Zhou Man was in the Xu family's living room when she received the photo.
It was a message from an unknown number.
There was no text.
Only a photo.
In the photo, He Xiaoyun sat in the Special Investigation Bureau's medical room, holding the old jade clasp Lin Wan had left behind. Her face was pale, but she was alive.
Once Zhou Man saw that face clearly, her phone slipped straight out of her hand.
Xu Mingji, sitting beside her, startled.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
Zhou Man's lips went pale, and her fingers trembled. For a long moment, she couldn't get a word out.
Xu Mingji picked up the phone, glanced at the photo, and froze too.
"Who is this?"
Zhou Man snatched the phone back. "Nobody!"
Her reaction was so extreme that Xu Mingji's gaze changed at once.
He was no longer the person he had been a few days ago, someone who could still cry his way out of trouble.
Too much had happened lately, and Xu Mingji had slowly begun to understand something. All the "crazy things" Xu Zhihan had said had turned out not to be crazy at all.
He Guilan, Xu An, the basement, the drugs.
Now there was another woman.
Xu Mingji asked quietly, "Is she He Xiaoyun?"
Zhou Man's face drained of all color.
She wanted to deny it, but her voice seemed lodged in her throat.
A chill slowly crept up Xu Mingji's back.
"She's really still alive?"
Zhou Man seized his wrist, her nails nearly digging into his flesh. "Mingji, listen to me. This has nothing to do with you. You don't know anything, understand?"
Xu Mingji looked at her and suddenly felt that the mother before him was a stranger.
Zhou Man had always been able to arrange everything before.
Xu Chengyuan, Gu Huai, the Xu family's servants, even public opinion online-she could smooth things over with a few tears and a few words.
But now, she was panicking.
So badly that she couldn't even keep up the act.
Xu Mingji pulled his hand away, his voice soft. "Mom, what exactly have you done?"
Zhou Man's gaze abruptly changed. "Are you going to interrogate me too?"
"I'm not."
"Then don't ask!" Zhou Man's voice rose to a shriek. "Just remember, I did all of this for you!"
Xu Mingji went pale.
For me.
That line again.
But suddenly, he couldn't bring himself to believe it.
If Zhou Man could hurt Xu Zhihan, hurt He Guilan, and lock He Xiaoyun in the Sanatorium, all for his sake...
Then what if, one day, I'm no longer useful?
The thought startled Xu Mingji himself the moment it surfaced.
Zhou Man didn't notice anything wrong with him.
She hurriedly dialed Zhou Qiliang's number.
The first time, no one answered.
The second time, still no one answered.
On the third try, the call finally connected.
Zhou Man lowered her voice, practically speaking through gritted teeth. "How is He Xiaoyun still alive? Didn't you say she'd never get out for the rest of her life?"
The voice on the other end was panicked too.
"How should I know? The Special Investigation Bureau just shut down the Sanatorium. She's already been taken away. Zhou Man, stop calling me!"
Zhou Man shook with rage. "Now you want to wash your hands of everything? Who delivered those drugs back then? Who handled He Guilan? And who locked He Xiaoyun up?"
The other end went silent for a second.
Then Zhou Qiliang snapped, "Are you insane? You're saying this over the phone?"
Zhou Man abruptly realized what she had done.
But it was already too late.
The living room was terrifyingly quiet.
Xu Mingji stood before her, his face deathly pale.
The phone was still on speaker.
He had heard everything.
Zhou Man froze, then slowly turned to look at him.
"Mingji..."
Xu Mingji took a step back.
"Mom, did you really hurt He Guilan?"
Zhou Man's eyes darted wildly. "It wasn't just me! She brought it on herself! She insisted on investigating Lin Wan's drugs, insisted on meddling in Xu Zhihan's and Xu An's affairs. If she'd stayed out of it, nothing would have happened to her."
Xu Mingji stared at her, his eyes slowly reddening.
This time, it wasn't an act.
He was genuinely afraid.
Zhou Man reached for him, but he dodged away.
That single movement broke Zhou Man more than any accusation could have.
"You're avoiding me?"
Xu Mingji's voice trembled. "I didn't know you'd done so much."
Zhou Man froze for a moment, then laughed, though her gaze grew increasingly erratic.
