PTGWD Chapter 7: Secret

The next day at noon.

Fang Xingzhou struggled to open his eyes.

A strong sense of hangover still lingered in his body, he had a splitting headache, stared at the ceiling for a moment, and faintly felt that he had a very bizarre nightmare, filled with endless sweet words and vows, him and a monster disguised as his lover, continuously being thrown to the pinnacle, then harshly plummeting into hell.

In his hand was a sharp scalpel, that knife was a demon’s weapon, seducing him, deceiving him.

The dream was everywhere with flesh, bones, writhing tentacles…

His stomach churned, he lifted his right hand in front of his eyes.

The palm was dry and warm, yet seemed to carry a faint, almost indiscernible smell of blood.

Last night, it felt as if he had held something alive, moist, throbbing…

He shuddered violently, sat up, braced his forehead for a moment, when getting up he discovered his body was covered in marks, even the palm of his hand had bite marks, as if some animal had meticulously kissed and bitten him inch by inch.

His memory had gaps.

He tried hard to remember, slowly recalling the engagement invitation he saw in his friends circle, Lu Jianchuan’s sudden disappearance, the romantic date he witnessed, and…

The segments after that were all blurry, he probably was too drunk, he couldn’t even remember who he slept with last night, but could vaguely be sure that person was Lu Jianchuan.

Fang Xingzhou tightly pressed his brow, his face looked terrible, his heart contracted in waves, as if he also had been opened up in the dream last night.

Having reached this point, he couldn’t believe, nor could he accept – that he still couldn’t let go.

If his heart really had been carved out, maybe it had already been engraved with a certain name long ago.

Fang Xingzhou painfully leaned against the head of the bed, using the back of his head to lightly knock against the wall, like being possessed, thinking about the bloody scenes in the dream, a twisted expectation surged in his heart, his fingers slightly trembling.

Lu Jianchuan…

He threw off the blanket, walked to the wardrobe, preparing to change clothes to continue tracking.

The next moment, the bedroom door was suddenly opened.

The person from the dream appeared before his eyes, looking fresh and radiant, unassociated with last night’s bloody scenes, smiling and saying, “Good morning, wife. I’ve made you a hangover remedy, does your head still hurt?”

Fang Xingzhou was stunned.

His brows furrowed, his body tensed, instinctively thinking of the chaotic segments from the nightmare.

Seeing his slow reaction, Lu Jianchuan, with long strides, came to his front, took the tie he had just picked out, skillfully tied it for Fang Xingzhou, then kissed his cheek, just like the passionate mornings of the past ten years.

“Last night you were drunk, and let me in, even played games with me, it was definitely not me forcing you,” Lu Jianchuan explained actively, his ears red, his eyes still fixed on the bite marks on Fang Xingzhou’s lips, his adam’s apple rolling, “Wife, I’m really happy, you’re jealous of me and Wang Fei, that must mean you love me.”

For a moment, Fang Xingzhou actually considered acting out the nightmare.

He glared at Lu Jianchuan darkly, hearing his knuckles crack twice, thinking where he had placed the scalpel yesterday.

Lu Jianchuan appeared oblivious, his smile without a shadow, truthfully confessing in a somewhat false manner, “I didn’t really want to have an arranged marriage with the Wang family, I just used this method to lure it..her out, then to swallow her, this way I can gain the ability to breed, I can give you a cute baby.”

Fang Xingzhou’s face grew darker and darker, feeling that Lu Jianchuan was mocking, mocking his feelings, mocking his intelligence.

But Lu Jianchuan was not yet satisfied, further saying, “The book says honesty is the preservative of marriage, so I’ve told you all the secrets, definitely without lying. If you don’t believe me, look at me…”

“(Slap!)”

Fang Xingzhou slapped him on the face, angry but reluctant to use full force, only turning one place of his face red, “Lu Jianchuan, don’t go too far!”

Lu Jianchuan covered his face, blinked his eyes.

“Alright…” he said, disappointed, “but what I said is true.”

Fang Xingzhou turned to look for the knife.

Seeing him really angered, Lu Jianchuan quickly left the bedroom, poking half of his body from the door, not forgetting to give one last instruction, “Wife, don’t go looking for other men.”

