Capítulo 3: Confinement
"When we were together for four years, four years I neglected you ... I didn't respect you. I trusted Ye Xinren and Shen Ke too much. See how stupid I was ...?" The man's voice quivered with sobs. Jiang Yanxu never imagined he would be reduced to this—at forty-three, he felt like a child begging for his mother. His tears flowed uncontrollably. The photo on Yan An's gravestone, half-smiling, seemed almost to mock him. How could Yan An, who had loved him so deeply, look at him this way? Yet, Jiang Yanxu could no longer deny it: Yan An's love for him had always run deeper than he had ever realized.
Weeping, Jiang Yanxu was jolted by a gentle hand patting his back. He spun around, startled, and found Lu Xin'ai standing there, holding a locket. "Brother-in-law, Brother Yan left this for you."
Jiang Yanxu's brow furrowed, and slowly, almost reverently, he took the locket from her. He stared at it for a long moment before the truth hit him: this was the same locket that Yan An had worn throughout his life. He muttered under his breath, "He gave this to me …?"
The realization hit him like a tidal wave. Yan An had left his precious belonging to him. Despite everything, Yan An still loved him. Jiang Yanxu gripped the locket tightly, pressing it against his chest as if to bury it deep within his heart, as if it were the only piece of Yan An he could keep now. He had lost Yan An twice. To him, this seemingly insignificant object was worth more than anything else in the world.
Lu Xin'ai watched him silently, moved by his devastation. She had hesitated to speak of Yan An, but now she believed that he needed to know—he needed to understand the depth of Yan An's love, the pain he had endured in silence.
After a long pause, Lu Xin'ai's voice broke through the heavy silence. "Brother Yan had a gastric perforation... One year after you were detained, the Yan family went bankrupt. His parents... they... they committed suicide. Yan An had to survive by working at the Lu Company. His life was nothing but endless labor, with no thought for his own health."
Her voice quivered with sorrow, her words weighing on her like stones. She paused, gathering her strength before continuing, "Do you know why Brother Yan wanted to be buried in a public cemetery instead of the Yan family grounds?"
Jiang Yanxu stayed silent, his heart heavy with dread. Lu Xin'ai sighed, her voice tinged with unspoken anger. "Three days before he died, he told me, 'Bury me in the public cemetery so Jiang Yanxu can visit me without any trouble.' Even in his final days, he thought of you."
The words struck Jiang Yanxu like a thunderclap. Yan An had even planned his own burial to ensure Jiang Yanxu could visit him—something no one else had even considered. Lu Xin'ai knew how much Yan An loved him, but she also knew how much the Yan family despised Jiang Yanxu. Had Yan An been buried in the family's plot, Jiang Yanxu would have never been able to pay his respects.
Lu Xin'ai held back the anger boiling inside her. She wanted to scream at him, to let him know just how much Yan An had suffered, how much he had loved a man who had betrayed him. But she kept her words in check, knowing that speaking them would only dishonor Yan An's memory.
'Yanxu, how dare you leave someone like Yan An for someone like Ye Xinren? Don't pretend to regret anything now!'
But instead of speaking her mind, she kept her silence. Thirteen years had passed. Jiang Yanxu, now a broken man, didn't deserve to hear those words.
Jiang Yanxu's face crumpled with sorrow as he let out a tortured cry, his voice cracking under the weight of regret. "After everything I did ... after what my family did to you, you still cared about me ... I don't deserve it ... I don't deserve your love, Yan An! Xiao An! I don't deserve it, even though I love you so much!" His voice broke again, the sobs wringing from him as if his soul were being torn apart.
There was a long pause, and then his voice softened, filled with something like a plea. "But... but if there's a second life ... I'll love you again, without hesitation, without shame."
He wept for what felt like hours, speaking words of regret and love that would never be heard. Yan An was gone. His sorrow, though sincere, would never reach the man he had wronged. So, Jiang Yanxu could only hope that the wind might carry his words to Yan An in the afterlife.
---
Suddenly, a familiar voice broke the silence—one that was as horrifying to Jiang Yanxu as the screech of nails on a chalkboard. "Hubby, my hubby, wake up ... Come on, wake up," it cooed.
Jiang Yanxu froze, his blood turning to ice. That voice—he knew it too well. Ye Xinren. The man who had deceived him, the man who had blinded him with his false charms, leading him to abandon Yan An.
He opened his eyes slowly, his vision hazy. He was tied to an old wooden chair, his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged with a foul-smelling cloth. Panic surged in his chest, and he struggled against his restraints, but the sight of Ye Xinren sitting across from him made his heart sink further.
"You!" he spat, his voice hoarse with hatred.
Ye Xinxin smirked, his eyes gleaming with malicious delight. "Oh, so after ten years in prison, you still remember your wife, huh? Impressive, my hubby."
Jiang Yanxu's mind raced as he tried to piece together how he had ended up here. His thoughts were fragmented, his memory fuzzy. But now, it all started to make sense. After visiting Yan An's grave, he had asked Lu Xin'ai to take him to District C to see his cousin. Before they could even reach their destination, men from the Jiang family had intercepted them, claiming Madam Tang wanted to speak with him. He had been naive, trusting their words. And now, here he was, ensnared in their trap, a pawn in their cruel game.
"Ye Xinren!" he growled again, fury flashing in his eyes. "You did this!"
Ye Xinren's smile only widened. "Yes, and I'll enjoy every moment of it, Yanxu."
Presentes
-- Presente
recebido Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder