The Remaining Life Has Its Limits

Chapter 23

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That night, Ye Xibei didn't sleep very well. When he woke up the next day, Qin Nan saw his tired face and asked, "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Um."

"What did you dream about?"

Ye Xibei paused for a moment, then replied softly, "I dreamed of a child who kept crying."

Qin Nan was stunned for a moment. He looked up, thought for a moment, and asked awkwardly, "How about I go get you a talisman?"

Ye Xibei smiled when he heard this, stretched his body and walked to the kitchen, his tone much lighter: "Master Qin, you have to believe in science."

Qin Nan cooked noodles, and the two of them lowered their heads to eat. Ye Xibei ate while thinking about his feelings. He looked up at him and said, "I think I've been studying for the civil service exam at home recently."

"fine."

As Qin Nan was talking, he seemed to suddenly think of something. He put down the bowl, opened his wallet, took out a card, put it on the table, and pushed it in front of Ye Xinbei.

Then he picked up the bowl and continued eating noodles.

Ye Xibei was stunned for a moment, and Qin Nan said in a muffled voice: "Don't give the money to your parents again."

Ye Xibei knew that Qin Nan was talking about his past "great achievements". Although it was a joke, he still felt a little annoyed. He glared at him, pushed the bank card back, and lowered his head to eat noodles: "I don't want your money, I can support myself."

"Oh," Qin Nan finished his last bite and looked up, "Stay at home today?"

"The book hasn't come back yet," Ye Xibei thought for a moment, "Can I go to your store and help out?"

Qin Nan paused. Ye Xibei saw him hesitate for a moment and immediately realized something. He quickly smiled to cover up his panic: "I was joking. I still..."

"Go ahead," Qin Nan looked up, "I'm worried about you."

When Ye Xibei heard this, the tension in his heart eased, and he lowered his head: "I can't stay at home forever."

Qin Nan nodded, and the two of them finished their meal. Qin Nan washed the dishes while Ye Xibei wiped the table. When they were about to go out, Ye Xibei changed into a set of sportswear, and Qin Nan quietly put the bank card into Ye Xibei's bag.

After Ye Xibei changed his clothes, the two of them went out together. When Ye Xibei opened the door, he saw paint spilled on the door. Ye Xibei looked up in confusion, then just stood there in a daze.

Qin Nan, who was changing his shoes, noticed something was wrong and rushed out. He looked up and saw that someone had sprayed big red words on the door with red paint. It read:

□□.

There weren't many people in the neighborhood, but everyone stuck their heads out and looked at the door in groups of two or three.

Qin Nan quickly pulled Ye Xibei and dragged him inside: "You go back to the room first, I'll go wash."

Qin Nan pushed Ye Xibei to sit on the sofa and drove to buy cleaning agents and paint.

Ye Xibei was sitting in the room, thinking blankly about the two words outside the door, when his cell phone suddenly vibrated.

A text message from an unknown number:

Just begun.

From that day on, Ye Xibei started every morning by cleaning the paint, and received anonymous threatening and insulting messages every day.

At first Ye Xibei reported the case to the police, but after he did, the police investigated and caught some young people who committed the crime. After they were fined, detained, and apologized according to regulations, a new group of people came a few days later.

In the end, Ye Xibei and Qin Nan did not sleep all night. They heard the noise in the early morning. Qin Nan and Ye Xibei rushed out with their things and saw two young blond men spraying paint.

The young man saw Qin Nan and turned around and ran away. Qin Nan chased after him, caught one of them on the first floor, and punched him hard.

The other saw his companion being beaten and hurried back to help. Ye Xibei rushed over with a clothesline and saw two people beating up Qin Nan. He started beating the two people and screamed, "Catch the thieves! There are two thieves here. Hurry up and call to catch them!"

The loud roar alarmed the people on the first floor. The lights came on and everyone on the first floor ran out. When the two young men saw that there were so many people around, they immediately let go of Qin Nan and ran outside.

Ye Xibei supported Qin Nan who was hit by a punch and asked anxiously: "Are you okay?"

"No," Qin Nan took a breath of cold air. He turned his head to look at the clothesline and smiled. "I'll buy a sturdier clothesline someday."

The young man was caught by a caring neighbor and sent to the police station that night. From that day on, his house was never sprayed with paint again, but the next day when Qin Nan went to his store, he saw the three big words "Green Turtle" sprayed on the door of his store.

People around were talking about it, but Qin Nan didn't say anything. He walked over, poured the cleaning agent on the door, wiped it clean quickly, and opened the store quickly.

He didn't tell Ye Xibei about this. Even if he told Ye Xibei, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't leave Ye Xibei alone at home at night, nor could he bring Ye Xibei to the store to live with him in that dark and damp little room in the store.

Although the paint was no longer splashed on the house, the harassment of Ye Beibei did not stop.

Someone would knock on my window during the day, but no one would be there when I opened the door. I would receive anonymous text messages insulting me every day, and when I went to Weibo and other public contact methods, I would see all kinds of abusive messages.

But none of this was told to Qin Nan.

