Since Ji Rong and Lin Shujun remarried, Lin Leyao has rarely seen Qin Suzhen, but in Lin Leyao's memory, she has always been his aunt.
At that time, her father had not yet passed away, and Lin Shujun and Qin Suzhen had just gotten married. Qin Suzhen did not have any children when she was born, and she spent a lot of time with Qin Suzhen when she was a child.
After Lin Zhipei was born, Lin Leyao visited her uncle's house less often because Qin Suzhen was busy taking care of the child. However, in her memory, Qin Suzhen was always a kind, gentle aunt who loved children.
She never imagined that her aunt would suffer from schizophrenia, nor did she expect that the man she had called "uncle" for more than ten years would become her stepfather.
Now, due to her parents' situation, Lin Leyao's relationship with Qin Suzhen has become complicated, but her way of addressing Qin Suzhen has remained unchanged for over twenty years.
It had been half a year since Lin Leyao last visited the sanatorium. Every year, she would come to the sanatorium to visit Qin Suzhen, and this had not changed over the years.
Lin Leyao's sudden appearance surprised everyone. The caregiver who took care of Qin Suzhen had been working here for eight years and knew Lin Leyao well. Upon seeing her, she quickly took her to the activity room.
As they walked, the caregiver introduced, "Sister Suzhen has recently taken a liking to flower arranging, and she's arranging flowers in the activity room now!"
Lin Leyao smiled and slowly clenched the invitation in her hand.
Lin Leyao asked, "How has Auntie been feeling lately? Is she able to go out for a walk to clear her head?"
The caregiver replied, "Sister Suzhen rarely has an attack anymore. When she's not having an attack, she's perfectly normal. We go hiking in the suburbs every month after leaving the nursing home, and we've never had any problems."
At this point, the caregiver hesitated for a moment and reminded her, "Ms. Lin, actually, Suzhen's condition is much better than that of the others in the sanatorium. As long as she takes her medication on time, it can be completely controlled. It's too depressing for her to live in the sanatorium every day. Besides, she has lived in this sanatorium for ten years. People will go crazy after living like this for so many years."
Lin Leyao nodded and said, "Thank you for reminding me."
The caregiver didn't say anything, and Lin Leyao quickly arrived at the activity room.
There were many patients in the activity room, and Lin Leyao immediately spotted her aunt standing in the middle of the second row.
Qin Suzhen was painstakingly trying to put the sunflowers, which had failed at flower arranging, into the vase for the fifth time when the light in front of her suddenly dimmed, and a person stood in front of her table.
"Auntie."
The newcomer's voice was clear and familiar, and the sunflower in Qin Suzhen's hand fell onto the table with a "thud".
Qin Suzhen's eyes widened in surprise when she saw Lin Leyao in front of her. Lin Leyao smiled and asked, "Auntie, I'm Leyao. Do you remember me?"
Qin Suzhen looked at her for a while and then slowly nodded.
Qin Suzhen accepted Lin Leyao well, and the two soon left the activity room.
Lin Leyao and Qin Suzhen went for a walk in the garden together. The caregiver did not follow them but went upstairs to their room to get Qin Suzhen the medicine she needed to take later.
Lin Leyao helped Qin Suzhen walk slowly. Looking at Qin Suzhen, who had become very silent after falling ill, Lin Leyao's eyes welled up with tears.
She composed herself and asked, "Auntie, you chatted with me last time I came, why aren't you talking to me this time?"
Qin Suzhen uttered a single word: "Tired."
Lin Leyao was pleasantly surprised and asked, "Do you find talking to other people tiring?"
Qin Suzhen hummed in agreement.
Lin Leyao smiled and said, "Then Auntie, please don't say anything and listen to me."
Lin Leyao told her about what had happened to her in the past six months. After a long time, Lin Leyao took out an invitation from her bag: "Auntie, this is my wedding invitation. I don't know if you can come to the wedding, but I want to give you this invitation in person."
Qin Suzhen stared at the invitation in her hand for a long time without making a move.
After a long while, Qin Suzhen asked softly, "Are you happy?"
