Her pupils shrank back as she looked at Lu Nanze.
He was staring at her with stubbornness in his eyes.
He said slowly and clearly, “Qiao Lian, I’m sorry.”
He was sorry that he could not let his father go to jail. Even if murder had to be punished, would he be the one to send his father to the guillotine?
That wasn’t possible.
Qiao Lian merely felt an explosion of fury inside her chest.
She glared at him with hatred in her eyes.
She was infuriated.
He would rather get burnt in order to destroy the account book. All for his father’s sake!
It wasn’t wrong of him to protect his father, but what about her parents’ reputation? Who was going to defend them?
Were they to die just like that?
That feeling of injustice overwhelmed her and, like a child who had been wronged, tears started to pour down her face.
Her gaze fell on the brazier.
The account book had been half burnt.
And Lu Nanze’s arm was blistering badly now.
If this continued, his arm would be crippled.
She was angry enough to let him lose an arm.
But she looked up suddenly and their eyes met.
For some odd reason, her memories of the arrogance in his youth, the way he had sacrificed himself to save her when they were abducted, came to her and she suddenly led his hand away from the brazier.
His hand was still tightly clasped around her wrist, their arms locked over the centre of the brazier.
Then, she watched helplessly as the account book burnt to ashes, disappearing forever.
The room was silent, only the flames danced as they too began to disappear.
At last, Lu Nanze let go of Qiao Lian.
She stared at the brazier as eight years of grievances suddenly erupted within her.
Right there and then, even her tears seemed to have forsaken her.
She felt greatly dejected.
There was no way to prove her parents’ innocence.
The hard work that she had put in for so long had come to nothing.
Her fingers curled into fists with strength and she clenched her jaw tightly as she glared at Lu Nanze. Through gritted teeth, she said slowly one word at a time, “Lu Nanze. I, Qiao Lian, will never forgive you. For the rest of my life.”
After these words, she turned and walked out.
Lu Nanze sat on his bed and stared at her figure vanishing in the distance.
He extended his hand to ask her to stay, but that stretched hand could not reach her disappearing silhouette.
He stared blankly into thin air for a moment and then hung his head.
He felt as though a knife had been plunged into his heart, repeatedly grinding to go deeper.
He knew that there would never be any possibility of being together with her ever again.
–
As Qiao Lian walked out of the ward, she burst out in tears.
She sobbed as she walked.
Crying like a dam unleashed, her tears rolled down her face non-stop.
When she saw Shen Liangchuan, who had by now subdued the two bodyguards at the door, she started bawling loudly at once.
She flew into his embrace and cried her heart out.
“The account book is gone, my parents’ reputation is tarnished forever.”
“Everyone in the world thinks they were scammers, but they weren’t. They were good people, they were kind and generous, they were charitable and contributed much to society.”
“Shen Liangchuan, I’m so devastated, so very devastated… What should I do? What about Qiao Yi?”
