On the way back to Ji Qikun’s house, Wei Zhi sat in the passenger seat, stealing glances at him through the side mirror.
He looked perfectly natural, gripping the steering wheel with one hand as he usually did, his gaze fixed on the lane ahead.
Silence flowed through the air like thick ink, crawling over Wei Zhi’s skin. She couldn't help but break the stillness.
"…You know who sent those documents?"
Ji Qikun initially gave a casual, noncommittal hum from the back of his throat. Then, he tilted his head to glance at her, adding with a smile:
"We both know—don't we, Xiao Zhi?"
The space inside the car suddenly felt cramped, like the mouth of a narrow abyss. Cold air rose from beneath her feet. Those few words were like hands reaching out from hell, tightening around her throat and stealing her breath.
After turning the wheel, Ji Qikun looked at her again, his expression incredibly tender.
"Don't be afraid. No matter what happens, we are family."
His low, soft words were like a cold snake winding and slithering against her ear, its sharp scales scraping against her soul with a skin-crawling sound. Wei Zhi sat motionless in the passenger seat, maintaining her listening posture, but her soul felt as if it had been extracted, drifting toward a future dissolved in darkness.
The Bentayga pulled into the residential complex’s underground garage. After getting out, Ji Qikun stood at the front of the car, waiting for her.
"Come." He smiled and extended his right hand toward her.
Wei Zhi gently placed her left hand, adorned with the diamond ring, into his.
He led her back into his home, only releasing her hand once they were inside. Before her eyes, he changed into the slippers she had bought for him and leisurely stepped toward the kitchen island.
Ji Qikun took a bag of sealed coffee beans from the cabinet. As he operated the coffee machine, he spoke.
"Let's not cook tonight. What do you want to eat? I'll order takeout."
"I want to talk to you first," Wei Zhi said, standing in the entryway and watching him.
"Chinese or Japanese? Or do you want something else?"
"I don't have an appetite right now."
"Then let's order from that sushi place we had last time. Oh, and what kind of coffee do you want? This bag I grabbed is Panama Geisha—"
He held the jar of coffee beans, the smile on his face like a meticulously rehearsed scene from a play. The corners of his mouth were turned up slightly, revealing a row of neat, white teeth that complemented his handsome features. However, this smile was like a thin layer of ice, appearing as if it were shining through a mask, carrying an unsettling perfection. His eyes, which should have been the windows to his soul, seemed shrouded by a cold night, devoid of any warmth, mechanically staring at Wei Zhi.
"…Anything is fine." She chose to be submissive.
"I remembered you liked this one." Satisfied with her answer, Ji Qikun lowered his head to work on the coffee machine again, a smile still playing on his lips.
Five minutes later, the machine extracted two cups of fragrant coffee. The entire living room was filled with the floral and fruity notes of the brew. Yet, within that warm aroma drifted a hair-trigger chill.
As Wei Zhi reached out to take a cup, Ji Qikun suddenly spoke.
"Wife, is there anything you want to say to me?"
Her hand hesitated in mid-air before she pulled it back, clutching her other hand.
"Do you want to divorce me?" Ji Qikun asked again.
This time, she shook her head immediately.
"Does shaking your head mean you want to, or you don't?" He pressed her, step by step. "Can you not even be certain of your own thoughts?"
"I don't want a divorce," Wei Zhi said.
"Since you don't want a divorce, why did you lie to me again and again?"
Ji Qikun’s right hand gently brushed her cheek. His fingertips were slightly cool, his skin delicate, but wherever he touched, he left behind a stinging sensation, as if she were being corroded by acid.
Under his touch, she couldn't help but hold her breath, her words of defense choking in her throat.
"When you lie to me like this, do you really love me?" he whispered.
"I—"
A sharp, stinging slap interrupted Wei Zhi’s words. Her head snapped to the side from the force, her black hair falling in a mess before her eyes. For a long moment, her head rang with a dull buzz.
Immediately after, the perpetrator lifted her chin.
As if the person who had just delivered that slap was someone else entirely, he looked at her startled face with nothing but adoration.
"Do you know how much I love you, Xiao Zhi? Even after being deceived by you like this, I still want to give you a chance."
"Let me tell you now exactly when I began to know all of this."
Ji Qikun’s words made Wei Zhi stop her struggle. That slender hand seized the opportunity, sliding down from her chin to slowly stroke the pulse point of her neck, as if he might squeeze the breath out of her at any second.
"…From the very beginning," he murmured, leaning close to the burning half of her face.
His warm breath fanned against the spot where she had been hit, making the pain even clearer. Wei Zhi was powerless to retreat.
"Weng Xiuyue certainly went to great lengths to hide herself. Faces and figures can be changed, but there are certain characteristics that no amount of effort can mask."
