The sun had risen, yet it couldn't ease the chill in the mountain air.
Jiang Wenjuan had said sorry, but she loved her current husband and family more. Pei Haobin had also said sorry, but he was afraid Pei Jiadong would become the second Pei Chuan.
Just because Pei Chuan had already lost his legs, did it mean losing his arms wouldn't matter either?
Was Pei Chuan simply born to be constantly abandoned? Pei Chuan could actually understand - these cruelties had just never been torn open before. To anyone, he was never the most important person, so he would be abandoned when choices had to be made.
But Yaoyao, his Yaoyao.
Before 1996, she had been like all the other children, watching this misfit Pei Chuan in kindergarten with fear and apprehension.
After that day, she began looking at him with curiosity, then clumsily and carefully treating him well.
Pei Chuan lowered his gaze to the yellowed paper.
That kindergarten summer when the little girl hugged lotus flowers into his arms, elementary school when she fought her first fight for him, that high school night when even the breeze carried sweet fragrance when she gave him her first kiss, university when she married him.
It was enough. It had already been so good.
Huo Xu had been driven to such misery by Jiang Huaqiong, largely due to Pei Chuan's doing. Now his heart was filled with schadenfreude: "So? How about I give you a choice? Just pick one - who do you think you compare to in her heart?"
Bei Yao looked at the quiet Pei Chuan on the surveillance feed, her heart already calm.
The red dot of the mountain positioning device moved. Someone whispered: "Target in the rightmost room on the third floor, but there are no windows. Snipers ready."
Hearing the voice in his earphone, Pei Chuan lifted his eyes. He wouldn't choose anyone. In this lifetime, he would never hear her say that answer.
Pei Chuan said: "Isn't the second choice not finished yet?"
So don't choose. Don't make Yaoyao choose.
Huo Xu raised his eyebrows in surprise. The second choice was whether to cut off Pei Chuan's hands or Pei Jiadong's legs.
Bei Yao's eyes widened, then she struggled desperately. No! No!
Huo Xu found it utterly unbelievable that Pei Chuan, afraid to hear the answer, would use this method to reject the third choice.
Pei Chuan's gaze fell on the blinking surveillance screen: "Give me a knife. You do it, or I will."
For the first time, Huo Xu felt this man was insane.
Huo Xu frowned, glancing at Bei Yao. Her eyes were fixed on the screen, face already covered in tears.
Huo Xu suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable. To choose self-mutilation out of fear of hearing an answer - if this man wasn't crazy, then he must love this woman to madness.
Huo Xu had originally intended to drive a wedge between them. He still planned to take Bei Yao abroad to live. It would be best if Bei Yao could let go of Pei Chuan.
Now he couldn't quite accept that someone might love Bei Yao more than he did. He turned off the monitor, suddenly hating Pei Chuan's choice intensely.
Fine, not afraid huh? Then I'll grant your wish.
Huo Xu opened his case, inside which lay neatly arranged knives and several whips.
When Shao Yue saw these things, she couldn't control her trembling.
Huo Xu selected a boning knife, touched the pistol at his waist, and went out.
Just as he touched the door handle, someone crashed into him.
Bei Yao used all her strength. Action and reaction left both unsteady, the knife falling far away.
Bei Yao fell heavily to the ground. Huo Xu was furious: "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
He was holding a knife, yet Bei Yao still dared to crash into him!Bei Yao couldn't speak, yet Huo Xu saw her whole body trembling.
Her gaze—furious, heartbroken, and desperate—seemed ready to fight him to the death.
Huo Xu couldn't quite describe the turmoil in his heart. If what was written on that paper was true, had she ever truly regarded him with genuine respect?
And now, she had genuinely fallen for a cripple!
Huo Xu pulled Bei Yao up from the ground, jealousy making his teeth grind audibly.
He said, "Once I've dealt with him, I'll take you abroad. It's fine—we'll nurture our feelings properly from now on."
Huo Xu took out handcuffs, locked her wrists to the headboard, then pulled open the door and left the third-floor room.
The mountains were quiet, and because the room had no windows, sunlight couldn't penetrate.
Bei Yao stared at the surveillance screen, but it had already gone completely dark.
He had believed in her love, yet underestimated his own significance.
She buried her face in her knees. Why wouldn't he listen to her choice?
Pei Chuan wasn't the one who deserved to be abandoned forever.
Huo Xu threw the boning knife in front of Pei Chuan. The mountain wind blew in through the window. Pei Chuan's feet were covered in mud from climbing up the mountain.
Huo Xu said, "They say all fingers are connected to the heart. Start with the right thumb. This knife isn't sharp—you'll have to be ruthless with yourself."
A faint voice came through the earpiece: "The target is standing in a concealed spot—hard to aim."
Afraid Pei Chuan might try something tricky, Huo Xu had brought many men with him, all armed with guns.
In the end, the Huo family's wealth had all become his lifeline.
Pei Chuan picked up the knife.
Some things weren't actually unfamiliar to him. He thought he had long forgotten memories from when he was four, but he hadn't. Precocious, that bone-deep pain and humiliation felt as if it were just yesterday.
When he raised the knife and brought it down, Pei Chuan was calm.
Yet with the first cut, he still let out a muffled groan.
Flesh and bone together—that segment of his thumb fell to the ground.
Pei Chuan gritted his teeth hard, unable to withstand the heart-piercing pain, and collapsed to the floor. His entire body trembled with agony, but he refused to make any more sound—only his breathing grew too rapid.
