Chapter 84
In an instant, blood gushed out, and the entire parking lot floor was covered in the blood of the two men.
Li Yaozu seemed to have finally regained his senses. He threw the dagger on the ground, looked at his hands in disbelief, and then stumbled and ran in the opposite direction.
On the other side, Xiang Wan didn't even glance at him. She stared at the blood gushing from Chen Yan's neck, paused for a moment, and then crawled toward him.
Every time she moved, the wound on her thigh would stretch, and more blood would flow out.
However, she seemed oblivious to the pain, and struggled to crawl towards where Chen Yan had fallen...
On the parking lot's epoxy flooring, their blood flowed from the high places to the low places, eventually merging together, just like them at this moment, using all their strength to get closer.
As Xiang Wan crawled over using her hands for support, Chen Yan kept watching her, his face turned towards hers, quietly shedding tears.
A tear slid down his cheek and dripped into the pool of blood, splashing up blood.
Xiang Wan crawled to his side, covering his bleeding neck with her hand, tears streaming down her face: "Chen Ruilin, I was wrong."
If her fate was destined to be tragic, she would never have involved him.
She was wrong from the start. She shouldn't have taken him away from Lijia Village. If they had never crossed paths, he wouldn't have died.
Her momentary lapse in judgment ultimately led to today's tragedy.
Tears blurred her vision, and although she told herself that now was not the time to cry, the tears just wouldn't stop flowing.
"Chen Ruilin, the ambulance is coming soon, can you hold on a little longer?" These words seemed to be comforting him, but also seemed to be comforting herself.
Chen Yan looked up at her with difficulty, reached out and wiped away her tears. Xiang Wan looked at him and saw that he seemed to want to speak, so she shook her head to signal him not to speak.
But he insisted on speaking.
As if knowing this might be his last chance to speak, he kept looking into Xiang Wan's eyes while he spoke.
His eyes held deep affection, but when he looked into her eyes, the words that came out were: "I hate you, Xiang Shuhan."
Xiang Wan felt a lump in her throat and let the tears slide down her cheeks, but she ignored the tears and pressed tightly against his wound.
However, no matter how she tried to stop the bleeding from his wound, the blood kept flowing out. There was nothing she could do but let the tears slide down her cheeks.
Chen Yan looked at her and wiped away her tears with his cold fingertips: "Don't cry, Xiang Shuhan."
After he finished speaking, his arm fell limply to his side, but his eyes remained open.
"Chen Ruilin—Chen Ruilin—"
Until she felt his body temperature slowly dropping, Xiang Wan seemed to lose her mind, calling his name.
"Chen Yan—"
"Chen Yan—"
"Chen Ruilin—"
"..."
But this time, he didn't respond at all. Xiang Wan's hand trembled as she felt for his pulse. When she found that he had no pulse, she released her hand from his carotid artery.
She collapsed to the ground, like a broken puppet, incomplete and shattered.
Ignoring the pool of blood on the ground, she lay down beside Chen Yan's body, nestled in his arms, letting his blood soak her clothes.
"Chen Ruilin, the ground is so cold..." she murmured, but soon lost consciousness due to excessive blood loss.
Amidst the pool of blood, their fingers were intertwined, a scene both horrifying and ambiguous...
On the other side, Ni Zhen and Zhao Luyu, seeing that the person hadn't arrived yet, went to the parking lot to take a look and what they saw was this horrifying scene.
"Chen Ruilin—"
"Xiang Wan—"
*
Xiang Wan woke up a week later.
She woke up in the hospital, looked at the white ceiling, and suddenly had a feeling that she had forgotten something important.
It wasn't until she saw the gauze on her thigh that she suddenly remembered what happened in the parking lot.
Everything was so terrifying that she couldn't tell whether it was a nightmare or something real.
She removed the IV from the back of her hand, looked at her mother who was keeping her company, put her arm around her shoulder, and asked, "Mom, where is Chen Yan?"
When Xiang's mother saw that she was awake, a look of surprise flashed in her eyes, but when she asked about Chen Yan, she became hesitant to speak: "That child..."
She wanted to keep it from her daughter and tell her later, but her father told her the truth directly: "Chen Yan suffered a carotid artery hemorrhage...and passed away."
The needle was abruptly pulled out, leaving a long, narrow wound on the back of Xiang Wan's hand, but she didn't notice it at all. As if her soul had been stolen, she slumped down on the edge of the bed.
Her voice was unusually hoarse: "Was his funeral held?"
“It was held three days ago. Since you were still in a coma, we attended in your place.” Mr. Xiang looked at her, his peaceful gaze filled with heartache.
Xiang Wan nodded and didn't say anything more. Her mother, who was standing beside her, was afraid that she would remain trapped in her grief and kept trying to change the subject:
"Nanbei and Feiyang are coming soon. They will come to see you every day during the week you were unconscious."
Before she could finish speaking, there was a knock at the door. Her father said, "Come in," while her mother turned away and quickly wiped away her tears.
"Uncle and Aunt, is Wanwan awake?"
Looking at Che Nanbei and Shen Feiyang, who were wearing flowers, Xiang's mother smiled and said, "Shuhan is awake. You two should spend more time with her. Your uncle and I are just going back to wash up."
After saying that, she left with her father. Actually, washing up was just an excuse; she wanted her daughter and her friends to stay a little longer and come out quickly.
