After hanging up, Yang Ming grabbed his hair in frustration, his fingers tugging at the black strands until his scalp stung from the tension. Then a notification pinged, and a message appeared on his phone's glowing screen. It was a WeChat text that read, "I will head back today." Liu Sha, who had already walked up beside him in the falling snow, silently watched his changing expression with her large, perceptive eyes.
In the end, he still brought Liu Sha back to his home, their footsteps muffled by the fresh white powder on the sidewalk.
In truth, this wasn't the house where he had once lived with his younger sister. After choosing to move out and live with Li Xiaotong, he had naturally separated from his sister. Yang Qianqian now lived together with Xu Jing in a quiet apartment across town.
Before reaching this final chapter, Su Li had portrayed the relationship between Yang Qianqian and Xu Jing with extraordinary warmth and beauty. It created a convincing illusion for many readers. Even if Yang Ming eventually crashed and burned, it didn't matter to them. As long as Yang Qianqian and Xu Jing could stay together forever, that would be enough to satisfy their hearts.
Many female readers who enjoyed that sort of story had joined the fandom precisely for the elegant and pure yuri plotline, not to watch the antics of some scumbag male lead.
When Yang Ming returned home, the scent of cold, spilled food greeted him. He naturally noticed the kitchen was in complete disarray. The floor was covered with the broken plates and the half-eaten dishes that had been thrown everywhere in a fit of rage. A look of sharp disgust appeared on his face as he reluctantly began cleaning the greasy mess, his hands becoming stained with sauce.
Just after he finished scrubbing the last of the floor, the doorbell rang with a sudden, jarring chime.
He hurried out from the kitchen, wiping his hands on his pants. The moment the door opened, a sharp slap echoed through the narrow hallway.
Li Xiaotong had returned.
Possessing an unusually sharp intuition, she had come back to Yang Ming's house on a whim. The moment she saw Liu Sha standing there in the living room, anger exploded in her chest like a physical heat, and she struck her hard across the face. The sound was sickeningly loud in the small space.
When Li Xiaotong noticed Liu Sha stepping out from the kitchen behind her, her expression darkened even further, her eyes flashing with a dangerous light.
"Why is this shameless vixen here!" she shouted, her voice trembling with a mix of fury and betrayal.
Yang Ming panicked, his hands hovering uselessly in the air. "Xiaotong, why did you…"
"What do you mean why? Why are you with her?" She pointed a shaking finger furiously at Liu Sha, whose cheek was already beginning to redden.
"I… this…" he stammered, his mind racing for an excuse that wouldn't come.
"Liu Sha, leave. Stop clinging to Ah Ming!" Li Xiaotong tried to shove the silent Liu Sha out the door, her movements frantic.
"Don't do this, Xiaotong!" Yang Ming hurriedly pushed Li Xiaotong aside and pulled Liu Sha behind him protectively, his grip firm on her shoulder.
"What did I do wrong? What exactly is your relationship with her? I'm already pregnant with your child, and you are just going to throw me away like this?" Her voice cracked on the last word, tears brimming in her eyes.
"I…"
"Ah Ming, you don't like Liu Sha anymore, right?"
"Uh… well…"
"You didn't invite her here yourself, did you? She must have done something to trick you, right? That must be it!"
"Sha… Sha Sha didn't do anything."
"That's a lie! Liu Sha, you are the one who asked Ah Ming to bring you here, aren't you?" Li Xiaotong turned on her again, her face contorted. "Get out! Get out of here right now!"
Liu Sha who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke. Her voice was calm, almost melodic.
"Wasn't it you who seduced Ming-ge? You did that just to steal Ming-ge away from me, didn't you?"
"That's not true! Ah Ming and I love each other. Our feelings have always been mutual. We have been together since we were children!" Li Xiaotong shouted, her knuckles white.
"That's just your wishful thinking."
"Shut up! Stop talking nonsense!"
"I'm not like you," Liu Sha said softly, her eyes focusing on Yang Ming. "I'm very tolerant. I think it's perfectly normal for a man to have several women. My father has several lovers too. I'm willing to think more about Ming-ge's happiness than my own pride."
The rich young lady spoke gently, then wrapped both arms around one of Yang Ming's and leaned her soft weight against his chest while gazing up at him affectionately.
Yang Ming was deeply moved by her apparent selflessness.
He remembered how arrogant and temperamental Liu Sha had been before they started sleeping together. She used to scold him or slap him at the slightest provocation in the school hallways. Yet she had changed so much for his sake, shedding her pride to stay by his side.
If that wasn't true love, what was?
Their eyes met in the dim light of the hallway. Slowly, their faces moved closer together, drawn by a sudden, intense heat.
Right in front of the distraught Li Xiaotong, they began kissing passionately.
Li Xiaotong stared at the shameless pair before her with a completely shattered expression. At that moment she didn't realize that Yang Qianqian had once felt exactly the same agonizing betrayal when she saw Li Xiaotong passionately sleeping with her own older brother.
If this scene appeared in an anime, the comment barrage would probably turn green again with the shared rage of the viewers.
The one who left Yang Ming's house like a defeated stray dog was Li Xiaotong.
She walked down the dark street, the cold air biting at her skin as she muttered to herself over and over.
"Why did it turn out like this? Back then, when we slept together, he promised that having me alone would be enough. I was the first. The first kiss, the first time we slept together. I was the first. So why… why did it become like this?"
Memories of her time with Yang Ming flashed repeatedly through her mind. She remembered the warmth of his embrace and the lies he had whispered in the dark.
At the end of those memories, however, the face that appeared was the emotionless, obsidian gaze of Xu Jing.
That night she barely slept, the silence of her apartment feeling like a physical weight.
