a shining crown, high-profile and flamboyant.
As a result, Qin Weiguo's affair was exposed, public opinion erupted, and no one discussed the perpetrators, but she was in the eye of the storm.
They had no interest in Qin Weiguo's dirty laundry, but were quite interested in a young girl in the prime of her youth.
Qin Man's life story has dominated major media outlets. All her virtues have been transformed into monetary symbols, measured by people who speculate on how much effort and resources she has wasted to create such an unparalleled princess.
She was able to win the tennis championship because the competition gave her special treatment, and she was coached by the best tennis coach in Xilai, resources that ordinary people cannot have.
Netizens with sharp eyes spotted the designer clothes under Qin Man's school uniform, listing them all out, and also admiring her short skirt and exposed fair legs.
As for Qin Weiguo? He's a middle-aged man; who would want to scold him?
In the internet age, people ridiculed, envied, and vilified her, and her accusations piled up, eventually turning her into a symbol of squandering money and a representative of betraying the people.
The real culprit, however, has already escaped execution and is no longer in power.
Those who are alive bear the brunt of his infamy.
...
Qin Man refused to confront any of this; she shut herself in her room and wouldn't respond to anyone calling her.
At first, she lay in bed, uncontrollably scrolling through social media, the more she scrolled, the more she cried, her face felt like it had been slapped hard, but no matter how painful it was, she kept scrolling, like an addiction.
She couldn't control herself. She stared at the faces of people in the comments section all day long, knowing what vicious things they would say, but she still couldn't look away.
Even knowing they would be hurt, they still faced the knife and got stabbed.
[This rich girl, pampered with so much money, is wasting so many resources. Ah, it's good to be rich.]
[He's a complete bloodsucker!]
He embezzled money and spent it all on his wife and children; he was a good father, but not a good person.
Who stole my life? It turns out it was this naive and innocent rich girl.
[...]
An anonymous student of Xilai, whose voice was altered, accused her of being arrogant and looking down on poor students who received scholarships.
This is undoubtedly what people want to see now; her rumors have been escalated layer by layer, turning into solid, irrefutable evidence.
People kept sending messages to her account. Some cursed at her, while others took advantage of the chaos to confess their feelings to her, saying they wanted to sleep with her and how much money they would give her.
Some people are envious and write long essays saying how glorious and wealthy they would be if they had her background.
Some people were jealous and hurled vulgar and offensive insults at them.
She was their outlet, their target of attacks from below.
At the tender age of eighteen, she was reduced to a filthy object built on money in people's mouths.
No one looked for the culprit; they just felt she deserved what she got.
Finally, Qin Man gave up. She stopped reading the comments. Her phone died and shut down. She didn't charge it. She lay in bed with messy hair and tired dark circles under her eyes. When Qin Chen pulled her out of bed, she looked like a ghost.
Qin Chen said that Qu Lan was hospitalized.
Nobody has time to take care of her.
As for Qin Chen, I don't know what he's busy with. He's never home, and when he does come back, he's responsible for forcing Qin Man to eat, watching her finish her food, and then disappearing again.
Qin Man felt like a lost soul, wandering alone in the world.
By the way, their home was no longer safe, so Qin Man was taken by Qin Chen to another small apartment.
The accommodation was provided by Gu Lingqing.
She hid here, and someone would deliver food to her door regularly, but she couldn't eat. In just two days, she lost a lot of weight and spent her days in a daze.
Two days later, unable to bear receiving such care from Gu Lingqing, she secretly slipped away.
When Jiang Xuchi found her, he discovered that she had drunk four or five bottles of alcohol in an unknown little bar.
A girl is hungover here.
Many people around her cast glances at her, some with good intentions and others with malice.
Fortunately, Qin Man's social media profiles are all beautiful and attractive, so no one recognized her at this time.
Jiang Xuchi walked over and brushed aside the long hair that was covering her face.
Qin Man shrank back as if startled, her long hair falling down again, completely covering her.
Through her parted hair, Qin Man stared at him with her cloudy eyes.
