41 Cracks
There's something wrong with his face.
His features were still the same, but his face was covered with fine cracks, like the patterns on broken porcelain, pieced together in a mottled and disjointed way, or like spider silk fixing his features in their proper places.
What is this...? Should a living person's face look like this...?
Her sanity plummeted in an instant. She covered her mouth to stop screaming, but the level of terror she could bear had reached its limit. She fainted briefly by the bedside from the shock. When she woke up, she endured the tingling sensation on her scalp and shakily got up to look at Ling Zhou. He was still lying on the bed, motionless.
She had braced herself for being terrified, but the eerie cracks seemed like her imagination; Ling Zhou's face was perfectly normal, without the slightest abnormality. How could this be? How could this be? She clearly saw it just now! It couldn't be a hallucination! She had been so frightened she had fainted!
There's definitely something wrong with his face!
Xu Huaihuai gritted her teeth and reached out to grab Ling Zhou's face. She hoped his face wasn't some weird thing that would fall apart if she pulled it off. Ugh, why does the male lead in a redemption novel have to be associated with strange things?!
She pinched his chin, pulling the skin up slightly. Everything seemed normal; his face wasn't shattered. Had she not used enough force? Xu Huaihuai tightened her grip, pulling at his face. Ling Zhou grabbed her hand and opened his eyes: "What are you doing?"
"Don't make a sound, go to sleep." What exactly was on his face had become Xu Huaihuai's only concern at the moment, so whether he was awake or not was no longer important.
The command was so strong that Ling Zhou was speechless for a moment. In the end, he let go of her hand and closed his eyes again.
Xu Huaihuai ran her hand along the joint between his face and neck again, but found no abnormal marks. Did he even realize his face had just been torn to pieces?
"Are you done?" Ling Zhou opened his eyes, sat up, and turned his neck, his tone calm. "What did you see?"
She quickly distanced herself from him, clearly surprised and uncertain, but firmly shaking her head: "I didn't see anything."
Ling Zhou smiled, a smile that often graced his face. "Then go to sleep, it's getting late."
That scene was terrifying; how could she sleep now? Besides, Ling Zhou had already posed a real threat to her; how could she sleep peacefully with him beside her? Xu Huaihuai took the blanket and snuggled onto the sofa, ignoring Ling Zhou completely.
Ling Zhou didn't make a sound again; it was strange that he could actually sleep so soundly. If what she had just seen wasn't a hallucination, with such an abnormality on Ling Zhou's face, even if he himself couldn't notice, surely the female lead who had shared a bed with him for so many years would have noticed?
Will she be terrified? Will she deceive herself and pretend nothing happened? What will she do?
Was that "I'm disgusted by his face" something she said after noticing his strange behavior? Did she file for divorce because she couldn't bear to see her husband's eerie face at night anymore? Could this be the reason for divorce she'd been searching for?
If this was the answer, the comments section, which should have been checking the answer, remained completely silent. The existence of the comments was as if her memory had become distorted. She couldn't understand what Ling Zhou was trying to do either. Did he want the "female lead" to change her mind? His current behavior seemed to be a negative factor, didn't it?
Why not just be honest with him and tell him that you were just passing through his world and unexpectedly became the "female lead Xu Huaihuai"?
She spent another three days in deep anxiety. These three days felt like an eternity, filled with unbearable torment. She repeatedly asked to see Lin Xu to confirm his safety. Ling Zhou only showed her some surveillance footage of Lin Xu and assured her that he was currently healthy and there was nothing to worry about.
How could I not be worried? Lin Xu's condition in the surveillance footage didn't look good at all. The playback that Ling Zhou showed her was already short, and he was even more conscious in the playback footage.
Ling Zhou hadn't given up on giving her acupuncture these past few days. As the number of needle marks on her legs increased, her heart sank. She knew what these needles were for—to prevent her from escaping. She could gradually feel the weakness in her leg muscles. She could stand up, but she walked very slowly. After a few steps, her legs would become weak and painful, let alone run.
Moreover, her frequent nausea and vomiting, and inability to eat, left her with even less energy.
That crazy man is trying to ruin her! This can't go on any longer. She couldn't take it anymore and smashed the vase, choosing the sharpest shard.
When Ling Zhou came today, he brought a wheelchair. He called to her, who was sitting on the sofa in a daze, "Come over and try out the height to see if it's suitable."
She frowned and said in a harsh tone, "I don't need a wheelchair. If you don't give me the injection, I'll be fine."
"I just don't want you to go too far; it won't harm your body." He pushed the height-adjusted wheelchair to her side. "Come on, try it. Are your legs numb? Do you want me to carry you?"
"Does she know you're doing this?" She didn't move.
Ling Zhou paused in his act of pulling her into his arms, and she suddenly elbowed him in the stomach. Before he could react, she spun her wheelchair around and pushed him inside.
