Chapter 22
Zhang Yang’s mind exploded with a loud bang.
Her first reaction was to contact the company. The company had warned her that in the event of any risky accidents, she should contact them immediately.
But she quickly dismissed that option because the company had also warned her that if the 100% customized product posed a threat to the company, they had the right to handle it in any way, including reclaiming it without compensation.
She sat weakly on the couch and took out her phone to call Ke Yao. Each long beep during the call felt like her heart being stretched like an overstretched rope, fearing that it would snap at any moment.
The phone suddenly connected, and Zhang Yang almost shouted, “Ke Yao! Where are you?”
Ke Yao’s voice sounded timid, “I… I’m outside.”
“Are you out of your mind? How dare you go outside!” Zhang Yang jumped up anxiously. “Where are you? Come back immediately, no, I’ll come pick you up. Have you forgotten everything I told you?”
Ke Yao whispered, “I’m sorry, I’ll be home soon.”
“Where did you go?”
“I… I’ll tell you when I get home.” Ke Yao hung up the phone with guilt in his voice.
Zhang Yang couldn’t believe it as she looked at her phone. It was as if she had just realized for the first time that self-aware customized products were not a good thing. No wonder they needed to be reset periodically. The company’s warnings were not baseless. It was like a child who had only known how to crawl suddenly learning to walk. The scope of her concerns had expanded from the confines of the carpet to anywhere her legs could take her.
It was terrifying. Just the thought of Ke Yao being outside alone filled her with extreme fear. She was afraid of Ke Yao’s identity being exposed, and she was afraid he would get lost. Most terrifying of all was when did Ke Yao start having the desire and courage to go out? How many times had this happened before, and would there be more in the future?
After waiting for about twenty minutes, Ke Yao returned.
As Zhang Yang’s eyes turned red, she jumped up and slapped him.
Ke Yao stood against the wall, like a child who had done something wrong, not daring to lift his head.
Zhang Yang asked him coldly, “Why did you go out? Where did you go? How many times has this happened?”
Ke Yao muttered, “I was at home, I was just bored.”
“Where did you go?”
“Around, to the supermarket, the mall, just wandering around.” Ke Yao added, “It was the first time I went out.”
“When did you learn to lie?” Zhang Yang clenched her fists, her scalp tingling with anger. “I waited for you for twenty minutes before you came back. The supermarket is just a few steps away. You don’t look like it’s your first time out! How many times did you secretly go out without me knowing?”
Ke Yao defended himself, “No, really, it was the first time.”
“I’ve told you so many times not to go out, not to let people see you!” Zhang Yang sternly said. “Do you know that if someone sees you, you will be taken away?”
“I didn’t let anyone see me. I covered my face,” Ke Yao pleaded. “I… I was just too bored. I felt like I was trapped in a cage.”
Zhang Yang was taken aback and amidst her anger, she suddenly realized that Ke Yao had just used a metaphor. When did he learn that? Who taught him?
Ke Yao frowned, looking pitiful, “Fei Yang, I still don’t understand. Why can Sheng Shi be seen by so many people, but I…”
“What makes you think you can compare yourself to him?” Zhang Yang exclaimed angrily. “There’s only one Sheng Shi in this world. You’re just his clone, a mere nucleus cultivated from his cells. You only look like him, but you won’t have the same life as him. You can never compare yourself to him!”
Ke Yao stared at Zhang Yang in astonishment.
“Everyone has their own destiny. Sheng Shi is destined to be in the limelight, and I am destined to live an ordinary life. And you…” Zhang Yang’s face carried a hint of disdain. “You can only stay in this ‘cage’ and not let anyone see you. You can’t do anything I don’t allow you to do!”
“I see that you find staying at home boring, don’t you?” Zhang Yang sneered. “I also want to stay at home, but I can’t. I have to commute three hours on the damn subway every day to earn money. If I stay at home, we’ll starve to death, we’ll be homeless. I still owe the landlord 30,000 yuan because you set their kitchen on fire!”
