dognovel Chapter 1271 Yun Rui's sincerity: a lifetime of guilt
Chapter 1271 Yun Rui's sincerity: a lifetime of guilt
The rain showed no signs of abating. The bean-sized raindrops hit the glazed tiles of the Yan family's old house, making a dense drum-beat sound.
Yan Taifeng stood in front of the French window in the study, looking at the courtyard blurred by the rain, and couldn't help but recall the taste of that woman back then.
On the mahogany bookshelf, Yan Wanqing's childhood photo was covered with a thin layer of dust, and the edges of the frame had turned yellow and curled.
He picked up the whiskey glass on the table, and the amber liquid swayed gently in the glass, reflecting the complex emotions surging in his eyes.
The thunder outside the window roared, pulling Yan Taifeng's thoughts back to more than 20 years ago.
At that time, the study was covered with brand new Persian carpets and the air was filled with expensive sandalwood.
Qi Zhifang held the babbling Yan Wanqing in her arms as they stood beside the bookshelf. The sunlight shone through the carved window lattices onto her, outlining her soft outline.
Yan Taifeng stared at her slender waist and saw how gentle she was when she coaxed the child. The fire of desire in his heart burned more and more.
"You're already a mother, why are you shy? Don't you want to have a taste of me?" Yan Taifeng's voice was full of domineering and unyielding attitude, and he reached out to hold Qi Zhifang's waist.
Qi Zhifang stepped back in panic, her cheeks flushed, but Yan Wanqing in her arms smiled innocently. "What if my wife finds out about you doing this? I..." Her voice trembled, her eyes full of anxiety and resistance.
"Why are you pretending?" Yan Taifeng grabbed her wrist fiercely, the jade ring hurting her. "I'm telling you, as long as you follow me obediently, the money and power of this family will belong to us in the future!"
He leaned close to her ear and whispered, his warm breath spraying on her neck, "Don't you want your parents back home to live a good life? Follow me, and everything will come true."
Under the coercion and inducement of the man, Qi Zhifang finally compromised. Although she still lived in the original side yard, she became Yan Taifeng's lover who was not allowed to see the light of day, and was also a tool for him to continue his incense...
When the original wife witnessed her husband's affair with the confinement nanny, she immediately threw away all her dignity and made a scene at home, smashing all the porcelain. However, Yan Taifeng secretly sent her to a sanatorium in the suburbs on the grounds of mental disorder.
From then on, the mistress's voice was no longer heard in the Yan family mansion, and Yan Taifeng's ambition grew.
When Qi Zhifang became pregnant again and learned that the baby was a boy, Yan Taifeng was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.
He had already begun planning to send his child to the best school abroad as soon as he was born and train him to be the most perfect heir to the Yan family.
However, when Qi Zhifang looked at Yan Taifeng's almost paranoid expectations for his son, and then looked at Yan Wanqing who was growing up beside him, her inner uneasiness grew day by day.
In her eyes, she is nothing more than a tool for reproduction. Otherwise, the original wife's today would be her tomorrow!
So, she secretly collected evidence and recordings of Yan Taifeng's illegal activities, including the chat records in which he threatened her, and carefully hid them in Yan Wanqing's teddy bear.
But the truth could not be hidden. Yan Taifeng discovered her plan and, in a rage, picked up a paperweight and threw it at her.
On that rainy night, Qi Zhifang fled desperately with her young son, but was eventually caught up by Yan Taifeng and his men at the door of the police station.
"She is mentally ill and wants to take my daughter and son away!" Yan Taifeng yelled at the police who came. The lawyers he had bribed long ago produced carefully forged certificates, leaving Qi Zhifang speechless.
Yang Bin looked at Qi Zhifang who was forcibly taken away and saw her desperate eyes. Although he felt sorry for her, he was powerless to do anything.
Another thunderclap brought Yan Taifeng back to reality. He drank the whiskey in the glass in one gulp. The glass slammed heavily on the walnut table, making a crisp cracking sound.
