The sky was filled with black smoke that emitted a choking smell, and the sound of wood being roasted and crackling was heard.
The scorching red color was shaken into shape by the winter wind, devouring everything around it with its fangs and claws, deliberately emitting terror.
However, its ferocity seemed to have no effect, and the girl standing in the center remained calm.
The small heel pressed over the broken glass on the ground and took another step towards the explosion point.
Thick ashes from the fire settled in the enclosed space and rolled down into Xu Shiyue's throat like barbs.
Be it a threat or real danger, Xu Shiyue never stopped.
She knew Lu Shizhen was here, somewhere.
She wanted to take her out, safe and sound.
The rolling black smoke was surrounded by the bright and dazzling flames. Xu Shiyue didn't know how long he had been walking before he finally found Lu Shizhen's figure in the sky full of flames.
The bright and clean window glass reflected the girl's crimson skirt, and a flamboyant and beautiful bow tied on her half-tied long hair.
Xu Shiyue did not see any panic on Lu Shizhen's face. The sunlight pouring through the glass behind her made the surrounding firelight seem out of place.
The light hit her face from all directions in a disorderly and illusory manner, and her eyes and brows, which were always flamboyant, were filled with tenderness.
This kind of tepid calmness seemed to be waiting for me.
Meet yourself for the last time.
Xu Shiyue seemed to realize something, and his pupils trembled slightly.
She couldn't accept the thoughts that this picture brought to her, so she stopped halfway and struggled to walk towards Lu Shizhen.
But the scorching flames were unwilling to cooperate with her and kept approaching her body.
The sound of the wood cracking was like a sharp and ferocious laugh, clamoring to drag this ignorant man into this desperate disaster.
“Sizzle—”
Just as Xu Shiyue was about to be dragged into the blazing fire, the sound of electric current suddenly rang in her ears.
The sharp sound pierced through her left eardrum and went straight out of her right eardrum, mercilessly forcing her to open her eyes.
The mechanical instrument rang emotionlessly, and the girl's suddenly opened eyes were filled with emptiness and confusion.
Xu Shiyue just stared at the ceiling; the smell of alcohol disinfectant overwhelmed the choking smell of fire.
Although both smells disgusted her greatly.
A clean and tidy environment seems to have swept away all the chaos, but in fact it just swept them into corners that people cannot see.
Xu Shiyue just lay on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling motionlessly, his eyes dark and heavy, no one knew what he was thinking.
It seemed like an eternity had passed, or maybe the second hand had just completed a circle.
The dry lips intertwined as if to seal each other, and then were ruthlessly torn apart by their owner: "Luo Ji."
Luo Ji, who had just accidentally fallen asleep beside the bed, immediately raised his head when he heard the voice, his eyes full of surprise: "Miss, you are awake..."
"I have something for you to do." Xu Shiyue said in a calm voice.
Luo Ji disagreed with what he said: "Miss, the doctor said you need to rest now, if there is anything..."
Xu Shiyue didn't want to waste time talking, and before Luo Ji finished speaking, she began to deploy to her: "Continue to dig deeper into what we found out before, and find the recipient of every sum of money in Xu Shouxian's account."
"Miss, there is no rush for these things..."
Luo Ji continued to persuade her, and Xu Shiyue continued to preach: "As for his daughter's academic honors, awards and patents, you should also check them for me. Even if there are no flaws, you have to create them for me."
Xu Shiyue's voice was so calm, just as calm as it was before this incident happened.
Luo Ji felt an indescribable fear in her heart. She didn't know what Xu Shiyue was thinking, and she had no way to stop Xu Shiyue from stopping. She simply shut up and listened to Xu Shiyue's instructions.
Xu Shiyue methodically instructed Luo Ji on everything, and finally said, "Call Li in."
"Yes." Luo Ji nodded, opened the door of the ward, and motioned for the bodyguard Li to come in.
"Miss." Li walked in quickly with steady steps.
In fact, if you look at it in detail, Li has been with Xu Shiyue longer than Luo Ji, and his working style is more in line with Xu Shiyue's liking.
He knew Xu Shiyue had asked him to come in for instructions, so he simply ignored Xu Shiyue's identity as a patient and dutifully reported: "The accident report of the building has just come out. The fire started in the kitchen, and the flaw is easy to find. The murderer has also been caught, but this person has refused to identify the instigator and only said that it was a conflict with the store owner."
"Then let him stop being stubborn and let him meet his family, then he will tell you." Xu Shiyue said.
She spoke these words softly and calmly, like a benevolent king who wanted to save all living beings and move her traitor with emotion.
But she is Xu Shiyue.
She is not a kind king, she is a violent lunatic.
Li understood Xu Shiyue's words very quickly and nodded, "I understand."
