At the end of the year, Li Ling Bai and Quan Si Yun’s case officially went to trial. At that time, Li Jin Yu and Ye Meng had returned to Ning Sui, while Li Chang Jin and Li Zhuo Feng were in England. The only one who attended the trial was Li Ling Bai’s elder brother, Li Wei Cheng. Throughout the proceedings, he had no interaction with Li Ling Bai, not even a glance. He sat motionless for two hours, listened to the judge read the verdict, then stood up, buttoned his suit jacket, and walked out without a word.
“Defendant Quan Si Yun, for the crime of fraud, is sentenced to ten years in prison and deprivation of political rights for four years; for the crime of intentional homicide (abetting and inducing suicide is defined as intentional homicide), is sentenced to death, with lifetime deprivation of political rights. Defendant Li Ling Bai, for the crime of smuggling cultural relics, is sentenced to eight years in prison and deprivation of political rights for two years; for the crime of money laundering, is sentenced to fifteen years in prison and deprivation of political rights for eight years; for the crime of fraud, is sentenced to ten years in prison and deprivation of political rights for four years; for the crime of intentional homicide, is sentenced to death, with lifetime deprivation of political rights… If the defendants do not accept this court’s verdict, they may appeal through this court or to the Supreme People’s Court within ten days from the second day after receiving the written judgment…”
Neither of them appealed.
This trial was attended by many people but was exceptionally quiet. After analyzing the case, all spectators fell silent, shocked by Quan Si Yun’s perversion and malice, and the horrifying extent to which Li Ling Bai had been brainwashed. The profession of psychology was thoroughly blackened that year. Among the familiar faces in the gallery were Wen Yan, Liang Yun An, Lu Ming Bo, and Lu Ming Bo’s student named Liang Ping.
Wen Yan had never particularly liked the couple, Lu Ming Bo and Quan Si Yun. Lu Ming Bo was most adept at moral blackmail. Perhaps Li Jin Yu, due to his depression, might have fallen for it, but Wen Yan never did. All that talk about his “most promising yet difficult to mention student” was just deliberately saying unpleasant things to irritate people. Because Li Jin Yu withdrew from the competition, perhaps affecting his team’s performance, Lu Ming Bo explicitly said he didn’t mind while implicitly pressuring Li Jin Yu through his words—moral blackmail. Wen Yan learned about these things later from Liang Yun An and Ye Meng.
After hearing the verdict, Lu Ming Bo’s face turned ashen. While washing his hands in the bathroom, he encountered Wen Yan.
“Professor Lu.” Wen Yan took the initiative to greet him.
Lu Ming Bo glanced at him, not in the mood to reminisce, gave a grunt, and was about to hurriedly leave. Wen Yan smiled, leaning against the sink, and unhurriedly spoke, “You and Professor Quan don’t have children?”
Lu Ming Bo had heard from Quan Si Yun that this student, Wen Yan, was the most difficult to tame. Unlike Li Jin Yu, who was self-contained, polite, and considerate of the teacher-student relationship, this one didn’t care at all, and he spoke most directly and unpleasantly. Lu Ming Bo was impatient and didn’t want to continue the conversation. He turned to leave, but Wen Yan called after him, “Hey, how did Professor Quan convince you not to have children back then? In the current situation, it must be quite difficult. Of course, with your respected status, there would naturally be many young women willing to take the plunge. But if you want to have children now, I’m afraid…”
He stopped there, leaving the thought hanging.
Lu Ming Bo had already reached the bathroom door but suddenly stopped, turning back with an ashen face to look at Wen Yan: “What do you mean?”
Liang Yun An was standing outside the bathroom waiting for Wen Yan. Hearing the commotion, he instinctively looked inside, then rolled his eyes helplessly. Great, his brother was causing trouble again. Perhaps trying to avenge Li Jin Yu?
