Fan Jialuo woke up from his slumber that very same night. He rested one hand against his forehead while the other gently patted the edge of the bathtub. A slight frown formed on his face, seeming as if he was worrying about something.

The night was dark and almost silent, and there were no birds chirping nor any insects buzzing. The only sound came from a black mist flowing through the gaps in the windows, as it entered again and again, and following it was an ominous smell.

After shaking his head for some time, Fan Jialuo finally gave up his struggles. In a few swift movements, he rose from the cold black water, donned a silk robe, opened the door of his apartment, and walked to the rooftop.

The iron door opening up to the rooftop was very heavy. It made a creaking sound even as it was being pushed open.

A hoarse female voice anxiously asked, "Who is it?"

Fan Jialuo did not answer, and just continued to walk forward quietly.

The young woman standing on the edge of the parapet surrounding the roof opened her eyes and cried out in fear, "Don't come here!"

For some unknown reason, the anxiety and suffering she carried in her heart had been greatly relieved the very moment she saw the other person.

This other person was a good-looking man. His soft black hair was gently being blown about by the wind and his bright eyes reflected the countless stars in the sky.

Even as he walked in the darkness, his body seemed to be shining and reflecting the moonlight, as if his entire being was emitting light all by itself.

The woman looked at this person blankly, and even forgot her initial purpose for climbing onto this parapet.

During the time she remained preoccupied with thoughts about his appearance, Fan Jialuo had already walked up to the spot where she was standing.

"Come down, it's dangerous up there." His voice was as gentle as a cool breeze.

The woman immediately returned to her senses and shook her head as she refused, "No, no, no. I won't come down. I want to die for him."

The 'him' that she was referring to was the tenant on the fourteenth floor-her boyfriend.

Fan Jialuo looked up at her and suddenly made a baffling request. "Can you give me your hand?"

"What?" The woman was stunned, and didn't know how to react. She thought that this person would either reason a lot with her and try to persuade her to not jump, or call the police.

But it was useless.

She had to jump down from here today and let Lin Qin take a good look.

She had to show him and let him believe that true love still existed in this world, and that there was a person who was willing to give everything up for him.

"Give me your hand," Fan Jialuo gave up on making it a request and directly issued an order instead.

As expected, the woman no longer doubted him, and subconsciously stretched her hand out in response. By the time she returned to her senses once again and wanted to retract her hand, her fingertips had already been grasped by Fan Jialuo.

His strength of his hold was very light, simply a slight pinch at the tip of her fingers. His skin was cold, just like a piece of jade that had been buried in the ground for years. And his attitude was very cautious, full of respect and courtesy.

Almost immediately, the anxious woman gave up struggling and let him gently touch her, even though she had no idea what it meant to allow him to do so.

"I will not save you," Fan Jialuo said seriously.

"You are the only one who can save yourself. Please close your eyes and remember the past, revisit and clearly view the memories involving the person dearest to you. If you are still willing to jump down from here after you open your eyes, I will not stop you."

The women remained stunned for a long moment before finally asking, "Close my eyes and remember?"

"Yes," said Fan Jialuo, nodding in agreement.

"Remember the times when you were together. I will not interfere with any of your decisions."

The woman finally understood what he intended to do. He seemed to want her to calm herself down and settle her emotions, after which he would try to persuade her to change her mind once again.

But he was obviously wrong.

To let her remember the little things and memories from when she had been together with Lin Qin would only deepen her despair and pain, and ultimately strengthen her determination to die.

In any case, she had decided to die in front of Lin Qin, and thus allow him to have a good look at what desperate love was like.

Then, for the rest of his life, Lin Qin would always remember her and always love her-but he would end up waiting in vain because she would never come back.

This is the biggest punishment for him!

The woman gave a sad smile, looked pitifully at Fan Jialuo, then closed her eyes and began to recall.

However, what she did not know was that when her thoughts and feelings were travelling down the past, the negative emotions that had accumulated in her heart were quietly being absorbed by the fingertips that were gently touching her.

The woman thought back to her first meeting with Lin Qin.

In order to forget the girlfriend who was his first-love, that man had laid with his head down on the bar, and was drunk and crying like a lost child while holding an empty wine bottle.

He said that he would no longer believe in love, but his eyes were full of tears.

Feelings of heartache pinged off the woman's nerves and automatically pulled her towards Lin Qin.

She had the cheek to talk to him, persuade him to go home, and try to heal his wounds. She thought her presence could be his salvation.

This memory was originally tearful, but it was also beautiful and made her sad every time she thought back on it she still couldn't stop smiling.

But at this moment, for some reason, certain details that she had never noticed were intensely magnified.

Although Lin Qin was quite drunk, he was able to sit steadily on the high rotatable chair with ease. He had been nothing like the ordinary drunkard- whose face would be full of tears and body would sway left and right.

When he mistook her to be his first girlfriend and hugged her tightly, the bartender standing behind the counter had winked and laughed at him, as if he had long been used to this trick.

When he talked about his heartache, his eyes flashed with complacency and contempt...

All the illusions that Lin Qin had deliberately created were now exposed to her through these extremely clear memories.

From the very first memories, those about the beginning of their relationship, the woman then thought back to their first date, their first intimate contact, and their first cohabitation...

Lin Qin had said: You have such a bad personality, who will tolerate you except me?

But in fact, the woman's character had always been very amiable and she had many good friends. It was only after she got together with Lin Qin that she gradually alienated them, and eventually became a lonely person.

Lin Qin had said: Don't work, I will support you!

But in fact, their living expenses had always been her responsibility. Lin Qin had never paid a single cent. Whenever she owed a debt, she had to work several more jobs in order to pay it back.

