Trapped in Tenderness - Chapter 3

The night deepened further.

In the vast master bedroom, Jiang Man was curled up in the warm quilt, drifting in and out of sleep, utterly exhausted. The flush on her face had not yet faded, and the corners of her eyes were tinged with an unnatural red.

In her drowsiness, she felt someone embrace her from behind, pressing her against a warm chest. Next, her ring finger touched something cold. She opened her eyes hazily, only to see the ring she had forgotten that morning being placed back on her finger.

Their fingers intertwined, the rings colliding intimately. Dimly, it seemed Qi Zhicheng said something, but she didn’t hear it clearly; her spirit was too depleted, and she closed her eyes, sinking into a deep sleep.

Her sleep that night was fitful, interrupted by a series of fragmented dreams. As a result, she woke up the moment a light kiss landed on her forehead.

Jiang Man struggled to open her eyes and saw Qi Zhicheng, dressed in a sharp suit and perfectly groomed, standing by her bed. The sky outside the window was still black.

“It’s still early.” He leaned over to tuck the quilt around her. “Sleep a little longer.”

“Are you leaving?”

“There are still a pile of things to handle in New York. My team is waiting for me; I can’t stay too long.”

Upon hearing that he was leaving immediately, Jiang Man sobered up instantly. She sat up abruptly and looked at him seriously. “Wait a moment, I have something to tell you.”

“Anything you have to say, wait until I come back.”

This was the third time he had interrupted her. She faintly felt that he seemed to know something.

“I went to see a lawyer some time ago.” Jiang Man got straight to the point.

After she finished speaking, she didn’t see any sign of surprise on his face. He remained calm and composed, not even asking why she had sought out a lawyer.

“You knew all along, didn’t you?”

He didn’t answer and turned to leave.

“Qi Zhicheng.” She called out to his retreating back.

The man stopped, but didn’t look back.

“Let’s get a divorce.”

When the words fell, the room grew so quiet that one could hear a pin drop; the air seemed to stop flowing. Following the brief silence, the only answer she received was the finality of a slamming door.

The loud “bang” made her tremble along with it. The room returned to silence, leaving her entirely alone.

Jiang Man sat on the bed for a while, feeling physically and mentally exhausted. She sighed and leaned back, burying herself in the quilt. Huaicheng’s winters were rarely rainy but were damp and bitingly cold, with misty condensation forming on the glass windows.

The room was warm and comfortable, and Jiang Man drifted off to sleep again before she knew it. Winter nights were long; when she woke up again, the morning light hadn’t yet appeared, and outside the window, it was still pitch black.

Jiang Man no longer felt sleepy, so she simply got up, preparing to go to the troupe.

The roses that had carpeted the parlor last night had been cleared away by the maids, leaving only a few neatly trimmed stems in a glass bottle. Jiang Man walked over and gently brushed the petals.

“You’re awake.”

A man’s low voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

Jiang Man was startled, turning abruptly. In a corner untouched by light, a familiar figure was leaning against the sofa, shrouded in shadows. He held his gaze half-lowered, as if he had maintained that posture for a long time.

Jiang Man was caught off guard, her heartbeat seemingly skipping a beat.

“Qi Zhicheng?” She slowed her heart rate. “Shouldn’t you be at the airport at this hour?”

As soon as she finished speaking, her gaze paused slightly. On the low coffee table by the sofa, two passports were placed side-by-side.

One was Qi Zhicheng’s, and the other was hers.

She vaguely guessed something and frowned: “What… do you mean?”

Qi Zhicheng didn’t answer; he stood up in a leisurely manner and slowly emerged from the shadows.

“I’ve changed my mind.” He raised his eyes and smiled. “You’re coming to New York with me.”

“What… are you talking about?” Jiang Man doubted she had heard correctly. “The premiere of Don Quixote is almost here; it’s impossible for me to go with you.”

“I have already contacted the troupe; the lead role will be played by your understudy.”

A chill seeped from her back. Jiang Man’s body stiffened as she looked at him in disbelief: “You resigned on my behalf?”

“You’ve been too tired lately,” Qi Zhicheng said calmly. “After arriving in New York, you can get some rest, so you won’t be thinking about things that make me unhappy when you’re at home.”

“What right do you have to make decisions for me? What do you take me for? A piece of luggage you can carry around when you travel?”

Jiang Man closed her eyes, forcefully suppressing her anger, trying her best to calm down. “I am not going to New York.”

“Manman, I am not discussing this with you.”

“Right, you never discuss anything with me. In these three years of marriage, you’ve always been deciding for me, deciding my life’s trajectory as casually as packing a bag, what I should or shouldn’t do, who I see even my daily itinerary you know better than I do. I’ve had enough of this life.”

Bitterness swelled in her chest; her heart felt like it had been torn open, and all her emotions poured out at that moment. Jiang Man took a light breath, her eyes burning with unshed tears.

“I’ve long since been unable to endure this life, and I can’t endure your pathological possessiveness even more.”

“Let’s divorce. This marriage has no need to continue.”

She lowered her eyes and finished speaking on her own, entirely unaware of the gloom gradually deepening in the man’s eyes.

Qi Zhicheng let out a very soft laugh, his body filled with a sinister aura.

