"Lin Chen, I—"

"You still dare to call me 'stepmother'?"

Before Ruan Qing'an could finish speaking, Lin Chen interrupted her, snorting coldly as he gripped the back of her neck with his long, slender hand.

It's like carrying a cat.

Perhaps Lin Chen's accusatory manner was too obvious at the moment, because the usually spoiled and arrogant Ruan Qing'an did not dare to go against him. Otherwise, she would have shouted "Your son is unfilial!"

Ruan Qing'an didn't speak, and Lin Chen just looked at her, meeting her watery, blinking eyes, for a long while—

He finally let go: "Are you feeling alright?"

Lin Chen has never been able to do anything about Ruan Qing'an, and now he understands this point, but he's too lazy to change it and doesn't want to change it.

Ruan Qingan nodded: "I feel fine."

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen glanced at her sideways and said with an ambiguous meaning, "You don't know how to use a gun, yet you stole a mercenary's gun. Don't you know about recoil? You've learned your lesson now."

"But if I don't fire, they won't dare."

No one could guarantee that when they killed their trusted henchman, they wouldn't take Lin Chen with them; otherwise, the person who fired the shot would also die.

Ruan Qing'an muttered something under her breath, which Lin Chen overheard. He paused involuntarily and looked at her subconsciously. The girl seemed to have said it unintentionally and was still studying the cast on her arm.

She shouldn't have been involved in these things in the first place...

Lin Chen's thoughts became a bit jumbled: "That's because they're useless. Don't get involved in these things, just stand aside and watch."

"We should at least work together to kill Lin Qisheng. If you do this, it will make me look useless. I'm just dragging you down. I know I'm not very useful, but I'll do what I can."

Her voice trailed off, sounding somewhat forlorn: "If you're too useless, you'll definitely be left behind..."

For a moment, the atmosphere fell silent.

Just then, Lin Chen responded with a light laugh. Before she could get angry, the young man said, "I don't deny that my ways of making money are dirty. It's not something you should know how to do anyway, Ruan Qing'an, so you don't need to do anything."

"Besides, for me—"

Lin Chen paused, his eyes flashing slightly.

The young man seemed to have figured something out, and the emotions in his eyes became increasingly thick and intense, like an unyielding darkness that could devour a person completely. Ruan Qing'an couldn't even discern the expression in his eyes.

He said, "You can be completely clueless, and you can do nothing. All you need to do is watch and protect yourself. That's the most important thing, far more important than me. I didn't want you to have to work with me like this."

When the words were spoken, the room fell into a deathly silence.

Lin Chen kept his eyes half-closed, seemingly unaware of the shocking things he had just said, but—

There was one more thing he didn't say.

Power, status, money... these are all things he needs to consider, and all she has to do is act recklessly. She can flaunt herself by taking advantage of the high position he provides—she is his pet cat, a rose carefully nurtured in his palm.

"..."

Although she kept emphasizing that she wanted to be a useless beauty and be content to be a little good-for-nothing and be kept by a sugar daddy, Ruan Qing'an still subconsciously glanced at Lin Chen, and the young man did not seem to have any intention of stopping her.

I even feel a bit... happy about it happening?

Even Ruan Qing'an felt a little awkward under those eyes. She subconsciously pursed her slightly dry lips: "So, what's the point of my existence? I'm completely useless..."

"Won't."

The young man's voice interrupted her thoughts: "Your existence is the greatest meaning to me."

Just look at me.

As long as you can look at me forever, that's enough.

【Affection Level: 75】

That hint of ambiguous feelings mingled in the air, lingering like intertwined vines. She depended on everything he gave her, and he took her gaze as the meaning of his life. Their gazes were like sparks, capable of igniting everything tenderly in an instant.

Like a raging fire ignited by dry wood, like a wild plain that grows wildly after a long wind, like a cool breeze passing by at night, unstoppable and irrepressible—once a young man's heart is moved, it will remain so forever.

When Lin Chen looked up, the emotion in his eyes was unreadable. Ruan Qing'an paused and subconsciously turned her head away: "Lin Chen, we shouldn't know each other, and I shouldn't be at the manor."

"What's going on between you and that old man?"

The young man frowned slightly, his tone becoming somewhat somber.

When he first met Ruan Qing'an, he thought she was just trying to climb the social ladder. But when the topic came up, the girl's stiff expression made it seem as if she had mentioned the thing that scared her the most.

The atmosphere fell into a deathly silence until she said in a hoarse voice, "I was kidnapped by Lin Qisheng."

“I was studying at a university in China. When I left the campus, I was kidnapped by several men in black and put in a car. Then I was drugged and knocked unconscious. When I woke up again, I was already in that manor.”

"Then, Lin Qisheng appeared and said that he had fallen in love with me at first sight. He hoped that I could stay in the manor and that everyone should call me Madam. He had even arranged the wedding date in advance. But I'm not stupid. I could tell that he was looking at someone else through me."

As she spoke, Ruan Qing'an chuckled, her voice carrying a hint of sarcasm, as well as a sense of helpless sorrow and self-mockery.

Those were the original owner's emotions.

In the original text, from fear to distortion, she never had the right to choose, but was forced to go with the flow until she lost herself.

Ruan Qing'an continued, "He wanted me to learn how to behave like other people, to learn her personality, to learn her style, to eat the same things as her, and to say the same things as her... It wasn't until that time that I realized that person was your mother, Xia An'an."

"What Lin Qisheng likes is Xia An'an's appearance—obedient and gentle—so I have to be like that too."

“If I didn’t do what he wanted, he would beat and verbally abuse me. If the Lin family doctor hadn’t arrived in time, I would have died from his beatings. I refused to give in and tried to escape several times, but Lin Qisheng caught me each time, and then…”

Ruan Qingan's voice suddenly turned cold: "He killed my parents and dumped their bodies at sea. He even showed me the video while I was being beaten, making me witness their deaths with my own eyes!"

The girl's voice was hoarse, with a sob that she herself didn't even realize it, and her body was trembling uncontrollably.

The sunlight outside the window was brilliant, bathing her entire body, yet it brought no warmth or light—everything that belonged to her had been destroyed after meeting Lin Qisheng.

The girl had no future.

Lin Chen knew very well that Lin Qisheng was capable of doing such a thing.

The room was deathly silent. As the girl trembled uncontrollably, a long arm reached out and pulled her into his arms. The young man had somehow appeared by the bedside, kneeling on the bed and bending his back into a beautiful bow as he leaned forward.

He gently wrapped his arms around her.

He rested his chin on her head, pulling her into his arms. The scent of medicine mingled with the girl's fragrance filled his nostrils, and he could almost taste the astringent, salty tears.

His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and he said softly, "I will kill him."

Lin Qisheng doesn't deserve to live.