The evildoers show no remorse, while the victims reflect on themselves countless times.
Qin Nan couldn't understand how the world could be so absurd.
Ye Sibei looked at him quietly, tears falling. She felt something was shaking in her heart, which made her feel very scared. She lowered her head and wiped her tears, and said hoarsely: "Right or wrong is not important, forget it."
He looked at the woman who was trying to escape, stood up, and reached out to pull her: "Let's call the police."
When Ye Sibei heard the words "call the police", he immediately refused: "I won't go."
Qin Nan didn't say anything. He pulled her wrist, holding his breath, and dragged her out. Ye Sibei used all her strength to fight him, and yelled like crazy: "I won't go! This matter is over! I didn't report it at the beginning, so why report it now?"
"I won't go! Let me go, I won't go!"
Qin Nan didn't listen. He dragged Ye Sibei towards the door little by little and started beating him, shouting, "I'm doing fine! I don't need to call the police! I don't need it!"
Qin Nan dragged her out. When they reached the door, she stumbled and fell to the ground: "Qin Nan, have you ever thought about me?!"
Qin Nan stopped moving, turned around, and saw Ye Sibei slumped on the ground, crying and looking at him.
There was pleading and resentment in her eyes. One of her wrists was pulled by him, and the other hand was on his hand, trying to pry his hand open.
The sleeves slid to the bottom due to this movement, revealing her slender white arms with crisscrossing scars on them. He saw them but didn't dare to look at them.
He finally lowered his gaze to hers, taking in the fear in her eyes.
It was as if he was the one trying to ruin her life.
“Can you really live well without calling the police?”
He spoke in a low voice, and Ye Sibei nodded desperately: "I'm doing well, I don't need to call the police, if you want a divorce, then divorce. I only ask one thing of you, just let it go."
"As long as no one of us tells anyone, this matter will be over."
Qin Nan felt something stuck in his chest, and he looked up at his home.
Wine bottles, cigarettes, and a messy house.
Ye Sibei seemed to have noticed something, and she stood up in a panic: "I'll clean it up, I'll clean it up right away."
“Ye Sibei,” Qin Nan looked at the woman who was collecting the bottles in the room. He suddenly felt helpless. He looked at her back. “If the damage is not healed fairly, the wound will rot there forever.”
Ye Sibei stopped what he was doing and listened to him speak cruelly: "This is just the beginning."
"You will rot little by little from the inside out, you will spend half your life trying to heal this wound, you will keep wondering why it happened to you, what you did wrong, why that evil person is still living well while you have to live like this"
"Now, no matter what you do, others will still sympathize with you and think that you are hurt. But in the future, when everyone forgets that you have been hurt and only sees that you can't even live your own life well, everyone will just think that Ye Sibei is a bad person."
Ye Sibei was holding the wine bottle, her body trembling slightly. She tried to ease her emotions by hugging the bottle.
"It doesn't matter," she consoled herself, "I'm just like this anyway. My mom said that people have to believe in fate."
"Destiny can be changed."
Qin Nan looked at her back and said, "You have to try to win once, just once..."
“But I never won!”
Ye Sibei finally couldn't bear it anymore, she turned around and looked at him: "Do you think I haven't tried? I have tried."
“When I was little, I thought that if I studied hard, I could change my life, but it didn’t happen.”
“I thought I could change my life by working hard, but it didn’t.”
"I thought the hardest time was always now, and as long as I could get through it, the best would be in the future, but what happened?"
“There will always be more suffering waiting for you in the future, and there will always be shortcomings that you cannot overcome waiting for you.”
"I'm not hardworking enough, I'm not self-disciplined enough, I'm not careful enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm hypocritical, I'm stupid, I have low emotional intelligence, I'm 27 and about to have a baby, the company doesn't want me, I'm 26 and don't have a stable job, I have a younger brother, what conditions do I have to be picky, I passed the college entrance examination and ended up with a monthly salary of 3,000, which is less than what others make by moving bricks. Don't I have enough criticism in my life?"
