Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Under my persistent questioning, Jiang Liang finally told me, “Uncle Gu is furious. He refuses to tell us where Gu Xi is, and Elder Brother Gu doesn’t want to see us ever again.”

Jiang Liang’s expression was awkward; he had likely been kicked out of their house.

Given the things Bai Jiayi had done in the past, even Chen Shimei would have conceded defeat. It was no wonder Uncle Gu and the others didn’t want me near Gu Xi anymore.

But Gu Xi’s current situation was critical. I couldn’t let him be hurt any longer.

Every moment, I lived in fear that he would do something irreversible.

I would wake up from nightmares where he was crying, asking me why I had abandoned him, why I had stepped over his body to kiss another man.

Bai Jiayi had once held Lin Chenhao’s hand right in front of Gu Xi. She had even kissed him passionately before his very eyes, ruthlessly trampling on Gu Xi’s love and treating him as if he were worthless.

She had shifted all the blame for her change of heart onto Gu Xi.

If she saw Gu Xi speaking to another girl, she would immediately accuse him of cheating without a second thought. Time and again, he was left defenseless against her false accusations and emotional suppression.

She even labeled Gu Xi’s love as twisted and perverted, claiming it was suffocating her and making her want to escape. Everything was Gu Xi’s fault, while she was merely an innocent victim.

Yet, she hadn’t said those things when she was using my work, the resources Gu Xi provided, and Gu Xi’s money to invest in her career and get close to Lin Chenhao.

Gu Xi was like a tree branch heavily laden with winter snow; finally unable to bear the weight, he had snapped with a sharp crack.

He had doubted many things, but he had never doubted the childhood sweetheart standing before him.

“And then there’s Lin Chenhao. He called me,” Jiang Liang said, frowning with a look of difficulty.

“Ignore him. I’ve already told him everything that needs to be said. I don’t have the energy to deal with him right now.

“Just tell him that I, Jiang Zhiyu, want a divorce. The child has been aborted. Let the lawyers handle the rest.”

I had once sent a very long text to Lin Chenhao. He was convinced I was suffering from schizophrenia and claimed he had contacted a doctor, offering to stay by my side through treatment.

He had even burst into the hospital, staring at me as I lay on the bed, my abdomen flat.

His eyes were bloodshot, unable to comprehend why I had done it.

“Xiaoyi, what did I do wrong? Tell me!”

He had clutched his head in agony, tears trembling on the brink of falling.

“Why did you abort our child?

“We already started picking out names. We bought clothes. The nursery was ready.

“Why?”

Watching him break down, I felt nothing. If anything, I hoped he would suffer even more.

During countless days and nights, my soul had been awake, watching him and that woman use my body to kiss and linger, moving from place to place, their filthy, ugly acts violating my physical form.

In the house Gu Xi and I had bought, on the bed we had meticulously decorated, they had left behind sin after sin.

I had screamed and collapsed internally, hating myself for being conscious during those moments.

I wanted to break out of the cage of that body, but I could only watch and listen.

I watched those two do things that Gu Xi and I had never even done.

I refused to say a single word to him.

I simply had my brother throw him out.

A barrage of calls and texts followed. Eventually, unable to endure the harassment, I changed my phone and my SIM card, refusing to see him again.

I knew he was a victim too, but it was hard not to take my anger out on him. If I had stayed in contact with him any longer, I feared I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from stabbing him.

I couldn’t even manage a simple conversation. I only wanted revenge. I wanted to see him fall from his pedestal, to destroy everything he had, and to drag him into the mud.

Over these seven years, I could clearly feel that my psyche had become warped.

I had fantasized countless times about killing Bai Jiayi and Lin Chenhao.

I wanted to feed their flesh to pigs and dogs, then take their bones apart piece by piece, crushing them into powder-preferably while they watched.

But in reality, I could only lower my head, hide my expression, and slowly calm the hostility in my heart.

Until I became Jiang Zhiyu once again.

It’s just that some things can never go back to the way they were.

After Jiang Liang left, I checked myself out of the hospital alone.

I was going to the Gu Family home. I would beg them. I would beg them to let me see Gu Xi.

If they refused, I would kneel there until they agreed.

I couldn’t think of any other way.

After the world had turned upside down, all I could do was pick up my shattered self, endure in silence, and try to clean up the mess to get everything back on track.

