Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Every sound in the auditorium seemed to recede into the distance.

I could hear my own heartbeat, one thud after another, heavy as blows against my eardrums.

The blood mark had landed at the endpoint of the Marriage Contract’s reversal. According to Grandma’s hidden notation, the next step was to publicly name the true borrower of life.

But before I could speak, Shen Jianwei suddenly gripped my wrist.

He moved so quickly I had no time to react.

My heart sank hard.

Of course.

No matter how much guilt, no matter how many apologies, at the final moment, he was still a member of the Shen Family.

Xu Lingyi seemed to see hope again as well. She said urgently, “Jianwei, hold her down!”

Shen Jianwei didn’t look at her.

He picked up the gold pen beside the Marriage Contract and wrote three words beneath the groom’s name.

Shen Mingche.

The entire room fell utterly silent.

His handwriting was steady. Not a single stroke trembled. After he finished, he set the pen back in its place and raised his head to look at Xu Lingyi.

“Mother, the person you wanted to save was never me.”

All the color drained from Xu Lingyi’s face.

The old butler lunged forward to snatch the Marriage Contract, but Shen Jianwei blocked him in front of me and took the full force of the collision. My wrist was released, and blood dripped down my fingertips onto the wedding dress.

At last, I found my voice again.

I looked at the guests, at the cameras, and at Xu Lingyi. Then I said, word by word, “Today, the Shen Family’s so-called Inner Marriage Contract is not a Marriage Contract between me and Shen Jianwei. It is a pact Xu Lingyi made, using my life to prolong Shen Mingche’s.”

The moment my words fell, the crystal strands hanging from the ceiling of the auditorium suddenly began to sway violently.

Perhaps someone had pulled at the electrical wires. Perhaps wind had rushed in through an open side door. The flames of the red candles all leaned to one side, the incense ash on the offering table was swept into the air, and the edges of the Marriage Contract gave off a faint crackling sound.

Xu Lingyi shrieked, “Shut up!”

She rushed over, trying to seize the Marriage Contract, but Shen Jianwei stopped her.

“Enough.”

Xu Lingyi raised her hand to slap him again. This time, Shen Jianwei did not dodge.

He only looked at her, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible. “Can you see who I am now?”

Xu Lingyi’s hand froze in midair.

In that instant, I actually saw something collapse on her face.

She had raised Shen Jianwei for eighteen years, treating him as a key, as a vessel, as a substitute she could discard at any moment. But even a key could open its mouth and ask if it hurt. Even a vessel could grow a heart. It wasn’t that she had never loved him. She had simply placed that small bit of love behind Shen Mingche, behind the Shen Family, behind her own obsession.

So when Shen Jianwei stood before her and asked whether she could see who he was, she had no answer.

Sirens sounded outside the auditorium.

Zhou Yan had arrived with his people.

Xu Lingyi finally panicked. She turned to look at the old butler, who immediately led men to block the doors. Guests scattered in every direction, but the media cameras only shone brighter. In that moment, the Shen Family’s dignity shattered completely, and every single fragment was captured on film.

I grabbed the Marriage Contract and tried to stuff it into my handbag.

The old butler suddenly lunged from the side. At some point, a paper cutter had appeared in his hand. He wasn’t coming for me. He was coming for the Marriage Contract.

“It can’t be destroyed here!”

Shen Jianwei was faster than I was.

He reached out to block it, and the blade sliced across his palm. Blood instantly welled up and dripped onto the Marriage Contract, right beside the three words Shen Mingche.

The old paper darkened abruptly.

The red lines seemed to come alive, rapidly spreading in the reverse direction. Shen Mingche’s name was wrapped in bloodred. The next second, a piercing alarm sounded from the direction of the West Building.

I didn’t know whether it was a monitor alarm or the old estate’s security system being triggered.

But Xu Lingyi rushed outside like a madwoman.

“Mingche!”

She stumbled through the guests. Her pearl necklace snapped, scattering pearls all over the floor. The old butler no longer cared about the Marriage Contract either and ran after her toward the West Building.

Shen Jianwei stood where he was, his face so pale it was almost translucent.

I supported him. “How are you?”

He glanced at me and actually smiled a little.

“Just now, you thought I was going to stop you.”

I said, “Yes.”

“You should have.” His voice was low. “I owe you too much trust.”

After saying that, his body swayed, and he collapsed downward.

I caught him on instinct.

The wedding scene was in utter chaos. Police entered through the main doors, and Zhou Yan shouted my name from afar. But all I could hear was Shen Jianwei’s rapid breathing. His blood stained my hands, very warm, so warm it seemed unlike him.

I suddenly remembered when we had first gotten together. He had waited for me to get off work at the archives. It had been snowing heavily that winter, the streetlights illuminating the white on his shoulders. He had unwound his scarf and given it to me, saying, “My health is poor, so I’m always afraid I won’t be able to give you an exciting life. But stability is something I can learn to give you.”

Back then, he hadn’t been lying.

It was only later that the shadow of the Shen Family grew too long and covered over every bit of sincerity.