The Reason

Chapter 26: The Reason

Bai Yanliang stared at Zhang Wen's face, wanting to see what was truly on this woman's mind.

Seeing Bai Yanliang's business-like attitude, Zhang Wen actually felt more at ease.

She had just picked up the kettle, preparing to pour a glass of water for Bai Yanliang, but he raised a hand to stop her.

"No need for the pleasantries. I have other work to attend to and won't be staying here long."

Zhang Wen froze. Under Bai Yanliang's gaze, she set the kettle down and sat on the edge of the bed where she had been resting, her expression strange.

Bai Yanliang was certain that this woman had far more secrets than he had imagined.

Zhang Wen seemed dazed for a long moment before she stared at Bai Yanliang, who was sitting across from her, and grinned. "You must publish everything I tell you."

"That depends on whether your story is exciting enough." Bai Yanliang's emotions remained completely steady.

"Heh... alright, I'll tell you."

Zhang Wen gave a strange laugh. As she looked at Bai Yanliang, the first sentence she uttered was information he had not known.

"I am Zhang Qiao's older sister." Her eyes didn't blink. "Her biological sister."

Zhang Qiao, was it...

The image that surfaced in Bai Yanliang's mind was that pale, ghastly face beneath the bed.

It seemed the relationships between these people were becoming increasingly complex.

Bai Yanliang truly had not expected that Zhang Wen and Zhang Qiao were biological sisters.

However, as Zhang Wen began her narration, a bizarre story gradually unfolded before him...

The Zhang sisters and the Ding brothers were lovers.

Ding Peng and Zhang Qiao.

Ding Lei and Zhang Wen.

But... a third party suddenly appeared in the relationship between Ding Lei and Zhang Wen—Li Yuhua.

Li Yuhua was not as pretty as Zhang Wen, nor was she as young, but she owned a plot of land and a building.

That's right, Ruyi Inn was the property of Li Yuhua's family.

With no love capable of triumphing over the allure of bread, Ding Lei chose Li Yuhua without hesitation.

At the same time, however, he gave Zhang Wen a promise—once the ownership of Ruyi Inn was in his hands, he would stage an accident, kill Li Yuhua, and then marry her, Zhang Wen.

Zhang Wen, intoxicated by the beautiful lies woven by her lover, stopped pestering Ding Lei and instead checked into Ruyi Inn, quietly waiting for the right moment.

Yet, this wait lasted for three years.

Zhang Wen began to grow anxious.

Her lover seemed to have forgotten all about it, going to work, getting off work, and returning home day after day...

The love letters she secretly hid in Ding Lei's office also sank like stones into the sea, receiving no response.

Zhang Wen understood; she had already... been abandoned...

But then, an opportunity presented itself!

Her own younger sister and Ding Lei's younger brother had come for their honeymoon!

Zhang Wen knew exactly what kind of person her brother-in-law was. He appeared gentle and easy-going, but in reality, his heart was filled with jealousy toward his older brother!

He couldn't understand why it wasn't him who had been chosen by a wealthy young lady.

Why could a dirt-poor bumpkin like Ding Lei suddenly become a big boss?

Zhang Wen approached him, and the two hit it off immediately.

"So, your request was for Ding Peng to help you kill Li Yuhua?" Bai Yanliang asked.

"Yes!" Zhang Wen's expression at that moment was a mix of resentment and grim satisfaction. "I told Ding Peng to kill Li Yuhua and make it look like a suicide! Then, forge a suicide note. As long as Li Yuhua died, her entire inheritance would belong to him, Ding Peng!"

Bai Yanliang watched her face, which was filled with venom, his own heart remaining calm.

This woman had completely lost her mind.

"And then?"

"And then?" Zhang Wen looked at Bai Yanliang, her gaze extremely dangerous. "Then Ding Peng agreed to join forces with me, but! Before we could even make a move, my sister went missing!"

Zhang Wen's expression shifted abruptly; all the venom vanished, replaced by worry. "Qiao'er is a good child, a very, very good child... She is kind, intelligent, beautiful, and generous. How could she go missing? Why would she go missing!"

Zhang Wen's voice grew louder, her emotions becoming increasingly agitated.

"Not long after Qiao'er went missing, that damned old woman disappeared too? Ha... what right does she have to go missing along with Qiao'er?" Zhang Wen stared fixedly at Bai Yanliang, acting as if she were insane. "You tell me, what right does she have?"

Bai Yanliang did not answer her question, but he had basically figured it out.

Zhang Qiao might have gone missing at the time, but Li Yuhua had not.

Ding Peng had already made his move.

Li Yuhua had been dumped into the water tank, and then... soaked into a "giant" that would burst at the slightest touch.

Zhang Wen's mood shifted rapidly; in just a moment, her expression returned to normal as she continued, "Three days after Qiao'er went missing, I saw her again."

"Haha... Qiao'er was looking at me from the mirror... Qiao'er told me that I had to let people know about this place, about what happened here, the more people the better..."

Zhang Wen's expression began to turn eerie. Her words, which had been relatively coherent, started to become fragmented and intermittent, with whispered murmurs gradually overtaking complete sentences.

Listening to her increasingly bizarre words, Bai Yanliang finally sensed that something was wrong.

Zhang Wen had chosen to call the newspaper and publish those messages—were all these actions told to her by that "Qiao'er"?

But... as far as Bai Yanliang knew, the ghost under his own bed was the real Zhang Qiao.

Then... who was the one haunting Zhang Wen?

Regarding the two corpses, one male and one female, in the water tank, Bai Yanliang had completely understood their identities, but... the most bizarre thing right now was still Zhang Qiao!

Sleeping back-to-back, waking in a lost-soul dream...

She was the protagonist in Jieyu!

Who exactly killed her?

And... where was her corpse, really?

"Hey, aren't you a reporter? Write it down properly, then get it published!" Seeing that Bai Yanliang seemed to be distracted, a trace of dissatisfaction appeared on Zhang Wen's face.

"I don't need you to teach me how to do my job." Bai Yanliang's attitude was very cold.

In fact, if not for the need to appear like a "normal" person, this attitude was his true self.

This woman... was clearly already insane.

Bai Yanliang could sense a very familiar feeling from her, a familiarity that came from the place he once stayed—Ye City Psychiatric Hospital.

She possessed a near-paranoid love for Ding Lei and her younger sister; from her descriptions, she hadn't used a single negative word to describe them.

Even when Ding Lei abandoned her, the object of her resentment was only Li Yuhua; she hadn't considered for a moment that Ding Lei might be at fault.

Perhaps... it wasn't that she didn't think about it, but that she refused to.

Zhang Wen could only live by relying on the memories in her mind that were once beautiful.

If one were to shatter her beautiful hopes regarding Ding Lei, this woman would likely collapse instantly; schizophrenia would be a mild outcome.

This should... count as a form of delusion.

"I'm leaving now. I will get the report published as soon as possible. You can tell 'Qiao'er' not to be anxious," Bai Yanliang said as he stood up.

That ghost was absolutely not the "Qiao'er" Zhang Wen spoke of.

But Bai Yanliang had no intention of exposing this.

Zhang Wen didn't notice; she was still satisfied with Bai Yanliang's "promise," watching him leave her room.