One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

51

Chapter 16.2 - The Roles People Play (2)

Zhousheng Chen glanced over at the hospital bed and then shifted his gaze to Shi Yi.

She, too, was looking at him, her heart pounding. She knew, in Zhousheng Chen's current emotional state, all those things Zhou Wenchuan had once done to her... and all those things Wenxing had once done to her, he would most definitely attribute them all on Zhou Wenchuan now.

With difficulty, Shi Yi made herself breathe as she stared unblinkingly at him.

"Xiao Chen..." Pale-faced, Zhousheng Chen's mother watched him, her legs scarcely able to hold her up. "Mom is begging you, please put the gun down, okay?... Xiao Chen..."

No one dared to speak.

Zhousheng Chen stood there, his entire body seemingly one with the gun, and he seemed to easily cause the air pressure in the room to drop to the lowest possible. Behind the thin lenses of his glasses, no traces of emotional turmoil could be seen in his eyes.

Because he was carrying Wang Man, a large part of Zhou Wenchuan's own pants were also stained with blood. "Zhousheng Chen, you pointing a gun at me now, is that for Wenxing? Or is it for your wife? Wenxing's gone. You can finally settle the score with me now, huh?"

Zhou Wenchuan gave a couple of laughs, and then, tears started to fall.

Wang Man was biting down hard on her own lip, and in his embrace, her facial features were contorted in agony.

He held tightly to the woman in his arms. At last, through clenched teeth, he, one word at a time, begged for mercy. "If you let me go save Wang Man, I will return and pay you back with my life." As he spoke, he suddenly dropped to his knees. It was clear his hatred was so intense he wanted to kill, yet still, he knelt before Zhousheng Chen. "Eldest Brother, I beg you, let me go..."

"Xiao Chen..." Zhousheng Chen's mother choked through her weeping, but she dared not take a single step forward for fear that Zhousheng Chen might do something. "Xiao Chen... The drugs your little brother gave Wenxing really weren't the cause of her death. And as for Shi Yi... Those things that happened to Shi Yi didn't have anything to do with your brother either... Listen to Mom. Aside from that one incident in Wuzhen, everything else was Mom's doing. They had absolutely nothing to do with your little brother..."

A plea through choking sobs, and Wang Man's moans of anguish.

Wenxing's recording played over and over again in Shi Yi's mind.

All truths would eventually be known, but it should not be by Zhousheng Chen, the one who loved Wenxing so much.

Only silence that would not dissipate permeated that moment of life and death.

After an endless standstill, Zhousheng Chen finally lowered the gun in his hand down slowly.

Without any delay, Zhou Wenchuan strode out of the room carrying Wang Man in his arms.

He and Wang Man were both persons being monitored by authorities, so under the observation of police officers, he set Wang Man down on a gurney. Immediately, doctors rushed over and pushed the gurney into the elevator, leaving that hospital floor.

In the instant the elevator doors closed, the strength seemed to go out of Zhou Wenchuan's arms. Bending over, he hugged Wang Man and tears slipped out, falling onto her. "Man Man, thank you. Once we get through this, we'll still have our chance..."

While he was speaking, he had already buried his face on Wang Man's arm.

Wang Man's face was pale from the pain, but still, she held him tightly to her. With his own hands, he had given her the drugs to induce the abortion. When life and death were separated by merely a thin line, she had needed to wager herself and her child, to gamble on Zhousheng Chen's conscience and compassion. Even if she was insignificant in all this, if she could add even the lightest of burdens on him... Tong Jiaren had already proposed to dissolve their marriage, so now, she was the only person remaining by Zhou Wenchuan's side who could support him.