"You want me to win, what can I win with?"
"I am now," Ye Sibei's voice was almost inaudible as she cried. She raised her hand and pointed at herself, "I only have one wish—"
“I want to live a good life.”
"I want to live like a normal person, not rebelling, not confronting, not having any expectations, and just going with the flow."
"Is this request too much?"
Qin Nan didn't say anything. He looked at the woman in front of him who was staring at him.
It was at this moment of confrontation that her eyes were clear and firm, completely different from her usual timid look.
He suddenly realized that it wasn't.
She talked about giving up, not rebelling, not fighting, and not living with expectations.
But it is because of not giving up, rebelling, confronting, and being full of expectations that we feel pain.
There is another self living in her body who has never given up, but who uses her body as a cage to trap her.
"Ye Sibei," Qin Nan didn't dare look at her. He was afraid that he would be influenced by her. He lowered his head. "If you want to live like a normal person, then come with me to call the police."
As he spoke, Qin Nan walked forward, grabbed her wrist again, and pulled her to the door.
This time, neither of them resisted. Ye Sibei stumbled as he walked, while Qin Nan just shook hands lightly, as if it was the last moment of the confrontation, neither of them had any strength left, and both were on the verge of collapse.
Mustering up the courage to walk to the door, Qin Nan just opened the door and saw Ye Nianwen standing at the door.
He was still wearing that cheap suit and carrying his usual black schoolbag on one shoulder. He had been carrying the same bag for many years and had never changed it.
He lost his usual smile, as if he had grown up in an instant, and faced Qin Nan quietly.
No one knew how long he had been standing at the door, nor did anyone know what he was going to do. After a long time, Ye Sibei said hoarsely, "Why are you here?"
"Chu Chu said that her brother-in-law beat up Fan Jiancheng, so I came to take a look."
Ye Nianwen forced a smile: "I heard you guys arguing, so I didn't feel comfortable knocking on the door. Why don't you go in and sit down first."
"Get out of the way."
Qin Nan stared at him. Ye Nianwen didn't say anything. He lowered his head and said in a low voice: "Calling the police now will give you a low chance of winning."
As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Nan slapped Ye Nianwen fiercely, grabbed Ye Nianwen's head and pressed him against the wall: "Is this what you should say to your sister?! You are a lawyer and you say this to your sister?!"
Ye Nianwen's glasses were knocked askew. He leaned against the wall, panting softly in pain: "I can't let my sister go to a lawsuit where she will lose."
"You are not her, you are not her relative," Ye Nianwen's voice trembled, "If you don't feel sorry for her, she will be questioned from the beginning. Everyone will ask why she drank that day, why she went out at night that day, why she wore a hip skirt that day, and what is her relationship with the criminal."
"They will examine her past, her family, and all her possible misconduct. They will accuse her of seducing someone or framing someone. If she can't win the lawsuit, they will accuse her of being a honey trap, trying to extort money, being a mistress, or even being unprofessional."
As Ye Nianwen spoke, he looked at Ye Sibei standing next to him. His eyes were red, and he tried hard not to cry: "I understand your anger. If you can't accept it, you can divorce me."
"But I can't watch you destroy my sister."
Qin Nan didn't say anything, and Ye Nianwen didn't move. Ye Sibei stared into Ye Nianwen's eyes, and in an instant, she suddenly understood.
Ye Nianwen saw it that day.
He knows.
So he could describe exactly what she was wearing, what was happening to her, would say those things to her at night, would walk her home at night.
However, her brother, a lawyer, chose to remain silent at that moment.
She wanted to laugh, so she hugged herself with her arms, stood in front of the door, and looked at Ye Nianwen.
After watching for a long time, she felt a sense of unreasonable absurdity. She raised her hand and gestured casually, wanting to say something, but lost her words again. In the end, she only said: "Let him go."
Qin Nan didn't move. Ye Sibei walked up to him and raised his hand to pull his hand away.
