novelraw Chapter 0124 The Blank 3 Years
Chapter 0124 The Blank 3 Years
The next morning.
Apartment study.
The room was filled with smoke, making people's throats dry.
Jiang Ci sat behind that large black desk, with countless cigarette butts scattered at his feet.
sleepless nights.
His eyes were bloodshot, and stubble was growing on his chin. He exuded a sense of despondency and anxiety on the verge of collapse.
He was waiting for an email.
An investigation report from a top overseas private investigation agency.
Wen Ning's inexplicable sleep-talking last night—"mission," "electric shock," "don't hurt him"—was like a thorn, piercing the cracks in his understanding of the past three years.
He needs to know the truth.
He needed to know how she had spent those three years when she disappeared.
"bite--"
The computer screen lights up.
The email has arrived.
Jiang Ci's fingers trembled, and the ash from his cigarette fell onto his expensive trousers, burning a small hole.
But he was completely unaware.
He took a deep breath and gripped the mouse.
Click to open.
The attachment is very large.
It contains hundreds of high-resolution photos, as well as detailed financial records, residence records, and medical records.
Jiang Ci had always imagined that he would see her living in a large apartment in the heart of Paris, wearing haute couture, painting, and attending various celebrity dinners.
I thought she would be holding Zhou Xu's hand, living the "easy" and "superior" life she described.
however.
When the first photo pops up.
Jiang Ci's mind went completely blank for a moment.
It was an old apartment building located on the edge of Montmartre in Paris.
The exterior walls are mottled and peeling.
The detective wrote in the notes:
[Residence: Attic in a semi-basement.]
"basement?"
Jiang Ci's voice was dry and hoarse.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
He slid down quickly.
The second photo.
Winter. Snow falling heavily on the streets of Paris.
Wen Ning was wearing that familiar, faded old overcoat, with a scarf covering half of his face.
She sat on a roadside bench, carrying a heavy easel on her back and holding the cheapest discounted baguette in her hand, munching on it.
Her hands were red and swollen from the cold.
The third one.
The kitchen of a restaurant.
Wen Ning, wearing an apron, stood in front of the sink.
She is washing dishes.
His eyes were vacant, and he mechanically repeated the same movements.
"Snapped!"
Jiang Ci slammed the laptop shut.
It felt like my heart was being squeezed tightly and then crushed.
Blood was everywhere.
That's impossible.
That's absolutely impossible.
She is the eldest daughter of the Zhou family.
She was Zhou Xu's beloved younger sister.
Even if she didn't care about his money and threw his black card back at him.
But what about Zhou Xu?
What about the man who kept saying he could "give her a stable life"?
Jiang Ci's hands trembled as he turned the computer back on.
He opened the [Financial Transaction Record].
This is the key to unlocking all the mysteries.
On the screen were strings of pitiful numbers.
Sources of income: street performance, restaurant part-time job, convenience store night shift.
Expenses went to: [Rent], [Discount supermarket], [Painkillers].
And in the "Large Transaction Records" section.
It was a glaring blank.
There was no transfer from the Zhou Group.
Without Zhou Xu's financial assistance.
There wasn't even a single remittance from within China.
At the end of the report, the detective highlighted a passage in red:
The investigation revealed that the target woman repeatedly refused accommodation and financial assistance offered by Zhou Xu while in France. She severed all economic ties with China, insisting on living alone, which could even be described as...self-exile.
"Self-exile..."
Jiang Ci stared intently at those four words.
The logic has collapsed.
The closed loop of logic that had sustained his hatred for three years and made him believe that she was "snobbish and opportunistic" had completely collapsed.
Why?
Jiang Ci grabbed his hair and let out a suppressed growl.
"If you're in it for the money, why don't you take Zhou Xu's money?"
"If you're living a life of luxury, why choose this kind of lifestyle?"
"You threw my card back like trash, and you don't want the Zhou family's money either..."
"Then why did you leave so decisively back then?"
Since it's not about the money.
They don't care about others.
He even tortured himself into this terrible state because of it.
Then there's only one possibility.
A possibility he hadn't dared to even consider for the past three years, and had even deliberately avoided—
She has her reasons.
A sorrow greater than the sky itself.
Jiang Ci looked at the photo on the screen of her eating bread in the snow.
Looking at her frostbitten hands.
Then she thought about what he had done to her over the past month.
He stuffed the check into her collar to humiliate her.
They forced her to sign a contract selling herself into servitude.
Put an anklet on her.
They mocked her, saying she only came back for the money.
"I'm an idiot..."
Jiang Ci suddenly stood up.
The chair was knocked over and made a loud noise.
remorse.
Overwhelming regret engulfed him like a tsunami.
What did he do?
He personally tormented that silly girl who was punishing herself for some reason.
He imagined her as a greedy demon and then used the cruelest means to take revenge on her.
But in reality...
She was the one who was truly suffering.
"Wen Ning..."
Jiang Ci stumbled and rushed out of the study.
He needs to find out the details.
Whatever her reasons, whatever that damn "mission" was.
He wanted to get to the bottom of things.
The bedroom door was pushed open.
Wen Ning is still asleep.
She curled up in the blankets, her brows furrowed, restless even in her sleep.
That thin little face was as pale as paper.
Jiang Ci walked to the bedside.
With a "plop".
Kneel on both knees.
He reached out, his hand trembling, wanting to touch her face.
But it stopped just before they were about to meet.
He doesn't deserve it.
After seeing those photos and learning the truth...
He felt dirty.
I felt that my hands were stained with her blood and tears.
While she was suffering abroad.
He indulged in extravagant socializing and drinking in the country.
She was washing the dishes.
He hates her.
"sorry……"
He buried his face in the sheets, his shoulders heaving violently.
She let out a sob that was suppressed to the extreme.
"Baby...I'm sorry..."
These three years.
I've made you suffer.
It turns out that my so-called "dream of marrying into a wealthy family" was just a show you put on for me, a performance to force me to give up.
And me.
They actually believed it.
They even treat you like an enemy.
Jiang Ci raised his head.
His eyes were bloodshot.
"It's okay."
He took her hand outside the blanket and rubbed it against his face.
His voice was hoarse, yet it conveyed a kind of obsessive, almost manic persistence.
"Since you don't want to talk about it."
"Since you're going to act..."
"Then I'll play along with you."
"But I would never..."
"Let you suffer a little bit more."