Song Julan already knew that Song Qingyi wanted to sever ties with their family.
On his way back, Zhao Suihua had called him in tears, begging him to talk some sense into his sister.
What had he said to Aunt Zhao back then?
He said his only sister was Song Yueyue.
He wouldn't care even if Song Qingyi dropped dead in the street.
Song Julan threw the bag at Song Qingyi, left a humiliating remark, and turned on his heel.
He wasn't going to stay the night at the villa.
At least not while Song Qingyi was still under this roof; he wouldn't be coming back.
He hated Song Qingyi.
If not for the fact that half their blood was the same, he would have killed her the very day Wanwan died.
Song Qingyi didn't care where Song Julan went.
As for his words, they failed to stir the slightest ripple in her already numb heart.
Her heart had died a long time ago, ever since she found out why he had ordered a retrial just to drag her out of there.
She should have stopped caring long ago, shouldn't she?
Song Qingyi picked up the bag from the floor.
Inside were two phones.
One looked newly bought, and the other was the old phone she had used three years ago.
The spiderweb cracks on the screen of the old phone still bore traces of brown dried blood.
The scene of her phone being violently smashed to pieces three years ago was still fresh in her mind.
Song Qingyi wiped away the dried blood and dust, removed the SIM card, and inserted it into the new phone.
The moment the new phone's screen lit up, Song Qingyi froze.
Staring right at her from the screen were five blood-red characters: Murderer! Go to hell!
Gazing at the phone, Song Qingyi felt only a chill in her hands and feet, as if all the blood in her body had frozen solid, and even her breath lost all warmth.
She didn't need to guess to know that Song Julan had intentionally arranged for her to see this.
"Qingyi."
"Qingyi."
Two voices called out from behind her.
Song Qingyi quickly switched off the screen.
"Qingyi, this is a card Auntie and your dad prepared for you. The PIN is your birthday." Zhao Suihua pressed a card into Song Qingyi's hand.
"Qingyi, I'm heading to the hospital now, I can give you a ride to see your grandma." Xia Beiji stepped up beside Song Qingyi, the smile on his face feeling somewhat forced and gentle.
Song Qingyi pushed the card back to Zhao Suihua.
"I never spent a single penny of the Xie family's money in the past, and I don't need to start now. Aunt Zhao, you can keep it for Song Yueyue."
After all, Song Yueyue was the only true daughter of the Xie family.
Besides, after she returned to the Xie family three years ago, these people had never given her a single cent anyway.
She hadn't needed it then, and even now, penniless as she was, she still didn't need it.
"Qingyi, do you misunderstand Auntie..."
Zhao Suihua's eyes welled up with tears at those words.
Song Qingyi simply looked away to avoid reading her lips.
"I'm not going to the hospital. Thank you for the kind offer, Young Master Xia."
With those words, Song Qingyi pulled away and walked off.
"Qingyi!"
Xia Beiji wanted to give chase, but with Zhao Suihua right there, he couldn't afford to show too much concern for Song Qingyi, so he had to stay put.
"Beiji, take the card and bring it to Qingyi's grandma at the hospital."
——
Song Qingyi didn't go far after leaving the villa.
First, she changed her phone wallpaper, logged back into her original WeChat account, and used the remaining balance to pay her bus fare, boarding a bus bound for the Song family hospital.
Song Qingyi stared blankly out the window at the night scenery.
Just as she was lost in thought, a new WeChat notification popped up.
[My Beloved: Qingyi, where did you go? I'm so worried about you.]
It was a message sent just moments ago by Xia Beiji.
Looking at the contact name with its little pink heart, a sharp pang shot through Song Qingyi's chest.
Three years... even though she had let go, seeing that name and profile picture still made her heart ache.
Opening Xia Beiji's chat window, she found that all their past sweet words had been completely wiped clean with the phone replacement.
Just like the relationship between them over the past three years, which had gone from endless late-night talks to a total rupture.
Song Qingyi couldn't understand why, even though he was already engaged to Song Yueyue, he still had to act like he cared about her...
Pulling herself back from her memories, Song Qingyi ignored the message on her phone and blocked and deleted him.
The phone fell completely silent, and right on cue, the bus arrived at the hospital.
Following the route etched in her memory, Song Qingyi took the elevator up to the VIP ward.
Just as she was about to push open the door to her grandmother's room, someone she least wanted to see stepped out of the opposite room.
"Song Qingyi?!"
Xie Xiangwen froze when he saw the person standing before him, his voice shooting up several octaves.
"You fucking managed to get out!" Xie Xiangwen clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.
"I..." Song Qingyi started to speak, but Xie Xiangwen grabbed her by the collar and slammed a fist into her nose.
"You actually have the fucking nerve to show your face!"
"Song Qingyi, if I were you, I would have killed myself the day your brother sent you to prison!" Xie Xiangwen roared.
Song Qingyi raised a hand to wipe the blood flowing from her nose.
"I didn't kill Xie Wan, and I won't kill myself."
She broke free from Xie Xiangwen's grip and stepped back a few paces.
"If it wasn't you, could it possibly have been Sister Yueyue?" Xie Xiangwen sneered.
"Song Qingyi, I must have been blind back then to ever think you were kind and gentle."
Xie Xiangwen had once had a crush on Song Qingyi.
Back then, the two of them were students at a key high school in City C.
As the top-ranked student in her senior year, Song Qingyi had good grades and a pure, pretty appearance, and quite a few boys in the school had secretly harbored feelings for her.
Xie Xiangwen, who was a year younger than Song Qingyi, was one of them, though his crush had been far more straightforward and proactive—he had even cornered Song Qingyi to confess his feelings.
Yet that infatuation had come to an abrupt halt on the day of his sister's wedding.
Xie Xiangwen found it hard to believe that the senior student he once liked could push his sister down from the thirty-second floor out of sheer jealousy.
Gradually calming down, Xie Xiangwen crossed his arms and looked down with a sneer at Song Qingyi, whose figure was even more frail than it had been three years ago.
She had lost weight and looked haggard; life in prison certainly couldn't have been easy for her.
Even so, Xie Xiangwen couldn't swallow his anger over her jealous murder.
"The Song family must have paid to fish you out, didn't they?" Xie Xiangwen spat out darkly, feeling deeply irritated.
Though the Xie family was considered a prominent and respectable household in City C, they still lagged somewhat behind the Song family.
Song Qingyi kept her head down, not hearing a word of what Xie Xiangwen was saying.
Seeing her stay silent, Xie Xiangwen assumed she was admitting it.
"Figures. No matter what, you're still the biological daughter of the Song family, while my sister was just married off into it—how could outsiders ever compare to your blood ties?"
Xie Xiangwen sneered.
Song Qingyi raised her head to look at him once more: "Xie Xiangwen, if you really cared about your sister, you would know who was the one who actually made a move on her wedding day..."
People claimed she was jealous because Xie Wan was born lucky enough to marry Song Julan, but the true person consumed by jealousy toward Xie Wan was someone else entirely.
More than once, Song Qingyi had caught Song Yueyue glaring at Xie Wan with that venomous look in her eyes.
Blinded by hatred, Xie Xiangwen refused to hear a word Song Qingyi was saying.
"Song Qingyi, a life for a life. The Song family can't protect you forever."
With a vicious parting shot, Xie Xiangwen turned and walked away.
Meanwhile, down at the far end of the corridor, two figures had materialized outside a VIP ward.