Imperfect Desires

Xiu was actually surprised when she saw a gun in Niu Peizhi's hands. After all, guns had been illegal in the country for years. And it was a serious offense for civilians to carry guns. Even the professional bodyguards didn't have the right to carry guns unless they were protecting a public figure.

All the thugs that Niu Peizhi gathered were also not carrying any guns. Only Niu Peizhi had a gun which no one knew about until now. But it was already too late.

Although five people were standing before Xiu to protect her, they had all been shot on their knees. No matter how strong they were, a bullet on the knee really hurt like hell and had made them drop on the floor in pain. However, when they saw Niu Peizhi aiming the gun at Xiu, they gritted their teeth and still jumped before Xiu to shield her with their bodies.

Inside the car, Han Bohai's blood had run cold when he had seen this scene play before his eyes and had run out of the car for Xiu. He couldn't even think about losing Xiu once again. 

Everything happened in the blink of an eye although it seemed like a long time had passed. Niu Peizhi had felt a rush of happiness bursting inside her heart when the last bullet let the gun but soon, her smile of accomplishment froze.

Because before the bullet could even touch Xiu, out of nowhere someone jumped himself in front of Xiu and the bullet hit his chest and the blood spurted out.

Everything turned silent for a moment. The people who had been involved in tearing each other apart, now stood rooted right where they were when they saw all of this.

Xiu craned her neck to see who came to protect her and threw his life away for her. Her brows raised up slightly when she recognized the person before her eyes. However, her expressions didn't show any sign of sadness. She wasn't happy at this outcome but she wasn't sad either. 

But she was quite curious to learn about Niu Peizhi and Liu Nuan's state right now. Niu Peizhi stood rooted in her place with a paled face while Liu Nuan ran over towards the person who was shot and shouted, "Jinhai! Jinhai!"

Yes, the person who had jumped to throw his life away was actually Niu Peizhi's own son, Zhou Jinhai. How he appeared here, Xiu didn't know. Why did he appear, she also didn't know. As for why he chose to protect her... She actually had a faint idea in her mind.

Liu Nuan ran up to Zhou Jinhai and kneeled down beside his body before she pulled him into her arms. "Jinhai! Wake up!" She kept calling him with tears falling down her face. Her state looked like someone who had officially let go of the last thread of the sanity. Now, she was just crazily trying to wake up the man she had loved her whole life but who never loved her back. 

"Don't leave me! Please, don't leave me! If you want to divorce me, I agree! I won't say a word about that. Just don't die. Please, don't die!"

Zhou Jinhai looked at her with a bleak look in his eyes as he said in a soft voice, "They say you only learn when it's too late. It seems like they are right."

Liu Nuan cried even harder, "Don't talk." She pressed on his wound trying to stop the blood but nothing helped as she kept crying and shouting hysterically. "Nothing is too late."

Niu Peizhi felt like her feet had turned of lead as she wasn't able to even lift her feet at all. But she had to drag her old body over to her son's side. She fell down beside him as she stared at him with a complicated look, "You threw away your mother for her, and now, you are even willing to throw away your life for her?"

Zhou Jinhai coughed out blood and weakly turned his head to look at Xiu. His eyes held an indescribable emotion. He didn't believe in the nonsense that Liu Nuan had told his mother. He had heard it all through his mother's trusted aide but he didn't believe a single thing about the so-called rebirth. However, that didn't mean he wasn't willing to help Xiu who was now his younger brother's wife.

And also just because Xiu shared the name with Chen Xiu, his first love, he felt obligated to save her. He owed too much to two people in his life, one was his younger brother, Darren and the other was, Chen Xiu. Since he got the chance to do something for them, how could he walk away?

That's why when he arrived and found that situation, he didn't hesitate before throwing his body in to shield Xiu. This life had been feeling really heavy since the time Chen Xiu left, since he found a chance to throw this heavy burden away, how could he refuse to do so?

"It isn't for her," said Zhou Jinhai in a soft voice with much difficulty. "It's because of you. I can't breathe because of you. And since you have long planned to suffocate me to death, I just chose to let you end this life for me. You gave me this life, you definitely have the right to take it as well. I'm actually happy that you've set me free."

"Don't talk nonsense!" shouted Niu Peizhi. Her brain was completely blank from the moment she saw her son's blood. Now, seeing him, she couldn't process anything at all. It was too difficult for her. She had loved this son for years. She had done so much for him. "How could you do this to your mother? I did everything for you. I gave up so much to give you a good life. How could you punish me like this?"

Zhou Jinhai snorted at her remark, "You never did anything for me. A selfish person like you never had me in your heart. If I had been, my happiness would have mattered to you. But you always kept your interests and your ego before your son."

"A person like this really doesn't deserve a son," said Xiu and it was heard by everyone clearly. "First, you used him as a tool to get a status, and then you used that so-called love to cage him in your hands. How can someone like you can be a mother? You really don't deserve to be one. Isn't it better to let your son go?"

"You, shut up!" shouted Niu Peizhi. "It's all because of you. It's all your fault."

Xiu shook her head at her in pity, "It's such a pity that you still didn't realize that I was never the reason behind your suffering. But you definitely can't live without putting such crimes on my head. It doesn't matter. I don't really care." She looked at Han Bohai and said, "Call an ambulance." 

"Are you okay?" Finally, Han Bohai found his voice to question her. He had been too worried that he had forgotten to even inquire about her. That gunshot had almost taken his soul out of his body. 

"I'm perfectly fine," responded Xiu. "The ambulance is for the injured ones." Then she pointed at Zhou Jinhai who was slowly losing his consciousness because of the blood loss and the extreme pain in his chest. "And for him as well."

"You want to save him?" asked Han Bohai.

"I never wanted him dead," was Xiu's reply to him.

Niu Peizhi snatched her son from Liu Nuan's hands as she scolded her, "You stay away from him. From the moment you came into his life, nothing had been right around him. I don't even know why I liked you so much. I must be blind to have chosen someone like you for my son."

Liu Nuan already couldn't hear anything that Niu Peizhi said, she was only staring at her empty hands that were dyed in blood. She looked down at her clothes and found blood everywhere that made her heart suffocate. She tried to wipe off the blood from her hands but it didn't help, it only made her clothes dirtier. 

She was frantically looking around to see what she could do. Her brain had long stopped functioning. Seeing the man she loved so much closing his eyes right in her arms had made her brain breakdown in the worst sense. And now, finding that her hands were empty, she was furious as well.

Suddenly, her eyes fell on something and she moved her hand to pick it up with a vicious and determined look in her eyes. She could neither think nor understand anything right now. She only knew that no one, just no one could take her Zhou Jinhai from him. She would never let anyone take him from her. No one!

With that thought in mind, she took the gun that Niu Peizhi had dropped and pointed it at Niu Peizhi's head.

"Stop her!" shouted Xiu but it was already too late.