Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zhong Ran was in the interrogation room.

Just as Chen Yin had said, Zhong Ran was a frail, timid woman. She spoke in a soft voice, and the slightest noise was enough to startle her.

When she came in to turn herself in that morning, the officers on duty thought she was joking. It was only after they were dispatched to the scene that they realized how serious the situation was.

There were extensive blood reactions in the bathroom of He Zhili’s home. Human tissue was recovered from the drain, but most of the body had already been moved.

Zhong Ran was quickly taken into custody.

During the first interrogation, she was so tense that after giving a brief account of the crime, she became overly frightened and fainted. She had only just come to and been brought back to the interrogation room.

She still did not know that her husband, Chen Yin, was dead. She remained trapped in the traumatic aftermath of the killing.

Taking Chen Yin’s statement and Zhong Ran’s actual condition into account, we believed it was indeed necessary to have her undergo a psychiatric evaluation. But before that, it would be best to conduct a complete interrogation.

I walked into the monitoring room and observed the interrogation.

Zhong Ran sat hunched over, her head lowered. Her long, slender neck looked as if it could not bear the weight of her skull, and her hands were trembling.

“I can’t remember exactly what happened. My impression of it is very blurry. I only remember that He Zhili knocked on the door so loudly. Bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang… He kept knocking until it felt like the sound was inside my head, like he was knocking on my brain. I really couldn’t take it anymore…

“I don’t know what happened, either. One second I was at home, and the next I was in his home, holding a knife, and there was blood all over the floor… I didn’t dare look anymore, so I ran back home… I… I…”

“Don’t rush. Take your time,” the interrogator across from her said. “I know this incident was a tremendous shock to you. Take a moment to calm down.”

“I’m sorry… Officer…”

“All right, let’s skip that part for now. Tell me about you and your husband, Chen Yin. How did the two of you meet?”

The interrogator had already been informed of Chen Yin’s suicide, so he guided Zhong Ran’s statement in that direction.

Zhong Ran wiped away her tears. After several attempts to compose herself, she gradually calmed down and sank into memories from much further back.

Now, let us hear Zhong Ran’s statement.

Zhong Ran’s Statement (1)-

I’ll tell you everything truthfully, Officer.

Before Chen Yin and I got together, we had a superior-subordinate relationship. I was his employee.

Chen Yin came from a technical background. He was very capable and founded the company himself, focusing deeply on the field of energy storage technology.

He had a sharp sense for industry trends and could always make the right decisions.

He had high standards for his employees, and even higher standards for himself. He was meticulous in everything he did, and everyone respected him.

I had always respected him and regarded him as a role model. Gradually, I developed feelings for him.

That was only natural. Quite a few of the single female colleagues liked Chen Yin.

I was good at my job and highly valued by Chen Yin, but emotionally, I was rather weak. So I kept those feelings buried in my heart and never imagined I could actually be with him.

Until a business trip the year before last, when our relationship suddenly progressed by leaps and bounds.

That summer, Chen Yin took me and another male colleague to Europe to attend a new energy exhibition.

The night we checked into the hotel, I received a message from Chen Yin. He told me to go to his room so he could brief me on the details of the exhibition the next day.

That day, a friend of mine who had studied in Europe happened to come see me. We were catching up in my room.

She said it wasn’t safe to go to a man’s room so late at night and advised me not to go.

But I hadn’t thought in that direction at all, because Chen Yin was always so businesslike. I couldn’t associate him with anything like that.

I said it was fine, that other colleagues would be there too, and that it should be over quickly.

But when I arrived at Chen Yin’s room, I realized he had only called me. The room was dimly lit, and the atmosphere really was somewhat ambiguous.

Chen Yin closed the door and gestured for me to come to the table.

I said I hadn’t brought my notebook. He said it would only be a few words and that there was no need to take notes.

At that point, making another excuse would have been awkward, as if I were implying something. I had no choice but to steel myself and go in.

Chen Yin told me some details about the exhibition and encouraged me to perform well the next day.

To encourage me further, he said the wine in Europe was very good, then poured two glasses.

