Chapter 38 I once thought I understood you, but now it seems that I...
Shen Xingjian was not surprised that Xu Jiakai would come to him.
Ever since he met Accountant Xu that day, he knew this day would come.
Xu Jiakai at the door was wearing a brown jacket, his eye sockets were slightly red and sunken, and his usually smooth jaw was now covered with dark stubble.
This time he didn't use the key to open the door and come in directly, but stopped at the door and knocked.
After the door opened, cold wind rushed in. Xu Jiakai put the umbrella at the door and forced a smile.
Shen Xingjian didn’t say anything, the wheelchair moved back slightly, motioning him to come in.
Xu Jiakai walked slowly into the living room. His eyes swept over Shen Xingjian's legs covered with a blanket, then quickly moved away. He said in a hoarse voice:
"This matter has nothing to do with my parents. They know nothing. As for the matter with Accountant Liu... I can explain."
Shen Xingjian didn't respond, but just poured him a glass of water and watched quietly.
The silence spread like ice.
“I know that nothing I say now will help, but Shen Xingjian, believe me, I was forced to do so…”
"Being forced?"
It is said that there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. When the filter of trust was completely shattered, after listening to his sophistry, Shen Xingjian just wanted to laugh.
"Zhongyue was founded by you and me. I want it to do well more than anyone else! I really didn't intend to touch the company's money. It was that woman! She and her lover set me up! She took advantage of me being drunk and accused me of adultery. She even threatened to call the police!"
Xu Jiakai became excited. "She asked for one million right away, but how could I possibly have that much money? She didn't believe me and insisted I hire her. Later, I found out they were just trying to cash out using the company's balance sheet!"
He covered his head in pain. "I was going to call the police, but then she suddenly said she was pregnant with my child! She threatened to sue me if I dared to call the police! I looked it up online and found that amniocentesis can do DNA testing. I was really scared that the baby in her belly was mine..."
"You said she set it up to harm you, and she said you set it up to harm her. Do you two want to reconcile your statements before coming back?" Shen Xingjian sneered, took out his mobile phone from the side of the wheelchair, and played the recording of Accountant Liu accusing him that day to him.
After hearing this, Xu Jiakai was furious, but he still endured it and didn’t explode. He gritted his teeth and said, “Shen Xingjian, you know me after knowing each other for so many years. I only have Shi Yunran in my heart! If I hadn’t been framed, how could I have had a relationship with another woman?”
Shen Xingjian looked at him, his eyes as if he was looking at a poor actor, and said disappointedly: “I once thought I understood you, but now it seems that I don’t understand you at all.”
He showed him the video that Zhang Wei accidentally took that day. In the video, he and Accountant Liu were clearly in cahoots.
Xu Jiakai's expression froze, his eyes were still red, but his look had changed.
"You keep saying you like Shi Yunran. Do you like her, or do you like the power and status she can bring you?" Shen Xingjian mercilessly exposed her. "You said that Zhongyue was founded by you and me, and you want it to be better than anyone else, but have you ever told me a single word about what you've done?"
"Xu Jiakai, is it time that has made you like this, or... have you always been like this?"
The air froze with the accusation.
Xu Jiakai took a deep breath, and the pleading expression on his face gradually faded, replaced by a distortion.
"Whether you believe it or not, the baby she's carrying now has nothing to do with me."
He seemed to become calm, as if he had finally taken off his disguise, and laughed: "Shen Xingjian, do you feel particularly aggrieved, as if I have been calculating against you from the beginning, as if I have suffered a great loss?"
He leaned over, looking down at him condescendingly. "Do you think all you need to start a company is technology? Do you think having a dream can overcome everything? Wake up! This is fucking reality, not a movie! How did all those projects for the company come about over the years? Did they just fall from the sky?"
"It's me!" He pointed at himself. "I ran here step by step! I drank bottle by bottle! I begged for it!"
"In order to get those projects you looked down upon, I drank day and night with those bosses, rich kids, and a bunch of worthless beasts. I drank until my stomach was perforated!"
"But what about you? You're so noble, so great, you say you won't do it, then you won't do it!"
"Why? Do you own the company alone? Do you own the patents alone? If I hadn't brought in those projects, do you really think you could have spent that little money until now?"
He suddenly shouted: "I deserve this!"
"My parents have worked hard all their lives, and they still live in that shabby storefront. What's wrong with me wanting to buy them a house?"
"I like Shi Yunran, and I also like her power and status, so what? Why can't I have my cake and eat it too?"
“Shen Xingjian, you’ve had too many good days and don’t even know what the hell the world is like now!”
Xu Jiakai was breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently.
Shen Xingjian watched him go crazy quietly, and waited until he finished speaking before closing his eyes tiredly.
"In that case, there's nothing more for us to discuss. Go ahead, and I'll have a lawyer contact you about the rest."
When you find that a person seems to have changed, perhaps he has finally torn off his disguise and stopped acting. What you think are sudden changes are actually the abscesses festering in his bones that have finally broken through the skin.
He hasn't changed, he's just been that way.
Outside the window, thunder rumbled, and the daytime lightning illuminated the faces of the two men, rumbling and exploding above their heads.
“Shen Xingjian, do you have to do things so drastically?” Xu Jiakai’s face became a little ferocious under the reflection of lightning.
Shen Xingjian raised his head, looked him straight in the eyes, and said in a voice as cold as ice: "Xu Jiakai, every wrong you did was due to hardship and you were forced into it. And I, just wanting the truth, am I taking things too far?"
A sneer curved his lips as he slowly spoke, "You embezzled public funds and conspired with others to cash out because you were filial to your parents and because others set you up. You betrayed your friends and used company resources to satisfy your own desires because you were wronged while drinking with clients and because I'm too proud to bow down..."
