novelPerplexed and Smitten (68)
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Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
She froze in shock and tensed up to the point that she could not move an inch.
"Let go of me, let go of me!"
"..."
She did not get any response and could only feel the man pressing his body against hers and groping her continuously.
Fang Erlan was frightened out of her senses and continuously screamed for help until she finally woke up.
She stared at her apartment, perplexed and unable to recover from the shock. She took a look at the clock on the wall and discovered that she had taken a nap for only half an hour.
Drenched in sweat, she discovered that the air conditioner was switched off. She initially thought that Xiao Yue had switched it off while on her way out. To her astonishment, there was a blackout!
Fang Erlan almost stopped breathing.
Why did I dream of a man...
She could not figure out why she had dreamed of such a scene all of a sudden. Could it be that the previous owner of the apartment had died in here?
The thought of it sent a cold shiver down Fang Erlan's spine, and she immediately pressed Yan Ge's doorbell.
"What's wrong..."
Fang Erlan asked, "Did any of the previous occupants die in my apartment?"
Yan Ge answered with a squint, "Did anyone die? No."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. What's wrong?"
Fang Erlan finally heaved a sigh of relief."I had a nightmare, so I thought..."
"What nightmare..."
"Well..." She shook her head and continued, "Nothing much, it was just a little terrifying."
"I'm about to go out now but there's a blackout. Do you want to come along?"
"Where are you going?"
"To the supermarket downstairs. There's an electricity generator there so the air conditioner is still on. I also need to buy some groceries."
"I'll go with you, my refrigerator is empty. Let's go."
"Alright."
They headed to the supermarket downstairs. Yan Ge only had a few things to buy and thus didn't need to use a shopping cart, unlike Fang Erlan, who had a long list of items on her shopping list.
They seemed just like a couple.
Although they were both wearing surgical masks, there were still people who had recognized them and snapped some photos of them together. Upon realizing that, Fang Erlan said to Yan Ge, "Let's shop and pay separately."
They then left separately.
The power in the estate was still not restored by the time they were done shopping. Thus, they decided to stand outside the entrance of the supermarket to enjoy the air conditioning while Fang Erlan snacked on some low-calorie snacks that she had bought.
"Do you want some snacks?"
"No."
Fang Erlan did not say anything else.
"Do you think those photos of us will be uploaded to the internet?"
"Doesn't matter. Aren't we allowed to have private lives at all?" he said calmly.
"It may not matter to you but it matters to me..." Fang Erlan lowered her voice and continued, "I don't have a huge bunch of loyal fans like you do. Your army of fans are going to rip me apart."
He burst into laughter and jested, "Why don't you say that they're going to devour you?"
"That's not impossible either. I can't even take a nap in peace. Why hasn't the electricity been restored yet?" she lamented impatiently.
"Why are you so impatient? The blackout is not going to last for very long. Blackouts hardly ever happen, unless there's a power trip or something wrong with the power circuit. They're probably repairing the faults now."
Fang Erlan had no choice but to wait patiently.
—
An Xiaoning and Tuoba Gucheng sat opposite each other in the room.
They were now in the room that Tuoba Gucheng used to live in when An Xiaoning first entered the Autumn Palace.
"Are you enjoying this? You've made me a complete laughingstock. Why don't you just kill me?" said Tuoba Gucheng, staring at her.
After a moment of silence, An Xiaoning gibed, "Nothing will matter anymore once you're dead. Isn't it great to be alive? You tried to kill me several times and yet I'm not after your life now. Shouldn't you be thanking me?"
"I won't ever thank you even if I'm dead. Dream on. If there's nothing else you want to say to me, just leave now, " Tuoba Gucheng said with a frown, clearly having resigned himself to fate.
An Xiaoning stood up and said, "Just stay here obediently. At the very least, you're being treated better than your mother and grandfather."
"Xiaoning..."
"Yes?" An Xiaoning asked.
"I didn't really intend to kill you in the past but I still did it in the end. There's nothing else I have to say."
Tuoba Gucheng had lost a significant amount of weight and now looked extremely haggard."If you'd become my woman, none of this would've happened, right? Perhaps it wouldn't have been revealed that we're biological siblings, perhaps you would have given up on Jin Qingyan, perhaps Shishi and I would have gotten a divorce and I would have married you. Perhaps I would still have been the president and you the First Lady. However, it's all otherwise because you weren't willing. You've devoted yourself to Jin Qingyan completely. He's really lucky."
"It's not because I'm unwilling; rather, it's because you keep forcing me against my wishes. You and I are only fated to be siblings, nothing more. If it weren't because of your obstinance, you would still have been the president today. If you hadn't indulged the Lin family by choosing not to stop them, you would still have had Shishi and your child. And yet, all you're doing is blame me for it. Have you really reflected on your mistakes?"
"Even though things have come to this and I've been reduced to this state, you still have a special place in my heart. I fell in love with you before I even found out that you were my half-sister. Had I found out about our blood relation before you entered the Autumn Palace, I wouldn't have fancied you at all. In a nutshell, you're a major obstacle in my life that I was fated to face."
"Although you're Shi Xiaoyu's son, I never wanted to kill you at the start. Neither did I want to turn my back against the Lin family and become enemies with them. But you people were the ones who drove me into a corner and pushed me over the edge. I would've been killed by you guys if I hadn't retaliated. I didn't have a choice. It's up to you to resent me if you want to. Anyway, you won't be the only person who hates me and wants me dead."
He remained quiet for a moment and said, "You may leave. We don't have to see each other again for the rest of our lives. This shall be the end of everything."
She strode out of the door and closed it.
She made her way to the backyard.
An Xiaoning looked up at the blazing sun, which was extremely glaring.
Bang!
An Xiaoning heard the sound of a gunshot coming from his bedroom on the second floor. An Xiaoning looked up at the window and hurriedly headed to the second floor again. A few bodyguards followed her.
She pushed the door open with all her might.
An Xiaoning was greeted with the sight of Tuoba Gucheng lying motionless on the bed with his eyes half-open, unable to speak at all. Strangely, she began tearing up all of a sudden."Why... I didn't want you to die."
Struggling to speak with his very last breath, he murmured, "But I don't want to live alone anymore..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he gazed at her longingly for the last time before closing his eyes.
An Xiaoning stood rooted to the ground and watched as the blood from the bullet hole on his chest seeped into the fabric of his clothes.
She watched his soul leave his body, smiling at her one last time before darting out of the window and vanishing out of sight.
"Bury the corpse."
Those were her last words said in the Autumn Palace.
....
The news of Tuoba Gucheng's death was not reported by the media because the leaders of the Autumn Palace did not plan to release any comments or information regarding the incident.
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