Out of control in the rain
After school, the setting sun stretched their shadows far beyond their own. Shen Zhihe and Gu Hanzhi walked side by side on a path carpeted with sycamore leaves. The yellowed leaves swirled and fell at their feet, their rustling mingling with the sound of their footsteps. The chirping of returning birds echoed in the distance, and the dusk cast a soft glow over their silhouettes. Even the floral fragrance lingering in the air became lingering, as if even the evening breeze had slowed its pace, quietly transforming the young couple's thoughts into the most moving campus legend.
As dusk deepened, Shen Zhihe stood at the entrance of the Shen family villa, his figure obscured by the copper lamps on the porch. The subtle click of the key turning was particularly clear in the silent entrance. The marble floor was cold; the servants had long since left work, leaving the house as empty as an ice cellar.
Pushing open the living room door, the coffee table was strewn with mahjong tiles and leftover snack wrappers, and the ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts. The strong smell of cigarette smoke mixed with the odor of cheap perfume stung his nose. He looked at the messy tabletop, a self-deprecating smile playing on his lips. His stepmother had indeed used this place as a gathering place for her card friends again. Moonlight streamed in through the gauze curtains, casting mottled shadows on the messy floor, making this so-called "home" seem even more desolate.
Shen Zhihe stood in the corridor on the second floor. The crystal chandelier cast warm yellow light on the dark brown floor, but it could not warm up the empty house.
The wooden floorboards on the second floor creaked softly, and Shen Zhihe's knuckles turned white as he gripped the doorknob. The cold light from his phone screen filtered through the half-open door, casting Xu Zhiyi's silhouette against the floral curtains as she leaned back against the headboard. Her trembling, coquettish voice pierced his eardrums like a thorn: "Brother Wang, did you receive the 520 yuan I gave you? I'll always love you."
A black backpack slammed against the end of Shen Zhihe's bed, the zipper's scraping sound particularly piercing in the silence. Shen Zhihe loosened his tie, his Adam's apple rolling as he swallowed back his doubts. While the Shen family wasn't incapable of giving money to their friend, this "Brother Wang" didn't sound like a good guy; he might even be a thug.
The knock on the door startled the occupants. In a panic, Xu Zhiyi placed her phone upside down next to the stuffed bear. She straightened her messy clothes and raised her face, her eyelashes still fluttering slightly, but her sweet smile was already there: "Brother, what's going on?"
Shen Zhihe lowered his eyes and looked at her red ears, cold air leaking out from between his teeth: "Come out for a moment, I have something to say." The metal watch made a slight sound as it slid across the door frame. The safety door he installed for her with his own hands now seemed like a barrier.
Xu Zhiyi's fingers, clutching her silk nightgown, turned pale. The crystal chandelier in the hallway stretched Shen Zhihe's shadow so long it practically enveloped her. In her memory, the boy had always won countless awards at competitions and awards ceremonies, and the family couldn't keep up with the trophies and certificates of honor. But now, his cold demeanor was eerily unfamiliar. "I've been in the Shen family for nearly ten years," she muttered, following behind him, counting the grain of the floorboards, whispering to herself so quietly only she could hear. "This is the first time my brother has spoken so coldly."
The antique clock at the corner struck eleven, and Shen Zhihe suddenly stopped. Moonlight slanted through the stained glass, casting a cold shadow on his angular profile. "Zhiyi, who is that person..." As he finished speaking, the sound of a car engine echoed downstairs. The glaring headlights swept across the second floor, violently slicing their shadows onto the wall.
Xu Zhiyi's fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of her pajamas, her nails pinching tiny wrinkles in the fabric. She lowered her eyes and chuckled softly, "We're just ordinary friends. Why are you asking this all of a sudden, brother?"
"An ordinary friend would willingly transfer a 520 yuan cash red envelope. Besides, how do you know I'm talking about that Brother Wang?" Shen Zhihe turned abruptly, his eyes behind the glasses sharp as a knife. "Zhiyi, do you think I can't see? You've been grinning foolishly at your phone lately, spending your pocket money three times faster than before, and your wardrobe is suddenly filled with luxury bags I've never seen before—" He suddenly fell silent, his Adam's apple rolling. "Do you think I'm blind?"
