Chapter 233

Lu Man's head went blank, and the documents she was holding in her arms scattered all over the floor with a "whoosh."

Xi He, sitting behind the chair, turned his hand. The glass bead rose and fell in his hand. The light coming through the floor-to-ceiling window refracted in it, flickering and jumping in the air, before being caught by him and held tightly in his hand.

The chair turned around, and that extremely handsome face like an angel appeared in front of Lu Man.

This face, Lu Man would not forget. How many times, because of this innocent and moving face, she had softened her heart during discipline.

It was just that now the childishness in her memory had faded, like a fully evolved complete body, even more impeccable.

"What did you do to President Qi?" Lu Man's voice trembled, and she grabbed the sofa armrest on the side to barely stand.

Xi He grinned like a wild wolf revealing white fangs: "Sister Lu Man, it's been a long time, I forgot how much I used to like seeing you look so frightened and fragile."

"You..." Lu Man only felt humiliated. "He is your father, you know that."

"Oh, are you talking about the person who locked me up in Nanling?" Xi He's mouth raised with a smile, but his eyes were already cold to the bone. "I gave up being a filial son a long time ago. Otherwise, at this moment, I would have been buried in Nanling and forgotten with that deposed crown prince who committed suicide, wouldn't I?"

"Your father always wanted to save you, Xi He. He is already old, let him go."

"Oh, you really care about him, more than I do, more than Qi Fei does." Xi He narrowed his eyes when he mentioned Qi Fei. "Very good."

He stood up, prowling around Lu Man like a beast, raised his hand and reached toward her waist: "If you really want to save Qi Dongjun, don't move."

Lu Man's tears fell down, knowing that every word Xi He said was true, and she didn't dare to move at all.

"You know what I like." Xi He said, his hand hovering and wandering along Lu Man's graceful curves, gradually moving downward, suddenly reaching into her coat pocket, taking out her phone, and throwing it behind his head. Following the harsh sound of shattering, his demonic whisper sounded again: "I like obedience tests. Sister Lu Man, obey me, just like you did back then." As he spoke, he searched her for car keys, threw them into a shredder on the side, and the machine's gears greedily swallowed them but got stuck in the middle, emitting a sharp alarm sound.

Lu Man's face had turned pale, and she swallowed nervously: "I was forced. All these years I have taken care of President Qi with all my heart to atone for my sins."

"You are still deceiving yourself even now. Is it so hard to admit that you want to get Qi Dongjun? You know very well what the consequences of my escape are."

"Kill me, let all this end! Let President Qi go, he didn't do anything wrong!"

"Kill you? That would be no fun at all." Xi He said, grabbing her hand. At this moment, a thunderclap sounded outside, and Xi He dragged her toward the outside with a creepy gentle tone: "Do you remember the game we used to play?"

Hearing the word "game," Lu Man seemed to be struck by the thunder, suddenly opening her terrified eyes wide, shaking her head desperately: "No, don't!"

However, her helpless begging only made Xi He more excited: "Shh... be obedient. If you're not good, I'll be angry. You know, this rainy day is something I've been waiting for a long time. Back in the Nanling confinement center, we often played like this, right?" He hummed a nursery rhyme that only the two of them could understand.

For some reason, Lu Man gave up struggling, as if the countless escapes she had tried in the past were all in vain. The initial horror turned into despair, and she let Xi He drag her into the garden.

"I buried marbles here, you can start digging. Whenever you find them, I will let you go."

"Otherwise you will kill President Qi, I know! Back then, those people all died like that." Lu Man shivered in the heavy rain. Xi He used this method to shift the guilt of murder onto her.

"Good to know, then hurry up. How much time do I give you this time? How about this, one hour. For every minute you find them early, I will give Qi Dongjun one more day to live, how about that?" Xi He enjoyed it, even moving a chair to sit at the door, appreciating Lu Man's miserable appearance.

This anxiety of being driven invaded Lu Man's whole body. After many years, she still had no way to resist.

She searched for marbles in the mud soaked by rain like crazy.

She knew that Xi He would never bury the marbles very deep. Just like teasing cats and dogs, he always left some clues, making her think she would find them immediately, but she couldn't find them even after trying her best.

Except for the death of Xi Ziyun, only Lu Man knew that those nurses and security guards who died accidentally in Nanling were all Xi He's masterpieces.

"You never told Qi Dongjun that unlike others, you were able to persist in the work of taking care of me because you accepted my test, right? He thought you tamed me, poor old man." Xi He's voice came from behind Lu Man through the noisy rain. "Guess, if he saw you like this, listening to my command like a dog, what would he think?!"

Lu Man didn't dare to contradict, just bit her lip in humiliation, struggling to find where the marbles were hidden in the sight blurred by rain and tears.

Her fingers were stung by weeds and gravel, but she couldn't care less.

The reason she obeyed was because Xi He had told her countless times with actions that what he said would be done.

If she couldn't find the marbles within an hour, Qi Dongjun would really die.

The painful memory made Lu Man twitch violently. With the sound of a finger snap, Zhong Kui woke her up from hypnosis.

Lu Man didn't realize that she had told Zhong Kui the whole process.

"Ten minutes, you found the marbles ten minutes early." Zhong Kui's voice came. In Lu Man's gradually clearing sight, that face as beautiful as a porcelain doll replaced the unbearable and terrifying memory in her mind.

Lu Man grabbed her hair with her ten red and swollen fingers, tears burst out, and she fell into deep self-blame: "I am really too useless!"

"If you think so, then you are exactly what Xi He wants." Zhong Kui said. "Ten days is enough." She stood up, walked to the side, poured a glass of water, and handed it to Lu Man.

Lu Man held the water glass, and because of the trembling, the water surface in the glass rippled with miniature ripples.

"When I ran out, he said if I wanted President Qi to live, I had to hand over the marbles to Qi Fei..." Lu Man realized something after saying this, looked around, and asked Zhong Kui, "Where did Qi Fei go?"