Chapter 9#
【Chapter 009】#
“……”
Unsuccessful in hiding himself, Chi Sheng circled around to stand in front of Jing Shun, a hint of surprise in his voice. “A-Jing! You, you’re willing to talk to me now?”
The smell of alcohol wafted over from him. Jing Shun frowned in displeasure. “Don’t call me that, Young Master Chi. We’re not close.”
“Not close?”
Chi Sheng looked incredulous at this statement. “What do you mean, not close? We’ve known each other for almost ten years! A-Jing, what exactly have I done wrong to make you treat me like this all of a sudden!”
Before the incident, Jing Shun had always been quite accommodating towards him.
Although due to filming and schoolwork, the two didn’t see each other often, they had never had an open conflict, let alone been in such a stalemate like now!
After the banquet that night, Chi Sheng was filled with a rare sense of grievance with nowhere to vent. He deliberately didn’t contact Jing Shun, thinking the other would come to apologize and make peace on his own.
But he never expected Jing Shun to be more resolute than he imagined—
Not only had he moved out at an unexpectedly fast pace, but he’d also deleted and blocked him on all social media! It was like a complete personality change!
How could this be! Since childhood, it had always been others scrambling to build a relationship with him; he had never been so ruthlessly “dumped” by anyone!
Chi Sheng felt aggrieved inside, but put on a pitiful and wronged expression on the surface. “A-Jing, if you misunderstood me about something, we can talk it out properly, okay?”
Hearing Chi Sheng’s accusations, Jing Shun didn’t get angry but instead laughed. “Talk it out? Fine, then let me ask you—”
“You say we’re friends. In all these years, have you ever truly understood me?”
“You say you only realized you liked me after my accident? What exactly do you like about me? Let me ask you the simplest thing—do you even know what I like to drink?”
Chi Sheng choked, unable to answer.
Outside, he put on an air of elegance, gentleness, and refinement, but in truth, he rarely bothered to consider others. It was always “friends” who understood and catered to him; he had never truly understood Jing Shun’s preferences or needs.
“Chi Sheng, you don’t know. And you don’t like me.”
Jing Shun looked Chi Sheng straight in the eyes and spoke the truth he had long seen clearly.
“You just value my identity as an ‘actor,’ and you find my face pleasing enough to not embarrass you when you claim me as a ‘friend’ in public.”
Chi Sheng’s gaze flickered, unable to respond.
Jing Shun maneuvered his wheelchair forward, tilting his head to examine the man before him. “Actually, I’ve been thinking—my leg treatment will be long. If I accepted your confession and got together with you, would you have the patience to accompany me to the hospital?”
“Of course! Of course, I would!”
Chi Sheng, thinking Jing Shun was finally softening, quickly stepped closer. “I’ll book you the best medical team. I’ll definitely find a way to get Professor Song Chunhui out of retirement—you can trust me!”
“A-Jing, in my eyes, nothing is more important than your legs right now! I’ve actually already found a foreign medical team for you!”
“As long as you’re willing, I’ll take you abroad to find them tomorrow! I’ll be with you, every step of the way!”
“……”
These affectionate words were almost identical to those from his past life.
But what surfaced in Jing Shun’s mind were the countless lonely, helpless dark days, and that cold night he never wanted to remember again.
The corners of Jing Shun’s eyes reddened—not from emotion, but from growing suspicion and disgust. “A foreign medical team?”
“Yes!”
“You want them to heal my legs?” Jing Shun stared at Chi Sheng, pressing him word by word. “Or do you want them to delay my treatment, stall my condition, so that I’ll never be able to stand again in this life?!”
Boom!
The accusation crashed down in Chi Sheng’s mind, leaving him frozen in place:
Impossible!
How could Jing Shun have guessed his true intentions? That was impossible!
The alcohol dulled his thoughts and reactions. Chi Sheng couldn’t mask the shock on his face in time, and the panic and evasion in his eyes became the perfect proof.
Seeing his reaction, Jing Shun let out a trembling, bitter laugh. “So that’s really what you were thinking!”
It seemed that in his past life, he really could have gotten better? Chi Sheng had exploited his trust, using the guise of a “lover” to set a trap and weave a huge lie for him!
The concern in the first two years was fake. The care and protection were fake. What was real was the desire to craft a devoted persona. What was real was the fear that Jing Shun would see through him!
Later, when he said he was “busy with the company” or “busy with work,” it was just his way of slowly dropping the pretense after confirming Jing Shun’s legs were beyond recovery.
Jing Shun gripped the wheelchair armrests tightly. Even though he had long anticipated Chi Sheng’s true character, this moment still brought him overwhelming pain and darkness.
He suddenly felt the scarf around his neck was too tight. The air in his chest was being squeezed out bit by bit, suffocation creeping in.
Chi Sheng stepped closer, still trying to defend himself. “A-Jing, it’s not like that… Don’t overthink…”
“Get lost!”
Jing Shun’s thoughts were on the edge of losing control. He pushed Chi Sheng away with all his strength. “Get away from me! Don’t touch me!”
He wheeled himself backward. “Chi Sheng, I’ve never met anyone more vile and despicable than you!”
Caught off balance, Chi Sheng fell onto the blue stone floor. The palm of his hand was scraped raw. The sudden sting mixed with the alcohol clouding his mind, and he could no longer keep up the act.
“Jing Shun! Again and again, I’ve given you more than enough face! I’m vile and despicable? And what are you?! You think you’re any better?!”
Tonight, Jing Shun and Chi Gui had appeared together at the banquet, completely disrupting the celebration of the eldest branch. Their every word and action practically flaunted their unspeakable relationship in front of everyone!
