Chapter 58 Butterfly "Ji Jiazhen, you are..."
Even in her haste, Ji Jiazhen didn't forget to unplug the USB drive from the computer. Li Zhuorong calmly put on her hat and mask, and moved two steps to the side. Ji Jiazhen saw through her intention, turned around and glared at her, pointing at her: "Stay here, don't go anywhere until I get back."
Li Zhuorong wanted to retort, but Ji Jiazhen stopped her after she had just uttered the word "you".
"If you're not afraid of death, then go out and see how long Wen Qinsheng will let you live after he finds out you leaked the secret!"
These words were intimidating enough that Li Zhuorong lowered his head and sat back down, not daring to make any further moves.
Ji Jiazhen had just taken a step when she sighed in frustration and turned back to ask her, "Where could Wen Qinsheng be right now?"
*
The sky was overcast, a sudden downpour was imminent, and the oppressive air was almost suffocating. Time ticked by, the green light at the intersection turned red, and the car was forced to stop.
The phone beeped with a "busy" message. Ji Jiazhen pursed her lips and hung up. She then called Fang Wei, but that call was also busy. Undeterred, she dialed again every two minutes.
As the green light turned on, a large raindrop hit the windshield, followed by a second and a third. The rhythm of the raindrops echoed Ji Jiazhen's heartbeat, making her nerves increasingly tense. After three busy signals, she gave up hope and mechanically repeated the actions. The rain didn't allow her to think about anything else; her attention was forced to be completely focused on driving.
On the fourth dialing, all she heard was the static of rain hitting the glass. After listening for half a minute, she realized something was wrong. She looked down at the screen and saw that the call had been connected twenty seconds earlier, and Wen Siyu hadn't said a word.
She quickly said, "Wen Siyu, listen to me. Turn around. There's no point in you going to find Wen Qinsheng now. Let's find a lawyer and wait until we have a complete chain of evidence before we go to him. You come back first."
Wen Siyu's voice, mingling with the sound of rain, reached Ji Jiazhen's ears: "Do you know whose bed Wen Qinsheng wanted to send my mother to back then?"
Ji Jiazhen didn't know, and she didn't want to know at the moment. "I want you to tell me in person that you either stop the car and wait for me to come over, or turn around and come back to me."
But Wen Siyu wouldn't listen. He continued talking to himself, giving her a name she didn't recognize, which infuriated her. "I don't know this person! You fucking stop the car right now!"
"The mayor that year."
Collusion between officials and businessmen.
Given the complex relationships behind it all, Ji Jiazhen was momentarily stunned. During her silence, Wen Siyu continued.
Do you know why Wen Qinsheng approached Jian Yi?
She heard her own voice, filled with hesitation and a reluctance to delve deeper: "Why...?"
"As a last resort, after failing to get the person they had been eyeing for more than half a year, they got a stand-in from his good son."
...
Wen Siyu had a record of all of Wen Qinsheng's dirty thoughts and despicable behavior on the USB drive. What Wen Siyu didn't expect was that Duan Qiyin's name would appear among them.
Duan Qiyin perfectly inherited Wen Qinsheng's traits. Although their father-son relationship was shallow, their connection in certain aspects was deep. Equally despicable and blinded by greed, they reached a cooperation agreement driven by self-interest.
Wen Qinsheng needed to send "gifts" to his superiors, and Duan Qiyin happened to own a "gift shop." The most exquisite gifts in the gift shop were usually displayed in the most conspicuous position, with high prices and countless bidders. Those who couldn't buy them would then choose imitations or fakes from the side.
However, where there is competition, there is also confrontation.
Wen Qinsheng had his eye on Ji Jiazhen for over half a year, or rather, someone in higher positions had taken a liking to her. But at that time, she had Wen Siyu by her side, making it very difficult to touch her. During the month or so that her relationship with Wen Siyu had briefly ended, she was constantly traveling both domestically and internationally. Once she had some free time, Wen Siyu started coming back to her.