They each bear their own pressure and move forward with gritted teeth.

One day, I was walking on the road carrying vegetables when a group of young men passed by me on bicycles. One of them cheered and suddenly raised his hand to pat me on the head. Then the young men turned around and made faces at me with a smile, then rode away arrogantly on their bicycles.

He took out his cell phone and wanted to call the police immediately, and then he saw a row of emergency numbers on the phone.

These days, the most frequently dialed number is the police number.

Call the police, take a statement, file a case, arrest someone, identify them, apologize, pay compensation, and detain them.

Then a new group of people came again, again and again.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally put down his phone and ran home with the vegetables.

From that day on, he reduced the number of times he went out to a minimum. Every week, he would only go out to buy groceries with Qin Nan one day. Most of the time he stayed at home, forcing himself not to think too much and to study hard.

Lin Feng just told me that I would get the results in five months.

As long as you can get through these five months, you will get a result.

I found a notebook and started writing a diary every day. The happiest moment of the day was turning over the page I had written.

After more than half a month, one night during dinner, Qin Nan suddenly suggested to me: "How about we move?"

Ye Xibei looked up at him. Qin Nan lowered his head and picked up some food: "Rent another house and move to the next town."

Ye Xibei was a little overwhelmed for a moment. His brain had been a little slow recently. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Then are you still going home?"

"I'm back." Qin Nan looked up and smiled reassuringly, "I've been to see the house. It's not far away. I can drive there in an hour."

That day it was a two-hour round trip.

If he lives in another city, the house will be vacant. The fact that his house was splashed with paint is already known to everyone in the neighborhood. Under the current circumstances, the house is basically impossible to rent out, which means that they will have to pay extra money to rent a new house.

Monthly mortgage, rent, 2 hours of commuting time and car fare...

Ye Xibei quickly counted the money in his mind, lowered his head to eat, and said softly: "We live well, why do we need to move?"

"You don't have to worry about the money," Qin Nan seemed to understand what he was worried about, and hesitantly said, "I've taken care of it..."

"I like living here," Ye Beibei interrupted him, "I'm used to it, it's okay."

The two of them were in a stalemate. Qin Nan looked at Ye Xibei's stubborn eyes. After a long time, he lowered his head and responded softly without saying anything more.

Before going to bed at night, Ye Bei received another message:

Have you asked your husband how his business is going recently

Ye Xibei looked at the message and stared at it for a long time, then buried the phone in the pillow.

Qin Nan felt that he was not asleep, so he asked softly, "Can't sleep?"

"Qin Nan," he looked at the ceiling and said for some reason, "This year's provincial exam has passed. I have to take part in next year's provincial exam."

"Well, you prepare well."

"I will do more housework, prepare well for the exam, and work hard."

"I know."

"Wait until I pass the civil service exam," he closed his eyes, "and we'll move to the provincial capital, and I'll help you reopen the store."

So I’m sorry this year.

I didn't say the rest of the words, and I didn't know if Qin Nan could understand. After a while, I felt a hand reaching out from the direction and holding my hand hanging by the bed.

He didn't say anything. Ye Xibei suddenly felt an indescribable sadness rising up. She gently held Qin Nan's hand in the dark night, feeling tears sliding silently from the corners of her eyes into her hair.

The weather in South City was getting hotter and hotter. At the end of May, Ye Xibei turned on the fan, which squeaked above his head. He was drawing on the book, and received the familiar anonymous message again.

"Zhao Chuchu resigned. Don't you feel guilty? You are such a troublemaker."

Ye Xiaobei looked at the message with his hands shaking. For a moment, he wanted to go online and make a big fuss about this matter. But at this moment, he thought of Fan Wenwen's brilliant smile in the photo, of Qin Nan, of Zhao Chuchu, and of Ye Nianwen.

Once it is posted online, it will not only be the other party who will be judged, but also me. I don't know how many people will be implicated, how the Internet will evaluate them, will they point fingers at my family, will they comment on a child like Fan Wenwen

I didn’t dare to bear the consequences, and reason stopped me from doing so.

A feeling of powerlessness surged up from my heart. I held the phone for a long time and then called Zhao Chuchu.

The phone was connected after two beeps, and Zhao Chuchu's carefree voice came from the back of the phone: "Sister, you haven't called me for a long time, do you miss me?"

"ChuChu..."

As soon as Ye Xibei opened his mouth, his hoarse voice exposed his emotions. He was unable to speak, and Zhao Chuchu understood what he was going to say: "Sister, are you here to talk to me about work? I resigned on my own, it has nothing to do with you, don't worry about it. This kind of company is so dangerous, I can't stay here any longer."

Ye Xibei listened to his explanation, but he knew that Zhao Chuchu was comforting him.

Fuqiang Real Estate is considered a very good private enterprise in Nancheng. It pays five insurances and one fund, pays wages on time, and provides bonuses and benefits. Zhao Chuchu's salary in the company's business department is not low, and Zhao Chuchu has always cherished this job.

"How did they threaten you?"

Ye Xibei paused for a long time before finally speaking: "I'll go talk to them."

