He slumped down on the cold, damp ground, his back against the equally icy wall, gasping for breath and shaking even more violently. Icy sewage dripped down his hair and the corners of his clothes, forming a filthy puddle beneath him.
The expensive cashmere coat was completely ruined, covered in mud and rotten leaves, and exuding a disgusting smell.
He looked down at his filthy, slightly trembling hands, the cracks between his carefully manicured nails filled with black mud.
The unprecedented embarrassment and sense of failure, like this cold sewage, completely submerged him from head to toe.
He struggled to stand up, his legs weak and powerless, every step felt like stepping on cotton. He took off the heavy, dirty, and expensive coat and threw it in the corner like trash.
His dark turtleneck sweater was also soaked through, clinging to his body, outlining his current frailty and weakness. The cold wind blew, and he shivered, his teeth chattering even more violently.
He must leave this nightmarish place as soon as possible!
Ning Xiuyan stumbled out of the back alley, one foot deep, one foot shallow. Each step left a wet, dirty footprint. He lowered his head, his gray-blue wet hair plastered to his forehead and cheeks, obscuring his pale, twisted face and the hatred and fear surging in his eyes.
He didn't dare to look up in any direction, he just wanted to disappear from everyone's sight as soon as possible.
The alleyway leads to a relatively busy pedestrian street. On a weekend evening, neon lights come on and the streets are bustling with people. Laughter, the aroma of food, the warm lights...
All of this was incompatible with Ning Xiuyan, as if they were two different worlds.
His wet, smelly, and dispirited appearance immediately attracted the attention of passers-by.
The curious, inquiring, and slightly disgusted gaze was like countless fine needles piercing his exposed skin.
"Look at that man..."
"Fell into the water?"
“It stinks…”
"It looked quite respectable, how did it become like this..."
The sound of subtle discussions faintly reached his ears, and every word was like a whip lashing Ning Xiuyan's heart.
He clenched his fists suddenly, his nails digging deep into his palms, causing a sharp pain, and only then did he barely suppress the urge to roar and destroy everything.
He quickened his pace, almost sprinting towards the parking lot, his soaked boots making an unpleasant, smacking sound as they stepped on the dry ground.
The cold water flowed down my trouser legs into my shoes, and every step felt like wading in icy water.
Finally, he saw his Bentley Continental, as if he had found his only refuge.
The driver had already gotten out of the car and was waiting. When he saw Ning Xiuyan rushing towards him like this, his face was instantly filled with shock and disbelief! "Second Young Master?! What are you doing..."
"Shut up!" Ning Xiuyan interrupted him rudely, his voice hoarse and angry, with a madness on the verge of collapse, "Open the car door!"
The driver was frightened by his eyes and didn't dare to ask more questions. He quickly opened the car door.
Ning Xiuyan practically threw himself into the back seat. The warm, dry, and elegantly scented compartment formed the most brutal contrast to the filthy, damp, and cold surroundings he was in.
He fell heavily onto the leather seat, and the cold wetness immediately seeped into the expensive leather.
"Go... go back to my own apartment! Right now! Right now!" He curled up in his seat, his teeth chattering, his voice trembling and weak with uncontrollable weakness.
He couldn't go back to the Ning family mansion! Absolutely not! He couldn't let anyone, especially Ning Xiwan, see him like this! That would be more painful than killing him!
"Yes! Yes!" The driver did not dare to delay and immediately started the car and drove away steadily and quickly.
The carriage was completely silent. The only sounds were Ning Xiuyan's heavy, suppressed breathing and the gentle patter of dirty water dripping from his body onto the floor mat.
The heater was on full blast, but he felt no warmth at all, only a chill and humiliation that penetrated his bones. He hugged his wet, cold arms tightly, his body still shaking uncontrollably.
The neon lights outside the car window flashed by, casting flickering shadows on his gray face. In those once dashing eyes, there was only emptiness, fear, and a hatred as deep as the abyss.
Zhang Xuanhua's cold and mocking face, and those light blue eyes that looked like they were looking at garbage, flashed repeatedly in his mind.
He bit his lower lip hard until he tasted a hint of blood, and then he barely suppressed the sob that was on the verge of collapse in his throat.
The car finally stopped in the underground garage of a high-end apartment in the city center.
Ning Xiuyan rushed into the elevator almost as if escaping, and rushed into his penthouse apartment which was luxuriously decorated but cold and lifeless.
Bang!
The heavy wooden door slammed shut behind him, isolating him from the outside world.
He leaned his back against the cold door and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. His wet clothes quickly soaked a large area of the expensive custom-made carpet.
Dark, silent, and cold.
Only his own heavy, echoing breathing seemed particularly clear in the empty room.
Ning Xiuyan raised his hand and looked at his still slightly trembling, muddy fingertips. The cold sewage dripped down his hair and onto the expensive carpet, spreading dark stains.
He closed his eyes, his body shaking violently and uncontrollably. It wasn't the cold, but the bone-deep chill of fear and shame that seeped out from every pore.
He lost.
A complete defeat.
He was played around with and finally kicked into the mud like a dead dog.
Zhang Xuanhua... Ning Xiwan...
In the darkness, he suddenly opened his eyes, a deep hatred and a fire that was almost crazy surging in them. He couldn't let it go like this! Absolutely not!
But the next second, those light blue eyes, as cold as the frozen lake surface, appeared clearly in front of him again, with undisguised contempt and... murderous intent.
Ning Xiuyan's body suddenly stiffened, and the crazy hatred that had just ignited was like being poured over by a basin of ice water, and it was instantly extinguished.
Only the cold fear remained, like a maggot on the tarsal bone, tightly wrapped around his heart.
He slumped down, burying his face deep into his cold, damp, and smelly knees. His gray-blue hair hung in a mess, obscuring all his expression.
In the empty and cold apartment, only the extremely suppressed whimpering sound, like that of a wounded beast, echoed softly in the dead silence.
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