The partnership between Duan Qiyin and Wen Qinsheng broke down after Duan Qiyin learned that Wen Qinsheng's target was Ji Jiazhen. Duan Qiyin received no property or shares, which led to Duan Lan exposing Wen Siyu's illegitimate son's identity online.
As for Wen Siyu, he overestimated his position in Wen Qinsheng's eyes and underestimated Wen Qinsheng's seemingly elusive humanity. He thought that Wen Qinsheng had sent people to keep an eye on Ji Jiazhen a while ago because of him, but it turned out that it was premeditated.
The layers of relationships and schemes are like a giant spider web, in which everyone is caught and cannot escape, and even the weaver of the web is no less caught in it.
...
Rain blurred the car windows, the wipers swung back and forth incessantly, the air inside the car was thin, and the wind howled past his ears. After hearing these shady conspiracies, Ji Jiazhen felt breathless.
Everything she witnessed was somehow related to her.
"You...you stop the car first, let's think of a solution together, we..."
Wen Siyu interrupted her: "It's not 'we,' it's 'me.'"
Ji Jiazhen could no longer speak to him calmly. "I'm your girlfriend," she whispered, then shouted into the phone, repeating, "I'm your girlfriend now!"
Tears fell uncontrollably, as suddenly as a downpour, except that while the rain kept falling, there was only one tear.
"Ji Jiazhen".
Wen Siyu suddenly called her name, his voice much softer than before.
"It's raining heavily, don't come any closer, go back."
Just before the call ended, as tears streamed down Ji Jiazhen's face, he said, "I love you very much."
*
Royal Court Mansion.
The servants were not surprised by Wen Siyu's arrival, assuming he was there to see Wen Qinsheng as usual, and thoughtfully poured him a cup of hot tea to ward off the cold. They didn't think much of it when he asked them to leave the main building, as they always did; they would send others away when they sensed an argument or fight was about to break out, after all, family scandals shouldn't be aired in public.
At that time, Qin Sheng was having a video conference in his study. He seemed to be sick, as he had been working from home for some time and looked unwell, coughing occasionally.
Wen Siyu pushed open the door and walked straight up to him. Without saying a word, he shut down the computer on his desk. As if he hadn't shut it down completely, he stared at him with his dark eyes, picked up the computer, and smashed it to the ground, breaking it into pieces.
Wen Qinsheng was furious with him and suddenly stood up: "You fucking..."
Wen Siyu didn't give him a chance to say anything more and punched him in the cheek with great force. Wen Qinsheng was knocked back into his chair, his head spinning.
"Have you been living comfortably all these years?"
He asked him a question but didn't let him answer; as soon as he finished speaking, he punched him in the face again.
"Now, start thinking about your last words."
After those words, punches rained down, each one heavier than the last, landing squarely on Wen Qinsheng's face and drawing blood quickly. He had absolutely no chance to fight back; even standing up was a struggle.
*
Ji Jiazhen and Fang Wei arrived at Yuting Mansion at almost the same time. After getting out of the car, they didn't even bother to greet each other. They looked at each other and rushed into the house in tacit agreement.
Faint sounds came from the study. Ji Jiazhen followed Fang Wei and before she even reached the study door, she smelled a faint rusty smell in the air, mixed with the dampness of the downpour, which had an indescribable stench.
Ji Jiazhen took a step forward and finally saw the scene in the study. Upon seeing Wen Qinsheng's unrecognizable face, she gagged.
She suppressed her discomfort and said in a trembling voice, "Wen Siyu, stop hitting me..."
Wen Siyu turned his back to her, ignoring her completely. He had rested for a while after knocking Wen Qinsheng unconscious. This was the second round. Wen Qinsheng was still not awake, but his strength had almost recovered.
"If you keep hitting him, he'll die."
These words made Wen Siyu pause in his punching motion, his back still turned to her. "He should have died long ago."