Xu Shiyue was very confident in Li's ability to do things, so he raised his hand and said, "There is one more thing you need to do for me..."
The heavy snow that fell yesterday covered the entire world. The snow sank on the dead branches outside the window and piled up on the treetops.
The sunlight shone obliquely from one side, and the dead branches seemed to be unable to bear the weight and shook off the accumulated snow.
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Li and Luo Ji left the ward one after another, and the already quiet ward became unusually deserted.
The pure white snow made the world framed by the window appear exceptionally bright, but the light only left Xu Shiyue's face pale when it shone on it.
She leaned on the rocking bed, looking at the snow scene outside the window. Her crow-feather-like eyelashes covered most of her pupils, and there was no trace of the decisiveness she had when she was giving orders to others just now.
She seemed as if her entire soul had been sucked out of her, and she just sat there motionless.
She was wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown. The ill-fitting cut was wide and angular, making her look like a doll with a role assigned to her by her owner.
No one knows whether there is any clockwork behind such a boring doll.
She also doesn't know what kind of clockwork key can make her move.
At this time, the sound of heels hitting the tile floor came from far away and finally stopped at the door of Xu Shiyue's ward.
The window glass reflected the scene of the door being pushed open from the outside, and Lu Shize walked in from outside.
He spoke in a bad tone, and said, "Xu Shiyue, what is the matter with you calling me here? If you want to explain to me that you are not the indirect murderer who killed Zhenzhen, I'm sorry, I'm busy preparing for Zhenzhen's funeral and don't have time to listen to your story here."
Xu Shiyue turned her head calmly upon hearing this. Her eyes, which were empty and confused just now, were filled with smiles: "Mr. Lu said that I am a murderer, but aren't you one yourself?"
Lu Shize immediately frowned: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Since you don't trust me, why did you hand Lu Shizhen over to me? Since you think I'm not a good person, why don't you send someone to protect Lu Shizhen?" Xu Shiyue asked back, raising her lowered eyelashes little by little towards Lu Shize.
Lu Shize disliked and even hated her, and had been keeping his distance from her since he entered the room.
But Xu Shiyue sat up from the bed and leaned towards Lu Shize.
The girl's smiling eyes were filled with a morbid and sinister look. She said to the man in front of her without any scruples: "Lu Shize, admit it, you have already linked me with Lu Shizhen a long time ago, and you have already tacitly acknowledged the relationship between me and Lu Shizhen."
"If you insist that I am the murderer of Lu Shizhen, then you also have a share of her blood on your hands."
The smile in Xu Shiyue's eyes had completely disappeared at this point, and her dark eyes were filled with a sickly look.
Her words were calm and strange, like a curse, and the listeners' hearts tightened.
Lu Shize's reverse scale was lifted up, and he suddenly became furious: "Xu Shiyue, do you really think I can't do anything to you?"
"If you want Lu Shizhen's soul to be uneasy, you can kill me now." Xu Shiyue looked at Lu Shize, his raised chin full of intimidation, and he was so straightforward that he had no scruples.
Lu Shize was indeed coerced, and asked with gritted teeth: "Xu Shiyue, what do you want to do?"
"Atonement." Xu Shiyue tilted her head, and her calm and cheerful voice was a bit like Lu Shizhen's. "I want to atone for my sins. Can you just avoid it?"
Her physical condition was still not very good, and she was a little tired from the confrontation with Lu Shize. Her always straight body was bent down by her master without any care, and she knelt on the bed with her legs spread out.
The sunlight hit her face from Lu Shize's sight. She smiled brightly on her raised face, like a bunch of red and poisonous poppies: "I want Mr. Lu to give me some of your connections. It would be best if you can get this done for me today."
.
The sound of iron doors opening could be heard from a distance, and the sound of heels hitting the floor echoed in the corridor.
In the room at the end of these doors sat Xu Shouxian. He was still wearing the suit he was wearing when he was taken away yesterday, with a neat tie buttoned on his shirt. Although his hair was a little untidy, he still looked decent.
This man's eyes were filled with calmness and even a bit of satisfaction. He just looked at Xu Shiyue as she walked in and said, "I didn't expect that we would meet so soon, Shiyue."
Xu Shiyue stood in front of the table and said, "Yes, this is all thanks to my second uncle."
"You're welcome." Xu Shouxian said, his eyes curved with a few wrinkles.
Xu Shiyue's eyes flashed with rage when he heard this, but then the corners of his mouth curved up as he said, "Since Second Uncle taught me such an important lesson before he left, I also have a gift for you."
As he spoke, Xu Shiyue spread out the documents in his hand and pushed them in front of Xu Shouxian.
Xu Shouxian didn't think that this could be anything fatal, so he just calmly flipped through the pages.