Jiang Xuchi remained silent.
Qin Man was silent for a while, then took a wine glass from the side and took two sips.
The wine was ice-cold, and droplets of water clung to the glass onto her skirt.
Qin Man rarely wears pants. At school, she wears a school uniform skirt, and outside, she wears an elegant little dress. Even now, she wears earrings and a necklace. It's alright; she's not sloppy at all.
He was pale and looked extremely haggard.
She finished a glass and then went to pour another.
Jiang Xuchi then spoke up: "Stop drinking."
Qin Man: "Qin Chen didn't care about me at all."
Her family members were either in the hospital wallowing in self-pity or busy taking care of other matters, with no one paying attention to her.
Jiang Xuchi bent down and sniffed her, saying, "You smell like alcohol."
Wine smells good, how could it smell bad?
It was the smell of decay emanating from her.
"This kind of dejected state isn't like you. Are you still Qin Man?" Jiang Xuchi didn't have any kind words. He neither comforted her nor encouraged her, nor did he say anything nice to coax her.
Qin Man tilted her head back, stuffed the ice cubes from her glass into her mouth, chewed them, and ignored him.
She is neither the "Qin Man" of the past nor the ideal "Qin Man" of the past. At this moment, she cannot find her own identity.
Her world collapsed, even though it was already in ruins.
Seeing that she wouldn't move, Jiang Xuchi reached out to grab her arm, and Qin Man didn't resist at all, and was lifted up by him limply.
So he dragged her to the door.
The waiter blocked his way and asked him to pay the bill.
Jiang Xuchi left Qin Man standing there, took out his phone to pay at the front desk. When he turned back after scanning the code, Qin Man was gone.
He thought that she was too drunk to wander off.
Jiang Xuchi wandered around the bar but couldn't find Qin Man. Finally, he went outside and saw Qin Man squatting by the roadside.
Her long, black hair flowed backward in the wind.
Amidst the constant flow of traffic, she wore a white sundress, resembling a wildflower growing by the roadside.
Seeing Jiang Xuchi approach, Qin Man said, "They don't recognize me."
"You've traveled across most of the city to find such a remote bar; it would be a miracle if anyone recognized you."
Jiang Xuchi searched for her for two whole days, day and night.
He wouldn't be able to find Qin Man if she didn't go out.
I'm hungry.
"Then come with me."
Qin Man squatted on the ground and looked up at him.
She noticed that Jiang Xuchi wasn't in much better shape either; his clothes were wrinkled, his hair was messed up by the wind, and the scar on his forehead was visible.
"Let me die here," she said softly.
Jiang Xuchi stared at her for a while, then said, "Let's take a taxi first."
"I don't want to eat anything."
"Then let's drink."
"You just pulled me out of there." Qin Man lowered her head. "Why did you come looking for me?"
"..."
Qin Man shouted, "Tell me, why did you come looking for me!"
The wind outside was chilly, and Jiang Xuchi stepped forward to block her way.
“You have nothing now, but you are still my most valuable girl.”
Qin Man raised her head, looked at him, and slowly shed tears.
...
Qin Man hung her head as Jiang Xuchi forcibly took her home and stuffed her into the bathroom.
This is Jiang Xuchi's villa in the east of the city. Qin Man had been here before and envied how big and wealthy it was. Now, standing in front of the bathroom sink, she felt that it was so empty and quiet.
But this place has everything, including a new piece of clothing that you can change into, with the tags still on.
"Call me when you're done washing."
Jiang Xuchi's voice rang out from outside the door.
There was a huge full-length mirror in the bathroom. Qin Man looked at herself in the mirror and thought to herself, no wonder Jiang Xuchi threw her into the bathroom first.
She took off her sundress, stepped into the warm bathtub, and soaked for half an hour.
When she came out again, her long hair was dripping water all over the floor. She didn't wipe it up. She was wearing the dress that Jiang Xuchi had bought for her, with the hard tag hanging around her neck.
She reached out and pulled, and saw the price tag.
Forty thousand yuan.
