Chapter 37: Differential Treatment

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“Could you please stop speaking so harshly?” Qiao Yanxin frowned.

Jiang Sui was nearly laughing from sheer anger. “You think my words are unpleasant, but aren’t they the truth?”

“Do you know what Yunzhou looked like when he was brought to the hospital? I heard someone pushed him down the stairs. What kind of person would be so vicious as to do that to someone else? Were the two of them acquainted, or were they strangers?”

“I told Yunzhou it was attempted murder and urged him to report it to the police, but he refused. Can you guess what he said?”

At those words, Qiao Yanxin nervously tugged at her clothes.

“What did he say?”

“He said it was all his fault—that his own problems were the reason he had ended up like this. But I cannot understand what kind of mistake a person would have to make to deserve being pushed down a flight of stairs and breaking both legs. Besides, in my eyes, Yunzhou is not that kind of person. So I would like to ask you, Miss Qiao: what exactly was this unforgivable mistake Yunzhou made?”

Qiao Yanxin’s expression turned exceedingly grim. Perhaps she had remembered what happened that day.

When she came to find me, I had clearly told her that everything had been Gu Tingchu’s own scheme. I had never pushed him. Why, then, had she refused to believe me?

There had even been surveillance cameras at the place where Gu Tingchu and I had argued. She could have checked the footage. If she had, everything would have become clear. Yet she had not even been willing to look at the surveillance recordings. Instead, she had simply decided that I was the one who had done it.

Because she did not believe me, she pushed me down the stairs, leaving me with both legs broken and forcing me to be hospitalized.

Of course, she did not believe that I had been injured and admitted to the hospital either. In her eyes, I was nothing but a liar whose mouth was full of lies.

How could anything a liar said possibly be true?

Perhaps this was merely another new tactic to attract her attention.

Only then did a trace of shame appear on Qiao Yanxin’s face. “I don’t know. I only pushed him because I was in such a hurry, but I really didn’t use much force. How could he possibly have broken his legs from that?”

Jiang Sui gave a cold laugh. “Miss Qiao, you may feel that you didn’t use much strength, but he truly did fall down the stairs. Do you honestly think an ordinary person could fall from that height and walk away unharmed?”

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“I remember what you said when I gave up trying to pursue Yunzhou. Do you remember it?”

“If you don’t, then allow me to remind you. You said you would treat Yunzhou well for the rest of your life, and that the two of you would live happily together forever. But how long has it been? It hasn’t even been a few years, has it? And yet you actually pushed your own husband for the sake of an outsider.”

Something seemed to occur to Jiang Sui, and a glimmer of tears flickered in her eyes.

“It was only when Yunzhou was brought to the hospital that I learned he was suffering from severe depression. I asked his attending physician, and was told that his depression had already lasted for a very long time. I don’t know what kind of life Yunzhou led in your Qiao family, but he used to be such a lively and cheerful person. Why did he develop depression after being with you?”

Qiao Yanxin guiltily touched the tip of her nose, perhaps recalling the things she had done in the past.

“Is his depression serious? Has he ever done anything to hurt himself?”

Jiang Sui sneered. “Do you really think he hasn’t?”

She seemed to sink into her memories. “When Yunzhou was in the hospital, he neither ate nor drank all day. But with both his legs broken, he needed nourishment more than ever. How could he simply refuse to eat or drink?”

“After I found out that he was depressed, I removed every sharp object from his room. I was afraid that, if he lost hope, he might do something to hurt himself. But later, when I looked away for only a moment, he smashed the bowl he had been eating from, picked up a shard of ceramic, and slit his wrist.”

Jiang Sui’s eyes were bloodshot as she stared fixedly at the woman before her.

“Do you know why he slit his wrist? He had been perfectly fine at first, so why did he suddenly do it? I didn’t know what had upset him until later, when I learned that Gu Tingchu had come that day. Miss Qiao, why don’t you tell me why Yunzhou would slit his wrist simply because Gu Tingchu came to see him?”

Fear and confusion appeared on Qiao Yanxin’s face, but even then, she instinctively tried to defend Gu Tingchu.

“This... Could there be some misunderstanding? Tingchu is a kind person. How could he possibly hurt anyone? Besides, there has never been any conflict between them. Why would Tingchu do such a thing?”

Jiang Sui seemed to have expected Qiao Yanxin to say exactly that. She merely folded her arms and gave a cold laugh without saying a word.

I was not surprised by her response. After all, whenever Gu Tingchu and I were placed before her, she would always choose him.

She could condemn me without listening to the circumstances or the truth, but when it came to Gu Tingchu, even if the evidence were laid out in front of her, she would instinctively find excuses for him.

It was not difficult to guess how much weight Gu Tingchu and I carried in her heart.

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“I knew you would say that. I wonder whether you’ll still be so stubborn when you see the evidence.”

As she spoke, Jiang Sui immediately picked up her phone and made a call.

Before long, the hospital’s surveillance footage was brought into the office.

Qiao Yanxin stared at the computer before her with an ugly expression. “What is this?”

Jiang Sui let out a cold laugh. “You refuse to believe me? Then I’ll show you the surveillance footage from that day right now. If you can still hold on to your beliefs after watching it, I will truly have to admire you.”

With that, Jiang Sui rose and played the surveillance video on the computer.

The camera could not capture what had happened inside the hospital room. It only showed me emerging from the room after Gu Tingchu had left, covered in blood. A deep gash marked my hanging arm.

Blood continued to seep from the wound without pause.

Dark-red blood streamed steadily onto the floor, soon gathering into a shallow puddle by my feet.

On the screen, my face gradually turned pale. My strength slowly gave out, and I began to sway unsteadily from side to side.

At the very last moment before I collapsed, another person appeared outside the hospital room.

It was Qiao Zhuxin.

Wearing a black coat, Qiao Zhuxin appeared at the entrance to the room.

I remembered seeing a familiar figure just before I lost consciousness that day. But it was only now, watching the footage, that I realized how terrifying Qiao Zhuxin’s expression had been.

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