FY - 21

Zhou Yan was not in serious danger.

The bleeding from her ear was due to external force, causing a ruptured eardrum and damaged ear bones. There were bruises on her neck from heavy pressure, but for her already fragile body, these were minor.

She woke up the next day, lying in Si Wen’s apartment bed.

There was movement outside the door; it must have been Si Wen. She rolled over, her back to the door, not wanting to face him.

She thought that if she ever really died, it would be a pathetic death. The first time Si Wen almost killed her, she swore that if it happened again, she would leave him, even if it meant dying.

But it had been four years, and she had died countless times, yet she was still by his side.

The phrase “if it happened again” was like a joke.

She could accept herself this way, finding a heap of excuses, but she refused to use her intelligent mind to figure out why.

Cowardice. She was simply a coward. She thought that as long as she didn’t think about it, it wasn’t real.

Si Wen walked in, placed his phone by Zhou Yan’s pillow, and then left.

Zhou Yan knew, but didn’t turn around. She forced herself to close her eyes, ignoring everything related to him.

Gradually, she fell asleep.

Outside the door, Si Wen, in just two hours, took medicine for the fourth time, but it still didn’t alleviate the night sweats, hallucinations, and heartburn.

Taking off his clothes and showering in cold water didn’t help either.

He wanted to rush to Zhou Yan, strip her clothes, and violently have her, but he was afraid. He was afraid her fragile body would turn cold.

What would he do if she died? What would he do?

He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists under the cold water, and punched the full-length mirror with all his might. The mirror, not sturdy to begin with, shattered into countless pieces, scattering across the floor with a crash.

His hands were covered in blood, glass shards mixed with shredded flesh, and bone was vaguely visible.

He turned off the shower and walked out, still dripping wet.

After nearly ruining his hands, the after-effects of his drug addiction indeed subsided somewhat.

His phone rang at that moment.

He looked at the phone lying silently on the coffee table, frowned, turned, went into the bedroom, picked up a phone he rarely used, and answered.

“Si Wen, are you doing this on purpose?! You messed up Zhao Youjin’s business, completely blocking our access to Qizhou!”

“Are you out of your mind or did your mother iron you? How dare you offend her like that? Did you forget you’re not alone now?!”

“Don’t tell me you’re washing your hands of this! I’ve been playing with you for so long, I can’t take this as a joke!”

The other party’s accusations came crashing down, clearly enraged and difficult to appease.

Si Wen showed no extra reaction. He walked to Zhou Yan’s room door, closed it for her, and then spoke.

“You came to me for cooperation, not the other way around.”

“I provided the lead on Zhao Youjin, not you.”

“Your few drug production sites are all in my hands.”

The other party’s arrogance vanished; he couldn’t be so aggressive anymore.

After a moment, he softened his voice and said, “Now that the Zhao Youjin line has collapsed, if we want to get our goods into Qizhou, we’ll have to find another channel. But who else is more suitable than her?”

Zhao Youjin was the switch for Si Wen’s game; he wouldn’t give her up. “She has a batch of medicine passing through Somalia next week, guarded by Israeli mercenaries. If it’s hijacked, she’ll lose 40 million.”

“Forty million? You mean, let me hijack it? And then she’ll come to you for replenishment?”

“If she comes to me for replenishment, her losses will be at least halved.” Si Wen poured himself a glass of water.

The other party’s mood brightened, and he burst into laughter: “It has to be a business mind like yours, much more meticulous than a hothead like me.”

Si Wen saw that he was pleased, and it was time to tell him a few things. “If you cooperate with me, you have to listen to me. You should know, I didn’t get rich doing this. Nor will I ever be reduced to living off it.”

The other party swallowed. Si Wen’s tone was too calm when he said this, and his voice wasn’t loud, but the more so, the more chilling it was.

“If you don’t understand the rules, I can send you back to school to learn them again.”

“I have many ways to die here; I don’t mind you trying them.”

After Si Wen finished speaking, he hung up the phone, stood straight, swung his arm, and smashed the phone against the wall. A perfectly good phone instantly scattered into pieces, every part dismembered.

No matter who it was, they should be found by him, not calling him.

________________________________________

In the pitch-black cave.

Xue Peng spat into an ashtray, his eyes narrowed, and a cold current swirled around him.

He hadn’t figured out why he had approached Si Wen. Si Wen was all-powerful in Qizhou and could even get a slice of the US-Mexico border market. He would hardly be willing to associate with anyone, nor did he seem like someone who would help the poor.

But when he approached him, hoping he would help transport a batch of goods, he still agreed.

He actually agreed.

Initially, when he heard that Si Wen was a “captain” (marijuana trafficker), he didn’t believe it. With his level of power and wealth, there was no need, unless he wasn’t content with just money; he wanted to control an empire.

Xue Peng didn’t dare to guess his thoughts; getting rid of this batch of goods was the immediate priority.

As a drug dealer, since his last encounter with the anti-drug bureau, which resulted in heavy losses, all his sales channels were cut off. He still had a lot of “white sister” (heroin) and “diamonds” (methamphetamine) on hand. If he didn’t find new buyers soon, he would quickly be eliminated by this fast-paced market.

Si Wen said there was a woman in Qizhou who ran a pharmaceutical business, with an intricate network of connections covering almost the entire region. So he sent people to investigate, confirmed it was Zhao Youjin, and they made a plan, but he didn’t agree; he wanted to do it his own way...

