Chapter Twenty-Eight: Leng Zheng's Statement (Revised)

"Xiao Zheng, you’re awake." Leng Zheng slowly opened her eyes, gazing at the person before her, trying to recall what had happened...

It seemed she had fallen ill that night and lost consciousness. After fainting, she vaguely heard Cheng Yunting's anxious voice...

"Xiao Zheng is awake!?" The Qin brothers exclaimed excitedly, all crowding around.

Leng Zheng froze for a moment, her heart racing with panic...

So... they knew now...

She tried to sit up, but Cheng Yunting had already pulled her into his arms.

The Qin brothers all looked speechlessly at Cheng Yunting, but none dared approach, afraid Xiao Zheng might be upset...

"So... you all know now?" Leng Zheng looked at the men before her and asked.

They nodded, then, realizing something, shook their heads.

"I suppose Yuxiu has already told you. I’ll repeat it once more—it doesn’t matter." Leng Zheng smiled faintly.

"Xiao Zheng, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s all right. You don’t have to," Cheng Yunting said, his eyes rimmed red with pain for her.

"It’s fine. These things... I should face them now." Leng Zheng shook her head and smiled at Cheng Yunting. "Don’t worry, I’m all right."

Cheng Yunting closed his eyes and nodded, saying nothing.

"I remember, back then, my godparents were still alive...

One day, by chance, I wanted to practice my hacking skills. I wanted to see if I could get into my godmother’s phone without leaving a trace.

In the end, I succeeded, but what I saw in her chat with my godfather... On that day, my impression of them was utterly shattered.

I always thought they were especially... fond of me, that they admired me for my abilities and liked me a lot. But I was wrong...

Godmother and godfather thought I was talented in every way, and for that reason, they believed that, both emotionally and rationally, I should inherit the Qin and Su families in the future. But what if I betrayed them? That would destroy the efforts of generations.

So, they conspired with the elders to inject me with two doses of a serum—it was a poison. Once it took effect, I would fall unconscious, cough blood, suffer a fate worse than death. There was no cure, but there was a suppressant.

As long as they had the suppressant, their plan was to keep it in a fixed place and have the steward inject me each month. If I ever left the Qin family, the poison would torment me.

If I went even a day without the antidote, I wouldn’t recover.

After seeing that conversation and understanding their intentions, I refused to go along. I wanted to leave, go somewhere else.

But though my hacking succeeded, my skills weren’t perfect. By evening, godmother knew I’d breached her phone.

She knew me well and realized I was planning to run. That night, she locked me in the basement and forced the poison into me, leaving it to take effect for an entire day.

When the poison took hold, I truly felt life was worse than death. It seized my mind, made me harm myself.

Even then, I didn’t dare make a sound, terrified she’d inject me with another, even worse poison. All I could do was bite my arm, forcing myself to stay silent.

On the third day, godmother injected me with the suppressant and left me in the basement overnight. In the morning, someone injected me with another drug, tormenting me through another night.

After that, someone whipped me with a lash, torturing me with that device for five or six hours... I can’t remember the details—all I remember is the pain.

After that, I found I became immune to all anesthetics and painkillers. They stopped working for me.

I must have been around nine years old then...

Later, godmother and godfather realized they didn’t have long to live.

So when their enemies came to kidnap them, they surrendered without resistance and went along.

Their enemies called me, demanding I come save them, alone and empty-handed.

When I arrived, godfather pressed the detonator. I don’t even know why—perhaps I just blamed myself for everything.

The pressure was overwhelming. I thought, if only I’d acted sooner, could I have saved them?

That self-blame haunted me, so I devoted myself to building up the company, always trying to make amends.

Emotionally, I was shattered. I didn’t know where to go, so I remembered the black market and went there to vent my feelings.

At the time, the black market was holding a ranking for assassins. I impulsively signed up, just wanting to play, to let off steam.

I found the formalities tedious, so I challenged all the ranked assassins at once, signing a life-and-death agreement—it was clear: live or die, the black market bore no responsibility.

I remember I won, but sustained many injuries. On my way out of the black market, I met Sister Yuxiu, who later helped treat me.

From then on, I was left with aftereffects—every month, around the ninth or tenth, I’d faint, lose consciousness, and cough blood among other symptoms.

Worst case, my heart would stop; best case, I’d just cough blood.

This was caused by prolonged stress and the two poisons mixing inside me.

Sister Yuxiu has developed a suppressant, but I don’t want to take it. I’m simply too tired, too weary of treatment.

The treatment itself is excruciating. Sometimes I think death would be easier.

Yuxiu is something of a blabbermouth—she’s probably already told you the method.

It involves using electric currents to trigger the poison’s effects.

Then, special silver needles are used to draw out the toxins, repeating the process. My consciousness must remain clear—no anesthesia, no fainting, I must stay awake throughout.