Lin Leyao paused for a moment, then smiled broadly and nodded emphatically, saying, "I'm very happy!"
Qin Suzhen didn't say anything more and reached out to take the invitation.
The caregiver seemed to be busy and didn't show up. Lin Leyao stayed with Qin Suzhen in the garden for an hour before preparing to take Qin Suzhen back to her room.
After saying those few words, Qin Suzhen fell silent again, but her emotions were very stable, and she seemed to be much better.
The two went upstairs together. Lin Leyao waited at the elevator entrance, ready to take the elevator upstairs, when Qin Suzhen suddenly said, "Let's take the stairs."
"Okay!" Lin Leyao readily agreed.
The two walked slowly up the stairs. Qin Suzhen was half a step ahead of Lin Leyao, who stood behind her and helped her slowly walk upstairs.
Qin Suzhen's room was on the tenth floor. There were only two suites on the entire floor, and the other suite was unoccupied, so the entire floor ultimately belonged to Qin Suzhen alone.
Upon entering the room, they discovered that the caregiver was not there; it was likely that the caregiver had come downstairs while they were going upstairs.
Lin Leyao poured Qin Suzhen a cup of hot water, intending to wait for the caregiver to return before leaving.
Lin Leyao sat on the sofa and sent a message to Xin Ying, saying that she would be back later.
Xin Ying replied quickly, saying, "No rush."
Lin Leyao smiled and put her phone away. Just then, a figure suddenly pounced on her from behind, and a towel was tightly covered her mouth and nose. Soon, she lost consciousness.
When Lin Leyao regained consciousness, a foul chemical smell lingered in her nasal cavity. She couldn't help but cough violently a few times. Suddenly, a sound came from the darkness, and Lin Leyao's voice was caught in her throat.
The world returned to silence, and the voice in the darkness did not reappear. The hairs on Lin Leyao's back stood on end.
Lin Leyao didn't know where she was being held. Her hands and feet were bound, and she couldn't move at all. She could only hold her breath and hide herself in the darkness, as if the boundless darkness had become her protective umbrella.
Time ticked by, and Lin Leyao remained tense, cold sweat dripping uncontrollably down her face.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded in the darkness, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, like a child just learning to walk.
Lin Leyao suddenly called out, "Auntie, is that you?"
The footsteps vanished in an instant.
Just as Lin Leyao caught her breath, the rope binding her feet was suddenly pulled up. The person in the darkness seemed to possess divine power, dragging Lin Leyao forward relentlessly.
Lin Leyao's skin rubbed hard against the rough ground, and soon her arms and knees were covered in blood.
With a "bang," the person opened the door, and the light from outside instantly shone into the room. Lin Leyao was still being dragged, and a trail of blood was left on the floor.
The chemical contained sedative ingredients, leaving Lin Leyao completely powerless and helplessly being dragged along.
Finally, she was dragged out of the room. Lin Leyao grabbed the door frame tightly, and the people in front of her stopped in their tracks when they saw that her movements were being hindered.
Light, ethereal footsteps approached Lin Leyao's side like a ghost. Lin Leyao looked up and saw the other person directly.
Her aunt, Qin Suzhen!
Qin Suzhen slowly walked to Lin Leyao's side with a sharp knife in her hand. Her gaze slowly swept over Lin Leyao's injured arm and knee before she calmly looked away.
Lin Leyao stared intently at Qin Suzhen, looking at the disheveled woman in front of her, her eyes bloodshot, who kept brandishing a sharp knife at her. Lin Leyao found it hard to believe that this was the same quiet and reserved aunt she had just been.
Qin Suzhen held the knife and gestured at Lin Leyao's joints for a long time before finally slowly pointing the blade at Lin Leyao's carotid artery.
The sharp, cold blade touched her soft skin, and Lin Leyao's breath suddenly stopped.
She called out incredulously, her voice trembling, "Auntie."
With a slight exertion, Qin Suzhen left a trail of red marks on Lin Leyao's neck with the tip of the knife.