Wen Yan straightened up and walked over to Lu Ming Bo. That rebellious face smiled innocently, and he even reached out to dust off Lu Ming Bo’s shoulder, “Don’t be nervous, Professor Lu. I’m just giving you a kind reminder out of goodwill. Professor Quan didn’t leave you with nothing; she might have even left you a son.”
“Impossible! She already—”
Lu Ming Bo almost shouted reflexively.
But he quickly fell silent. His expression became obscure and unclear. Past moments gradually surfaced in his mind, bringing suspicion with them. Wen Yan, a top student in psychology, knew exactly how to target someone’s pain points. For instance, if Quan Si Yun had a son, it would be impossible to keep it completely hidden from Lu Ming Bo over so many years. They must have had suspicions and arguments. Some things hurt more when approached indirectly rather than head-on.
Lu Ming Bo quickly fell into the trenches of memory, scenes rapidly switching in his mind—
The children’s toys were in her bag over a decade ago. Those mysterious phone calls; he had suspected several times that Quan Si Yun might be seeing other men. Quan Si Yun had always denied it, and Lu Ming Bo thought he was overthinking.
But Wen Yan’s words hit him hard—it wasn’t another man, but perhaps a child born from a previous relationship. Lu Ming Bo was in his second marriage; Quan Si Yun had never been married before, but he knew she had a boyfriend whom she loved deeply.
Wen Yan sighed, “Professor Quan was such a conservative person. Having a child secretly with her ex-boyfriend is indeed quite difficult to mention.”
Lu Ming Bo’s whole body trembled, his expression extremely unpleasant.
Difficult to mention, difficult to mention—he had said those words to his student before.
“What’s your relationship with him?”
“I suppose if he were willing to call me ‘brother,’ my words to you would be even more unpleasant right now.”
Wen Yan was younger than Li Jin Yu; it was just a kind of competitive banter between men. Like making the other person call you “dad.”
The day before the execution, Li Ling Bai lay on the cold, hard prison bed. She asked the guard for a cigarette to smoke, then closed her eyes and began to slowly review her life. But she found that she could no longer remember many details.
For instance, how Li Ming Xuan fell in love with her. When she first had relations with Li Ming Xuan, who initiated it, whether she half-heartedly went along with it, or whether Li Ming Xuan forced himself on her—she couldn’t remember clearly anymore.
That day, Li Chang Jin came to visit her in prison. The document contained a paternity test and her accurate birth date.
“Ling Bai, I do owe you an apology. If it weren’t for my desire to give Ming Xuan a child back then, none of this would have happened.”
“Your mother and my wife grew up together, and their relationship was sometimes even close enough to make me, her husband, jealous. Later, your mother developed mental issues because of a man. Despite my wife’s objections, she gave birth to you, but she passed away soon after. So my wife decided to adopt you. This decision was hers; I advised against it at the time because adopting a child is very troublesome. You were a girl, and we only had Wei Cheng then, and weren’t very good at taking care of girls.”
“What about that man?” Li Ling Bai asked, following his narrative.
“He had AIDS. When I found him, he had just received the test results. He said your mother had infected him. He said he had never been with someone so unclean before because he always took precautions with sex workers, only forgetting with your mother. Your mother didn’t have AIDS; she was a good person who just loved someone she shouldn’t have. I thought my wife wouldn’t want to hand you over to him, so I agreed to adopt you.”
“So Ming Xuan and I aren’t biological siblings, are we?”
Li Chang Jin said: “Although you aren’t biological siblings, my wife always raised you as such. She certainly couldn’t accept incest between you two, so we chose not to tell you the truth at that time, hoping your feelings would cool down. That’s why we sent Ming Xuan abroad.”
The three siblings—Li Wei Cheng, Li Ming Xuan, and herself. Li Ling Bai clearly remembered that her relationship with her elder brother was neither warm nor cold. Li Wei Cheng seemed to have no feelings toward her. Compared to Li Ming Xuan, who was born later and was very attached to her, the elder brother was left isolated, while the two of them grew increasingly close. Even when they later crossed boundaries, Li Ling Bai couldn’t stop in time, but half-heartedly allowed the situation to develop.
