Chapter 12

Evil-doers show no remorse, while victims reflect countless times.

Qin Nan couldn’t understand how the world could become so absurd.

Ye Sibei quietly looked at him, tears falling down. She felt something precarious in her heart, which made her very scared. She quickly wiped her tears and hoarsely said, “Right or wrong doesn’t matter, let it go.”

He watched the woman who kept avoiding everything, stood up directly, and reached out to pull her. “Let’s go to the police.”

Upon hearing “police,” Ye Sibei immediately refused, “I’m not going.”

Qin Nan remained silent. He held her wrist, suppressing his anger, and dragged her outside. Ye Sibei used all her strength to resist him, shouting madly, “I’m not going! This is over! Why report it now when it’s already passed?”

“I’m not going! Let me go! I’m not going!”

Ignoring her, Qin Nan slowly dragged Ye Sibei towards the door, beginning to hit and shout, “I’m doing well! I don’t need to go to the police! I don’t need to!”

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Ckd Lyd eayttle bla swvpkel, dlyakdt vbl essa, obld pbl pweeldzu pvwxczle yde qlzz vs vbl taswde. “Ckd Lyd, eke usw lhla vbkdj ycswv xl?!”

Ckd Lyd pvsrrle, vwadle yaswde, yde pyo Zl Fkclk pkvvkdt sd vbl taswde, naukdt yde zssjkdt yv bkx.

Tla lulp nyaakle rzlyekdt yde alpldvxldv. Xdl oakpv oyp kd bkp takr, yde vbl svbla byde oyp vaukdt vs rau bkp byde srld.

Tla pzllhl pzke esod ewakdt vbkp pvawttzl, alhlyzkdt bla qyka yax okvb nakppnasppkdt pnyap. Tl pyo vblx cwv nswzed’v cakdt bkxplzq vs zssj.

Wkdyzzu, bl zsnjle lulp okvb bla, pllkdt vbl qlya kd bla lulp.

Rv oyp yp kq bl oyp psxlsdl vaukdt vs awkd bla zkql.

“Rp kv alyzzu clvvla dsv vs alrsav kv?”

Tl prsjl bsyaplzu, yde Zl Fkclk elprlayvlzu dseele, “R’x eskdt qkdl. R esd’v dlle vs alrsav kv. Rq usw oydv y ekhsanl, qkdl, cwv R clt usw qsa sdl vbkdt, zlv kv ts.”

“As long as neither of us speaks, this will all pass.”

Qin Nan felt something heavy in his chest and glanced back at the house.

The room was littered with bottles, cigarettes, and disorder.

Ye Sibei seemed to realize something and hurriedly got up, “I’ll tidy up, I’ll do it now.”

“Ye Sibei,” Qin Nan watched the woman in the room starting to pick up the bottles. Suddenly, he felt an indescribable sense of helplessness. He looked at her back and said cruelly, “This is just the beginning.”

“You will slowly decay from the inside out. You will spend half your life trying to heal this wound. You will constantly wonder why it was you, what you did wrong, why the evildoer lives well while you end up like this.”

“Now, whatever you do, others might sympathize, thinking you’re hurt. But in the future, when everyone forgets what you’ve been through, and only sees that you can’t even live your own life properly, everyone will just think, Ye Sibei is a bad person.”

Ye Sibei held the bottle, her body trembling slightly. She tried to ease her emotions by hugging the bottle.

“It doesn’t matter,” she comforted herself, “I was like this from the start. My mom says, fate must be believed.”

“Fate can be changed.”

Qin Nan watched her back and said, “You have to try to win once, just win once…”

“But I never won!”

Ye Sibei finally couldn’t hold back. She turned to him, “Do you think I haven’t tried? I have.”

“When I was young, I thought studying hard could change my life, but it didn’t.”

“I thought working hard could change my life, but it didn’t.”

“I thought the hardest times were always in the present, that enduring through them would lead to a beautiful future, but what happened?”

“There are always more hardships waiting in the future, always flaws you can’t overcome waiting for you.”

