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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 142: The Final Chapter 2
However, that was just the terrible beginning.
At eighteen, she finally came of age, but her marriage with Zhou Xuanyu and Lin Jingming began to be officially discussed by those around her. Everyone said that Zhou Xuanyu had bought a house in France, and he and Lin Jingming would get married there, settling down permanently. Junxi kept self-hypnotizing, pretending she knew nothing, until that time when she found herself stranded in Chamonix Snowfield, and he confirmed it to her in person.
Her naive love was completely frozen in that vast Snowfield, her heart felt as if it had turned to ice. No matter how much she loved Zhou Xuanyu, she couldn't bear to disrupt his happiness with Lin Jingming. Oh no, what was she? Surely, even if she wanted to disrupt it, she couldn't.
Returning from Chamonix, Junxi seemed like a different person. She spent her days in gloom; as Zhou Ziyan put it, "It's not like you've been in a relationship. Why do you seem like you've just gone through a breakup?"
She had indeed experienced a breakup; it was just that her love had come slowly and left abruptly—before it even began, it had already ended.
Just as Junxi felt the cruel joke of fate was so severe, she was wrong; something even more tragic lay ahead.
Her parents were unexpectedly swept into a Corruption Case. She transformed from a heartbroken heiress into a pitiful creature who not only lost love but also faced ruin.
Junxi always remembered the sound of police sirens outside her home that day. Those uniformed officers barged into her house, taking away many documents from her parents' study, and ultimately they took her parents away as well.
Due to the gravity of the situation, reporters followed closely behind. Many journalists attempted to interview Junxi and her brother for headlines; Junxi held her stunned brother tightly and glared at the reporters, forcefully pushing their cameras away. But her strength was too small; she could stop nothing. Even before her parents were taken away in the police car, news of Wen Wei's arrest for corruption had already spread throughout the streets.
Her brother began to cry loudly, and their mother started crying too.
But Junxi did not cry. In that moment, she was calm to the point of being cold-blooded.
It wasn't until the end when her parents were forcibly shoved into the police car that she ran barefoot into the traffic, frantically trying to stop the vehicle… The small stones underfoot hurt painfully, and the blaring horns seemed ready to swallow her whole; yet she acted as if she heard nothing and felt nothing—she just kept running.
She knew deep down that at this moment she could not stop that police car; she could no longer save her parents.
Her mother cried out from inside the police car while her father shook his head at her insistently, urging her not to follow them. But she wouldn’t listen; even though the soles of her feet were already bruised and battered, she refused to stop.
The once orderly flow of traffic was thrown into chaos by her presence. It was at this moment that Zhou Xuanyu suddenly appeared. He rushed over and swept her up in his arms, glaring at her with anger.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he asked as he pulled her away from the traffic.
When Junxi recognized the man before her, tears could no longer be held back. She clung to his neck and cried, as if all her emotions could be redeemed through him. But she couldn't utter a single word, and eventually, she fainted in Zhou Xuanyu's embrace.
Zhou Xuanyu took her somewhere; she didn't know where. In her dreams, she felt his hand gently stroking her hair.
She struggled to open her eyes, but the dim lights blurred Zhou Xuanyu's figure. Only the soft whispers in her ear confirmed his presence.
"Just sleep, everything will be alright when you wake up."
Under his soothing words, she drifted into unconsciousness. When she finally awoke, Zhou Xuanyu was no longer by her side.
She found herself in his house on the outskirts of the city. To avoid being disturbed by reporters, he had brought both her and Jun Xuan to his home.
But he had left.
Junxi couldn't believe that Zhou Xuanyu would suddenly appear and then just as suddenly disappear. She ran around the room, barefoot and covered in scars, calling out his name.
Her brother Jun Xuan sat in the corner, crying as he said, "Sister, stop looking for him. Xuan Yu Uncle has gone; he really has left."
He was gone—truly gone.
And that departure marked five years of silence.