The two stood face to face for a long time before Ye Sibei spoke: "Look, you've already had two fights at the beginning. If you can't listen to these words and call the police, what will happen next?"
"Violence cannot solve any problem. In fact, everyone is very sober. My mother, my brother, everyone supports my decision. My decision is the right one."
Qin Nan raised his eyes to look at her. Ye Sibei met his gaze and said calmly, "Go back and get ready. It's my dad's birthday tonight. Don't let him worry."
The two of them were in a stalemate for a long time. Ye Sibei turned around and patted Ye Nianwen behind him: "Take your brother-in-law away, I want to be alone."
Having said that, she went into the house and closed the door.
When only Ye Nianwen and Qin Nan were left on the corridor, he looked at Qin Nan and hesitated for a long time before speaking: "Brother-in-law..."
"You knew all along?"
Qin Nan interrupted him. Ye Nianwen lowered his head for a long time. He turned his head and looked at the surrounding low buildings. He seemed to have mustered up a lot of courage. "On the morning of April 9, I went to the hospital to look for the source of the case. The police didn't let me see the victim, so I hid in the corner of the victim's ward. At that time, I thought that when the victim came out, I could see who it was. When the police were not around, I would go find her and tell her that I was a lawyer and I was seeking justice for her. Please believe me."
Ye Nianwen said what he imagined, which looked a little funny. He lowered his head and smiled, trying to make himself look not so sad: "Then I saw my sister and my mother."
"Your mother knows that, too."
Ye Nianwen didn't say anything. Qin Nan took a deep breath and nodded: "We are indeed a family."
After saying that, he turned around and walked downstairs quickly. Ye Nianwen hesitated for a moment, but still chased Qin Nan downstairs. He chased while shouting: "Brother-in-law, my mother and I stopped my sister from calling the police. All the faults are ours, not her weakness..."
"I know she's not weak!"
Qin Nan stopped and roared suddenly. He stared at Ye Nianwen: "You are the weak one!"
Ye Nianwen was stunned on the spot, Qin Nan took a step forward and said, "You didn't get into the key high school in the third year of junior high school, and your mother gave you the school selection fee. In order to raise the school selection fee for you, your mother didn't give her a penny to study. Your sister found a way to finish the third year of high school and get into college."
"You're in college now. You use the living expenses your family gives you every month to date a girlfriend and join clubs, while your sister works part-time to earn money and feels ashamed to ask your parents for money to buy a computer."
"After graduation, you ate at home, lived at home, and even asked for money from your family when you got married. Where do you think your down payment came from? It was your sister who took out a credit loan and lent you 50,000 yuan!"
"Don't you know this, Ye Nianwen? Don't you know?"
Ye Nianwen's face turned pale, and he trembled: "I... I don't know about the 50,000..."
"Can't you know?" Qin Nan interrupted him and exposed him: "You can know, but you don't want to! Every time your parents do something bad for you, you pretend to be deaf and dumb, because you enjoy everything you have taken away from your sister, and you are afraid of losing such an easy life."
"Just like all the sacrifices your sister has made for you in the past, you always realize it a step too late, and then say sorry to make up for the guilt in your heart. If you had behaved like a human being at one time, your sister would not have ended up like this today."
"You don't dare take her to the police. You say it's for her own good, but don't you see what she's living like?! Is this for her own good? This doesn't mean you won't get into trouble! This allows everyone to continue to live a peaceful life except your sister!"
"You are just a weakling, a parasite, a hypocrite who grew up sucking the blood of your entire family and yet still pretends to be righteous and kind!"
"If you really care about her and really want her best, you should seek justice for her, tell her that she did nothing wrong, and let her live uprightly in this world!"
"But have you ever had it?" Qin Nan lowered his voice, "You haven't."
"I have wondered countless times before why she became the way she is today, and now I finally understand."
Qin Nan walked backwards.
"Because your whole family, all of you, including me," Qin Nan's eyes were red, "no one has ever told Ye Sibei that there is nothing wrong with her being born, and that she can live a good life."
"there has never been."