Chapter 43: Side Story Part 2

The Shi Family assets were all frozen, in dire straits. Jiang Zhiyi keenly noticed the women’s watch Shi Qingyi had worn for so long was gone from her wrist.

Even a performative proposal was done so earnestly. A bitterness welled in Jiang Zhiyi’s heart as she recalled that blinding sunny afternoon, the girl’s disgusted, disdainful tone.

Disgusting—

Jiang Zhiyi rejected Shi Qingyi’s proposal, turning her into the laughingstock of their circle. The labels she once despised now fell on her: everyone knew she was a lesbian—and one rejected in a public proposal.

How ridiculous. For such a proud person, what a blow.

That very night after the failed proposal, Shi Qingyi was dragged into the car. In the cramped space, Jiang Zhiyi bullied her amid the flickering city lights outside. She bit her own arm hard, refusing to make a sound, until deep teeth marks sank in.

Jiang Zhiyi’s eyes clouded with gloom, thinking she just didn’t want others to see her with her, so she struck harder—finally drawing a sound from her.

When someone outside asked, she irritably claimed she’d misheard; no one was there. She covered the trembling back with clothes, lest others covet her.

By then, she was a new elite; no one dared contradict her.

She belittled her herself yet wouldn’t let others do so. This twisted mentality frustrated her, and she bit the bare shoulder in front of her.

Shi Qingyi didn’t push her away. Even in pain, she only grunted. Jiang Zhiyi sneered, her mood souring: “What? Not disgusted by me? Turns out you can tolerate it.”

Miss Jiang continued biting her ears and shoulders until mottled marks bloomed: “Does it hurt? I hurt even more back then.”

Shi Qingyi finally grew weary of her passive-aggression and moved to kiss her, following the trash system’s dating guide. Jiang Zhiyi blocked her.

Comprehension dawned in her eyes.

See? Couldn’t tolerate it, wanted to push me away. She seized her arm and whispered coldly in her ear: “Think about your family company.”

Shi Qingyi: “…”

I endure.

From then on, Jiang Zhiyi unleashed a series of vengeful acts—not limited to making Shi Qingyi wipe her body, bathe her, blow-dry her hair, apply medicine, attend to her toiletries, and other childish demands.

Later, she outright made her her personal assistant: hugging and carrying her up and down stairs, feigning helplessness to make her serve.

Jiang Zhiyi remained fixated on Shi Qingyi’s youthful “disgusting.” She figured hating lesbians so much was perfect revenge fodder.

Didn’t she despise her? Yet she had to tangle with her daily. Disgusted by her, by lesbians? Now she entered and exited with her everywhere.

Once, Jiang Zhiyi deliberately organized a class reunion and whispered devilishly in Shi Qingyi’s ear: kiss her at the gathering.

Just to humiliate her. A proud person bowing publicly was endlessly amusing.

She prepared for refusal, already plotting the mockery and bullying afterward. But Shi Qingyi downed a can of beer, ears red, and leaned in to kiss her.

The party fell silent, then sparse applause rose, some even tearing up with blessings of eternal union, clasping their hands together.

“The campus couples all broke up back then. Who’d have thought you’d two end up together? Finally, our class has a success story.”

Those old barbs seemed forgotten, replaced by polar opposites.

Shi Qingyi’s alcohol tolerance was poor; drunk and dazed, she slumped into her arms.

Fireworks exploded in Jiang Zhiyi’s heart. In moments, she even envisioned their future.

But she had no sense of security, fearing Shi Qingyi would leave without leverage. So she screwed Father Shi one last time, saddling him with irrepayable debt to bind Shi Qingyi forever.

She hadn’t yet decided whether to let Shi Qingyi know about this somewhat vicious method when the news arrived that Shi Qingyi had been in a car accident and plunged into the river.

A massive truck had flipped her vehicle directly, sending both her and the car tumbling off the bridge into the river. The car hadn’t even caught fire before the rushing waters swallowed it whole, drowning her alive.

—She had been on her way to confront Jiang Zhiyi about why she had promised to spare their family only to go back on her word. She drove too fast and encountered an oncoming truck with failed brakes, not even having time to leave behind a final word.

