Chapter 104

Chapter 104

Qin Song left home and wandered aimlessly down the street.

He knew the company had a whole mountain of messes waiting for him to clean up, but the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to go.

He looked ten years older than he had just a few days ago. The moment he walked into the office, everyone would stare at him, demanding answers.

He still wasn’t ready to face that or explain anything.

He took out his phone and called Hu Heng.

“Old Qin, you damn well finally called! Where the hell have you been these past few days?”

Hearing Hu Heng’s voice, Qin Song suddenly found it strangely comforting.

In a hoarse voice, he said, “Something happened at home. Where are you?”

Hu Heng froze for a moment, then said, “I’m at the hotel. Where are you? I’ll come find you!”

Qin Song said, “Don’t move. I’ll come to you.”

When he arrived at the hotel, Hu Heng listened to everything Qin Song had been through over the past few days. Then he squeezed Qin Song’s arm and pulled him into a tight hug.

Qin Song said, “I’m fine.”

Hu Heng said, “I called you before, but you didn’t pick up. If I’d known this was what happened, I would’ve gone over right away to stay with you and help out.”

Qin Song smiled faintly. “It’s all over now.”

Tears welled in Hu Heng’s eyes. Enunciating every word, he said to Qin Song, “You’re basically my own brother. Your parents are basically my own mom and dad too. When you have time, take me back to your hometown so I can burn some paper for our dad and mom as well.”

Qin Song’s nose stung. He nodded.

Hu Heng said, “Brother, you look really worn out right now. Let me take you for a massage. Get a good sleep, then have your hair cut and shave your beard. No matter what happened in the past, we still have to keep living, don’t we?”

Qin Song said, “We’ll see. I can’t think about that right now. I can’t think about anything.”

Hu Heng asked, “Are you not going back home from now on?”

Qin Song said, “That’s not my home anymore. It’s He Qian’s home.”

Hu Heng said, “Your divorce was way too hasty. Like a game.”

Qin Song said, “It wasn’t hasty. It’s precisely because I treated marriage like a game first that I ended up like this.”

Hu Heng said, “If you don’t mind, you can stay at my place from now on. With me around, I won’t let your life get any worse than it was before.”

Qin Song gave a bitter smile. “Thanks.”

Hu Heng said, “The company’s business hasn’t fallen behind these past few days. I’ve been keeping an eye on it, so don’t worry about that. But no one could reach you, and everyone was worried about whether you were safe. A lot of people came to ask me about you. Especially Zhang Qiong. She asked several times.”

Qin Song said, “Oh. Tell them not to worry. Just say I had some family matters to deal with these past few days, and I’ll be back at the company in a few days.”

Hu Heng nodded. He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “There’s one more thing…”

Qin Song asked, “What?”

Hu Heng pointed toward the ceiling. “The girl on the third floor… What do we do about her now?”

Qin Song’s brow tightened as if he’d suddenly been pricked by a needle. “Sigh…”

Hu Heng lowered his voice. “I get it, I get it… How about we leave her alone for now? You get yourself back together first, then deal with everything else.”

Qin Song waved a hand. “What has to be faced will have to be faced sooner or later.”

Hu Heng said, “Why don’t I go talk to her?”

Qin Song said, “I’ll go myself.”

Hu Heng said, “Girls like her are usually after money. Just give her some cash and send her away. Simple as that.”

Qin Song froze for a second, then said, “But I don’t have any money now.”

Hu Heng slapped himself hard across the face. “My brain short-circuited… How about this? As long as she’s willing to name a price, I’ll pay it. What do you think? And don’t you dare feel embarrassed. You’ll have to pay me back slowly later. For the sake of our brotherhood, I won’t charge you interest.”

Qin Song finally laughed.

He turned and headed upstairs. Hu Heng called after him, “At least shave before you go!”

Qin Song didn’t look back. He only lifted a hand and waved.

Qin Song went up to the third floor, took out the room card, and swiped the door open.

Huang Yuanrui was taking a shower. When she heard Qin Song come in, she ran out without even putting on clothes.

Huang Yuanrui snapped, “Where the hell did you go off and die… Were you tricked into going to Northern Myanmar? Why do you look half-dead?”

Qin Song said flatly, “Put some clothes on.”

Huang Yuanrui shot him a vicious glare, then went back into the bathroom, dried herself off, and put on a set of pajamas.

She rushed out again and shoved Qin Song hard. “What kind of disappearing act are you playing? It’s been more than a week. I called you so many times. Did you not see any of them?”

Qin Song ignored what she said and got straight to the point. “Move out. Go back to your own home.”

Huang Yuanrui froze. “What did you say?”

Qin Song said, “Go home.”

Huang Yuanrui asked in disbelief, “I… why?”

Qin Song said, “Just like you wanted, He Qian and I are divorced. And I left with nothing.”

Huang Yuanrui said, “So what if you left with nothing? I don’t mind. You still have several companies. You can earn the money back!”

Qin Song said, “I can’t afford to keep you, and I don’t want to keep you anymore. Let me go.”

Huang Yuanrui was so angry she laughed. “I spent so much effort getting you divorced so that I could be with you for a long, long time. Now you’re divorced. You’re free! I don’t even care that you’re poor right now, but you’re turning around and trying to break up with me?”

Qin Song crouched down and rubbed his hair messily, muttering, “I’m begging you. Just let me go…”

Huang Yuanrui suddenly asked, “Where did you go these past few days? How did you end up like this?”

Qin Song braced himself on the edge of the bed and stood up, then sat weakly on the corner of it. “I went back to my hometown. My parents are gone.”