"Specifically: muscle movement, the gaze, subconscious micro-gestures, walking posture, and voice. These might be hard for an ordinary person to distinguish, but for a talented painter, it’s a basic skill. Since my first year of university, I have been practicing figure drawing. Capturing these details is the simplest thing in the world."
He released her neck and, wearing a smile, picked up the coffee in front of him.
His dark red lips lightly touched the rim of the glass. The coffee rippled gently, the dark brown liquid swaying heavily in the cup. Light filtered through the window, casting mottled shadows across his face.
"I was well aware of all the little schemes she was running underneath. Including her finding you when you were desperate for money and delivering you right to me."
He set down the coffee cup, his gaze full of pity as he looked at the shell-shocked Wei Zhi.
Poor lamb.
Poor butterfly.
Poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor.
Lovely.
"No one but me will stand by your side. My poor Xiao Zhi, I love you so much. Because without me, you truly have nothing."
His smile held a trace of malice. Within those hollow, beautiful black pupils, a light shone more brightly than ever before.
"A debt of one million is nothing to me. Even if you wavered in the middle and betrayed me to cooperate with Weng Xiuyue, as long as you eventually came to your senses, I was willing to forgive you—because I love you that much. I love you more than anyone else in this world. I was absolutely certain that no matter how many people tried to beguile you, you would eventually return to my side. You were bound to discover—"
"That only we are truly of the same kind."
Sweet words spilled one after another from those dark red lips. But inside the crystal-clear, rock-candy coating was the black, foul-smelling sludge of a swamp.
His hand was no longer on her throat, yet Wei Zhi felt unable to breathe, as if all the oxygen had been sucked away by his words. The air, though filled with the scent of flowers and fruit, rushed toward her like a vacuum. Her internal organs felt displaced, twisted, and ready to burst.
"You knew all along… then why did you still…"
"I didn't want to hide anymore," Ji Qikun said with a smile. "I’m tired of living a life where I have to hide my identity. This is clearly my hometown; why should I have to go far away because of a stupid, stubborn woman?"
"She wants to catch me. Well, it just so happens that I want to catch her, too."
He wore a teasing smile and whispered:
"She screened many prey for me, but I only like you. I witnessed your growth step by step and recognized your qualifications to be my wife."
"When you found the password and opened my computer, I have to admit, you impressed me."
"You—"
"The GPS on the phone was just for show."
Ji Qikun left the kitchen island, stepping gracefully into the wide living room.
"This house—from the door locks down to the power strips—everything is linked to my phone." He turned to face Wei Zhi, his expression showing an irrepressible sense of triumph. "From the moment you moved in here, your every move has been under my control."
Wei Zhi could only stand there blankly, unable to say a word.
This was his one-man show, his moment to display his superiority.
In countless moments, when Ji Qikun looked at the smart notifications on his phone alone, he felt a sense of being extraordinary. And it was true; he stood above everyone else. He had never failed to get what he wanted.
He was naturally superior to everyone, so it was only right that he controlled those who were foolish. In fact, giving up on thinking and entrusting everything to him was the only smart thing those fools could do.
Only Wei Zhi was different. In her, he felt a sense of kinship.
The kinship of using any means necessary to satisfy desire; the kinship of using intelligence to escape adversity unscathed; and added to that, a heart that was precarious and liable to shatter at any moment. Everything about her attracted him intensely.
He had suppressed his inner restlessness, waiting, waiting, until his phone received a notification from a smart plug: "Your computer is online."
Waiting, waiting, until he took the chance while Wei Zhi was showering to remove her diamond ring, take out the miniature recorder inside, connect it to his computer, and hear the breakdown of the cooperation between Wei Zhi and Weng Xiuyue.
Once Wei Zhi’s true credit records reached Ji Zhongyong’s hands, he knew—
The waiting was over.
"I can give you money, money you could never earn in a lifetime of striving. I can also give you love, the kind of love you’ve never truly received in your life."
Ji Qikun walked toward Wei Zhi.
She instinctively backed away.
Until her back hit the cold floor-to-ceiling window, Ji Qikun’s face was inches away. He grabbed her arms and suddenly flipped her around so she was facing the white clouds swirling outside the window, her back pressed tightly against his body.
"As long as you help me…" He covered her eyes with his left hand while lowering his head to take her earlobe into his mouth. His deep voice became ambiguous and blurred. "Make that woman disappear."
His voice possessed a seductive magic.
"Just like you did with your parents and your brother. Make it so she can never disturb our happy life again."
A jolt of electricity surged from her earlobe through her entire body. Wei Zhi’s fingertips slowly curled against the cold glass. Her vision was blocked by Ji Qikun, and she could hear nothing but his voice. His presence completely occupied her senses.