"You didn't know? Now you're telling me you didn't know? The food you eat, the things you use, the marriage arrangement with the Gu family that you stole-where do you think all of it came from?"
Xu Mingji's face was terribly pale.
Zhou Man was about to continue when her phone suddenly chimed.
Another message from an unknown number.
This time, it was an audio recording.
Her hands were already trembling before she opened it.
The recording was the conversation she had just had with Zhou Qiliang.
Crystal clear.
Not a single sentence missing.
Zhou Man went rigid where she stood.
The next second, the television in the living room suddenly switched on by itself.
Xu Zhihan's face appeared on the screen.
He reclined on a bed in the medical room, his face pale and his gaze calm. Lu Wenchuan stood a short distance away, as though he had stepped aside after setting up the connection.
Zhou Man screamed, "Xu Zhihan!"
Xu Zhihan looked at her, his voice flat.
"Keep your voice down."
Zhou Man trembled with fury. "You bugged my phone?"
Xu Zhihan countered, "You put it on speaker yourself and said everything so clearly. Does that count as me bugging your phone?"
Zhou Man's face alternated between ashen and pale.
Xu Mingji stood beside her, looking at Xu Zhihan on the screen with an intensely conflicted gaze.
Xu Zhihan ignored him.
He looked only at Zhou Man.
"He Xiaoyun is alive, and He Guilan's soul is still here. You now have two choices."
Zhou Man gritted her teeth. "What do you want?"
Xu Zhihan's tone was calm. "Go to the Special Investigation Bureau yourself and tell them everything."
Zhou Man sneered. "In your dreams."
Xu Zhihan nodded.
"Then wait for He Guilan to visit you tonight."
Zhou Man's pupils abruptly contracted.
She instinctively covered her neck.
Xu Zhihan watched her reaction without any particular emotion.
"She's been waiting for you for a long time."
Zhou Man's voice quivered. "You wouldn't dare."
"You're welcome to find out."
On the television screen, Xu Zhihan looked very unwell, but the calmer he was, the more frightened Zhou Man became.
Everything that had happened over the past few days had already taught her that it was best not to take Xu Zhihan's words as mere threats.
Because they always came true.
Zhou Man stared fixedly at the screen, then suddenly began to cry.
"Zhihan, I know you resent me. But have you ever considered that I had no choice either? There was already no place for Lin Wan in the Xu family back then. I just wanted to survive, to give Mingji a better life."
Xu Zhihan listened without any change in his expression.
"You made others die so you could live."
Zhou Man choked on her words.
Xu Zhihan continued, "You had He Guilan killed, drove He Xiaoyun mad, had Xu An locked in the basement, and made the original Xu Zhihan swallow those drugs, mouthful after mouthful."
He paused there.
The emotions lingering in that body began to ache again.
Xu Zhihan was irritated.
He didn't like this kind of pain.
So his voice grew colder.
"Now it's your turn to pay your debts. Is there a problem?"
Zhou Man couldn't speak.
Xu Mingji stood beside her, tears already falling, but he didn't dare make a sound.
He was afraid Xu Zhihan would find him noisy.
When that thought surfaced, an absurd chill ran through Xu Mingji's heart.
Since when had I become too afraid even to cry in front of Xu Zhihan?
Lu Wenchuan moved out of the camera's view and reminded him quietly, "Xu Chengyuan is back."
Xu Zhihan murmured an acknowledgment.
On the screen, he looked at Zhou Man.
"Tell Xu Chengyuan."
Zhou Man raised her head.
Xu Zhihan's voice was very soft, yet it fell like a blade.
"He's next."
The television screen went black.
The living room fell deathly silent.
A few seconds later, Xu Chengyuan pushed the door open and walked in.
The moment he entered, he saw Zhou Man slumped on the floor and Xu Mingji standing to one side, his face deathly pale.
Xu Chengyuan frowned. "What is it now?"
Zhou Man looked up at him, her lips trembling violently.
She wanted to speak, but no sound came out.
Xu Mingji looked at Xu Chengyuan, his voice very soft.
"Dad, He Xiaoyun is still alive."
Xu Chengyuan stopped in his tracks.
In that instant, his expression finally changed.