Saying this, his smile paused for a moment, the curve expanding, pulling into a somewhat exaggerated arc, using a cheerful facade to cover his deep malice, “No matter who it is, I can smell his scent, then find him and eat him bit by bit starting from the head… leaving no bones.”

“(Bang!)”

Their photo was thrown by Fang Xingzhou, smashing at the doorway, breaking into two pieces.

Lu Jianchuan picked up the photo, holding it to his chest, not daring to ignite further fire, thumped down the stairs, laid out all the breakfast on the table neatly, reluctantly left the house, and continued to guard at the doorstep.

Leaving Fang Xingzhou alone, standing in the bedroom feeling dizzy.

As the world spun, he seemed to hear the sound of his mental world completely collapsing, along with the life he had methodically lived for more than twenty years, henceforth derailing, heading towards an unknowable black hole.

……

His requested annual leave was not yet used up, Fang Xingzhou still did not go to work, and Lu Jianchuan no longer went on dates with Wang Fei. The two, separated by a door, fell into a standoff, as if monitoring each other.

Fang Xingzhou did a thorough cleaning of the house, taking out all the common items that hadn’t been sorted last time, and packed them into a new cardboard box.

While cleaning the study, the stand accidentally hit the keyboard tray, the wooden tray made a crisp “donk” sound, which seemed a bit strange.

Fang Xingzhou keenly furrowed his brow, tapped it a few more times with his knuckles, confirming it was hollow inside.

This keyboard tray had accompanied him for many years, his memory was excellent, he could 100% confirm it was labeled as solid wood when he bought it a few years ago.

Fang Xingzhou took the keyboard tray apart, turned it over, and found that an unknown creature had drilled a hole in the tray, eating it completely empty from the hole as a breakthrough point.

It didn’t look like termite bites, nor like it was man-made, and there were no pets at home that liked to dig holes.

Fang Xingzhou stared at the hole for a while, a vague displeasure intuition in his heart, took a chopstick, and after probing for a moment, quickly scooped out a piece of paper.

Hah…

Fang Xingzhou’s gaze fell coldly on the paper.

——So this was Lu Jianchuan’s long-hidden little secret.

Without a doubt, except for Lu Jianchuan, no one else’s handwriting could be so uniquely ugly. Each character seemed to have its own life, warping and twisting in unexpected ways, almost unrecognizable.

But Fang Xingzhou could.

Every word written by Lu Jianchuan, he could recognize without hindrance.

He quickly scanned the content on the paper, as a medical practitioner, easily understanding what exactly Lu Jianchuan was recording.

It was a copy of detailed human pregnancy knowledge… part of it seemed to be copied from serious physiological knowledge books, and part of it was from unknown folk tales, recording various pregnancy remedies, even including several hand-drawn “fertility” diagrams.

Fang Xingzhou once again hated the firmness of his memory.

He could easily recall, several of the positions listed had been practiced under Lu Jianchuan’s entanglement.

Breathing gradually became difficult, Fang Xingzhou clenched the paper, his body slightly trembling, each breath he exhaled seemed fiery hot, the pain spreading from his heart to his lungs, then continuously to his nostrils.

He thought… Lu Jianchuan, being the second son of the family and not taking over the family business, didn’t have much interest in procreation, planning to live a DINK life with him or to adopt a child together after marriage.

Yet, while they were deeply in love, his sticky and affectionate lover was actually plotting behind his back to personally give birth to a child, even applying these disgusting plans in advance on him, to use as practice between him and his fiancée.

So, this was the real truth behind the arranged marriage.

For a full five minutes, Fang Xingzhou stood in place, unable to snap out of it.

He fed the carefully hidden secret into the shredder, walked to the window with a pale face, pulled open the curtains, and saw that familiar figure still sitting by the flowerbed, deeply engrossed in writing something in a notebook.

Today is Wednesday.

Lu Jianchuan and Wang Fei’s engagement dinner is on Friday night, he has two more days to prepare.

Fang Xingzhou’s lips slowly tightened into a taut line. He pulled the curtains closed, walked into the kitchen, his gaze slowly scanning over the neatly arranged variety of knives on the knife rack.

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The appetizer ends here, onto the main course!