Chapter 48: He will never belong to you

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

After a long moment, Ji Jinxuan bent down and picked up the phone.

He turned it over in his palm, examining it.

It was the latest model, but it was not the one he had given Xu Lin. Nor was it the old phone Xu Lin had brought from District Thirteen.

It had been given to him by someone else.

Someone Ji Jinxuan did not know about.

He lifted his eyes and glanced at Xu Lin on the bay window.

Xu Lin looked stunned, frozen in place. Despite his efforts to appear calm, his hands were trembling, and the panic in his eyes was unmistakable.

In all the days they had been at odds, this was the first time he had looked so nervous.

And it was for a third person.

What, was he afraid Ji Jinxuan would find out who had given him the phone?

Ji Jinxuan’s fingers tightened. The edge of the phone dug into his palm, turning his knuckles white.

When Xu Lin had shown up at the engagement banquet, Ji Jinxuan had known someone was secretly in contact with him. Without outside help, Xu Lin could not have found his way there alone.

At first, he had suspected Ji Wang. But Ji Wang’s reaction on the day of the banquet clearly showed he had known nothing. Now he was locked up in the Regulatory Bureau under 24-hour surveillance so it could not be him.

He had investigated afterward. Strangely, he had found no leads at all. As if someone had anticipated his move and deliberately suppressed the information.

Whoever could hide their tracks so thoroughly from Ji Jinxuan had resources on par with his own.

At the time, Xu Lin was already upset with him, and Ji Jinxuan’s attention had been focused on him. He had set the matter aside.

He had not expected that this lapse would cost him so much. When he had left the house, everything was still manageable. But when he returned, Xu Lin had completely turned against him.

He had discovered the truth about their marriage.

He had taken off his ring, given up on him entirely, and wanted to leave him.

It was that person—if it had not been for that person’s interference—

Ji Jinxuan lowered his head and turned on the phone, scrolling through it.

“Ji Jinxuan!”

Xu Lin panicked when he saw him looking at the phone. He tried to say something, but when the words reached his lips, all he could do was call out his name helplessly before falling silent.

He could not move freely. He struggled to get down from the bay window. The moment his feet touched the floor, he tried to step forward, but both his feet were bound so he could not walk. He stumbled and fell.

He sat up, propping himself on the floor, completely at a loss. By the dismantled bed, Ji Jinxuan held the phone, its screen light illuminating his face, showing his increasingly dark expression.

He scrolled through the screen and soon saw a familiar name. His brow furrowed.

All his questions were answered.

He scrolled up slowly, all the way to the top.

The very first message was dated three years ago.

Three years.

They had been secretly in contact for three years.

Ji Jinxuan lowered the phone. His gaze drifted over. Xu Lin felt the cold, probing look sweep over him, and suddenly, like an overinflated balloon bursting, he became calm again.

So what if he saw? So what if he found out? What could he do about it?

First of all, Zong Ningshuang was Zong Xi’s sister. Ji Jinxuan surely knew her. Since she was his best friend’s little sister, even if he knew it was her, he could not do anything to her.

Besides, there was nothing improper between Xu Lin and her. Even in this marriage built entirely on lies, Xu Lin knew he had not crossed any lines.

The messages between him and Shuangshuang were simple invitations to hang out, or idle chatter between friends.

Thinking of this, he felt more confident.

He met Ji Jinxuan’s gaze.

Ji Jinxuan walked over to him and crouched down to his eye level.

“She was the one who took you to the engagement banquet.”

It was not a question, but a statement.

Xu Lin said nothing.

“You’ve known her for three years. You asked her to help you escape.”

Xu Lin stared at Ji Jinxuan’s face, saw his knitted brows, and asked, “So what? Are you misunderstanding something? I’m not escaping. I’ve made myself clear from the very beginning. I’m going home, understand? You’re the one who broke your promise first. You’re the one who’s faithless.

“Are you angry?”

Before Ji Jinxuan could answer, Xu Lin asked again, “What right do you have to be angry? On what grounds do you question me?”

His tone was light, provocative, mocking, “Young Master Ji, you and I, from start to finish, have no relationship whatsoever.”

The string snapped.

Ji Jinxuan threw the phone to the ground and stomped on it.

The screen cracked, flickered a few times, and went dead.

His face cold, veins bulging on his forehead and neck, Xu Lin thought he would lose his temper. But Ji Jinxuan just stood there silently for a while, picked up the broken phone, and walked away.

At the Zong residence, in the study.

Clatter.

The stomped phone was tossed in front of Zong Xi.

Zong Xi was startled. He looked at the dark-faced Ji Jinxuan in confusion. “What is this supposed to mean?”

“Where is she.”

Zong Xi asked, “Who?”

“Don’t play dumb with me.”

“…”

Zong Xi let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair. He waved his hand, and the servant who had been about to pour tea quickly retreated, closing the door behind them.

Only the two of them remained in the study.

Zong Xi picked up the broken phone on the table. “What do you want to ask?”

“How long have you known?”

“Not much longer than you.”

“You didn’t tell me?”

“She’s my sister.” Zong Xi tossed the phone into the trash can, speaking flatly. “If I told you, what would you have done?”

Zong Xi sighed, pulled out a cigarette, put it between his lips, and lit it.

“Don’t you understand yet?” He exhaled a plume of white smoke. “The root of all this isn’t her. It’s you. The conflict between you and Xu Lin—even without her, it would have erupted one day.”

He spread his hands helplessly. “It just happened a little earlier, thanks to Shuangshuang.”

Ji Jinxuan’s expression darkened further.

“You’re looking for someone to take it out on. Sorry, but I’m not sending her to you in this state.”

“Where’s the document? Give it to me.”

