I paused this novel during a difficult time because the story felt too overwhelming. ? I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. I’ve started working on it again and promise to see it through. ? Thank you for your patience and support. ❤️

Chapter 40: The Truth Will Be Revealed

Many years ago, Zhi Qi had visited Jiang Qi’s so-called “home” once, but unfortunately, that visit ended on bad terms with the boy, and they hadn’t seen each other for three years since then.

But this time, she was brought here by Jiang Qi.

Chen Kong Alley’s shantytown had remained unchanged for so many years, still a chaotic mess with a stench in the air. It had rained yesterday, and the ground was muddy. After only a few steps, both of their shoes were already dirty, but neither of them cared.

In no time, Jiang Qi brought Zhi Qi to the door where he had lived for over a decade.

The locks on the courtyard gate were broken, a window was shattered, layers of dust covered the low-rise shanty house, even though it was hard to see clearly in the dim light, the sense of decay couldn’t be suppressed.

Zhi Qi still remembered accidentally stepping into a foul-smelling puddle in the alley that time. Later, she got many small blisters from the infection, itching so much that she couldn’t help scratching. In the end, she scratched one open, leaving a small scar that remained until now.

It seemed like this place was cursed, whoever got involved would have bad luck.

In the dim light, Jiang Qi’s eyes carried a hint of gloom.

Then he lifted his foot and kicked open the creaking wooden door in front of him, as if it would shatter with a touch, a dilapidated mess that would collapse at a gust of wind. 

Zhi Qi couldn’t help but shiver, and she was pulled into the courtyard by him.

Normally, even if the house was in ruins, it would still be locked, preventing outsiders from entering. But for some reason, Jiang Qi could easily pick the lock with an iron wire he found on the ground. Sensing the girl’s astonishment, he whispered, “Old locks are easy to open.”

However, after opening the door, a large amount of dust and a nauseating odor filled the cramped space, almost causing Zhi Qi to faint.

Jiang Qi familiarly reached for the switch on the wall, and the dilapidated light bulb hanging from the shaky ceiling lit up, illuminating the appearance of the narrow room—all familiar: the mottled walls, the grayish floor, the worn-out wire bed.

His “childhood” seemed to have stagnated along with this small dilapidated house in Chen Kong Alley.

As if nothing had changed at all.

Jiang Qi remained silent, just walking in and looking around until he saw a dark spot on the wall beside the wire bed, his gaze fluctuating.

“Qiqi, come here,” he turned his head to the girl and pointed, waiting for Zhi Qi to approach before he said to her, taking something out, “This is Jiang Quan’s blood.”

Zhi Qi shuddered instinctively.

She naturally knew that Jiang Quan was Jiang Qi’s father—after Jiang Qi’s accident, no one would tell her what had happened, what the truth was. Only later, when Zhi Qi had the means to hire a private investigator, did she learn some fragmentary information, knowing that Jiang Quan had died four years ago.

Could it be… Jiang Quan died in this room?

The already cramped and unbearable dilapidated house seemed to gain an additional layer of gloomy mist in an instant, enveloping everything around.

“Don’t be afraid.” Sensing a faint smile from the girl, Jiang Qi, with rare and strained cheerfulness, smiled at her, then asked her a seemingly unrelated question in this eerie and dilapidated atmosphere: “Qiqi, do you remember what you promised me back in our sophomore year when I found out I was sick?”

The so-called ‘oath’ of an immature youth.

Zhi Qi paused for a moment, then nodded firmly, “I remember.”

She had once told Jiang Qi that when they grew up, she would marry him.

Thinking back on it now, she realized how audacious she had been at that time. She and Jiang Qi had always been friends, even friends who were unwilling to be separated even in life and death, but she had still said such words.

Yet she never regretted it, nor did she feel embarrassed.

Zhi Qi remembered that after the diagnosis came out, Jiang Qi, although obediently taking his medication during the last period of time at school, always seemed melancholic. The rooftop of Sanzhong High School was spacious and vast, but it was rarely visited due to rainy and hot weather. However, the two of them always went there to chat and talk.

During their last visit, Zhi Qi saw the bold teenager sitting on the edge of the rooftop railing, his oversized school uniform billowing in the wind, making him look like a flag due to his thin figure.

Zhi Qi was startled and hurried over to call him down.

At that time, Jiang Qi was taking medication, suffering from headaches, nausea, and a sickly pale complexion that was far from normal. Yet, he seemed oblivious to the girl’s anxious calls, instead staring blankly down below the rooftop—people seemed as tiny as ants.

“Qiqi.” Jiang Qi asked somewhat bewilderedly, “What would happen if I jumped down?”

Would it be considered as throwing an object from a height?

“Jiang Qi, you…” Sweat formed on Zhi Qi’s forehead involuntarily, and her palms became damp. She suppressed her trembling voice and tried to sound composed as she persuaded him, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

The girl quietly moved closer to him, tightly gripping a corner of the boy’s school uniform, afraid of startling him.

Jiang Qi turned around, seeing Zhi Qi’s eyes reddening with held-back tears. After a moment’s hesitation, he couldn’t help but lift the corners of his mouth.

“Silly girl, I won’t jump.”

As long as one is alive, there is hope. He wouldn’t give up easily. His previous question was merely out of curiosity.

As Jiang Qi spoke, he jumped down from the railing and stood side by side with Zhi Qi at the edge of the rooftop. Though Jiang Qi had no intention of committing suicide, Zhi Qi inexplicably felt a sense of “surviving a disaster.” She couldn’t help but cry.

