I stepped out of the car. The dim, yellowish streetlight cast my shadow onto the ground, illuminating the figure who had been leaning against a car, waiting for a long time—Lin Xuyan.
"Mr. Lin?" My voice deliberately pitched higher, laced with impatience and a touch of chilly offense. "What are you doing outside my building so late? Wasn't the scene the other day embarrassing enough? I thought we made things perfectly clear."
Lin Xuyan seemed caught off guard by my direct confrontation. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced by his carefully crafted expressions of "anguish" and "devotion." He hurriedly took a step forward. The streetlight illuminated his deliberately furrowed brow, creating an aura of fragile remorse.
"Miss Nan! Please, wait!" His voice was urgent yet strained into softness, as if afraid to startle me. "I know… I know I shouldn't disturb you, especially at this hour. But… I just… I feel so suffocated inside. If I don't get this off my chest, I won't be able to sleep tonight!"
I stopped walking, crossing my arms defensively over my chest—a posture suggesting I was listening, though the cold scrutiny in my eyes didn't lessen one bit. Fine, let's see what vile lies this hypocritical face can spew out now.
Lin Xuyan took a deep breath, as if gathering courage, and began his performance of "contrition":
"About Zhou Yuqing… Qingqian baby… I swear there's really… really nothing substantial between us!" He rushed to distance himself, his eyes darting towards me, gauging my reaction. "Miss Nan, please believe me! Ever since my wife, Xiaoran… passed away unexpectedly—" He deliberately choked up on "Xiaoran," even lifting a hand to wipe at a non-existent tear at the corner of his eye. "—my world collapsed. Every day felt like I was sleepwalking, my heart terrifyingly empty… The sheer pain and loss almost consumed me."
He turned slightly, letting the light accentuate the melancholy profile of his face. "During that darkest, most helpless time, I happened to see Zhou Yuqing's livestream online… You know? She… the way she smiled, a certain angle of her profile… it resembled my wife's just… just a little bit." His voice grew low.
"That faint, fleeting resemblance… it felt like I'd grabbed onto a lifeline… I… I must have lost my head. I couldn't help but send her some gifts in her stream… I swear, at the time, I truly only… only wanted to grasp a tiny fragment of the past, to ease that bone-deep longing and pain just a little! I never imagined that just that would make her… make her develop such a massive misunderstanding!"
Lin Xuyan's expression became one of "profound regret." His gaze fixed on me, brimming with "sincere" apology. "I never dreamed things would escalate like this! I never imagined my moment of foolishness would drag you into this, Miss Nan! I am truly… truly deeply sorry! I came tonight just to apologize to you in person, to beg for your forgiveness!"
His performance was masterful. He played the role of the "grief-stricken husband, vulnerable and lost, momentarily blinded by a resemblance, now filled with remorse after a misunderstanding" to perfection. If I weren't the very "Xiaoran" he had murdered with his own hands, even I might have been fooled by that act.
Inside, I sneered coldly. Outwardly, however, my expression subtly shifted along with his "confession." I pretended my tightly knit brows relaxed slightly. My crossed arms lowered a fraction. The icy scrutiny in my eyes seemed to thaw a little, replaced by a complex mix of understanding… and a hint of barely perceptible "softening."
I sighed softly. My tone lost its previous sharpness, instead taking on a note of sympathy tinged with indignation on "Xiaoran's" behalf.
"So that's how it was…" I murmured, my voice holding a trace of "pity." "Mr. Lin, losing a beloved partner… I can understand that pain, at least a little. That emptiness and despair… it's easy to lose your way… To grasp for some familiar comfort… it's understandable." I paused, then my tone abruptly sharpened, turning cutting and scornful:
"But!" My gaze suddenly became piercing, stabbing into Lin Xuyan. "That Zhou Yuqing! What is she? Nothing but someone exploiting a pitiful, vague resemblance! What right does she have? What right did she have to prey on you when you were at your most vulnerable, your most broken? That day at your place, how dare she posture like the lady of the house?! Utterly shameless! Brazen beyond belief!"
My voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear, dripping with undisguised contempt and loathing for Zhou Yuqing. Seizing the opening Lin Xuyan had provided, I directed all my firepower squarely at her.
It worked!
Lin Xuyan's eyes instantly lit up when he heard me turn all my hostility towards Zhou Yuqing, and sensed my apparent understanding of his "vulnerable" moment of "confusion."
He was ecstatic: This is working! This Nan Zhi truly despises Zhou Yuqing! And she seems… not entirely unreceptive to my "devoted widower" persona. There's even a hint of sympathy and resonance?
Opportunity! This is a godsend!
"Miss Nan! You're absolutely right!" He sounded like he'd found a soulmate, his voice thick with emotion. "She… Zhou Yuqing is utterly presumptuous! She's just trying to climb the social ladder! Once I came to my senses, I saw her for the greedy hypocrite she is! She doesn't deserve… doesn't deserve to even be mentioned in the same breath as my wife! She isn't fit to hold her shoes!"
He railed against Zhou Yuqing with righteous indignation, all the while fixing me with a burning gaze, searching for agreement and… the possibility of something more.
Standing before him now was Nan Zhi—a hundred times more dazzling, a thousand times more valuable than Zhou Yuqing. Undoubtedly, he was already scheming how to turn this "sympathy" and "resonance" into something far more tangible.
What he would never know, however, was that beneath the beautiful face before him, a cold soul was silently sneering: Lin Xuyan, your performance is impeccable. Pity your audience already knows the ending. Your "opportunity" is nothing but a staircase straight to hell.