It is indeed valuable.
Jiang Xuchi was opening the food delivery box when he heard the noise and turned around to look. Qin Man was walking and tearing off the cards as she went, her whole body exuding the fragrance of shower gel.
She was barefoot, her body damp, the fabric clinging to her skin, revealing her slender figure.
Jiang Xuchi: "There's a hairdryer hanging over there."
"It's too tiring to hold it up."
Qin Man walked straight past him and headed towards the refrigerator.
The moment she opened the door, she was not disappointed. The place was filled with all kinds of beer. Qin Man picked one that looked good and opened it.
"If I get drunk and die here, just leave me alone and let me sleep on the sofa."
Qin Man sat on the sofa, clutching a wine bottle.
Jiang Xuchi pushed the opened meal in front of her, "Have some."
Qin Man picked up her chopsticks and took two bites.
With each bite of food and sip of wine, Qin Man drank with abandon, completely absorbed in the moment.
Jiang Xuchi couldn't stand it anymore and reached out to stop her from drinking. "How many bottles have you had today? I thought you would get drunk. When did you become such a heavy drinker?"
Qin Man pushed his hand away, "I've always had a high alcohol tolerance, it's innate."
"How come I didn't know?" Jiang Xuchi said. "Wasn't it you who vomited on me that day?"
"Jiang Xuchi, are you going to settle accounts with me?"
Qin Man drank a lot of alcohol and felt dizzy, but she couldn't get drunk. She had never hated herself for being so clear-headed.
She suddenly leaned forward and looked directly into his eyes.
"Everyone wants to settle scores with me, but this isn't your place."
The aloof Qin Man returned in that instant.
Jiang Xuchi: "Those people online don't count against you."
Qin Man paused in her drinking motion.
A single online event was enough to trigger her stress.
You mean online?
Qin Man is hiding here simply to deceive herself; she hasn't fallen so low as to become the "Qin Man" they talk about online!
Jiang Xuchi wouldn't even give her this small dream.
Qin Man went berserk for a moment, smashing the half-finished bottle of wine at Jiang Xuchi, "You saw it all! You saw what they said about me! That's just who I am, I love spending money, I'm vain, and I care a lot about my image..."
She started to cry.
Jiang Xuchi frowned, annoyed by her frenzied behavior, and asked, "Are you going to eat or not?"
In this state, she is deaf to reason and refuses to eat or drink.
Jiang Xuchi clearly thought she was completely drunk, but Qin Man kept insisting that she wasn't.
There are things you can't forget, and you really can't get drunk on them, unless you fall into a coma.
Jiang Xuchi stood there, letting her make a scene, crying and wiping her tears on his waist, hitting him, and cursing him.
After Qin Man finished scolding and beating her, her eyes turned red and she shrank back. Only then did Jiang Xuchi take out a bag of candy from the snack bag on the table, open it, and put it to her lips.
Qin Man refused to eat it, so Jiang Xuchi stuffed it into her mouth.
The candy was soft and sweet, bursting with juice when bitten into. Qin Man was initially overwhelmed by the sweetness, but gradually calmed down.
"What am I going to do? I can't go to university, and I can't be called Qin Man anymore. My future is a mess. I haven't even enjoyed university life yet..."
"In two years, nobody will recognize you."
"You said there are still two years left, and the internet doesn't forget things so easily."
Qin Man's eyes were vacant, and the more she spoke, the more lost she became, unsure of what to do.
"Then I'll build you a cage, and you can live here from now on. You won't have to go anywhere else. Which bag or piece of jewelry do you want? I'll bring it to you. If you don't like being talked about, then don't go out. Is this the kind of life you want?"
Qin Man looked up and glared at him, "Do you hate me to say such things?"
"Then you have to go out and face it." Jiang Xuchi pulled her up, his hand supporting her lower back, almost in an embracing position.
"..."
Qin Man obediently let him hold her, and his soothing body temperature slowly transmitted warmth.
He patted her lower back and whispered in her ear, "At least for the next few days, you can stay here with me."
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