Huang Yuanrui’s eyes shifted, and she said, “Is that really enough to make you look like you’ve lost half your life? My parents are gone too, but I’m still doing just fine, aren’t I?”

Qin Song slowly raised his head and looked at her. “Do you even hear yourself?”
Huang Yuanrui glared right back at him, not backing down in the slightest. “And what you said to me just now – was that something a decent human being would say?”

Qin Song stared at her in disbelief. “How are those two things even the same?”

After a moment, he went on, “And that day, when I took He Qian to the amusement park, what were you doing? Why did you follow us onto the Ferris wheel? When I went to ride the roller coaster, what was with you standing down there making that throat-slitting gesture? What the hell were you trying to do?!”

The more Qin Song spoke, the more agitated he became. His face rapidly flushed red.

Huang Yuanrui gave a cold laugh. “I thought you two were moving too slowly! Not only were you not getting divorced, you even went off to have fun at an amusement park. Of course I had to give you a little reminder.”

Qin Song could feel his hands starting to shake.

His hands rarely trembled so abruptly like this. In his memory, there had only been a handful of times when anger had made them shake.

He knew it was the adrenaline surging.

Qin Song forced down his fury. “The day after you made that throat-slitting gesture, my parents were gone.”

Huang Yuanrui’s brows shot up. “Don’t tell me you think that had something to do with me.”

Qin Song said, “It didn’t. But I really do think it’s damn unlucky. You make me feel like something cursed.”

Huang Yuanrui said, “Just because of that tiny bit of bad luck, you’re breaking up with me? You’re sending me home?”

Qin Song shook his head. “No. There’s too much else. I can’t stand you anymore. Every part of you is like a needle constantly stabbing me… You’ve driven me to the point where I don’t even have a home anymore!”

Huang Yuanrui said, “So you’re blaming all of that on me? No one held a knife to your throat and forced you to be with me back then.”

Qin Song said, “I can give you money. How much do you want?”

Huang Yuanrui said, “A hundred million. Can you give me that?”

Qin Song spread his hands. “Then there’s nothing to talk about.”

Huang Yuanrui said, “I’ll ask you one last time. Think carefully before you answer. I’ll give you two choices. One, stay with me properly. Two, dump me, and accept my punishment. Which do you choose?”

Qin Song’s hands were shaking harder and harder.

He said, each word firm and final, “We break up. You go home.”

Huang Yuanrui suddenly screamed and lunged at him, slapping Qin Song hard across the face. Then she grabbed his hair and shook him violently, screaming as she did, “Go die! Go to hell! You wasted so many years of my life, and now you dare treat me like this!”

A bit of liquid seeped from the corner of Qin Song’s mouth. He lightly licked it and tasted blood.

He reached out and shoved Huang Yuanrui away with all his strength. Her back slammed into the wall, and in her hand she was still clutching several strands of Qin Song’s hair.

Huang Yuanrui touched her back, then snatched up the ashtray from the table and hurled it at Qin Song. Caught off guard, Qin Song was struck in the forehead.

The ashtray was shaped like an iceberg, with a sharp corner that tore open the skin at Qin Song’s temple. Blood welled up at once and flowed into his eye.

The world in Qin Song’s vision turned bloodred in an instant. Pain and rage kept jabbing at his sensitive, fragile nerves.

Huang Yuanrui grabbed an eyebrow razor from the table and charged at him again. Qin Song sidestepped, quickly picked up the ashtray, and smashed it viciously down on her head.

Huang Yuanrui cried out and collapsed to the floor. Qin Song, deranged, straddled her and raised the ashtray again.

Once. Twice…

Qin Song wanted to bring it down a third time, but the last shred of reason he had left stopped his hand.

In truth, the first blow had already been heavy. Huang Yuanrui had cried out once, then never made another sound.

She lay on the floor, motionless, blood pouring from the wound where she had been struck.

Qin Song suddenly felt the ashtray in his hand grow impossibly heavy. His hand jerked, and he dropped it to the floor.

He climbed off Huang Yuanrui and slumped onto the ground, his shoulders and abdomen trembling nonstop.

He crawled over and tried to check whether Huang Yuanrui was breathing, but his hands were shaking so badly he couldn’t tell anything at all.

Like a beast, Qin Song crawled around on all fours across the floor until he finally reached a corner. He pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket.

He tried to spark the lighter, but it was as if the thing were dead. No matter what he did, no flame came out.

In the end, he finally gave up. He tossed the cigarettes and lighter haphazardly onto the floor, then crawled back over to look at Huang Yuanrui.

She was still in the same position, lying motionless on the floor.

Qin Song’s vision was blurred, and he could no longer make out whether her chest was still rising and falling.

He tried again, placing his finger beneath her nose – there was no breath anymore.

…

Qin Song stayed there with Huang Yuanrui on the floor from dusk until late into the night.

He held the ashtray in his hand and stared blankly out the window.

He thought back over his life these past few days – every time he thought he had hit rock bottom, life would deal him another crushing blow.

First, he divorced his wife. Then his parents died in an accident. And finally, he had killed his lover with his own hands.

This was no longer rock bottom. This was hell.

Qin Song didn’t want to turn himself in. He hadn’t lived enough yet.

He felt that life had already forced him into becoming a complete fucking idiot. He didn’t want to join life in bullying himself too.

He tried pressing the lighter again. This time, a tiny flame finally appeared.

Using that small flame, he lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

The smoke traveled from his mouth down his windpipe and into his lungs, then returned along the same path.

The instant he exhaled, Qin Song suddenly felt a wave of nausea. He bent over and retched at the floor.

After taking a moment to recover, he tried taking another drag. Again, nausea surged up.

He stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray, then retreated back into the corner.

He would never be able to smoke again.