Chapter Sixty-Six: Whose Fault Is It, After All?
On a summer day, Wang Beibei went out as usual. She threw her bag onto the passenger seat of her supercar. Just as she was about to get in, someone called out to her.
Li Sanpang approached, laden with bags. “Zhaodi.”
Wang Beibei glanced around as if she didn’t know him, then got straight into the car. Li Sanpang hurried forward, arriving at the car.
Li Sanpang said, “I finally found you, Zhaodi.”
Wang Beibei replied, “Sir, you must have mistaken me for someone else.”
Li Sanpang insisted, “I’m Sanpang. Zhaodi.”
Wang Beibei asked, “What did you call me? Zhaodi? Sorry, my name is Lucky.”
With that, she pressed the accelerator and sped away.
Li Sanpang shouted after her, “Zhaodi!”
Watching Wang Beibei’s car disappear into the distance, Li Sanpang stood there, dumbfounded, as if his soul had left him. He soon rented a room that allowed him to watch Wang Beibei’s window. Every day, he observed with a telescope.
Li Sanpang muttered, “Zhaodi has completely changed here. She doesn’t belong in this place. I’ll take her away. I’ll take her back, to live as we did before. I have to take her away.”
Wang Zixuan pressed forward step by step, forcing Li Sanpang to retreat.
Li Sanpang shouted, “Don’t come any closer. Stay back. If you come any closer, I’ll blow it up.”
He moved the hot air balloon closer to the square. Wang Zixuan dared not make a move.
If the explosion happened near open flames or high voltage wires, the consequences would be severe—one and a half to two times more powerful than TNT. No one would survive. There were dozens of innocent people in the small square. Wang Zixuan didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
Wang Zixuan tried to calm him, “Don’t get agitated.”
Li Sanpang pleaded, “Just give Zhaodi back to me. I want to take her home.”
That day, Li Sanpang saw Wang Beibei and a man together through his telescope, looking intimate as they went out. He pumped the remaining gas into the balloon, thinking that for Zhaodi, he was capable of anything. He followed Wang Beibei to the jewelry store, lost in painful memories, when someone pulled him back.
Hao Yingjun ran over, holding his phone. “Sanpang, Sanpang, look.”
The screen showed Wang Beibei.
Hao Yingjun asked, “Look, who is this?”
Li Sanpang leaned closer. “Zhaodi, Zhaodi. I’ve let you down.”
Wang Beibei said, “Sanpang, please don’t do anything stupid.”
Li Sanpang pleaded, “Come back with me. You’ve learned nothing good here. You’ve turned bad.”
“Sanpang,” Wang Beibei said.
Li Sanpang shook his head desperately. “Come back with me. I don’t want to run any chicken farm anymore.”
Wang Beibei replied, “You can’t live in the past forever.”
Li Sanpang, as if possessed, kept repeating, “Come back with me. Come back with me. If you don’t, I’ll blow this up right now.”
Wang Beibei shouted, “Why can’t you understand? Even if I’m forced to go back, we’ll never be together.”
Hearing this, Li Sanpang lost the last hope that supported him. He seemed to crumple entirely.
Hao Yingjun said, “Sanpang, don’t you get it? She’s Wang Beibei now. She’s not the Wang Zhaodi you knew.”
Li Sanpang looked at Hao Yingjun, confused.
Hao Yingjun continued, “The Wang Zhaodi you knew—just consider her gone.”
Li Sanpang squatted down, wrapped his arms around his head, and wept bitterly.