But, slowly, slowly, the man's indifferent expression just now collapsed.
The hand holding the document became tighter and tighter, and finally turned into panic on his face: "Where did you get these things from!"
Xu Shiyue did not answer, but turned the ring on her finger, as if reminiscing about the past: "Uncle, do you still remember what grandpa would say every winter? In winter, people's bones are brittle and will break if you bend them."
Xu Shouxian immediately realized something: "Xu Shiyue, you..."
After saying this, Xu Shiyue did not give Xu Shouxian a chance to respond, and continued: "But maybe sister can't care about these things."
"It seems that her independent enrollment patent during the college entrance examination was not made by her, right? Has her work been ghostwritten over the years? She was specially recruited into the artificial intelligence talent program this year. How many people did Second Uncle bribe in this process? Are these amounts enough to be considered as bribery and dereliction of duty?"
The girl's originally cold voice was filled with a hint of innocence. She listed all the things she "didn't understand" to Xu Shouxian, and then simply tore them apart in front of him: "Maybe these are nothing to Second Uncle, if you are still the same person as before."
Xu Shouxian gritted his teeth and said, "Xu Shiyue."
Xu Shiyue completely ignored the man's reaction and continued to preach: "I think our field will not accept someone who is investigated for plagiarism and sent to the police station for money laundering."
Having said that, she looked up at Xu Shouxian and finally put a question to him: "Second Uncle, how tolerant do you think society will be towards such a person?"
Xu Shouxian didn't expect Xu Shiyue to touch Xu Minjun's head. He suddenly became furious and slammed the table: "Xu Shiyue! Don't go too far!"
But this man was furious, but Xu Shiyue still held his face and smiled calmly at Xu Shouxian: "Why are you so angry here, Second Uncle?"
A cloud passed through the narrow window on the high wall, making the already dim room even darker.
The handcuffs and chains jingled in panic, and a figure suddenly covered the shadow on the wall.
Xu Shiyue suddenly stood up and grabbed Xu Shouxian's neck with his hand.
She mercilessly pressed the man's face on the table. She looked down at him and said, "You should look at me like this."
The politeness and smile disappeared from Xu Shiyue's face in an instant. She just looked at Xu Shouxian with hatred in her eyes: "Don't worry, I will send your daughter in soon."
"I also know that Second Uncle is very worried about what happened to your family. I have asked Mr. Lu to apply for a special case for you. Before Sister comes in to accompany you, you can watch the daily life of Sister and Second Aunt every night, just like this, carefully filmed and edited and played for you."
As he spoke, Xu Shiyue placed his cell phone in front of Xu Shouxian with one hand.
In the scene, Aunt Xu and Xu Minjun moved into the only dilapidated old house left under Xu Shouxian's name. The house had been forgotten for so long, but it was Xu Shiyue who "took pity" and allowed Li Dai to move in with them.
The cockroaches, which had long been the masters of this place, were very dissatisfied with the sudden intruders, and they scurried around the two men, waving their long whiskers.
Xu Shouxian watched helplessly, and soon he heard the sound of Second Aunt Xu and Xu Minjun hugging each other and crying loudly coming from the screen.
And all he could do was watch.
Xu Shouxian felt more powerless than ever before.
He originally wanted to use Xu Minjun's account to save some of his own money, and when he got out and made a comeback, he would be able to defeat this ignorant little girl.
But now he finally understood.
He couldn't do it. Not only could he not do it, but he also angered this man.
This person will not let them go. She will kill them all, leaving them unable to live or die.
He was the culprit who made Xu Shiyue become like this.
Realizing what a horrible demon he had created, Xu Shouxian's body began to tremble.
The collapse on the other side of the video shattered his composure bit by bit, and all his plans were shattered.
He won't make a comeback.
His family will go to hell with him because of his indulgence and cruelty.
The crying in the video was getting louder and louder, and Xu Shouxian was pressed on the table by the people left behind by Xu Shiyue, becoming more and more panicked.
He watched Xu Shiyue leave and shouted in panic: "Xu Shiyue! What do you want to do? Do you know that you will be punished for being so unscrupulous?"
"Xu Shiyue, stop right there! I'll give you whatever you want, just stop right there!"
His voice changed from being high and mighty at the beginning to a request, and finally, to a plea without dignity: "Xu Shiyue... Shiyue, I beg you to let your aunt and sister go! I really didn't intend to let Lu Shizhen die! It was because that person had a conflict with the dessert shop owner that he did it so cruelly! That explosion, that explosion would never have caused such a big fire! I really, really know I was wrong!"
"Shiyue! Shiyue! Have you forgotten that when you were sick as a child, it was your uncle who carried you to the hospital! Shiyue, please, please..."