"According to you, you're the only one in the world who has a hard time, and everyone else's glamorous life is just because they're lucky and haven't encountered any setbacks?" Shen Xingjian's tone suddenly sharpened. "You keep saying that reality is cruel and that I don't understand the world, but your logic is truly selfish and shameless, and extremely hypocritical!"
He leaned forward slightly, his eyes like knives. "Didn't you ask me if I felt wronged? I don't feel wronged. I just find it ridiculous. It's ridiculous that I actually believed that you were kind by nature."
Thunder exploded again outside the window, and pale light flashed across Shen Xingjian's cold face:
"From the beginning to the end, you only loved yourself. Every choice you made only proved time and again that you, Xu Jiakai, are a complete and calculating villain!"
"you!!"
Shen Xingjian's words were like red-hot needles, precisely piercing the nerves he least wanted to be touched. Xu Jiakai's face turned from red to blue, and veins popped out on his forehead. His eyes, which were always downcast, now only showed the madness after the disguise was completely torn apart and the jealousy that had been pent up for years.
"What do you know?! What gives you the right to judge me from such a high position?!" He roared, pounced forward, and strangled Shen Xingjian's neck with his hands like iron clamps, "Shen Xingjian, you always look so high and mighty! And this is what I hate most about you!"
"You were born with everything! Family background, talent, the love of others... You got everything so easily! Even though you were disabled, Guanya still wanted you! And what about me? I gave so much, lived by your side for so many years, but I will always live in your shadow!"
The feeling of suffocation came instantly, Shen Xingjian struggled, but was completely at a disadvantage in terms of strength.
He clearly saw the undisguised hatred and jealousy swirling in Xu Jiakai's eyes, the kind of madness that erupted completely after being forced into a desperate situation.
At this moment, Gao Xing's previous warning exploded in his mind like thunder: "Zhang Wei said... your murderer was Xu Jiakai..."
The huge disappointment and suffocation did not make him collapse, but instead acted like a basin of ice water, awakening his last bit of hesitation.
A cold determination surged from the deepest part of his heart: He must not die here, he must not die in such an unclear way! If Xu Jiakai is the murderer, he will make him pay the price!
Under the clamp of external force, the air in Shen Xingjian's lungs dissipated little by little. Just when his vision began to blur, there was a "click" sound, the door was pushed open, and a beam of light shone in.
As soon as she was happy, she saw this terrifying scene. She screamed and rushed over without thinking.
"Xu Jiakai? What are you doing! Let him go!"
She tried hard to pry Xu Jiakai's hand away, but he seemed to be completely deaf to her words. In desperation, Gao Xing grabbed a metal ornament from the entrance cabinet and smashed it hard on his arm!
With a muffled "bang," Xu Jiakai felt pain and lost control of his grip. The sharp edge of the hand sliced through the back of his hand, and blood instantly gushed out, dripping onto the light-colored floor tiles, a shocking sight.
The bright red seemed to sting Xu Jiakai. He snapped back to his senses, looking at his bleeding hand, then at Shen Xingjian, who was almost exhausted, and Gao Xing, who stood in front of him, his face terrified but unflinching. The madness in his eyes receded like a tide, replaced by a sinister clarity.
He slowly straightened up, covered the wound with his hand, and glanced at the two of them coldly. His eyes were like the tongue of a poisonous snake, cold and full of hatred.
"Shen Xingjian, let's wait and see." He squeezed out these words from between his teeth, without arguing or taking action again. He just turned around and strode away with blood on his hands and a lingering anger.
The door slammed shut behind him, blocking out the rumbling thunder outside and temporarily isolating him from the danger.
The only sounds left in the house were the terrified gasps and the glaring blood-red spots on the floor tiles, silently proving how real and terrifying everything that had just happened was.
"Shen Xingjian! Are you crazy?" After recovering from his shock, Gao Xing's voice trembled, "You clearly knew that there was something wrong with him! You clearly knew that he was dangerous! Why did you still want to meet him alone?! If he really had killed him just now, and if I had come back a step later... what would you do?!"
She looked at the man in front of her who had just struggled back from the edge of suffocation and whose face was still pale. She felt distressed and angry, and tears welled up in her eyes uncontrollably.
Shen Xingjian leaned back in his wheelchair, the clear fingerprints on his neck jarring. He coughed violently several times before his breathing gradually calmed down. He didn't immediately argue, but simply looked up at Gao Xing's eyes, which were filled with worry and anger.
"I'm happy. It's precisely because I know he has problems that I realize some things can't be avoided."
He took a deep breath, his eyes calm but determined. "I must find out what happened as soon as possible. If Xu Jiakai is really the murderer, then he shouldn't have had these past ten years, and he shouldn't be... at large."
Gao Xing looked at the almost stubborn determination in his eyes. The gentleness and hesitation of the past were gone, leaving only the cold light tempered by betrayal and life-or-death situations. Her anger was like a popped balloon, suddenly deflated, leaving only a heavy feeling of bitterness and sympathy.
She slowly squatted down, her voice softened, and she said with a hint of helplessness: “Then you can’t risk your life…Shen Xingjian, you have to stay alive to make him pay the price.”
Shen Xingjian looked at her, and the hardest part of his heart seemed to be gently touched. He nodded very slowly.
"I promise you. There won't be a next time."
Outside the window, the thunder gradually faded away, but the rain continued.
On the other side, on the other side of the ocean, Xu Jiakai woke up from a nightmare again.
Outside the window was the street at four in the morning. He stretched out his hand, looked down at the scar on the back of his hand that had appeared at some unknown time, and realized that this might not just be a dream...
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