Chapter 63: Shattered

The three people in the courtyard were all stunned by the angry roar, and they simultaneously looked towards the door.

Luo Shaoxuan seemed to have not expected the woman to appear suddenly. He stood up in confusion, wanting to walk towards her, but was frozen in place by her icy, bone-chilling gaze, not knowing what to do.

He lowered his eyes, not daring to look at her face full of disbelief and fury. His hands hung down in front of him, fidgeting uneasily. His appearance was completely different from the ruthless and heartless demeanor he had just displayed.

Si Qingyu tightly clenched her teeth, not letting the wetness in her eyes fall. Her chest was filled with grief, anger, and a chilling sensation.

If she hadn’t thought of him still being at home when she was halfway up the mountain, afraid that the two of them would meet and cause a misunderstanding, she wouldn’t have rushed back. However, she stopped outside the courtyard, not knowing why she didn’t go in immediately. The slightest suspicion in her heart, like a fuse, made her stand anxiously outside the courtyard, listening to their conversation.

Hearing the man’s cruelty and indifference, completely different from when he was in front of her, human lives were insignificant in his eyes. He let Qingpo kill people as naturally as eating a meal every day.

She stood there silently until the last bit of hope in her heart was ruthlessly shattered.

Si Qingyu looked at the man who didn’t dare to meet her gaze, her eyes slowly shifting to the two people beside him, her voice as cold and piercing as her gaze: “Aren’t you going to let go?”

Qingpo still maintained the posture of pressing the curved blade against the young man’s neck. She hesitantly looked at the silent man, only releasing her restraint on the young man after obtaining permission.

As soon as Li Tianyang was free, he crawled and scrambled towards Si Qingyu, his fox-like eyes red and full of tears. He directly threw himself at the woman’s feet, grabbing her robe, crying uncontrollably: “Aqing, Aqing, I almost died, I almost couldn’t see you again, wuwuwuwu……”

He tightly hugged Si Qingyu’s calf, trembling all over like a frightened child.

Luo Shaoxuan’s hands clenched under his wide sleeves, his beautiful eyes coldly staring at the young man’s hands clutching the woman’s robe like a venomous snake. In the end, unable to bear the jealousy in his heart, he quickly stepped forward, grabbed the young man’s collar, and threw him five meters away.

His gaze was sinister and malicious as he looked at the disheveled young man on the ground, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue with intimidating power: “Don’t you dare touch her!”

Li Tianyang coughed violently on the ground, feeling as if his whole body had fallen apart from that throw. He turned his head and glared back, but was frightened by the man’s venomous gaze that seemed to want to tear him apart.

Li Tianyang timidly lowered his head, then remembered and raised his eyes to look at Si Qingyu behind the man with a wronged expression, not daring to speak.

Si Qingyu just looked at the back in front of her helplessly, the feeling of suffocation and discomfort constantly impacting her mind, forcing her to close her sore eyes: “Qingpo, take him away.” Even her voice was hoarse, filled with a sense of powerlessness, as if she would collapse at any moment after receiving a major blow.

Qingpo’s gloomy eyes glanced back and forth between the two of them, but in the end, she nodded and stepped forward to lift the young man on the ground. However, he continuously dodged her.

Li Tianyang screamed and crawled backward on all fours, his fear of the woman even greater than his fear of the man: “Aqing, Aqing, save me! She will kill me!”

Qingpo reached out to grab him, but he dodged. She frowned impatiently, annoyed by the young man’s screaming. She growled in a low voice, “Shut up.”

But the young man screamed even louder and even tried to run towards Si Qingyu. Qingpo couldn’t stand it anymore and directly chopped the back of his neck with her hand, knocking him unconscious. She lifted him with one hand and disappeared after a few leaps.

Only the two of them were left in the courtyard.

No one spoke, or perhaps they were both waiting for the other to speak first.

After glancing at the uneasy figure in front of her, Si Qingyu walked past him to the stone table, pinching the scattered pastries on the table into an empty plate and wiping the table full of crumbs clean with a handkerchief.

Throughout this, Luo Shaoxuan just stood there, looking at the quiet woman not far away, his uneasiness growing. He gently stroked his chest with his jade-like fingers and spoke cautiously, “Ziliang……”

The woman seemed not to have heard his voice and continued to handle the tasks at hand with cold and indifferent brows.

Being ignored by her like this made him more flustered than being angrily questioned. He walked up to her with slightly unsteady steps and snatched the handkerchief from her hand, wiping the table in a panic: “Let me do it.”

Si Qingyu let him snatch the handkerchief away, not even giving him an extra glance, and carried the plate of pastries to the kitchen.

Luo Shaoxuan followed her all the way, snatching whatever she wanted to do and doing it for her, continuously talking to please her, but he didn’t even get a single glance from the woman.

She seemed to have returned to her previous solitary life, and the gentleness and consideration she had shown in front of him were no longer there, only a face full of indifference and detachment.

Finally, when the woman ignored him and walked into the bedroom to pack her things, Luo Shaoxuan could no longer control the fear in his heart. He rushed over and hugged her tightly from behind, rubbing his forehead against her neck and acting coquettishly as he used to: “Ziliang…… don’t~ don’t treat me like this~”

Si Qingyu’s hands, which were packing things, stopped. She didn’t push him away, but with her back to him, her eyes were icy cold: “Let me ask you, do the two murder cases in town some time ago have anything to do with you?” Although it was a question, she already had the answer in her heart.

The man’s arms around her waist trembled slightly, and he buried his face in the crook of her neck without speaking.