“I didn’t have to live such a miserable life. I had a house, but I sold it just to bring you home.” The pent-up emotions erupted from Zhang Yang as she made her accusations on the verge of collapse. “I sold the house for Ke Yu, not for you. But Ke Yu was bought by someone else, and now he’s living a miserable life, while you just laze around all day, and you can’t even meet my basic requirements! Why is it you? Why isn’t it Ke Yu? What use do you have, and why did I buy you?”
Ke Yao didn’t beg for forgiveness as he usually did. He hung his head low, remaining silent.
Zhang Yang shouted hysterically, venting her frustrations. But after the outburst, she didn’t feel any relief. She didn’t want to admit her regret, as it would render all her sacrifices worthless. She was afraid of worthlessness, but she couldn’t continue deceiving herself. She truly regretted it. She shouldn’t have bought Ke Yao. She had made a colossal mistake, plunging herself into the abyss.
She thought she would love Ke Yao more than Ke Yu, who resembled Sheng Shi. But she didn’t. She watched Ke Yao, with a face identical to Sheng Shi’s, step down from the pedestal and descend into the mundane world, trampling on her heart in the process. Ke Yao was like a mirror that revealed the imperfections of her perfect image of Sheng Shi, forcing her to realize that even gods could grow fat, get acne, be lazy, tell lies to please others, and couldn’t escape the filth of bodily functions.
Even gods were only mortals.
Zhang Yang hated that Ke Yao resembled Sheng Shi, but she also hated that he didn’t resemble him.
But originally, she didn’t have to experience all this. She didn’t have to endure the collapse of her beliefs, the destruction of love, and the compromises of life. If only the person she brought home was Ke Yu instead of Ke Yao, she wouldn’t be able to restrain herself from blaming Ke Yao, from holding him responsible, because all the troubles and misfortunes arose because of him.
She couldn’t fathom how she would live through the long journey of her future.
That night, for the first time, they slept apart—Ke Yao slept on the couch.
After a sleepless night, Zhang Yang calmed down.
Honestly, she did have feelings for Ke Yao. After all, they had been living together day and night for so long, and she had paid such a high price. It was like being trapped in a hopeless marriage, unable to easily let go because of the huge sunk costs invested in the early stages.
She regretted the fear, urgency, and anger from the previous night. Looking back, she felt some remorse for her words. Although she knew they were heartfelt, if she could take them back, she wouldn’t say them, at least not so directly. This was the only time she hoped Ke Yao couldn’t understand what she was saying, but judging from his reaction, he clearly understood, even if he didn’t grasp every word, he was definitely affected by her emotions of grief and resentment.
However, no matter how tough life was, they still had to go on. Zhang Yang knew that complaining and arguing wouldn’t solve the problems. The most important thing now was to prevent Ke Yao from going out again. If she spent so much money, it couldn’t go to waste.
As Zhang Yang stepped out of the room, Ke Yao was still lying on the couch. The small two-seater couch couldn’t accommodate his impossibly long legs, and he looked exhausted. On workdays, Ke Yao would wake up early to make breakfast for her, but on weekends, they both woke up late, so Zhang Yang couldn’t judge whether Ke Yao was sulking or simply didn’t want to get up.
Zhang Yang called out to Ke Yao, but he didn’t move.
Zhang Yang pursed her lips and approached him, her tone still icy. “Wake up.”
Ke Yao opened his eyes and stared at Zhang Yang with his pitch-black pupils, unblinking. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, revealing a depth of meaning that Zhang Yang couldn’t fully comprehend. Perhaps it was a sense of grievance.
Zhang Yang sighed. “Let’s talk.”
Ke Yao sat up, his posture dejected.
Zhang Yang couldn’t stand seeing him like this, like a dog with droopy ears. The Sheng Shi she loved was always radiant, towering above others, and would never have such a pathetic side.
She sighed again, realizing that she had compared him to Sheng Shi once more. She had to scold herself repeatedly, not to make comparisons between the two of them, so she could prevent Ke Yao from shattering her illusions of Sheng Shi.
