A loud cry drew everyone’s attention. Tian Mu Xianghui, pale and anxious, rushed to Di Xihuang, pushing Ou Xueman aside, which surprised her.
Her desperate gaze was filled with tears, her face panicked, lips trembling, and her hair messy, wearing a loose hospital gown that betrayed her distress. Her bandaged wrist bled again from her frantic movements, and although her hands trembled as they gripped Xihuang’s shirt collar, they showed remarkable strength.
“Xihuang… you… are… okay… that’s good, just good,” she stammered, her voice choked with fear.
Although Ou Xueman and Tian Mu Xianghui had never gotten along, she was aware of Tian Mu Xianghui’s feelings for Xihuang. Despite his indifference, Xianghui continued to hope he would one day acknowledge her presence.
Such waiting was something ordinary people could not understand, leading Ou Xueman to feel more sympathy for her.
Moments later, Tian Mu Xiang Hui softly spoke to Di Xi Huang in Japanese and then rushed out amid his silence. Ou Xue Man later learned that she had said, “Don’t you think the same as her? Only when I truly lay in the coffin would you feel compassion for me.”
In the middle of the night, the dimly lit open-air parking lot was illuminated only by faint lights from the police station, making the darkness seem deep and gloomy.
In this eerie atmosphere, a petite figure appeared, head lowered and long hair covering her face. She resembled Sadako wandering at midnight, with only her pink princess puffy short skirt looking somewhat familiar.
Huddled behind Di Xi Huang, Ou Xue Man cautiously poked her head out and asked, “Miss Zeng?”
The Sadako-like figure slowly raised her head, her disheveled hair revealing her face, which showed unusual redness and swelling on her left cheek, tears glistening in her eyes, looking pitiful and fragile.
Ou Xue Man turned to Huang Tian Li and Ou Wen, exclaiming, “How could you not even let her go?”
Huang Tian Li quickly waved her hands, clarifying, “Xue Man, you’re wronging us. We didn’t touch a single hair on her. It was those women who beat her.”
I couldn’t stand it and confronted those women, which led to a fight.
Zeng Min covered her injured cheek with one hand, forcing a weak smile. “Senior, this has nothing to do with Miss Huang or Mr. Ou. They were brought here because of me.”
“Oh, is that so,” Ou Xue Man replied faintly, originally intending to comfort her. Zeng Min now exuded an intimidating resentment, making Ou Xue Man hesitant to approach.
“It’s late. Why haven’t you gone back?” Seeing that no one was paying her attention, especially Di Xi Huang, who was leisurely leaning against a car, Ou Xue Man attempted to be helpful again.
Zeng Min hesitated several times, and just as Di Xi Huang was losing patience, she softly begged, “Senior, can I talk to you… alone?”
“Me?” Ou Xue Man pointed to herself in surprise. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk to him?” She gestured to the man leaning against the car.
Unlike her usual shyness around Di Xi Huang, Zeng Min now looked desolate and dared not meet his gaze.
“Tell your father he can cooperate with the Di family on the Macau investment. Ask him to stop bothering me, and you don’t need to come again.”
Ou Xue Man could understand Zeng Min’s feelings, as she had once experienced a similar heartbreak.
Petite Zeng Min was enveloped in her long hair, her puffy princess dress hidden. If not for the crystalline tears reflecting a slight light, no one would have known she was crying.
“Although I really want to slap you, I know I don’t have the right to do so,” Ou Xue Man angrily questioned Di Xi Huang in a low voice. “Aren’t you cold-blooded?”
Despite her anger, Ou Wen and Huang Tian Li knew that no one else could make such a statement as Ou Xue Man.
Under her stern questioning, Di Xi Huang remained silent, extinguishing the half-burned cigarette between his fingers and looking coldly at Zeng Min. Everyone expected him to speak, but he continued his silence and indifference.
Angrily pulling Zeng Min’s hand, Ou Xue Man strode into the dark night, where darkness transformed into countless demon tentacles extending toward them. Unaware, they walked deeper into the shadows.
Seeing Zeng Min tearful and desolate, Ou Xue Man casually handed her a tissue, brushing away the hair stuck to her face by tears.
Her small face was covered in tear tracks, looking disheveled, her shoulders still trembling.
“Stop crying,” Ou Xue Man said, unsure how to comfort her. Although she understood Zeng Min’s feelings, she couldn’t comfort herself, let alone someone else.
“Senior…” Zeng Min’s voice was choked and hoarse, “I know… he is heartless… and has many women around him, and I’m just one of his many… the most insignificant one.”
As she spoke, she kneaded the tissue in her hand, crumpling it into pieces that fell to the ground. “I’ve thought about… leaving him, but… whenever I’m about to make up my mind, the heartache of never seeing him again… tears me apart. So when he summons me, I can’t help but come.”
With tears, she threw herself into Ou Xue Man’s arms. “Senior, I really… have tried, but I can’t stop loving him…”
Hearing her brave confession made Ou Xue Man want to push her away. Angry at her lack of self-respect, she recognized the resemblance to her past self, knowing there was a thousand-foot abyss ahead, yet willing to jump for the chance at his nonexistent true heart.
Although she did not push away Zeng Min, her cold words were clear: “You were prepared to be hurt and knew this day would come, so why cry? What can tears bring you? Will they touch him or make him pity you? The phrase ‘obsessed and unrepentant’ fits you perfectly.”
“What about you, senior?” Zeng Min slowly withdrew from her embrace, raising her moist eyes. “You also like Xi Huang, right? Don’t deny it. Although you appear indifferent on the surface, your eyes betray your feelings. Your affection for him is the only thing I can comprehend.”
Ou Xueman was taken aback, stepping back. Her gaze toward Zeng Min shifted from sympathetic to coldly vigilant. “Affection? Miss Zeng, are you negotiating with me because of my supposed feelings for him?”
“No, senior,” Zeng Min said, folding her hands in front of her chest. “My background is not something ordinary people can accept. My father is the largest illegal casino operator in Macau. He has done many bad things, and I grew up under others’ avoidant, fearful, and hateful gazes. No matter how much I tried to please them, they only saw me as the daughter of that wicked man.”
But he was not afraid of me, did not despise me, and let me stay by his side as one of his many women. Even that made me satisfied. He became my spiritual pillar, and I can’t imagine living without him.
Ou Xueman sighed, taking out a cigarette from her handbag. The flickering light illuminated her face as white smoke drifted from her lips. “So what? You shouldn’t be telling me this. You should tell that man.”
Zeng Min shook her head, her eyes pleading. “Senior, Xi Huang cares about you. He has never looked at any woman with such gentleness. His eyes don’t lie; he will definitely listen to you. I don’t ask to be by his side often; I just hope he might remember me occasionally.”
“Care?” She exhaled the minty smoke leisurely. “If you knew what he once did to me, you wouldn’t think that way.” Extinguishing the cigarette, her smile was self-mocking. “Sorry, you’ve come to the wrong person. Besides our professional relationship, I won’t have any further involvement with him.”
She turned and walked away, her wavy hair swinging. Unnoticed by her, her once-languid and seductive demeanor now seemed infected with a world-weary exhaustion, no longer sexy or alluring.
“Won’t you grant me this small request? You really won’t help me?”
“Zeng Min called after her.