—She died unexpectedly en route to find Jiang Zhiyi. The one who broke the news to Jiang Zhiyi was Gu Chuanjing.

Later, Gu Chuanjing was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for economic crimes. That once gentle and elegant genius youth spent the rest of his life in a dark, sunless cell, looking haggard and unkempt with a scruffy beard, a far cry from the handsome boy he had been years earlier.

The paralyzed woman sitting outside the glass window had deep-set eyes and was so gaunt she barely looked human. She asked only one question—”Why?”—and Gu Chuanjing laughed.

“What else could it be? You’ve hounded us to the brink of destruction. Why should you live well if we can’t?” The once-gentle youth struggled fiercely against his restraints, the handcuffs limiting his movements, but his crazed expression was still plain to see.

“Shouldn’t you suffer just like us for the rest of your life?”

His life—both in love and career—had been smooth sailing, utterly unhindered. He had always believed he would climb to the highest peak, only to be overtaken by that disabled woman.

She was so malicious. As a youth, she had been jealous of Zhiqing and harbored ill intentions toward her. He had stood up for Zhiqing several times and disciplined her for it. Even after she rose to power and prominence, she still refused to let Zhiqing go.

No matter what, they were the people who had raised her and her younger sister.

Jiang Zhiyi stood stunned for a long time before letting out a low laugh. “How do you know it was me who suppressed you? Is it so hard to admit you’re inferior? But you’re right—why should you live carefree and content for the rest of your lives while I’m in agony?”

She kept laughing, even as tears slid down her cheeks one drop at a time. There was no sadness in her expression, though. Her voice was slow and measured, laced with a desperate ruthlessness as she leaned closer to the glass. “Spend the rest of your life repenting in that prison. I’ll take good care of your wife and children for you.”

Gu Chuanjing’s pupils contracted. He slapped at the window with effort, snarling, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Jiang Zhiqing was pregnant—just two months along. The child hadn’t even been born, and now its father was behind bars.

“I don’t want to do anything. At first, I truly had no intention of driving you all to extinction.” Her voice was languid, and as if struck by a sudden thought, she even smiled faintly.

“They wronged me, but that’s all in the past. People have to move forward. I sought revenge, yes, but I never meant to kill. So why did you have to force her to her death?”

She had planned so much for the future, but the person meant to walk it with her was gone.

“She’s dead. So no one else gets to live well.”

The woman’s face darkened in an instant, a resolute ferocity blooming from the shadows of despair. Even Gu Chuanjing felt a chill of fear in that moment.

“No… no…” He panicked suddenly, but the woman had already retreated slowly from the room.

In the two years that followed, Jiang Zhiqing lost her child while scrambling everywhere to raise money for Gu Chuanjing. During the miscarriage, her uterus was unexpectedly removed. She grew increasingly deranged. The Jiang family uncle died from choking on his own vomit in a drunken stupor. Gu Chuanjing lost an eye in a prison brawl, his internal organs ruptured. Finally, the mentally shattered Jiang Zhiqing collapsed during another visit to him and fled.

When they found her, she was already a cold corpse. After one devastating blow after another, she could no longer hold on and had jumped into the sea.

Jiang Zhiyi paid Gu Chuanjing one final visit, if only to tell him one thing: “I was the one who told Jiang Zhiqing about what happened to you in prison.”

Repaying evil with the same medicine—the cruelest revenge this world could offer.

Just two hours after she left, Gu Chuanjing smashed his head against the prison wall in suicide. He was already without breath when they found him.

In the end, she held Shi Qingyi’s urn and wheeled herself into the sea.

She couldn’t forgive others, nor could she forgive herself. It was she who had forced Qingyi first. Her Qingyi had drowned alive. She thought that if she went to find her, she too should experience the pain Qingyi had endured.

Some questions would never find answers. For instance, she had once monitored Shi Qingyi with strict, pathological intensity throughout her long stay in Shiguang.

On the eve of that car crash, the woman had stared at her wedding ring for a long time and had been earnestly saving money.

She had been saving up to buy something, but Jiang Zhiyi would never know what.