“Jiang Qi,” the girl’s voice was muffled: “I don’t want to leave you.”

Jiang Qi sighed lightly, “I won’t leave you.”

“I’m not talking about now, I mean forever.” Zhi Qi didn’t know what had come over her. Clearly, the young man in front of her was gloomy, solitary, and even had depression, a ‘dangerous person’ whom everyone avoided, but she just didn’t want to leave him, as if controlled by an innermost obsession. She blurted out, “When we grow up, can I marry you?”

As a couple, they wouldn’t have to separate for a lifetime.

After Zhi Qi finished speaking, she clearly saw a glimmer of hope flash in Jiang Qi’s eyes.

It was the first time she had seen it.

The girl was really naive, but he really liked her.

Jiang Qi smiled, “Sure, when we grow up.”

Zhi Qi didn’t know that her words at that time, for the young man, were like a parched traveler seeing a water source after walking through the desert for seven days and seven nights, like a lifeline thrown down from above before falling off a cliff, like… Cinderella’s glass slipper.

He might not be some damn Cinderella, but Zhi Qi was his redemption.

It’s just a pity that redemption has an expiration date.

Once the clock strikes twelve, everything will return to its original state, and he will still be the same worthless stray dog. 

Maybe it doesn’t even need to wait until twelve o’clock.

Jiang Qi remembered that night when Jiang Quan returned home just after eleven o’clock. He was half-asleep and caught a whiff of alcohol — after smelling it for over a decade, he was extremely sensitive to this dangerous scent.

He immediately opened his eyes, but the room was too cramped. Before the young man could get up, the man reeking of alcohol saw him and lunged at him with a grimace.

“Son…” Jiang Quan hiccupped, the stench emanating from him unbearable. He fanned Jiang Qi while grinning menacingly, “Didn’t you go to your uncle’s house? Why the hell are you back again! You, born of a bitch, betraying your old man for outsiders, I should strangle you to death!”

With that, he grabbed Jiang Qi’s hair and slammed him against the wall, punching, kicking, and venting his anger. He even took off his own belt and wrapped it around the boy’s neck.

The sensation of suffocation from impending death engulfed him. That night, Jiang Qi truly thought he would be killed by Jiang Quan.

He had lived through such days for over a decade, and perhaps liberation would be a good thing.

Because he was gradually being assimilated by the hostility, Jiang Qi would rather die than become another Jiang Quan. He didn’t want to become the person he hated the most. The young man slowly closed his eyes…

But in an instant, the sentence the girl had said, “When we grow up, I’ll marry you,” seemed to flash through his mind like a beam of light.

Jiang Qi suddenly opened his eyes again.

No, he couldn’t die like this. Zhi Qi would be heartbroken.

Besides, even if he died, he should perish with Jiang Quan.

So, on the brink of suffocation, Jiang Qi’s slender hand quietly reached for the Swiss army knife hidden behind his waist. It was something he had intentionally bought, something he carried with him every time he returned to Chen Kong Alley.

To die with Jiang Quan is really dirty enough, but at least, his life finally doesn’t have to be tormented by that damn dog anymore.

Jiang Qi thought to himself, couldn’t help but smile, his eyes staring tightly at him.

And his wolf-like gaze angered Jiang Quan, his face flushed with alcohol, his features contorted as he cursed loudly, “F*ck! What are you looking at? I’ll dig your eyes out if you keep looking at me!”

As he spoke, his hand loosened the belt and reached towards Jiang Qi’s face, but the next moment, that sharp military knife cut through half of his hand.

“F*ck!”

In Jiang Quan’s miserable scream, Jiang Qi smiled coldly.

“You dare to use a knife?! Do you want to kill your father?” Jiang Quan paused for a moment, then laughed as he covered his hand, “Hahaha, you dare to kill your own father, you little b*stard? Come on! Come at me! Why don’t you do it!”

He said, while using his other uninjured hand to tightly grab Jiang Qi’s neck.

A man who had been working on construction sites for years obviously had strength that Jiang Qi, a weak young man, couldn’t compare to.

Jiang Qi’s face turned purple from being choked, his brows furrowed tightly, and just as he couldn’t bear it anymore and was about to plunge the knife stained with his own blood into the man’s abdomen, the force around his neck suddenly lightened.

Jiang Qi felt his hand, pressed against Jiang Quan’s chest, wet and warm.

Raising his eyes, Jiang Quan was actually lying stiffly on top of him, with no sign of anger in his expression, but instead… an expression of not closing his eyes in death.

Jiang Qi was stunned for a moment, then pushed the man away and stood up.

The young man was covered in white, stained with blood red, still holding the knife, like a demon walking out of hell.

But the real ‘demon’ was standing behind Jiang Quan, an expressionless old man in coarse linen clothes.

Both living in Chen Kong Alley, that old man who sold bun cakes, his hair was white, his face full of wrinkles but with a hint of satisfaction, holding the knife that had just killed Jiang Quan from behind, his eyes flashing with abnormal light.

Jiang Qi’s Adam’s apple rolled, feeling ‘stunned’ for the first time.

This sudden appearance of the old man was like a ghost, but… he seemed to vaguely know the reason.

Jiang Qi stared blankly, watching the old man leave without even glancing at him, just holding the knife. His steps were slow and sluggish, and when he walked away, there was no sound — this was also why no one noticed him coming in.

As the old man walked, he kept muttering, “My child, my child.”

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