Proofread by Zhou Zhijie
Dr. Liu was right. Unreasonable torments and vents time after time from Zhong Shaoting have brought Ding Manman to the point of breakdown.
The photos of Fang Hao being together with other women now plus his abandonment of her the other day serve as the last straw to overwhelm her.
It is said that death will become the final release for a person in despair. The loss of warm scarlet blood gradually cools and stiffens the body until the heart stops beating.
Ding Manman lies in the ice-cold bathtub, with the memories of Fang Hao"s pampering and gentleness flas.h.i.+ng across her mind. As the cold water around her gradually calms, she thinks in despair: Perhaps she should have committed suicide as early as the first time when Zhong Shaoting tortured and humiliated her.
Thus, she wouldn"t have heard any news about her beloved pa.s.sing his affection to another woman!
…
When Zhong Shaoting rushes into the bathroom, what he sees is despair and decadence in Ding Manman"s eyes and a bathtub of b.l.o.o.d.y water.
He feels that his heart tightens, which is a feeling hard to describe.
"How is she?" Zhong Shaoting takes Ding Manman to the hospital as fast as he can. Dr. Liu is the attending doctor. There is no other patient except for Ding Manman on the whole floor of the hospital, whose oppressive atmospheremakes people eager to flee without a second"s delay.
"She? Terrible!" Dr. Liu glances at Zhong Shaoting who is distracted, and slightly shakes her head. "I"ve told you she had been driven desperate!" Dr. Liu says in a more severe voice.
With a hoa.r.s.e throat, Zhong Shaoting doesn"t know what to say. When he sees Ding Manman lying in the b.l.o.o.d.y water in the bathtub, he suddenly realizes that he may have begun to care for that woman.
He cares for her, which is extremely ironic.
But this time, compared with the pressure of death, the guilt he feels for his brother, the regret he feels for his father and his hatred for Ding Manman cannot be outweighed by Ding Manman"s desperate eyes.
"I see." Zhong Shaoting says with a sigh. His heart is heavy with loss and stuffed with bitterness.
He turns and goes into the ward. He consciously puts out the cigarette even if Dr. Liu didn"t remind him to do so. Furthermore, he stays by the window for the wind to blow away the smell of cigarette from his clothes before he sits back at the side of Ding Manman"s bed, watching her sleep.
Dr. Liu stands at the door and watches what happens in the ward. In addition to a kind of slight sadness, her eyes s.h.i.+mmer with wisdom, telling her that she may have experienced many ups and downs in life.
He is still so young anyway!
So he blunders!
Slowly Ding Manman wakes up. When seeing Zhong Shaoting beside her bed, with her dry lips pinched tightly, she subconsciously closes her eyes again and turns away from him with great difficulty.
Ding Manman"s stubbornness annoys Zhong Shaoting a little. While seeing the bandage on her wrist, he hesitates and controls his temper. He then asks, "Ding Manman, that"s all you can do?"
No response.
Zhong Shaoting is almost suffocated with anger, "Do you think all would be over if you died?"
Still no response.
Zhong Shaoting stands up abruptly. While seeing the lying woman stiffens, he loosens his fist slowly and speaks in a sulky tone,"Fang Hao didn"t get engaged to another woman!"
Hearing this, Ding Manman"s eyes brighten up. While in a twinkle, the light in her eyes turns dim again quickly.
Now, Zhong Shaoting has no other way to deal with Ding Manman. How can she be terrified if she is even not afraid of death?
Zhong Shaoting casts Ding Manman a glance in silence and finally turns to leave, with one more sentence, "Take a good rest!"
On hearing the door closed, Ding Manman curls up her cold body while hot tears silently drip down.
Ding Manman refuses to eat anything all day so Dr. Liu has no way but to call Zhong Shaoting. Less than half an hour, Zhong Shaotingrushes over from his company in haste, with a bowl of hot porridge in hand.
"Do you plan to starve to death?" Zhong Shaoting drives everyone away from the ward. Then he lifts her up by the shoulders and makes her lean against his chest.
Like a puppet, Ding Manman neither moves nor talks, even refuses to look up at him.
Zhong Shaoting"s eyes, with a dark storm raging in, gradually turn gloomy, which seems has made the air in the ward fall by several centigrade.
The woman in his arms stiffens. With a light flas.h.i.+ng in his eyes,Zhong Shaoting suddenly takes a mouthful of porridge. With a pinch at Ding Manman"s jaw, he feeds the porridge into her mouth.
Ding Manman wants to spit it out by instinct, but her mouth is blocked by Zhong Shaoting"s, which forces her to swallow it down. Because of the oppression and resistance, the rims of her eyes turn red.
"Eat on your own or let me help you?" With red eyes, Ding Manman, like both an angry beast and a wronged kitten, makes Zhong Shaoting"s heart tender in an instant.
Ding Manman, with no strength to confront the dominating man, has no choice but to yield. After wiping the corner of her mouth with hatred, she takes over the bowl and starts to eat.
Ding Manman widens her eyes and speculates: Could Zhong Shaoting have put poison into the porridge?
It is not until she has finished having the porridge that Zhong Shaoting picks up the bowl and stands up. He kindly helps Ding lie down and asks the doctor to change the bandage for her. Zhong"s gentle actions make her rather perplexed.
Later, Ding Manman finds that Zhong Shaoting seems to be less harsh on her.
Although Zhong Shaoting still looks at her coldly with a straight face, he doesn"tdespise her so much as he used to.
Zhong Shaoting never mentions any information about Fang Hao to Ding Manman, meanwhile, she is wise enough not to ask about him. Since she is still alive and Fang Hao is not engaged to anyone else, there is still hope.
When being cooperative in the treatment, Ding Manman recovers quickly and is soon sent back to Zhong"s house.
Standing in the attic of the house, she looks out from the narrow window and feels her heart suddenly brightens. She is just a puppet for Zhong Shaoting, which he won"t let go until he gets tired of her.
Just like what he did last time, to set her free is just a way to have more fun for him.
When Zhong Shaoting comes out of his study, he sees Ding Manman standing by the window. The wind flicks her hair, which makes her ineffably charming. She is very beautiful, but her body is so slim as to highlight her fragility and weakness.
Her eyes are so empty as if she has lost interest in everything in front of her. It seems that she may fly away with the wind outside the window in the next second to be free from any one"s imprisonment.
With a frown, Zhong Shaoting pushes the b.u.t.ton and the window is closed automatically. Then without a word, he lifts Ding Manman up and wants to take her back to her room.
"Do you really want to die? If you died, you wouldn"t be able to see that man outside any more."
Her empty eyes suddenly brighten up. That man, can I ever see him again?
Thinking of what Zhong Shaoting has said just now, it seems that he is afraid she might commit suicide. This man is so strange that he always hates her and incessantly torments her, but he doesn"t want her to die.
"I just... want to see the sun."