That night, Fang Luo woke up from his sleep, one hand supporting his forehead, and the other gently tapping the edge of the bathtub, his brows furrowed as if he was troubled. Outside, it was a pitch-black night, with no birds chirping, and only the sound of the slight wind blowing through the window cracks came in, carrying a hint of an eerie and ominous smell.
Fang Luo shook his head, then shook it again, and finally gave up struggling, standing up from the icy black water, putting on a silk robe, and opening the door, walking towards the rooftop.
The rooftop's iron door was very heavy, and when it was pushed open, it made creaking noises. A hoarse female voice asked anxiously, "Who is it?"
Fang Luo did not answer, just silently walked past.
The girl standing on the high railing widened her eyes and called out in fear, "Don't come over!" In the instant she saw the person clearly, for some reason, her anxiety and agony were greatly relieved. This was a very handsome man, his hair was very soft, gently being blown by the wind; his eyes were very bright, reflecting the starry sky. Even walking in the dark night, he radiated a glow, as if refracted by the moonlight, or emanating from his own body.
The girl stared at the man, forgetting the purpose of coming to the rooftop.
Fang Luo had approached her during her moment of distraction and spoke in a gentle voice, "Come down, it's dangerous up here."
The girl immediately came to her senses and shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, I am not coming down. I want to die to show him!" The 'him' she referred to was her boyfriend on the fourteenth floor.
Fang Luo looked up at her and suddenly made an inexplicable request, "Can you give me your hand?"
"What?" The girl was stunned, not knowing how to react. She expected the man to try to persuade her with a lot of reasoning or perhaps call the police. But it was futile, she was determined to jump from here today, to show Lin Qin that there was still genuine love in this world, and someone willing to sacrifice everything for him.
"Give me your hand." Fang Luo abandoned any inquiry, and issued a direct command.
The girl no longer questioned, subconsciously reached out her hand. When she tried to retract it, her fingertips had already been held by the man. His grip was light, just slightly holding her nail; his skin was cool, like a jade buried in the earth; his attitude was very cautious, exuding full respect and politeness.
The anxious girl almost immediately gave up struggling and let him touch her lightly, even though she had no idea what significance it had.
"I will not save you," Fang Luo said seriously, "The only one who can save you is yourself. Please close your eyes and recall the past, see the true nature of those people or things. If after opening your eyes, you still want to jump from here, I will not stop you."
The girl remained in a daze for a while before saying, "Close my eyes and recall?"
"Yes," Fang Luo nodded, "Recall the scenes when you were together. I won't interfere with any of your decisions."
The girl finally understood what the man was doing. He seemed to want her to calm down, to reflect, and then persuade herself to change her mind. But he clearly used the wrong method. At this moment, asking her to recall the moments with Lin Qin would only deepen her despair and pain, making her more determined to die. Regardless, she had to die in front of Lin Qin and make him understand that she loved him wholeheartedly. For the rest of his life, Lin Qin would always remember her, and always love her, but he would never be able to see her again, this was the greatest punishment for him!
The girl smiled sadly, then looked at Fang Luo with pity, and closed her eyes to start recalling. However, what she did not know was that as her thoughts and emotions were tightly entwined with the past, the negative emotions accumulated in her heart were subtly absorbed by Fang Luo's fingertips as they touched hers.
The girl remembered her first meeting with Lin Qin, how he lay drunk on the bar to give up his ex-girlfriend and cried like a lost child, saying he would never believe in love again, with his eyes filled with hot tears.
The heartache grabbed the girl’s nerves, pulling her towards Lin Qin. She had the courage to strike up a conversation with him, trying to persuade him to go home, attempting to soothe his wounds. She thought her presence meant salvation.
This memory was originally tearful, but it also shone brightly in her memories, making her feel sad and unable to stop smiling. However, at this moment, for some reason, those details that had never got her attention were now greatly magnified.
When Lin Qin was drunk as mud, he had always sat steadily on the swivel barstool, exuding a decadent and indifferent style, never like an ordinary drunk, with tears streaming down his face as he staggered about; when he mistakenly mistook a barmaid for his ex-girlfriend and held her tightly, the bartender at the bar smiled and winked at him, as if he had long been accustomed to his tricks; when he talked about his pain, his eyes flashed with self-satisfaction and contempt...
All the illusions he deliberately created were revealed in these very clear memories.
