Through the iron bars, Gu Ping'an suddenly grabbed the back of the man's neck.
Her thumb rolled over the hollow behind his ear, her voice like poisoned silk:
"Every time I look at your profile, I feel like Fu Hanzhou is smiling at me—especially when you're angry."
Lin Zhao's pupils suddenly contracted, and her heart beneath her costume pounded against her ribs.
He subconsciously turned the silver bracelet on his wrist, and the cracks left hideous red marks on his skin.
His knuckles were gripping the armrests of the chair tightly, appearing bluish-white under the incandescent light.
Memories surged like a tide.
When he first arrived at the art troupe eight years ago, Gu Pingan's eyes lit up with obsession when he first saw him:
"From an angle, you look very much like Fu Hanzhou..."
From then on, he began to sculpt himself frantically, just to become the shadow in her eyes.
Lin Zhao suddenly knelt on one knee, her pink sleeves spread out like a sacrificial rug, her Adam's apple rolling beneath her pale skin:
"From the moment you said that, I cut myself into his shape."
The prison guard watched him kissing Gu Ping'an's fingertips, and in a trance he remembered the coldness he showed during Fu Hanzhou's investigation yesterday - the same eyebrow shape, but two extreme madness.
The military badge slipped off the collar of his costume, and the cold blue light stung Gu Ping'an's eyes.
Her bloody fingers suddenly curled into fists:
"I picked it."
Lin Zhao's fingertips brushed against the replica military badge, but before she could move, Gu Ping'an had already grabbed the silver chain, leaving a red mark on his collarbone from the metal edge.
When the tips of their noses touched, the prison guard seemed to see two Fu Hanzhous - one with the oppression of a superior, and the other with self-destructive madness in his eyes.
"Ping An, I failed."
Lin Zhao squatted down behind the iron bars, the cracked silver bracelet scratching Gu Ping'an's bloody hand.
"That father and son suppressed all the rumors."
Gu Ping'an stumbled back, digging his nails deep into his palms, and suddenly burst into a sharp laugh:
"Failure? They're willing to do anything for Qin Ying! They turn a blind eye to my efforts!"
The laughter hit the iron wall and shattered into sharp arrows:
"He came to see me the day before yesterday, you know? I wish he would die immediately!"
Her eyes drifted into the void:
"I waited so long for him to come back. He was standing under the osmanthus tree, polishing his gun, the sunlight casting his shadow on my skirt...but the look in his eyes when he looked at me didn't show any joy at all."
Lin Zhao reached out and touched her face, her voice so gentle it chilled her:
"Whatever you want, I'll do it."
"Will you die for me?"
Lin Zhao raised her head, the scar on her throat twisting as she swallowed:
"From the day you said I looked like him, this life no longer belongs to me."
Gu Pingan smiled sweetly:
"You know what I want."
"I will pick your moon with my own hands."
Lin Zhao bent down and kissed her fingertips, her pink costume forming a stark contrast with her pale skin.
"He thought he could rest easy just by finding me. Ridiculous! He had no reason to arrest me at all!"
Gu Ping'an's fingertips rolled over the corners of his eyes:
"If I have to die, I have to die in front of Fu Hanzhou."
Lin Zhao placed her hand on her burning heart:
"Then I will go kill him wearing this and show him what the 'shadow' you chose is capable of."
Gu Ping'an ripped off the lily brooch on his chest and stabbed it into the back of his hand. Blood flowed along the golden thread of the costume.
Lin Zhao, however, held the brooch in her hand, letting the tip sink into her palm. Blood beads snaked along the golden thread of her costume.
"He doesn't understand your kindness."
"Wash your fake with his blood."
Gu Pingan bit his Adam's apple, and the smell of blood mixed with words flowed out:
"Bring back his badge."
"Whoever makes you hurt deserves death."
Lin Zhao raised her head, a crazy smile appeared on her pale face in the shadows, and a tiny, almost pious murmur came from her throat.
He suddenly hit his forehead against the railing. The dull sound startled the crows outside the window and the shadow of the iron railing crossed Gu Ping'an's face.
Gu Pingan let go of him, her lips stained with blood, looking strange. She suddenly leaned closer to the iron bars, her eyelashes casting trembling shadows under her eyes:
"Tell me...if Fu Hanzhou died in front of her, would she feel as painful as I do?"
Lin Zhao reached out through the iron bars, his fingertips brushing against the corner of her blood-stained lips:
"I don't know if she's in pain, but at least you won't be in so much pain."
"Use a knife and slowly cut Qin Ying's throat."
Gu Ping'an suddenly grabbed his wrist, his voice low and his nails dug deep into the flesh.
"Just like how she took Fu Hanzhou away..."
She whispered to his shadow:
"Don't keep me waiting too long."
——It was not an order, but the last plea of a dying person.
Lin Zhao clasped her hand in hers. The metal railing hurt her palm, but it couldn't resist the burning heat surging in her heart.
"Your wish is my oracle. This time, I want you to see it with your own eyes."
Gu Ping'an lowered his eyes and stared at his folded hands, his eyelashes casting butterfly-wing-like shadows under his eyes.
After a while, she pulled her hands away, and when she turned around, the shackles on her feet rattled:
"Get out."
The voice is light and airy:
"Remember what you promised me."
She turned her back to him, staring at the mottled mold in the corner of the wall, and heard her heart beating like a drum.
As the iron gate closed with a dull thud, Lin Zhao's frozen expression pierced her eyes like a needle.
Suddenly, she rushed to the iron bars like a madman, and her handcuffs hit the iron bars, making her wrists numb.
"Zhao..."
The cry got stuck in his throat and turned into tiny sobs.
She slowly slid down to the ground, digging her nails deep into her already festering palms.
----He did it voluntarily, so she can't be blamed.
----From the first time he played Concubine Yu for her at the age of seventeen, he should have known that the end of this road was the abyss.
----But why, when he knelt on one knee and said "carve yourself into his shape", did she feel a dull pain in her chest?
The sound of raindrops hitting the roof became clearer and clearer. Gu Ping'an stared at his own shadow on the ground, which looked like a dry wooden sculpture.
Tears suddenly fell uncontrollably on the shackles, and she bit her lower lip until the taste of blood spread to the tip of her tongue.
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