I didn’t want to drink. I knew I had a very low tolerance.

But after Chen Yin finished his words of encouragement, he raised his glass to me. He looked at me in silence, his hand suspended in midair, waiting.

I’m not good at refusing people, and in such a pressuring moment, it was even harder to say no.

I drank half of that glass, and then my mind went blank as I began to collapse.

Chen Yin got up and caught me. Then he held me and did not let go.

I felt dizzy and awful. Smelling the alcohol on his breath made me feel even worse. I wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t.

Then he took me to the bed and, ignoring my refusal, forced himself on me.

Afterward, I kept crying.

But Chen Yin was very calm. He said, “What is this? Didn’t you like me?”

I did like him, but that did not mean I had agreed. It was no reason for him to force me.

I did not understand how the superior I had always respected could turn into something like a demon, then turn around and calmly question me like that.

I felt as if something inside me had shattered, and countless chaotic thoughts flooded my mind.

I thought of my terrible family of origin, of how my parents didn’t love me, of how I had broken with them and struggled alone in a big city, of how even the person I respected and admired had ended up hurting me, of the pain in my body and my heart…

All at once, the emotions I had been suppressing burst through their dam. I cried until I could no longer control myself.

When Chen Yin saw me break down, he seemed to regret it too. He began comforting me and apologizing.

He said with great sincerity that he had always liked me, and that the incident had only happened because he had lost control of his feelings for a moment. He hoped I could forgive him.

He said the company had only just gotten on the right track and was about to start its Series A funding round. It hadn’t been easy to come all the way to Europe for the exhibition, and the costs were enormous. If he got arrested in a foreign country, his life would be over. The business he’d worked so hard to build would be over too.

He said I could ask for anything I wanted. He begged me not to create another crisis at such a critical moment. He begged me to give him a way out.

That night, my superior, who had always seemed so lofty, so distant, so unsmiling, held my hands earnestly and looked up at me from below. His usually immaculate hair was in disarray, his glasses were off, and his eyes were red, as if he were about to cry. He looked humble and pitiful.

Little by little, I was moved. My head also began to clear.

The company really was at a crucial stage. It wasn’t only Chen Yin who cared about it-we, all the employees, cared deeply too.

This exhibition and this job were things I treasured as well. Over the years, there had been fewer and fewer things left in my life that I cherished. I was afraid of more change. I was afraid of losing what I had.

Besides, I liked him to begin with. Did I really need to be this devastated?

…

I decided not to pursue the matter, and he did, in fact, like me. And so the whole thing came to a happy ending. We got together.

After we returned to the company, word spread quickly among our colleagues. Once the initial shock passed, everyone offered their blessings.

From then on, Chen Yin made no attempt to hide how much he looked after me.

During work hours, he bypassed the director and personally guided me through my tasks, frequently praising my professional ability. After work, he would wait by my desk early, take me out to dinner, and then drive me home.

On the mornings of holidays and festivals, a delivery person would poke their head in at the office door with a bouquet in their arms. “Is Zhong Ran here? These are flowers from Mr. Chen.”

Whenever my colleagues saw it, they would exchange knowing smiles, thinking that even a boss in the throes of love could be rather cute. My friends envied me too, saying it was like I was living the life of a heroine in a novel. Even the director who used to order me around became much more polite to me.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but deep down, I felt a faint unease.

This kind of openly displayed romance made me very uncomfortable. I didn’t like having my private feelings put on display for everyone to watch.

I brought it up with Chen Yin tactfully, but he said this was just what being in love was like, and told me to be more at ease.

He meant well, so I didn’t mention it again.

But once anything goes too far, problems are bound to arise.

Chen Yin’s favoritism toward me grew day by day, until gradually, he could no longer separate public from private matters.

When everyone was working overtime at night to push the schedule forward, he would hand my work off to someone else and take me out to dinner.

When the director made a small mistake, Chen Yin handed the nearly completed project in his charge over to me to lead. But when I made a mistake, he merely told me lightly to be more careful next time.

At first, my colleagues didn’t say anything. But as time went on, they all began to have opinions.