"He deserved to die, but you shouldn't have laid a hand on him!"
Another punch landed, heavier and more vicious than the last.
"He must die by my hand."
Ji Jiazhen truly experienced what helplessness meant.
Knowing that things will get really bad if you can't stop him, that's what helplessness is.
Only then did she understand the meaning of the kiss he gave her before leaving.
When he kissed her, he never thought about going back.
Her voice trembled with tears; she was truly panicked. "Wen Siyu, what you're doing is no different from him. This is murder. You don't need to waste your whole life on him."
He heard every word, but it just wouldn't stop. He understood the reasoning and knew what his actions meant, but things had reached an irreversible point. Continuing would be murder, and stopping now would be intentional injury. It didn't matter which way he went, so he decided to let Wen Qinsheng die.
The fist that fell again was his attitude, and also his answer to her.
Ji Jiazhen frowned in pain, caught in a difficult decision. She lowered her head, took a deep breath, and sighed tremblingly, her voice softer than the wind.
“Wen Siyu, think it through. Think carefully about the choices you’ve made and the actions you’ve taken.” She sniffed, holding back her tears. “I’ve said this is the last time. I still have a career, a future. I can’t be with a murderer, I…”
"Then let's break up."
Wen Siyu finally turned around, his right cheek stained with Wen Qinsheng's blood, his eyes red, and he spoke words that left no way back and no future.
Ji Jiazhen felt as if someone was choking her, and she couldn't make a sound for a long time.
“...If you’re so capable, look me in the eye and say it again.”
He turned around and took two tissues to wipe the blood off his hands, but the dried bloodstains wouldn't come off no matter what he did. He simply threw the tissues on the ground and walked up to her, wanting to put her words into action. But when he met her eyes with tears in them, he couldn't help but look away.
"Say it!"
Wen Siyu lowered his head, the confidence that had just slipped out gone. These words would push them completely down two different paths, and would also turn all his efforts and the past he had shared with her into ashes.
But this is the best outcome, at least for her.
"We're breaking up. Everything here has nothing to do with you anymore, you..."
The unexpected slap left him speechless.
"Do you dare look me in the eye when you say that?"
Ji Jiazhen stared intently at his face, her hand trembling as she hit him, unwilling to accept this outcome, unwilling to accept that it shouldn't have been this way.
“Wen Siyu”.
Fang Wei suddenly spoke, drawing the attention of Wen Siyu and Ji Jiazhen, who both looked over. She had somehow walked up to Wen Qinsheng, who at that moment had regained some consciousness, his mouth open, emitting hoarse sounds from his throat.
Fang Wei said, "The thing is in my bag."
It was wrapped on the ground at Ji Jiazhen's feet.
Wen Siyu squatted down to pick it up and took out a file folder from his bag, but Ji Jiazhen had no time to pay attention to him. She stood there, staring blankly at Fang Wei's actions.
Fang Wei was still talking, speaking to Wen Qinsheng.
"You're trying to say that murder is illegal, right? But after all these years, how come you haven't been brought to justice yet?"
She stood behind Wen Qinsheng, untied the silk scarf around her neck, and calmly put it around Wen Qinsheng's neck.
"I wouldn't either. The law shouldn't convict a mentally ill person in an acute episode of the disease, am I right? It's reasonable for a woman who has suffered the unexplained death of a loved one to develop an incurable mental illness, right? She never even saw her sister's body, nor did she receive her ashes."
As she spoke, she began to loosen her grip.
Wen Qinsheng's face was covered in blood, but you could still clearly see his facial muscles trembling and struggling. The struggles were getting weaker and weaker, and his breathing was getting fainter and fainter.
Until...
die.
Wen Qinsheng was strangled to death by Fang Wei.
Ji Jiazhen's legs went weak and she almost couldn't stand. She looked away and turned her gaze back to Wen Siyu's face.
