Chapter 2

Revenge

They embraced tightly, as if trying to make up for all the warmth they had missed over the years. Tears flowed like a broken dam, soaking their clothes. Their cries intertwined, filled with endless sorrow and grievance.

After a long time, Zhang Shiye gently lifted the person in his arms, gazing at her sleeping face with almost fanatic devotion. At that moment, he felt his life was finally complete.

Zhang Shiye walked out of the ward step by step. The doctor and nurse on duty hid under the table, trembling. They still remembered how this man had beaten Li Wenzhuo to a pulp just an hour ago.

The heavy snow outside had stopped, leaving a thick layer of snow on the ground. His steps seemed heavy, as if each one carried endless fatigue and worry.

The driver, seeing Zhang Shiye come out, quickly opened the car door and waited for them to get in. Zhang Shiye carefully carried Xia Wanying into the car and gently placed her in the seat. His eyes were filled with concern and heartache, afraid that his movements would make Xia Wanying uncomfortable.

Then, Zhang Shiye took off his coat and gently draped it over Xia Wanying. His movements were very gentle, as if afraid his strength would hurt her. The coat still held his body temperature, warming Xia Wanying.

Only after doing this did Zhang Shiye slowly get into the car and tightly hold Xia Wanying’s hand. His gaze never left her, as if he wanted to imprint her image deep in his heart.

Outside the car, the snow was white and pristine, a scene of tranquility. The atmosphere inside the car, however, was heavy and oppressive, only the sound of Zhang Shiye’s breathing and Xia Wanying’s faint breath intertwined. The car started slowly, driving towards an unknown destination.

“Boss, where to?” The driver looked at his boss in astonishment. He had been with him for several years, and his boss had never had a woman by his side.

“The suburban villa.”

The car drove slowly forward and finally reached its destination. Zhang Shiye opened the car door, ready to carry Xia Wanying. However, at that moment, he suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

When he carefully placed his hand on Xia Wanying’s breath, he was horrified to discover that she had stopped breathing. Time seemed to freeze at that moment, and Zhang Shiye’s heart sank.

“Wanying! Wanying!” Zhang Shiye called out in a trembling voice, his voice filled with despair and fear.

He held Xia Wanying’s body tightly, trying to make her breathe again, but it was no use.

“Go get a doctor! Quickly!” Zhang Shiye’s voice was choked with sobs. His eyes were filled with tears, unable to accept the reality before him. He kept shaking Xia Wanying’s body, hoping to awaken a spark of life within her.

“Wanying, Wanying, please wake up, okay? I can’t lose you…” Zhang Shiye’s voice grew quieter, filled with helplessness and sadness. He refused to believe it was true.

Twenty minutes later, the doctor arrived at the bedroom. Zhang Shiye stood like a statue, holding Xia Wanying’s hand motionless. The doctor walked over, opened Xia Wanying’s eyelids, shone a flashlight on them for a while, then checked her carotid artery. He sighed and said, “Boss, please accept my condolences. This lady is gone.”

“Leave.”

Zhang Shiye quietly stayed by Xia Wanying’s body for a whole day and night. During that time, he didn’t eat a single bite or drink a single drop of water. His rosy lips were covered in a white film.

Xia Wanying, seeing him like this, was heartbroken. She rushed over to hug this foolish man, but her hands passed through his body. She looked at her hands, as if in disbelief, and tried again and again, but the result was the same. It was then that she understood that she was already dead.

Her whole life felt like a cruel joke. She had finally reunited with the man she loved, only to experience another heartbreaking separation.

Even if she hadn’t taken those pills, her parents had died because of her. How could she face living in this world?

Xia Wanying calmed down and sat beside Zhang Shiye, quietly keeping him company.

In the early hours of the following day, Zhang Shiye got up and made a phone call. Half an hour later, twenty-odd burly men stood outside the villa, each dressed in black, blending into the darkness.

Zhang Shiye gave a few instructions, then drove alone to an abandoned factory.

As dawn approached, the sky gradually turned white, as if slowly unveiling its veil under the influence of a mysterious force.

At that moment, a deafening “clanging” sound suddenly echoed, like thunder splitting the silence around them.

The sudden noise was terrifying, as if the whole world was trembling. Then, several burly men appeared in the field of vision, holding three bulging sacks tightly in their hands. They mercilessly threw them onto the cold ground.