She stepped on the wheelchair, a sharp shard of porcelain sliding from her hand, which she precisely pressed against his carotid artery. "Let me tell you the truth, I am not your ex-wife Xu Huaihuai at all. If you want to get back together, you've come to the wrong person. Besides, with your perverted behavior, forget about getting back together, it would be strange if you didn't run away. What's the point of trying to get back together? It's just wishful thinking."
Ah, she thought she was going to get back together with her boyfriend. Well, at least she said it.
Ling Zhou tilted his head back, ignoring the sharp shards of porcelain pressed against his neck. "Then who are you?"
"Anyway, she's not your ex-wife. You've got the wrong person. Release me now and tell me where Lin Xu is. Maybe you can get a shorter sentence."
He chuckled, "Don't you think your excuse is just a ploy to get me to let you and him go? Huaihuai, you've become cunning."
"You don't believe me? I told you I'm not like that, I just happened to come into this world." She realized she had no way to explain. "Fine, I'm too lazy to explain to you. Just be honest this time, or you'll really get your throat slit, don't blame me..."
Ling Zhou leaned forward, drawing a thin line of blood from his neck. Startled, she recoiled from the porcelain shard in her hand. He forcefully grabbed her hand holding the shard and slashed it across his own neck. She released the shard. The shard fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
“Look, you’re completely incapable of hurting or killing people.” He stood up and pressed down on her shoulders. “It’s time to test the height of the wheelchair. Don’t you want to see him? I won’t break my promise to you. I’ll let you see him after you get your twenty injections. It just so happens that today is New Year’s Eve. Change into a new dress; they were all cut to your size.”
He had her weakness exploited, making her hesitant to act. She sat in her wheelchair like a delicate doll, but she didn't seem very happy.
He knelt down in front of the wheelchair to straighten her skirt and help her put on warm cotton shoes. "Don't look so sad. You should smile during the New Year. This might be your last New Year."
If someone is killed by a wheelchair, is she fully responsible? Shouldn't the wheelchair be considered the cause of the accident?
Xu Huaihuai thought to herself, sincerely hoping that the wheelchair would suddenly malfunction and kill Ling Zhou.
This was the first time she had left the room that had confined her for several days. Ling Zhou pushed her through a long and winding corridor before they finally saw the elevator.
This wasn't a place she'd been before. She remembered the route and clearly saw that Ling Zhou had pressed the button for the third basement level. She just hadn't expected that even the elevator required his fingerprint.
The third basement level wasn't dark; on the contrary, it was brightly lit and designed like a hospital. He pushed her, who remained silent the whole way, through many rooms of unknown purpose. People dressed as medical staff walked through the corridors and nodded to Ling Zhou.
Finally, they arrived at a room at the end of the corridor. Ling Zhou opened the door with his fingerprint. It was very dark inside.
The room was divided in two by glass. Through the thick glass and a sliver of light shining through the doorway, she finally saw Lin Xu locked in the dark room. He was shackled on his hands and feet, his eyes closed, his face pale, quietly leaning against the corner.
She jumped off the wheelchair, knelt in front of the glass, gripped the glass tightly with both hands, and stared blankly at the person inside.
My heart sank, and my breathing became labored. What had I done to him, this madman?!
Tears streamed down her face, wetting her cheeks. She raised her hand to knock on the glass to wake Lin Xu. Ling Zhou observed her reaction from the side. "This is his rare time to fall asleep. Are you sure you want to wake him?"
Her hands stopped moving. She turned her face, her eyes red and filled with tears. "What do you want from me to let him go?"
“The outside world may not be as safe as this place. He might as well stay here. At least I can guarantee him three meals a day.”
"The outside world is unsafe? Are you kidding me? This is illegal imprisonment! Don't shamelessly try to justify yourself!"
"Do you think I'm lying to you?" Ling Zhou squatted down, looking directly into her angry eyes. "It's about time, so let's end today's visit here. I'll take you out for a walk."
“Or,” he paused and continued, “you want him to see you like this.”
She saw a haggard, exhausted woman with a scar on her forehead in the glass; her appearance, mired in despair, was certainly not beautiful.
But who cares about that!
She pressed her hand against the glass with a little force, brushing away a small patch of fog-like substance. After confirming that no traces were left on the glass, her gaze fell on the person inside.
I hope he's alright, and I hope he can hold on a little longer.
Although she was still crying, her hand, which had been pressed against the glass, fell down, and he knew that she had made a decision.
Ling Zhou lifted her cold body from the ground and put her back in the wheelchair. He gently patted the dust off her dress and carefully covered her with a blanket. Only after the wheelchair turned around and pushed her away from the dark room did she wipe away her tears and speak.
"Ling Zhou, isn't your goal to get married? If you don't care which Xu Huaihuai it is, then get married. Just let him go; he has nothing to do with these things."
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