Despite everyone’s advice, a tearful Shen Changqing carried the limp Zhou Kai into the car.
Anyone with eyes could see Shen Changqing’s extreme fear of Zhou Kai, but this was someone else’s family matter, if Shen Changqing didn’t allow them to interfere, they were unable to help, no matter how much they wanted to.
Sam asked the other guests to wait in the banquet hall for a moment, while he followed Shen Changqing downstairs.
He got the staff to park Zhou Kai’s car at the back door, in order to avoid gaining the attention of the reporters.
When the car slowed to a stop, he helped Shen Changqing place Zhou Kai in the front seat and fastened his seatbelt for him. He also tried to advise Shen Changqing, “Mister Shen, I don’t think Mister Zhou’s state of mind is very good. How about I first contact the hospital after all……”
Zhou Kai had no strength remaining in his limbs and could only cut Sam with his glare.
Shen Changqing’s face was covered in tears. He sat down in the driver’s seat and started the car, “Mister Sam, thank you.”
……That was a refusal.
But after what had happened over these few days, Sam knew that Shen Changqing wasn’t someone who didn’t know discretion.
So in the end, he gave up on persuading him otherwise, but also told him a fact, “Just now, as we were going downstairs, I heard someone calling the police. There might be a police officer coming to the Zhou home in a while to ask some questions. You mustn’t panic.”
Shen Changqing said, “What will they even be able to find? Yi Song will be there to handle everything.”
Under the deep, low roar of the engine, Shen Changqing lightly wiped off the tears on his face with the back of his hand. He glanced out of the corner of his eyes, fixing his gaze on Sam. His eyes were filled with tears, but the corners of his mouth were curled in a slight sneer.
Sam was stunned, his entire body instantly bursting into a cold sweat.
As the car disappeared in a cloud of dust, Sam stood in the same place, his mind a mess.
He carefully thought over everything that had happened that night, only to find that everything felt interlinked, as if someone had been in control of the rhythm, leading Zhou Kai’s state of mind along step by step, tempting him into that deep, bottomless pit.
But the person who had been controlling the rhythm wasn’t the host of this dinner party, Sam.
He’d been used in a plot to anger Zhou Kai, easily transformed by that person to suit his plan. Even his own jealousy and revenge was nothing but a conveniently exploitable chess piece.
Even now, he didn’t have sufficient evidence to prove that Shen Changqing, who’d been trapped off to the side in a tiny heaven, who’d been heavily injured, and who had no way of going out, was the instigator from behind the scenes.
Right now, Sam’s only doubt was that if this Mister Shen was really as terrifying as he imagined, then why had he been willing to be abused by Zhou Kai for a full three years?
After leaving the splendid banquet, once again alone with Zhou Kai, Shen Changqing seemed to have recognised his own ident.i.ty, focusing only on driving, not saying a word.
Zhou Kai’s tongue was the first thing to recover.
He stared at Shen Changqing, his head c.o.c.ked to the side. He sneered, “Shen Changqing, you’re really quite capable, huh?”
Shen Changqing didn’t speak.
“How long have you been fooling around with Sam? En? Could it be that he can satisfy your s.l.u.tty……”
Following that, Zhou Kai used vivid and biting language to describe the organ below Shen Changqing’s waist, his words right out of the pages of a crude erotica.
In response to this, Shen Changqing replied, “……You’re too tired. You should have a good rest.”
His tone was humble and helpless, but there was a faint hint of a smile at the corner of his lips.
This smile immediately infuriated Zhou Kai, “What’s so funny?? Surnamed Shen, what are you smiling about?”
Shen Changqing, “I’m not smiling.”
Zhou Kai had a sinister look on his face. He pulled up his tired and powerless body, “Shen Changqing, tell me the truth, how long have you been plotting to ruin me? Where did you find people to scheme against me and Lily?”
Shen Changqing continued to deny to the end, “I didn’t.”
“You didn’t? You dare say you don’t hate me?”
The hand Shen Changqing was using to grasp the steering wheel trembled slightly. Even his voice was trembling, “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare hate you.”
“You don’t dare?” Zhou Kai’s voice was filled with malice, “Shen Changqing, I’ve underestimated you. What don’t you dare do? Was it that I gave you too much face during this period of time, so you don’t know how to act respectably? Say, are you a natural-born cheap b.i.t.c.h in need of a beating?”
Shen Changqing seemed to have gone completely numb. With reddened eyes, he said in a hollow voice, “I, I am.”
Zhou Kai wrested out a little more energy, undoing the seatbelt that had been restricting his movement. He raised a shaking hand, feeling along the driver’s seat and grabbed onto the hem of Shen Changqing’s suit.
