Liu Renzhi didn't wipe the blood off his hands; he just smeared it directly onto Qin Chao's face.
"Alright, tell me your conditions. Let's hear them."
Qin Chao was overjoyed. Thinking Liu Renzhi had agreed to his demands, he immediately said,
"First, I want to marry Liu Siyue. But since my family is ordinary and my parents used up all their savings working hard to raise me and send me to college, I won't be paying a bride price.
"Second, Liu Siyue wronged me. She betrayed me and cheated on me. So as punishment, she must give me a dowry of three million, and also provide a marital home worth five million.
"Third, she needs to buy me a one-million car. After we get married, my parents, brother, and sister-in-law will move in with us. She must serve my parents well, be filial, and take responsibility for my brother and sister-in-law's jobs as well as my nephew's tuition.
"Fourth, because she wronged me, as compensation for my emotional distress, I want thirty percent of the shares in your company.
"Fifth..."
Before he could finish, Liu Renzhi pressed his hand down hard onto his wound again.
Blood spurted out. Qin Chao was in so much pain that he couldn't even scream.
"You, you, stop it, stop!
"I'm your brother-in-law! Why are you doing this to me?"
Liu Renzhi sneered, "Who acknowledged you as my brother-in-law? Who the fuck agreed to that?
"You piece of trash. You dare insult and bully my sister, and then shamelessly demand a house, a car, and company shares?
"Qin Chao, who gave you the nerve?"
Qin Chao desperately tried to reach the call bell with both hands, but he just couldn't reach it.
Finally, he had no choice but to beg for mercy.
"Brother, brother, please let me go. I really am Siyue's boyfriend. You have no idea how much she likes me.
"She brings me things every day, buys me breakfast, and even said she wants to have three children with me in the future.
"Brother, if she knew you were hurting me like this, her heart would break."
"Heartbreak?"
Liu Renzhi pulled out his phone and took a picture of his current miserable state.
"I'll send this to Yueyue right now. I'd love to see how heartbroken she gets."
Qin Chao finally stopped clamoring. He knew that if he kept yelling, he would bleed out.
He asked cautiously, "Weren't we going to settle this? Brother, what exactly do you mean?"
Liu Renzhi didn't answer him. Instead, the lawyer began to negotiate the terms.
"You will issue a letter of forgiveness stating that you deliberately provoked Mr. Lin Jiajun, causing him to use the knife. Then, you will drop the charges and not hold him responsible.
"That's how we settle this."
"No!"
Qin Chao immediately objected.
"I could never forgive him, and I will not sign that letter.
"He played with my woman, made a cuckold out of me, and stabbed me. I will never forgive him.
"I'm going to sue him. I'll sue him to death!"
"Fine!"
Liu Renzhi said loudly, "Go ahead and sue him. But if you dare to do so, I guarantee you will never graduate and never find a job.
"I guarantee you'll be a useless cripple for the rest of your life.
"Qin Chao, do you want to test me?"
Qin Chao's voice grew quieter and quieter.
On her way home, Lin Wanyi was worried about Liu Siyue. She told Lin Jiajun to head home first while she went to the hospital to check on her.
Lin Jiajun didn't say much and went home.
He locked himself in his room, smoking cigarette after cigarette in the dark.
He was terrified.
He hadn't been scared when he stabbed Qin Chao; at the time, his only thought was to get Liu Siyue out of there as quickly as possible.
But now, fear set in.
After all, he had used a knife. He had committed a crime.
No one wants to go to prison, especially since he had a girlfriend and wasn't married yet.
In front of Lin Wanyi, he had put on a brave face, saying that the worst-case scenario was prison and he was willing to accept that.
But when he was alone, he realized that wasn't true.
He was truly afraid.
Never in his life had he imagined he would stab someone or commit a murder.
Never.
He unlocked his phone and opened the chat with Chen Hui. Several times he wanted to tell her that he had committed a crime, that he had stabbed someone.
But he didn't dare face her. He was terrified she would leave him.
He turned his phone screen on and off, put out his cigarette, and lit another.
Every passing second was pure agony.
After sitting in agonizing silence for two hours, he finally mustered the courage to send Chen Hui a message.
"Huihui, I'm sorry. Let's break up."
It was already eleven at night when Chen Hui saw the message.
She thought she had misread it, rubbing her eyes and looking again.
She immediately called Lin Jiajun, but he didn't answer. She tried video calling him, but he still didn't pick up.
She sent a message:
[Lin Jiajun, what do you mean? What's the meaning of saying this out of nowhere?]
[What are you doing? Why break up all of a sudden?]
Lin Jiajun stared at his phone, too afraid to reply. He didn't know what to say.
Only one thought echoed in his mind: he had killed someone, and he was going to drag down his family and Chen Hui with him.
He would probably go to prison. He couldn't marry her.
Chen Hui then called Lin Wanyi, who was just leaving the hospital.
Liu Siyue hadn't woken up yet, but Su Jing said it wasn't a big deal; she had just passed out.
Lin Wanyi was worried about Lin Jiajun, so she didn't linger and left immediately.
Sure enough, right as she stepped out of the hospital, she received Chen Hui's call.
"Sister, what's wrong with Jiajun? What happened to him?
"He suddenly told me he wants to break up. When I ask him why, he says nothing and won't answer my calls. What exactly is going on with him?"
Lin Wanyi took a deep breath. He really couldn't keep his composure.
She quickly told Chen Hui, "It's nothing. Come to the house, and I'll explain it to you."
When Chen Hui arrived, Lin Wanyi had also just gotten home.
Li Suhua didn't know anything, but she guessed something must have happened, otherwise Chen Hui wouldn't have rushed over so late.
Lin Jiajun had locked himself in his room. Lin Wanyi knocked on the door.
"Jiajun, open the door. Huizi is here too. We have to clear things up.
"Huizi is your fiancée. You can't just drop a breakup text and be done with it. You have to let her know the whole truth."
Chen Hui chimed in, "Lin Jiajun, you can't just send a message and end it. Why are you keeping me in the dark?
"Open the door. If we're breaking up, we need to talk it out face to face.
"Hurry up and open the door."
Lin Jiajun finally opened the door. The pungent smell of smoke made both Chen Hui and Lin Wanyi cough several times.
Li Suhua turned on the light. "Are you crazy? Do you have a death wish, smoking this much?
"Tell me, what exactly happened?
"Are you trying to worry us to death?"
Lin Jiajun, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly hugged Li Suhua and burst into tears.
"Mom, I killed someone! I killed someone!"
"Kill... killed someone?"
Li Suhua and Chen Hui both widened their eyes in shock.
"What do you mean you killed someone? Who did you kill?"
Lin Jiajun kept holding onto her.
"Mom, I didn't mean to. I really didn't mean to. He was just bullying us too much. He was such a bastard.
"I was so angry at him, but I really killed someone.
"What do I do? Mom, what do I do?"
Li Suhua swayed on her feet. She never imagined something like this would happen.
She never thought Lin Jiajun would kill someone or commit a crime.
But her first words blurted out were,
"Turn yourself in. We'll go turn you in.
"Son, if you killed someone, you absolutely cannot run or hide.
"Listen to Mom. I'll go with you, and we'll go turn you in right now."