The distinct pain of my skin being cut entered my mind, but the scene of ruptured blood vessels and gushing blood that I had imagined did not occur.
Seeing the red mark on Lin Leyao's neck, Qin Suzhen forced a strange smile onto her expressionless face, slowly withdrew her hand, and stood up.
Qin Suzhen picked up the rope tied to Lin Leyao's ankle again and continued to drag her forward.
After a while, Lin Leyao finally figured out where Qin Suzhen was going to drag her.
She is currently on the rooftop. The place where she was locked up earlier must have been a storage room on the roof. Qin Suzhen is now dragging her towards the edge of the rooftop.
She moved inch by inch, her wounds constantly tormenting her. Lin Leyao didn't know why Qin Suzhen had suddenly become like this.
After a long while, Qin Suzhen finally stopped moving.
It took her a lot of effort to drag Lin Leyao from the room to the edge of the rooftop. She sat on the ground not far from Lin Leyao, panting heavily.
Unable to escape on her own, Lin Leyao became surprisingly calm. The wind on the rooftop was strong, making Qin Suzhen's hospital gown flutter loudly. Lin Leyao suddenly asked, "Auntie, are you going to kill me?"
Qin Suzhen did not react. She sat in the distance, gripping the sharp knife tightly in her hand, staring at the ground, seemingly lost in thought.
"Why? Why did you kill me?"
Qin Suzhen, who was in a daze, slowly came back to her senses and focused her attention on Lin Leyao's words.
Qin Suzhen looked at Lin Leyao without saying a word, and Lin Leyao continued to ask, "Is it because of my mother, or because of Lin Zhipei?"
The knife in Qin Suzhen's hand made a piercing sound as it scraped the ground.
Lin Leyao immediately realized: "It's because of Lin Zhipei."
This time, Qin Suzhen's expression finally changed.
"You want to kill me because of Lin Zhipei?"
As soon as Lin Leyao said this, Qin Suzhen immediately stood up and strode over to Lin Leyao's side.
Qin Suzhen brandished the knife at Lin Leyao again, and Lin Leyao continued, "The sanatorium couldn't possibly have the drug you used to drug me. Who gave it to you? Was it Lin Zhipei as well?"
Hearing her daughter's name repeatedly, Qin Suzhen panicked. She grabbed Lin Leyao by the collar and threatened her with a knife to her eyes.
Lin Leyao said coldly, "Auntie, if you want to kill me, you can just stab me to death now. What are you waiting for? You haven't done anything yet."
Qin Suzhen released Lin Leyao's collar, and Lin Leyao fell back to the ground with a "bang".
Qin Suzhen started dragging Lin Leyao again until half of Lin Leyao's body was hanging off the rooftop and she was about to fall when she finally let go.
The wind made Lin Leyao sway from side to side, as if she would fall off the building at any moment.
Lin Leyao broke out in a cold sweat instantly, and she finally softened her tone when speaking to Qin Suzhen.
"Auntie, since I'm going to die anyway, can you tell me the reason clearly so I can die knowing why?"
"You killed me for Lin Zhipei, but it wasn't Lin Zhipei who asked you to kill me, so there were other people giving you advice, right? They told you that Lin Zhipei would be better off if I died? But isn't Lin Zhipei doing well now? She's studying at a prestigious university abroad, majoring in her favorite subject, art..."
Before Lin Leyao could finish speaking, Qin Suzhen suddenly said, "She's not going to school anymore, and you're still lying to me."
Lin Leyao suddenly froze. She didn't know that Lin Zhipei was no longer studying abroad, and it seemed that her mother didn't know about Lin Zhipei either.
After pondering Qin Suzhen's words, Lin Leyao seemed to understand Qin Suzhen's meaning. She said, "Do you think it's because I didn't let Lin Zhipeng study abroad?"
For a mother, everything about her child is what gets her talking.
Qin Suzhen finally spoke: "You are very happy, but Zhi Pei is not."
"I am happy because I have found the person I love."
"You stole her father."
Lin Leyao said firmly, "I have a father, that's not my father!"
Qin Suzhen fell silent.