Just two or three millimeters away from falling, Lin Mei’s eyes widened in fright, not daring to breathe too deeply. Xing Zheng was an absolute lunatic. She believed he was capable of disfiguring her. She regretted her earlier sharp-tongued retort…
“Scared?” Xing Zheng felt her body tremble and asked with a smile.
Lin Mei tightly pursed her lips, her face still sore. Not daring to speak, she closed her eyes. Soon, she smelled the scent of burning flesh, but the anticipated pain did not befall her.
Lin Mei opened her eyes and saw Xing Zheng pressing the cigarette butt onto his other forearm, extinguishing it. That smell just now was from the cigarette burning through his skin…
Lin Mei had been afraid of pain since childhood, especially burns. Just watching, she felt as if she were in pain with him. “Are you crazy?”
Lin Mei got up, found the light in the lounge, and turned it on. Then she saw the scene clearly. Lin Mei stepped forward, removed the cigarette butt, and threw it onto the bedside table. Looking again, Xing Zheng’s forearm had a burn hole, revealing charred flesh, black in color. Lin Mei had never encountered such a situation before and didn’t know how to treat the wound. “I’ll go find Zhuang Wan…”
“You can’t leave,” Xing Zheng ignored her words. “I won’t let you go. If you don’t listen, I have plenty of ways to catch you.”
Lin Mei: “…”
So, all her worry was in vain. The injured person himself didn’t seem to care about the wound, so why should she worry about him? She let go and stopped bothering.
Lin Mei put on her clothes. She checked her phone; it was almost eight o’clock, time to go home. Xing Zheng didn’t stop her, but before she left, he said, “Come and keep me company on Friday.”
Lin Mei certainly didn’t want to, but Xing Zheng added, “From now on, every time you resist me, I will destroy one of the things he left you.”
“You!” With one sentence, he easily ignited Lin Mei’s anger. She turned back, glaring at him fiercely, her eyes red with rage. Before she could utter the rest of her words, Xing Zheng said again, “Make dinner and wait for me. The door code hasn’t changed.”
Lin Mei walked out of the lounge on unsteady feet. After the door closed, Xing Zheng took out medicine from the drawer and swallowed it. Without water, the pills scraped painfully as they went down her throat. After taking the medicine, he lit another cigarette and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
He smoked, and Lin Mei’s words echoed in his ears. She had said Xing Yan was different from him, her tone so certain. Even just a few words revealed her favoritism. He had heard such things since childhood. Xie Qin Jia always said, “Ah Yan is different from Xing Zheng; Ah Yan is more suited to manage the company.” “Xing Zheng has a strange personality, Ah Yan has a better temper.”
In Xing Zheng’s memory, Xie Qin Jia had never called him “Ah Zheng.” She always called him by his full name, and her tone was not as gentle as when she spoke to Xing Yan. The name “Ah Zheng” was first used by Xing Yan, and then his friends around him started calling him that. But Xing Zheng disliked the name. Ah Yan, Ah Zheng—he didn’t want to be like Xing Yan.
Lin Mei’s plan had failed, and Xing Zheng refused to let her go. She couldn’t bear to part with what Xing Yan had left her, so she had to be controlled. When she got home, Lin Mei took the morning-after pill again. Earlier that afternoon, she had reminded Xing Zheng to take precautions, but Xing Zheng, as if deliberately provoking her, had taken out a condom and then refused to use it…
Lin Mei feared an accident, so she chose the morning-after pill. Although this medicine was harmful to her body, it was better than an accidental pregnancy followed by an abortion. However, after taking the morning-after pill, the side effects were very noticeable.
The next day at work, Lin Mei constantly felt nauseous and sick. She couldn’t finish her lunch. In the afternoon, as the drug’s effects subsided, her reactions were not as severe.
Before work ended, Lin Mei saw a WeChat message from Xie Qin Jia. She sent a location message, a restaurant near the bank. [Let’s have dinner together after work!]
Lin Mei agreed and met Xie Qin Jia at the restaurant after work.
Seeing Xie Qin Jia again after a few days, her condition was back to normal. Upon seeing Lin Mei, Xie Qin Jia smiled, “Sit down quickly.”
While dining with Xie Qin Jia, Lin Mei did not mention the events of her birthday. The two chatted like ordinary friends. Even while eating, Xie Qin Jia spared no effort in trying to match Lin Mei with Zhao Jiang He. Every time Zhao Jiang He was mentioned, Xie Qin Jia would praise him profusely. Xie Qin Jia treated this outsider, Zhao Jiang He, much better than her own son, Xing Zheng. Sometimes, when Lin Mei heard Xie Qin Jia praising Zhao Jiang He, she had the illusion that Zhao Jiang He was her biological son.
“Mr. Zhao would be deeply touched if he knew you were so concerned about his lifelong happiness.”
Lin Mei’s teasing made Xie Qin Jia laugh. She said with a sigh, “You’re not wrong. Jiang He is my son’s good friend and often stayed at our house since childhood. I also treat him like my own child.”
Xie Qin Jia must have liked Zhao Jiang He very much. When talking about him, she was kind and benevolent, the complete opposite of how she treated Xing Zheng. The gap in her treatment of Zhao Jiang He and Xing Zheng was so large; her treatment of Xing Yan and Xing Zheng must have been even more extreme.
Even Lin Mei, as an observer, couldn’t help but feel indignant on Xing Zheng’s behalf. Just as Lan Lan said, anyone treated like this would likely become twisted. Xing Zheng’s madness indeed had its reasons.
Halfway through dinner, Xie Qin Jia suddenly felt short of breath and couldn’t even hold her chopsticks steadily. Lin Mei was startled and quickly grabbed Xie Qin Jia’s phone, calling Xing Sha. Xing Sha arrived in less than twenty minutes.
Lin Mei and Xing Sha helped Xie Qin Jia out of the restaurant. Xing Sha gave the car keys to Lin Mei and said, “There’s medicine in the passenger seat. Please.”
Lin Mei opened the car door, took the medicine, and handed it to Xing Sha. Xing Sha personally administered the medicine to Xie Qin Jia. After he finished, Lin Mei helped him put the medicine back and frowned upon seeing the name of the drug!
This medicine was identical to the one she had seen at Xing Zheng’s house before. Beta-blockers…
Before Lin Mei could think further, she heard Xing Sha say, “I’ll take her back now. Thank you for your help earlier.”
Lin Mei asked, “Has Aunt Xie been ill recently?”
“It’s an old problem,” Xing Sha said. “Her heart isn’t very good.”
After Xing Sha took Xie Qin Jia away, Lin Mei returned to her own car. She was sure she hadn’t misread the medicine and remembered its indications. This meant that Xie Qin Jia had the same condition as Xing Zheng, which coincidentally confirmed the genetic aspect…
However, Lin Mei still hadn’t figured out exactly what illness Xing Zheng had. Lin Mei searched for information and, after careful review, found that among the several indications for this medication, bipolar disorder had the highest heritability rate, as high as eighty-five percent.