Bei Ze really seemed to have freed himself from the past, for he could now talk openly about how he had once liked her.
“Xiaozhi, I apologize on mum and dad’s behalf for all of the things they put you through.”
Shi Sheng looked at him and smiled, but didn’t say anything. Forgive the Bei couple? She had never even taken them seriously. Also, the person they should seek forgiveness from was not her.
The atmosphere was a bit awkward. Fortunately, Bei Ze’s phone rang.
“I’ll go and fetch you. There’s someone I think you’d like to meet.” Bei Ze hung up after he finished and looked at Shi Sheng. “Yinyin’s here. Xiaozhi, do you want to see her?”
Shi Sheng nodded slightly.
Lin Yin was overjoyed when she saw Shi Sheng, and pulled her away to chat for quite a while.
“You’ve gotten what you’ve wished for? Are you happy?” Shi Sheng asked, smiling.
Lin Yin’s laughter died down, and as she looked at Shi Sheng, she spoke somberly. “I put my life on the line and got a future filled with thorns. Back then, you were the only one who told me to do what I wanted to. You told me that even if I lost, you’d be able to get me back to the starting point.
Xiaozhi… when everyone else was telling me to be reasonable, only you were on my side. Had I not met Bei Ze first, I might’ve fallen for you.”
“No matter. It’s not too late for you to abandon Bei Ze and fall into my arms! I don’t mind that you’ve had a man before.” Narcissistically, Shi Sheng opened up her arms as she spoke.
Lin Yin burst out laughing before falling into a hug with Shi Sheng. “Xiaozhi, it’s great to have met you.”
Without her, Lin Yin felt like she might’ve given in, like she might not have been able to have the resolve to remain by Bei Ze’s side.
“Are the two of you planning on abandoning us and eloping?” Bei Ze and Fu Qin emerged from somewhere. Seeing the two embracing, Bei Ze’s lips twitched.
Fu Qin was much more direct; he pulled Lin Yin’s arms off Shi Sheng before pulling her into his own embrace, making his claim clear.
Lin Yin snickered, and as she returned to Bei Ze’s side, she spoke to Shi Sheng in a low voice, “What makes me surprised is you being together with Fu-shao.”
Although they had gotten many well-wishes from their fellow students back then, not many had actually been very optimistic about their relationship. After all, who was Fu-shao?
Fu Qin glared at Lin Yin, causing her to cover her mouth. After bidding goodbye to Lin Yin, Shi Sheng brought Fu Qin to the cinema.
“What do you want to watch?” Shi Sheng scanned the advertisement boards. ‘No interesting movies recently…’
Fu Qin started rattling off, “Not watching romance, or horror, or sci-fi, or thriller… Don’t want to watch comedies or tragedies either.”
…He had pretty much listed all of the genres of movies.
‘Then what the fuck do you want to watch?! Honest coaching (porno)? Or intimate conversations (porno)?’
Shi Sheng spent a lot of money for the cinema to arrange for a theatre to be emptied out just for them. To watch Animal Planet.
‘Bringing to you the pre-human era you deserve!’
The cinema manager, “…” ‘Rich people nowadays are all sick in the head.’
The rich person who was sick in the head was currently sitting in a large theatre and watching the mindlessly boring Animal Planet. The person beside her… appeared to be enjoying it. ‘What’s so nice about Animal Planet?
Just what in the… they’re fucking in public… and finished so quickly?! Look, can you guys actually do it?! I mean, just look at your neighbour Old Wang’s scornful gaze! 1
What the fuck! You guys even allow snatching people halfway through?!
This three-view-wrecking Animal Planet…’
After having watched a session of Animal Planet, Shi Sheng felt like her mind had been filled with all sorts of unspeakable imagery. ‘Too scary…’
On the way back, they bought dog food for Chang Sheng. ‘This dog eats too much! He finished all the food I just bought a few days ago!’
When she entered the lift while carrying that dog food, a group of policemen charged into the lift with her.
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘What’s going on?’
The police got off two floors below Shi Sheng’s. Shi Sheng thought she saw Ji Xiaoyu before the doors closed. Shi Sheng pressed the button to open the doors again and confirmed that the person the policemen had surrounded was indeed Ji Xiaoyu.
The next day, Shi Sheng learned that Ji Xiaoyu had attempted murder. The victim was that stepmother of hers. Yesterday, her father and his girlfriend were planning on registering their marriage.
The sight of all the ‘喜’ words in her house2
seemed to have thrown her into a frenzy, for she then picked up a fruit knife and stabbed Bai Wei a few times.
Papa Ji hadn’t stopped her in time.
What was more ridiculous, though, was that this matter had dragged a criminal gang out into the light.
This criminal gang specifically targeted rich people. First they’d trick those rich people into marrying them, and then they convinced their target to invest in a ‘money-making’ venture.
After the women had conned them of their money, the woman would run off and find her next target. Bai Wei was lucky and didn’t die. That knife hadn’t hit any vital areas, but Ji Xiaoyu still had jail time awaiting her.
Papa Ji regretted his actions. He used up a lot of money trying to bribe people to let Ji Xiaoyu out.
“Xiaoyu, it was all my fault. I shouldn’t have believed those women.” Papa Ji looked at Ji Xiaoyu apologetically.
Ji Xiaoyu’s hair had been cut short and looked somewhat worse for wear. She glanced at Papa Ji and licked her cracked lips. “How much money do you have left?”
“Ah?” Papa Ji blanked out before hurriedly answering, “Still 2 million. I spent a lot of money bailing you out this time…”
Without letting him finish, Ji Xiaoyu reached out her hand. “Give it to me.”
Papa Ji probably felt truly remorseful towards Ji Xiaoyu, for he hurriedly handed his bank card over to Ji Xiaoyu.
Ji Xiaoyu disappeared with that 2 million. No matter how much he tried, Papa Ji couldn’t find her, and that made him nearly wreck the house in his fury.
Without any money, he had to live very thriftily. Now that he had once lived a life of luxury, he naturally couldn’t accept this. As a result, he wanted to once again win the lottery.
Papa Ji sold his house and spent all of the proceeds on buying lottery tickets. He planned to buy back his house once he won again. However, without Shi Sheng as his cheat this time, how would he be able to win it?
Even after he had spent all his money, he didn’t manage to win anything.
……
Ji Xiaoyu took the money with her to another city. She knew she wasn’t able to fight Bei Zhi, so she decided to lay low. But not long after, she met Gao Anlang.
The eldest branch of the Gao Family had given up on him, and they had chased him out for the sake of protecting what few shares they could.
Gao Anlang used his video to blackmail Ji Xiaoyu into giving him spending money. Because of that video, Ji Xiaoyu didn’t dare to disobey, but she was always waiting for a chance to snatch it.
Once, after Gao Anlang had gotten drunk, Ji Xiaoyu gathered up the courage to go and search for the video. She hadn’t managed to find it, however, and when Gao Anlang suddenly woke up, he grabbed Ji Xiaoyu and started beating her up.
When she retaliated, she had killed Gao Anlang. Ji Xiaoyu escaped in the night.
She didn’t dare to go to any major cities, so she could only head for the more remote provincial cities. However, she hadn’t expected to meet human traffickers who kidnapped her and sold her off into the remote villages in the mountains.
These mountain villages tended to be very poor; one woman would have to serve multiple men. Ji Xiaoyu was locked up in a room. Whenever any man felt like having her, he could enter this room.
Because she had once had an abortion before, her uterus was injured and she was unable to get pregnant. Since she was unable to become pregnant, the men sold and resold her many times.
During one of her escape attempts, she fell to her death off a mountain cliff.