Late at night.
Shi Su was trapped in a nightmare.
Terrifying flames surrounded her, getting closer and closer, smoke billowing everywhere, choking her throat, obscuring her vision, the fire devouring everything.
"Let me out... help..."
"No..."
The scene shifted in the darkness to a windowless room, a scrawny figure reeking of alcohol approached, collapsing in front of her too delirious to resist: "Shi Su, I’ve wanted you for a long time, be good, don’t move, did someone put something in your water too? It won’t hurt, come let me take care of you..."
"No... get away... go..."
"Don’t touch me... go..."
"No—"
Shi Su let out a low cry, suddenly sitting up in bed, drenched in cold sweat, eyes fixed on the wall in the dark, gasping for air, as if the billowing smoke and the nauseating stench of alcohol were manifesting in front of her, she couldn’t breathe.
A strong wave of nausea hit her, she suddenly threw off the covers and got out of bed, afraid to wake Mianmian, she ran out of the children’s room, hastily turned on the living room light, and rushed to the bin beside the sofa, dry-heaving violently.
Ever since giving birth to Mianmian, she hadn’t dreamt of these things for many years, even those terrifying nightmares had almost been forcibly erased from her memory.
But today, seeing Shi Yunyin’s face again, even though five years had passed, the memory was still etched deep in her bones.
She thought she had long forgotten, thought she had let go, yet still dreamed of those things.
Those disgusting, terrifying scenes!
Shi Su knelt beside the bin for a long time, but couldn’t vomit anything, her body trembling.
Whether with open eyes or closed eyes, all she saw were those flames and that stench of alcohol, she trembled for a long time, took a deep breath, and stood up, rummaging through the drawer under the coffee table.
The door to the master bedroom opened, and a tall figure of a man came out; she didn’t notice at all, trembling all over, hands shaking as she kept searching through the drawer.
Jing Jihan saw that something was off about her; her face was pale, her hair soaked with sweat as if she had just showered.
Then, she pulled out a white medicine bottle from the bottom of the drawer; the bottle looked a bit worn. He walked over, just as she was about to swallow a few pills directly, he suddenly stepped forward and grabbed her hand.
Shi Su lifted her eyes: "What are you doing? Let go!"
Jing Jihan’s brows were icy cold, upon seeing her face, he directly snatched the medicine bottle from her hand, lowered his head to read the tiny English letters on the bottle, then glanced at the date, his expression instantly darkened.
"Give it back to me!" Shi Su stood up to grab it.
"This is a medication for mental control, used in hospitals for forcibly calming patients. Are you taking this stuff?" Jing Jihan looked at her ashen face, his cold temperament growing more severe.
Shi Su didn’t want to deal with him, reached out still trying to grab: "It’s none of your business, give it back to me!"
With his height and long legs, Jing Jihan didn’t need to step back, just slightly raising his arm made it hard for her to retrieve what was in his hand, causing her to tiptoe in desperation, almost stumbling into his arms several times.
"Give me back the medicine!" she frantically wanted to bite his arm.
Fearing she might injure herself jumping around like that, Jing Jihan suddenly grabbed her wrist, halting all her movements, his usually calm and indifferent voice tinged with a warning-like sternness: "The medicine is expired!"