The vibration of her phone finally woke her from a light, fitful doze. When she saw that the message was from Yang Ming, a desperate hope surged through her heart like someone clutching at the final, fraying straw.
She opened the message with trembling anticipation.
It read:
"Sha Sha said she can introduce you to a hospital she knows. If you get rid of it earlier, the burden on your body will be lighter."
Li Xiaotong stared at the message in disbelief, the words blurring before her eyes.
Clutching her stomach with both hands, she looked as if something inside her had completely broken, a final cord snapping in the dark.
Meanwhile, Yang Ming went to school the next day as if nothing had happened. He moved through the crowded halls with a light step, feeling as though a huge burden had finally been removed from his shoulders.
The moment he walked into the classroom, he received another message from Li Xiaotong.
"I need to talk to you face to face. Let's meet at your place tonight. Just the two of us."
A relieved smile finally appeared on his face. In his mind, Li Xiaotong must have agreed to terminate the pregnancy after thinking it over.
He happily shared the news with Liu Sha and even told her that from now on he would stay with his beloved Sha Sha forever. In his eyes, there would only ever be her.
The two of them continued kissing passionately in the quiet corridor, ignoring the world around them.
Not far away, hidden in a deserted corner, Yang Qianqian watched her older brother kissing Liu Sha with sorrowful, red-rimmed eyes.
She suddenly grabbed Xu Jing beside her and kissed her fiercely, her movements desperate and needy.
Xu Jing responded with equal passion, her arms wrapping around the girl's waist. She willingly served as Yang Ming's substitute, her heart satisfied by the proximity.
After all, everything was proceeding according to her carefully crafted script.
Once Yang Ming died, Yang Qianqian would belong to her forever.
By evening, Yang Ming finally met Li Xiaotong at his house. The room was quiet, lit only by a single lamp.
He sat casually on the sofa and asked with some anticipation, "So? You have decided, right? You can trust Sha Sha about this hospital…"
Li Xiaotong kept her head slightly lowered, her hair obscuring her face. Her eyes were incredibly dark and deep, like wells of stagnant water.
She remained silent for a long time, which made Yang Ming increasingly uneasy in the stillness.
Finally he broke the silence, shifting in his seat.
"I will make some tea for you…"
"I will do it," Li Xiaotong said quietly, her voice devoid of emotion as she walked toward the kitchen without waiting for a response.
Yang Ming frowned and sighed helplessly. It seemed she was still unwilling to terminate the pregnancy. That gave him a headache. He began thinking about how he could use his so-called gentleness and kindness to persuade her once more.
Standing in the kitchen, Li Xiaotong suddenly saw the garbage bag filled with the cold remains of the food she had once prepared for him.
Her lips pressed together tightly. Her eyes grew darker and darker as she reached into her pocket.
She took out her phone and sent Yang Ming a final message.
"Sorry… goodbye forever."
While Yang Ming stared at the message in confusion, his thumb hovering over the screen, Li Xiaotong appeared silently behind him.
A sharp kitchen knife gleamed in her hands, reflecting the dim light.
She drove it straight into his back with all her strength.
Yang Ming collapsed forward onto the floor, a choked gasp escaping his throat. Holding the knife with both hands, she stabbed down again and again, her movements frantic and wild.
Every stab brought another memory of their past together. She remembered their childhood laughter, their first night, and his broken promises.
"That's too cruel!" she screamed, the sound echoing off the walls. "Don't think you can just go live happily with Liu Sha by yourself!"
Blood and flesh flew everywhere, staining her clothes and the carpet.
Scarlet splattered across the room in a jagged arc.
It was a strangely satisfying spectacle in the silence of the night.
Yang Ming's face twisted with agony. His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the ceiling, the light slowly fading from them. He never imagined she would do something like this.
Li Xiaotong stabbed him dozens of times until her arms were weak.
Only when he lay completely dead in a widening pool of blood did she finally stop.
…
In reality, Su Li wore a wild smile on her face, her eyes bright with a manic energy. She panted excitedly as her pen raced across the manuscript paper, the ink flowing like blood.
Inside her manga studio, a Japanese song titled The Far Shore of Sorrow was playing at a low volume.
It was an obscure track originally meant to be an insert song for a certain game. The project had been canceled halfway through because the company executives decided it would definitely lose money and get criticized by players for being too depressing.
The lyrics echoed softly in the studio.
悲しみの向こうへと,辿り着けるなら
Kanashimi no mukō e to, tadoritsukeru nara
If I could reach the far shore beyond sorrow,
仆はもう要らないよ,ぬくもりも明日も
Boku wa mō iranai yo, nukumori mo ashita mo
Then I would no longer need warmth or tomorrow.
静寂の暗に,舞い降りた梦は
Seijaku no yami ni, maiorita yume wa
In the silent darkness, a dream slowly descends.
===
The Japanese title shown in the lyrics, 悲しみの向こうへ, corresponds to the song Kanashimi no Mukou e. The title means "Beyond the Sorrow" or "The Far Side of Sadness."
It is strongly associated with the visual novel School Days and its anime adaptation School Days. The franchise is infamous for its extremely dark relationship drama and one of the most notorious endings in anime and visual novel history.
The song became iconic because it plays during one of the most shocking scenes in School Days. That story also involves:
• a cheating male protagonist
• multiple girls in a toxic love triangle
• jealousy, betrayal, and obsession
• a violent stabbing climax
Because of that, 悲しみの向こうへ became strongly associated in Japanese internet culture with yandere endings and violent romantic breakdowns.
So when the novel describes Li Xiaotong stabbing Yang Ming while this song plays, it is very likely an intentional meta reference to School Days. The author is basically signaling to readers:
"This is the same kind of ending."
In other words, the song is not random background music. It is a cultural shorthand for a tragic, obsessive love story ending in violence.