relief
Qin Yalin's eyes, which had been like those of a zombie, suddenly lit up. Almost without thinking, she rushed over and hugged the man tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, "Mom, am I dreaming?! Xiao Yi, my Xiao Yi, is it really you???"
Wen Xuyi seemed startled by the sudden appearance of the figure, instinctively crossing his arms in front of his head, his face filled with terror. Only when he felt the dampness of his clothes did he seem to snap back to reality, his unfocused pupils regaining some focus, and he asked incredulously, "Mom...?"
With just that one cry, Qin Yalin cried even louder, her withered fingers clutching desperately at Wen Xuyi's clothes, completely oblivious to the strange looks around her.
The two junior officers next to him tried to stop him, but their chief waved his hand, indicating that they didn't need to.
Zheng Min put his hands behind his back and smiled meaningfully, "The law is ruthless, but not entirely heartless. Today is his father's funeral, and it's only recently that the mother and son have had a rare opportunity to meet. Let them be..."
In the event of the death of an immediate family member, the prison may assign officers to detain the individual and grant temporary leave for visitation.
Wen Xubai never expected that he would see Wen Xuyi again in such a scene.
His hands were trembling slightly, and the anger suppressed deep within him seemed poised to erupt; even his breathing became rapid…
On what grounds?
Qin Yalin's wailing and howling still echoed in his ears, her heart-wrenching cries of "Xiao Yi" gradually merging with Chen Fang's grief-stricken cries of "Xiao Yi"...
On what grounds?!
Why should a murderer be allowed to reappear in public and embrace his mother, while the real victim must lie buried underground forever, never to be able to embrace his mother again?
Hatred surged wildly in Wen Xubai's mind, gradually threatening to erode his entire sanity...
All living beings in his field of vision seemed to turn into a thick black mist, except for the prisoner standing in the very center, whose figure was crystal clear. A mad voice kept shouting in his ear: Kill him!
Kill him!
Have you forgotten how he treated you before?
Have you forgotten how Zhou Yi pleaded desperately before he died?
Have you forgotten... what was your purpose in abandoning everything to come back?
Kill him... kill him... kill him!
"Kill him..." Wen Xubai seemed possessed, his head throbbing, and almost instinctively reached for the razor blade in his pocket...
It sounded like someone was calling his name nearby, but he couldn't hear them anymore...
Wen Xubai's gaze gradually fixed, and he slowly moved forward. Just as he was about to leap, a tremendous force suddenly pulled him back! Wen Xubai staggered, and his forehead bumped directly into something soft!
A familiar scent filled his nostrils, and a strong, powerful hand trembled slightly as it pulled him into an embrace. The scene before him gradually cleared, revealing a flat, broad chest…
Someone shouted in my ear, "A-Che!"
Wen Xubai suddenly woke up!
Looking up, I suddenly saw Qi's most worried eyes, and my heart skipped a beat.
Qi Zuijun frowned, cupped his face, and whispered, word by word, "Calm down. Wen Xuyi will receive the punishment he deserves. The law will punish him, the country will punish him, and everything will eventually return to where he belongs. Don't put yourself in danger anymore, okay?"
That's what the man said, but his eyes, which flickered like an earthquake, had already betrayed the unease in his heart.
Qi was most worried about him, worried that he would act impulsively again, worried that he would get hurt... There were police and media all around, and if he really did something outrageous, he would never get away unscathed.
The suffocating feeling that had overwhelmed him gradually subsided. Wen Xubai gasped for breath, and the turbulent emotions within him finally calmed down once more…
He finally heard Qi Zui say, "I'm here."
This one sentence, just two simple words, was enough to soothe all his uneasy thoughts.
But this was not the time for tenderness or a sweet place. After realizing this, Wen Xubai quickly retreated, leaving Qi Zui's embrace and keeping his distance.
Qi Zui also tacitly concealed the turmoil in his eyes. When he looked up again, his expression was as calm as before, as if nothing had happened.
After the storm passed, everyone finally recovered from the unexpected incident and refocused their attention on the "protagonist" on the altar.
Two junior police officers, one supporting Qin Yalin who was nearly crying to the point of fainting but still unwilling to let go of Wen Xuyi's arm, and the other sighing helplessly while pressing down on Wen Xuyi, whose face was also covered in tears, the four of them walked together toward the center of the mourning hall.
Upon reaching the memorial statue, Wen Xuyi knelt down and kowtowed three times to Wen Tingyi's photograph. Then, he and Qin Yalin stood to the side, took the Buddhist scriptures handed to them by the abbot, and began to read them haltingly.
The hall instantly returned to its previous state, filled with the chanting of scriptures...
The scent of agarwood seemed to have faded somewhat, and the memorial service was gradually drawing to a close...
Just then, Wen Xubai felt a vibration in his trouser pocket.