The sacks landed with a dull thud. As they were untied, Li Wenzhuo, Fang Zhaodi, and Li Xiaoxian struggled to climb out.

Zhang Shiye walked forward slowly, step by step. His eyes were cold and ruthless, like Satan from hell, radiating endless darkness and evil.

When his gaze fell on the three, they felt an unprecedented fear and despair. Zhang Shiye’s eyes revealed a coldness and disdain, as if he were looking at three people about to die.

Li Wenzhuo was so scared that he couldn’t even speak. Fang Zhaodi propped herself up with her hands and moved backward. Li Xiaoxian, spoiled rotten for years, screamed, “Who are you? Let us go!”

Zhang Shiye took the long knife handed to him from the side and swung it lightly. Li Xiaoxian was instantly killed.

Fang Zhaodi, who was closest, was splattered with blood all over her face and body. Coupled with the tears and snot flowing uncontrollably, she looked incredibly eerie. “Zhang Shiye, it’s not my fault. It was Li Wenzhuo’s idea. He made me push Xia Wanying into the river that year. Actually, he was hiding behind a tree not far away, watching. He also tricked those people who gathered around. The rumors in the village later were also spread by him!”

Li Wenzhuo, seeing Fang Zhaodi selling him out, forgot his fear. He shouted with a ferocious face, “You shameless bitch! You were the one who first noticed that Xia Wanying liked Zhang Shiye. You made me hurry up and take action. You were the one who pushed her into the cold river!”

Zhang Shiye cleaned his ears, “Bring them here, pull out their tongues. They’re giving me a headache.”

“Ah… Ah” Tongues flowed out with blood. The two could no longer speak. Zhang Shiye stood up, his eyes filled with infinite sadness and regret.

“How dare you? Since you schemed and used her to return to the city, why didn’t you treat her well? Why did you hide her? I’ve been looking for her for over ten years! Why are people so greedy? Why do they want so many material possessions? For all these years, if you had let me see her, I would have given you everything!”

With that, he chopped off Li Wenzhuo’s thigh with a sharp, iron-cutting knife. Li Wenzhuo fainted from the pain.

Zhang Shiye turned his head. He didn’t bother talking to Fang Zhaodi. He stabbed her repeatedly with the knife, each strike drawing blood, but not immediately fatal. The doctor woke up Li Wenzhuo. Zhang Shiye turned and chopped at Li Wenzhuo again, repeatedly hacking at him dozens of times before the doctor was helpless. Finally, Zhang Shiye chopped off both their heads.

He put the heads into sacks. Zhang Shiye gave many instructions to the leader, then left with a sack in hand.

A day later, Xia Wanying was buried in the cemetery. Before the burial, Zhang Shiye put the ancestral jade passed down to his daughter-in-law around her neck.

Zhang Shiye knelt in front of the grave, his knees in close contact with the cold, hard ground. But he seemed to feel no pain, his eyes vacant and lifeless, staring straight at the tombstone in front of him, as if he had lost his soul.

Beside him, two gruesome and terrifying heads lay quietly, emitting a sickening stench of blood.

But Zhang Shiye’s gaze never left the tombstone, or rather, he never left the three characters carved on it – “Xia Wanying”.

Time passed minute by minute. Zhang Shiye knelt there motionless, like a statue. Only tears kept welling up in his eyes, flowing down his cheeks and dripping onto the ground, forming a small puddle.

However, as time passed, the tears in his eyes gradually dried up, replaced by a dead silence and despair.

“Wanying, the path to the underworld is not easy. I’m coming to join you…”

Xia Wanying was in a panic. Her soul rushed forward desperately, trying to prevent the tragedy from happening. However, no matter how hard she tried, her body couldn’t touch anything tangible. She could only watch helplessly as the foolish man slowly fell.

She widened her eyes, tears blurring her vision, but she was powerless. She saw him fall into a pool of blood, his clothes and the ground around him stained red. Her heart felt as if it had been ripped apart. She cried out his name, hoping to wake him up.

But it was all too late. She could only helplessly watch it all happen, filled with regret and self-blame.

Xia Wanying stood there blankly, her body trembling, her face filled with despair and pain.

Ten minutes later, her soul slowly dissipated, leaving only the two heads on the grave and a pool of blood.