This strength card overdrew from the user’s pool of energy, at the expense of the user’s next two hours of strength, but they wouldn’t actually be truly paralysed, they could still move around somewhat.
The moment his clothes were pulled tightly, Shen Changqing immediately panicked, “……Mister Zhou, no, I’m driving.”
Zhou Kai crawled towards him little by little, moving like a short, thick boa. His cold eyes were fixed on his face. His voice was full of malice as he said, “You’re just a dog I’ve been raising, you’re my slave. I’ve raised you so kindly for so many years, what right do you have to tell me “no”? Which part of your body haven’t I given you the marks of a slave? ……Here? Or is it here?!”
He touched Shen Changqing’s chest, then his ribs. Running along his ribs, his hand made its way upwards.
Having been thoroughly discredited in front of so many people, taken as a mental case, a lunatic, a dementic, how could Zhou Kai, with that pervertedly intense ego of his, possibly bear it?
The veins in his eyes looked as if they were about to burst.
He just wanted to take revenge on that Shen Changqing who had the audacity to take him as a monkey and play around with him!
“……That’s right, I forgot, there’s still this place.”
Using all the strength in his body, he grabbed Shen Changqing by the neck.
Shen Changqing cried out involuntarily, “……Mister Zhou! Zhou—— Urgh, ah……”
Probably in order to avoid reporters, Shen Changqing had picked a long road graced only by a few occasional cars along its length as the route home.
Upon him being recklessly lunged at like this by Zhou Kai, he immediately lost control of the car, making it swerve around wildly!
061 saw that the situation wasn’t good. “Do you need my help?”
Chi Xiaochi did his best to force out the energy to speak as he was being choked, “Don’t we still have a strength enhancement card? We’re going to hit a wall. In a moment, use the card on me. I can’t let Shen Changqing get any more injured.”
061 said, panicked, “The strength enhancement card works by overdrawing your own energy in exchange, it’ll harm you!”
Chi Xiaochi steadily held the steering wheel with both hands. In this desperate crisis, he tried his best to calmly drive in an S-shaped track down the wide, empty road. “I need to protect Shen Changqing.”
061 didn’t say anything. Chi Xiaochi took his silence as agreement, and didn’t speak any more superfluous words. He chose a heavily graffitied wall of what looked to be some abandoned factory, then pretended to have mistaken the accelerator for the brakes, flooring the accelerator and rushing straight over.
When acting, one needed to play it out to the end. As they were about to run straight into the wall, he didn’t even forget to act as if he’d realised that he’d stepped on the wrong pedal, and in a panic, tried to step on the brake.
“You just need to protect Shen Changqing,” In the ear-piercing screech of the brakes, 061’s voice suddenly sounded, filled with a firm, yet gentle strength, “I’ll protect you.”
Chi Xiaochi’s vision blurred. In the next second, code made of 1s and 0s converged before his eyes, forming a human figure, tenderly and completely wrapping him within.
It was a man’s embrace.
The feeling of that broad, warm something pressing against him was a little unfamiliar. It wasn’t an act, neither was it a courteous, social nicety, and hence was warm, and very pure.
Chi Xiaochi hadn’t been embraced like this by someone in a very long time.
That person pressed against his ear, and breathed out, “……Don’t be afraid, it’s me.”
061 used himself as a second seatbelt, firmly fastening Chi Xiaochi to the driver’s seat.
When the violent collision occurred, Chi Xiaochi’s back didn’t even leave the back of the driver’s seat.
The airbag quickly popped out, forcefully hitting 061’s back, making a heavy m.u.f.fled noise.
But 061 didn’t move.
This warm seatbelt knelt on one knee between his legs. With extreme propriety, after successfully protecting him, he immediately dissipated, turning into stardust.
Chi Xiaochi instinctively reached out to grab at that dissipating figure, but his hands grasped nothing but air.
He suddenly felt a little panicked, “……061? Liu-laoshi?”
Last time, he hadn’t been able to grab on……
061’s voice was just as gentle and powerful as ever. He answered in his head, “Xiaochi. I’m here.”
Chi Xiaochi breathed out a long sigh of relief.
Everything had happened too suddenly. Zhou Kai had already exhausted all his strength squeezing Shen Changqing’s neck, where did he have the energy to think about whether it was dangerous or not.
The moment the car hit the wall, Zhou Kai, who had taken the initiative to unfasten his own seatbelt, jumped up uncontrollably, falling forwards, and was then directly struck by the airbag, right on his chest, and was ruthlessly sent back into his seat. Because of the backlash, his face also slammed against the airbag, making his nostrils fill with blood.
