The Remaining Life Has Its Limits

Chapter 22

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When Ye Sibei asked the question, she observed the surrounding terrain vigilantly. Zhao Shuhui noticed that she was nervous, and she smiled: "Don't be nervous, I just want to talk to you."

"I made it very clear yesterday."

Ye Sibei stepped aside: "After the police opened a case, I can't just withdraw it if I want to. You don't have to waste your time on me."

"Yesterday," Zhao Shuhui's eyes were red, "Tao Jie and I were both a little impulsive yesterday. Please give me a chance and let's have a good chat. I want to apologize to you, okay?"

Ye Sibei didn't say anything, and Zhao Shuhui immediately knelt down: "I kowtow to you..."

“Don’t do that!”

Ye Sibei stopped her, Zhao Shuhui looked up, her eyes red and full of pleading. Ye Sibei knew that she would not give up if he didn't give her a chance to speak, so she looked around and turned downstairs: "Let's find a place to talk."

When Zhao Shuhui found Ye Sibei, Qin Nan greeted Dachun, tightened the last screw, grabbed the wrench and pushed hard, sliding out from under the car. Dachun stretched out his hand and helped Qin Nan to get up.

"Why are you here?" Qin Nan smiled and pointed to the side, "Sit down first, have you eaten?"

"Not yet. I called a few brothers and came to have dinner with you."

"Then wait a moment." Qin Nan put down his phone and walked inside. "I'll change my clothes."

Qin Nan went into the house, took a quick shower, changed into clean clothes, walked over to say something to Chen Jun, and followed Dachun out.

Dachun chose a restaurant that was close to here, and even chose a private room. Qin Nan couldn't help but be surprised: "I thought you were just going to find a food stall to drink."

Dachun smiled and said, "We usually drink in these low-class places. Today I'm treating you, so we should be more respectable."

"Why?" Qin Nan glanced at him while driving, "Did you get rich?"

"Where is it?" Dachun looked embarrassed. "Let's get together, you'll know when we get there."

In a few minutes, Qin Nan arrived at the store. The two of them went upstairs together. After entering the private room, Qin Nan saw several familiar faces. They were all brothers who grew up in the village wearing the same shorts.

Everyone looked at him, but no one smiled. Qin Nan walked in and sat down. Dachun closed the door and sat next to Qin Nan.

Qin Nan glanced at everyone, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and chuckled at everyone: "Looking at the way you guys are acting today, you're here for me. What's the matter?"

He lit a cigarette, took a puff, looked up at everyone, and said calmly: "Go ahead."

"Here it is."

Ye Sibei found a coffee shop and entered a private room. This remote coffee shop was not crowded. The two sat down face to face, and after each ordered something, they fell silent.

Zhao Shuhui thought for a moment and spoke first: "I have asked about you. You are 27 years old and a college student. Your husband runs a car repair shop, your younger brother just graduated, and your parents sell breakfast at a street stall. You don't even have a store."

Ye Sibei looked down at the warm water cup in his mouth: "What do you want to say?"

"I'm 36 now. I got married at 25, but due to health reasons, I couldn't get pregnant. It wasn't until I was 28 that I had Wenwen through IVF."

Ye Sibei looked up at her. Although the woman in front of him was carrying a brand-name bag and wearing high-end clothes, she didn't look like she was only 36 years old. She looked older than ordinary people. Ye Sibei looked at her. Zhao Shuhui smiled and said, "When I was pregnant with her, I had a lot of injections and took a lot of medicine. I won't have another child in the future. Wenwen is everything in my life."

"I've been taking care of her since she was born. When she was young, she wasn't in good health, so I quit my job to take care of her at home. She was often admitted to the hospital, and I stayed with her day and night. Then she grew up slowly and became very cute, you see." Zhao Shuhui took out a stack of photos from her bag. She smiled as she looked at the photos. She pointed to Ye Sibei and said, "This is when she just learned to walk, and Jiancheng helped her walk. And this one, when she was three years old, Jiancheng and I went to the kindergarten to attend the parents' meeting, and the teacher gave our family red flowers. This is when she was four years old... five years old... six years old... seven years old... now."

Ye Sibei didn't dare to look at the photos. She lowered her head and looked at the cup, but Zhao Shuhui's voice kept coming into her ears. Zhao Shuhui seemed to have noticed that she was not looking at them. She put away the photos with some disappointment.

"She's cute, isn't she?"

She looked at Ye Sibei seriously, and Ye Sibei responded softly, "Yeah."

"Then do you know what our house will look like if it is built and imprisoned?"

Zhao Shuhui asked hoarsely. Ye Sibei didn't dare to respond. Zhao Shuhui's tears fell: "I have no income. Wenwen's tuition is 50,000 yuan a year. She can't continue to study in this school, and she can't continue to study in her interest classes. I don't know if I can support her. And no matter where she goes, Wenwen is the daughter of a rapist. Everyone around her will laugh at her and insult her. When she grows up, her political record will have a rapist father. She can't take the civil service exam or enter a state-owned unit."

