She Was the One Who Got Hit, But He Could Feel the Pain Clearly

Chi Rui'er could not utter a single word. Her hands were grasping the bedsheets tightly, trembling non-stop. Her fists were clenched tightly into balls with the bedsheets clasped in them.

In the present moment, her heart contained fear. She was horrified of her true colors being exposed, afraid that the image of her in his heart would be shattered.

But there was no stopping this from happening right now.

Fan Shixin appeared at the doorway very soon and announced, "I've retrieved the surveillance footage and sent it to your phone already."

"Ding Dong…" The email notification alert sounded.

He took his phone and clicked on the video attachment in the email.

He conveniently switched on the lights of the bedroom — the room was momentarily brightly illuminated, the sudden glare of light almost damaging Chi Rui'er's eyes.

The footage was played in fastforward. Although he already knew deep down who was behind it, witnessing the scene with his own eyes felt like a stab from a sharp knife to Jin Qingyan's heart. Blood was gushing out endlessly, and his flesh could no longer be clearly seen.

Chi Rui'er knew she could not hide from it anymore. She climbed down from the bed and knelt down before his legs. Her face was overflowing with tears as she pleaded pitifully, "Qingyan, I was wrong, I didn't mean for anything big to happen to her, I just wanted to teach her a lesson."

He lowered his head to look at the woman who was kneeling by his feet and gave a tight slap on her face with all his strength.

She was the one who got hit, but he could feel the pain clearly.

This woman whom he loved the most had changed completely.

"Rui'er, I'm so disappointed with you."

"Qingyan… Qingyan, I'm sorry…" She grabbed onto the ends of his trousers and burst out in tears. "Please forgive me this once, okay? I won't dare to do this ever again — I won't!"

He turned around and used his strength to break free of her hands. Chi Rui'er also exerted all her strength to cling onto his legs as tightly as she could. She begged him, "Qingyan, please forgive me just this once. I know I was wrong, I regret it so much now too."

"Let go."

"Qingyan…"

"Let go of me!" There was a glint of tear in his eyes and he exclaimed exasperatedly, "Chi Rui'er, Xiaoning is missing right now. What can your word of apology do?"

She relaxed her grasp and looked up at him. "If she's dead, I'll pay for it with my life. Will that do?"

Jin Qingyan turned and left, and Fan Shixin hurried to catch up. The door shut with a loud slam.

—

Mei Yangyang had just gotten her electric bike home. She had changed into a set of dry clothes and was reaching her main gate when she saw a figure taking slow steps towards her direction, using the wall as support.

She got a scare and took out a torchlight to shine at the figure. To her surprise, it was An Xiaoning.

"Sis!"

She immediately went over to hold onto her. An Xiaoning's face had traces of bloodstains, her body was ice-cold, and her legs were unsteady. Her voice was extremely hoarse and her words were slurred.

"Yangyang, do you have a car at home?"

"I have an electric bike, but it ran out of battery." Mei Yangyang looked at the shape she was in and said, "I'll send you to the hospital right away."

"I'm not going… to the hospital. Send me home — to my own… house."

"Sis, why don't you come to my house?" Mei Yangyang asked for her opinion.

"No, I want to go to my own home — it's very safe there — for now."

She was determined to do this, so Mei Yangyang had to agree, "Alright, come up, I'll carry you home on my back."

"Don't carry me — I'm heavy — you… won't be able to." Her lips were turning purple. It seemed like she could barely breathe.

"I can carry you." She stood in front of An Xiaoning with her back against her, forcefully grabbed her two arms, and pulled them onto her shoulders with all her strength. An Xiaoning then steadily rested on her small and weak shoulders.

Mei Yangyang's body was swaying as she took the first few steps, but after she'd been walking for a while, her pace became smooth and steady.

She had thought that An Xiaoning was referring to the house she lived in with Jin Qingyan, but the road she directed her to became more and more remote. They were heading all the way down Dongpo Road.

They eventually reached a front gate and stopped there. She said the passcode and Mei Yangyang entered it. Sure enough, the door opened.

After helping her to the sofa, Mei Yangyang felt like her body was going to fall apart.

But she did not feel tired at all.

She immediately switched on the water heater to let her have a hot bath. Since the water was not warm yet, she checked the wound on An Xiaoning's face. It wasn't huge, but there was quite a lot of blood.

"Sis, is there a medicine box here?"

"Yes… in that cupboard."

She took it out and placed it in the bathroom, then turned on the heater in the bedroom.

Without pausing to rest, she helped An Xiaoning to the bathroom to take a shower.

"Sis, the police have been looking for you in the water. They also checked the surveillance cameras nearby. How did you get out from there?"

The image she first saw when she opened her eyes appeared in her head: the icy-cold river water was gushing down her throat — that feeling was one she would never forget.

"I had a dream in the past where I fell into a river and was gasping for air. Now that I see it, it was a sign." She sat in the bathtub, her whole body curled up. "Yangyang, fortunately, you taught me how to swim. Although I couldn't swim well yet, at least it saved my life. I was scared that the bunch of men hadn't left yet, so I stayed around in the water. I swam for a long time before I dared to go ashore. I didn't dare to walk anywhere that was brightly lit or walk with my body upright. I crouched down and crawled bit by bit."

Mei Yangyang's eyes reddened. She gently washed her hair, wiped away the bloodstains, and said, "I was almost scared to death. Sis, those five people have been arrested. They were instigated to do this, someone else is behind it. The police are still investigating the case."

An Xiaoning shut her eyes lightly, feeling an extreme discomfort in her throat. "The instigator of this case will not be revealed ultimately. It will end with those five being charged for it."

"But, they didn't even know you. There must be someone else behind this, everyone can see that. The netizens are highly concerned about this incident. The police will definitely provide an explanation for this eventually." Mei Yangyang continued, "Sis, given your status, the police will not dare to stop investigating your case."

"Do you know why I drove out in that huge rain?"

"Why?"

"Because it was Jin Qingyan who'd sent me that text, he made me go there."

Mei Yangyang's hand froze. Her jaw dropped and she questioned incredulously, "Sis, you're saying the instigator is Brother-in-law?"

"I'm guessing it's not." An Xiaoning explained, "He has no motive. Even if he wants to divorce me badly, it wasn't necessary to kill me. It's someone else behind this."

"Then who is it?"

"Someone who can get close to him and take his phone. Think about it. I think I already know who it is." Even as she soaked in the warm bath water, she was still shivering. "I'm so cold."

"It'll be done soon. Let me apply some medicine for you first. You hurry into the bedroom. Right, Sis, do you have any food here? I'll make some food for you."

"No, I don't come here often. But there's a bag of ginger. Just make me some ginger tea. That will do."

"Okay."

After she applied some medicine on An Xiaoning, she placed a few bandaids on her head.

She was wearing her bathrobe as she lay under the covers. The heater was on, and she hugged a water bottle in her arms. It was filled with hot water inside. Mei Yangyang made her put it on her stomach, fearing that she had suffered a cold. It was to give her some warmth.

After a while, Mei Yangyang served the ginger tea. She also brought the clothes she had dried with the washing machine and remarked, "There's a heater here, the clothes are already half dry. By morning, you'd be able to wear them."