“I’m not diligent enough, not disciplined enough, not cautious enough, not smart enough, I’m dramatic, foolish, emotionally unintelligent, and at 27, about to have a child, companies don’t want me. At 26, I don’t have a stable job, yet I have a younger brother who’s picky about conditions. I went to college but still ended up with a monthly salary of 3000, while others earn more by doing manual labor. Aren’t there enough criticisms in my life?”

“You want me to win, but what can I win with?”

“Now,” Ye Sibei’s words were mixed with tears, almost inaudible. She raised her hand and pointed to herself, “I have only one wish—”

“I want to live well.”

“I want to live like a normal person, without rebellion, without resistance, without any expectations, just going with the flow.”

“Is that too much to ask?”

Qin Nan remained silent, looking at the woman in front of him.

It was in this confrontation that her eyes became clear and resolute, completely different from her usual compliant self.

He suddenly realized, it wasn’t true.

She spoke of giving up, not rebelling, not resisting, not having expectations to live.

But it was precisely because she hadn’t given up, rebelled, resisted, or had expectations that she felt pain.

Her body lived another version of herself that never gave up, yet she used her body as a prison, trapping herself tightly.

“Ye Sibei,” Qin Nan couldn’t bring himself to look at her, afraid of being influenced by her. He lowered his head, “If you want to live like a normal person, then come with me to the police.”

Saying that, Qin Nan approached and grabbed her wrist again, pulling her to the door.

This time, neither of them resisted. Ye Sibei stumbled as she walked, and Qin Nan just loosely held her, as if it was the last moment of confrontation, and both were running out of strength, on the verge of collapse.

Summoning courage to reach the door, as soon as Qin Nan opened it, he saw Ye Nianwen standing at the door.

He was still wearing that cheap suit, carrying his black school bag on one shoulder. The bag had been with him for many years without a change.

He had lost his usual smile, seemingly growing up in an instant, standing quietly against Qin Nan.

No one knew how long he stood at the door, or what he intended to do. After a while, Ye Sibei hoarsely asked, “Why are you here?”

“Chuchu said Brother-in-law beat Fan Jiancheng, so I came to see.”

Ye Nianwen forced a smile, “I heard you arguing, so I didn’t have the nerve to knock. Shall we go in first?”

“Move aside.”

Qin Nan stared at him, and Ye Nianwen didn’t speak. He lowered his head, his voice barely audible, “The chances of winning the lawsuit are very low if we report it now.”

Before he could finish speaking, Qin Nan suddenly slapped him and grabbed his head, pressing him against the wall, “Is this what you should say to your sister?! You’re a lawyer, and you say this to your sister?!”

Ye Nianwen’s glasses were knocked askew, and he gasped lightly against the wall due to the pain, “I can’t let my sister fight a losing lawsuit.”

“You’re not her, you’re not her relative,” Ye Nianwen’s voice trembled slightly, “You don’t know what she will face. From the beginning, she will be doubted. Everyone will ask why she drank that day, why she went out at night, why she wore a tight skirt that day, what her relationship with the criminal is.”

“They will scrutinize her past, her family, any possible improper behavior, they will say she deliberately seduced, framed others. If she can’t win this lawsuit, others will say she attempted suicide, extortion, became a mistress, or even engaged in improper professions.”

As Ye Nianwen spoke, he looked at Ye Sibei standing next to him. His eyes were red, trying hard to hold back tears, “I understand your anger. If you can’t accept it, you can divorce.”

“But I can’t, watching you ruin my sister.”

Qin Nan remained silent, and Ye Nianwen didn’t move again. Ye Sibei stared into Ye Nianwen’s eyes, and in that instant, she suddenly understood.

That day, Ye Nianwen saw it.

He knew.

That’s why he could accurately describe what she was wearing, what happened, why he said those words to her at night, why he escorted her home at night.

However, her brother, a lawyer, chose silence at that moment.

She felt like laughing a bit, hugging herself with her bracelet, standing at the door, looking at Ye Nianwen.

After looking for a long time, she felt a sense of absurdity for no reason. She raised her hand and gestured casually, wanting to say something, but she lost her words. Finally, she just said, “Let go of him.”

Qin Nan didn’t move, so Ye Sibei walked up to him and raised her hand to release his grip.

