Tang Si fell silent.
Zhao Wuyan's eyes welled up, tears filling them and spilling over her lower lashes, cascading down her cheeks.
After a moment of eye contact, she suddenly gave a self-deprecating smile. "No wonder, no wonder you were so indifferent to me during the two days I was hospitalized for precautionary care. So that's why."
She looked down at the IV in her right hand and yanked the needle out of her hand.
Instantly, blood gushed from her hand, splattering onto the pink bedding, staining it a striking red.
Zhao Wuyan abruptly threw off the covers and stood up, her bare feet stumbling as she made her way towards the balcony.
Even as she passed Tang Si, she didn't utter another word.
Standing on the windowsill, Zhao Wuyan closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and took a deep breath, her voice choked with sobs. "I was foolishly infatuated. I'll fulfill your wish."
As the words left her lips, she braced her hands on the balcony railing and climbed over. Spreading her arms, she prepared to jump.
"Zhao Wuyan, you crazy bitch!"
Tang Si, who had been walking over, grabbed her clothes and yanked her back. Zhao Wuyan fell, landing squarely in his arms.
The moment she fell into his embrace, Zhao Wuyan closed her eyes, tears tracing paths down her cheeks.
The tears were from fright.
Tang Si, oblivious to her subtle sigh of relief, was utterly panicked.
"Without you, my life has no meaning. Since you want to be with Shi Ran, I might as well die," Zhao Wuyan said, still leaning against him. Her tear-filled eyes were brimming with grievance and sadness, but more so with a profound sense of desperation.
Tang Si bent down, scooped her up horizontally, and carried her back into the bedroom, laying her gently on the bed. "Rest well."
The blood from her hand had stained Tang Si's clothes, a stark and visible mark.
His brows furrowed slightly. He turned and walked out of the bedroom. "Doctor, her hand is bleeding."
The doctor standing in the hallway nodded and immediately entered the bedroom.
Tang Si, however, went straight to his own room and closed the door.
He walked to the wine cabinet, took out a bottle of red wine, and with unsteady steps, went to the balcony and sat down, drinking himself into a solitary stupor.
Tang Si didn't think Zhao Wuyan was particularly wonderful, but at least her love for him was passionate and fervent.
In contrast, Shi Ran...
Not only had she betrayed him, but she had also left Lancheng with Yuan Wei and his mother, flying off together.
Tang Si poured a glass of red wine and drank it down in one gulp. He accidentally choked, and his throat burned. Yet, accompanying his cough, his internal organs seemed to spasm with pain.
"Mmm..."
He gritted his teeth, his body bent over in pain, his head bowed. With one hand, he tightly gripped the wine glass, his immense force causing it to crack.
One could imagine how severe his internal injuries were.
At the same time, in the adjacent room, Zhao Wuyan, propped against the headboard, watched as the doctor cleaned and bandaged the blood on her hand. A strange smile tugged at her pale lips.
Was this what they called suffering leading to joy?
As long as Tang Si couldn't find Shi Ran, that bitch would never return to Lancheng.
Because when she had seen Shi Ran off from Lancheng, Zhao Wuyan had stood before her and said in a dismissive tone, "To be able to guess that I was behind your brother's situation shows you're quite intelligent. Of course, I prefer communicating with intelligent people. Remember, never return to Lancheng again, and never appear before Tang Si. Otherwise, forget your brother; I fear your parents would also be lost to you forever."
Under absolute power, love was nothing.
Zhao Wuyan, capable of scheming against her family behind Tang Si's back, had proven that if she could do it once, she could do it again.
Shi Ran loved Tang Si deeply, but she also knew Zhao Wuyan's ruthlessness.
She had even considered telling Tang Si, confessing everything, and asking Tang Si to protect her.