*Chapter 46: Threads of Sorrow*
Later, Mei Yan returned home, exhausted. She thought of the widow's plight, of the sleepless nights she had endured on Li Xue's behalf, of the helplessness she had felt. Her thoughts drifted to Shen Wei — the small kindness he had offered over the phone — and she allowed herself a brief sigh of relief.
Yet the weight of responsibility pressed again. She thought of Li Xue, sitting in a penthouse that felt more like a cage than a home, bound by contracts and fear. The contrast between her friend's suffering and the friends' lives outside Zhao Liang's orbit was stark.
Shen Wei's message blinked on her phone: You don't have to fight alone.
Mei Yan didn't reply immediately. Instead, she stared at the ceiling, the echoes of her friends' laughter mingling with the darkness of responsibility. For Li Xue, there were chains and fear. For Mei Yan, there were battles to fight, alone or otherwise. And yet, somehow, the threads connecting them — friendship, empathy, loyalty — held them all together, fragile but unbroken.
Even in sorrow, even in fear, the threads persisted.