At first, when the poison hadn’t penetrated so deeply, the current could be mild, because the toxins hadn’t reached the bone.

But I kept delaying the treatment, and now the poison is deep in my bones. Only severe attacks can draw it out, and I’ll need hundreds of sessions to expel it all. But my body isn’t strong enough to handle that now.

The poison my godmother gave me can only be treated this way, which is why I can’t skip the injections.

Every month, I relapse. The pain starts in my heart, stabbing like a knife, recurring over and over. Then it invades my stomach and intestines, like undergoing surgery without anesthesia, and usually the attacks last half a month—without exception.

High-voltage electricity plus the poison’s effects is already a fate worse than death. Add to that the lack of anesthesia, the necessity of remaining conscious, and it’s unbearable for anyone.

To fully remove the poison, the treatment must be done continuously."

Leng Zheng finished calmly, with a faint smile.

The men felt as if a knife had been plunged into their hearts—it was agonizing.

"Xiao Zheng, rest for a while," Cheng Yunting said as he gently laid her down.

"Mm-hmm."

...

Once Leng Zheng had fallen asleep, the Qin brothers quietly left.

Cheng Yunting carefully shifted Leng Zheng aside, took off his shoes, and lay down next to her.

He held her in his arms, playing a recording of her story on his phone...

She is the light that brightens my life:

I like someone—she is the only ray of light in my dark world.

I remember, the summer before sixth grade, my parents divorced. For as long as I could remember, my parents were always fighting, even after my brother was born. The quarrels never stopped. Finally, they separated.

Both asked me whom I wanted to live with. I didn’t know, so I followed the court’s decision—my brother and I stayed with our mother.

In daily life, it was me, my mom, my grandma, and my brother all living together. My mother and grandma always told me to make her proud, to never let my father and his mistress look down on me.

Because of this, I grew up feeling inferior, believing I was always wrong, and so I couldn’t do anything right.

The summer after middle school graduation, I became obsessed with novels and could not stop. That summer, I made many like-minded friends; together, we wrote stories, and my first book was even published by Crazy Reader.

With excitement and nervousness, I wanted to tell my mother. I thought she would agree, but reality dealt me a heavy blow...

She refused and told me to focus on my studies, not to waste time—again, she told me to make her proud, not to let my father and his mistress look down on us.

I was rebellious. When my mother disagreed, I argued with her and then left the home I’d lived in for more than ten years.

It was raining that day. I walked with my head down through the alleys. Despite the flowers blooming everywhere, my heart was ice-cold...

I squatted by a wall, looking at all the houses, but none was a home to me...

That’s when she passed by, handed me an umbrella, and invited me to her home. Since we were classmates, I went with her.

She asked me what had happened, and I told her. She brought me home, explained everything to her parents, and asked if I could stay with them.

Her parents, seeing how pitiful I was, agreed. And so, I lived with them.

Every day, we went to and from school together, played together... Her smile was like a ray of light shining on me, slowly brightening my entire world.

Maybe this only happens in novels, but I tell you—it’s true.

I fell in love with this radiant girl, but I knew I wasn’t worthy of her. I wanted to give up. But... when I tried, I found I couldn’t let her go.

She is the light in my life.

In this world, there can be no world without light; otherwise, it wouldn’t be complete.

I worked hard to catch up to her, wanting to stand beside her and shout, "She’s mine!"

I got closer to her; we got into the same high school, studied and worked toward our future together. Unfortunately... that future was not for us.

Gradually, I shed my inferiority, striving bit by bit, climbing higher and higher.

I think Goudan (Wu Zhe the Great) put it well in "Breaking Free": "No one’s life is always perfect, but whatever happens, we must look forward. With hope in our hearts, we will overcome all obstacles."

At the college entrance exams, we both got into the same university.

The same university, the same major, the same dormitory. We went everywhere together—like Siamese twins—so much so that people who didn’t know us thought we were a couple.

In our time together, I kept trying to "turn" her, but really, she "turned" me, so she has to take responsibility.

To me, only bathrooms should be separated by gender—why should love be divided? Whether it’s teacher-student, older woman-younger man, or same-sex love, the world rarely accepts it, but all are just two people in love.

If two people like each other, why should they be torn apart by prejudice?

On her birthday, with her parents’ approval and support, I secretly planned a confession and told her how I felt.

I was so nervous, afraid she would refuse. But, as expected, she said yes.

Later, I learned she’d fallen for me long ago, and was planning to confess on my birthday, but I beat her to it.

Now, I’m a novelist and she’s an office worker—I can stand proudly by her side and tell everyone: she’s mine!

P.S. Damn it, I was using Writer Assistant, had finished everything, but once I exited, it all disappeared?

Damn it, I really can’t stay up late, so this’ll have to do for now. I’ll revise it tomorrow. Bye for now~