Out of courtesy, everyone who comes to pay their respects puts their phones on vibrate before entering, to avoid disrupting the ceremony. As for why they don't silence them? Obviously, those attending are elites from all walks of life who have taken time out of their busy schedules, and it's impossible for them to actually bear the responsibility of missing important information just because of the so-called "fear of disturbing the deceased."
Wen Xubai gestured to Ruan Xing beside him, and after receiving his permission, he left slowly and quietly, slipping out through the back door of the mourning hall.
The back door of the mourning hall faces the manor garden, and as soon as you step out of the mourning hall, the air seems to be much fresher.
Wen Xubai took a deep breath, then quickly walked to a green tree. After making sure no one was around, he took out his phone from his pocket.
I initially thought something had happened at the company, but when the screen lit up, it was a completely unfamiliar number.
Wen Xubai has an excellent memory. He can remember any phone call he receives, even if he only remembers the number once. But this number today... he doesn't remember it at all, he has never seen it before.
Wen Xubai hesitated for a moment, then suddenly thought of Tan Yu. Could it be him?
As a private investigator, not disturbing the client's private life should be basic practice. Moreover, he hadn't been in contact with Tan Yu for a long time, not even doing business with him. He had never even told Tan Yu about his change of identity and return to the Ruan family.
He knew that any capable private investigator had their own network of informants, so finding him shouldn't be too difficult...
After thinking for a while, Wen Xubai finally pressed the answer button.
"Hello?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a woman's voice suddenly came through.
"Hello, it's me."
Surprisingly, it wasn't an unfamiliar voice, nor had it been altered. He recognized the voice from just one sentence.
Wen Xubai frowned slightly, "Fang Yue?"
There was another half-minute of silence on the other end.
Wen Xubai suddenly felt a little panicked, worried that something might have happened to Chen Fang and the child. He was anxious to ask something, but before he could speak, a deep sigh came from the other end, long and drawn out, with a hint of heaviness, as if the person was extremely tired.
Wen Xubai asked anxiously, "Fang Yue, what happened?"
"No..." came the reply quickly from the other end. Fang Yue said slowly, "Everyone is fine... I'm just a little tired..."
Wen Xubai frowned even more deeply, and his heart suddenly started racing. He asked in a deep voice, "Where are you now?"
Fang Yue said to herself, "Brother, do you know why I'm in such a hurry to marry Xiao Yi and have children?"
Wen Xubai's heart skipped a beat, and his voice trembled slightly: "This isn't the time to talk about these things. Tell me first, where are you right now?!"
“Because I’m afraid,” Fang Yue interrupted him. “From the moment I successfully stepped out of the Wen family home, every single minute, every single second, I’ve lived in fear…”
"Fang Yue!"
"The Wen family is too oppressive. The atmosphere there terrifies me, the coldness in the air frightens me. I don't know what I might do wrong next, or I'll be discarded like trash. I don't know if I'll see the sun again the next day when I close my eyes at night... Every day living in the Wen family is like walking on thin ice..."
"Fang Yue, stop talking!"
"Brother, do you know? I thought I was going to die in the car accident Father orchestrated for Mother... But when I woke up, I truly saw that ray of sunlight, the most dazzling sun in the sky. I thought, since God gave me a second life, I should truly live as I please. And then... I met Xiao Yi..."
He was sunny and radiant, like the blazing sun, a natural contrast to my gloom. I envied him, envied him, longed for him, yet... I was also afraid of him... But then he took my hand and said, 'I love you, I will never leave you...'
A soft laugh came from the other end of the phone: "I knew the Wen family wouldn't let me go. Even if I forged my identity and changed everything beyond recognition, I still couldn't escape their control... So I desperately clung to this blissful time, which I didn't know how long it would last. I married Zhou Yi right after graduating from university, then got pregnant and had a child. But I forgot... human desires can grow infinitely... If only... I could have always been 'Fang Yue'."
"Fang Yue, please, stop talking..."
A growing sense of panic and a growing sense of foreboding prompted Wen Xubai to quickly activate the location function, hoping to find Fang Yue's location. However, the green search circle on the screen spun repeatedly, leaving him anxiously waiting.
There was a sudden pause on the other end of the phone.
Fang Yue's voice was faint as she said, "It's my fault that Xiao Yi is in trouble..."
"This isn't your fault! Fang Yue, calm down!" Wen Xubai quickened his movements, a thin layer of sweat already trickling down his forehead.
Fang Yue: "Brother, this is the last time I'll call you brother. I'm begging you, please take good care of my child and mother. I will pray for you from the afterlife, wishing you and Qi Zui could be together forever..."
"Fang Yue, what do you want to do?! Fang Yue!!!"
Noticing the commotion outside the door, Qi Zui looked up with some confusion.
But then I saw that the sky outside the window had suddenly brightened up. The dark clouds had receded, revealing a clear blue sky. Under the dazzling sunlight, a thin figure wearing a baseball cap was standing there.
Qi Zui: "?"
The woman walked slowly through the crowd's chatter, then knelt down and kowtowed three times in the same manner as Wen Xuyi had done earlier.
