JingYuan closed his eyes at XueQing's question. Through clenched teeth, he replied, "I asked. He said since we had an engagement, he didn't want to be a homewrecker. He shouldn't exist."
XueQing was stunned. Tears dripped down her cheeks. "This silly boy. This silly goose. Why should he not exist? It's all my fault. Why did I have to get married to you out of the blue? It nearly killed HanHan," she mumbled.
"You didn't know this would happen either," he replied with a hand massaging his brows, "It's not your fault. But have you not realised there might be something wrong with him mentally? Do you think a normal human would commit suicide over something like this? And in such a decisive manner as slashing his throat?"
XueQing's eyes went wide. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Are you saying he's sick?"
There's no doubt at all about JingYuan's feelings for her younger brother. He'd protected HanHan for so many years. Everyone could tell. She knew that there was no one else, aside from the Bai family, who'd love her brother as much as JingYuan. More than anyone else, he would never wish for anything to go wrong with her brother. The slightest hint of cursing her brother would send him into a raging frenzy. If he's the one saying something like that, it must mean he was rather certain of it. This realisation made her heart sink.
"It's just my guess. I don't wish for it to be true, but this was the result of my observations over these few hours. I suspect someone's been insinuated something and planted some psychological traps his mind," JingYuan said.
XueQing clenched hard at the couch's arm. "Psychological traps?" she repeated through gritted teeth.
"That's right. Psychological traps," JingYuan replied with cold eyes. "On the way back, he was spaced out. Ignore the fact that him being terrified of his own follower being a suspicious incident, just think about his actions last night."
"When HanHan snapped out of it," he continued, "he did his very best to maintain distance with me. He acted all cold and alienating. I thought he was angry at me then, so I didn't think too much on it. Then, in his panic, he thought the liquor was water and downed half a bottle. After he got drunk, he started muttering gibberish.
"He said he was very dirty. He even said he 'couldn't wash himself clean'. He constantly emphasised he'd be a good boy. He begged me not to leave him, even said I was a liar. I'd leave in over a year and never to return. After I leave, people will start hitting him, insulting him. I'd ignore it all. He even said he was dead. He wouldn't bother me anymore. He wanted us both to fly off together.
"He described his 'death' in detail. He said he feinted to get a policeman to shoot him," JingYuan explained. His fingers curled into a finger gun and pointed to his heart. "Bang."
XueQing's body flinched at the soft "bang". Her nails dug deep into the couch's arms.
"I felt just like you do back then. I was so upset that in my agitation, I gripped him hard. He didn't even dare to dodge. He only whispered that it hurt. I wanted to open up his clothes to see if I'd hurt him, but he had a major reaction," JingYuan said.
He took a deep breath and wiped his face with a hand. Only then could he continue his tale, "He screamed. He hid under the table and said to me, 'Please don't do this. Kill me.'"
When XueQing heard those words that rang hard of implications, her eyes went red. She looked like a witch in a dark and threatening forest. "He once told my mother he had a nightmare," she said after a pause. "HanHan dreamed our entire family went bankrupt and we plummeted into poverty."
JingYuan nodded. "Combined with this behaviour, I think the most likely scenario would be someone planting something into his psychology and vaguely described a horrible 'future'. Whatever he described should be what he saw would happen in the 'future��. The Bai family would go bankrupt. I'd leave and go far away. He'd…die a gruesome death. From how scared he was of that Feng Qun, that person should be part of the 'future' and that guy was definitely not part of the good side.
"HanHan might act arrogant and bossy, but he only acts like that in his familiar surroundings. He's all soft putty when talking to strangers. He's truly a coward. He only 'grew up' after seeing those terrifying scenes from the 'future'. He learned how to cherish what he had. Perhaps he was part of the reason for those scary scenes. That's why he thought he 'shouldn't exist'," JingYuan mused.