From the initial recollections, the girl thought about their first date, first intimate contact, first cohabitation... Lin Qin said: "Your character is so bad, who else will tolerate you, if not me? But in fact, the girl's character had always been good, she had many like-minded friends, it was only after getting along with Lin Qin that she gradually distanced herself from them, eventually becoming a lonely person; Lin Qin said: "Stop working, I will take care of you!" But the girl had always been responsible for their living expenses, and Lin Qin had never contributed a dime, incurring debts and relying on the girl to work multiple jobs to repay them; Lin Qin said: "Without me, what will you do in the future?" But in reality, without him, the girl could live better, spend all her earnings on herself or her parents, instead of providing for Lin Qin's luxurious lifestyle, and never getting a word of affirmation.
As the recollections reached this point, the girl felt an unprecedented despair, so she took a step forward, then back, back, forward, like a leaf about to wither in the wind.
Finally, all the images of Lin Qin converged into a specific moment. He squinted, blew out smoke rings, and with a disdainful and aged tone, said, "If you are willing to die for me, then I believe in love."
Die for Lin Qin? The girl's soul struggled fiercely in the memories, she suddenly realized that Lin Qin's use of this sentence was not to convey his longing for genuine affection, but a kind of inducement. He was trying to push her forward, making her plunge into the depths of death! This wasn't love, it was murder!
He had not cared for her at all, only taken and destroyed. He had drained her body and wealth, shattered her self-esteem and confidence. He had turned her from a healthy person into a dependent fragment, and now that he found a new target, he wanted to discard this fragment.
In his eyes, she was not a loving girlfriend, but prey, a monument, a puppet. If she really jumped from here today, it wouldn't be a punishment for Lin Qin, or even for herself, but a punishment for her parents, relatives, and friends who remained in the world, and still loved her deeply.
What she had not seen through before, she saw through completely at this moment; what she could not understand before, she understood fully at this moment. Lin Qin spoke of love, but his eyes held only a cold and callous light. He was not a broken-hearted wanderer, it was merely a protective coloration woven by himself, under this camouflage, a colorful viper was lurking and swiftly attacking.
The girl was frightened, and screamed with her eyes open, only to realize she was standing on the edge of a tall building, just one step away from a fatal fall. She had solemnly sworn to die in front of Lin Qin, to show him that in the world, there was still someone who loved him wholeheartedly. Thinking back now, she felt she was so foolish, so pitiful, so hateful!
For such an unworthy person to end her life, she lived as a joke! The girl gasped for breath, then laughed softly. She jumped off the high platform, sat along the wall, burying her head in her knees, not sure what she was thinking.
Fang Luo retracted his hand, and quietly waited for a while, seeing that the girl had no more intention of seeking death, he left quietly, just as he had come.
As the heavy iron door closed, the girl said hoarsely, "Thank you for saving me!"
"You saved yourself," Fang Luo raised his hand without turning back.
The girl hurried to the door, only to find that the man had already disappeared. She stood still for a while, then slapped her forehead and blurted out, "Ah! I remembered, he seems to be Fang Luo!"
In just a few minutes, the girl had freed herself from despair, becoming open-minded and full of vitality. She did not find this transformation abrupt or strange, but rather rejoiced in it. She ran down the stairs, like a cheerful bird flapping its wings, then went down to the fourteenth floor, and smashed Lin Qin's door to pieces with an axe.
This building is home to several households, but with such commotion, none of them wanted to come out to see what was happening.
Lin Qin was awakened by the noise and found an axe had pierced through his front door, leaving him pale with fear. Being timid, he didn't dare to resist and frantically took out his phone to call 110, only to discover that there was no signal in the building. Thankfully, the axe got stuck in the door after breaking it, without any plan to cause bloodshed, and then there was a fading sound of footsteps.
The perpetrator had left, and only then did Lin Qin open the door, pretending to angrily shout at the empty corridor.
---
The next day, Fanjialuo sent an email to Baimu, asking him to help invite Mr. Shen Youquan out for a gathering.
"[If possible, please ask Mr. Shen Youquan to bring his wife and children with him.]" he wrote in the email.
Baimu almost instantly replied: "[Okay, I will arrange the meeting. This is my phone number, and also my WeChat ID. In the future, we can contact each other this way, which is more convenient than sending emails.]"
Fanjialuo promptly added Baimu as a friend and after meditating for ten minutes, he received a confirmation - to meet at noon in the private room of the "Lotus Pond Night" restaurant. Additionally, Baimu offered to bring the chief lawyer of Dingcheng Group if needed.
Impressed by Baimu's high efficiency, Fanjialuo sincerely thanked him and declined his kind offer: "[We don't need the lawyer. I want to discuss some private matters with him, and it's not suitable for outsiders to be present.]"
"So, I am not an outsider?" Baimu sent this message, then withdrew it in less than two seconds, and then sent in a more formal tone: "[Alright, we will meet at that time.]"
Fanjialuo raised an eyebrow, smiled in interest, but did not reply.