Especially with that project-I had joined late and had barely done much work at all, yet Chen Yin put my name first. After the project ended, he directly promoted me to director.

Credit that wasn’t mine became mine, and credit that was mine became tainted. It was unfair to the other employees who worked diligently, and it was unfair to me too.

I told Chen Yin again not to give me special treatment, but he always said it was what I deserved.

After that, rumors slowly began to spread through the company.

Some people said I had seduced Chen Yin during the business trip in order to climb the ladder, that there was an exchange of benefits between us. Some even said I had put a hex on him or drugged him. The rumors became more and more ridiculous, but everyone was willing to believe them.

After all, Chen Yin was so outstanding. The fact that he would be with someone ordinary like me was already suspicious in itself.

Once the rumors started, I was completely isolated.

My colleagues deliberately avoided meeting my eyes, but behind my back, they would look me over with scrutiny, gathering together to point and whisper about me.

On the surface, they were still polite, but no one came to chat with me anymore. No one invited me to meals. Even the coworker at the desk next to mine, who had once been close to me, began keeping a respectful distance and privately told others that she had never expected me to be that kind of person.

I desperately wanted to explain myself, but I didn’t have the courage to face a situation where everyone was denouncing me and confronting me head-on.

I was never good at arguing either. I was born without much presence, and after exchanging just a few words with someone, I would be unable to stop myself from wanting to cry.

Besides, even if I tried to explain, my words would be pale and powerless. First, I had no way to prove my innocence. Second, I didn’t want to do it at the cost of hurting Chen Yin.

In truth, I didn’t need to prove my innocence. I could have sued them for defamation and found a lawyer to help. But the company was at a critical stage. If employees started suing each other at a time like this, who would still be able to focus on work? People outside the company would have thoughts about it too. That would also hurt Chen Yin.

Out of all these concerns, I made no response at all.

That only made the rumors seem more confirmed. The rumors had no evidence to begin with, but my reaction became the evidence.

Chen Yin publicly warned people several times, but he couldn’t stop every wagging tongue. All he could do was comfort me and tell me not to care about other people’s opinions, to just focus on my own work.

Originally, I didn’t care about other people’s opinions. But if everyone is accusing you, cursing you, slandering you, and smearing your name, who could truly not care?

During that period, I was under tremendous mental stress. I couldn’t concentrate on my work. I sat in the director’s position, but I couldn’t do the director’s job well.

Every second at work felt like a year. I always felt as though countless gazes were fixed on my back, making me feel as if I were sitting on a bed of needles.

Whenever I saw colleagues gathered in twos and threes, I felt they were talking about me.

After hearing those words so many times, even I gradually became unable to remember what exactly had been going through my mind when I went to Chen Yin’s room that night.

Why did I go to his room? And after I went, why did I drink? Did I really have no expectations, no intentions at all?

The rumors spread like a plague, and soon they reached the other companies in the same office building.

In the mornings, when I walked into the elevator, I could hear voices behind me-

“That’s her, right…?”

“It’s her. I heard…”

“I can’t believe people like that really exist. Thank god she’s not my coworker…”

“That’s a skill in itself… Could you do it if you were in her place?”

Rustling, mocking whispers.

And countless unfamiliar, appraising stares.

Those words and gazes shot into my back like sharp blades, making me hunch lower and lower, making me unable to lift my head. All I wanted was to find a hole to crawl into.

After that, no matter where I was-the mall, the street, the subway-that feeling of being watched, of being judged, was everywhere.

The moment I stepped outside, my heart would race and my breathing would quicken. I couldn’t focus on anything. All I wanted was to hurry home and hide.

Only when I was alone, or by Chen Yin’s side, could I feel at ease.

Because I didn’t want to go out and see people, I began calling in sick more and more often. After all, my boss was my boyfriend. It was just a matter of going through the motions.

Over time, my body truly became as fragile as my mind. Like a porcelain doll, I was always getting sick.

Chen Yin was worried about my health, so after we got married, he told me to stay home and recuperate instead of going to work.

