The human will to survive is not to be underestimated. Even if it meant eating swill and being chained, unable to walk far, the stench unbearable. Yu Gang endured all of this, wanting to live, to fight for even the faintest glimmer of hope.
132 days later, Cao Qian appeared. She looked at Yu Gang and said calmly, "Our grievances are settled."
"Let me go, please, let me go. I promise I won't seek revenge, I'll stay far away from you for the rest of my life."
"Our grievances are settled. Now, let's settle the matter of Jin Ye."
"Who is Jin Ye?"
"The child you killed in the hospital."
Yu Gang collapsed instantly. He lunged at Cao Qian like a wild dog, but the chains around his neck held him fast.
"You bitch, I won't spare you even in hell."
"You'd better not expect to meet me in hell, because I'll make your life there even more miserable."
"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll skin you alive, I'll strip you bare, I… Please, come back. I'll do anything, just let me go, let me go!"
Yu Gang screamed hysterically, but no one came to his rescue.
Yu Gang was discovered about half a year later. The landlady occasionally remembered a cellar at home, intending to use it for storing vegetables in winter. But upon entering, she found a decaying corpse.
The police identified the body as Yu Gang. As for the killer, they never found out. They suspected the young girl Cao Qian, but Cao Qian was a homeless girl who had left three months prior, while Yu Gang had been dead for over half a year. The police didn't believe a girl could have lived there for over three months after committing murder without a trace.
Therefore, Cao Qian's suspicion was largely dismissed. Yu Gang's death remained unprovable. Many suspected the restaurant owner. If that theory held, then who killed the restaurant owner?
At that time, the town's investigative capabilities were limited. Later, when technology improved, the case was too old. To this day, Yu Gang's death over a decade ago remains an unsolved local mystery.
After leaving the fishing village, Cao Qian became much freer. During high school, she worked part-time at an investment company and was a highly sought-after financial advisor.
Around her second year of high school, Cao Qian visited her foster parents, Cao Ba and Cao Ma.
They had grown old and still had no children. Seeing Cao Qian, Cao Ma cried for almost a day. For years, they had believed Cao Qian was dead. Cao Qian told them she was living well. Cao Ma asked her to stay and live with them, but Cao Qian refused, saying, "Yu Gang is dead!"
Upon hearing this, Cao Ba and Cao Ma immediately understood. They didn't manage to keep Cao Qian, but as they parted, Cao Ma said, "If you ever get tired, have nowhere to go, or are in trouble, come back. This will always be your home."
Cao Qian smiled, "This is indeed my home, because I will always carry the surname Cao."
During her first year of college, Cao Qian moved in with a boy. She didn't have a strong concept of virginity, just felt it was something she would lose sooner or later, so it was better to lose it casually.
The boy she lived with was named Fang Zheng. His name was misleading; he was glib and smooth-talking.
Fang Zheng and Cao Qian were classmates. They sat together on the first day of university and hit it off immediately. That evening, Fang Zheng invited Cao Qian to watch a movie at the school cinema or study together at the library.
Some people advised Fang Zheng to pursue Cao Qian, but he said, "A rabbit doesn't eat grass near its burrow." This reached Cao Qian's ears. She asked Fang Zheng, "Are you a rabbit?"
In those days, "rabbit" was also slang for a homosexual.
Fang Zheng frowned, unsure how to respond. Cao Qian stood before him, her gaze fixed on his Adam's apple, which bobbed with agitation.
"What are you looking at?" Fang Zheng, unable to answer, changed the subject.
"Your Adam's apple!"
Hearing this, Fang Zheng found a way to retaliate: "I have other prominent parts too, you can look at those."
Fang Zheng thought this veiled innuendo would make Cao Qian back down, but he didn't expect Cao Qian to just smile slightly, biting her lip, and ask, "Okay! So where are your other prominent parts?"
Fang Zheng rolled up his sleeve and replied with mock seriousness, "My elbows."
Cao Qian laughed. She had fallen for this glib young man.
During the first semester of their freshman year, Cao Qian and Fang Zheng were entangled, their relationship ambiguous, filled with flirtatious banter. It wasn't until Valentine's Day that Cao Qian went to Fang Zheng with a rose. She handed him the flower and said, "Happy Valentine's Day!"
"Where did this flower come from?"
Fang Zheng asked in surprise.
"Another male classmate gave it to me."
Fang Zheng angrily returned the flower to Cao Qian, "I don't accept second-hand goods."
Cao Qian said, "If you don't accept it, I'll become second-hand."
That evening, they half-heartedly ended up in a hotel. On Valentine's Day, hotels near the school increased their prices. Cao Qian paid.
Cao Qian loved the scent of Fang Zheng and would hold him whenever she could. Later, she felt going to a hotel was too expensive. So, she rented an apartment and asked Fang Zheng to move out of the dorms and live with her.
Fang Zheng's charm was a powerful tool; many girls were drawn to him. Cao Qian wasn't conventionally beautiful, but she had an outstanding aura, and many boys pursued her. Therefore, they didn't get jealous of each other.
A girl secretly wrote Fang Zheng a love letter. Cao Qian, lying in his arms in their rented apartment, read it aloud with great emotion. Fang Zheng listened, nodding earnestly, and said, "Make the latter part more emotional."
