Host! I told you to do a task! I didn't tell you to bbb.

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Liu Yunshu slowly turned her head.

My gaze pierced through the hazy night and landed on the stumbling figure rushing towards me from downstairs.

"Achi!"

A smile played on her lips as she leaned out most of her body.

"Yun Shu! Don't move!"

Liu Yunshu turned her head sharply, her eyes filled with complete resistance and wariness.

Liu Chengyan was so shocked that he almost lunged forward, just as he was about to grab him.

"Who are you! Don't come any closer! I want Achi!"

Liu Chengyan froze in mid-air. "Fine, I won't go over there. Don't move!"

Then she seemed to truly "wake up," looking down at the dizzying height she was suspended in mid-air.

She looked up again at Liu Chengyan's face, which was so close to hers, pale as paper, covered in cold sweat and filled with panic, her eyes filled with utter confusion and bewilderment.

"How...how did I...get sitting here?"

Just then, an even more chaotic and disorderly sound of footsteps, accompanied by rapid breathing and exclamations, rushed to the studio door.

Jiang Chich was at the forefront, followed closely by Shen Wan, whose face was deathly pale and who could barely stand, and Liu's father, who was equally shocked and anxious.

They happened to hear Liu Yunshu's bewildered whisper and witnessed this shocking scene.

"Yun Shu! You..."

Jiang Chi's voice choked up.

Looking at the completely unfamiliar, empty confusion on her face, he was overwhelmed by immense heartache and unease.

"A-Chi? Dad? Mom?"

Liu Yunshu shifted her gaze from Liu Chengyan's face to the three people at the door with different expressions.

His brows furrowed slightly, as if he were even more confused.

"Why...did you all get up here? What...happened? What happened to me?"

"It's okay, nothing happened."

Liu Chengyan lowered his voice to a very low hue, with an unprecedented, almost pleading panic.

He tried to coax her back from the brink of danger.

"Yun Shu, be good, listen to me, first give me your hands completely, then slowly... bring your feet back, come down, and come to my side."

Liu Yunshu's gaze lingered on his face, which was contorted with tension, for a few seconds, as if trying to understand his words.

Then, her gaze slowly turned to Jiang Chi at the doorway.

"It's Achi..."

She murmured, her eyes suddenly welling up with tears, tears filled with longing.

"I miss you so much……"

At this point, a look of pain and confusion suddenly appeared on her face.

"Ah Chi, I'm sorry... I think I... did something really wrong... a really, really wrong thing... Can you... forgive me?"

Jiang Chi felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an icy hand.

He strode to the window, stopping where he could be as close to her as possible but dared not provoke her further.

His eyes were filled with anxiety and heartache that almost overflowed, and his voice was extremely soft, as if he were comforting a frightened fledgling:

"Yunshu, whatever it was, I forgive you. Please take your foot back and come to me, okay? We can talk slowly..."

"No!"

Liu Yunshu's emotions suddenly surged, her voice rising to a high pitch, carrying a neurotic sharpness and self-loathing.

"You won't forgive me! You won't!"

"I love you, Achi, I've always loved you..."

"But...but I've fallen for someone I shouldn't have!"

"I am guilty! I betrayed you! I am a filthy, guilty man!"

She frantically scratched her hair with both hands, her eyes quickly turned frighteningly red, and tears streamed down her face.

"I am guilty... I shouldn't have..."

Her body began to shake violently, her legs dangling outside the window swaying even more wildly, and her skirt fluttering loudly in the night wind.

Liu Chengyan felt as if his heart was being gripped by an invisible hand, the pain making his vision blur.

"Yun Shu! Look at me!"

His voice was hoarse beyond recognition, filled with an unprecedented humility and pleading.

"You did nothing wrong! It's my fault! It's all my fault!"

His words were like a pebble thrown into Liu Yunshu's confused mind.

This made her stop scratching, and she just stared at him blankly, her eyes filled with even more confusion.

"Is it your fault?" she murmured to herself, as if pondering the meaning of the words.

"Yes! It's my fault!"

Liu Chengyan blurted it out almost out loud, his gaze fixed on her, as if afraid she might make the slightest move.

"Nian Nian! My Nian Nian!"

Shen Wan covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face, her body swaying as she nearly collapsed.

Mr. Liu quickly reached out to support her, his eyes filled with heartache and lingering fear.

"Yun Shu,"

Jiang Chi's voice sounded gentle and calm, with a soothing tone.

"Look, Mom and Dad are here. They were very worried about you. I was worried about you too."

His voice was like a spring breeze, gently brushing against Liu Yunshu's confused consciousness.

Her gaze slowly shifted to Jiang Chi, landing on his bloodshot eyes and pale face, her lips moving slightly:

"A-Chi..."

"I am here."

Jiang Chi responded immediately, his voice so gentle it could melt hearts.

"I've always been here."

"Am I... disappointing you?"

Liu Yunshu's voice was very soft, filled with an overwhelming sense of guilt and self-doubt.

"I feel like... I've become a really, really bad girl that I don't even recognize..."

"no."

Jiang Chi shook his head without hesitation, his eyes instantly becoming sore and hot.

"You've never been a bad girl. You're the best Yun Shu, the most precious treasure in my heart."

His words finally brought tears to Liu Yunshu's eyes.

"I'm so confused..."

Liu Yunshu choked up, and her body began to tremble slightly again.

