Soul Patch

Chapter 116 I understand...

In the dark room, Jia Nan stood with her back to the window.

The wind blowing in through the window ruffled his black silk pajamas.

Jia Nan tilted her head, staring at Wen Jie, who had stood up next to the dressing room but hadn't turned around yet.

Although it was just a glimpse of his back, it gave him a strange feeling. His heart was pounding and his palms were sweating unknowingly.

“I’ve seen you before!” Jia Nan said slowly, then added after a moment’s thought:

"Moreover, I've been looking for you all along, and I've imagined countless times what it would be like to meet you again..."

But I never expected to actually see you in my own bedroom.

"I...I'm not dreaming, am I?"

Jia Nan's eyes shone with a fascination, as if she were looking not at a living person, but at a priceless work of art.

As he spoke, he pulled a black box out from under the bed.

The pure black box blends seamlessly into the dark room as soon as it's pulled out.

Wenjie couldn't see clearly, but Jia Nan took something out from under the bed.

Actually, he didn't care.

Judging from Jia Nan's words, she clearly doesn't recognize me. Does that mean I've returned to the past timeline?

Before he met Jia Nan on the road.

Wenjie stared into the darkness at Jia Nan, who was fiddling with something beside the bed, and asked, "What's the date today?"

“June 30th.” Jia Nan said as she walked to the bedside and turned on the bedside lamp with a “snap.”

The lamp base sits securely on the bedside table.

Wenjie was speechless as he recalled how he had knocked Jia Nan unconscious with a desk lamp.

Looking back now, that really was a self-deceiving approach.

As the warm yellow light came on, the furniture and objects, including Wenjie, which could only be seen by their outlines in the darkness, were illuminated with perfect clarity by the soft light.

Jia Nan's eyes lit up instantly, and he stared at Wen Jie with fascination.

It's that thrill of finally finding something you've been searching for.

Wenjie sneered inwardly: Some entanglements will follow you for half your life, seep into your bones and blood, and deepen as your body grows.

Jia Nan felt this way towards him, and he felt the same way towards the butterfly rope buckle.

Then Jia Nan laughed, laughed wildly.

I must say, he has a very handsome smile.

However, this manic laughter carried a sense of desolation and helplessness...

As she laughed, tears welled up in Jia Nan's eyes.

Like a helpless child, he dejectedly grabbed a dark, grimy object from the suitcase.

She quickly slipped it on his black pajamas.

Wenjie felt his head explode!

What...what is that thing?

What is Jia Nan wearing?

Can you imagine a tall man who is 1.8 meters tall wearing a tight-fitting dress over a baggy nightgown?

It was quite comical and bizarre.

Moreover, this scene occurred on such a night, between two people who had experienced childhood trauma and had undergone numerous spiritual trials during their growth.

Jia Nan's pajamas were wrapped up like a rice dumpling, and the collar was bunched up from the neckline...

Wenjie couldn't laugh at all when he saw this!

Not only could I not laugh, but a feeling of sadness welled up from the bottom of my heart.

Jia Nan isn't a cross-dresser, but you can tell he's a bit resistant to this outfit.

He wouldn't even look down at himself.

Jia Nan, dressed in a black dress, stroked the dried bloodstains on the dress.

His tears fell drop by drop, landing on the front of his dress, on the hem of his dress...

Like flowers of mourning, blooming on the hem of her skirt.

"Why did you kill him? All you saw was that he was wearing a skirt, do you know that?"

He wore a skirt entirely to protect me!

Jia Nan roared hoarsely, then collapsed to the ground, seemingly drained of all strength, muttering:

"If it weren't for my brother's protection, I don't think I would have survived until now."

How can you understand how terrifying it is for a child without a father to encounter bullying from a wicked neighbor?

A bachelor in the village raped our mother, and my brother killed him in a fit of rage.

The village chief didn't report it to the police and helped suppress it, but he keeps using it to threaten us.

The boys in the village bullied and beat me.

My brother protected me, so they beat him up.

again and again.

Until one day, they saw the village chief come out of my house, and they laughed at us, calling us wild children.

They rushed into the house, pulled out their mother's dress, and forced their brother to put it on.

If you don't wear it, then spread this shameful secret.

They pinned the older brother to the ground and forcibly put the dress on him.

My brother looked at me with despair.

I saw destruction in his eyes.

If it weren't for me, he might have chosen to end his own life.

But he didn't!

Jia Nan burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably: "My brother doesn't dare to die. He's afraid that if he dies, no one will care for me!"

Tears streamed down his face as he touched the rusty kitchen knife in the black box.

His hands trembled slightly, but his eyes were filled with determination as scenes from that day uncontrollably flooded his mind.

It was afternoon in 2007, 12 years ago, after school.

He discovered that his brother wasn't home, and his mother's black lace dress was missing; a sense of foreboding washed over him.

He was worried that something had happened to his brother.

He hurriedly ran towards the school.

Sure enough, he heard a scream on the narrow path that led between the school and the village.

It was Jia Song!

It must be that patch of weeds!

Jia Song took him to that bush to play hide-and-seek.

The little boy ran to the weeds, squatted down, and peered through the gaps between the grass stems.

He saw a horrifying gash on Jia Song's neck, with blood splattering and staining the ground red.

From Jia Song's angle, all that could be seen were a pair of black leather shoes and a small section of the leg of black trousers.

He was terrified and quickly stood up straight and ran to the cornfield across the street, where he squatted down, too scared to move.

The little boy curled up in a ball, feeling waves of dizziness.

I don't know if it was the sun that day that made me dizzy, or it was because I saw too much blood—Jia Song's blood—that caused this dizziness.

He heard rustling sounds coming from the weeds across the way, and he estimated the time.

When the other party was almost at the intersection, he emerged from the cornfield, using it as cover to maintain a distance that was neither too close nor too far from them.

……

Jia Nan temporarily set aside his chaotic thoughts, picked up the knife, and walked step by step toward Wen Jie.

"I was originally planning to kill a man named Wang Fan tomorrow..."

Wenjie was suddenly stunned. Kill Wang Fan?

Wasn't that something that happened in 2016?

So, is it June 30, 2016 now?

Jia Nan paused here. She brought the kitchen knife to her lips and blew on it.

He frowned and pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Actually, there's no particular reason, it's just that he looks a bit like you."

Isn't it strange that you know he's not the murderer of your brother...?

But I still couldn't help wanting to kill him.

Now he doesn't have to die, because God sent you.

This is such a big surprise!

Jia Nan is actually quite normal, but saying these things while wielding a kitchen knife makes her seem very crazy.

It was at this moment that Wenjie noticed the kitchen knife.

He felt a strong aversion to the knife.

Isn't that the knife I took from Aunt Zhao's house?

But didn't you throw that kitchen knife into the river yourself?

How did it end up in Jia Nan's hands?

What's the point of agonizing over a kitchen knife or a black dress right now?

He pondered for a moment, then said, "There's something you said that's wrong... I understand what it's like to have a childhood without a father!"

(End of this chapter)