Chi Sheng saw it all and felt equally deceived and betrayed!
“I see you’ve already crawled into Chi Gui’s bed behind my back, haven’t you! You’ve always known he and I don’t get along, that it’s a choice between the two of us, so you used this extreme way to dump me!”
Chi Sheng got up from the ground, his true colors showing. “What? Did my little uncle fuck you good enough? I never knew Chi Gui had a thing for cripples!”
Hearing this absurd accusation, a hatred and disgust Jing Shun had never felt before spread across his eyes.
He glanced briefly at the surveillance camera not far away and turned his wheelchair toward the inner side of the corridor. “Chi Sheng, there’s no need for you to rave here. In my eyes right now, you can’t compare to Chi Gui in any way!”
“……”
Can’t compare in any way?
The emotions of resentment and jealousy surged rapidly. Under the dim corridor lights, Chi Sheng’s face twisted almost grotesquely.
He strode forward and grabbed Jing Shun’s arm. His drunken eyes began to stir with malice. “Jing Shun! Who are you to judge me?!”
“Let go of me!”
“I won’t!”
Chi Sheng used brute force to drag Jing Shun out of his wheelchair and kicked the wheelchair over behind him. “Do you think being with Chi Gui solves everything?!”
Clang!
The wheelchair hit the ground with a heavy sound.
Without support, Jing Shun fell forward, and Chi Sheng brutally kicked open the door of a side room, shoving him hard inside.
Jing Shun crashed to the ground without any defense. A sharp, abnormal pain shot through his lower back and lumbar spine, and his breath caught.
In a daze, Jing Shun felt as if he had returned to that snowy, cold night.
He watched Chi Sheng lock the wooden door of the room, step closer, and bend down. “Jing Shun, even though I’ve only ever been with women, I can make an exception for you today!”
Chi Sheng tore off Jing Shun’s black scarf and forcibly knelt on top of him. “Do you think Chi Gui loves you that much? Do you think he can stand the thought of you having sex with me?”
“Chi Sheng! Have you lost your mind?! Get off me!”
“Aren’t I showing you how crazy I am?” Malice flickered across Chi Sheng’s face. His fingertips touched the smooth skin of Jing Shun’s neck. “A-Jing, I guess I wouldn’t mind you after all.”
“……”
Jing Shun felt his stomach churn violently. He gritted his teeth to keep from vomiting. In the chaos, he reached into his coat pocket. The moment Chi Sheng leaned down close, he pressed the object in his hand against him.
Zzzzz!
A powerful electric current surged through Chi Sheng’s body in the blink of an eye. Caught off guard, he convulsed and collapsed to the side!
Jing Shun crawled out from under his control, pressed the stun baton against him again, and with a cold expression, turned it to the highest setting.
“Ahhh—!”
Chi Sheng let out a nearly broken cry, twitching and limp on the floor.
Jing Shun flipped the baton to its other end, revealing a small blade. The cold light caught the reddened corners of his eyes, reflecting a near-crazed, sinister killing intent.
“Chi Sheng, you brought this on yourself!”
The blade pierced through the suit fabric. Warm liquid splattered onto his hands.
Feeling the searing pain in his thigh, Chi Sheng’s alcohol-numbed brain snapped back to alertness. He gasped in disbelief, trying to escape Jing Shun. “You… you…”
In the darkness, Jing Shun’s demeanor seemed like a different person. “Did I say you could move?!”
With another swift strike, Chi Sheng’s other leg was stabbed, leaving a bloody hole.
Under the double torment of pain, Chi Sheng’s face instantly turned deathly pale. But the blade was still embedded in his leg, terrifying him into not daring to move.
Jing Shun held the electric stun knife tightly, the veins on his bloodstained hand faintly visible. He stared at Chi Sheng, whose face was full of terror, while the images that surged in his mind were the scenes of Chi Sheng hurting him—
“Jing Shun is a cripple who can only sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and he’s a man. How could I possibly like him?”
“Just looking at those limp, useless legs of his makes me sick to my stomach. I’ve never even touched them—how could I be interested?”
“I’ll tell you the truth: these past few years, I’ve loved watching through the surveillance camera when he accidentally falls and crawls pathetically on the ground, dragging his legs. It’s hilarious.”
“……”
Jing Shun stared at Chi Sheng’s pain-twisted face, his heart full of desolation.
There was a time when he truly trusted this man, when he clung to those fake gestures of “care” as a shred of hope to keep living!
Even if it wasn’t romantic love, it was the trust and reliance born from years of friendship.
And in return, what did he get?
His chance to stand was deliberately delayed and lost. He was humiliated like a plaything. He was pushed to the cold floor on purpose. And Chi Sheng left him to die without a second thought!
If he hadn’t been lucky enough to get a second chance, he would probably already be a cold corpse by now!
Perhaps sensing Jing Shun’s distraction, Chi Sheng, having regained a little strength, reached out to push him away.
Jing Shun reacted quickly and viciously dragged the blade down.
“Ah!”
Chi Sheng screamed in agony. “Jing Shun, I’ll kill you!”
But when he looked up again, the bloodstained blade was already pressed against his eyes.
Plop.
A drop of blood gathered on the tip of the knife and fell.
Jing Shun, holding the knife, was trembling all over, his eyes filled with pain and madness. “…I’ve already died once. I’m not afraid of anything. Do you want to try?”
He could no longer tell what was reality and what was a dream. Truth and illusion intertwined, bringing only pain.
He only knew that he could no longer contain the years of accumulated negativity. The darkness erupting from within was slowly devouring his soul!
Even if he had to die, he would drag this man to hell with him!
—Boom!
The next second, the bolted wooden door was kicked open from the outside with a thunderous crash.