Yang Sijie approached her step by step, watching her silently, and asked, "Why did you conspire to betray me and try to kill me?"
With her back against the door, unable to retreat further, Susu continued to feign ignorance, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just beg you to get Sophie out of that place..."
"Shut up! You're still pretending." He saw her as the only clear spring that could cleanse all his filth in this world, cherishing her as if she were made of glass. Yet, she hated him to this extent.
Who knew how much his heart ached at that moment, as if riddled with bullets?
To prevent him from tricking her, Susu insisted, "What am I pretending?"
Yang Sijie said, word by word, "The network system of this house has filters and defenses. All emails sent through the network here are intercepted and reviewed by this computer in my study before they can be sent out. I can see the IP addresses of both the sender and receiver at a glance."
Susu had never imagined that he would set up such a system on the network. It seemed she could no longer maintain her charade.
Like a cold-blooded reptile, Yang Sijie stared at her with terrifying eyes and asked, "My ledger was also leaked by you. Only you have entered my study. The servants here would not dare."
Susu met his gaze fearlessly. Their eyes clashed like swords.
Susu answered straightforwardly, "Yes. This has nothing to do with anyone else; I did it alone."
She admitted to everything, wanting only Su Kangxi's safety.
Yang Sijie could no longer control himself and asked her hoarsely, "Then, did you ever love me from beginning to end?"
Susu laughed self-mockingly, "If our childhood affection counts as love, then I loved you. But you now only make me feel disgusted! Who do you think you are? Just a clown from hell. In this life, and for all eternity, I will absolutely never love you!"
Yang Sijie felt as if pierced by a thousand arrows. He grabbed her neck with one hand, wishing she could never utter such words again.
Susu stared at him with undisguised loathing, showing no weakness.
The hand around her neck tightened, and Susu's eyes widened as she felt her breath becoming increasingly difficult.
Her instinct for survival made her want to pull his fingers away, but the murderous intent in his eyes did not diminish.
She felt as if she had reached the end of her life, all light dimming, and the surroundings becoming utterly silent.
Her terrified eyes filled with mist. The only image in her mind was their family of three smiling brilliantly inside the Ferris wheel under the setting sun.
Her vision blurred, her body grew soft and weak, and she was about to topple over.
Yang Sijie smiled wanly, finally loosening his grip. He couldn't bring himself to take her life. It was enough, it was enough.
Susu's throat felt like it was being cut. She gasped for air and collapsed into his arms.
Yang Sijie helped her to a chair and asked, "Where did you put the things Su Kangxi gave you?"
Susu couldn't speak for a moment.
Yang Sijie stood beside her, as if the murderous intent from moments ago had never existed. He said with a laugh, "Do you think that so-called evidence could do anything to me? It's nothing. What's truly causing me to lose everything now is the ledger you leaked."
Susu felt as if she had just walked through the gates of hell. Her mind suddenly went blank, and she asked in a hoarse voice, "Who are you? Where am I?"
Yang Sijie looked down at her. Had her intermittent amnesia acted up again?
Susu touched her still-painful neck and asked again, "What's wrong with my throat? Why does it hurt so much?"
Yang Sijie couldn't tell if she was truly suffering from intermittent amnesia or just pretending. The current Susu was too good an actress, making it impossible for him to discern the truth.
He walked to the safe, took out a syringe filled with a white liquid.
This was a newly developed cancer drug that, when administered to ordinary people, would cause addiction.
One injection a month. If the injection was missed, the addict would suffer from unbearable itching and bone-piercing pain. No one could endure such inhuman suffering.
He uncapped the syringe and said with a gentle smile, "Your throat is inflamed. I need to give you an anti-inflammatory injection."
Susu looked at him dazedly and asked, "Then who are you? A doctor?"
He gently placed his finger on her pale lips, "Your throat is like this, don't speak. Rest a while."
With that, he inserted the needle into the vein in the back of Susu's hand and injected the white liquid into her body, reassuring her, "The injection will make your throat better."
Susu looked bewildered.
After giving her the injection, he kissed her cheek and said, "You forgot I'm your boyfriend. If you don't trust me, who else can you trust?"
Susu murmured an "Oh," and leaned against him, her head aching.
He embraced her and said, "Susu, are you feeling sleepy? This is a normal reaction after the injection."
Susu said softly, "I want to sleep for a while."
"Don't rush to sleep yet. I need to take you somewhere. You can sleep soundly in the car," Yang Sijie said, letting her lean against the chair. He chose to completely format the computer, only taking the contents of the safe into a backpack.
He slung the backpack over his shoulder, then carried the weak Susu out of the study.
Mark, who was waiting outside the study, didn't know what had happened inside. He asked, "Mr. Yang, are you leaving with Miss Gu now?"
Yang Sijie nodded and instructed him, "I'll leave the rest to you. You know where to find me, right?"
"I know."
Feeling that there was no one left in this world he could trust, Yang Sijie coldly asked Mark, "Will you betray me?"
"No," Mark replied without hesitation.
"Very good." Yang Sijie wasted no more time and drove away with Susu.
...
When Susu regained consciousness, she opened her eyes and looked at the vintage ceiling, completely unaware of her whereabouts.
She remembered that before she lost consciousness, Yang Sijie had almost choked her to death, but her neck no longer hurt, and her body was unharmed.
What had happened to her afterward?
Intermittent amnesia? She must have had a brief bout of amnesia, which was why she didn't know how she ended up here.
She still needed to rescue Sophie, who was in trouble, and she wanted to warn Su Kangxi of the danger.
She immediately sat up and got out of bed. She found herself wearing a white nightgown with many ruffles. The room was decorated in a retro European style, and Yang Sijie was nowhere to be seen.
After walking around the room, just as she was about to open the door to leave, Yang Sijie entered, dressed in riding attire.
Susu didn't know where to hide. An idea struck her, and she looked at Yang Sijie with a stranger's gaze, asking, "What is this place? Who are you?"
Yang Sijie looked her over with a puzzled expression. He walked up to her and asked strangely, "Have you not recovered your memory yet?"