Blood oozed from the wound on the palm of his hand, dripping onto the carpet, leaving a dark red mark.
Over the years, he watched Yan Wanqing struggle in the business world, and although he seemed harsh and critical on the surface, he was also somewhat proud in his heart. But every night when it was quiet, he would always think of the son who was taken away by Qi Zhifang.
"My son will come back eventually." Yan Taifeng muttered to himself as he looked at the raging rain outside the window, with a fierce look in his eyes. The rain trickled down the glass, blurring his features, but it couldn't hide the almost paranoid obsession in his eyes, "The bloodline of the Yan family cannot be left outside!
If you can find your own son, you must make him understand that his last name is Yan and he is from the Yan family!"
The heavy rain, carrying salty and fishy vapor, hit the mottled iron window of the police station's archive room. Yang Bin's fingertips hovered over the file number of "1998 Smuggling Case" for a long time, and finally touched the layer of dust.
The metal cabinet made a harsh squeak when it opened, as if the rusty gate of memory was slowly opened.
Lightning struck through the gaps in the blinds, casting crisscrossing shadows on the yellowed case files. In a trance, he heard again the crisp and desperate sound of Qi Zhifang's pearl hairpin breaking, mixed with Yan Wanqing's heart-wrenching cries.
The intelligence center on the top floor of New Universe was shrouded in a cold blue light.
Gu Yunqian's slender fingers slid rapidly across the tablet computer, and encrypted messages kept popping up on the screen.
When the photo of Qi Zhifang holding Yan Wanqing popped up, he paused.
The woman in the photo has gentle eyes and brows, the little girl in her arms is pulling her hair and giggling, the sunlight is shining through the gaps in the sycamore leaves, the picture is so beautiful that it is breathtaking.
This is very different from the image of the "mentally disturbed mad woman" in the archives. Gu Yunqian took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with a silk handkerchief. The eyes behind the lenses became more and more profound. The clues collected through his private intelligence network over the years have already allowed him to piece together the complete puzzle of the incident that year...
It was still that autumn when the iron gate of the orphanage slowly closed behind him, and Yang Bin gently stuffed the baby bell into the swaddling clothes.
Qi Ruixiang's little hand suddenly clenched the bell, making a faint sound. "I'm sorry."
He murmured to himself in front of the swaddling clothes, and the rain mixed with tears slid into his mouth, bitter and astringent. At that time, he thought that this was the only compensation he could make to Qi Zhifang, but he didn't expect that this separation would be the separation of mother and son forever.
At that time, Yang Bin held the baby bell tightly in his palm, and the metal edge cut his skin painfully.
He thought of the burn scar on Qi Ruixiang's forearm, and the burning paranoia in his eyes when he talked about his mother, and his throat seemed to be choked by something.
Over the years, he woke up in the middle of the night countless times, dreaming that Qi Zhifang pointed at him and asked, "Why did you let things turn out like this?"
The phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a message from Yang Xiaotang.
In the photo, she and Qi Ruixiang were teasing a kitten in a pet hospital, and their smiles stung Yang Bin's eyes.
He stared at the screen and suddenly detected the emotion he least wanted to see in his daughter's eyes. Even though he had said it so bluntly, did Yang Xiaotang still choose to go forward without hesitation?
Yang Bin's Adam's apple kept rolling up and down, but he couldn't suppress the turmoil in his heart.
Qi Ruixiang is so much like Qi Zhifang, even the feeling he gives people is the same...
The rain outside the window was getting heavier. Yang Bin looked at the blurry street scenes in the rain, as if he saw the baby crying in the cold wind again.
He murmured to himself in the air. In front of him, Qi Zhifang was hugging Yan Wanqing with the same gentle smile.
"I'm sorry." He whispered to the photo, holding the baby bell against his chest, "I will try my best to make it up to you, even if..." Before he finished speaking, tears had already dripped onto the photo, blurring Qi Zhifang's eyes.