Chen Hui hadn't expected things to turn out like this either.
She stared intently at Lin Jiajun, unable to fathom why he would ever kill someone.
In her heart, Lin Jiajun had always been an honest man. Although he could be a bit hot-tempered at times, he would never take a life without reason.
She asked him, "What exactly happened? Tell me."
Lin Jiajun looked at her with profound guilt. "Huihui, I'm sorry. I've dragged you down.
"But we aren't married yet, so you're still free.
"I'm sorry, I'm so truly sorry. I'll still give you the 380,000 yuan bride price I promised, as compensation.
"Huihui..."
He couldn't go on and broke down in tears.
He was genuinely terrified now. In his twenty-odd years of life, he had never imagined he would end up in prison.
Chen Hui cried along with him.
"If you're not going to marry me, what do I need your bride price for?
"Lin Jiajun, first tell me why you killed someone."
Lin Jiajun didn't speak, but Lin Wanyi opened her phone.
"Mom, Huihui, you'll understand once you watch this."
It was a video posted online by netizens.
Clear as day.
The entire process was captured.
Li Suhua sighed, and Chen Hui grew increasingly furious as she watched.
"Scumbag, what a fucking scumbag.
"He deserves to die! He really deserves it! If I had been there, I would have stabbed him to death too.
"Jiajun, you didn't do anything wrong."
Lin Jiajun hadn't expected Chen Hui to support him.
"But I really killed him."
"No, you didn't."
Lin Wanyi told him, "He's not dead, and the wound isn't deep.
"That was just a small fruit knife Siyue brought, and you stabbed him in the abdomen. It wasn't fatal.
"Jiajun, Brother Liu called me. He told you not to worry."
Lin Jiajun suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
He collapsed onto the floor, utterly drained.
"Really? Sis, is that true?
"Is he really not seriously hurt?"
"Really."
Lin Wanyi assured him firmly.
"Since you were able to be bailed out, it means the situation isn't too serious. If it were, you wouldn't have been granted bail.
"Jiajun, trust Brother Liu. He will handle it."
Lin Jiajun wanted to light another cigarette, but Chen Hui pressed her hand over his.
"Lin Jiajun, are we still breaking up?"
Lin Wanyi led Li Suhua out the door.
Only Chen Hui and Lin Jiajun were left in the room.
Lin Jiajun felt so ashamed facing Chen Hui that he didn't dare speak.
But Chen Hui held his head and looked directly into his eyes.
"Lin Jiajun, tell me, do you like Liu Siyue?"
"What?"
Lin Jiajun almost jumped up. "What are you talking about?
"Why would I like Liu Siyue?"
Chen Hui continued to stare at him. "Look at how much you care about her, even pulling a knife on someone for her.
"No matter how you look at it, it seems like you have feelings for her.
"And according to what you said, Liu Siyue's family is so wealthy. Her mom casually gifted you a 135-square-meter apartment and 500,000 in cash.
"Jiajun, it wouldn't be strange if you liked her."
"It's strange, completely strange."
Lin Jiajun grew even more frantic than before and immediately explained.
"It's not what you think. I helped her purely out of sympathy.
"Earlier, my oldest sister said that Liu Siyue's past was tragic enough, and she told me not to tell anyone about what Siyue went through.
"That's why you didn't know. I'll tell you everything today."
He told Chen Hui everything that had happened to Liu Siyue in Wangjia Village.
Before he even finished, Chen Hui was filled with righteous indignation.
"That's despicable. They're worse than animals.
"How could they ruin someone like that? Such a good, innocent girl, destroyed by them.
"Jiajun, you did the right thing. You did great.
"I knew I wasn't wrong about you."
Lin Jiajun gripped her hand tightly.
"You don't doubt me anymore, right? If you had heard the things Qin Chao said today, you wouldn't have been able to hold back either.
"He was rubbing salt in Liu Siyue's wounds."
Chen Hui kept nodding, silently cursing herself for being petty.
Cursing herself for not trusting Lin Jiajun.
Outside the door.
Li Suhua's heart was pounding relentlessly.
Unable to sit still, she got up and lit a stick of incense before the portrait of Lin Wanyi's late father.
"Old man, you have to protect Jiajun. You must protect him.
"He's a good boy, you know that. He's not a bad person."
Lin Wanyi also stood before her father's portrait, silently saying in her heart:
"Dad, Jiajun will be fine. He will definitely be fine."
It was past midnight, but the lights in the Li household were still on. No one could sleep.
At the hospital, Liu Siyue finally woke up.
Su Jing's eyes were red.
"Silly girl, how could you be so foolish? Is a scumbag like that worth sacrificing your life for?"
Liu Siyue stared blankly at the ceiling.
Qin Chao's words were still echoing in her mind:
"Slut, shameless slut.
"Liu Siyue, you're just a brazen slut."
She covered her ears; she didn't want those voices.
But the voices lingered stubbornly in her head. She shook her head, shaking it desperately, trying to throw all those voices out of her mind.
"No, I'm not a slut. I'm really not.
"Don't say that about me, I'm really not a slut.
"Please stop talking, please just stop."
Su Jing's heart was bleeding. Her daughter, the daughter she had raised like a princess since childhood.
To think she had been tormented to this state by these people.
Liu Jiannan tossed his cigarette butt and turned to head downstairs.
In Qin Chao's hospital room.
He was signing a letter of forgiveness under Liu Renzhi's supervision.
He didn't want to sign it; he didn't want to sign it at all.
But Liu Renzhi was inhuman.
He kept pressing down on his wound without letting go.
Driven to desperation, he had no choice but to beg for mercy and sign it first.
But he had already made up his mind.
Anyway, Liu Siyue loved him madly, to the point of almost committing suicide for him.
Once he was discharged, he would just coax her a bit.
All that money, those assets, those shares—he would definitely get them all.
Just as he finished signing, Liu Jiannan's fist smashed into his face.
Liu Renzhi hadn't expected his usually calm father to strike personally.
He let Liu Jiannan vent his anger, stepping outside the ward to send a message to Lin Jiajun first:
[You're probably not asleep yet. Don't worry anymore, Qin Chao has already signed the letter of forgiveness.]
Receiving the message, Lin Jiajun almost shed tears again, but seeing Chen Hui in front of him, he forcefully held them back.
Chen Hui saw the message too and playfully punched him.
"You big baby, cry if you want to."
At the same time, Lin Wanyi also received a message from Liu Renzhi.
She cried, crying together with Li Suhua.
Her nerves, which had been tense all day, were finally released, and her tears flowed more heavily than ever before.
After finally calming down, Li Suhua had her call Liu Renzhi.
He must have done a lot for this matter. By all reason and emotion, the Lin family ought to thank him.
On the phone, Liu Renzhi's voice sounded a bit exhausted. Lin Wanyi had him on speakerphone:
"Brother Liu, my mom says thank you for going to so much trouble."
Before Liu Renzhi could respond on the other end, Su Jing's scream rang out:
"Siyue, Siyue, don't do anything foolish!"