Although Xiang Wan's thigh injury looked serious, it did not damage any arteries, so it could only be considered a superficial injury.
More than her physical injuries, Xiang's mother was worried about her daughter's mental health.
Downstairs, Xiang's parents had just stepped off the elevator when they saw Li Xia waiting for them in the van. Seeing that they wanted to talk, the driver automatically lowered the partition.
Li Xia reported to the two people opposite her: "Master and Madam, the police have arrested and detained Li Yaozu. He should be transferred to the procuratorate in about two months."
"What is the charge?"
"Intentional injury".
"What's the maximum sentence Attorney Kim said he could get?"
"Expected in fifteen years."
"Okay. Li Xia, you don't need to worry about company matters for now. Prioritize this matter."
"Yes, sir."
On the other side, inside the detention cell.
At first, Li Yaozu made arrogant remarks to the police, but after his lawyer told him that he might have to serve more than ten years in prison, he suddenly changed his attitude.
He shouted in the detention cell that he did not intend to kill anyone, but only wanted to scare Xiang Wan and demand some compensation from her.
They had already interrogated him, and Officer Lin was too lazy to bother with him anymore, until he kept insisting that he didn't intend to kill anyone, at which point he couldn't help but retort:
“It’s all clearly captured on the surveillance footage. You first pulled out a knife and stabbed the woman, and then you stabbed the man.”
"These days, there are high-definition cameras everywhere, so you can't deny it. You'll have to reform yourself in prison and become a better person when you get out."
Clinging to the railing, Li Yaozu seemed desperate, repeatedly saying, "I really didn't mean to kill anyone... You have to believe me!!"
Officer Lin ignored him, locked the detention cell door, and left.
In the next cell, Li Xiaohua was also detained for instigating murder, but unlike her brother Li Yaozu, her reaction was calmer, but also more manic: "I want to see Xiang Wan—make that woman come see me!!"
Officer Lin: "..."
*
At the same time, in the ward, Shen Feiyang was arranging flowers, while Che Nanbei was peeling an apple.
As for Xiang Wan, she was staring blankly at the sparrows outside the window.
This was perhaps the quietest day the three of them had known each other since they met.
Shen Feiyang was peeling an apple when she unconsciously recalled the scene she had witnessed in the parking lot that day. It wasn't until the ambulance siren appeared downstairs that they received a call from Zhao Luyu, asking them to hurry to the parking lot to help.
At that time, she and Che Nanbei had just finished fighting with Li Xiaohua, and their hair was a mess. They initially thought there was trouble in the parking lot, but they didn't expect that when they arrived...
But then they saw Chen Yan and Xiang Wan lying in a pool of blood.
Ni Zhen was busy stopping Chen Yan's bleeding, while Zhao Luyu knelt on the ground to perform first aid on Chen Yan.
She and Che Nanbei were startled by the blood on the ground, but the paramedics arrived quickly.
They were startled to see blood everywhere. After lifting the two people into the ambulance, she and Zhao Luyu went to the hospital with the ambulance.
As for Jiang Zhuochun, Che Nanbei, and Ni Zhen, they went with the police to retrieve the surveillance footage.
Shen Feiyang will never forget what he saw that day—
Xiang Wan and Chen Yan lay in a pool of blood, their fingers intertwined, just like Romeo and Juliet in the novel, a scene that made her feel a chill run down her spine.
Distracted, she cut her finger with the knife, and even the apple was stained with her blood.
However, Shen Feiyang was thinking that if it hurt so much when she cut her finger, how much pain must the two of them have been in? The ground in the parking lot was almost covered with their blood.
She looked at Xiang Wan and handed her a piece of apple that wasn't stained with blood: "Wanwan, at least eat an apple."
"..." Xiang Wan did not respond to her, as if she had not heard her at all, and continued to stare blankly out the window.
Behind her, Che Nanbei threw away the withered flowers in the vase and put in the sunflowers she had just bought that day. After she finished arranging the flowers, she naturally sat down next to her.
However, no matter what topics she and Shen Feiyang racked their brains to come up with, Xiang Wan seemed to have lost her soul and did not respond at all.
The two appeared nonchalant, but were inwardly filled with worry about their friend's condition...
In the days that followed, Xiang Wan stayed alone in the villa after being discharged from the hospital.
Although she still goes to school and work as usual, she has become more indifferent.
It wasn't indifference, but rather apathy, as if nothing and no one in the world could arouse her interest anymore.
Apart from necessary work and business activities, she no longer attended any entertainment-related events.
She declined all invitations, including those from the mountaineering club and when invited by the school to speak as a representative of outstanding graduates.
After that day, Xiang Wan lived a solitary life, like a lone wolf.
However, she occasionally doesn't refuse the trio's almost coquettish invitations.
Whether she was out at sea fishing or camping in the forest, she rarely spoke. Most of the time, she would stay alone in a corner, staring blankly at the scenery in the distance.
For a whole year, Xiang Wan lived in a daze, like a monster without emotions. Although she had lost the meaning of living, she still tried her best to live for the people who loved her.
Trying hard to forget that name, that person, deep in my heart.
Just when everyone thought she was slowly getting better, a year later, on an ordinary day, Xiang Wan committed suicide...
It was only then that they realized that deep in her heart, that wound had never healed.
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