Hearing Qin Bing say that, Hao Jian suddenly felt a twinge of heartache. He could fully empathize with her feeling of loneliness and helplessness when alone.
"Hey, how come you're not scared after watching it?" Qin Bing asked, looking at Hao Jian curiously.
Hao Jian scoffed and said with an arrogant face, "That's because I've seen much bloodier and more brutal scenes on the battlefield, like people being cut in half while still alive, and then having their intestines pulled out and stuffed back in. What you're talking about is just child's play."
"Really? Is that true?" Qin Bing asked, stunned.
"Of course, it's true. On the battlefield, there was the evil practice of torturing prisoners of war, an expansion of human depravity that no one could stop. Even I couldn't stop my soldiers from doing such things back then. There were all kinds of bizarre ways to torture prisoners.
Believe me, each was bloodier than anything in the movies, and the real screams of the victims were far more piercing and tragic, much truer to life than what's shown in movies."
"You didn't do that as well, did you?" Qin Bing looked at Hao Jian, horrified.
"How could I? How could I possibly do such a thing?" Hao Jian immediately countered, he indeed hadn't done such a thing.
"Not possible? Others eat human flesh but you don't, others torture POWs but you don't? Are you that righteous?" Qin Bing expressed deep skepticism.
"Righteous? I'm not righteous at all. They tortured prisoners because it pleased them, which means they still felt something, they still saw them as lives. But for me, life is as insignificant as ants. I don't torture prisoners not because I'm a good person, but because they're as insignificant as ants in my eyes,"
Hao Jian said, looking at Qin Bing with an intense gaze, "Would you deliberately step on an ant for no reason? Only if you were really bored."
At this, Qin Bing didn't know what to say.
"Do you think I'm cold-blooded? Heartless?" Hao Jian asked with a forced smile, but in that place, if you didn't become like that, you couldn't survive at all.
Hao Jian had simply made the right decision.
"No, I just think you're pitiable, and I think it must have been very painful for you to force yourself to become that kind of person," Qin Bing shook her head, her voice tinged with sympathy.
Seeing this, Hao Jian was the one who was taken aback; he never expected Qin Bing to say such a thing. He thought that after she'd heard about his past, she would become fearful and then gradually keep her distance from him.
But rather than being repulsed, Qin Bing actually sympathized with him, which brought a warm feeling to Hao Jian's heart.
It was like even when you hated yourself, there was someone who liked you unconditionally.
"What are you staring at me for? Don't get too moved," Qin Bing said with a smile, seeing Hao Jian silent and looking at her.
Hao Jian quickly came back to his senses and coughed awkwardly a couple of times, then purposely changed the subject, "Where did you buy that wall clock? It's really ugly."
A ceramic Clown clock hung on the wall, cheaply made and most importantly, very ugly.
But upon hearing this, Qin Bing's expression suddenly changed, and she looked down, dejected.
Seeing this, Hao Jian was also puzzled, "What's wrong, did I say something wrong?"
"It was made by my ex-boyfriend; he was a ceramic artist," Qin Bing said, her voice low.
"How did you break up?" Hao Jian asked curiously, "How could he break up with someone as beautiful as you? Is he out of his mind?"
"He's an artist, he has his artistic pursuits, so he said he wanted to go abroad to develop. And since I couldn't go abroad with him, we had no choice but to break up," Qin Bing said with a bitter smile.
"What artistic pursuit, I bet he just wanted to have his fill and then shirk responsibility," Hao Jian snorted dismissively. Those artists are the most unreliable, willing to abandon even their own parents for so-called artistic pursuit, let alone a girlfriend.
"Don't talk nonsense, nothing ever happened between us," Qin Bing said, her face flushed.
"Really? Nothing at all?" Hao Jian stared at Qin Bing in utter amazement. Nothing at all? That either meant Qin Bing was lying, or that ex-boyfriend was an idiot.
How could he not do anything with such a pretty girlfriend?
"We were university classmates, and because we were all quite shy during our university days, and I'm quite traditional, so we didn't even hold hands back then."
Qin Bing's face reddened even more. She had never talked about such private matters with anyone, but she saw Hao Jian as a close friend, so she dared to say anything to him.
"Then he really is an idiot," muttered Hao Jian.
"What did you say?" Qin Bing looked at him with surprise.
"Oh, nothing, I was just saying that's good, at least you didn't lose out too much," Hao Jian quickly corrected himself, then asked, "Since you've already broken up, why don't you throw these things away?"
Upon this, Qin Bing once again fell silent.
"Alright, I think I know what's going on," Hao Jian smiled, guessing that the reason she couldn't discard them was probably because of her reluctance to let go. It seemed clear to him that Qin Bing still held some hope or maybe fantasy toward that man.
"You really are conflicted, hating men on one hand and being obsessed over one on the other," Hao Jian said with a resigned chuckle.
"I know I should forget him, but I can't," Qin Bing also sighed. She indeed wanted to forget him, but she was powerless to do so.
After all, they had been together for so many years, and she being a person who valued emotions deeply, found herself unable to break free.
"If that's the case, then let me help you," Hao Jian suddenly stood up and walked toward the wall clock.
"How are you going to help? Wait, what are you doing with the wall clock?" Qin Bing saw Hao Jian taking down the wall clock and her expression changed dramatically.
But before she could stop him, Hao Jian had already lifted the wall clock and then smashed it violently to the ground.
There was a loud crash as the wall clock shattered into pieces instantaneously.
And Qin Bing's expression became incredibly rich.
"Out of sight, out of mind. As long as his stuff is here, you'll keep thinking of him. So, the first step to getting over someone is to throw away all his belongings," Hao Jian said seriously.
"All... All of them?" Qin Bing instinctively cried out, her gaze inadvertently drifting towards a ceramic teapot not far away.
Then she quickly lowered her head as if she was feeling guilty, seemingly afraid that Hao Jian would notice.
Hao Jian chuckled coldly and walked toward the teapot; soon enough, the teapot met the same fate as the wall clock, smashed to pieces.
Qin Bing's face crumpled instantly, and she murmured dismally, "He gave that to me on my eighteenth birthday."