Li Ming Xuan was handsome and charming, very clingy, particularly popular with girls at school, had an exceptional memory, and superior intelligence, and won first prize in any competition he entered, his eyes shining with an invincible light.
At first, Li Ling Bai was vain, naturally doting on such a handsome, charming, and obedient younger brother.
The first transgression was out of curiosity, tentative. Lying in bed together, Li Ming Xuan put his hand inside her clothes, pitifully saying he wanted to see a girl’s chest. Li Ling Bai naturally refused; she wasn’t that bold. When she realized things were developing in an irreversible direction, she began deliberately avoiding all of Li Ming Xuan’s ambiguous gestures, but Li Ming Xuan became increasingly inappropriate with her. That night, after showering, while she was reading economic theory, Li Ming Xuan burst in without even taking off his clothes, not giving her any time to react, and forced himself on her.
Because he was jealous. By then, Li Ling Bai had already started dating Li Si Yang’s father.
From that time on, Li Ling Bai discovered that Li Ming Xuan’s possessiveness and desire for control were abnormally strong. Whenever she met with her boyfriend, Li Ming Xuan would sleep in her room that same night, even telling her, “If you don’t want to break up with him, we’ll maintain this relationship forever.”
Li Ling Bai was very clear that she didn’t love Li Ming Xuan. Her ambiguous feelings toward him stemmed initially from excitement, vanity, and novelty, but later turned into increasing annoyance, fear, and genuine disgust for the relationship.
Later, feeling completely controlled by Li Ming Xuan, she had no choice but to deliberately expose their relationship to their parents.
As expected, their mother fainted on the spot, while Li Chang Jin appeared remarkably calm. Within two days, they decided to send Li Ming Xuan abroad, trying to cool down their relationship.
The year Li Ming Xuan returned to China, Li Ling Bai got married. After that, things were peaceful for a long time. Li Ling Bai thought he had grown up, but he hadn’t. The four or five years of separation had only made him more obsessive.
The year Li Ling Bai gave birth to Li Si Yang.
Li Ming Xuan kidnapped Li Ling Bai and imprisoned her in his apartment for three days and nights, forcing himself on her day and night. Li Ling Bai’s husband reported it to the police. On the third day, they found Li Ling Bai bound and covered in injuries in the apartment, along with Li Ming Xuan, who had died from a drug overdose.
Li Ling Bai thought the nightmare was over, but she didn’t expect to become pregnant. Naturally, she wanted to terminate the pregnancy. What she didn’t anticipate was that Li Chang Jin would be willing to offer shares in exchange for her keeping the baby.
Now she understood—it was Li Chang Jin’s most beloved youngest son’s—Li Ming Xuan’s—only child.
So she was the most shameful one in the Li family.
Before her execution, the last person Li Ling Bai saw was Dou Ju Hua, through the prison’s 3QC video call. The old woman wore clothes of the same color as hers, clicking her tongue and tugging at her hem, saying, “Oh my, we’re wearing the same outfit.”
A light-hearted comment that made Li Ling Bai burst into tears.
“So ugly, you look so ugly in that outfit,” Dou Ju Hua muttered, talking to herself in the video.
Ten days later, Li Ling Bai and Quan Si Yun were executed.
In December, past grievances melted away like frost and snow in the cycle of days. That winter was exceptionally long; the wind and snow came and went, the bare black branches never sprouting fresh buds, and the wild grass slow to grow. One could faintly hear the spring cicadas buried in the damp soil layers, crying out, “When will spring come?”
“Spring will come soon,” said the tree.
“Many cicadas died this winter,” said the cicada.
“It’s the same; many people died on Earth too,” said the wind, “but many were also reborn. Anyway, little cicada, practice your voice well. When spring comes, you must sing a loud and clear opening song.”
“Where are you rushing off to?” asked the cicada.
The wind said: “To tell the ocean waves to be gentler with people.”