Si Qingyu laughed coldly. How could she have only thought of it now, or perhaps she had chosen to ignore this question because she cared too much. The young entertainer had just come to the clinic the day before, and the next day he was brutally killed. As for Niu Lao Er, he had only shouted a few drunken words loudly in the restaurant, but within a few days, he also died a tragic death.

These two incidents seemed to have no connection, but as long as one thought about it, it would make Si Qingyu’s heart turn cold. She had always chosen to ignore the relationship between these two incidents, not daring to think carefully, for fear that she wouldn’t be able to accept the answer.

Si Qingyu forcefully pried open the jade arms tightly wrapped around her, turned around to look at the man who had lowered his head in silence, her cold voice carrying a hint of trembling: “Answer me.”

Luo Shaoxuan faced her with his head lowered in silence, his fingers fidgeting nervously with his sleeves. He wanted to argue, but the woman’s icy gaze made him unable to even utter a lie in his defense.

He couldn’t bear her looking at him like this.

Seeing the silent man, Si Qingyu could no longer suppress the grief and anger in her heart, and she roared, “Speak!”

The man’s whole body trembled, his red lips tightly pursed. He timidly raised his head to look at the enraged person, his beautiful eyes completely red, with tears constantly swirling in them before falling. He complained with a wronged expression, “You yelled at me……”

Ever since they got married, she had always complied with him and never wanted to see him wronged. Even before they got married, she had never been so harsh with him.

If it were before, how could Si Qingyu bear to see him so wronged? But now, there was not a trace of pity in her heart, only a chilling feeling that he had not shown the slightest remorse even now.

Luo Shaoxuan reached out his jade-like fingers and carefully pinched her sleeve, shaking it coquettishly, but the woman fiercely shook him off. That feeling was no less than her slapping him in the face. He lowered his head in disappointment, not daring to look at her again.

“How did they offend you? Why did you deal with them so cruelly?”

“……” Silence.

Si Qingyu only felt a rush of resentment stuck in her throat, unable to come out or go down, making it a little difficult for her to breathe. Her chest heaved violently as she looked at the silent man with a cold smile. She picked up her packed luggage and was about to leave.

As soon as she turned around, her wrist was grabbed by a cold hand. Luo Shaoxuan raised his head, his face gloomy as he looked at her: “Where are you going?”

Just a moment ago, he was in a pitiful and delicate state, but now his face had darkened, full of malice. The speed at which he changed his face was astonishing.

One second ago, he was acting coquettishly in her arms, and the next second, he could turn into a demon who killed without batting an eye. This kind of Luo Shaoxuan frightened her. She struggled with her wrist and said coldly, “Let go.”

The hand gripping her wrist tightened.

“I told you to let go!!”

Luo Shaoxuan lowered his head, still not letting go and tightly grasping her, tears constantly sliding down his face. He choked softly, “Don’t treat me like this……”

It hurts so much, like dying.

Si Qingyu held back the tears in her eyes, prying his fingers open one by one. As soon as she was free, she slammed the door and left without hesitation.

Outside, the sky was gloomy, and a light drizzle began to fall. Si Qingyu let the fine rain fall on her hair, feeling even more miserable in her heart.

It wasn’t until Si Qingyu had left the courtyard that the man’s tense body in the bedroom could no longer bear it. He quickly chased after her from the bedroom, his loose clothes fluttering in the gloomy world like a blooming flower, enchantingly beautiful.

Luo Shaoxuan panted as he stood at the courtyard entrance, his eyes red and filled with sorrow as he gazed at the woman’s indifferent back. The fine rain fell on his cheeks, sliding down along with his tears. The pain in his heart made his whole body tremble. Watching Si Qingyu slowly walking away, he could no longer control his emotions and let out a grieving wail, “Don’t go!!!”

The desperate voice made Si Qingyu’s nose sour and unbearable. She clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and spoke with a hoarse voice full of suppression, “When you realize where you went wrong, come find me.” This was her final bottom line. She could overlook his past mistakes, but she absolutely could not allow him to become a demon who indiscriminately killed the innocent.

Seeing that the woman was about to leave again, Luo Shaoxuan staggered forward a few steps. His heart felt like it had been cut open, the pain making his vision go black. He begged her not to go in grief, “Don’t go, please……”

He slowly curled up his body and squatted on the ground, his pale purple robe falling on the damp, muddy ground and getting stained. He didn’t care at all, his tearful eyes full of longing, staring intently at that figure, just like when he usually acted coquettishly with her, “Ziliang~ Don’t go…… Don’t leave me……”

Luo Shaoxuan lowered his gaze, his long eyelashes adorned with raindrops, “It’s so cold…… really so cold……”

Cold to the bones, cold enough to make his whole body shiver.

The enchanting yet miserable voice almost made Si Qingyu turn around and embrace him, comforting him and warming him up. She closed her sore eyes, her footsteps no longer hesitating as she left.

Until the woman’s figure completely disappeared, the last glimmer of hope in Luo Shaoxuan’s eyes was shattered. He stood up in a daze, wanting to chase after her, but panic and helplessness softened his body. His fingers left deep marks in the mud as he stared at the place where the woman had left with crimson eyes.

He wished she would have a change of heart.

But after waiting for a long time, he still didn’t see that beautiful figure. He finally despaired, his heart grieving to the extreme, and in the end, he could no longer control the heart-wrenching howl from deep within, “Come back!!!”

The heart-wrenching cry echoed through the forest, clearly reaching the ears of Si Qingyu, who had already walked far away. She slid down powerlessly beside a tree root, covering her eyes with one hand and sobbing softly.

Just a moment ago, they still had lingering affection, but in the next moment, it had shattered into pieces.

How pitiful.

The trees in the forest rustled in the wind, and a soft murmur drifted with the wind in the hazy drizzle.

“Shaoxuan ah……”