Xu Shouxian begged and played the emotional card again, but no matter how much the good things in the past surged up, they could not make Xu Shiyue stop.
Lu Shize had been listening to all this outside. He raised his hand to hand her a handkerchief, but Xu Shiyue refused without even looking at it.
She had nothing to mourn.
If blood relationship alone can be considered as family, then family affection would come too easily.
She just regretted it, regret she had never felt before.
She should have made up her mind to do this a long time ago. She should have clipped all of Xu Shouxian's wings and sent someone to monitor his every move.
so…
so…
The quiet corridor of the detention center was cool and cold; Xu Shiyue's fingertips were trembling slightly.
She thought about the ending for a long time, but the countless words in her throat could not form a sentence.
The whole world was covered in silver because of last night's snow, and the red hangings heralded the coming of the new year.
Xu Shiyue raised her eyes and looked, as if she had lost the ability to perceive time. No matter how brilliant the colors were, they could not affect her at all.
She turned into that boring doll again.
The way back was long, yet seemed short. When Xu Shiyue came to her senses, she had already arrived at her and Lu Shizhen's villa.
Aunt Sun greeted her at the door as usual, and as soon as she opened the door, a familiar voice hit her full in the chest: "Jiang Jiang! Are you surprised to see me~"
In an instant, Xu Shiyue's eyes were filled with violent ripples.
She stood at the entrance and looked around the room, only to find that the sound came from the TV screen in the living room.
Lu Shizhen was sitting in the studio on the third floor, with an orange-red oil painting of a sunset next to him.
She was dressed festively, with a bright and beautiful smile: "Happy New Year, Xiao En. I didn't expect that your sister can also program! Did you receive your New Year's gift from your sister? Do you like it? I wish our Xiao En academic success in the new year and win more trophies."
This is a New Year surprise recorded by Lu Shizhen for her family.
But this surprise did not make anyone happy.
Lu Shien's eyes were red and tears were falling: "I will be able to win another trophy soon, sister, how can you see it if you don't come back?"
But the person on TV didn't react, and what he said was just a recorded video. There was a pause of half a second, and then the screen switched to another video.
In this picture, Lu Shizhen changed into festive clothes again, and the painting beside her also changed. She clasped her hands together and said, "Congratulations on your prosperity. Here are the red envelopes! I wish Ms. Cheng Meiyan a new year that will be as bright and full of hope as the rising sun in this painting!"
This is Lu Shizhen’s New Year’s blessing to Cheng Meiyan.
Cheng Meiyan, who was sitting opposite, was already in tears, so how could she still look bright and beautiful
The wind blew into the entrance hall through the crack in the door, and the coolness wrapped around everyone's arms, swallowing up the warmth.
As expected, Lu Shizhen's video was changed to the next one and sent to Lu Shize who had just walked in.
"Happy New Year, brother. I have drawn the picture you wanted for you! My speed is okay, isn't it? But since you are such a cocky person, I drew you a pink sunset instead!"
As Lu Shizhen said this, she uncovered the cloth she had specially covered the painting with, and made a wish as if to instruct: "I hope that brother will not always have a stern face in the new year, but smile more, especially when facing us, Shiyue. As a teacher, you are not allowed to bully your students."
Lu Shize just stood at the entrance, a tear dropped from his eye socket, crossing half of his face, as if splitting his heart.
The temporary pause in the video made the room extremely quiet, and Xu Shiyue could hear his own breathing.
Looking forward to it, yet afraid.
For some reason, Xu Shiyue felt like running away, but before she could even lift her feet, Lu Shizhen's voice rang out, more lively than in any of the previous videos: "Surprise! Xu Shiyue. Hehe, you didn't expect me to suddenly appear, did you? Are you surprised? I do have some talent for programming. Look here, look here, in addition to the USB flash drive in this box, I also had my blackboard painting framed! Look, it's not faded, isn't it super beautiful?"
As he said this, Lu Shizhen enlarged the entire painting into the video.
The stars in the night sky danced one by one in Xu Shiyue's eyes, and the girl's fluttering skirt was an even more beautiful painting than Lu Shizhen had described.
The cool breeze wrapped around Xu Shiyue's body, as if pushing her into an ice cellar.
But the skin under her left eye seemed to be burning with a flickering flame.
That was the place that Lu Shizhen had touched before.
She said that fortunately she did not have a tear mole, so she did not have to suffer from love or be trapped by love.
Xu Shiyue felt that this person was a liar.
Nothing said is true.
It's impossible to do even if I say it.
Xu Shiyue thought about it and raised his foot to leave.
And then the liar's voice came to her ears again.
"Xu Shiyue, Happy New Year, you must always be happy!"
(End of this chapter)