The dream faded, and she had slept deeply.
Junxi woke up to find it was already eight in the morning. Her phone lay quietly beside her pillow; after several failed attempts to turn it on, she realized it had run out of battery.
No wonder it had been silent all night.
She plugged her phone in to charge and stepped out of her room, only to see her younger brother sitting on the sofa.
"Sis, you finally woke up," Jun Xuan said as he rushed over and threw his arm around Junxi's shoulders, not missing the sight of her red and swollen eyes.
"Where are Mom and Dad?"
"They went out to buy groceries and haven't come back yet."
Junxi nodded.
"Brother Zhou Ziyan just called."
"What did he say?" Junxi asked, not feeling particularly interested, though she knew that Zhou Ziyan's call would likely be about Zhou Xuanyu.
"He said Uncle Xuan Yu went to France. There was a person named Jia Man who got into a car accident in France..."
"A car accident!" Junxi exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her seat.
"I don't know if it was really a car accident; Zhou Ziyan spoke vaguely about it, so he probably doesn't know what happened either. But he said Uncle Xuan Yu tried to call you but couldn't get through, which is why he called him. He also mentioned that Uncle Xuan Yu wouldn't be back for a couple of days."
"I don't care when he comes back," Junxi turned her head away.
"Sis, why are you sulking again?" Jun Xuan moved around to cup Junxi's face in his hands. "A car accident is a serious matter concerning someone's life. It's reasonable for Uncle Xuan Yu to go check on it. Besides, he wasn't hiding anything from you; in that urgent moment, you were on stage, and his phone broke, so he couldn't explain everything to you in time. But look, as soon as he landed, he tried to call you back to explain. And it's not like he's gone for long; he's only away for two or three days."
"I don't blame him for leaving for a couple of days. It's just that, Jun Xuan, don't you remember? This isn't the first time he's abandoned us like this. Five years ago..."
"Even five years ago, I believed he had his reasons," Jun Xuan quietly interrupted Junxi.
"Why do you always defend him?"
Jun Xuan lowered his head.
Because on that night five years ago, he had witnessed Zhou Xuanyu's painful expression when he left.
That night, after their sister fell into a deep sleep, Zhou Xuanyu stayed by her bedside, never leaving her side. The heartache in his eyes was so evident that even a child like Jun Xuan could see through it.
As midnight approached, Jun Xuan began to feel drowsy himself. Not wanting to leave his sister, he leaned against the foot of her bed and fell asleep.
But Zhou Xuanyu did not sleep; he continued to hold their sister's hand, sitting by her bedside.
He didn't know how long he had been asleep when he heard Zhou Xuanyu's phone ringing. Groggily, he saw him get up to answer the call. The person on the other end must have said something alarming because Zhou Xuanyu's expression changed instantly.
Jun Xuan sensed something was wrong and thought perhaps something had happened to their parents. He immediately jumped up and ran over.
Zhou Xuanyu had already hung up the phone. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead, and his eyes were filled with anxiety.
"I have to go," Zhou Xuanyu said as he crouched down to look at Jun Xuan.
Jun Xuan didn't know where he was going and didn't ask; he just stared blankly at the sweat accumulating on Zhou Xuanyu's forehead.
Without saying much more, Zhou Xuanyu stood up and hurried toward the door. Halfway there, he turned back and picked up the phone that their sister had left on the bedside table. "I've saved my number on your sister's SIM card. If she needs anything, she can call me. My number won't change."
Jun Xuan glanced at the phone screen where Zhou Xuanyu hastily saved his number, barely having time to write a full note; he only entered the initials of his name: ZXY.
Seeing Jun Xuan in a daze, Zhou Xuanyu pressed down on his shoulder.
"Jun Xuan, don't worry. I will arrange for someone to take care of you and your sister. But from today on, you must protect your sister like a man."
Zhou Xuanyu spoke earnestly and seriously.
