Symbiosis - chapter 20

I really didn’t expect him to kidnap me and take me back.

On the first night, he didn’t show up.

On the second day, I spent the whole day playing with Yanyan.

In the evening, I took him back.

Just as I turned to leave, he suddenly appeared and covered my mouth and nose.

When I woke up again, I was in the villa.

My hands made a clanking sound whenever I moved.

He had handcuffed me to the bed, binding my hands and feet.

And he was right beside me, holding me, fast asleep.

I asked him, “What do you want?”

He sat in front of me.

“I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in many days. I can’t sleep without you.”

“So you’re going to keep me prisoner?”

“I just want you to stay with me.”

He had changed.

He had turned from Qi Sinian back into Zhou Mu.

He wanted to watch me, to see me, to guard me without leaving my side for a single step.

He used to be called Zhou Mu.

But when I stabbed Li Er’s hand and the Li Family wanted to kill me, he went to the Old Master to beg for mercy.

He was willing to do anything as long as he could save me.

“What if I make you change your name?”

“Fine. From now on, I’ll be Qi Sinian.”

Many people didn’t understand. It was just a name; was it really that important?

They didn’t understand that when a person is completely out of place in a new environment, they can only keep going by holding onto the few things they have left.

Including his name, and including me.

Later, he didn’t even have his name anymore; only I was left.

I was the link connecting his past and his future.

Until he truly became Qi Sinian, and then he didn’t need me anymore.

But now, he had turned back into Zhou Mu.

Like a fish about to die of thirst, grasping at the last handful of water.

During the two days he kept me locked up, his condition visibly improved.

He left on time, came back early, and had endless things to say every day.

He told me that his marriage to the Su Family had been called off.

He didn’t tell me why.

But before he locked me up, I had already heard some rumors.

The Su Family demanded that Qi Sinian merge his company into the Qi Corporation.

They didn’t care about Qi Sinian at all; they wanted to latch onto the Qi Family.

This was practically Qi Sinian’s reverse scale.

He refused them outright.

The Su Family was very disdainful of this, describing Qi Sinian as someone who aimed too high but lacked the ability to achieve anything.

But they didn’t know that while the Qi Family would support Qi Sinian, they would never give him actual power.

This was something the proud Qi Sinian could not accept.

It hadn’t been easy for him to maintain the company all these years.

Especially since he had paid out a huge sum for our divorce; for him, that was a crippling blow.

Right now, he should be very busy.

Yet he still wasted time finding me and locking me up.

He said he had sent Tan Qingqing abroad again.

“She’s just a responsibility. I never thought about being with her. I was afraid you’d hurt her. Ning Yan, you should understand that I didn’t just do this because of her.”

Still lying.

I knew Qi Sinian too well.

It was true that he might not necessarily like Tan Qingqing that much.

But he really had considered being with her.

“A successful man should probably be matched with a young, beautiful woman with a clean background.”

Those were Qi Sinian’s exact words.

Even though he was evaluating someone else.

But wasn’t that also his own way of thinking?

It was just that we were too tightly intertwined.

Even he hadn’t expected that the result of our separation would be so hard for him to accept.

He cooked for me every day and held me while we slept.

I didn’t resist.

When I was at a disadvantage, why would I provoke him?

He couldn’t keep me locked up forever.

This was the fifth day.

It was the first time he had come back so late.

The gloomy aura around him began to rise again.

He sat across from me, looking at me with a heavy gaze.

After a long time, he suddenly spoke.

“That fire… I know you started it.”

“Why did you regret it?”

“Actually, dying in that fire wouldn’t have been so bad.”

My expression didn’t change, but my hands on my knees tightened.

“Qi Sinian, I’ve always wanted to ask you a question. Why are you unwilling to visit my mother anymore? Do you hate her?”

This question made Qi Sinian freeze suddenly, his pupils constricting.

“Ah Yan, have you ever thought about something?”

“Your father clearly crawled all the way to your front door-there were even bloody handprints on it. Did your mother really hear nothing?”

“If your father hadn’t died, my father wouldn’t have been sentenced to death.”

“If my father hadn’t died, me, you, the two of us… we wouldn’t be like this now.”

I looked at Qi Sinian.

As he said these words, his face twisted into a hideous expression, his whole body tense. Every word seemed to drain all his strength.

But I laughed, absurdly.

“Where were you?”

Qi Sinian looked up blankly.

“What?”

I pressed closer to him.

“That night, your father was out on a job, your mother was having an affair with my father, and my mother and I were sleeping at home. Qi Sinian-no, Zhou Mu-where were you?”

For a moment, it felt as if even the air had stopped flowing.

Qi Sinian held his breath, and a few seconds later, it suddenly became heavy.

He stood up abruptly, knocking over the chair behind him with a loud clatter.

His eyes widened, and his fists clenched.

“No…”

*Bang!*

Just then, the door was burst open from the outside, and Qi Muyuan rushed in with his men.

They pinned Qi Sinian to the ground.

“No!” He shook his head violently.

No one knew what he was denying.

Lin Yuan ran over and supported me.

“Are you okay?”

I went limp, without a shred of strength left in my body. Leaning into her arms, I shook my head.

At the same time, I looked down at the frantic Qi Sinian.

“You remember now, don’t you?”

“You were at my house.”

“Your mother said she had something to do and asked if you could sleep over at our house for the night.”

“You got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and didn’t come back for a long time.”

“I got up to look for you, and you were standing in the living room, motionless.”

“I asked you, ‘What’s wrong?’ Do you remember what you said? You said it was nothing, just a cat scratching at the door.”

“Qi Sinian, my mother had a sleep disorder and was always on medication. Did you forget?”