"I didn't do anything… those were just accidents."
"Yes, accidents. Everyone knows that what happened to Mei Man was also an accident," Ji Qikun said, unmoved. "I just hope Weng Xiuyue can also 'accidentally' disappear. You can do it. After all, you’ve already succeeded three times."
"You’re being completely unreasonable!" Wei Zhi struggled with all her might to break free from his restraint, staring at him in disbelief. "I would hurt my own mother?"
"Looking at the results, you were the sole beneficiary of all three 'accidents.' The dead weight was gone, the bloodsucker was gone, and the rogue was gone. A new chapter of your life opened, and there was no one left to drag you down." Ji Qikun laughed. "It’s no use pretending. For people like us, blood relatives and strangers are essentially the same."
"I’ve told you many times, those were accidents! If I had the ability to manufacture accidents that even the police couldn't solve, would I have suffered for so many years?!"
"That’s because your methods are sophisticated and your mind is sharp," Ji Qikun said. "That is exactly what I admire about you."
"Wei Lai fell into the well because the heavy rain washed the cover out of place! My father died of a heart attack because he was overly agitated! As for my mother, she ended her own life with her own hands! These things are all clear and documented! Every single one involved factors beyond my control. Your speculation is too far-fetched—it’s pure delusion!"
However, no matter what Wei Zhi said, she couldn't make Ji Qikun abandon his absurd idea.
He seemed to have fallen into a logic that he believed was flawless, dead set on the belief that the accidental deaths of Wei Lai and Wei Shan were orchestrated by Wei Zhi.
And now, he was asking her to replicate a fourth accident.
Only now did Wei Zhi understand why Ji Qikun had defended her so resolutely when Ji Zhongyong first demanded they break up. The delusion had started then; in his world, she had already become a highly skilled murderer.
He had placed his hope of being rid of Weng Xiuyue forever onto her.
"…I can't do it," she said. "I’m not as powerful as you think. I can't kill someone and then get away with it by making it look like an accident."
To Ji Qikun, her refusal was merely because she hadn't been moved by the terms he was offering yet.
Wei Zhi was a smart person. He understood this better than anyone after their journey together. Every time, she brought him infinite surprises. He simply didn't believe that someone he admired so much could have been pushed into his life by a series of mere accidents.
His blind faith in Wei Zhi stemmed from his blind faith in himself.
"Weng Xiuyue is a bomb, not just for me, but for us," Ji Qikun said. "If you don't want a divorce, you’ll have to solve this problem with me sooner or later. She will haunt our lives just like she did before. Every time we have a glimmer of happiness, she will strike to destroy it. I’ve been entangled with her for eight years; I know her nature better than anyone. She won't stop until I’m dead."
"I want to start over with you." He squeezed Wei Zhi’s hand tightly, crushing any attempt to pull away. "I love you. I want to live a peaceful life with you. I want a normal life. I want to form a happy family with you and our children."
He pressed his forehead against the back of her hand, his body trembling slightly.
"…As long as Weng Xiuyue is alive, we can never have that kind of happiness."
A sobbing sound squeezed out from deep in his throat, like the last few drops of water whimpering in a dried-up riverbed. He lifted his face, the redness in his eyes now clearly visible, like the sky outside the window stained red by the setting sun.
"I love you. I want to spend my life with you. Don't you feel the same way?"
"I…" The wound on her cheek was still throbbing, but Wei Zhi’s expression now showed signs of being moved and hesitant. "Of course I do. But what you’re asking… I really can't do it."
"You can. Just like before," Ji Qikun said. "It won't be hard for you."
"But…"
"As long as you agree to contribute to our happiness, I will tear up the prenuptial agreement and immediately transfer one million in cash to your card as a gift."
"Even if you divorce me immediately afterward, you can take half of my assets—at least twenty million."
Wei Zhi’s words of refusal died in her throat.
"Please, okay?" Ji Qikun seemed to see her wavering. His voice became even more seductive, his handsome face even more captivating. "We are husband and wife. We should work together to protect our marriage."
"Wife, help me one last time, okay?" he whispered sweetly in her ear.
After a long silence, a faint change appeared in Wei Zhi’s expression. The submissiveness that had previously floated on the surface was gradually replaced by coldness.
"I want the prenuptial agreement destroyed first," she said.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 瑰夏 | Geisha | A premium variety of coffee beans (Panama Geisha). |
| 添越 | Bentayga | A luxury SUV model by Bentley. |
| 魏来 | Wei Lai | Wei Zhi's younger brother. |
| 魏杉 | Wei Shan | Likely Wei Zhi's father (implied by context of the family accidents). |
| 婚前协议 | Prenuptial agreement | The legal document Ji Qikun forced Wei Zhi to sign. |
