Qin Zaiye called out to stop him. Ji Ting turned slightly. "Was there something else?"
"Yes. There's something very important I want to discuss with you."
Ji Ting didn't think there could be anything important between them. Clearly, Ji Yanzhi felt the same, so the only possibility he could think of was, "Qin Zaiye, if you're trying to plead for Ling Xi, save your breath."
Ling Xi's bowed head instantly shot up, his eyes full of hope as he looked at Qin Zaiye. He knew it. He knew it. No matter what happened, Zaiye would never...
"Ji Yanzhi, you said you'd make his life worse than death. Do you think I'd let him off?"
With a sharp crack, the last of Ling Xi's hope shattered. His pupils trembled like a dying flame in the wind. "Zaiye, wh-what did you say?"
Hatred churned inside Qin Zaiye, locked tightly within his expressionless shell. "I chose to believe all those lies you told before, so everything that's happened to me now is my own fault. But..."
His gaze stabbed viciously into the person before him like two sharp blades of ice. "My mother's death was entirely your doing. Ling Xi, listen carefully. Stay alive, and keep your eyes wide open as you wait for the day I get out."
Ling Xi stopped breathing, that hatred gripping his throat so tightly that even his soul seemed to tremble.
"But everything I did was for you-"
Watching him scream himself hoarse, Qin Zaiye found it utterly laughable. "For me?"
"If we hadn't put someone forward to take the blame, would Ji Ting and the others have let you off?" Ling Xi was heartbroken. "Even if I hadn't done it, your mother would've willingly taken the blame for you herself!"
Those utterly absurd words hit Qin