WAM CH52

The night grew darker, the sky looming heavily overhead, pressing down until it felt suffocating.

Zhou Weiping stood by the window as a gentle breeze blew inside, rustling the pages of the journal in his hands.

Getting on in years, combined with ruining his eyesight from reading by lamplight late at night in his youth, his vision had deteriorated. Carefully holding the pages down with one hand, he fished out a pair of gold-rimmed glasses hanging from his chest by a long red cord.

After putting on the glasses, he cautiously let his gaze settle on that line of peaceful handwriting:

Jianguo, please stay safe and healthy.

…

Please stay safe and healthy.

Zhou Weiping had read this sentence over and over for who knew how long. Finally, he closed the journal, walked over to the bed, and turned off the main light, leaving only a small bedside lamp glowing.

His wife of over twenty years was sleeping on the inner side of the double bed. Hearing the sound, she groggily opened her eyes: “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you asleep yet?”

The woman was plain-looking, with deep crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes that made her look aged, yet her features were kind and gentle.

“Nothing, go back to sleep,” Zhou Weiping said. “I’ll read for a bit and then turn in.”

With that, the woman mumbled a couple of words, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Zhou Weiping stared at the crown of her head, momentarily lost in thought. That day at the hospital, after everyone had laid their cards on the table and they were parting ways at the entrance, Gu Yanzhou had quietly called him aside: “Forgive me for asking, but does your wife know the truth? Was she unknowingly trapped in a sham marriage?”

It had been a sharp question. Zhou Weiping had turned around to see that although the young man before him spoke in an exceptionally mild tone, there was a distinct sharpness in his eyes, his inquiry ringing with undeniable weight.

“…”

“She knows… She knew, and she was still willing to be with me.”

“I’m the one who owes her.”

Snapping back from his memories, Zhou Weiping let out a sigh.

Having lived his life this way, he had done nothing but foolish, cowardly things.

He couldn’t live as a decisive, clear-headed man, nor could he learn to ignore the judgment of others. Only during those days spent living with Ye Qing had he lived with any real clarity and light.

Back then, he had genuinely harbored a solitary courage, hoping to carve out a space where their love could grow. Yet when it came down to it, all of that bravery had been given to him by Ye Qing.

The truly brave one was Ye Qing.

It was Ye Qing, who would write in his journal: I believe the sun will rise. Since heaven created someone like me, I have the right to freedom.

Just as Zhou Weiping was about to turn off the small lamp as well, he noticed the breeze had blown the journal open to another page.

Right in the middle of this page, there was a glaring mark where a section had been torn or cut out.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town.

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about! Let go of me! Let go!”

Yang Ze struggled with all his might, yet locking himself indoors drinking heavily for days on end had left him with barely any strength to muster. Gu Yanzhou restrained him effortlessly with just one hand: “Stop thrashing around and stay still. Didn’t you hear me asking you a question?”

Shao Si stared dumbfounded as an aura completely different from usual gradually surfaced around Gu Yanzhou.

A bit like a street thug.

“Aren’t you choking him a bit too tightly?” Shao Si patted Gu Yanzhou’s arm. “Let him go. We’re civilized people; let’s sit down and talk this out properly.”

However, the instant Gu Yanzhou loosened his grip, Yang Ze bolted upstairs like a slippery loach, glancing back over his shoulder as he ran and hurling whatever objects were within reach at them.

Gu Yanzhou shot Shao Si a silent look: “…”

Shao Si rolled up his sleeves: “I take back what I just said.”

In the end, Yang Ze was dragged back down with Shao Si pressing firmly down on the back of his head.

Shao Si had first stepped unceremoniously onto the sofa, bent down to grab the back of Yang Ze’s collar, and then pushed off with his foot, vaulting over the sofa to pin him straight to the floor. Gu Yanzhou stood by with folded arms, watching like he was enjoying a monkey show, even strolling calmly over to the fridge to grab himself a bottle of water.

“What the hell do you want?! I don’t know! I don’t know anything! Please get out!”

“Stop pulling my hair! Fuck!”

“What are you cursing for?” Panting lightly, Shao Si shoved Yang Ze onto the sofa and closed in on him. “You stubborn brat, why won’t you listen when someone tries to talk nicely to you… Spill everything you know about that underground operation Wang Shan runs in secret. This information is very important to us.”

As Shao Si spoke, he felt something wasn’t quite right. Turning his head to look, he hurriedly called out, “Gu Yanzhou, where did you go?”

Only then did Gu Yanzhou stroll leisurely out of the kitchen, leaning against the glass doorframe as he asked him, “Want some water?”

“…”

Shao Si held out a hand: “Toss me a bottle.”

Two minutes later, Yang Ze sat in the middle of the sofa, sandwiched tightly between the two men flanking him on either side.

Yang Ze sat stiff as a board, utterly baffled as to why his sworn enemy of a senior colleague from the same agency and the illustrious Best Actor Gu had come looking for him.

Shao Si raised an arm and slung it around Yang Ze’s neck like they were best buddies, hooking a mineral water bottle in his other hand as he bluffingly spun a tale that left Yang Ze completely stunned: “Here’s the deal. As you know, Wang Shan just brought funding into our production crew, right? Well, a little while ago, the cops came knocking on our door.”