The moment the hat brim lifted, Qin Yalin recognized that beautiful face first, her pupils widening instantly as she exclaimed, "Yaoyao!!!"
"Sister?" Wen Xuyi finally realized it too.
Qin Yalin rushed over, pulling the woman back so she stumbled. The woman, her eyes wide with shock, exclaimed, "Yaoyao! Is it really you? You...you're still alive?!"
Wen Xuyi also took a few steps forward, breaking free from the restraints of the police officer behind him, his pupils trembling, "Sister..."
"What's going on? Who is that?"
"Miss Wen? Wasn't Miss Wen already dead?"
"I don't know?"
"······"
Instantly, murmurs arose in the empty mourning hall. Everyone was busy whispering to each other and did not notice a person sitting in the corner with a gloomy face.
"Yaoyao, you..."
Qin Yalin wanted to ask something, but the person in front of her shook off her hand. Wen Xuyao walked straight to Wen Xuyi, who was wearing prison clothes, and then, under the surprised and suspicious gazes of everyone, he took out a folding knife from his sleeve and, without the slightest hesitation, forcefully stabbed it into the abdomen of the person in front of him!
Qi Zui: "!!!"
"Aaaaaah! Murder!!!"
"Quick!!! Run!!!"
Screams instantly echoed across the rooftop, and everyone scattered in all directions. The people who had been densely gathered in the room immediately dispersed, leaving only a few people standing quietly in the hall, still shaken.
Wen Xuyi stared at the crimson bloodstains on his abdomen, looking up in disbelief. He saw the woman beneath the hat brim her eyes, her gaze a mixture of pain and hatred, guilt and coldness…
Wen Xuyao said, word by word, "I'm sorry..." and then suddenly pulled the blade away!
Instantly, blood gushed out!
Qin Yalin covered her blood-splattered face and screamed, "Ahhhhh!!! Help!!! Ambulance! Call an ambulance!!!"
The police officer next to him finally reacted, kicked the knife out of Wen Xuyao's hand, and was about to take out handcuffs to subdue the man when a loud "bang" came from the air.
Wen Xuyao's eyes widened, and she took a few steps forward due to inertia. Her baseball cap fell off, revealing the bloody hole in the center of her forehead, and then she fell to the ground!
"Yaoyao!!!" Qin Yalin screamed in despair.
Qi Zui was also startled and quickly stepped forward to catch Wen Xuyao's falling body!
But as soon as he landed, the woman grabbed his wrist tightly!
Qi looked at Wen Xuyao with a puzzled expression. In the instant their eyes met, he heard gasps of surprise rising and falling from the crowd.
The people in the mourning hall who were about to call the police all changed their expressions when they saw the headline news pop up on their phones.
Qi Zui's phone fell out of his pocket due to the movement and hit the ground with a "thud" as the screen lit up.
When Qi Zui saw the video of the ward that had been accidentally opened on the screen, he suddenly realized something.
He suddenly looked up and scanned the room, his heart sinking to the bottom.
Where is Chen Che?
Where is Chen Che?!
Feeling a pull on his chest, Qi looked down and saw the weak woman in his arms with her thin lips slightly parted, her slender fingers trembling as she pointed towards the back door...
Qi Zui's mind was in complete chaos. He couldn't care less about anything else at that moment. After gently putting the woman in his arms down, he shouted, "Take her to the hospital!" Then he yanked the handle and rushed out the back door!
"Yaoyao!!!" It sounded like someone was calling her from beside her.
distant?
Wen Xuyao thought vaguely: No, my name is Fang Yue.
Physiological tears streamed down her face, dampening the hair at her temples. In her hazy state, Wen Xuyao seemed to feel a hand reaching out to her…
The bespectacled man smiled brightly, his two small canine teeth gleaming slightly. He gently wiped away her tears, saying indulgently, "Why are you crying? I came to pick you up, didn't I? I told you, I will never leave you..."
I will never... leave you...
Wen Xuyao suddenly smiled.
Her hand trembled as she reached out, wanting to grasp that person's hand...
Take me away... Xiao Yi...
Her consciousness suddenly stopped, her body felt as if she were lying on cotton. As the last tear fell, Fang Yue's hand, which had been hovering in mid-air, suddenly fell to the ground...
At that moment, Qi Zui rushed out of the backyard like a madman, searching frantically in the garden, but suddenly stopped when he passed a towering green tree.
A wave of fear washed over him, making him dizzy and disoriented, and in an instant, it robbed him of all his senses…
On the open grassland, there were no weeds growing, only a gray-cased mobile phone lying quietly, its screen frozen on the coordinates of green text.
And this coordinate... is the Wen Family Manor.
Inside the funeral hall, the video was still playing. In the dimly lit hospital room, a tall man, whose back was only visible in the footage, slowly ripped off the ventilator from the person on the bed. He lowered his head and murmured for a moment, saying something that was unclear...
"Brother, run away, get far away from this sea of suffering that will drown you..."
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