Chapter 37 Jiang Qichen's Collapse
Jiang Yi watched Ling Shen leave without any regrets, his nails digging deep into his palms. It was not until Ling Shen's footsteps completely disappeared at the end of the corridor that his tense spine collapsed. His crazy expression receded like the tide, leaving only a dry and desolate scene.
"Finally, everything is over." Jiang Yi staggered and fell onto the sofa. The light from the spotlight made him unable to help but raise his hand to cover his eyes, but a tear still slowly slid down from the corner of his eye.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, burning with heat. Jiang Qichen's caller ID looked like a hideous face. "Jiang Yi, how are you?" The voice from the receiver was shrouded in the hum of electricity, yet it still pierced my eardrums clearly.
Jiang Yi stared at the name that kept jumping on the screen, and suddenly remembered that when he was a child, he had a fever and was unconscious. His father held his wrist like this, but instead of taking his temperature, he pried open his fingers and put a pen into his palm to practice calligraphy.
The urgent questioning in that voice at this moment was exactly the same as the harshness when he was forced to recite the business terms.
A self-deprecating smile curled up the corner of his mouth, and he pressed the hang-up button with his thumb. The phone drew a parabola and shattered into pieces on the ground. His distorted face was reflected in the shattered screen, like countless fragments of himself.
However, no matter how Jiang Yi escaped, he still had to face it in the end.
Jiang Qichen looked at the drunken Jiang Yi, his face filled with a look of disappointment. "Look at you, what else can you do besides drinking and fooling around?" He pointed at Jiang Yi with a trembling finger. "Look at the Ling family again, how can you compare to him?"
"Haha, yes," Jiang Yi sneered, "In your heart, I will never be as good as others. But don't forget, the Jiang family's current achievements are all thanks to me."
Jiang Qichen was choked by Jiang Yi's words and covered his chest and stepped back, "You...you..."
Jiang Yi didn't bother to look at Jiang Qichen's expression. Instead, he looked nonchalant. "What? Did I hit you right? Back then, you made me your savior for the Jiang family. And you watched Ling Shen treat me like a close friend, protecting and praising me."
He rolled up his sleeves and said, "See? The scar you relied on is gone." Moonlight poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the tattoo pattern of vines and thorns on his forearm.
Jiang Qichen looked at the tattoo on Jiang Yi's arm, and his expression suddenly became panicked. "What did you do? Jiang Yi?" His voice seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his chest, with a trembling sound on the verge of collapse.
"Haha, do you know what I was doing before I came back?" Jiang Yi looked at Jiang Qichen's expression with satisfaction. The sarcasm on his face became even stronger. "Before I came back, I met with Ling Shen. Guess what I said to him?"
The crisp sound of a slap exploded in the silent living room, and Jiang Yi's face instantly tilted to the side. He slowly licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, and a crazy fire burned in his pupils.
His cheeks were visibly red and swollen, but he turned his head back nonchalantly. The mockery and madness in his eyes made Jiang Qichen couldn't help but take a step back.
"Are you crazy? Jiang Yi." Jiang Qichen seemed unable to accept that Jiang Yi had forced him to this point, and roared in anger.
Jiang Yi shrugged, "Yeah, I'm crazy. I went crazy a long time ago." Then he went upstairs. As he stepped onto the stairs, he turned back and told Jiang Qichen, "Ling Shen already knows. The Jiang family is finished. Hahahaha..."
After saying that, Jiang Yi disappeared up the stairs with a smile. However, Jiang Qichen no longer cared about Jiang Yi. The only thing that kept echoing in his mind was Jiang Yi's words, "Ling Shen knows... The Jiang family is finished."
Jiang Qichen could no longer support himself, his legs gave way and he fell directly onto the sofa. If Ling Shen knew, then the Ling family must have known too. Then the Jiang family...
He didn't dare think any further. He knew very well that the Jiang family had relied entirely on the Ling family's support for so many years. Ever since the Ling family stopped investing and cooperating, the Jiang family had been in dire straits. If before, Ling Shen would have shown mercy to the Jiang family for Jiang Yi's sake, but after tonight, he was afraid that everything would become a mirage.
Jiang Qichen didn't know who else to turn to for help. For so many years, he had relied on the Ling family to never put anyone else in his eyes. Now that the Jiang family had fallen from power, these people were being kind by not adding insult to injury. How could he dare to expect anyone to help the Jiang family?
Jiang Yi stood upstairs, unable to describe the feeling in his heart. He always felt that this home was like a huge cage that he could not escape no matter what.
But now, when this cage is facing collapse, he actually feels sad.
The heavy rain outside the window poured down without anyone noticing. The raindrops as big as beans hit the floor-to-ceiling windows madly, making crackling sounds, as if they were going to swallow up this luxurious villa.
The crystal chandelier in the living room flickered, illuminating Jiang Qichen's paper-white face. He slumped on the sofa, his hands tangled in his gray hair, his knuckles turning white from the force.
Inside the room, everything was just as it had been before he left. On the desk was a photo of him and Ling Shen from their youth. The two boys in the photo were huddled together, smiling brightly. The sunlight filtered through the leaves onto their faces, a warmth so intense it was almost blinding.
Jiang Yi picked up the photo frame and gently traced Ling Shen's smiling face in the photo with his fingertips. Suddenly, his eyes felt sore. He had truly considered Ling Shen a friend, the only light in his dark life.
But when this friendship is mixed with lies, everything is like a castle built on the beach, which collapses when the tide comes.
"Ling Shen, I'm sorry..." Jiang Yi slowly squatted down with the photo frame in his hand. He really regretted it.
He shouldn't have let Ling Shen make the mistake, shouldn't have listened to his father and let the mistake go, and shouldn't have enjoyed Ling Shen's kindness so unscrupulously.
But there is no medicine for regret in the world, and the ending of everything was already determined when Ling Shen woke up.
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