Gu Yanzhou nearly choked on a mouthful of water.

If it’s the police, just say police; what’s with calling them “cops” like he’s in a triad gang? Did filming Undercover rot his brain?

“They’ve been keeping tabs on the shady business Wang Shan runs behind closed doors for a long time. Why else do you think we came to you? Even though we aren’t on great terms, I know you aren’t that kind of person; you don’t have the guts to pull off something that big.” As Shao Si spoke, he watched Yang Ze’s expression closely. Sure enough, Yang Ze’s tense face began to waver. Loosening his grip slightly, Shao Si spoke with deliberate vagueness, “With this whole mess, Wang Shan might be planning to pin the blame on you. You…”

There wasn’t any police investigation at all; it was a story he and Gu Yanzhou had cooked up on the spot during the drive over.

It was all pure guesswork. Yang Ze had originally been coasting smoothly in the industry after latching onto a wealthy backer like Wang Shan, so why had he fallen into such a miserable state? The role he had traded his body for was recast, and even Qi Ming had abandoned him.

That left only one possibility: he had been played, and the person who played him was Wang Shan.

What on earth had Wang Shan done to make Yang Ze fall out completely with Qi Ming, curse him out as a pervert, and even willingly give up the hard-won role he had been so proud of?

Yang Ze shot to his feet with a jolt: “I didn’t do it! How could he do this to me?!”

Shao Si was just about to say, “So what exactly do you know? Tell us so we can help you.”

Instead, Yang Ze’s voice suddenly trembled as he slowly crouched down, burying his face in both hands: “I didn’t kill him. I didn’t kill him.”

Shao Si and Gu Yanzhou exchanged a glance, both of their eyes filled with shock.

“I already promised I wouldn’t breathe a word of it, so why is he still trying to drag me down with him?” Yang Ze’s entire body began to shake. “I should have known sooner. He was never going to let me off the hook… He…”

This had gone completely beyond their expectations.

Events rewound to half a month ago.

Back then, Yang Ze and Wang Shan had been “collaborating” quite pleasantly.

Yang Ze knew his methods were looked down upon by others; several peers from his cohort who weren’t even doing as well as him refused to associate with him. They despised him, and Yang Ze knew full well that they looked down on him.

Catering every day to a fat, greasy old man in exchange for that veneer of respectability, for a press release proclaiming Yang Ze lands the male lead in XXX, look forward to his brilliant performance, and for a smooth path to stardom.

Sure, they found him shameless, but who else had the grit to be that ruthless to themselves? He wanted to make a name for himself; he wanted to climb to the very peak, whatever the cost!

However, the good times didn’t last.

“I quickly realized that this Wang Shan was completely different from the bosses Qi Ming had introduced me to before.” Reaching this point, Yang Ze stopped, as if recalling something horrifying.

Gu Yanzhou asked in a low voice, “Different how?”

Shao Si stood up and poured Yang Ze a glass of warm water. Yang Ze took it, needing a long moment to ease his tension before continuing: “He is way too dangerous.”

Wang Shan had indeed taken him down beneath Zuisheng Mengsi, to that ultra-secretive B1 basement level.

“It was really dark down there, and as soon as you walked in, there was a strange, musty smell that made your skin crawl. The moment I stepped inside, I told Wang Shan, ‘President Wang, I’m not feeling too well, maybe another day?'” Yang Ze recalled. “At the time, I just assumed he wanted to try some new kinks, and since he had worn me out pretty badly the night before, I was worried my body couldn’t handle it. Instead, his face darkened and he dragged me straight inside.”

“What’s inside? What did you see?”

Yang Ze paused: “An underground criminal empire.”

Down in that basement, the space was divided into numerous cells. The people coming and going were split into two roles: “guests” and “slaves.”

Slaves were forbidden from refusing any demand made by the guests, left entirely at their mercy to be abused.

“My favorite thing is taking someone who looks clean and pure, and staining them black little by little, from head to toe.”

As Yang Ze backed away step by step, Wang Shan flashed a bizarre grin: “Want to come inside and play with me?”

“He’s a pervert; he’s an outright lunatic,” Yang Ze said. “I asked him where all those people inside came from, and he claimed they were all volunteers who earned commissions for servicing clients every day, even adding that we live in a society ruled by law…”

At first, Yang Ze hadn’t thought too deeply about it; even though the atmosphere felt eerie, maybe some people just liked extreme fetishes. That day, Wang Shan used toys on him, and unable to endure it any longer, Yang Ze slipped away to the restroom on his own to clean himself up.

“Just as I was about to walk out, someone blocked my path and said to me, ‘Save me.'”

“How old was he?”

“Very old, looked to be… in his fifties or sixties? Like a janitor, holding a broom in his hand, with a badly hunched back that made him look a whole head shorter.”

That man practically lunged at him, shouting “Help!” out loud while secretly stuffing something into Yang Ze’s hand.

“I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t take it.”

“Wang Shan is the one who killed him, it has nothing to do with me,” Yang Ze said hurriedly. “Please put in a good word for me with the police. I’m not a suspect, I didn’t do anything at all…”

Shao Si furrowed his brows, still figuring out what to say, when Gu Yanzhou’s phone began to ring.

“Hello?”

Zhou Weiping: “Yanzhou, it’s me. I found something in Ye Qing’s journal.”