“In the future, when I go to work, I will check on you. You must answer the video calls I make and let me see you at home,” Zhang Yang commanded.
Ke Yao remained stiff for a while, then nodded.
“I hope you can understand,” Zhang Yang added. “Not to mention wanting to keep you at home, even when you arrived, the people at the company emphasized it many times. There can only be one Sheng Shi in this world. Ke Yu and Sheng Shi are not exactly the same, so he can go out, but you can’t. You are identical to Sheng Shi, and if you are discovered, it will cause big trouble, trouble that I can’t handle. Do you understand?”
Ke Yao nodded again.
Exhaustedly, Zhang Yang said, “I’m not letting you go out to protect you. You don’t have to work at home, don’t have to follow a nine-to-five schedule, don’t have to please anyone. You’re already fortunate. If you feel bored, you can watch TV, play with your phone, exercise. I promise to take you out at least once every week. Is that okay?”
“…Okay,” Ke Yao replied.
“Now, go cook,” Zhang Yang instructed.
Ke Yao stood up and walked toward the kitchen.
“Are you sure… no one saw your face?” Zhang Yang asked.
“I’m sure,” Ke Yao replied.
Since then, Zhang Yang started checking on Ke Yao at irregular intervals every day. She felt like a suspicious wife doubting her husband’s infidelity. She could sense Ke Yao’s dissatisfaction, and she wasn’t happy either. The atmosphere at home hadn’t improved since that day, and it filled her with anger every day. Nothing seemed to go her way.
Days passed, and she learned from her friend’s social media posts that Mina was going to host another disgusting party. She wanted to shamelessly ask Mina if she was going and if she could join her, but before she had the chance to speak, she found out from Mina’s posts that she had gone abroad for a vacation. Zhang Yang had no choice but to abandon the idea.
Some time later, Zhang Yang reduced the frequency of her check-ins because Ke Yao had been behaving well since then. So, one afternoon, during her usual check-in, when Ke Yao didn’t answer her call the first time, she didn’t pay much attention to it. Perhaps he was in the bathroom or something.
However, when she called again half an hour later and he still didn’t pick up, her heart started pounding rapidly. She asked for leave from her supervisor and hesitated for a while before deciding not to take a taxi and instead took the subway to rush home. Avoiding the rush hour, it only took her half the usual time to reach home.
As she hurriedly pushed open the door, she saw Ke Yao sitting on the couch, and for a moment, she couldn’t process what she was seeing.
Ke Yao looked at her with a questioning gaze.
“Why didn’t you answer the phone?” Zhang Yang asked.
Ke Yao looked at the phone lying beside him and said, “Oh, I fell asleep just now and didn’t hear it.”
Zhang Yang had a gut feeling that he was lying, without any reason or evidence. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but it was an intuition.
“I’ll pay more attention next time,” Ke Yao added.
Zhang Yang felt blocked and couldn’t speak. She sighed and put down her bag. “I’m going to the supermarket downstairs to buy some groceries. We don’t have much left at home.”
“Yeah, it seems like we’re running low,” Ke Yao replied.
Zhang Yang turned around and went downstairs. The more she thought about it, the more unsettled she felt. With a gloomy expression, she walked directly into the property management office, claiming that her package had been stolen and requesting to view the surveillance footage.
The quality of the community and its property management was low, and the security guard on duty was busy watching videos on Douyin (a Chinese video-sharing platform). He asked her to check the footage on the computer herself.
Zhang Yang sat in front of the computer and accessed the surveillance video for her building. She fast-forwarded the footage at 16 times the speed. That’s when she saw Ke Yao not just once, but multiple times entering and leaving the building. A few days ago, he even brought back a man of average build. Due to the angles and the man wearing sunglasses, she couldn’t see his face clearly. And even today, just two hours ago, when Ke Yao had lied about sleeping and not answering her call, Mina was driving her beautiful and expensive sports car, dropping Ke Yao off downstairs.
Zhang Yang clenched her hands tightly, her nails almost drawing blood from her palms.
