Lin Qiong stared at the banknotes that fell before him, feeling as if his world was collapsing.
"No! No! No!"
Lin Qiong screamed, attempting to get up. The white sheets were marked with traces of his struggles, resembling a fish trapped in a net, unable to break free no matter how hard he fought.
Fu Xingyun slightly lifted himself, placing his hand casually on Lin Qiong's shoulder. With a gentle force, Lin Qiong was pressed back onto the bed.
"Aren't you the one who loves money the most?" Fu Xingyun looked at him. The pleading tone echoed in his ears, and for a moment, a hint of reluctance appeared. However, recalling the recorded conversation, he steeled himself.
Lin Qiong knew that man was evaluating him. The fiery gaze felt nauseating, making him tremble with fear.
Fearful and wanting to escape, Lin Qiong felt repulsed by the gaze of a stranger.
"Do you fear me?" Fu Xingyun said, raising his hand to grip Lin Qiong's slender waist. "You also know what fear is?"
Lin Qiong trembled even more violently. The warmth from Fu Xingyun's hand felt like burning, causing him pain. He wanted to push it away, but it was futile.
For some reason, at this moment, Lin Qiong's mind was filled with thoughts of Fu Xingyun.
If only Fu Xingyun were here.
If only Fu Xingyun were here...
Lin Qiong's eyes turned red in an instant.
If Fu Xingyun were here, he wouldn't let anyone bully him.
But... But Fu Xingyun was driven away by him, betrayed by his lies and deception time and time again.
Deep down, Lin Qiong understood Fu Xingyun's goodness better than anyone else. In the beginning, although Fu Xingyun was impatient with him, he still gave him a large room and a black card, things he had never experienced in two lifetimes, aside from the emotional aspect, Fu Xingyun gave him everything a husband could give to his wife.
In the following days... Lin Qiong tightly gripped the bedsheets beneath him. Those days were the happiest and most carefree time of his life. Fu Xingyun would look at him with an unprecedented tenderness.
When a cold person extends a hand to you, it's like the warmth of spring.
Terrified, Lin Qiong bit his lips, his breath becoming increasingly rapid. His mind was filled with the day when Fu Xingyun confessed to him.
Fu Xingyun cautiously asked him if he could be with him.
He ran away, but his heart remained with the man and never returned back to his chest.
Only now did Lin Qiong realize that he wanted to be with Fu Xingyun, to stay by his side, to let him look at him with that gentle gaze.
But today, when he saw Fu Xingyun at the event, the depth of his gaze revealed the absence of the previous tenderness and affection. A single glance made him feel like he had fallen into icy depths.
He couldn't help but wonder if Fu Xingyun knew that he married him for money and didn't love him.
Was Fu Xingyun disappointed in him? Would he stop loving him in the future?
He questioned his own worth. After all the lies, deceit, and escape, did he have the right to expect Fu Xingyun to continue loving him?
He said he was leaving, he deceived him, and he was the one running away.
Lin Qiong wanted to pry open those hands on him, but he had no strength at all.
Then, as if holding onto a lifeline, he said again, "Do you know who my husband is?!"
"If you dare touch me, you're done for!"
Clearly a threat, but the voice couldn't stop trembling, and it didn't sound like intimidation or threat at all.
Lin Qiong breathed heavily, his smooth and fair shoulders trembling, never stopping his struggle for a moment.
Seeing that the hand that had already reached his waist showed no sign of leaving, he said in fear, sweating cold, "My husband is Fu Xingyun! If you dare touch me, I'll go tell him and let him teach you a lesson!!!"
Fu Xingyun watched the person struggling helplessly on the bed, and hearing those words, he felt a strange sensation in his heart.
Only at this moment, Lin Qiong would think of him.
Fu Xingyun understood better than anyone that if Lin Qiong hadn't been threatened, he wouldn't have remembered him, wouldn't have sought him out.
Now, he needed him only to get out of this predicament.
The words of the other person's agent, calling him an old pervert, echoed in his mind.
As Lin Qiong spoke, those hands stopped their movements.
As if intimidated.
Lin Qiong almost instantly felt a huge sigh of relief in his heart. Then, as if having been protected, he somewhat weakly collapsed on the bed.
One hand slowly reached for the bedding to cover himself, but halfway through, it was suddenly grabbed.
Lin Qiong's eyes widened in an instant, the fear in his eyes seemed to overflow.
He shook off the other person and warily asked, "What are you doing?! Aren't you afraid?!"
The man responded with a question, "Afraid of what?"
Lin Qiong, frightened, wanted to quickly crawl away, "Aren't you afraid my husband will teach you a lesson?!"
"Teach me a lesson?" The man held onto Lin Qiong's barefoot, pulling him back, "You two are getting divorced, why would he want to teach me a lesson?"
"Even if I sleep with you today, what can you do about it?"
Up until now, the two of them hadn't made eye contact. Lin Qiong struggled with his back turned to him, and Fu Xingyun, as the one in the dominant position, observed everything.
