Five years, and still, the incident lingered in her mind like a thorn sealed deep within her psyche. She strived to stop thinking about him, to forget that night, but today, when that woman mentioned it, she realized how vividly she remembered that night from five years ago.
She remembered wearing that black, provocative nightgown that night, the one given to her by Yang Xueshan, who had also advised her that since it was a boy’s first time inviting her to a room, she should look beautiful, and more enticing.
So, that night, after she arrived in the room, she took a bath and put the garment on.
Once she had it on, she didn’t dare look at her reflection in the mirror. Following the instructions of that woman, she lit the incense she had brought with her, turned off the room’s lights, leaving only the misty fragrance lamp on, and lay down on the bed.
Later, the man entered the room. Because the lights were off and the incense made the room hazy, she hadn’t had a chance to see him clearly when she saw his tall figure lunging towards her.
After the man pounced, what followed was like a small boat drifting in the sea; she couldn’t remember how things had happened.
Throughout the process, she had always thought it was Ou Yuze, so much so that she endured without making a sound when he forcefully took what he wanted from her.
But in the end, she realized it was all a cruel joke.
As she dwelt on this, she found herself trembling slightly, which made her legs, already descending the stairs, seem to suddenly lose strength. She clung to the banister and slowly slid down until she ended up sitting on the steps.
Eventually, she just sat down on a step.
It truly felt as if the life had been drained from her. Yang Xueshan said she hated, that she couldn’t accept it, she felt her life, her youth, had been destroyed by that man; but what about her—her life, her youth, who would pay for that?
Convicted at 18, forced into motherhood at 19—what had she done wrong to be framed ?
Sitting there and thinking of these things, years of suppressed sorrow flooded her like a tide. The discomfort, the agony was so overwhelming that she could no longer contain it and began to sob, covering her face with her hands as she sat there.
Ou Mucen had been waiting in the car downstairs. Seeing that corporate executives and the father and son, Ou Yuze, along with the old man, had left the building, but the woman hadn’t come down, he finally lost patience and got out of the car again.
"Has everyone left upstairs?"
"Yes, they’re all gone."
"What about Assistant An?"
"Haven’t seen him. Perhaps he left early?" The person being asked was just a junior employee without the privilege to go up to the 11th floor; hearing the question, he could only reply with this.