It felt like a pardon.

Besides, having someone as unstable as me in the company wasn’t good for unity, or for getting business done. It was better for everyone this way.

After cutting myself off from social contact, my body and mind gradually recovered. But I was still afraid of crowds, so I started working from home.

I stopped going out to shop. Anything that could be bought online, I bought online. I switched all my clothes to black and gray, and stocked up on masks too, making sure that if I absolutely had to go out, I could become utterly unremarkable.

I still felt attached to the outside world. Sometimes I would sit on the balcony, somewhere no one could see me, and listen to the sounds outside.

My dependence on Chen Yin grew by the day. During the day, I was always thinking of him. At night, the sound of the door opening made me happy.

Chen Yin threw himself entirely into work. He had a lot on his plate, and once he got busy, his mood would sour.

In truth, he was often in a bad mood. But as a leader outside, he still had to appear approachable and steady. He only showed his real self in front of me.

Of course, his real self wasn’t intense either. He simply didn’t smile, didn’t speak, and shut himself in the study, not wanting to be disturbed.

After I cut off my social life, the only person I had to talk to was my husband. When he didn’t want to talk, I became very lonely.

But there was nothing to be done. I couldn’t affect his work.

I did my best to be a good wife, and a good employee too, helping ease his burdens both in life and at work.

Even so, I couldn’t always satisfy him. He was strict with others, and strict with himself as well.

After living with him for two years, my first impression when I saw him was still boss, and only then husband. Maybe it was the impression that had been formed first.

He had once been so far beyond my reach, yet he was willing to love me, to be with me, to consider me in everything and take care of my emotions and my health.

All I wanted was to do my very best and not cause him trouble.

On many lonely nights, I would sit on the balcony to pass the time.

No one could see me. That made me feel safe. I could calmly lift my head, open my ears, and open my eyes.

I heard insects and birds, neighbors chatting downstairs, children laughing and roughhousing, delivery trucks clattering back and forth… All those sounds reminded me that the bustling world was not so very far from me.

The balcony, especially an open balcony like this one without enclosed windows, gave me a great deal of comfort.

Chen Yin’s career climbed to the next level. The financing came through, and then he had to prepare to build a factory. To save costs, he rented a plant in a nearby third-tier city.

There was a lot to handle in the beginning, so over these past few months, Chen Yin had to travel to that city every week for business. His schedule was fixed too: he left on Tuesdays and came back on Fridays. Basically, he was away half the time.

The days when I couldn’t see him were agony. I could only digest that pain on my own.

That is the story of Chen Yin and me.

…

The change came half a year ago.

Half a year ago, He Zhili moved in across from us.

He was a lawyer, and also from the same hometown as Chen Yin.

He was warm and cheerful, greeting everyone he met, like a sun that shone every second of every day.

But that sunlight, warm as it might be to others, was too dazzling for me. It illuminated me until I had nowhere to hide.

Every time he looked at me, I felt the terrifying sensation of being seen through. It was clearly a friendly gaze, yet it was more frightening than any gaze I had ever felt before.

I was very afraid of him and didn’t want too much contact with him, but unfortunately, he was the kind of person who treated everyone like an old friend.

After being forced into contact with him again and again, I knew very well that the problem wasn’t He Zhili. It was me. I had lost the ability to socialize normally.

In the past, I had always avoided it, unwilling to admit it. But now, faced with an enthusiastic neighbor, I appeared so fragile, sensitive, and sick.

Subconsciously, I also wanted to escape this situation. How could a person’s mind be so complicated? I was afraid of He Zhili, yet I faintly hoped he would come talk to me.

Every day after cutting off my social life, my world contained only my husband. But my husband was quiet and always rushing about, rarely turning back to look at me.

He Zhili, on the other hand, would appear in front of me from time to time, unstinting with his brilliant smile as he pulled me into a few casual words of conversation.

Chen Yin didn’t like people with overly flamboyant personalities, and he had always kept He Zhili at a polite distance. On weekends, he would go fishing with He Zhili, but if we spotted him from afar while walking outside on an ordinary day, Chen Yin would take my hand and steer us around him to avoid further interaction.

