“Xianxian, you can ask me for help.”
Song Qingxian frowned. If she truly asked him, it would be the first step toward being tamed by him. She could never allow herself to be trained like an animal.
“No need,” Song Qingxian’s voice was cold and clear.
Lu Nanzhan’s hand on her ankle paused for a moment before slowly loosening his grip.
Song Qingxian cautiously moved her pale foot toward the floor, testing each step. Watching from the side, Lu Nanzhan felt his heart tighten, afraid she might step on the broken shards.
“A little to the left,” he instructed.
Song Qingxian shifted slightly, avoiding the fragments.
“Good, you can step down now.”
Only then did her foot finally touch the ground. She realized with frustration that without light, even getting out of bed required his guidance.
Barefoot, she stood there completely disoriented, unable to sense direction.
“Xianxian, should I help you put on your shoes?”
She did not respond. Instead, she reached out into the air, trying to locate the door.
Lu Nanzhan took her hand and bent down to put her slippers on for her. “Be careful not to catch a chill.”
He led her forward. “Xianxian, follow me.”
Suddenly losing her sight left Song Qingxian completely unsettled. She could only allow Lu Nanzhan to guide her, each step taken with extreme caution.
At the dining table.
Blindfolded, Song Qingxian struggled even more with eating. Lu Nanzhan asked softly, “Xianxian, do you want me to feed you?”
After a brief pause, Song Qingxian understood what he wanted. He wanted her dependence, her reliance. Perhaps she could pretend to be tamed.
“Alright, Azhan, feed me, okay?”
Beneath the blindfold, she did not see the faint smile on Lu Nanzhan’s lips.
“Mm, good girl, Xianxian,” he said.
Patiently, he fed her meal after meal, gently wiping the corner of her lips when she was done. Then he pressed a soft kiss against her lips.
“Want to go see the flowers?” he asked.
“…Alright,” Song Qingxian replied inwardly. A blind person seeing flowers, how ironic.
Lu Nanzhan led her to the garden. The sunlight outside was bright, and even through the cloth she could faintly sense the glare.
He helped her sit on a bench, his hand gently rubbing her abdomen. “Xianxian, there are many sunflowers in front of you. They are your favorite.”
“I can’t see them,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Lu Nanzhan replied in a low voice near her ear. “I’ll see them for you. I’ll be your eyes.”
Song Qingxian pressed her lips together in silence.
“They are blooming very well,” he continued softly, brushing her hair. “They face the sun so stubbornly. The sun is their whole world. Just like me.”
His voice deepened. “Xianxian, you are the sun in my life. I exist because of you.”
When you are here, you are my sun, and I cannot take my eyes off you. When you are gone, I see no one at all.
Song Qingxian felt a complicated weight in her chest. Lu Nanzhan was either a man consumed by obsession or one who stubbornly chased the light he believed in.
After “watching” the flowers for a long time, he led her back to rest.
Over the next week, Song Qingxian gradually became accustomed to living in darkness. At the same time, her dependence on Lu Nanzhan deepened.
She began to doubt herself. If enough time passed, perhaps she truly would be tamed like an animal.
Without sight, the boundary between day and night blurred. Every morning, a long lingering kiss from Lu Nanzhan told her it was time to wake up.
He dressed her, helped her wash up, and took her to breakfast. Everything appeared harmonious, yet strangely unnatural.
The bell around Song Qingxian’s neck rang constantly, like a mocking reminder that she was slowly losing herself, becoming something like a pet.
During this period of so-called taming, everything remained eerily calm.
But just as always before a storm, the sea appears peaceful.
This was the calm before disaster.
The “Song Qingxian” who had set everything in motion had finally triggered a hidden bomb.
That day, Lu Nanzhan went to the company. Song Qingxian lay on the bed, quietly waiting for his return.
When she heard the sound of his car, a faint sense of anticipation rose within her.
“Azhan, you’re back!”
Normally, he would have held her tightly and kissed her deeply.
But this time, Lu Nanzhan suddenly yanked her off the bed and pinned her against the wall. His hand locked tightly around her throat.
Song Qingxian could not breathe. She clawed at his hand desperately, forcing out two words.
“Az…han…”
But his grip only tightened. His voice was hoarse, dark, and frenzied, on the edge of madness.
“Xianxian… why?”
She could not see his expression, but she could clearly feel the terrifying, violent aura radiating from him.
She did not know what had happened. Without sight, she could not see the numbers above his head, nor could she tell what state he was in.
All she felt was death approaching. Tears spilled from beneath the blindfold, dripping onto his hand.
That faint warmth finally pulled Lu Nanzhan back to a sliver of sanity. He loosened his grip.
Song Qingxian gasped for air, coughing violently. “Azhan… what happened?”
“Xianxian, why did you do this to me?” he asked, his voice filled with pain.
At the company, as chairman, Lu Nanzhan had just been jointly impeached by the board of directors.
The one leading it was Lu Chiyan. After the meeting, Lu Chiyan leaned close to his ear with a mocking smile.
“Azhan, help me thank Song Qingxian. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have known you’re sick.”
Enraged, Lu Nanzhan’s eyes turned blood red. He lunged at Lu Chiyan and beat him violently. Lu Chiyan did not resist at all, allowing the punches to rain down as blood spilled from his head, yet he still smiled.
That smile was pure mockery to Lu Nanzhan. Lu Chiyan could always remain calm and composed, while Lu Nanzhan could not control himself. When he lost control, he was nothing more than a rabid beast.
Only when others intervened did they finally stop him.
Lu Chiyan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, still smiling.
“If you’re sick, you should get treated early.”
Lu Nanzhan’s violent outburst had only confirmed everything they accused him of.
Paranoid schizophrenia. Schizoaffective disorder. Severe violent tendencies. Inclinations toward both suicide and homicide.
His medical records were displayed on the conference room screen. How could a mentally ill man manage a company? He belonged in a psychiatric hospital.
And every accusation… was true.
Lu Nanzhan was indeed sick, and very severely so. Because of “Song Qingxian,” he had stopped taking his medication long ago. In truth, her presence had worsened his condition, pushing his mind further into fragmentation.
Yet Song Qingxian knew nothing of this. She still could not understand why he had suddenly gone mad.
She reached out to hug him, trying to calm him down, but he violently shoved her away.
“Xianxian, you’ve lied to me again. I want to kill you… then maybe you won’t ever lie to me again.”