When A Snail Falls In Love

Lin Qingyan Short Story Part 2.3

Three years had already passed before he met Yao Meng.

He lived a very tranquil life in those three years. There was no Qin Shuhua, and he did not kill anyone. His business dealings had been delegated to others to manage, and all he had to do on a yearly basis was to look at the total accounts, and determine the strategic focus of the company. Sometimes, he would think, this life is so long – if I were Feng Ye, what other desires have I yet to fulfil?

That desire was called Yao Meng.

The girl whose picture was held captive in Feng Ye's wallet, who caused him to reject all other girls*.

* (拒之门外 – lock the door and refuse to see someone)

It was a very bright morning. He was sitting in the car, lingering for a while in his old district, when he saw a young girl wearing light pink sportswear, running towards him with the sun shining on her face. She had clear, deep black, big eyes, set in a fair face, apple-shaped.

Lin Qingyan became aware that he was holding his breath.

If one considered the girls he had previously obtained to be pleasant conquests, then Yao Meng was undoubtedly the brightest jewel in the imperial crown that any knight would desire to capture.

This was to say nothing of the fact that she was the girl in Feng Ye's heart. In the light of this identity, just thinking about it caused him to have conflicting feelings.

In the blink of an eye, she had already run down the pavement and around the corner. Lin Qingyan put the car in motion, and followed her unhurriedly. Who knew, when he rounded the corner, there was no one in sight. He was looking around in all directions when he heard someone knocking at his car window.

The goddess was before his eyes.

"What are you up to?" She frowned as she asked, "Show me your credentials, I'm a police officer."

He looked at her, and laughed slowly.

After the trials of a long and arduous journey*, through the cycles of life, I have come only for you.

*(千山万水 – lit. ten thousand torrents and a thousand crags)

——

In truth, the two of them had known each other for less than a year. The time that they had been together had hardly been half a year.

However, this was the period of time which passed the fastest in Lin Qingyan's lifetime.

With her, he was the successful businessman looked up to by others, the fortunate man who was loved by her — he replaced Feng Ye, and had finally found his true love of former days. When she was not by his side, he was always on the hunt for victims in the city, as happy as a wandering devil, as degenerate as the worst devil among humankind.

However, he never once thought of killing her, because she was his beloved.

He had only ever been loved by Qin Shuhua, so he was only able to employ her methods to love someone. As a result, he kept Yao Meng by his side, treating her as his lover and also as his daughter. When he died, he wanted all his assets to belong to her, to enable her to live a happy life, alone.

The equilibrium was finally upset one day.

She was raped by Tan Liang.

Lin Qingyan had instigated Tan Liang to take all the blame, but he never once considered that Tan Liang would, before his demise, indulge in one last frenzy, and that the person in his sights would be his own woman.

Never mind, my dearest. Tan Liang is already dead. When I kill Xu Xu, it will be as if this situation never happened.

However, when did she start having doubts about him?

Up to the moment of his death, Lin Qingyan remembered that night so clearly, remembered Yao Meng's tears.

It was the tenth day of the second month after Yao Meng had been assaulted by Tan Liang. He had gone to the hospital for chemotherapy, and had returned home very late. The light in her bedroom was already off. Since he did not want to wake her up, he slept in the guest room.

As per his routine, he turned on the surveillance monitor, only wanting to look at her sleeping face. But, he saw her sitting alone in a dark room, her hand tightly covering her mouth, trying desperately to restrain her sobs.

Several photographs were scattered near her hand. All of them were of his previous victims. He had taken their photographs and stored them in the basement. She had previously not known of the existence of the basement, but now, it was evident that she had discovered it.

That long, desolate night, the two of them sat in different rooms, separated by a wall. Lin Qingyan watched her crying as she took up her handphone, tapped in two digits, and then threw it away; crying as she took it up, then threw it away; took it up, threw it away . . . she looked so agonised and forlorn, and her entire body trembled violently, as if she had already been abandoned by everyone.

Lin Qingyan's tears flowed freely without him realising it.

Angel, my final angel, the angel who loves me so much.

Why didn't I meet you earlier?

In the best years of life, in the most beautiful season, would that the whole world would leave us alone. I, alone, would smile faintly as I walk towards you, as pure as I was at the beginning.