When he noticed that He Zhili often came looking for me, he asked me how I felt about it.

To prevent my husband from misunderstanding, I selectively told him how I felt about He Zhili. I only said that I was afraid of He Zhili.

So Chen Yin had a word with He Zhili, and He Zhili restrained himself for a while.

I felt a little disappointed, but the fact that my husband had done this for me still made me very happy. It was proof that he cared about me.

Until one day, He Zhili came looking for me again.

He said he had taken on a divorce case. His client had been subjected to psychological control by her husband during their marriage, and then his affair had pushed her over the edge.

After discovering more evidence over the past two days, the client had suffered an emotional breakdown. She could barely communicate, so he wanted to ask me to help calm her down.

I told him I wasn’t good with words, but he kept begging me, saying the situation was urgent, and since I was a woman too, it might be easier for me to talk to her.

After hesitating for a moment, I agreed.

He dragged me straight to his home, dialed the client’s number, said, “I’ll have my friend talk to you,” and then shoved the phone into my hand.

I heard low sobs coming from the phone, and my heartbeat instantly sped up. Stammering, I began, “Hello… I’m Lawyer He’s friend… Um, please don’t cry. Try to be strong… I…”

“Who the hell are you? I don’t want to listen!” the other woman suddenly screamed, her emotions extremely unstable.

I was so frightened that I fell silent.

She was completely trapped in her own emotions and couldn’t hear a single word of comfort. Her cries grew more piercing, drowning out my voice.

She wailed, “He’s all I have… and he treats me like this…”

I didn’t dare speak anymore. Her crying made my heart ache so badly that I couldn’t hold back my own tears.

He Zhili clearly hadn’t expected that I truly didn’t know how to comfort people-that before I could even start persuading her, I would start crying myself.

He gave me a long, searching look, snatched the phone back, and went out onto the balcony. In the end, he decided to do the emotional counseling himself.

For some reason, my tears wouldn’t stop. Half an hour later, when He Zhili finally came back after calming his client down, I was still crying.

He Zhili silently handed me tissues for a while. At last, he said, “Zhong Ran, your problems really aren’t small either.”

That day, He Zhili told me that client’s story.

Of course, as a lawyer, he couldn’t disclose his client’s private information, so he only gave me a general outline.

He said the woman’s husband had an extremely strong desire for control. Before they married, he made her cut off all social contact and taught her to see only him. After marriage, he inflicted psychological violence on her, tormenting her until she suffered a mental breakdown. To put it plainly, it was psychological control-PUA. Later, he even cheated on her.

The client’s current state fluctuated between lucidity and madness. When she was lucid, she was adamant about getting a divorce. When she lost control, she became like she had just been, showing an extreme attachment to her husband.

The tragic part was that the only solid evidence in this case was the man’s affair. Psychological abuse was very difficult to prove.

Because of the client’s mental state, she couldn’t articulate things clearly, and her focus was solely on the issue of the man’s infidelity.

The man’s public reputation was excellent, and his relatives, friends, and neighbors had not noticed anything obviously abnormal. Their chat records were limited in content, making it hard to establish psychological violence.

The client had been shut inside her home for years and had never received psychological treatment.

If it had been physical violence, there would have been injuries that could be examined. But pure psychological violence was like an invisible blade. Even if its impact was profound, in practice it was very difficult to determine that it constituted the crime of abuse and to pursue criminal responsibility against the man.

So this case could only be handled like an ordinary divorce case, with the focus on civil liability.

Besides, the client’s only demand was a divorce. The thing she couldn’t accept was simply her husband’s affair.

He Zhili had temporarily calmed the client down and was quite confident about the divorce proceedings, but he still felt powerless about many things.

Because within this case alone, the client did indeed have the upper hand. But outside the scope of the case, her life had long since been utterly defeated.

He Zhili sighed. In the end, he shifted the topic back to me.

“I don’t know whether what I said today gave you any inspiration. Zhong Ran, the first time I saw you, I thought you were very strange.