Xu Zhiyi's eyelashes trembled violently, and tears welled up in her eyes. She suddenly remembered the admiring look the salesgirl had given her at the mall last week when the man with the gold chain had put his arm around her shoulders and swiped her card. Those fleeting words of "Ms. Xu is so lucky" clouded her eyes like willow catkins.
"Brother, you don't understand." She turned her face away, her voice trembling, "His name is Wang Ye. He is a helpful person. He is not as bad as you think."
"So you're going to use the Shen family's money to curry favor with these thugs?" Shen Zhihe stepped forward, his shadow completely covering her. "Zhiyi, that Wang Ye isn't as helpful as you think. He's a well-known thug in Linjiang City, and a descendant of the Wang family, the upstarts of City D..."
"Stop talking!" Xu Zhiyi suddenly screamed, tears hitting her collarbone, her eyes slightly red. "You have no idea how tired I am! Everyone is talking about me being a burden to the Shen family, that I'm just my father's illegitimate daughter, and that you only treat me as your biological sister out of pity! I want to prove myself, I want to be truly loved..."
Shen Zhihe froze in place, his Adam's apple rolling up and down, but no sound emanated. The girl's red eyes were filled with despair, and beneath her tear-soaked lashes lay a burning love he had never seen before—those hesitant glances, those unsent messages late at night, had all, at that moment, transformed into boiling magma, scorching the two of them, leaving them with nowhere to hide.
Shen Zhihe's temples throbbed, his suppressed rage causing him to lose his composure and push against Xu Zhiyi's shoulders. The girl stumbled and slammed into the handrail, her eyes blazing with crimson hatred. Just as he turned to leave, a sudden, brute force struck his lower back, and a feeling of weightlessness washed over him.
He heard the dull thud of bones hitting the marble steps, and the metal handrail scraped across the back of his hand, a burning pain. In the swirling light and shadow, Xu Zhiyi's uncontrolled cries grew fainter, until only the dull ache of her head hitting the ground remained. The taste of blood lingered on his tongue. He struggled to get up, only to see the ceiling chandelier shatter into countless spots of light. His eyes grew harder and harder to open, and he finally lost consciousness, engulfing the girl's pale face and trembling fingertips.
In the dead silence, only Shen Zhihe's faint breathing echoed. Xu Zhiyi froze in place, his trembling fingertips still pushing, a few drops of blood still lingering.
"Brother..." Her voice seemed to be squeezed from the depths of her chest, and her legs gave way as she slumped to the steps. A sudden flashback brought back memories of the boy who always smiled at her. And now, the brother who always smiled so tenderly at her lay on the cold floor, the blood flowing from his forehead snaking along the veins, creating glaring flowers on the off-white marble.
Xu Zhiyi tumbled down the stairs, kneeling beside Shen Zhihe as she sobbed. She ripped the lace strips from her skirt to stop the bleeding, but her trembling hands made it difficult to even tie a knot. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She buried her face in his blood-stained uniform, her hot tears falling around the wound. "I didn't mean for this. Wake up and scold me, please..."
The sound of the carved wooden door opening pierced the dead silence. Shen Zhiyuan stepped into the hallway, shrouded in cold rain, the hem of his black windbreaker still stained with wet stains. When he looked up at the tragic scene in the stairwell, his knuckles gripping his umbrella turned white. Blood oozing from Shen Zhihe's forehead spread dark crimson lines across the floor, while Xu Zhiyi sat slumped on the steps, his trembling fingertips still clotted with blood, like bloodstained butterfly wings.
"Is this what you did?" Shen Zhiyuan's voice was like a grind between his teeth, gloomy enough to squeeze water out of it. He loosened his tie with a furious restraint, and as he pulled out his phone to dial 120, his eyes pierced Xu Zhiyi's face like a knife.