"It feels like...two voices are fighting...one wants me to get closer to you, and the other wants me to stay by his side...I'm in so much pain..."

Her words were like a knife, piercing deeply into the hearts of Liu Chengyan and Jiang Chi.

Liu Chengyan looked at her pained expression, at the struggle and despair in her eyes.

An unprecedented sense of regret overwhelmed him instantly, like a tidal wave.

What did he do?

He thought that by keeping her firmly by his side, he could possess her.

But he never expected that his obsession and possessiveness would drive her to this point.

It drove her to a state of confusion, and she almost jumped off the windowsill.

A metallic taste rose in Liu Chengyan's throat, which he swallowed forcefully.

"Who is that person? Please tell me!"

Jiang Chi softened his voice even more, as if coaxing a frightened cub.

"who is he?"

A blank look of bewilderment appeared on Liu Yunse's face again, as if there had been a break in her memory.

Immediately, fragmented and terrifying images flashed through my mind.

Her body shuddered violently, her voice trembling uncontrollably, filled with helplessness and despair.

"Ah Chi, I didn't want to. He threatened me with you and Chu Chu. I had no choice."

Liu Yunshu's voice trembled so badly that the last syllable was cut off by a sob.

Those misty eyes were filled with fear, like a fawn cornered by a hunter.

"He said... as long as I obey, you and Chuchu will be safe... I dare not gamble, Achi, I really dare not..."

These words struck Jiang Chi like a thunderbolt, and the shock and anger in his eyes almost materialized.

"Niannian, tell Daddy, who is it?"

Liu's father's voice was terrifyingly deep, filled with suppressed anger.

"Who dares to threaten you with Jiang Chi and Chu Chu?"

"Who...is it?"

Her lips moved, her voice as soft as a candle flickering in the wind, yet each word was clear and distinct, sending shivers down the spines of everyone present.

"Yes... it's my brother."

"boom--"

Jiang Chi's blood seemed to freeze instantly, then boil over in the next second.

He suddenly looked at Liu Chengyan, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins.

Shock, anger, heartache, and a hint of violence almost burst from my eyes.

Father Liu's face turned ashen instantly. He staggered, pointed at Liu Chengyan, and his voice trembled:

"Chengyan... what... what did you do to Niannian?"

Shock, anger, shame, heartache... a tidal wave of emotions overwhelmed him.

Shen Wan was already sobbing uncontrollably, collapsing into her father Liu's arms.

Despite his blurred vision, he stubbornly and desperately looked at Ryu Seung-yeon.

Her eyes were filled with heartbroken questioning, and a mother's instinctive, unwilling-to-believe struggle.

"No! It's...it's Ayan..."

Liu Yunshu shrank back slightly.

"He doesn't like me calling him brother... He'll protect me... He'll protect Achi and Chuchu... But..."

She paused, and her body began to tremble violently again.

Her legs, dangling outside the window, swayed even more violently, and the night wind whipped up her skirt like a dying butterfly.

"But he won't let me see you..."

Her voice suddenly became tearful, filled with deep grievance and fear.

"He kissed me... hugged me... said I was his... I was so scared... Ah Chi... I was so scared..."

Liu Yunshu cried out incoherently, her logic incoherent, trapped in a vicious cycle of self-punishment.

"He knelt on the ground and begged me not to leave... He said if I left, he would go crazy, he would die..."

"I watched him cry...watched him in so much pain...and my heart softened..."

"Ah Chi, I softened my heart, I betrayed you..."

Jiang Chi slammed his fist against the wall beside him with a dull thud, his knuckles aching from the impact, but he seemed oblivious to it.

Looking at Liu Yunshu's trembling and cowering appearance, and at the desolate, torn look in her eyes, he felt as if a piece of his heart had been ripped out.

"Liu Chengyan!"

His voice carried an unprecedented ferocity.

"You madman! You beast! I'm going to kill you!!!"

Father Liu was so angry that he trembled all over, and his hand pointing at Liu Chengyan was shaking.

"You wretched child! You wretched child!"

He had never been so angry with his son in his entire life.

At that moment, I felt my vision go black, and I wanted nothing more than to beat this beast who disregarded ethics and ruined my sister's life to death on the spot.

Shen Wan had already cried herself unconscious, leaning softly against Liu's father's chest, with hot tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes.

Liu Yunshu looked at the bloodstains on Liu Chengyan's lips and the pain surging in his eyes.

A faint sense of reluctance suddenly flashed through my confused mind.

She opened her mouth, her voice barely audible: "You...you cried..."

She reached out and gently, tentatively, touched Liu Chengyan's cold, sweaty cheek.

"Don't cry... Ah Yan... don't cry..."

As she spoke, she leaned forward slightly and used her cool, soft lips.

Very lightly, like a butterfly skimming the water, she kissed his tightly closed, damp eyelashes.

The sensation of those soft lips brushing against his eyelashes sent a shiver down Liu Chengyan's spine.

He stood frozen in place, forgetting even to breathe.

The pain, regret, and ecstasy surging in his eyes instantly intertwined into an impenetrable net, tightly enveloping his entire being.

"Yun Shu..."

His voice was broken and completely out of tune, filled with suppressed, fragmented sobs.

Hot tears streamed down his bloodshot eyes like a burst dam, landing in large drops on the back of her hand that was stroking his cheek.

"I forced you to do this... I deserve to die... I'm the one who should go to hell..."