“You hid behind Chen Yin, trembling, and when you spoke to him, your voice was soft and weak, with no confidence at all. I had my suspicions, but I never dared to be certain. It wasn’t until today that I got a definite answer.

“I don’t know exactly how the two of you interact at home. But please think about it carefully. Is the relationship between you and your husband truly healthy?”

I retorted, “Chen Yin treats me very well. He’s not like your client’s husband…”

Even my rebuttal was weak and lacking conviction.

These past two years, I really had changed a great deal. In the past, I had never feared socializing, never feared people’s gazes, and my emotions had never been controlled by one person alone.

But Chen Yin hadn’t done anything. He had always been thinking of me. If I examined it closely, the real reason was my own sense of unworthiness acting up.

Chen Yin was outstanding, while I was mediocre. The gap between us was too great. So when other people thought I wasn’t worthy of him, I thought so too.

If there was a problem between us, then it was my problem. I would adjust on my own. There was no need for outsiders to interfere.

I stood up and said, “I should go back…”

“Wait.”

But He Zhili abruptly stood as well and walked around the table toward me.

“Have you ever considered,” he pressed closer step by step, forcing me to back away, then interrogated me cruelly, “that perhaps Chen Yin’s methods of control are simply more covert-so covert that even you, the person involved, haven’t noticed, and you’re still deeply grateful to him?”

“I haven’t considered it. He just treats me very well!” I gritted out. “Also, don’t call me ‘the person involved.’ I’m not your client. Don’t get it mixed up!”

I pushed him with all my strength, making him stumble.

He retreated a little and said nothing more.

I fled for the door. But the moment I opened it and saw the dark, heavy door of my own home across the hall, a suffocating feeling rose inside me.

It actually made me stop in my tracks before I could run toward it.

Against my will, I thought of things from the past, all tangled together like a ball of thread.

“Zhong Ran, you’re avoiding the problem,” the man behind me said. “There are many things you could actually figure out, but you don’t dare to. You don’t want to face them. You’re too weak and lack a will of your own, so it’s very easy for you to be used and controlled.”

“Around him, you walk on eggshells. Your will bends entirely to his. Even with outsiders-even with me, a neighbor you don’t know that well-you feel too embarrassed to say no outright. I could overlook those little favors I asked of you before, but today I dragged you straight into the home of a man who lives alone, and you still didn’t refuse.

“You’re very easy to handle. All it takes is a little pleading, and your heart softens.”

His words were harsh, but I couldn’t deny it. I was weak.

I turned around and asked him, “…Did you deliberately let me come into contact with your client?”

He nodded. “You could say that. Of course, my primary goal was to help my client. Testing your situation came second. I’m very grateful to you. Even though you were reluctant, you still did your best to calm her down. In return, I’d also like to use this case as an opportunity to help you, so you don’t have to be so guarded. You can think of me as a friend.”

For a moment, I wavered, but I still asked in return, “But aren’t you Chen Yin’s friend? Now you want to be friends with me too, and you’re saying bad things about him in front of me. What are you really after?”

He said calmly, “It’s precisely because I’m his friend, because we’re from the same hometown, that I understand him better than you do. In the future, I’ll tell you a little about what he used to be like.

“I’m telling you all this not because I want to drive a wedge between you two, nor am I saying Chen Yin is a bad person-to us lawyers, only those who break the law are bad people.

“I simply can’t bear to see the same thing happen again, so I sincerely want to help you. I also want your relationship to develop in a healthier way. Of course, if you feel there’s nothing wrong between you and that you don’t need help, then I must be overthinking things. Please forgive my presumption.”

After he finished speaking, he looked at me deeply. There was no other meaning in his gaze. He simply wanted to help me.

The sun was like that too, shining down on everything without reservation.

It had been a long time since I’d had a friend.

In these two lonely years, every sound I made had only one recipient: my husband. And even my husband was stingy with his replies.

Sometimes, I even felt as though I didn’t truly exist in this world, as though I were a wisp of a ghost no one else could see.

But He Zhili had moved in. He had truly seen my existence and discovered my predicament.

