I soak in the bathtub for a long time, until the water has cooled.

The bathroom mirror is covered with a light sheen of moisture. I stand in front of it looking at myself, and feel that my face is also a little blurry.

When I was a child, Mingcheng’s father said that I was the prettiest among the three children, but I know that he liked a gentle appearance. In fact, Mingcheng was the most beautiful. His appearance was dazzling and impeccable, with a robust handsomeness. 

I will never forget his loving face.

The bathroom light flickers suddenly and violently, and I even hear the buzzing sound of electricity.

Almost at the same time, I realize something is wrong and turn to run. But then the entire room falls into darkness, and with no one around, the bathroom door slowly turns on its own and locks with a click.

“Ugh….!” I am held in front of the sink by hands that hold my wrists behind my back. There is a dull pain in my wrist bones, as well as my hip bones that are pressed against the edge of the marble vanity.

I can’t see anyone in the dark, but another cold white face appears next to mine in the mirror.

This face has a high nose bridge, deep features, and lips that curve without smiling, but there are no pupils in those black eyes. His body seems to be slowly emerging from a black sea, carrying a cold, heavy darkness, eerie and strange.

I look in the mirror, and his eyes turn in my direction.

The face similar to Mingcheng’s makes me shudder.

I turn my head away, but he holds my chin with his cold hand and forces me to look in the mirror.

“I think you like this face a lot. Aren’t you happy to see me?”

He is not human. I can’t break free, so I look at him in the mirror. “It’s not this face that I like. You’re not him. Of course I’m not happy to see you.”

“Yes.” He raises his lips and nods with a smile. “You are unhappy when you see me, and you are afraid of me, but he is Wen Mingcheng, and so am I…..”

I interrupt him with a cold expression: “You are not Wen Mingcheng.”

His face darkens upon hearing these words, and his phoenix eyes with slightly raised tips are like exquisite but lifeless paintings, bottomless.

He suddenly tilts his head, curling his thin lips and pressing them against my ear as he says with a smile: “This isn’t easy to say, you know? When I saw that portrait, I had a feeling of familiarity. You yourself should know that my presence at your side must be inseparable from him.”

I lower my eyes and say nothing. What he says is true. This matter is definitely related to Mingcheng, but I believe that he loved me. No matter what his original intentions were, he didn’t intend to harm me.

So I say: “I’ll send you back.”

“Send me back? Back to where?” He raises his eyebrows mockingly, and his slender hand slips from my chin to my chest. During my struggle, it moves forcefully to the knot of the towel, teasingly holding it between two fingers. I grit my teeth hard and eye his fingertips. As long as he pulls with a little force, I will be bare. I feel extremely humiliated, but I’m helpless.

Then I feel him push me against the sink forcefully, and I begin to struggle in desperation.

Mingcheng was outwardly reserved and dignified. He was not obsessed with this aspect, but when he really wanted to do it, he let himself loose. And we had been together for more than ten years, so I was inevitably very experienced in this area.

So the person behind me only needs to make subtle actions, and I know what he’s going to do. My wrists hurt terribly from the violent struggle, and my eyes are red from the exertion. “Stop!”

Although he didn’t make it to the last step in front of the portrait just now, he still went too far. And that was in front of Mingcheng’s altar, which was tantamount to making me betray my lover in front of him……I really can’t bear it.

“Are you a beast? Do you still have any humanity?!”

When I say this, he suddenly turns me around and then irresistibly pushes my upper body down on the sink.

The sinktop is very spacious. I lay on my back with my upper body resting on the marble countertop. Because of this sudden change in posture, the gap between my legs becomes wider, and he takes a step forward.

My hair stands on end, and I can’t keep myself from shouting: “Get out of here! Don’t!”

He looks down at me with a cold smile on his face, and presses a hand to my chest with such force that I can’t move. “You think I have no humanity, but in your eyes, I am not a human being. I am a ghost, a monster, something terrible and evil. I don’t deserve to be Mingcheng.”

“But the other Wen Mingcheng was not a good person at all. I heard what you and that woman said. He did many unscrupulous things behind your back. He drove away your friends, tricked you into sleeping with him, and caused you to be beaten by your father. You lost your original fiance and had no choice but to marry him. There is probably much more besides. Even I, whom you hate, am here because of him.”

I see the deep anger in his eyes, and the sinister, taunting smile on his face. “But I have never harmed you, ah. You are devoted to him, but only fear and reject me. How is this fair?”

“You are afraid of me. What are you afraid of me for? I told you that I am Wen Mingcheng. From the moment I arrived, I knew that I was Wen Mingcheng. The unworthy person is him, not me.” He leans down directly above my body, looking right at me with eyes like a black abyss. “Think about it, didn’t we get along very well in the beginning? You called me husband, and you also liked me touching you when we shared a bed. We can obviously live happily, as long as you forget about him.”

“You only have to forget him. I am the better Mingcheng, and I will not be as short-lived as him. As long as you are willing, I will accompany your soul forever.”

His theory shocks me, and I am terrified by his last words.

If I had never discovered that he was an imposter, I really would have agreed to his strange request, and it is very likely that my soul would never again be able to break free…..

“He is him. You are you. He was wrong, but I forgive him. You are not human, you should go back to where you came from…..ah!”

Suddenly, he lowers his head and bites my neck hard. The pain makes it impossible for me to continue talking.

Then he kisses the side of my face with a smile. “If you forgave him because he died for you, I can do the same, ah. You can hit me in the head with a hammer again, or stab me through the heart with a knife. I can also do it myself for you. What kind of death do you want to see?”

In horror, I uncontrollably recall the dreadful experience of hammering him to death that night.

“Stop talking, stop talking!” 

“I insist on talking.” He chuckles a few times and straightens my face with both hands. His face is like a perfect mask, and there are dark waves in his eyes, like black holes that can suck away the soul.

“Since you have forgiven him, you should accept me. After all, I appeared because of him. It was impossible for him not to know what my appearance would mean, or what I would want to do. Frankly speaking, he offered you to me. You love him so much, but you refuse to listen to him?”

I can’t bear it anymore, and raise my hand to slap him. “Shut up, ah! It’s impossible, he wouldn’t do this!” 

His face turns slightly sideways by my hard slap. His eyelashes lower, and he is silent for a moment.

Because his eyes are concealed by the shadows of his eyelashes, I can’t see his expression clearly.

But he’s right. I am indeed afraid of him. Even though my fear has made me very numb, I am still afraid. I try my utmost to push him away, and he actually gets up.

But he stands tall in front of me and looks at me deeply with an unclear expression. This posture and gaze make me instinctually aware of the danger.

I put my hands on the sink to push myself up, and he suddenly holds my wrists.

The bathroom door clicks open on its own again.

He drags me out by force and throws me into the room where Mingcheng’s portrait is kept. After entering, he locks the door behind his back.

I crawl up from the ground at once, and he picks me up by the waist to press me firmly against the altar table.

At the side of my face is a burned out incense burner, and in front of me is Mingcheng’s black and white portrait.

He is smiling lightly in the photo, but in this atmosphere, I don’t dare to look at him.

With deep and profound malice, the person behind me leans toward my ear and says cruelly: “You believe in him. You think he is a good person and a good husband. Then do you think that he, who caused this situation today, will come and save you?”

“Don’t—”

He uses his fingers to untie the knot around my waist and hisses again: “Be good, scream a little quieter.”

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Chapter 25 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 27