When the other person had deceived him, he didn't seem pitiful at all. He was even arrogant, like a little fox playing tricks, making him spin around in circles.
Fu Xingyun was that kind of person—anyone who offended him, he sought revenge against.
Lin Qiong was initially an exception, but the repeated rejections and evasions made him no longer an exception.
Upon learning the lies behind the marriage, his first thought wasn't to blame him. Instead, he finally understood why Lin Qiong didn't like him. That day, he drank a lot, smashed everything in his house that could be smashed, but he didn't destroy the other person's room.
He believed that Lin Qiong would come back someday. If he found his room in a mess, he would probably be angry.
He liked Lin Qiong in every way.
After the lawyer played the recordings for him, he came over with a last bit of hope. After the initial anger, his emotions were filled with nostalgia. He wanted to come and tell Lin Qiong that it didn't matter, that it was okay.
Even if there were no feelings now, they could give it a try. He wouldn't do things that Lin Qiong didn't like, and he wouldn't force the other person.
He lowered the bottom line of his thirty years of life to the maximum, humbly wanting the person to come back. Previously, Fu Xingyun had never bowed his head to anyone.
But what did he get in return?!
Fu Xingyun looked at the person who was trembling like an injured little beast at this moment.
The other person didn't care about him at all.
Lin Qiong denied their past, even denying his existence.
When the host asked if he had a lover today, the moment Lin Qiong shook his head, his heart died.
The once vibrant and cherished love had begun to decay, and what he got in return for his humility was an even more indifferent attitude.
He couldn't take it anymore.
He would get everything he liked, and if he couldn't, destroying it wouldn't bother him.
Compared to those who had hurt him before, Lin Qiong seemed inconsequential.
But this hurt was enough to make people wail in pain.
Lin Qiong felt like the sky was falling at that moment, but the other person's voice continued, "You like money. Accompany me for a night, and I'll give you enough."
"No... no... I can't..."
With crimson eyes, Lin Qiong stared at the scattered bills on the bed. He didn't want them; he didn't want a single penny.
Was money really the thing he desired most?
He had only two things he desired the most—wealth and love. The latter weighed more, but he had sealed it away in his heart, not even letting a glimmer of light through.
If he hadn't been deceived because of money in the beginning, if someone could have helped him even with a piece of bread when he was down and out...
But others had no obligation to do so, and he would never wait for it.
No one loved him...
These thoughts had struck him hard. Since there are no emotions, he decided to just hide them away.
He had forgotten that little kid who used to envy the families in the dessert shop after school. In the beginning, all he wanted was family and love.
The last protective wall in his heart completely collapsed, and tears streamed uncontrollably down Lin Qiong's face. Like beads that had lost their strings, they flowed ceaselessly.
Fu Xingyun, who had planned to play around a bit more, noticed the lack of response from Lin Qiong. He raised his hand and pinched Lin Qiong's leg, but Lin Qiong only buried his face deep in the sheets.
Fu Xingyun frowned. The other person made no sound, and revenge seemed meaningless. He raised his hand and turned Lin Qiong over.
Then, Lin Qiong's eyes, red and teary, looked up at him. He tightly bit his lower lip, and tears continued to slide down his face, silently crying.
Fu Xingyun's heart sank like a dagger.
Tears kept flowing from the corners of the other person's eyes. Fu Xingyun subconsciously raised his hand to wipe them away. His voice, initially cold and harsh, softened considerably. "Why are you crying?"
Even though Lin Qiong was the one who lied to him from the beginning, and he was just retaliating, he hadn't done anything yet, and the other person was already crying like this.
Lin Qiong slightly turned his head, half of his face buried in the snowy white bed. His eyes were red, the tip of his nose was red, and the disheveled hair stuck to his cheeks because of the tears.
Pitiful.
Watching the person sobbing continuously, Fu Xingyun instantly lost his temper. Regret and self-reproach intertwined, unwilling to act now but also unable to bear the deception.
He thought he could be ruthless towards Lin Qiong, but seeing the other person's face, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
As Fu Xingyun's hand, which had been wiping away tears, was about to leave, it was weakly grabbed by Lin Qiong. The sobbing voice, accompanied by trembles, pleaded, "Please, please, can you... can you not touch me?"
"Please... I beg you... please..."
Lin Qiong began to move, slowly getting up. He knelt on the bed, completely bare, and changed his approach by grabbing onto the person's clothes, looking up at the dominant figure with a pleading expression.
"Please, I beg you... I don't want this money, I..." Lin Qiong tightened his hands, tears streaming down, and he heard the person breaking down, "I have someone I like, but I did something wrong. I dare not face him. If you touch me, then I won't be able to see him again. I beg you... please spare me."
Lin Qiong's sobbing continued, "Please, I beg you."
"I... I can give you something else." Saying this, he suddenly lunged towards the clothes on the side, frantically searching. Finally, he took out his salary card from his wallet.
With trembling hands, he handed it to the person, "I'll give you money, is that okay?"
"This... this is all the money I have."