"Oh, come on. Besides being mushy, the latter part has two typos."
"Then forget it. I have something to tell you."
After saying that, Fang Zheng hugged Cao Qian tightly and said seriously, "My dad is coming to school this afternoon at four o'clock."
"Is he on a business trip?"
"No, I told him I was getting married, and the old man impulsively bought a train ticket."
"Who are you marrying?"
"If you don't mind, let's just make do with each other."
Cao Qian hadn't considered marriage. Living together in college, she saw it as just a phase of life. She looked at Fang Zheng's chin and asked in surprise, "Are you serious?"
"76.5%!"
It was Cao Qian's first time meeting his parents. Fang Zheng's father wasn't that old, only in his forties. He had even applied hand cream to his face. Fang Zheng's first words to his father were, "Dad, you look so handsome! Your face is as smooth as if you've put oil on it."
"Get lost!"
Fang's father was experienced in dealing with his son, often using a single word to "banish" him. That day, Fang's father actually talked a lot with Cao Qian. He wasn't a typical unreliable father. He got thoroughly drunk that day, raising his glass and saying to Cao Qian, "The moment I saw you, I knew you and my son were a perfect match. I can finally get rid of my son. Thank you!"
After meeting the parents, there were no dramatic separations. Instead, Cao Qian and Fang Zheng's relationship became more formal. Fang Zheng, drinking soda, called his father from a public phone booth. Cao Qian came over, and he handed the phone to her before happily going off to play basketball with other classmates.
Fang's father actually spent more time chatting with his daughter-in-law than with his son. It wasn't until Fang Zheng died that Cao Qian learned he was a single child, raised by his father since childhood.
At the end of their freshman year, Fang Zheng and Cao Qian kissed goodbye at the airport. Fang Zheng used a camera to take a selfie of them. But cameras in that era didn't have selfie capabilities, and Fang Zheng wasn't very skilled. When the photo was developed, only half of their faces and two wet lips were visible.
That was the last time Fang Zheng and Cao Qian met. Fang Zheng died in a severe car accident with his father in their hometown. The father and son died at the scene, leaving Cao Qian no last words.
Later, Cao Qian called Fang Zheng's family and learned about the accident. She went to Fang Zheng's home, the first and last time. In Fang Zheng's room, there were many photos of them together. Cao Qian burned them all, keeping only the one with half a face and two wet lips.
Cao Qian was very strong. She refused to cry, saying it was just a part of life. But every night, waking up from suffocation, she found herself in tears.
Later, Cao Qian decided to fulfill Fang Zheng's dream.
Cao Qian and Fang Zheng were both engineering students, but Fang Zheng's dream was to be a director. For this, Cao Qian enrolled in an art school. For someone like her, without status or background, getting into an art school was almost impossible. But she was Cao Qian; living under someone else's identity was her specialty.
To successfully enroll in the art school, Cao Qian spent half a year observing near the campus. She finally found an entry point. She discovered a teacher named Wang Zi in the university who was a fraud.
This Teacher Wang Zi wasn't a teacher who preyed on art school female students. He seemed omnipotent, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, a paragon of art. Moreover, Teacher Wang Zi had a unique rule: he only deceived deceivers.
Cao Qian had been a trickster since childhood and was very familiar with the psychology of deceivers. Deceivers didn't fear their tricks being exposed; they just stopped if they couldn't deceive anymore. What deceivers feared most was exposure to the public.
For this, Cao Qian went to the rooftop. She intended to jump, to let the entire art school know that a teacher at the school had deceived her. Moreover, Cao Qian not only staged this act but also invited important spectators. Several major newspaper reporters arrived that day, cameras pointed at Cao Qian, who stood on the rooftop, threatening suicide.
If Cao Qian had jumped, the art school's reputation would have been ruined. The school administration took the matter very seriously and sent a negotiator. It's unknown what Cao Qian discussed with the school leaders, but she remained at the school and became a student in the directing department.
Cao Qian had been attending classes quietly for a few days when news spread within the school that Cao Qian's failed suicide attempt was linked to an art department teacher named Wang Zi.
Originally, Cao Qian only needed to complete a photography course to help fulfill Fang Zheng's dream.
But Wang Zi completely changed Cao Qian's path. Or perhaps, he helped the aimless Cao Qian find a direction in life. In Wang Zi's life, a certain identity completely captivated Cao Qian: The Schemer.
Her obsession with scheming made Cao Qian even more convinced that being a Schemer was Fang Zheng's dream; a Schemer was an artist director in life. To this end, she began to use everything to approach the world of The Schemer, including her body. She knew Wang Zi was an indispensable bridge between her and The Schemer, so during her years at art school, she vigorously controlled Wang Zi and aborted four times for him, ultimately bringing Wang Zi under her control.
When Wang Zi told Cao Qian that The Schemer, Cao Shi, was leaving him, Cao Qian deliberately took Wang Zi's hand and brushed past Cao Shi. Cao Shi saw the confident, exceptional smile on Cao Qian's lips. Thus, Cao Shi had no choice but to take Cao Qian as his first and only disciple.
And so, Cao Qian became The Schemer.