He didn’t even see another person appear in the driver’s seat just then. His vision went black, then went dizzy, followed immediately by unbearable pain.
Zhou Kai wanted to move, but every part of his body hurt like h.e.l.l. Just moving a little would cause a loud buzzing to start up right by his ear, as if a housefly was nesting in his ear and started moving about wildly.
Chi Xiaochi quickly snapped out of the mood he’d been in just now, asking 061, “Is Zhou Kai still alive?”
061 consulted the data, “Systolic blood pressure of 110, diastolic blood pressure of 69, heart rate of 71, body temperature of 36.5 degrees, there hasn’t been an inflammatory response yet. A cut on the face, a broken right calf bone, his right rib was broken by the impact of the airbag, some slight bleeding has occurred in his liver, there’s a rupture of his urinary tract, a fractured thigh bone. His most serious injury is a contusion on his back vertebra.”
Chi Xiaochi said, “Make it simpler. Is he going to die?”
061, “Unless complications occur, he won’t.”
Chi Xiaochi, “Then that’s fine.”
061, “……What are you thinking of doing?”
Chi Xiaochi, “I’m not going to do anything. I’m going to fulfill his instructions, that’s all.”
Chi Xiaochi tested the car, and found that this car was actually worth every cent. The engine hadn’t been damaged, every one of its functions could still be considered operable. Especially Chi Xiaochi, except for twisting his left wrist during the violent impact, he had otherwise come out unscathed, he hadn’t even broken the skin.
The only thing that had been severely damaged was that piece of decaying goods that had taken it upon himself to unfasten his own seatbelt.
Chi Xiaochi pointed at him and said to 061, “Do you see that? That’s a living example. In the future, remember to fasten your seatbelt when driving.”
061 couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
Zhou Kai was nestled in the front pa.s.senger seat like a worn rag, curled up together with the deflated airbag, his head propped up against the cracked window. He was in so much pain that black spots were flying before his eyes, making him moan nonstop.
Chi Xiaochi restarted the severely damaged car, apologising repeatedly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry—— I’ve wasted your time…… I’ll send you back home right away.”
Blood trickled down his head, blurring Zhou Kai’s vision. He felt as if all the bones in his body had been, one by one, broken into pieces by someone wielding a hammer, faint with pain yet unable to faint. His two hands scrabbled around next to the sunken front pa.s.senger seat.
Back home? In this kind of situation right now, why would they still be going home?
Don’t tell him he was just going to look on unfeelingly as he died?
The headlights had broken in the crash, and the b.u.mper had been knocked off. The car travelling down the road looked as if it driven straight out of the sc.r.a.p yard. When they drove into an area with more people, they attracted many side-eyes from pa.s.sers-by.
Chi Xiaochi grasped the steering wheel, his voice filled with an undertone of extreme dread, on the verge of becoming morbid, “……Go home, Mister Zhou wants me to go home.”
Zhou Kai couldn’t speak. He looked at the driving Chi Xiaochi, only thinking that this man had gone crazy.
Because although unhinged muttering was spewing from his mouth, his eyes were incredibly clear, filled with mocking.
He was doing this on purpose? He didn’t want to take him to receive medical attention……
Then where was he taking him?
At present, Zhou Kai had become a puddle of fleshy pulp, bound to be stepped on by others. He was extremely terrified, he wanted to open the car door, but the lack of strength in his fingers notwithstanding, even if he had the strength, the door next to him had already been warped slightly by the crash, he had no way of knowing if it could even open.
But where was this was this car actually going……
No, no, he absolutely had to try!
He forcibly lifted his arm, struggling with the pain that was burning through his entire body, boiling him alive and pressed his feeble, powerless fingers against the door handle——
——Click.
He watched helplessly as the lock b.u.t.ton on the windowsill popped up, blocking his only way out.
Where could he find the strength right now to fight with Shen Changqing for control of the car?
Zhou Kai gasped heavily, taking in ragged breaths, and turned his head towards Shen Changqing. Shen Changqing was also looking at him, a smile in his eyes.
Chi Xiaochi said to 061, “Alright, the car door’s been locked. Today, n.o.body can even think of getting off of this car.”
Zhou Kai opened his mouth and let out a pleading whine of “ah, ah”. His eyes misted over with tears.
……He finally knew what fear was.
At that moment, the regret level that had been stuck at “5” moved at last.
It broke through the 10s, 20s and 30s, momentarily stopping at 35, then broke through the great hurdle of 40 with another breath.
Chi XIaochi didn’t intend on acknowledging Zhou Kai’s plea, only focusing on driving this broken car in the direction of Zhou Kai’s villa with single-minded devotion.