Zong Xi took out the travel code Shuangshuang had prepared for Xu Lin from the drawer. Under Ji Jinxuan’s watchful gaze, he lit one corner of it with a lighter and dropped it into the ashtray, where it slowly burned to ash.

“Feel better now?” Zong Xi asked.

“Don’t let me find out she’s still in contact with him.”

Zong Xi did not respond.

Ji Jinxuan turned to leave. Zong Xi asked, “Are you going to keep him locked up forever?”

Ji Jinxuan stopped.

He stood with his back to Zong Xi. After a pause, he said with certainty, “He will forgive me.”

“Is that so.” Zong Xi said, “Then you must think he’s very good-tempered.”

“…”

“Before, Shuangshuang used to play with a servant’s child in our household,” Zong Xi suddenly brought up something from Zong Ningshuang’s childhood.

“He was a little boy. Shuangshuang got along with him. She always went along with him, shared her toys with him, let him sit at the table for meals. She really didn’t know how to make friends. Later, that boy took her kindness for granted. She spoiled him.” Zong Xi let out a cold laugh. “Just a dog. The owner held it in her arms, and it thought it could climb onto her head and do whatever it wanted.”

“Guess what he did? He wanted a pair of sneakers. Shuangshuang didn’t buy them for him. So he pushed her into the river. He nearly drowned her.”

Zong Xi’s face twisted as he spoke. “These shameless bastards actually think that with a little temporary favor, they can rise from the gutter and become phoenixes. Idiots.”

Zong Xi left out part of the story and resumed his smile. “Later, Shuangshuang came begging me to let him go. She’s kind-hearted, couldn’t stand to see the carcass of a skinned animal. So I listened to her. I let him go. But before that little boy left, because of Shuangshuang’s mercy, he actually thought it was just a harmless spat between them—and even fantasized about staying in touch with her.”

“But Shuangshuang isn’t stupid. Normal people aren’t stupid. You can tolerate someone pushing their luck again and again. But once they cross the line, that’s where it ends. You tell them to get the hell out.”

Ji Jinxuan turned around.

Zong Xi asked him, “Do you understand?”

He said, “He forgave you because he loved you.”

“The things you did before might have hurt him, but they weren’t enough to wear out his love. But now things are different. You’ve already crossed his bottom line. Do you think Xu Lin is that foolish?”

“When someone loves you, you are their everything. But when they don’t love you anymore, what are you?”

Zong Xi stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. “You’re not even a blade of grass.”

Bang—

The study door was shoved open.

Zong Ningshuang stood outside, her eyes red, glaring at Ji Jinxuan. “What did you do to Xu Lin!”

“Dear lord.” Zong Xi muttered under his breath. He quickly walked over to Zong Ningshuang and pushed her. “Go back to your room. Who let you out?”

At the far end of the hallway, a few nannies who had been watching Zong Ningshuang were rushing toward them in a panic. Clearly, they had let their guard down for a moment and she had slipped out.

Zong Ningshuang struggled against her brother’s grip, craning her neck to yell at Ji Jinxuan, “You shameless bastard! What right do you have to keep Xu Lin from going home?!”

She had never liked Ji Jinxuan, but because he was her brother’s good friend, she had simply avoided him—not spoken to him, not interacted with him. She had never lost her composure like this, screaming at him with no regard for her image.

Ji Jinxuan had come to confront her. Now she had delivered herself to him. Fearing she would cause a scene with Ji Jinxuan, Zong Xi pushed her toward the nannies who had just caught up. “Take her back to her room.”

Several nannies grabbed her from all sides. But Zong Ningshuang, with some unexpected strength, broke free.

After overhearing Zong Xi and Ji Jinxuan’s conversation that day, she had guessed the relationship between Xu Lin and Ji Jinxuan. Later, when she was caught helping Xu Lin get a travel code, her brother had grounded her. After several days of making a fuss, Zong Xi had finally told her everything.

She was furious. She felt outraged on Xu Lin’s behalf. She knew he had no one else to turn to, only her. She had been trying her best to find a way. But then something had happened, and Xu Lin had told her not to worry about it anymore. After that, she had not been able to reach him.

She could not leave the house, so she still did not know how Xu Lin was doing.

She knew Ji Jinxuan must have been behind it.

So when she heard Ji Jinxuan had come to see her brother, she rushed over to confront him. She had been eavesdropping outside the door and heard that Ji Jinxuan had actually locked Xu Lin up. That sent her over the edge.

“You bastard! Do you have no conscience? Xu Lin must have been cursed in a past life to have met you!”

Zong Ningshuang thought of how Xu Lin, every time they hung out, would always be wearing that woman’s ring. Whenever he talked about his marriage, his face would carry a gentle smile. He had looked so happy, so she had believed he was happy.

But the truth—the truth was like this.

Locked away in those deep mountains all those years, alone.

And this was what he got in the end.

Ji Jinxuan’s gaze was cold as he stared at the frantic Zong Ningshuang.

Zong Ningshuang grew bolder in her anger and shouted, “What are you glaring at me for?! Do you think that by locking him up and keeping him from going out or contacting anyone, he’ll always belong to you? Dream on! The person he hates most right now is you! He despises you! He loathes you! He will never love you again! He’s so wonderful—he can find another Beta! Find an Omega! Anyone would be better than you! Anyone! Keep deluding yourself, keep making excuses, keep blaming others for your own mistakes! I’ll be waiting for the day you get what you deserve!”

Zong Ningshuang’s relentless tirade faded as she was forcibly dragged away by the group, her angry shouts gradually disappearing.

Zong Xi rubbed his brow, annoyed. He turned back to say something to Ji Jinxuan, but saw him standing there silently.

He did not know what Ji Jinxuan was thinking. But he looked as if one of Zong Ningshuang’s words had struck a nerve.

He looked unsettled.