Chapter 68 You are free
Lin Qingxu discovered that Jin Yuanbao had bitten the tablet into pieces the next morning.
One morning, she had planned to bring her tablet to class, but then she saw spider-web-like cracks on it.
Jin Yuanbao pretended to be asleep, with his ears drooping like airplane ears. He squinted his eyes and secretly observed Lin Qingxu's reaction. Finding that the other party did not seem angry, he couldn't help but lift his tail.
It happened to be discovered by Lin Qingxu.
Lin Qingxu pinched Jin Yuanbao's chubby face and, mimicking Kan Zhao's tone, threatened, "I'll deal with you when I get back."
Jin Yuanbao's tail then drooped down.
Lin Qingxu chuckled, but didn't make any sound.
It’s really fun to tease others.
*
Lin Qingxu only has classes in the morning, as does Kan Zhao. However, he seems to be very busy lately, dealing with club affairs.
Lin Qingxu didn't let him accompany him to repair the tablet.
It was already so damaged, she could have easily gotten a new one. It was just that there were some files and comics on the tablet that she hadn't uploaded to the cloud yet.
However, considering that there is a naughty kitten at home, Lin Qingxu bought another tablet in the specialty store specifically for Jin Yuanbao to play with.
After coming out of the mall, Lin Qingxu discovered that it was drizzling outside.
People walking back and forth are in a hurry.
Lin Qingxu was thinking about whether to take a taxi directly or go back to the mall to buy a new umbrella first.
The rain wasn't heavy. I got wet only when I got off the bus and went back, but it was only for a few minutes.
But if Kan Zhao went back early and saw her like that, she and Jin Yuanbao and the cat would probably have to bow their heads and be scolded together.
After thinking for a while, Lin Qingxu decided to buy an umbrella. But when he turned sideways, he saw Qiu Lan.
Lin Qingxu hadn't seen her since that day's dinner with the Qu family. Someone else had taken Qiu Lan's class, and there were rumors at school that she had resigned and was going abroad for further studies.
Qiu Lan also saw Lin Qingxu.
She smiled slightly, and her expression was much better than when Lin Qingxu saw her before.
Qiu Lan said, "It seems like the rain won't stop anytime soon. There's a coffee shop nearby. Want to go in for a drink?"
*
As Kan Yue said, although the Wang family has deep roots and complex connections in Nanchuan, the main family is caught in a vortex of fierce fighting and has no time to take care of other things, nor does it have time to spend huge costs to save Wang Shu from the Ponzi scheme.
The evidence was complete and irrefutable, and Wang Shu's actions were egregious, with a profoundly negative social impact. Finally, his final verdict was handed down, combining multiple crimes and imposing a sentence. Everything was finally settled.
A few hours ago, Qiu Lan went to the prison to visit.
The glass of the visiting room was cold and transparent, clearly separating the two worlds and the two people who were once the closest to each other.
Qiu Lan sat in a chair, watching Wang Shu walk in in his prison uniform. He had lost a lot of weight, and his once handsome features were now shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere. But when he looked at her, that obsessive, almost scorching focus remained unchanged.
He picked up the intercom.
The two looked at each other, but silence spread amid the sound of electricity.
"You're here." Finally, it was Wang Shu who spoke first. His voice was hoarse. "I thought you didn't want to see me anymore."
Qiu Lan held the receiver, her fingers suddenly tightened and then slowly relaxed. When she spoke, her tone was unexpectedly calm, even with a kind of fatigue after the dust settled.
"How's life in there?"
"fine."
…
There was another long silence.
After all, they were former lovers, and they had once truly loved each other. Seeing Wang Shu like this, Qiu Lan felt mixed emotions.
She came here not only to visit Wang Shu, but also to ask a question, a question that had been bothering her for a long time but had yet to be answered.
If she keeps it in her heart, perhaps she will not be able to get the so-called "rebirth" for a long time.
"Wang Shu, I still don't understand why you suddenly changed overnight? You were obviously not like this before."
They had many beautiful memories together. Sometimes in her dreams at midnight, Qiu Lan would think of the old Wang Shu, who was sometimes gentle, sometimes spoiled, and sometimes overbearing, but definitely not the one who had been devoured by violence in recent years and had changed beyond recognition.
But she couldn't figure out the reason why all this changed.
Why does a person suddenly become like this?
Whenever this question was brought up, Wang Shu's emotions became particularly agitated. But not this time. His voice was dry and tinged with sarcasm: "Yes, I have changed. But you haven't changed at all, you're still the same..."
"Qin Song is in San Francisco now and they're not married. You can go find him. I think he probably hasn't forgotten you yet."
Qiu Lan frowned and looked at him, obviously confused by Wang Shu's sudden mention of Qin Song. She was talking about them.
"Could you please not bring up irrelevant people?"
"Irrelevant?"
Suddenly, Wang Shu's pupils shrank. His emotions also became agitated. He leaned forward, his forehead almost touching the cold glass, his eyes swirling with intense jealousy and a desire for destruction.
"How dare you say you haven't thought about divorcing me and going to find him?! As soon as Qin Song returned to China, you rushed to meet him! As soon as he left the country, you booked a plane ticket to go find him without telling me?! You said he has nothing to do with the whole thing?! Is it true? He is only related to you, Qiu Lan?! You only cared about him from the beginning to the end!!!"
The voice that had risen in pitch, then forced itself down, became hoarse and dangerous: "Alan, you don't know that every time I see you with him, here..." Wang Shu pounded his chest hard, "It's like being burned by fire! I just want to lock you up, only I can see you, only I can touch you!"