"They didn't threaten me," Zhao Chuchu smiled, "They just wanted me to persuade you, but I didn't want to. This is a rubbish company, why don't they go and cause trouble for Fan Jiancheng instead of persuading you? So I told them directly that I quit. On the contrary, I'm getting married too, so they can do whatever they want."

"I'm sorry..." Ye Xiaobei shed tears, "I'm sorry Chuchu..."

"I'm sorry for saying that. Actually, I should have said this to you," Zhao Chuchu stood on the street, her eyes red. "Sister, if I had been more cautious that day and not trusted others so much, it would have been better."

"this is not your fault… "

"It's not your fault either."

Zhao Chuchu quickly wiped the tears from her face with her hands: "Forget it, let's not talk about this. I cried on the street and my makeup was ruined. How ugly it is. I have already quit my job and will find another one tomorrow. On the contrary, I am so outstanding and beautiful, how can I worry about not finding a job? But you, sister," Zhao Chuchu said seriously, "don't think too much. Since you have sued, sue to the end and show them how powerful we are."

"I'm sorry..." The more Zhao Chuchu tried to comfort her, the harder Ye Bei cried. She didn't know what to say or what she could say. She kept repeating the same thing over and over again: "I'm sorry."

After hanging up the phone, Ye Xibei sat at home alone, curled up and cried for a long time.

After crying enough, I sat in front of the computer and couldn't help but open the forum and asked a question:

If I am sexually assaulted, and I call the police I will implicate many innocent people. Should I still call the police

However, after I wrote this, I didn’t have the courage to speak out. I was afraid that someone would say something negative, afraid that someone would tell me that I was wrong.

So I deleted my question, opened my notebook again, and wrote down, word by word, all the words that had supported me through it all.

Innocent people should not be punished, and evildoers must pay the price.

If you are not afraid of death, why should you be afraid of living.

I am right.

He wrote stroke by stroke, and when he calmed down, he sat on the balcony and called Lin Feng: "Officer Lin, I want to ask, if someone keeps harassing me, can I file a case?"

"Someone is harassing you?"

Lin Feng was sitting on the second floor. Hearing this, he was stunned. Ye Beibei replied: "The company and Zhao Shuhui came to me and threatened me, wanting me to change my words."

"Change your number tomorrow and come to the police station. Don't be afraid, we will handle it. These people are simply lawless!"

"good."

Ye Xibei responded: "Thank you, Officer Lin."

After hanging up the phone and smoking a cigarette on the balcony, Qin Nan finally came back. He opened the door and looked at Ye Xibei who was sitting at the table. Ye Xibei turned around, and Qin Nan noticed something was wrong and couldn't help asking, "What's wrong?"

"nothing."

Ye Xibei stood up and smiled at him apologetically: "I forgot to cook, I'll go cook first."

After they finished their meal, Ye Xibei looked at his phone and thought for a while before taking out his SIM card. He turned to look at Qin Nan and said, "Come with me to get a new card tomorrow?"

Qin Nan glanced at the SIM card that he had put into the cabinet and reminded him, "Then you have to go to the police station and change your contact information."

"I know."

The next day, Qin Nan took him to apply for a new card, and then went to the police station together. When Lin Feng saw Ye Xibei, he was shocked: "Why have you lost so much weight? How have you been recently?"

"Nothing," Ye Xibei smiled and asked one more question, "Officer Lin, how is the progress?"

"I have already handed over the appeal to the procuratorate, and am waiting for its reply. Let's go and take a statement first."

Ye Xibei nodded and followed Lin Feng into the interrogation room. He told Lin Feng everything that had happened recently. The more Lin Feng listened, the angrier he became, but Zhang Yong was very calm.

After Ye Bei finished speaking, he handed over the phone: "This is my recording at that time."

"Take it to get it notarized."

Zhang Yong glanced at Lin Feng, who nodded and took Ye Xibei out. As they walked, he told Xibei, "Xibei, collect the evidence this time. If they dare to come again, tell them that threatening to bribe witnesses to give false testimony is punishable by three years in prison. I'll see who dares to come."

"good."

Ye Bei nodded.

Lin Feng took a look at her and felt a little worried. After thinking for a while, he encouraged her: "Don't be afraid, Beibei. Come to me next time you get caught. We all support you in calling the police."

Hearing this, Ye Bei finally smiled.

"Actually, they are all small talk," Ye Xibei thought that Lin Feng was just being polite. There were so many serious cases for the criminal police, how could they keep focusing on him? He just smiled and said, "You are busy anyway, I hope the case goes smoothly. I won't bother you with anything else."

Lin Feng took Ye Xibei to do the notarization. At noon, Ye Xibei and Qin Nan said goodbye to Lin Feng together.

Lin Feng looked at the backs of the two of them holding hands. For some reason, it was like seeing a flower crushed by a huge rock.

Zhang Yong walked behind him smoking a cigarette and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Master, what else can we do?"

Lin Feng murmured, and Zhang Yong took a deep puff of cigarette: "Advance the case and give them a result."