"Ye Sibei," Zhao Shuhui looked up at her, "There are actually many solutions. You can put forward your request. Why do you always take the most extreme path?"

Ye Sibei listened to her question. She didn't dare to respond directly, so she just asked her back: "So, you believe what I said, right?"

Zhao Shuhui didn't expect her to ask this. She lowered her head in embarrassment and said, "No, Jiancheng wouldn't do such a thing. It's just that I'm afraid he will do something bad."

She said this, but her words already implied that Fan Jiancheng might go to jail. Ye Sibei felt a little sad as he watched her deceiving herself.

"Your husband hurt another woman and betrayed your marriage, and you still want to protect him?"

As she spoke, she suddenly realized, "Is this the first time you've done this?"

Ye Sibei's words stabbed Zhao Shuhui's heart like a knife, making her feel painful and embarrassed. She took a deep breath: "I just want to find a win-win solution to the problem. I'm not a bad person. But if you don't agree," Zhao Shuhui raised her head and stared at Ye Sibei, "don't force me."

"I don't understand," Ye Sibei felt that the world was absurd, and it seemed to be true, "It was clearly a man's fault, why is it a war between the two of us?"

"Because I'm a mother."

"But you are also a person."

Ye Sibei looked at himself in the water cup: "I am also a person."

"Your son's tuition is 50,000 yuan a year, your son attends interest classes, your son is a rich and beautiful girl," she said with a wry smile, "What about me? I have been studying in the worst school and the worst class since I was a child. I have always lived in the mud, so it doesn't matter if it is a little worse. But why? Why should I suffer for the happiness of your family?"

"It's not like we didn't pay a price," Zhao Shuhui said anxiously, "What conditions can we negotiate?"

"But the conditions I want to negotiate are conditions you cannot accept!" Ye Sibei said. She stared at Zhao Shuhui, not knowing whether to tell Zhao Shuhui or herself, "All the conditions that can be negotiated are within your acceptable range. Within this range, the criminal will never repent."

"But the child is innocent," Zhao Shuhui cried anxiously, "Why did you always choose to implicate an innocent person? Why did you always call the police?"

Ye Sibei paused, she opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't make a sound. After a long time, she lowered her head. She was afraid to look into Zhao Shuhui's eyes, and responded softly: "You should say this to Fan Jiancheng."

As she said that, she stood up and walked out: "It's getting late, I'll go back first."

"Ye Sibei!"

Zhao Shuhui called her name. She turned around and saw Zhao Shuhui kneeling on the ground, her face full of tears: "Please let my family go. I beg you to let Wenwen go. We have already paid the price. I beg you," she kowtowed, "please let us go."

Ye Sibei didn't say anything. Her eyes were red. She turned her back to Zhao Shuhui and regained some calmness. She asked her, "If I were your daughter, would you let me let him go?"

Zhao Shuhui was stunned, and Ye Sibei told himself: "You won't."

"I don't have a good mother like you to protect me, so I have to protect myself, and this is my answer."

"I won't."

"I won't let him go."

After saying that, Ye Sibei walked into the private room.

While Ye Sibei was talking to Zhao Shuhui, Qin Nan and several brothers were sitting at the same table. After Qin Nan finished his question, the table fell silent. After a while, Dachun poured Qin Nan a glass of water and said, "Brother Nan, we brothers grew up together. You are the only one in your family. Before Uncle left, he specifically told us that although we are not blood brothers, we should take care of each other like blood brothers."

Qin Nan nodded: "I remember what grandpa said."

"So, we are all one family," said a slightly older man sitting nearby. His name was Wang Gui, and he was the oldest among the group. "I should be considered your elder brother."

"That's what Gui Ge said."

Qin Nan vaguely sensed what they were going to say. He looked up at Wang Gui and said, "Just say what you want to say. There's no need to beat around the bush."

Everyone looked at Wang Gui. Wang Gui also sensed that this was the first person to speak, so he organized his words and began, "Anan, I haven't been educated much, so please don't be offended if I'm wrong. As for my sister-in-law's affair, we've all heard about it, and we don't know how much you know. After thinking about it, we feel that it's not right to hide it from you, so we have to tell you."

"You say."

Qin Nan nodded and changed his honorific. Wang Gui hesitated, "We all heard that your sister-in-law's company is not a financial company. She was just drinking with clients that night and got drunk. Nan, marry a virtuous woman. These women who are out drinking with men in the middle of the night will make people laugh."

Qin Nan lowered his head, his tone without any emotion: "Then what do you think I should do?"

Everyone looked at each other, and Dachun hesitated: "Brother, you don't have children yet, you can think about it again."