A thunderclap crackled in the sky, and bean-sized raindrops slammed onto the bluestone slabs, splashing white water. Shen Zhiyuan's body was filled with suppressed anger, his gloomy brows blending with the swirling dark clouds. The rain poured down, soaking his stiff back. The rain slid down his furrowed brow, mixing with the wet water at his temples and falling onto his collar, like the raging waves in his heart. Every lightning flash illuminated his tense jawline, as if the sky was replicating his current, almost uncontrollable rage.
The red lights of the ambulance whirled frantically in the rainy night. As Shen Zhihe was carried away on a stretcher, his pale face, stained by the rain, became increasingly transparent. Shen Zhiyuan stood frozen beneath the eaves, the rain trickling down the ribs of his umbrella, unable to dispel the overlapping images in his memory—the young man's drooping brows, slowly becoming a familiar image of his deceased wife's frail form before her death. It had been raining just like that outside the operating room that year, as fate cruelly snatched away his beloved as the cold metal door opened and closed. Now, a similar bloody scene unfolded before his eyes.
The veins bulged as he gripped his phone, the unsent messages on the screen blurred in the rain and fog. In a trance, the heart-wrenching cries from outside the operating room ten years ago intertwined with the wailing of the ambulance sirens. Shen Zhiyuan suddenly stumbled, grasping at the corridor column, a bitter taste of rust rising in his throat. Rainwater mixed with tears slid down his collar. He stared at the receding taillights, finally tasting the pain of being repeatedly beaten by fate.
Xu Huanxi stumbled into the rain in her high heels, her scarlet nails nearly digging into her palms. Her gaze slithered across Xu Zhiyi's pale face like a venomous snake, then glanced in the direction the ambulance had vanished. A sinister curve curved the corners of her lips as she whispered into Xu Zhiyi's ear, "You're quite capable! I'll deal with you later." In an instant, her expression shifted to tears as she turned to Chen Zhiyuan, the raindrops dripping from her hair sliding down her collarbone into the plunging V-neckline.
"Master..." Her voice trembled just the right amount. Her delicate fingers tried to touch Shen Zhiyuan's tense arm, but froze in mid-air. "Zhiyi is still young and doesn't understand..."
"She's already in the first year of high school!" Shen Zhiyuan suddenly waved her hand away, his eyes as cold as ice. He ripped off his soaked tie and threw it to the ground, hiding his anger.
"She even dared to be so cruel as to hit her own brother. Is this how you teach your daughter?" Before he could finish his words, the buzzing sound of the mahjong machine in the villa suddenly penetrated the rain curtain, and the shrill laughter drifted in the wind, completely igniting the anger in his eyes.
The downpour poured down, enveloping Xu Zhiyi's frail figure. She knelt on the damp bluestone, her school uniform already soaked through, clung to her body, revealing her fragility. The dripping water from her hair blurred her eyes, and her knees ached from the rough stone. But the guilt and fear swirling within her were far more chilling than the biting cold.
Xu Huanxi stared at her daughter's drenched face, her nails digging into her palms. Finally, unable to resist, she moved closer to Shen Zhiyuan. Her voice, broken by the pounding of the rain, carried a tremor that couldn't be ignored. "Master, Zhiyi was just careless this time... She's your daughter, so please forgive her." Before she could finish her words, Shen Zhiyuan suddenly turned, his gaze behind his glasses so cold it could freeze the air.
"Accidentally?" He tugged at his tie with almost violent restraint. "If the ambulance hadn't arrived in time, we'd be seeing our loved ones die!" Outside the villa, thunder boomed, lightning illuminating Xu Zhiyi's cowering form and sharpening Shen Zhiyuan's tense jawline. Xu Huanxi took a step back at the glare, her plea for mercy fading into a sob, dissipating in the pouring rain.