“Don’t come here anymore. Don’t you think you’ve hurt Xixi enough?”

Aunt Gu, once so gentle, now looked at me with a face as cold as frost. She stared at me as if she wanted to swallow me whole. I had hurt her youngest son, forcing her to be separated from her own flesh and blood, leaving her to worry day after day that she might lose her child.

Aunt Gu, who used to look so composed and luxurious, seemed to have aged a great deal. Her eyes were a little red-she had probably just been crying.

Jiang Liang said Aunt Gu had cried so much she was going blind.

“Please. Let me see him. I can explain what happened before.”

A gust of wind swept over, and I shivered. I only felt ice-cold all over, my lips dry and tight.

“There’s nothing to explain. Back then, we begged you to go see Xixi, and you said you had a boyfriend and needed to avoid suspicion.

“Now you’re married. Naturally, we can’t let a married woman see Xixi. We also need to avoid suspicion.”

After Aunt Gu finished, she had the butler close the door and send me away.

I stood at the entrance, watching Aunt Gu’s departing back, then dropped to my knees.

“I know you won’t believe me, but what happened to me really is unbelievable.

“I beg you to give me a chance. I’ll kneel here and wait until you’ve calmed down-just give me one chance to explain.”

The door closed little by little, and Aunt Gu’s figure disappeared.

Beneath my knees were icy stone tiles. Even in early autumn, the air was already starting to carry a chill.

Was this what it felt like for Gu Xi when he knelt back then?

After Bai Jiayi threw another tantrum, she smiled and said, “Kneel down and I’ll believe you only love me.”

Gu Xi’s face had been pale, his expression dazed, as he knelt in front of everyone.

What greeted him was a string of laughter and ridicule.

“You really knelt? I was joking.

“Do you think kneeling is going to work? I don’t love you at all. Your love disgusts me. How can there be someone as twisted as you in this world? You’re a total psycho.”

After hearing her, Gu Xi had swayed unsteadily, like a leaf on a branch about to be blown off by the wind.

He stubbornly refused to let go, convinced he could make his childhood sweetheart change her mind.

But the person in front of him was no longer Jiang Zhiyu-only a thief wearing that skin.

It was just that, back then, Bai Jiayi’s soul kept me pinned down. I was only lucid every so often, and the harm I saw was only the tip of the iceberg.

When I didn’t know, just how much humiliation had my Gu Xi endured?

“Miss Jiang, Miss Jiang is bleeding!” In a daze, I saw Steward Tian shouting in my direction.

I lowered my head and glanced down. Red was spreading across my clothes.

“What are you doing?!”

A black coat appeared in my line of sight. It was Elder Brother Gu. Compared to before, he looked a bit more intimidating.

“What kind of pathetic drama is this in broad daylight-are you trying to die?

“If you die, what happens to my brother?”

Elder Brother Gu lifted me up. Clutching his clothes, I asked urgently, “Can I see Xixi?”

He ignored me. He only wrapped his coat around me and headed toward the Gu Family Mansion.

“Uncle Tian, call the Jiang Family. Hurry them up. Why is it taking them so long to pick someone up?

“And call a doctor.”

I refused to give up. What he’d said earlier-he’d clearly relented, hadn’t he?

I tightened my grip, yanking harder.

“Stop pulling. Keep pulling and you’ll strangle me.”

The commotion downstairs startled Aunt Gu, and she came down. “What’s going on?”

Elder Brother Gu put me in the guest room and tucked me under the blanket.

“Mom, you just left her at the door like that? Weren’t you afraid she’d die?

“I just got back and she was covered in blood.”

Elder Brother Gu couldn’t help rubbing his brow, and then he noticed his sleeve-stained all over with blood.

Aunt Gu’s face went pale at once. “I… I didn’t know. I called her mother and told them to come get her.”

I felt my lower body go numb, threaded through with pain, and cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

“What’s going on? How is she bleeding?

“Jiang Zhiyu, wake up. Jiang Zhiyu!”

It hurt so badly that I passed out.

Before I lost consciousness, I thought of a lot.

I didn’t expect the early autumn wind to hit that hard. I had even worn thick clothes on purpose, yet I still went down.

Looks like my plan to come kneel here every day would have to be interrupted.

Who knew when I’d be able to see Xixi.

Xiaoyu, away from the stream, is about to die.