The scent of blood spread through the air. Huo Xu once again felt fortunate that turning off the monitor was the right decision. Pei Chuan was a madman.
This cripple would do anything for Bei Yao. If she saw this scene, she'd probably never forget Pei Chuan for the rest of her life.
Huo Xu smiled with satisfaction, glancing disgustedly at the thumb on the ground. "This time, let's go with the left ring finger. That ring of yours is too glaring."
Pei Chuan said nothing, reaching for the knife with his right hand.
But he could no longer hold it. His hand trembling, the knife fell to the ground.
Pei Chuan's pupils were pitch black, pain causing him to curl up slightly.
Huo Xu walked over, sneering, "I don't mind helping you. Any part that touched her can't remain."
Huo Xu stepped on Pei Chuan's fingers.
Picked up the boning knife, aimed it at Pei Chuan's left ring finger.
In the sunlight, that ring shone brilliantly.
Pei Chuan's face was covered in cold sweat, his pupils dark as night. He wasn't as afraid as Huo Xu had imagined—instead, he curled his lips coldly.
With what seemed like disdain or mockery, Pei Chuan raised his lips and mimicked the sound of a gun: "Bang—"
Huo Xu's pupils contracted sharply.
But it was too late. The next moment, bullets shattered through the window, and countless gunshots rang out one after another.
Huo Xu's eyes widened, a bloody hole in his temple, and he collapsed straight to the ground.At the moment of death, his final gaze fell upon that yellowed piece of paper.
The wind lifted the paper, making it flutter up and down in the morning breeze like a weightless butterfly. Huo Xu wanted to reach out and grab it, but he had already stopped breathing.
Through a page from many years ago, the girl's notes recounted many sorrowful past events.
For these stories he desperately wanted to know, he had abandoned his flight abroad, wanting to take Bei Yao with him.
Wanting to hear her speak of their previous life.
In that previous life where he had married Bei Yao, it must have been an extremely happy story. The more he wanted to know, the more obsessed he became - even at death's door, this remained his greatest concern.
At their first meeting when he was sixteen, amid pouring rain, Huo Xu had heard the sound of his own heart beating.
Huo Xu's eyes remained wide open as he breathed his last.
Pei Chuan pushed himself up with his left hand and rose from the ground. The mountain sunlight felt cold as he walked toward the fluttering yellowed paper without glancing at his bloody severed finger, picking it up and placing it in his suit pocket.
Countless police officers rushed over from the mountain ridge.
Ambulances were approaching from below, with Pei Haobin walking at the forefront, tears streaming down his face.
Someone behind him patted his shoulder comfortingly as medical personnel picked up the severed finger, looking at Pei Chuan with a mixture of awe and horror.
How could anyone possess the resolve to sever their own finger with a boning knife?
Pei Chuan said: "My wife is upstairs. Please take her home for me. In my current condition, I'll go to the hospital first - I don't want to frighten her."
He lay calmly on the stretcher.
Closing his eyes, the world turned completely dark. Bathed in mountain sunlight mingled with cool breezes, he contemplated those three choices.
The first choice.
Jiang Wenjuan hadn't chosen her husband. Her final decision was hoping her son could live. Her mental health had deteriorated years earlier - she feared seeing Pei Chuan, yet deep down still wished for his survival. She preferred to die with her husband.
Whether becoming grass in stone crevices or wind through the forest, she only wanted her only son to live.
Huo Xu had been angered by this answer. To ensure his plan proceeded smoothly, he finally made Jiang Wenjuan summon Pei Chuan, promising to spare both Pei Chuan and her husband. Huo Xu claimed he only wanted to leave with Bei Yao.
Jiang Wenjuan agreed, still feeling she had failed her son.
After jumping into the river, she confessed everything. Truthfully, Jiang Wenjuan's mind was already quite disturbed.
She had struggled with psychological issues all these years.
And Pei Haobin had been summoned by Pei Chuan.
He hadn't chosen to call Jiang Huaqiong. Though he had lived in a despicable and dirty place for the first half of his life, this was the first time he decided to trust the nation.
He wanted to live with dignity.
Now that he had his own woman, he couldn't continue solving violence with violence forever wallowing in filth.
Pei Haobin's choice of Pei Jiadong had been anticipated in everyone's plans, yet reality could be cruel sometimes.
Back then, all of Pei Haobin's subordinates had secretly watched their captain, none knowing whether he would have still abandoned Pei Chuan without the initial plan.
Yet years later, when Pei Chuan heard about this choice again, he found himself calmer than he had imagined.
Everyone has their preferences - he just wasn't particularly likable.
Only this paper in his possession represented the sole unexpected element in Pei Chuan's plans from last night.
He was loved.
This turned out to be the blessing it brought.
Amid the faint, faint scent of blood in the air, Pei Chuan thought: in this lifetime, he would never listen to the third answer.
Benefactor, lover.
Devil, or becoming a scientist for her.
He refused to contemplate any of it.It's okay, it's all okay. It doesn't matter if she doesn't love him, it doesn't matter if he isn't that important to her.
As long as she stays by his side, smiles, and embraces him, he can overlook everything.
His blood soaked through it.
Pei Chuan asked hoarsely, "Can the severed finger be reattached?"
The doctor paused briefly. "The time is short, it's possible."
Pei Chuan said, "Mm."
It's good that it can be reattached, otherwise she would cry again.
OpenNovel