CHAPTER 125: CHAPTER 125: ALL HIS LIFE, HE JUST WANTED AN IDENTITY

The ever-vigilant specter by his side slit open the bag and silently regarded Qin Jinhai.

The gleam in Qin Jinhai’s sharp eyes remained undimmed, entirely devoid of the lifelessness from before.

Dead? Impossible!

But now was definitely not the time to seek out Fu Bing.

Qin Sheng, ever suspicious and sensitive, would never believe it, even if he saw Qin Jinhai enter the cremation furnace with his own eyes.

He likely even suspected Wu Shi by now.

Qin Jinhai lowered his gaze and paused for a long while. "Cause some more trouble for the Qin Family and Qin Jinmo; it’s best to keep Qin Sheng too busy to deal with anything else."

"Yes," the specter answered dryly.

As they passed through the shadows in the car, he and Qin Jinhai got out and left.

Qin Jinhai felt not a shred of attachment to his identity as a member of the Qin Family.

This identity had always represented nothing but unyielding shackles and responsibilities to him.

Throughout his entire life, he had only ever wanted one identity—

Fu Bing’s lover!

「The next day.」

Fu Bing had just awoken to see an unfamiliar woman.

From her features, it was easy to infer her identity.

Li Yuan, unadorned and dressed in plain black, looked at Fu Bing with tired eyes.

"How’s your injury?"

"By the looks of it, I might limp for a few months," Fu Bing responded lightly, her gaze unconsciously lingering on the woman’s attire.

Pure black...

The higher the echelons of society, the more attention they paid to social etiquette and attire.

Usually, an all-black ensemble signified only one possibility.

Fu Bing’s heart began to pound uncontrollably...

Li Yuan said hoarsely, "I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you were deeply involved with him. I thought you might be happy to hear this news."

Fu Bing remained silent.

Li Yuan continued, "He passed away early this morning; I saw it with my own eyes. His death was very painful; he vomited a lot of blood...

"I asked the doctor, who said that his injuries were too severe. Repeated external and internal injuries destroyed his body.

"He truly loved you, more than you could imagine.

"You may not know, but from a young age, he was trained as a killing machine. All the Qin Family’s nefarious deeds were his to handle. Business rivals were often threatened or eliminated by him, until they dared not oppose the Qin Family any longer.

"Everyone feared him; everyone respected him.

"The day he met you, his eyes lit up. The first time he confided in me was about you. He was afraid he couldn’t protect you, afraid you would find him dirty...

"When you were imprisoned, he didn’t have a single good day.

"Now, none of this matters; he’s already dead. You never have to worry about him suddenly appearing again, nor about him hurting you.

"I’m feeling very conflicted right now. He’s dead, and I’m both happy and sad. His suffering has ended; maybe he can have a better life in his next one..."

Fu Bing’s face remained expressionless.

Her gaze unfocused, she watched Li Yuan’s mouth open and close.

Fu Bing absorbed every word, struggling to comprehend the meaning of "death."

Dead? Does that mean he will never appear again? How could *he* be associated with the word "dead"?

Receiving no response from Fu Bing didn’t surprise Li Yuan.

"I’ll be leaving now. Please, live well. The Qin Family won’t bother you anymore. Take good care of yourself."

As Li Yuan stood up and walked toward the door, Fu Bing finally spoke, "Where is he now?"

"At the funeral home."

"I want to see him."

"Want to verify his death? Elder Jiang’s youngest son officially announced his death. Do you think you can dispute it or revive him?"

"I insist on seeing the person if he’s alive, and the body if he’s dead," Fu Bing said, feeling as though her mind had stopped working.

Her mouth, as if detached from her brain, kept talking.

She didn’t understand what she was saying.

"There’s no need. I didn’t come here today to make you sad. I just wanted to tell you, to put your mind at ease."

"He’s dead; there’s nothing reassuring about that. On the contrary, I won’t believe he’s dead until I see his body."

That strong and fiercely intense man couldn’t possibly be dead! At least not in such a baffling way. He, of all people, died after *their* breakup. Qin Jinhai couldn’t possibly die so easily and obscurely.

"Why put yourself through this?"

"Your coming to see me is suspicious in itself. In my eyes, you and Qin Jinhai are on the same side. You’re here for one of two reasons: one, to make me let go of my grudge against Qin Jinhai, coerce me, and ultimately use the resources I currently possess; two, to make me turn the page on the car accident. Mrs. Qin, which one is it?"

Li Yuan looked at Fu Bing from a distance of two meters.

Fu Bing’s eyes were very red, the whites filled with bloodshot veins.

Her state was terrible, yet she emanated a sharpness like a sword.

That feeling was once very familiar to her.

It was the feeling Qin Jinhai gave her.

Without realizing it, Fu Bing had become like Qin Jinhai.

"You can go see him, if your health allows it."

After saying this, Li Yuan left.

Fu Bing sat alone on the bed.

Her mind felt like rusty gears, clicking erratically and turning slowly.

She couldn’t cry anymore.

She had cried too much over the past few days, feeling like she had cried out all the tears for the latter half of her life.

Qin Jinhai’s gone? He might indeed be gone. If he didn’t want to live, he could always find a way to end his own life. She had worried about this before, afraid that one day he would leave and never return. To die quietly somewhere, unnoticed, his body devoured by wild dogs, not even a complete corpse left behind. Now, for him to pass away surrounded by his family... perhaps that was a sort of kindness from Heaven.

Fu Bing tried hard to think positively.

Yet her mind became more and more chaotic.

Qin Jinhai! Qin Jinhai! Qin Jinhai...

In the end, his name was all that remained in her mind.

Fu Bing dared not think further.

She picked up her phone.

The contacts in her new phone were still blank; nothing was there.

Wu Shi’s number unconsciously surfaced in Fu Bing’s mind, and she messaged him as if to vent.

"Wu Shi, where are you? I..."

She didn’t know what to say.

As her hand trembled, the message was already sent.

In the darkness, Qin Jinhai looked at the message and couldn’t help but smile.

Was he the first person she thought of in her panic?

Jian Yao saw the smile on Qin Jinhai’s face and felt like killing him.

"You little ancestor, what exactly are you trying to achieve with this act? Qin Sheng is so suspicious; he won’t believe you’re really dead. Do you think you can completely avoid him?"

"Why would I avoid him? Being unable to appear publicly is what he fears the most. Without a comparison between the two Qin brothers, Qin Jinmo cannot stand out. The Qin Family’s plan to deify him would fail."

"Is it an ancestral practice in your Qin Family to ’raise gu’? Must you two brothers resort to such tactics? Wouldn’t it be better if you learned from the Su Family’s five children?"

"Who told you the Qin Family only has two brothers?" Qin Jinhai glanced at him sideways.

"What? You have other siblings?"

"There’s still one who has never appeared publicly, and Qin Sheng has never found the right opportunity to introduce him. Qin Jinmo and I have just been paving the way for that person. Once he appears, Qin Jinmo and I will have to yield all our resources to him."

Jian Yao silently cursed, "Madman."