Wen Siyu showed no reaction to Wen Qinsheng's death, nor did he display any joy at his successful revenge. He pulled two pages from the file folder, the large characters on the top page being particularly striking.
—Artist management contract.
The other page contains stamps and signatures.
A bright red seal was branded on Duan Qiyin's name, and next to it was her own signature, "Ji Jiazhen," from when she was eighteen.
This is her original contract, which is no different from a contract of servitude.
Wen Siyu turned around, picked up a lighter from the table, and with a click, a flame leaped out, igniting a corner of the paper. He looked at her calmly.
The contracts, rife with collusion and the papers that restricted her actions, were things she had tried so hard to destroy. In an instant, they burned to cold ashes and scattered all over the ground, while he stared at her face the whole time.
"Ji Jiazhen, you are free."
Ji Jiazhen didn't know what she was feeling at that moment. She felt neither sad nor happy. Tears kept flowing, but it wasn't really crying; she was just shedding tears, calmly shedding tears.
The sudden sound of a police siren startled her awake. She trembled and looked out the window like a frightened bird.
When Wen Siyu spoke again, his voice was low and hoarse: "After you go downstairs, tell the police that you called the police, that you came to stop me, and that we have nothing to do with each other."
He walked towards her as he spoke, his expression complex, his farewell gesture tinged with deep reluctance. When he reached her, he wanted to raise his hand to wipe away her tears, but upon seeing the bloodstains on his hand, he changed his mind and instead kissed her, kissing away her endless stream of salty, hot tears.
"If I had known this mess would happen, I wouldn't have kept you occupied for so long."
He pressed his forehead against hers, listening to the approaching sirens, closing his eyes and indulging in the last minute of intimacy with her.
"I'm sorry."
She continued to cry silently after hearing the apology.
“You’re right, I’m immature, and I often handle things in an extreme way,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Like this. People around my age are probably even more immature than me. Next time, find someone your age to hang out with, someone sensible and obedient, so you won’t be too tired.”
He still doesn't regret his decision today. His only regret is that he didn't wash his hands before she arrived, so that he could have comforted her when she cried.
Ji Jiazhen's hands hung at her sides, clenched into fists, her nails already digging into her palms.
She knew that no one wanted to come to this point, and often all one could do was helplessly say "it was fate." Wen Siyu had no other choice either.
Wen Qinsheng deserves to die. The evidence against him is only enough to sentence him to prison, far from enough to kill him.
Now that Qin Sheng is dead, what will become of Wen Siyu? At just over twenty years old, will he bear the stigma of patricide and the crime of intentional assault?
She's a top scorer; she's worked so hard to get to where she is today, is about to win an award, and is enjoying immense success. Nothing is more important than her future.
Love won't work.
Even Wen Siyu wouldn't do.
Her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts, and she inadvertently met Fang Wei's gaze.
Fang Wei crossed her arms, more like she was hugging herself, and mouthed a sentence to her as she smiled:
Congratulations in advance on winning the award, little Best Actress!
She always acted this way, taking advantage of her age and experience, looking down on her as a senior, calling her "little girl" or "kid".
Ji Jiazhen hesitated for a long time, and Wen Siyu finally restrained himself, using his elbow to push her shoulder gently towards the door.
He clearly had so much more to say; all the emotions he didn't voice came through his eyes. But he only uttered two words:
"Go."
-----------------------
The author's note: I want Wen Qinsheng, that scoundrel, to die, but I don't want anyone to pay the price for his death, so I will weaken the plot about holding people accountable after his death.
Fang Wei is a French citizen. She fabricated a mentally ill persona that was impeccable, so she wouldn't have to bear any legal responsibility. She would also do everything in her power to help Wen Siyu get away with it. Wen Siyu himself already had a plan, but I won't bother to write it down.
It's just a novel, read it for fun, please don't take it as reality.
As Wen Siyu said, "Ji Jiazhen, you are free," so in the next chapter, a new character should appear.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