The two of them stood face to face for a long time. Ye Sibei finally spoke, “You see, it’s just the beginning, and you’ve already had two fights. If you can’t handle these words, what will you do after calling the police?”

“Violence doesn’t solve any problems. In fact, everyone is very clear-headed—my mother, my brother—they all support my decision. My decision is the right one.”

Qin Nan looked up at her, and Ye Sibei met his gaze with unusual calmness. “Go back and get ready. It’s my father’s birthday tonight. Don’t let the old man worry.”

The two of them stood at a stalemate for a while. Eventually, Ye Sibei turned and patted Ye Nianwen behind her, “Take your brother-in-law away. I want some peace and quiet.”

With that, she entered the house on her own and closed the door.

Leaving only Ye Nianwen and Qin Nan in the corridor, they looked at each other. After hesitating for a long time, Ye Nianwen finally spoke, “Brother-in-law…”

“You’ve known all along?”

Qin Nan interrupted him, and Ye Nianwen lowered his head. After a while, he turned his head and looked towards the surrounding low buildings, as if gathering a great deal of courage. “On April 9th, in the morning, I went to find sources for the case and also went to the hospital. The police didn’t let me see the victim, so I hid around the corner from the victim’s hospital room. At that time, I thought that when the victim came out, I could see who it was. When the police weren’t there, I planned to go to her and tell her that I’m a lawyer, and I would help her seek justice. Please believe me.”

Ye Nianwen imagined what he looked like. He looked a bit ridiculous, and he chuckled, trying to make himself not look so sad. “Then I saw my sister and my mother.”

“Your mother also knows.”

Ye Nianwen didn’t speak, Qin Nan took a deep breath, nodded, “Indeed, it’s a family affair.”

After saying that, he quickly turned and walked downstairs. Ye Nianwen hesitated for a moment, but still followed Qin Nan downstairs. He shouted while chasing after him, “Brother-in-law, my sister didn’t report to the police because my mother and I stopped her. All the faults are ours, not because she’s weak…”

“I know she’s not weak!”

Qin Nan stopped in his tracks and suddenly yelled out, staring at Ye Nianwen. “The weak one is you!”

Ye Nianwen stood frozen in place as Qin Nan stepped forward. “When you were in junior high and didn’t get into a prestigious high school, it was your mom who provided the school selection fee. To cover that fee, your mom didn’t give her any money for studying, and your sister found ways to finish high school and get into college on her own.”

“In college, you spent the monthly allowance from your family on your girlfriend and club activities, while your sister worked hard to earn money. She even felt ashamed to ask for money for a computer from your parents.”

“After graduation, you’ve been living off your family, even asking for money for your marriage from them. Where do you think your down payment came from? Your sister took out a credit loan and lent you fifty thousand!”

“Don’t you know these things, Ye Nianwen? Aren’t you aware?”

Ye Nianwen’s face turned pale, his voice trembling. “I… I didn’t know about the fifty thousand…”

“You couldn’t have known?” Qin Nan interrupted him, exposing him. “You could have known, but you chose not to! Every time your parents did something wrong for your sake, you turned a blind eye and a deaf ear because you enjoyed everything taken from your sister. You were afraid to lose this easy life.”

“Just like all the sacrifices your sister made for you in the past, you always found out too late and then apologized to ease your guilt. If you had acted like a human being just once, your sister wouldn’t be in this situation today.”

“You don’t dare to take her to the police. You say it’s for her own good. But have you seen what kind of life she’s living?! Is this good for her? Is this about not causing trouble for you?! This lets everyone else continue their peaceful lives except for your sister!”

“You are nothing but a coward, a parasite, sucking the blood of your entire family and pretending to be a righteous and kind pseudo-gentleman!”

“If you truly cared for her, if you truly wanted what’s best for her, you would fight for justice for her, tell her she’s done nothing wrong, and let her live proudly in this world!”

“But have you done any of that?” Qin Nan lowered his voice. “You haven’t.”

“I’ve wondered countless times in the past why she turned out like this. Now I finally understand.”

Qin Nan stepped back as he spoke.

“Because your entire family, every one of you, including me,” Qin Nan’s eyes reddened, “has never told Ye Sibei that she was born without fault, that she can live a good life.”

“Never.”