Hearing this, Nan Yu was suddenly startled and instinctively tried to sit up.
"Don't turn on the light," Qu Jiaran's voice dropped. "Just listen to me quietly, okay?"
Nan Yu stiffened and lay back on the bed again.
A thin layer of sweat oozed from her palms. She didn't know if she should listen. "This is your privacy. You don't have to tell me."
"I want to tell you, Yuyu," Qu Jiaran's voice was a bit urgent. "I want to tell you. You're my best friend. I just want to talk to you."
In the pitch - black night, only Qu Jiaran's voice lingered in her ear.
"That year, my father participated in the election. His opponent was badly defeated. To take revenge on him, they knocked me out and kidnapped me."
"They dragged me into an alley, forced me to take some strange pills, and made me drink a lot of water. The feeling was so strange. I felt like I wasn't myself anymore..."
Nan Yu inexplicably began to feel anxious, and her breathing seemed to become tight and difficult.
She reached out to hold Qu Jiaran's hand and said firmly, "Jiaran, stop talking."
"No, I have to say it," Qu Jiaran still insisted stubbornly. "If I don't say it out, I'll suffocate."
"I don't remember how many people there were. They came one after another. My eyes were like covered with a layer of fog, and I couldn't see anything clearly. I only saw a lot of people. They were wearing the same uniforms but no trousers... Later, I didn't even know if I was still alive."
Qu Jiaran took a deep breath. "Guess how I was rescued?"
"My father was at a celebration meeting for his promotion. In front of all his subordinates, he saw a live video projected on the screen."
A sudden cold sweat broke out on Nan Yu's back. Her ears started to ring, and her chest felt as if stuffed with stones, making it hard for her to breathe.
As a woman herself, she could easily put herself in Qu Jiaran's shoes at that time and feel how desperate she must have been.
Before this, she had always thought that the Qu family's protection of Qu Jiaran was too over - the - top and even excessive.
But after such a thing had happened, how could they afford to be negligent and let the tragedy happen again?
"My parents divorced because of this. You've never seen my mother, right?"
Nan Yu shook her head.
She thought that Qu Jiaran's mother had been doing business in other places all year round.
Qu Jiaran began to introduce her mother. "She's very good at making money. Every month, there will be hundreds of thousands to a million yuan transferred to my card, but she never came to see me."
"Because she thinks I'm dirty and embarrassing as her daughter. So she doesn't want to recognize me at all. Transferring money to me is just her obligation."
"Actually, Qu Gaolin is no better," her tone suddenly became sarcastic. "The reason he's willing to keep me, this burden, is that he needs the support of the public, and I can help him gain that."
Raising a seriously ill daughter alone can be a model worthy of praise for a man.
In the darkness, Qu Jiaran's eyes were wide open. "After I was rescued, I had serious mental problems. I couldn't tell the difference between day and night. Every day, I was struggling between suicide and homicide."
"The psychiatrist couldn't cure me. He advised me to go to a temple to calm my mind. Qu Gaolin was secretly happy. He just took the opportunity to promote religious culture and sent me to Changuang Temple."
"On the surface, he said it was for me to purify my soul. In fact, he just wanted to get rid of me and let me fend for myself so that he could focus on his career."
At this point, Qu Jiaran was silent for a moment.
She took a deep breath, paused, and then continued. "At that time, everyone disliked me. Only Linyuan was willing to let me follow him day after day without getting bored."
Nan Yu listened quietly and noticed that Qu Jiaran's voice was filled with happiness when she recalled these things.
"Everyone didn't care whether I lived or died. Only Linyuan told me that I must live actively and passionately and not let those who wished me dead get their way."
Nan Yu bit her lower lip. Her voice was a bit hoarse. "Yes, he's right."
In a way, Qu Jiaran and Tan Linyuan were of the same kind.
They had both been abandoned.
"Linyuan saved my life. So I like him the most in my life. If possible, I want to be with him forever."
After she said that, she suddenly grabbed Nan Yu's hand.
"It doesn't matter if Linyuan doesn't love me. As long as I love him. My body and soul already belong to Linyuan."
"I can do anything for him."
Suddenly being grabbed by Qu Jiaran like this, Nan Yu was stunned.
Then, Qu Jiaran leaned over, pressed her head against Nan Yu's, and got very close. "Yuyu, do you know why I'm telling you all this?"
Nan Yu pursed her lips tightly.
A possibility flashed through her mind quickly:
Maybe Qu Jiaran had already known about her relationship with Tan Linyuan. Choosing to say these things on the night before the wedding was to assert her sovereignty over Tan Linyuan.
"Originally, the most important person in my heart was only Linyuan. Now there are two," she lifted the corner of her lips. "Yuyu, in my heart, you're as important as Linyuan."
Nan Yu's nerves were highly tense. She didn't expect her to say such a thing suddenly and was in a daze.
Qu Jiaran's voice was filled with a smile. "You and Linyuan are both the most important people to me. So all three of us should be happy..."
Her voice gradually faded away, as if she was in a dream. "Yuyu... you must be happy..."
Gradually, the person beside her fell silent, replaced by her even breathing.
Qu Jiaran had a very poor sleep because of her physical condition, and the doctor had prescribed sleeping pills for her.
At this moment, it seemed that the sleeping pills had taken effect.
The room fell into silence, but Nan Yu couldn't fall asleep. She stared at the dark ceiling with her eyes wide open.
She slowly exhaled a breath. Her heart felt like it had been thrown into a bottomless abyss, sinking but never reaching the bottom.
Didn't Qu Jiaran notice at all?
The relationship between her and Tan Linyuan.
--
Nan Yu slept very badly. She was groggy all night. When she opened her eyes and saw that it was already bright outside the window, she was so scared that she sat up on the bed in a hurry.
Qu Jiaran was long gone. She should have gone to get busy with the wedding.
Nan Yu immediately checked the time. Knowing that the wedding hadn't started yet, she let out a sigh of relief, feeling it was a close call.
There was a dress box on the table in the room. Beside it were a pair of silver - white high - heeled shoes and a swan mask.
It should be the bridesmaid dress sent temporarily.
Nan Yu wiped her face, then turned around and went into the bathroom to wash up and put on makeup.
Normally, a bridesmaid should have a makeup artist to do her makeup and styling. But with Qu Jiaran's careless personality, she probably forgot about it.
Nan Yu didn't take it seriously. She just put on makeup according to her usual habit.
After putting on makeup, she went to change clothes. Thinking that she would have to wear a mask later, she couldn't help feeling annoyed.
Since she was going to wear a mask anyway, why did she bother to put on makeup?
She sighed helplessly and opened the box containing the bridesmaid dress -
Inside was the wedding dress she had tried on.