No matter what, Zhao Guifang's visit to the Chi family was already a foregone conclusion.
Chi Yu harbored deep dissatisfaction, but her mood improved slightly when that actress came to her door.
She had allowed the damn kidnapper to live a few extra days, but it was time to deal with him.
Chi Yu borrowed her personal therapist's office to stage a little drama.
When the kidnapper heard from the bodyguards that he was going to see a psychologist, he could hardly believe it.
He had been held captive for a week, treated well with good food and drink, and no one had beaten him, except that he wasn't allowed to leave.
This was completely different from the brutal beatings he had imagined would follow his capture.
There had been a time when the kidnapper had suffered severe mental problems and had frequented various treatment centers.
He was more familiar with therapy rooms than most.
As he stepped into the room, a female psychologist in a white coat was waiting for him.
The doctor smiled gently and gestured for him to sit.
"I have a basic understanding of your situation. If Mr. Feng doesn't mind, why don't we start by talking about your first love?"
With bodyguards standing around the room, their eyes on him, Feng Zhixian had no choice but to comply.
He didn't want to refuse anyway.
The greatest love, hate, and regret in his life revolved around his first love.
"She was beautiful, the belle of our college," Feng Zhixian said, a dreamy expression on his face. "A lot of people were chasing her, and I was just a nobody among them. But miraculously, she chose me to be her boyfriend. She said I was kind, honest, and gentle."
Separated by just a wall.
Chi Yu, wearing headphones, heard the last line and couldn't help but smirk with mockery.
Kind and honest? Isn't that just another way of saying he was a sycophant?
Feng Zhixian's face was filled with sweetness, as if he was ready to lay bare every detail of his and Wen Rui's dates.
A sharp voice came through the doctor's earpiece, Chi Yu's voice: "Make him shut up and move to the next topic."
"I heard Miss Wen broke up with you in her third year and found a new boyfriend. You loved her so much—were you heartbroken?"
Feng Zhixian's face froze as his happy recollections were abruptly cut short.
He hadn't realized that a real psychologist wouldn't agitate a patient like this, and his expression darkened with a trace of resentment.
"Heartbroken doesn't even begin to describe it. I tried to kill myself several times, but it never made her come back to me. She married that man quickly. What was so great about him anyway? Just because he had some money? Women are all vain creatures!"
In just a few words, Feng Zhixian became agitated, his eyes red as he swept everything off the table, rising from his seat, breathing heavily, a picture of impotent rage.
The doctor calmly raised her hand to soothe him. "Please, calm down. Sit down. After she got married, did you continue to pursue her?"
"Of course! I loved her!" Feng Zhixian grasped for an excuse for his obsession. "How else could I prove my sincerity unless I stayed by her side?"
"And did she respond to your advances?"
A glimmer of hope returned to Feng Zhixian's eyes. "Yes, she did! She told me she admired ambitious young men. She said if I could become as rich as her husband, she would come back to me."
The doctor no longer needed to guide him; she knew the man would continue on his own.
Just moments ago, Feng Zhixian had been exuberant. Now he slumped into his chair, deflated like a punctured balloon.
"I was worthless. I borrowed two million from my family to invest, but I lost it all. I couldn't face her."
He clutched his hair, agitation creeping into his movements. "But I couldn't help myself. I watched her every day in secret. I saw her belly grow larger and knew she was pregnant."
"She was pregnant, huh?" Feng Zhixian's face flushed, twisted with fury and malevolence.
"She was carrying his bastard! I wanted to strangle her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I just watched her from the shadows, followed her everywhere."
"Until the day she gave birth. At the baby's one-month celebration, the Chi family hosted a grand banquet, and I got an invitation. I went, heartbroken, but do you know what I found at that party?"
Chi Yu raised her eyebrows next door, and the doctor followed suit. "What did you discover?"
Feng Zhixian licked his chapped lips, speaking in a tone laced with a mix of anger and twisted satisfaction. "I saw her having an affair with another man behind her husband's back. Her newborn daughter was lying in the crib, staring at them curiously."
Chi Yu had no idea that her late sister-in-law Wen Rui had such a scandalous past.
There was no script to cover this part, and the earpiece remained silent. As the doctor was about to improvise, Chi Yu's voice came through.
"Ask him what he did next."
The doctor touched her earpiece, staring at the pale man before her. In a soft voice, she asked, "I imagine you must have been outraged. Did you tell her husband the truth?"
"No, I didn't."
Feng Zhixian seemed almost schizophrenic, his face a mask of fury one moment and smiling the next.
"He was being cheated on—I was thrilled! Even though Xiao Rui didn't choose me for her affair, it didn't matter. The man who ended up with her was just as pitiful as I was. Isn't that exciting?"
The doctor was rendered speechless by his deranged reasoning. "...It's said that the Chi family's eldest son and his wife died in a car accident when their daughter was six months old. That must have been devastating for you."
Feng Zhixian's eyes flared with anger, glaring at the doctor.
"Psychologists are supposed to comfort their patients, not pry into their personal affairs, aren't they?"
He seemed unhinged, yet surprisingly alert when it came to sensitive topics.
A voice came through the earpiece: "Well done."
The actress stood up under Feng Zhixian's menacing gaze, escorted out by the bodyguards.
Chi Yu, who had been listening for some time, entered the room and sat in the doctor's former seat.
Feng Zhixian flinched instinctively at the sight of her.
Chi Yu noticed his momentary fear and couldn't help but laugh. "What are you afraid of? Shouldn't I be the one afraid of you?"
But you seem to have the upper hand, Feng Zhixian dared not say.
He feared Chi Yu because the protection he once enjoyed had been stripped away five years ago.
His parents, fed up with his repeated failures, had given up on him. After all, they still had a younger son to raise.
With the power of the Chi family, it would be all too easy to make someone disappear without a trace.
"Now that I've fallen into your hands, I accept my fate. Do what you will—kill me or torture me. I'm ready."
Chi Yu sneered coldly. "What a naïve dream. Do you think I'd let you die so easily? You'll taste the torment of all eighteen levels of hell while still alive."
The girl before him, with a face as delicate and vibrant as spring flowers, resembled neither her father nor her mother.
That menacing aura of death surrounding her was unfamiliar and terrifying.
Feng Zhixian began to squirm in his seat.
He had taken great pleasure in tormenting others, but now that it was his turn to be on the chopping block, fear consumed him.
"Answer the doctor's question first." Chi Yu tapped the table, bringing the sweat-drenched Feng Zhixian back to reality.
"I'm curious about the real reason behind my parents' car accident. If you can reveal the truth, I might consider being lenient."
(End of Chapter)