Qin Nan looked up at Dachun. Dachun was a little embarrassed and lowered his head to pour the wine. Qin Nan looked at him and asked, "What did you say to Sibei when she came to your company to look for you that day?"

"I didn't say anything." Dachun quickly explained, but he stopped talking when he looked up and saw Qin Nan's eyes.

Qin Nan looked at him, he seemed to know everything. Dachun thought about it and admitted frankly: "I told her not to delay you."

Qin Nan stared at him quietly, and Dachun spoke directly: "Brother Nan, we have been brothers for so many years. In my heart, you are my real brother. Sister-in-law went out to drink by herself, and then came back to tell you that she was raped. Whether this is true or not, you will be seen as a big cuckold in the eyes of others, and you will be laughed at. If you give birth to a child and return to the village, what do you want people to say? And sister-in-law did it once, so there won’t be a second time? I am thinking about you. I have said it, and I will take it if you want to hit me or scold me." Dachun patted his head, "Brother Nan, hit me, and I will say that I am your grandson."

Qin Nan didn't say anything, he just took a puff of his cigarette.

He vaguely understood Ye Sibei's feelings, the feeling of being powerless and being surrounded by the whole world.

He is just an outsider, and he is like this, so what about Ye Sibei

When she came back from the water plant that day, she didn't say a bad word about Dachun. How many rumors and gossips had she endured silently outside

He felt as if a stone was pressing on his chest, and he raised his head and looked around.

He was raised by his grandfather when his parents were away. Now that his grandfather was gone, all those present at the table were his family. He looked at them for a long time and then stood up.

"I still have to drive," he said, picking up a cup of water. "I'll use tea instead of wine to toast all of you brothers. Thank you for your care over the years."

As he spoke, he took a sip of tea. After putting down the cup, he thought for a moment and said, "Ye Sibei is my wife. I know her character. She basically never attended such banquets in the past. I was the one who picked her up every night. She is not the kind of person you are talking about."

Everyone at the table looked embarrassed, obviously thinking that he was deceiving himself and was not in a position to speak. Qin Nan could not help but smile and said, "Yes, she went to a drinking party and drank. So what? Is that wrong? Then today, if one of the brothers drinks and gets hit and killed on the way home, whose fault is it? Should we blame him for being careless after drinking?"

"Anan," Wang Gui's face turned cold, "that's really harsh."

"Aren't your words harsh?" Qin Nan looked at Dachun. "Sibei and I are both victims. Instead of helping us, you keep questioning us. Have you ever thought about how we feel when you hear these words?"

"I'm going to say this today," Qin Nan glanced at everyone, his eyes slightly red. "My family is gone, you are my brothers, but Ye Sibei is my wife, and today she is the victim. She was hurt, and as a husband, I can't just sit back and watch. If you treat me as a brother, then give me some face. I don't ask for your help, but I hope everyone will pretend that this never happened, so that she and I can live a normal life. If you think I have a problem with my brain, then just treat me as if I have a problem with my brain. This brother has come this far, and that's enough."

Having said that, Qin Nan grabbed his clothes, turned around and walked away.

He drove back home, holding on to the steering wheel tightly.

He didn't know why, but he thought of what he had said to Ye Sibei at the beginning - I'll take you to call the police.

At that time, Ye Sibei resisted and roared, as if he was destroying her life.

He could understand, and had never felt so clearly as at this moment how difficult this road was.

At the beginning, he could have said "call the police" so easily, but only now did he realize how important and difficult a choice it was for Ye Sibei, who had foreseen the future and had been trying his best to bear it, to say "call the police".

There is no empathy. Only when the incident happened did I realize how much courage I really had.

He suddenly wanted to see Ye Sibei very much, wanted to hug her and tell her - he began to feel her suffering, and he would bear it with her.

He couldn't help but speed up, and when he got home, he just saw Ye Sibei walking towards the stairs.

He stopped the car in a hurry, and Ye Sibei saw his car and also stopped.

He drove out of the car and Ye Sibei stood in front of him.

She was no different from before, with a thin body and a calm and gentle appearance. She stood in the sunset, smiled at him, and asked him softly, "Why did you come back so early?"

Qin Nan looked at her straightly without saying a word.

Ye Sibei looked at the young man standing beside the car. She felt that he seemed to be shocked by something. She suppressed all the confusion and bewilderment brought by seeing Zhao Shuhui, and smiled softly: "Why are you in a daze? What's wrong?"

Qin Nan said nothing. He walked slowly to her and hugged her.

His embrace was thick and warm. Ye Sibei was stunned. She felt the embrace of this man, and in an instant, all the confusion and guilt about right and wrong disappeared.

She hesitated and hugged him back. Qin Nan felt her touch and his eyes were a little sore.

"Sibei," he said with a nasal tone, "did you have a hard life in the past?"

"Maybe," Ye Sibei smiled, "But from the moment you asked me this question, life has not been so bitter anymore."