Since he was willing to be my friend, then there was no harm in confiding in him a little.

Besides, I really did want to know what Chen Yin had been like in the past.

In short, that day, He Zhili and I became friends. I told him about the past three years between Chen Yin and me, but I didn’t mention that first business trip.

After He Zhili listened, his expression grew grave.

He said his guess had been right. Chen Yin had indeed been exercising psychological control over me-in other words, PUA. But Chen Yin was different from the usual cases. His methods were more covert. He could remove himself from the equation and leave no obvious fault for anyone to point at.

First of all, my relationship with Chen Yin had been unequal from the very beginning. He was my superior, and I was his employee. I was accustomed to obeying him, and emotionally, I was also extremely weak. That meant I was destined to be easily swayed by him.

Many of the things that happened afterward were also questionable.

For example, why had Chen Yin, who had always been low-key and reserved, suddenly become so high-profile once we started dating?

Why had he once been a fair and good leader, only to become unable to separate public and private matters after we got together?

When rumors were flying everywhere, why had he merely reminded everyone to mind workplace discipline instead of directly explaining that our feelings were mutual?

Why was it that when he acted unfairly, our colleagues weren’t dissatisfied with him? Why was I the only one criticized in that relationship?

How had those rumors started in the first place?

…

Perhaps Chen Yin had set everything in motion.

Chen Yin had hidden behind everyone else, calmly watching from the sidelines as I was pushed into the eye of the storm, struggling in pain. Then he stepped forward and became my savior, teaching me that the only person I could trust was him, the only person I could rely on was him, before telling me not to go to work anymore.

Was that what had happened?

It was hard to prove. It could only be considered a guess.

Even if that was the truth, it didn’t mean Chen Yin’s intentions were bad. Perhaps he simply liked me and wanted to possess me completely. Perhaps he enjoyed the feeling of being depended on by me with all my heart and soul. It was just that this method had caused me a certain degree of harm.

Thinking about it carefully, Chen Yin had always treated me very well after we got married. Although he could be rather stern at times, he always addressed the matter at hand and never demeaned me as a person. He wasn’t like those people.

In the end, He Zhili encouraged me to find myself again.

The firmness in his eyes made me timid, as though he were hoping I would change as soon as possible.

I avoided his gaze. When I looked away, I caught sight of the clock and was suddenly startled to realize it was already time to get off work. Chen Yin must have arrived home.

I hurried to the door. The moment I opened it, I saw that my own front door was open.

Chen Yin was standing in the doorway, looking at me.

My heart sank sharply, and I quickly returned home.

Chen Yin greeted He Zhili, then shut the door. The apartment instantly fell into silence, the atmosphere turning oppressively heavy.

During dinner, Chen Yin ate while handling work on his phone. He didn’t say a word.

He Zhili had encouraged me just now, but the moment I saw Chen Yin, all my strength vanished. My mind was filled with nothing but him, and I forgot everything else.

I seized an opening to explain what had happened. I said He Zhili had a case and had asked me to help with a small favor.

Chen Yin was silent for a moment, then said coldly, “Looks like working from home is still too easy. It even leaves you time during the day to go help others. How about this? This weekend, I’ll tell them not to come in for overtime. Sorry to trouble you, but you’ll work overtime at home instead.”

I agreed at once.

His expression eased, and he added gently, “I’ll cook on the weekend.”

That was Chen Yin’s response as both my superior and my husband.

I thought that would be the end of it.

But for a long time after that, Chen Yin became even more sparing with his words. Aside from necessary communication, he never brought up anything else.

Even when assigning work, he had the director arrange it for me instead-because I didn’t have enough energy, and after I started working from home, he demoted me back to my original position.

This time was different from before.

In the past, Chen Yin had simply been busy with work and hadn’t had much to say. But if I took the initiative to start a conversation, he would still respond. After that incident, though, whenever I tried to talk to him, he would brush me off. At most, two sentences were enough to end the conversation.

In the end, as long as he was home, he either ate or shut himself in the study. He even slept in the study, cutting off any chance of communication altogether.

