"I know why you went to see Qin Jinshen, and I know there's nothing between you and him. I just don't understand what secret you, Qin Jinshen, and Shuyao are keeping from me!"
"Tell me, what's the secret?"
Zhou Jiuzhen looked at her from a step away and poured out all the words that had been bottled up in his heart for a long time.
Just now, when he turned around and found her gone, the fear of abandonment gripped his limbs like vines once again.
Just like when he was a child, he was abandoned by his family and fell to the bottom of a lake, and the icy, suffocating water almost swallowed him up again.
He knew in his heart that she would come back, but he couldn't stop feeling panicked and internally conflicted.
He struggled to create that distance, hoping the woman opposite him would be honest with him and tell him everything.
No matter what she said, he wouldn't let go of her hand.
But at this moment, this one step felt like an insurmountable chasm, separating the two of them.
He watched as Ling Huanwu's originally rosy face gradually turned pale, and then she bit her lip, turned and left without a word, not even noticing that her shoulder strap had slipped off.
At this moment, Zhou Jiuzhen was extremely flustered and so angry that he lost his mind.
He didn't understand what secrets the three of them had, and he felt like an outsider excluded from their lives.
Even now, she refuses to reveal a single word.
The thought of this caused all of Zhou Jiuzhen's rationality to vanish.
He rushed forward, scooped her up in his arms, carried her into the warehouse, and slammed the door shut...
In the warehouse.
The wooden table in the corner was knocked askew, and the enamel mug rolled on the floor.
The remaining half-bowl of warm water soaked the coarse cloth mat under the table leg, leaving a large dark water stain.
The blue cloth shirt that was originally draped over the back of the chair was crumpled and piled on the ground, with a few loose threads from Zhou Jiuzhen's military shirt still caught on the hem, as if it had been pulled hard.
And that big bed that the two of them had rearranged.
At this moment, the mattress on the bed was severely crooked, with the edge drooping down to the edge of the bed, revealing the snow-white cotton wadding inside.
Ling Huanwu's braids came undone, and a few strands of her long hair were tangled on the mandarin duck pillow beside her. The pillowcase was crumpled up and had a few strands of Zhou Jiuzhen's short hair stuck to it.
The wooden trunk beside the bed was half-open, and two of the new clothes inside had fallen out. A floral shirt was draped over the edge of the trunk, and one of the buttons on the collar was loose, obviously having been pulled off in a hurry.
It was just dawn, and the morning light shone through the crack in the door, casting dappled shadows on the floor, which also fell on the two pairs of cloth shoes lying askew in front of the bed.
A pair of shoelaces were loosely dragging on the ground, as if they had been kicked aside in a panic last night.
A faint scent of soapberry lingered in the air, mixed with an indescribable, heart-fluttering, ambiguous atmosphere, making the messy room seem even more tender and lingering.
Ling Huanwu's eyes were full of tears, and she cried so hard that her face was covered in tears.
Zhou Jiuzhen knelt down beside her, holding her feet and apologizing repeatedly, "I was so angry last night, I definitely won't do it again!"
Ling Huanwu covered her face and cried even harder, clutching her stomach and crying out in pain. Zhou Jiuzhen was so frightened that he poured her water and gently rubbed her stomach, almost crying himself. He kept promising, "I will never ask that question from last night again!"
Hearing this assurance, Ling Huanwu secretly suppressed the smile on her lips, a sly glint flashing in her eyes.
Zhou Jiuzhen continued to grumble, "I don't know what came over me last night. I just wanted to scare you a little, but it got out of control..."
Ling Huanwu collapsed onto the soft, comfortable bed, sobbing uncontrollably, though she was actually suppressing the urge to burst out laughing under the covers.
Last night, she was caught off guard by Zhou Jiuzhen's sudden question.
She can't exactly say that in her previous life she married his brother and had triplets!
If he finds out, there's no telling what kind of trouble he'll cause.
So when he kept asking questions, he deliberately remained silent and looked dejected, preparing to leave.
Sure enough, Zhou Jiuzhen carried her into the warehouse, intending to use tickling, which she feared most, as "torture" to extract a confession.
During the interrogation, she deliberately rolled around on him, punching and pressing him, which made the man, who had just finished eating, look at her with a deeper gaze and seem increasingly suspicious.
They silenced her sobbing mouth, completely forgetting about the torture they had used to extract a confession.
As for her, out of a sense of guilt in the end, she indulged him time and time again.
Only now did Zhou Jiuzhen feel a bit scared and could only repeatedly make assurances.
All of this was exactly what Ling Huanwu wanted.
After drinking the spiritual spring water, she felt like she could jump around, so why would she be afraid of him?
At this moment, Zhou Jiuzhen looked terrified, and it seemed he would never dare to ask again.
Ling Huanwu tried hard to suppress the corners of her lips, but she couldn't stop them from turning up.
The next second, Ling Huanwu's collar tightened, and she was lifted up, her smiling face completely exposed.
Ling Huanwu bumped into Zhou Jiuzhen's eyes, which were filled with anger, without any warning.
"Well, I knew you wouldn't cry like this normally. Besides, your physical reaction just now wasn't like this at all. So you were just trying to make me feel guilty so I wouldn't have the face to keep asking, right?"
"Ling Huanwu, are you taking advantage of the fact that I have no temper?"
Zhou Jiuzhen practically roared out the last sentence, making Ling Huanwu's heart tremble.
When the two returned to the stinky detention cell, Qin Jinshen was still rubbing the handcuff chains on his hands against the wall, trying to escape.
Upon seeing the couple return, Qin Jinshen awkwardly withdrew his hand from rubbing the iron chain, touched his nose, and moved to the side.
"Why did it take you so long to come out? Someone was trying to come in just now, but luckily I lied and said you were still sleeping, so they were waiting outside. Otherwise, they would have come in and found you two missing, and then they would have taken you away for investigation..."
Qin Jinshen spoke in a sarcastic tone, but the two of them responded in a strange manner, ignoring each other.
Just as he was about to laugh and mock Zhou Jiuzhen, the door to the small, dilapidated house was opened from the outside.
"Battalion Commander Zhou, Comrade Ling, come out here!"
As the two went out, Zhou Jiuzhen silently followed Ling Huanwu out the door.
Normally, Zhou Jiuzhen would have already left with his fingers tightly clasped around Ling Huanwu's hand.
Zhao Tingguo and Chu Mei stood at the door, staring intently at them, their eyes seemingly brimming with anger that could erupt at any moment.
"Your brother got two years in prison, are you happy now?!"
Chu Mei launched into a tirade against Ling Huanwu, then pointed at Zhou Jiuzhen with a look of utter disappointment, "You've been led by the nose by this woman, and now you're even accused of murder. If you don't divorce her soon, you can just wait to be killed by her!"
Her voice was exceptionally sharp and piercing, causing Qin Jinshen inside the room to burst into laughter as he retorted.
"Some people are just ridiculous. Their own son foolishly helped dispose of someone else's body, and now they're blaming the victim. It's like a fool sending his mother a fool, utterly foolish..."
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