A familiar smell of dried tangerine peel mixed with the stench of sweat jolted Zhou Jiuzhen's consciousness out of its daze.
His heart ached terribly; he could feel his comrade Ling calling him.
She lay on the bed, so vulnerable and helpless, struggling to wake up.
But a pair of hands wickedly began to slowly remove her clothes.
He roared furiously and cried out hysterically.
He wanted to break free from Comrade Ling who was saving him, but he felt as if he were bound by countless iron chains and could not move. It was as if there was a glass dome around him, isolating him from all sound.
That was Comrade Ling, whom he fell in love with at the age of eighteen, and also the lover and wife whose face he sketched every night and kept hidden in his heart at the age of twenty-three!
But he couldn't save her.
In the airtight cage, he repeatedly rammed his head against the glass wall that isolated him from everything.
finally.
He watched as Zhao Jingxiang's trembling hands slowly covered the woman's waist, and the glass wall that had trapped him for a whole year gradually developed spiderweb-like cracks.
Finally, it exploded with a "boom".
With his eyelids feeling like they were weighed down with lead, Zhou Jiuzhen struggled to open them, and the first thing he could see clearly was Ling Huanwu's pale and thin face.
Her eyes were closed, and tears still clung to her long eyelashes. She was clearly unconscious, but Zhao Jingxiang roughly pressed her down next to his pillow, with half of her body almost pressed against the edge of the bed.
"Comrade Ling, I will take responsibility for you..."
Zhao Jingxiang's hand tugged at the last layer of her tattered thermal underwear, his fingertips almost digging into her thin shirt. "Zhou Jiuzhen, if you still had any breath left and could open your eyes to see clearly how the woman you cherish so much is being so affectionate and tender with me, how wonderful that would be!"
As he spoke, he made a gesture as if to tear off the last layer of obstruction.
Suddenly, her wrist was gripped tightly.
A hoarse voice, as if squeezed out of a rusty iron pipe, exploded in Zhao Jingxiang's ears.
"roll!"
Zhou Jiuzhen emitted a hoarse sound from his throat, like the low growl of a wild beast on its deathbed.
He tried to sit up, but his body felt like it was falling apart. He could only grip Zhao Jingxiang's wrist tightly, preventing him from moving an inch.
Zhao Jingxiang was startled and turned around abruptly. He saw Zhou Jiuzhen with his eyes wide open. Those eyes, which had long lost their childhood innocence, were now red as if they were about to bleed, and his pupils were churning with an anger that Zhao Jingxiang had never seen before.
"You...you're awake?" Zhao Jingxiang was stunned for a moment, then sneered, "So what if you're awake? You're just a cripple..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Jiuzhen suddenly used all his strength to grab Zhao Jingxiang's wrist with his other withered hand.
The force was astonishing; the knuckles turned white from the exertion, almost digging into the other person's flesh.
I said... get out!
This time, although his voice was still hoarse, it carried an anger that could lift the roof off.
Zhou Jiuzhen's gaze was fixed on Zhao Jingxiang, his eyes showing no weakness or confusion, only a resolute determination to go all out.
It was as if if Zhao Jingxiang made the slightest movement, he would pounce on him and bite off his throat, even with his half-crippled body.
"You fucking woke up?"
Zhao Jingxiang was still frightened by the ruthlessness in his eyes. It wasn't an act; it was a genuine willingness to die together with him.
He tried to shake off Zhou Jiuzhen's grip, but Zhou Jiuzhen held on tightly, his wrist aching from the pinch. Looking at Ling Huanwu, though she was unconscious, her brows were furrowed tightly, as if she were resisting even in her dreams.
“Let go! Comrade Ling and I did it voluntarily, you…” Zhao Jingxiang felt a little scared under the stare and couldn’t lie.
He forcefully broke free, staggered back two steps, and looked at Zhou Jiuzhen as if he were a crazy person who didn't care about his life. "You wait!"
After saying that, he got out of bed and hurried away.
The room finally quieted down.
Zhou Jiuzhen's strength seemed to be drained instantly, and his hand fell limply, landing on the back of Ling Huanwu's hand.
He was breathing heavily when his gaze returned to Ling Huanwu's face. Looking at her furrowed brows and pale lips, he felt a pang of heartache.
With all her might, she moved her hand to her forehead and gently brushed away her sweaty, stray hairs. The warm touch of her fingertips eased his anxiety a little.
"Huanwu..." His voice was as soft as a sigh, filled with the relief of surviving a disaster, "Don't be afraid... I'm here..."
As long as he has a breath left, he will never let anyone touch a single hair on her head again.
*
The sky was just beginning to lighten.
On the dock.
Zhou Shuyao, along with Song Yaoyao and their triplets, boarded the pre-arranged smuggler's boat. He looked reluctantly toward the cooperative, his eyes welling up with tears.
Ling's parents were already weeping uncontrollably on the dock, leaning on each other, urging Song Yaoyao to send someone to pick them up and take them to the port city as soon as possible.
The small boat drifted further and further away until it disappeared from sight.
In the cooperative, Ling Huanwu suddenly woke up from her bed with a start.
She sat up, supporting her head, her cheeks burning.
Last night, she seemed to dream that Zhou Jiuzhen woke her up and hugged her and kissed her passionately.
This is insane! This is insane!
Ling Huanwu patted her face to clear her mind.
The windows of the cooperative office were drafty, and the morning chill seeped in through the cracks. She instinctively shrank closer to him, her hand habitually resting on the back of Zhou Jiuzhen's hand beside her.
It was still that familiar temperature, neither too hot nor too cold, like a lukewarm piece of jade.
That year, she became very familiar with it.
Suddenly, the sinister face of Zhao Jingxiang that had appeared in the darkness last night flashed into her mind, and she shivered. She quickly got out of bed, put on her slippers, grabbed her key, and opened the drawer to check if the clothing patterns had been stolen.
After leaving the factory, she checked each production step one by one for any oversights. Only after finding no abnormalities did she breathe a sigh of relief.
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