You have to understand-during that period, he was away on business four days every week and only home for three. Of those three days, he still had to go to the office for two. Once he came back, he went straight into the study. He wasn’t willing to waste even a single minute on me.

It was as if we were two people living in different time and space under the same roof. We seemed so close, but in reality, we never intersected.

I knew Chen Yin minded that He Zhili and I had gotten too close. He was punishing me. But when I explained, he didn’t respond. He only said he was busy with work.

Being ignored like that for so long, without a break, caused me unbearable pain. Even though I spent a great deal of time sitting on the balcony, it was still hard to dissolve that suffering.

I continued accepting He Zhili’s guidance and help, but it achieved very little.

I loved Chen Yin. I had long since lost the ability to find myself again. My joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were all tied to Chen Yin’s every move.

And continuing to meet with He Zhili was no different from drinking poison to quench my thirst. If this went on, Chen Yin might never acknowledge me again.

In order to salvage our relationship, I made up my mind to cut off all contact with He Zhili.

After that, I explained to Chen Yin over and over again that I loved only him, that there was nothing improper between He Zhili and me, and that I hoped he would stop ignoring me and talk to me.

Again and again. From my timid pleading at the beginning to my later hysteria, no matter how hard I tried to explain, Chen Yin seemed not to care. He only watched my performance with cold eyes.

Finally, one day, I ran out of strength.

I looked around and saw the house in complete disarray. The floor was littered with things I had thrown everywhere while I was hysterical.

I collapsed onto the floor. I felt my eardrums swell, blocking out every sound from the outside world. All I could hear was the deafening sound of my own heartbeat-

Thump. Thump. Thump…

Chen Yin, who had been about to enter the study, paused. At last, he turned and walked toward me.

Our two worlds finally intersected.

He crouched in front of me, lifted my face with one hand, and said, “Zhong Ran, I love you so much, yet you went behind my back and entangled yourself with him. You really disappoint me.

“Since you say the two of you are innocent, how are you going to prove it?

“Think about it carefully, then prove it to me. If you can’t prove it, I’ll be very sad.”

Chen Yin tossed out those few light, careless sentences, then turned and went into the study.

If you want to prove two people are having an affair, there are ways to do it. But if you want to prove two people are innocent, how are you supposed to prove that?

How do you prove something that never happened didn’t happen?

This was the task Chen Yin had given me. If I couldn’t complete it, I would never be able to win him back for the rest of my life.

But at least I knew what direction to work toward. That was a good thing.

I didn’t sleep for three days and three nights, but I wasn’t tired. On the contrary, my mind was extremely agitated.

Night after night, I sat on the balcony, thinking about how I should prove it.

During that time, He Zhili was worried about me and often came to knock on my door, but I refused to let him in. Even when couriers knocked, I ignored them all.

The moment I heard knocking, I would tremble with fear.

Until Monday morning this week, when He Zhili came to knock again. He knocked for a long time and refused to leave.

Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock… It kept knocking all the way into my heart…

At a certain moment, my mind suddenly became clear, and at the same time, even more chaotic.

I got up and found that the world had become distorted.

One moment, I had clearly been at home. The next, I was in He Zhili’s house.

I was holding a knife in my hand, and there was blood on the blade…

I realized I had killed someone.

I didn’t dare look. I hurriedly fled back home.

I was so scared. That night, as soon as Chen Yin came back, I told him.

Chen Yin told me not to be afraid. He would help me take care of it.

That day, I was in a daze the entire time. My memories were almost completely fragmented.

When I came back to myself again, I saw Chen Yin in the kitchen washing something, his back turned to me.

I walked over to look and discovered that he was washing a bone cleaver.

He said he would handle everything, but my heart was still tormented, so I decided to turn myself in.

Officer, I’m truly sorry. I did something like this.

I can no longer remember what happened during the process. All I know is that by the time I came back to my senses, it was already too late.

During that period, my mental state really wasn’t normal.

He Zhili was a good person. He genuinely wanted to help me, yet he suffered this undeserved disaster…

I wronged him. I wronged his family…