He stared at her, his eyes filled with an inextricable paranoid possessiveness: "I even thought about... breaking your legs, so that you can never leave me, and can only stay by my side forever..."
But the next second, the madness in Wang Shu's eyes suddenly faded away, replaced by a pain and powerlessness that was deep enough to see through the bones.
He leaned back in his chair dejectedly, mumbling softly, "But... I can't bear to do it. Every time I make a move and see you cry, it hurts more than you do... I hate myself for not being able to control this damn jealousy and panic. And I hate myself for not being able to do it. It's obviously just one move away and you'll be by my side forever."
Qiu Lan was not frightened by the scene, nor did she behave as weakly and panic-stricken as she did before in front of Lin Qingxu or in the court.
She came here just to seek an answer, or to give an answer.
She waited for Wang Shu to calm down a bit before continuing with the question: "Wang Shu, don't always involve other people. Qin Song is Qin Song, and we are us. I don't understand what my question just now has to do with him."
"Two years ago on September 23rd, you bought a plane ticket and flew to Paris. Do you dare to say you weren't going to see Qin Song?"
The date was too specific, and Qiu Lan easily recalled the incident. She spoke frankly, "Master Jinelle has an exhibition in Paris. Because it was announced long ago, I asked you a few months before the exhibition. You said you seemed to be busy during that time, so I bought a ticket for just me."
"Isn't it because you were leaving at the same time as Qin Song?" Wang Shu laughed sarcastically. "As soon as Qin Song came back, you couldn't wait to meet him. I was waiting in the living room, and you came back in the middle of the night, even changed your clothes and got into bed, right?"
If there hadn't been a layer of glass between them, Qiu Lan's slap would have landed on Wang Shu's face. She suppressed her anger, "Have you ever checked the surveillance? You can threaten others to delete the footage for you, so why can't you check the surveillance in any private room or hotel? You're just spreading rumors here. I don't know when Qin Song came back, so I don't know the exact date you're talking about."
"But Wang Shu, let me tell you, I have never done anything that would have caused excessive contact with Qin Song."
Wang Shu didn't believe it. He laughed softly, his laughter full of self-mockery and pain.
It is true that he beat and abused Qiu Lan in the past, but it is also true that he couldn't bear to do anything to Qiu Lan.
In fact, it was quite good in prison. Outside, he couldn't help but look for Qiu Lan, and he couldn't control his anger at being betrayed. Then the cycle would repeat itself, and he would fight with her to the death, making her hate him even more.
He has thought a lot these days and maybe he should tell Qiu Lan the truth.
"Actually, Qin Song didn't betray you back then. I had someone get him drunk, and then I paid a woman to lie down with him and take pictures. If he hadn't resisted and had sex with me, I would have caught him red-handed and the woman would have sued him for adultery. If they hadn't, I would have just sent you the pictures. With his honest personality, he wouldn't have explained anything, and you would have broken up. Who knew he would have slept like a dead pig the whole night?"
"I know."
"The truth is, he's a good person, and he's good to you. I know you still like him, so you can..."
Wang Shuhua was about to hang up the phone right after he finished speaking, but when he realized what Qiu Lan said, he was stunned.
He raised his eyes slightly, then stared at Qiu Lan blankly, and saw the tears that had fallen on her face without him knowing when.
Qiu Lan said, "I know. Two years after we were together, Qin Song sent me an email using my old email address. He must have found the truth and told me everything."
"He said he wanted to be with me again and that you weren't a good person. I was actually pretty angry at the time, but you always turned ordinary days into anniversaries. Maybe I really was in need of love, so I forgave you and apologized to Qin Song on our behalf."
The truth was wrapped in touching warmth, but it was like a sharp knife that pierced into Wang Shu's heart mercilessly, causing him pain.
After a few seconds of dead silence, Wang Shu's shoulders began to tremble violently. He lowered his head and covered his eyes tightly with his palms, but the scalding tears still flowed out from between his fingers uncontrollably.
Suppressed, broken sobs came through the microphone, like a child who had lost the whole world, filled with endless regret and despair.
In fact, in the past few years, Qiu Lan may have guessed some reasons and tried her best to explain, but was ruthlessly interrupted.
It was not until this moment that Wang Shu truly believed it.
All his jealousy, suspicion, and violence were based on an absurd misunderstanding. Because of his morbid love and fear, he destroyed the beauty he regarded as life with his own hands.
When the visiting time was up, Qiu Lan slowly stood up, put the intercom back in its place, and prepared to leave.
Just as she turned around, she heard Wang Shu's hoarse voice behind her, with a sobbing tone.
"Senior."
Qiu Lan paused. This name seemed like something from another world.
A few years ago, on the basketball court, Wang Shu called her for the first time with red ears.
Then she heard him whisper with all his might:
"I know that apart from the initial period, your hesitation and fear these past few days were all fake. Even the medical report and the scars were added and deepened by you later. Everything was just a way for you to escape from me."
"but."
"You are free."
Just like when they first met, he clumsily but sincerely handed me the bottle of mineral water, and called me "senior" with admiration and caution.
Qiu Lan didn't look back, and the tears she had been holding back for so long flowed down.
She walked step by step, firmly towards the bright sunshine outside.
Behind him is the man who became crazy because of love, became delusional because of his crazy love, and finally ruined all his lovers with his own hands.
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The author has something to say: We still need to communicate well
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