He did succeed. He easily captured Zhao Youjin’s attention with a single move.

But why did he then draw a dividing line across her face, completely rejecting this big financier? What was he thinking?

He was very annoyed, momentarily forgetting Si Wen’s rules, and called him, only to find him confident. And he was even warned.

Narrowing his eyes, he lit a cigarette, rubbed the scar on his wrist, and decided to listen to him for now.

In his current predicament, he truly had no right to negotiate.

The police had issued an A-level arrest warrant for him, with an 800,000 “steel bullet” reward, forcing him to linger in this cave. His brothers’ trust in him was dwindling, evident in their work efficiency.

Since Si Wen was his only hope, he might as well listen to him, even if only temporarily.

Even if his being targeted by the police and falling to this state were all Si Wen’s doing. Even if his decision to seek cooperation with Si Wen was part of Si Wen’s plan.

________________________________________

Zhou Yan woke up when it was already dark.

She reached for the phone by her pillow, pressed the power button, and the screen lit up with a transfer notification.

She opened it, and indeed, it was Si Wen who had transferred money to her—500,000.

Her lips moved slightly. She put the phone down and got out of bed to get some water.

Si Wen was in the living room. When she came out, his eyes fixated on her and didn’t move.

Zhou Yan ignored him, poured herself a glass of water, drank it, and went back to the bedroom.

Si Wen frowned, took three steps and two steps to reach her, gripping her wrist. “Can’t you see me?”

Zhou Yan didn’t want to see him. She didn’t turn around or speak.

Si Wen was so afraid of her being lifeless and unresponsive towards him. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, tilted his head, and kissed her eyes, kissing the slender wound there. “I’ll give you money. If 500,000 isn’t enough, I’ll give you a million. If a million isn’t enough, I’ll give you five million.”

And then he could wantonly hurt her?

That was a clever calculation. But how many more times could her broken life endure his torment?

Was dying by his hand truly her destined end in this life?

Si Wen received no response from her. He held her tighter, changing his grip from her wrist to her hand, fingers intertwined, desperately trying to transfer his warmth to her.

But her palm remained cold. She was resisting.

They embraced for a long time, but Si Wen still couldn’t warm her. She didn’t hide, nor did she push him away.

He knew that even if he forced her to give him oral sex now, or to spread her legs for him to have intercourse with her, she would comply, and even pretend to enjoy it. But he didn’t want that, at least not now, he didn’t want that.

For him, Zhou Yan could replace his drug addiction, but nothing could replace her.

This feeling was terrible; he hated it. He was also afraid that one day he wouldn’t be able to quit her, and he would fall into irreversible ruin. But that was for later; he didn’t want to think about later. He just wanted to deal with the present, and in the present, Zhou Yan couldn’t leave him.

No, not just the present, Zhou Yan would never leave him in this lifetime!

If he couldn’t quit her, then he wouldn’t. He would lock her by his side and drag her to hell with him!

When this thought began to ferment, he was startled by himself.

It wasn’t like this. How could he not be able to quit her? Had he lived until now on luck? Was there anything he couldn’t achieve?

Thinking this, he released Zhou Yan and became cold again: “Get lost!”

Zhou Yan’s foot, which was about to step into the bedroom, turned towards the front door instead. Si Wen was sick; she had known and gotten used to it a long time ago.

________________________________________

Zhou Siyuan was at home. Seeing Zhou Yan return, he was quite surprised: “Didn’t big sister work overtime on Fridays and Saturdays?”

Zhou Yan used to tell Zhou Siyuan that she wouldn’t come back on Fridays and Saturdays, without explaining why. Zhou Siyuan just assumed she was working overtime, and she never clarified. She couldn’t tell him that she was going to warm someone’s bed.

Zhou Siyuan toasted a leftover small steamed bun, took out the cream from the refrigerator, squeezed a small dish of it, and served it to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan’s gaze softened. She reached out and stroked the back of his head: “Siyuan, did you do your tutoring obediently today?”

Zhou Siyuan looked up, saw the injury on Zhou Yan’s face, opened his mouth, but then said, “The teacher praised me today. She thinks I can definitely get into Qizhou’s best middle school next year.”

Zhou Yan raised an eyebrow, a smile almost overflowing from her eyes: “That amazing?”

Zhou Siyuan ran back to his room and brought the test paper to Zhou Yan: “Sister, look, I got ninety-six on the tutoring class test.”

This was truly heartwarming. It was the best news Zhou Yan had received in the past two days.

She opened her arms to Zhou Siyuan: “Come here.”

Zhou Siyuan leaned in, throwing himself into her embrace, his mouth curved into a smile: “When I grow up and become successful, I can support big sister. Then big sister won’t have to work so hard.”

A light flickered in Zhou Yan’s eyes, disappearing into her hair.

She had to live well, otherwise, if she didn’t live to see Zhou Siyuan grow up, how regrettable would that be?

Zhou Yan once again quickly moved on from the harm Si Wen inflicted on her.

What else could she do if she didn’t move on? Die? That would be too worthless.

Being a call girl and being with Si Wen were her own choices. She didn’t regret them and understood them, but she couldn’t help but feel sad.

All women were like this.

She knew.

Pushing all her conflicted feelings onto the complex group of women, she compromised again. The idea she once had of fighting to the death to leave Si Wen was once again put aside.

Next time.

Next time, she would definitely leave. Even if it meant dying.