Lin Qin had said: Without me, what will you do in the future?

But in fact, without him, the woman could have lived a better life and spent all the money she had earned on herself or her parents, rather than providing Lin Qin with a luxurious life, one in which she couldn't even gain his recognition.

Recalling up to here, the woman felt an unprecedented despair take over, and she couldn't help but move forward slightly.

Fan Jialuo squeezed her fingertips abruptly, but in the next second, gently let them go.

The woman was still as she stood on the parapet, and her expression showed that she was struggling.

She began to recall all their happy memories. Then she realized that beneath their sweet past and beneath the facade of happiness, lay hidden hideous and malicious intentions.

Her feet continued to shuffle forward, then backward, and backward again, before once again moving forward-her body was swaying, just like a leaf about to be blown away by the wind.

Finally, all her memories about Lin Qin converged into a single moment-

He had squinted, puffed out a smoke ring, and then, in a disdainful tone she never heard before, had said, "If you are willing to die for me, I will believe in love."

Die for Lin Qin?

The woman's soul struggled fiercely as that specific memory consumed all her thoughts.

She suddenly realized that this sentence was not Lin Qin conveying about wanting to witness a display of her sincere feelings, but was rather an inducement.

He wanted to push her into falling into the abyss of death!

It's not love, it's murder!

He didn't care for her at all, he only ever wanted to take her everything, which he did, and then slowly destroy her. He had emptied her body and her wealth, and he had crushed her self-esteem and self-confidence to bits.

He had turned her from a healthy person into a broken fragment, one that had lost even her sense of independence. Now that he had found a new toy, he wanted to throw this used-up fragment away.

In his eyes, she was not his girlfriend-she was merely prey, or a trophy, or even just a puppet.

If she did jump today, it would not end up becoming a punishment for Lin Qin, or even for herself. Instead, it would only bring pain to her parents, relatives and friends who were left alone in the world and still loved her deeply.

In that moment, the woman was finally able to see through all the things that she hadn't been able to see, the things that she couldn't think of, and that she couldn't understand before.

Lin Qin spoke of love with his mouth, but his eyes were always filled with a cold light.

A prodigal son who had been hurt by love?

No, it was merely a facade for the poisonous snake that had raised its head and was ready to strike its unsuspecting prey.

Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes and screamed.

Then, she found herself standing on the edge of a high-rise building. With just a single step forward, she would fall to pieces.

She had vowed to die in front of Lin Qin, in order to let him know that there was a person in the world who loved him with all her heart and soul.

Now that she thought back to her words once more, she felt that she had been so stupid, so miserable, so hateful!

She would have made a joke of her entire life if she had ended it for such scum!

The woman gasped, and then laughed coldly. She jumped off the parapet, squatted down beside the wall, and buried her head between her knees, and it was unknown what thoughts were in her head.

Fan Jialuo retrieved his hand and waited.

Seeing that the woman no longer desired to die, he left quietly, just the way he had arrived here.

When the heavy iron door was once again opened, the woman spoke up hoarsely, "Thank you for saving me!"

"You saved yourself." Fan Jialuo left these simple words behind as he waved his hand without looking back.

The woman hurried to the door, only to find that he had disappeared.

She stood silently for a moment, then slapped her forehead and cried out, "Ah! I remember, he seems to be Fan Jialuo!"

In just a few minutes, the woman had broken away from the depths of despair and had become open-minded and looked full of vitality.

But she didn't feel that this change was abrupt or odd in any way at all. Instead, she was undeniably pleased with it.

She stomped down the stairs like a cheerful bird flapping its wings. When she reached the 14th floor, she opened the fire extinguisher glass cabinet, took out the axe and hacked at the door of Lin Qin's house.

There were several families living on the floor, but none of the neighbouring residents wanted to run out to see what was happening.

Lin Qin was startled awake by the sound of the axe smashing into the door. When he reached the source of the noise, he found an axe pierced through the door of his house, and his face instantly paled with fear.

In fact, he was a very timid man and did not dare to resist when faced with such situations.

He hurriedly took out his mobile phone and dialed 110, but then discovered that the building had no signal at all.

Fortunately, after the door was thoroughly destroyed by the axe, it was nailed to the door panel, and then there were no further movements. It seemed that there was no plan to spill blood in the house. And soon after, the sound of footsteps gradually receding resounded.

Only after he was sure that the perpetrator had left did Lin Qin open the door, after which he proceeded to pretend to yell at the empty corridor aggressively.

-

The very next day, as soon as Fan Jialuo woke up, he sent a message to Bai Mu via email, in which he asked him to invite Shen Youquan out for a small gathering.

[If you can, please ask Mr. Shen Youquan to bring his wife and children with him.]- Fan Jialuo added this in the email.

Not a second later, Bai Mu replied- [Alright, I'll arrange the meeting. This is my mobile phone number and also my WeChat ID. If we have something in the future, we can contact each other in this way. This is more convenient than sending an email.]

After thinking for 10 minutes, Fan Jialuo accepted Bai Mu's advice and added him as a contact for convenience.

[Today, 12 p.m., at Lotus Pond Night restaurant. If necessary, I can bring Dingsheng Group's chief lawyer.]

Sensing the high efficiency of Bai Mu's work, Fan Jialuo sincerely thanked him but refused his kindness.

[There's no need for a lawyer. I want to talk to him about some personal matters. Outsiders are not allowed to be present.]

[So I'm not an outsider?]- This message was deleted less than two seconds after it was sent, and was formally changed to- [Okay, I'll see you then.]

Upon seeing this, Fan Jialuo's eyebrows rose slightly and his smile turned amused, but he did not reply.

...