When said out loud, it sounded a little strange, but he kept thinking back to the embrace from just now and of how he felt when he woke up in bed a few days ago to find himself rolled up in a blanket.
Because he’d thought of the distant past, those countless days and nights filled with the sweet smell of snacks, the sound of the electric fan, the sound of games, and Lou Ying.
Lou Ying’s home had a game console, one of the big treasures he’d picked up from the garbage dump and had been restored by his skillful hands.
From then on, Chi Xiaochi often ran over to Lou Ying’s home to play games. But unfortunately, with his naturally handicapped gaming hands, incurable by any means, he could only get beaten b.l.o.o.d.y over and over again by Lou Ying.
But he still enjoyed it, never tiring of it.
If he won, he was happy, and if Lou Ying won, he would be just as happy.
For an entire summer vacation, he would go downstairs to look for Lou Ying every day, to share his snacks, to play his games, to sleep under his quilt.
Often, after he fell asleep, Lou Ying liked to put him on top of the quilt, roll him into a roll and place him on top of the bed.
Chi Xiaochi had asked him, “Why did you roll me up.”
Lou Ying had laughed, “Sushi rolls are made like that.”
Chi Xiaochi had said, “Lou-shifu, roll me one that tastes like nori.”
Lou Ying fed him a piece of nori, then took the rolled-up Chi Xiaochi and carried him over to the sofa. The two of them watched a Hong Kong gangster film on the movie channel, thump thump thump, bang bang bang, it was especially lively.
But once Chi Xiaochi watched this kind of film, he would become drowsy, often only watching one half before falling asleep on Lou Ying’s leg.
Afterwards, when Chi Xiaochi was on his own, he liked to roll himself up to sleep.
That time, after he woke up, he’d also asked 061, why did you roll me up.
061 answered, “I saw you sleep like that once. Do you not like sleeping like that?”
This answer was very reasonable. Chi XIaochi didn’t ask any further.
But today, in 061’s embrace, he unexpectedly rediscovered a familiar feeling.
He didn’t feel repulse, didn’t feel disgusted, but rather felt a little wistful.
……He probably really had been single for too long.
By the time the car slowly drove into the villa district where Zhou Kai lived, it was already late at night.
From a long distance away, he could see police lights flashing in front of the Zhou home. Chi Xiaochi didn’t try to run or evade it, slowly driving the car over.
As early as an hour ago, the police had received a report about Zhou Kai openly threatening his partner, his actions tending towards violent crime.
For better or for worse, Zhou Kai was a public figure, and when the police hurried over to the company banquet, the first thing they saw was the mess of gla.s.ses and plates on the floor. Then they heard that Shen Changqing had brought Zhou Kai home. How could they still possibly dare to delay? They hurried directly to Zhou Kai’s villa in order to prevent the occurence of some horrific event.
After knocking on the door, the servant, Yi Song didn’t give any details, looking abnormally fl.u.s.tered, not allowing the police officers inside to investigate.
The police sergeant in charge of the group of dispatched officers became suspicious of his att.i.tude. The Zhou-Shen duo weren’t contactable and were late to return, so he simply brought his men to guard the doorway to the Zhou home so as to avoid any mishaps.
About a quarter of an hour later, a broken car staggered into view.
The driver was Shen Changqing, with a face full of tears, and in the front pa.s.senger seat was Zhou Kai, who’d already pa.s.sed out.
As soon as the car stopped, Shen Changqing climbed out of the car, a blank look in his eyes.
Under the light of the street lamps, the swelling on his wrist couldn’t be any more obvious, and there were even finger-shaped bruises on his neck.
A young, black police officer ran over to investigate Zhou Kai’s wounds.
Seeing Zhou Kai’s already green-tinged face, he gaped speechlessly for a moment, then with a turn of his gaze, he saw the dash camera that was still recording.
He took it down.
On the other end, the police sergeant noticed that Shen Changqing, after getting off the car, had no intention of harming people. His mental state could still be considered fine, so he let down his guard towards him. He first contacted the hospital, then turned to question Shen Changqing, “You got into a car accident? Why did you call the cops? Why didn’t you contact a hospital?”
Shen Changqing, wrapped in a shock blanket, trembled, “……Mister Zhou told me to go home.”
“He told you to go home so you just went home? Such severe injuries——”
“He told me to go home, so I had to go home,” Shen Changqing said hoa.r.s.ely, “Or else he’d beat me to death.”
The police sergeant wanted to say something, but then he heard the black police officer call out as he raised the dash camera, “Sir, please come over and take a look at this——”
The author has something to say:
A gentle reminder: Please fasten your seatbelt when driving.