“I cannot divorce, Manman. I said yesterday, you are my wife; even in death, we will be together. Don’t ever think about leaving me.”

He lowered his head and brows, his hand caressing her cheek. “All these years, you’ve remained cold to me, like a stone that cannot be warmed.” His index finger moved down, pointing at her chest. “Jiang Man, do you have a heart?”

Light and shadow interleaved on the man’s face. His gaze swept over her face inch by inch, as if he were talking to himself. “But I don’t care, as long as you stay by my side.”

The man’s thumb moved upward, gently wiping the corner of her eye.

“Such beautiful eyes.”

“It would be perfect if there were only me in these eyes.”

“Are these eyes only capable of liking the hypocritical, gentle pretenses of someone like Chen Min? If you like that sort, I can be that too.”

“I can be more refined and considerate than him.”

“You want a husband like that, don’t you?”

“Tell me, I can learn; I can even do better than Chen Min.”

Such lowly and insane remarks made Jiang Man’s skin crawl. He was actually willing to distort himself, imitating others, in an attempt to overwrite Chen Min’s shadow in her heart.

“You’re truly crazy.”

Jiang Man shook her head. “I’ve thought very clearly about the divorce; once the divorce agreement is drafted by the lawyer, it will be delivered into your hands.”

She took off the wedding ring on her ring finger and placed it gently on the table. She then turned to leave.

Qi Zhicheng remained in place, motionless, his face void of any expression, his gaze falling on the lonely ring on the table it looked incredibly piercing.

It should have been worn on a slender, fair ring finger.

How could she have taken it off?

And she shouldn’t even think about escaping from him.

Qi Zhicheng forcibly interrupted his thoughts, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, putting the ring into his pocket. He took out his phone and dialed an internal line. After hanging up, he walked slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window; the giant window offered a view of the bridge leading to the main gate.

Moments later, that familiar white Taycan sped toward them, just as expected.

Across the distance, he seemed to see the excited expression on the face of the person in the car, looking forward to escaping him.

Truly piercing.

It was a pity that the metal gate had already been lowered. She could not escape that gate, let alone dream of leaving him. Just as he expected, the white Taycan slowed to a halt before the gate, and after a few seconds, it began to reverse slowly.

A smile of extreme pleasure finally appeared on Qi Zhicheng’s face.

Look.

She will come back.

She will helplessly compromise, or angrily come back to argue with him—any of that is fine, as long as she comes back, returns to his side.

Suddenly.

Qi Zhicheng’s smile stiffened on his face, his expression turning dark and heavy—

The Taycan’s taillights flashed brightly, and the car body, like an arrow off a string, accelerated and rammed into the metal gate.

Huaihui Private Hospital.

“Amnesia?”

Outside the ward, Qi Zhicheng’s face was gloomy, a blue vein at his temple throbbing uncontrollably.

“It should be retrograde amnesia caused by the impact on the head,” the attending physician explained while flipping through the medical record. “Her memory is stuck four years ago; the memories after that are blank for her.”

Qi Zhicheng listened in silence, his body filled with a sinister aura.

“Four years ago in other words, she forgot me.”

The doctor said: “As of now, yes.”

Qi Zhicheng laughed in anger. Even amnesia managed to conveniently wipe out the memories after meeting him.

The doctor continued to explain: “It’s currently uncertain when the lost memories of these four years will recover; it could be months, years, or perhaps she might never remember.”

After the doctor left, Qi Zhicheng stood outside the door for a long time. Through the glass, his wife sat quietly on the edge of the bed, gazing blankly at a small pot of yellow marguerites on the table.

The afternoon sun was warm, casting through the window grid, with some rays landing on her cheeks. Her face lacked the cold alienation she usually showed him, looking surprisingly obedient and docile.

He hadn’t seen this Jiang Man for a long time; she looked as beautiful as the first time he met her.

Qi Zhicheng stood outside the ward for a long time, his thumb slowly rotating the ring on his ring finger. At the same time, a crazed, distorted thought germinated and grew deep within his heart.

If she forgot the past, then can we start over?

I can appear before her again as the perfect husband she likes.

This idea clung to him like a maggot on a bone, entangling him to the point that his breathing began to quicken. His blurred shadow was reflected on the dark glass window; Qi Zhicheng tried to pull at the corners of his mouth.

Ugly. Hypocritical. It makes me sick.

He had seen this sickening smile on Chen Min’s face. That man always wore that detached, refined look; the mere sight of his hypocritical face made him want to slash it to pieces.

Qi Zhicheng closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried again toward the glass.

Mimicking Chen Min, he pulled his lips into an arc again, softened his gaze, and adjusted the subtle changes in every muscle on his face, over and over again.

Once, twice, again and again.

He saw himself in the reflection, changing from stiff and distorted to natural and peaceful. A gentle smile, identical to Chen Min’s, settled on his face.

He was finally satisfied.

The natural world adheres to the laws of predation, playing out the same drama at every moment. The predator hides itself, waiting for the prey to take the bait. Humans are just another kind of more sophisticated mimic, donning a disguise approaching, hunting, and then possessing.

Qi Zhicheng pushed open the ward door.

“Manman, you’re awake.”

Jiang Man raised her eyes: “…Who are you?”

He pulled up the corners of his lips slowly, humble and appropriate.

“I am Qi Zhicheng, your husband.”