Jun Xuan seemed to understand but still obediently nodded.
Zhou Xuanyu then stepped outside, his footsteps unsteady and hurried, looking as if he was about to topple over...
"Are you saying that Zhou Xuanyu received a strange phone call at that time, which is why he left?" Junxi asked.
In the past five years, she had been so busy that she never had a moment to sit down and properly discuss what had happened that night five years ago with her brother.
In her subconscious, she believed that Zhou Xuanyu had simply left her, but she never considered why he would leave her or thought to ask him. Because she didn't have the energy to celebrate his good news.
However, it was only today that she realized perhaps something unknown had happened the night Zhou Xuanyu suddenly left.
Why did Lin Jingming suddenly become a figure he turned pale at the mention of? And who exactly was Jia Man, who was always by his side?
She had lived unchanged for five years, but what about him? What had he experienced?
Junxi kept asking herself and was eager to know the answers.
"I need to go to France," Junxi said.
"What? My sister! Xuan Yu Uncle will be back soon. Are you so eager to see him?"
"Yes. I want to see him right away," Junxi said as she stood up to go back to her room to change clothes and pack her things.
During this time, Wen Wei and Yang Tingfang returned as well. Upon hearing Junxi's sudden decision, the couple had no objections.
"Going out to clear your mind is fine, but remember to stay safe," Yang Tingfang reminded her. "Don't let it be like that time in Chamonix; you have no idea how scared I was. And about Xuan Yu, when I called him, he was taking wedding photos..."
As she spoke, Mother Yang seemed to realize her mistake and quickly fell silent.
Junxi didn't ask further. From her mother's and brother's words, she increasingly felt that Zhou Xuanyu from back then wasn't as heartless towards her as she had imagined.
"Jun Xuan, call Zhou Ziyan and have him send Zhou Xuanyu's new number to my phone," Junxi instructed Jun Xuan.
"Oh."
"And Jia Man's hospital address."
"Are you going to see her?"
"Don't worry about that, just ask as I said."
"Okay."
A few hours later, when Junxi landed in France, it was already dark.
She opened her phone to find several messages waiting for her, all from Zhou Ziyan. The first one contained Zhou Xuanyu's phone number. However, Junxi didn't want to contact Zhou Xuanyu just yet.
Asking him to come pick her up would be too much of a concession. Besides, she should still be angry with him, so her pride told her she needed to go on her own and catch Zhou Xuanyu off guard.
Having decided to be self-reliant, Junxi quickly pulled up the message with Jia Man's hospital address. The message was forwarded and written entirely in French.
Junxi, having graduated with a degree in languages, considered herself proficient in foreign tongues. Yet, when it came to French, she found herself utterly lost; no matter how hard she tried, nothing seemed to stick. Not only was she unable to communicate effectively, but she struggled even with the simplest greetings.
After pondering for a while without any solution, she randomly approached a Frenchman, attempting to converse in English. However, he waved his hand dismissively, indicating that he didn’t understand her, and walked away.
She tried several others, but none showed even the slightest enthusiasm for her English.
She had heard that French people were not keen on learning English, and now it seemed to be true.
The airport entrance was bustling with crowds, and Junxi couldn’t see an end in sight. Just as she felt overwhelmed while staring at the phone number on the screen, contemplating whether or not to call Zhou Xuanyu, her phone suddenly rang.
The screen displayed Zhou Xuanyu’s new number. She flinched, hesitating whether to answer.
“Why didn’t you call me when you arrived?” a familiar voice came through.
Junxi was taken aback; she hadn’t even answered the call yet. She quickly looked up.
Zhou Xuanyu was standing right in front of her, holding his phone. She didn’t know when he had gotten there.
“Why didn’t you pick up when you saw my call?” he asked again.
It was then that Junxi realized her phone was still vibrating in her hand. She hurriedly pressed the button to end the call and looked up again to see Zhou Xuanyu walking toward her step by step.
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