Chapter 22: The Escape

She had no family and no friends; she could survive anywhere on her own. As long as she wasn't here, she could still live.

Ye Xiangwan pulled the IV needle from the back of her hand, ignoring the beads of blood that rolled down her skin. She scanned the room and spotted her phone on the nearby nightstand. Straining to move, she bit her lip hard to suppress a groan.

Checking the time on the phone, she realized she had only been unconscious for two days, yet it felt like a century had passed—a time so agonizingly long.

She gently pushed back the covers, desperate to escape the house that seemed to have drained her very lifeblood. But as soon as her feet hit the floor, her legs gave way, and she collapsed to her knees with a dull thud.

Feng Jinyan woke up instantly. His eyes snapped open, darting around with uncontrollable panic. When he saw that Ye Xiangwan was still in the room, the panic vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by a dark, heavy gloom.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Watching Ye Xiangwan kneeling on the floor, her hands gripping the bed frame as she tried to pull herself up, he strode over to the other side of the bed and reached out to help. "The doctor said you need to rest. You can't move around like this. And your stomach—what exactly..."

"Smack!"

Ye Xiangwan slapped his hand away viciously. She stood up, gripping the edge of the bed, her eyes bloodshot. "Get out!"

Feng Jinyan clenched his jaw, but after a moment, he finished his sentence: "Your stomach is in bad shape; you need to be hospitalized. The doctor says it’s from prolonged stress and an irregular diet. What have you been doing these past six years..."

"Get out!"

Ye Xiangwan pounded her small fist against his chest. "I told you to get out! Did you hear me? What I did in the last six years has nothing to do with you! What kind of relationship do we have now?!"

Feng Jinyan narrowed his eyes. Her punches were painless to him, but her expression of utter repulsion fueled the anger he had been suppressing. He stared at her, her eyes wide with fury, and curled his lips into a cold smirk.

"What kind of relationship?"

Feng Jinyan pressed forward step by step, forcing Ye Xiangwan to retreat unsteadily until she was backed against the wall, barely able to keep herself upright.

"You want to know what our relationship is? Huh? Why didn't you aim that punch at my face just now? Couldn't bring yourself to do it? Was that it? Speak! Is that it?!"

He grabbed her slender wrist, his fingertips digging into her bone until it ached.

Yes, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Looking at the face that was etched into the very core of her heart, she simply couldn't strike. Even now, she couldn't find the ruthlessness to act.

How pathetic she was. Once a person gives their heart to another, they become so spineless that even they feel disgusted with themselves.

"Ye Xiangwan, you still have feelings for me, don't you?"

Watching the pain in her eyes, Feng Jinyan felt a sense of vindication, yet a strange, inexplicable sorrow left him unable to feel any true joy.

Ye Xiangwan took a deep breath. She pried his fingers off her wrist one by one, her eyes filled with bloodshot intensity, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

"What exactly... do you want from me?"

Feng Jinyan paused for a moment and turned his head away. "I don't want anything. Just stay here. Don't go anywhere."

"Feng Jinyan, you’re an animal."

Ye Xiangwan clenched her fists, staring daggers at the man who showed not a shred of remorse.

Feng Jinyan didn't answer. He let out a scoff, turned, and strode toward the bedroom door. He paused as he opened it, not looking back, his voice deep and heavy: "I will have people watch you. Get some rest."

He stepped out and closed the door. In the silence of the night, the sound of the lock clicking shut was chillingly clear—the bolt seemed to drive itself into Ye Xiangwan's heart.

She rested her forehead against the cold wall, feeling as though her heart were bleeding with every breath.

Perhaps this is the most terrifying thing in the world: the person who pushes you into the abyss is the one who once gave you heaven.

Ye Xiangwan made no futile struggles. For the next week, she stayed quietly in her room. Bodyguards stood at her door day and night. She knew that even if she managed to evade their eyes, in her current physical state, she wouldn't even make it out of the villa complex.

Feng Jinyan did not return for the entire week. On Weibo, she saw news that he had gone to Nancheng a few days ago. It wasn't that she wanted to follow his life, but the internet was currently flooded with news about him.

#Master Feng's recovery after his heroic act# #Master Feng and Lu Yuyao# #Master Feng makes a special trip to Nancheng for Lu Yuyao...#

She didn't want to hear or see any of it. It felt like she couldn't escape Feng Jinyan's clutches as long as she was online, so she simply turned off her phone and tossed it onto a chair in the distance.

Thanks to the time she spent unconscious, she finally remembered: Lu Yuyao was Feng Jinyan’s childhood fiancée. Now, with the backing of his resources, she had signed with his family's company, and her debut film was a literary project with a prestige far above the usual commercial fodder.

The directors of such films were notoriously strict, and with the shoot location in Nancheng—and Feng Jinyan there to be with his girlfriend—it was unlikely he would be back anytime soon.

What was this, then? Did he want her to rot in this prison? Ye Xiangwan shook her head with a bitter smile.

After night fell and everyone was asleep, even the bodyguards grew lax, as she had been so quiet. Ye Xiangwan sat up and got dressed. Her original clothes were gone, so she wore a set she had taken from Feng Jinyan’s wardrobe. The familiar scent filled her nose, and for a moment, she felt dazed.

A while later, she cut the bedsheets into strips, twisting them together until they were long enough to reach the ground floor.

She pushed open the window, and the biting wind of the winter night rushed in. She stood in the draft, carefully surveying every corner of the room. The wind tonight was different from that night six years ago—it was cold, stinging her cheeks with pain.

Back then, she had thought Feng Jinyan was her light, her only tenderness. She never imagined he would be the blade that pierced her, leaving her bloodied and broken.

How beautiful it was then, and how sorrowful it was now.

Ye Xiangwan looked blankly at the room that had once filled her with such joy, now a hollow ruin. There was nothing to take and nothing to leave behind. She bent down, tied the sheets to the window frame, and climbed out.

The villa complex was an upscale neighborhood. For the sake of privacy, the houses were far apart, with no real interaction between neighbors. Aside from the security cameras, no one noticed a figure descending from the window. Wrapped in the bitter winter wind, she walked away, her footsteps deep and uneven in the thick, fresh snow.

The winter snow over Beijing buried the city.

At the same time, thousands of kilometers away, Feng Jinyan woke up from his sleep with a sudden, inexplicable jolt.