“You don’t understand at all!” Lin Kerou was on the verge of breaking down. Her disheveled hair was stuck to her forehead and she looked pathetic. “Even if I found someone else for myself now, will they treat me any better? Mu Donglin, stop saying such things. I beg you, I will definitely not let anything happen to you. There are still a few hours left. I can save you from death. Lin Ya will definitely pay the price, I swear!”
Mu Donglin did not speak further. He looked at her with pity in his eyes.
She could sense his gaze on her, but did not dare to return it. She could only change the topic awkwardly. “When you’re out of here, our child and I will wait for you to come home.” Lin Kerou placed her hand on her belly. “The baby might know that Daddy is getting out, so he’s been very obedient. The last time I got pregnant, I had morning sickness, but not this time. Everyone says that if the mother craves for sour food, the baby must be a boy; and spicy, a girl. I’ve been craving for sour food recently, so it must be a son. What shall we name our baby? Everyone says that the surname Mu is very nice and easy to make up a name with. However, the name needs to match the baby’s Eight Characters. When the time comes…”
“Kerou,” Mu Donglin interrupted her. “This child is destined to have no father.”
“Hush!” Lin Kerou’s eyes were bloodshot as she shouted angrily. “How can you be so selfish? How can you say such things at a time like this? Mu Donglin, do you even have a heart! You can’t wait for me to die in front of you, can you!”
“I’m not…”
“Since you’re not,” Lin Kerou said in a choked voice, “then don’t say such things again. No matter what happens tomorrow, Brother Donglin, I will always love you.”
I have, and will always love you.
From the beginning, till now.
Whether you live or die tomorrow, I will love you.
Lin Kerou looked at Mu Donglin and said in a trembling voice, “I will love you for the rest of my life. Brother Donglin, I beg of you, give me a reason to go on… alright? Let me… have a little bit of hope in my heart, so that I can go on…”
Finally, she broke down in uncontrollable tears.
A dull thud was heard.
There was a knock on the metal door.
“Time’s up,” the prison guard said in a cold voice. “You should go.”
Lin Kerou cried till her voice was hoarse. When she heard this, she suddenly looked up at Mu Donglin and almost humbly extended her hand. She grabbed Mu Donglin’s shirt through the cold metal bars. Her red and swollen eyes were filled with longing as she said, “Brother Donglin, we’ve known each other for more than twenty years. You’ve never said you love me…”
Mu Donglin kept his arms tightly by his side and did not speak.
Lin Kerou looked at him pleadingly and whimpered. “Brother Donglin, now that things have come to this, I beg of you. Can you… lie to me once?”
Mu Donglin looked at her with a complicated expression.
“Just like… how you had once said it to Li Beinian. Can you love me the same way?” Lin Kerou pursed her lips and looked at him quietly.
However, Mu Donglin seemed to be frozen in place as he looked at her quietly. He clenched and unclenched his fists, but from the start to the end, he showed no intention of speaking.
“Ah!” Lin Kerou clutched his shirt tightly, the veins on the back of her snow-white hands bulging angrily from the force. Her tear-stained face was streaked with a fresh flow of tears. Her voice was sharp and piercing as she shouted, “Do you think I don’t know? You keep calling her name in the middle of the night! Why is it her? Why can she do this! Mu Donglin, what right do you have to treat me like this! I’m your wife, I’m your woman. What right does Li Beinian have! What right does she have!”