Xu Huanxi tumbled to her knees at Shen Zhiyuan's feet. Rainwater trickled down her carefully styled curls, forming a thin stream around her neck. She lifted her face, her eyelashes stained with drops of water, whether rain or tears. Her voice was as broken as petals falling in a downpour. "Zhiyi is my daughter, the only one I have. Please, Master, spare her!" Memories suddenly flooded back. The last time she knelt to plead like this, Shen Zhiyuan had, with a single command, caused the nanny to bleed profusely, just to bring her tears to a smile.
Chen Zhiyuan's clenched fist trembled slightly due to the force, and the knuckles turned blue and white. Amid the roar of rain, he looked at the woman in front of him who was crying bitterly. The image of her leaning against the rose trellis when they first met suddenly overlapped with the present moment. His Adam's apple rolled twice with difficulty, and he finally loosened his fist and reached out to pull Xu Huanxi up. His warm palm wrapped around her cold fingers, but he couldn't hide the coldness in his tone: "For your sake, I will forgive Zhiyi for now and just copy the family rules five times. But next time, I will never let you off easily!" As the voice fell, another thunder exploded in the sky, shaking the glass windows of the villa.
The tears on Xu Huanxi's face hadn't yet dried, but the corners of her lips curled up, and tears of joy welled up in her eyes. She raised her hand and gently wiped her cheek, her fingertips trembling slightly with raindrops. "Thank you, Master. I knew you loved me and Zhiyi." As she spoke, she snuggled into Shen Zhiyuan's arms, her wet hair brushing against his neck like a spoiled cat. The rain was still raging outside, but inside, this intimate gesture added a touch of ambiguous and tense warmth.
The moonlight was swallowed by clouds late at night. As Xu Huanxi turned the key to Xu Zhiyi's door, the metal handle creaked softly. She stalked into the room in her stilettos, her scarlet nails raking across the girl's hunched shoulders. "You've been kneeling for so long, your knees are bruised like this?" Her fingertips suddenly pinched Xu Zhiyi's reddened knee, and she sneered as she heard her moan. "If I hadn't shown mercy this time, you wouldn't have had this leg."
The rain outside the window suddenly turned to a drizzle. She let go of his hand and took a half step back, her scarlet skirt sweeping across the carpet. "Don't think I don't know what you're up to. Shen Zhihe also means well this time. You're still young, this is not the time to be in love." She leaned closer, the scent of perfume mixed with rain falling on Xu Zhiyi's face. "Shen Zhihe is your brother. If you dare to do something as inappropriate as today again, I won't be kneeling to the master next time, but to the King of Hell."
Xu Zhiyi raised her face, tears still lingering on her wet eyelashes. She clutched the corner of Xu Huanxi's clothes, her voice filled with tears and stubbornness: "But I just like that Wang Ye. He is gentle and has a good temper. Every time he looks at me, his eyes are soft..." The girl's cheeks flushed sickly, and she gently rubbed her hot forehead on the back of her mother's hand. "He would secretly save my favorite osmanthus cake for me, and would stand in front of me when I was bullied... I really like him." Her fingertips trembled slightly, and she tugged at the silk as if grabbing the last straw. "Mom, I can't control it..."
Xu Huanxi sighed deeply, unfastened her trembling fingertips, and slumped down on the edge of the bed. The bedside lamp cast a bluish-gray shadow under her eyes, like twenty years of accumulated worries. "Zhiyi," she forced a smile that was uglier than crying, reaching out to stroke the corners of her daughter's swollen eyes. "Even if I could turn a blind eye, Shen Zhiyuan wouldn't. Why do you think he was so angry? He wanted to protect the Shen family's century-old reputation and make Shen Zhihe a rising star in the business world..."
She gripped her daughter's wrist, the joints rubbing against Xu Zhiyi's neck. "Your brother will inherit the Shen family's fortune someday, and you'll be their beloved princess. And Shen Zhihe is right, Wang Ye is the eldest son of the upstart Wang family in City D." Her nails nearly dug into her flesh, but her voice suddenly softened as she offered earnest advice, "Hide that love in your heart, just like..." Her gaze drifted to the rain outside the window, and that equally damp night ten years ago suddenly flooded her mind. "Just like the secret Mom has kept hidden her entire life."
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