Zhan Bei Jue drove incredibly fast after leaving the clinic, his silence speaking volumes. It was as if he were racing against time, eager to reach the hospital and see Shen Min Er, driven by an urgency that was palpable.
Jiang Nan Fang, admitting it was impossible for her not to feel a pang of irritation, cautioned him. "You're speeding. Even if you don't care about your life, others do. Let me drive instead."
Zhan Bei Jue slowed down slightly, responding in a low, muffled tone. "Min Er's state seems off today. I'm afraid she might do something rash."
However, it was already too late. Despite his rapid pace, by the time their car screeched into the hospital and they hurried upstairs, the staff met them with looks of sheer panic. They informed them that the moment he had left, Min Er had vanished.
"They've reviewed the surveillance footage and are searching everywhere. It seems they haven't found her yet."
Damn Ke Teng. If he hadn't called him away on short notice, Min Er would never have had the chance to escape. He’d better pray nothing bad happened to her, or Zhan Bei Jue would make him pay!
He must have gone to the nursing home. Zhan Bei Jue and Jiang Nan Fang exchanged a look and then rushed downstairs, heading for the nursing home. On the way, Jiang Nan Fang called the doctor, asking him to check on Min Er's mother in her room.
The doctor's response was regretful. "It's too late. I just received the report; the staff are at the scene now. You can come and see."
She didn't know how they reached the nursing home. The next thing she was aware of was finding herself already at the scene. On the small hospital bed, Min Er lay with a plastic bag over her head and thick adhesive tape wrapped around her neck. She had bid farewell to this world in a most brutal manner.
The staff explained that she had likely given her mother medication before taking her own life. It was done cleanly and peacefully, suggesting a long-planned endeavor born from utter despair with the world.
Then, someone handed Zhan Bei Jue a letter. "This is what she left for you."
The scene was so overwhelming that Zhan Bei Jue trembled uncontrollably, fumbling several times before finally taking the letter. He didn't open it immediately. A heavy pressure settled in his chest, making it difficult to breathe. He went to the courtyard and sat alone for a long time.
It was only when the sky began to lighten faintly that he mustered the strength to open the letter. Min Er's not-so-neat handwriting appeared before his eyes, and his vision immediately blurred with tears.
"Zhan Bei Jue, hello."
"Your name is difficult to write, and I might have gotten it wrong. Please forgive me. I'd rather misspell your name than call you 'Ge'—Brother. It’s rather shameless, isn't it?"
"But please forgive me. By the time you read this letter, I will be dead. I can no longer threaten Sister Nan Fang in any way, so let me have this one last moment of selfishness."
"I like you. I like you so much. Although I've never said it out loud, I believe you could tell that I've liked you for a very long time."
"From the first moment I saw you and decided to bring you home, I fell in love with you. Even though this love later brought me immense pain, I have never regretted it."
"If fate gave me another chance to stand by the river in that small Swiss town and make a choice again, I would still choose you."
"In my short twenty years of life, there have been both bitterness and sweetness. The months I spent with you were the sweetest of all."
"Although I provided you with poor meals and a shabby place to stay, and wasn't very gentle with you, that was the best I could offer."
"No matter how insignificant it may have seemed in your heart, every time I recall that period, I feel immense happiness."
"I have never hated you. Even when you promised to take care of me and then couldn't, I didn't."
"You possess a great charm, so powerful that you make others willingly surrender, no matter what you do."
"Even if you love someone else, I can find myself submitting to the tenderness you show her."
"Sister Nan Fang is a good person. Although I loathe to admit it, and find it hard to accept, I have to concede it."
"Among all the women I know, she is the most beautiful, the most gentle, the kindest, the most capable. She is the woman who deserves you the most."
"She probably hasn't told you why I came to Nan Cheng, has she? It's because my mother and I, on impulse, murdered my father."
"My original intention was to break up you and Sister Nan Fang, to cause your divorce. But I overestimated myself."
"Sister Nan Fang repeatedly showed me, through her actions, that I was not her match at all."
"If fate hadn't been kind enough to give me an opportunity to save you, I doubt I would ever have been worthy of standing before you."
"Today has been a wonderful and happy day, spent with you. It feels like a fitting end."
"Don't grieve for me. I brought this upon myself; I've received my just deserts. I'm quite content with this outcome."
"Goodbye, my love. I'm leaving first. If there is a next life, I'll prepare myself in advance and become more outstanding. When we meet again, I hope you will remember me."
"I have taken my mother with me, so as not to trouble anyone."
"The house in Fu Cheng was also transferred back to you before I came to Nan Cheng. The paperwork and keys are in my room's drawer."
"Goodbye, this is my final farewell. I hope you and Sister Nan Fang will be well. And I hope Ke Teng will no longer bother you."
Looking at her crooked handwriting, Zhan Bei Jue felt as if he could revisit every moment from their time in Switzerland through the words on the page. He had been so severely injured, unable to move. His only solace each day was Min Er visiting him after work. Her worn-out shoes, covered in dust and oil stains, brought him immense joy whenever she appeared. And her hands, despite being only twenty, were rough and calloused. Her fingernails were perpetually stained black, and the food she brought was always leftovers. Yet, this was the girl who had been the sole light in his dark days.
He dared not recall. The thought that Min Er had only lived twenty years, enduring such poverty and working tirelessly for years, only to meet such an end, made him feel utterly useless. When had she committed her wrongdoing? When did she become involved with Ke Teng? How many struggles had she faced behind his back? He remained oblivious. He had been immersed in his own happiness, believing that a bit of money was enough to absolve him of any obligation, to draw a clear line between them. This, he realized, must have been what truly hurt Min Er the most.
The more he thought about it, the more sorrow and anger welled up within him. His eyes fell upon the two characters, Ke Teng, at the end of the letter. Recalling his arrogant tone that afternoon, his dismissive gaze, and the way he had manipulated and threatened Min Er behind her back, fury ignited within him. He tucked the letter into his pocket and stood up abruptly.
Jiang Nan Fang had been watching him from afar through the hospital room window. She saw him staring into the distance for a long time, then reading the letter, and now rising in anger. Knowing his emotions were likely in turmoil and that he might cause a scene, she quickly called out from the window.
"Ah Jue, where are you going?"