Chapter 13 Marrying Zheng to Save Chen
Whether or not Lu Zhenyu marries Zheng Yaozong, and uses the Zheng family's influence to temporarily stabilize the Shen family's situation, is actually her only option.
But the thought of that fool dragging his injured leg around trying to find a way out for the Shen family almost broke her heart.
Looking up at the torrential rain, she reluctantly closed her eyes.
What to do about Shen Jingsi?
Actually, I'd rather be your wife.
But later, she still went back, looking disheveled, and while tears streamed down her face, she smiled and said to her mother, who was waiting in the living room:
"Godmother, I'll marry her."
As a century-old family deeply rooted in Beijing, the marriage between the Shen and Zheng families was enough to spread throughout the bustling capital overnight.
Everyone in the capital knew that the Shen family was about to be kicked out of the political arena of the capital, but they did not know that they were able to escape the calamity of gunfire by sacrificing Lu Zhenyu's later life.
No one knew, except for Shen's mother and Lu Zhenyu.
The day before the engagement, Lu Zhenyu, the orphan of the Lu family, officially changed her name to Shen Beizhen.
It implies that the Shen family treasures their precious possessions and cherishes them all the more.
The engagement party was also extremely extravagant.
This implies that despite the downfall of their powerful backer, the Shen family's prosperity and status remain intact after they marry off their daughter and forge alliances.
In the ten-year struggle between the two tigers in the capital, Zheng Yaozong emerged victorious while Shen Jingsi suffered a defeat.
However, at the engagement banquet, Zheng Yaozong, who had finally won the heart of his beloved through all means, hadn't even had a chance to drink the nuptial wine with his fiancée when Lu Zhenyu was abducted by Shen Jingsi, who had rushed back from out of town, without any regard for the consequences.
It was a pitch-black night, dark and oppressive.
The man, his eyes bloodshot, pressed her against the door with trembling hands and gritted teeth, "You promised to wait for me to come back, are you in such a hurry to find someone else, Lu Zhenyu?"
Faced with his anger, Lu Zhenyu smiled.
The beauty was born with a pair of captivating fox eyes, paired with amber pupils, her every smile and frown stirring the heart.
Her red lips parted slightly, but her tone was cold and indifferent, "Shen Jingsi, I don't love you. How many times do I have to say it before you remember?"
Whether she loves him or not is a mystery.
But this well-bred young lady, who had been raised and disciplined by her mother since childhood, never showed him the slightest bit of affection.
Yes, there is.
He just didn't know that.
Naively believing that those kisses were stolen while the girl was asleep.
It was stolen, but Lu Zhenyu tacitly approved and condoned it.
Shen Jingsi's thin lips curled into a mocking smile, his voice squeezed out through clenched teeth, "You don't love me, you love that beast Zheng Yaozong, who's worse than a pig or a dog, is that it?"
With her smile unchanged, Lu Zhenyu lightly raised her delicately drawn eyebrows, seemingly unconcerned about how he viewed her.
"At least he's rich and powerful. What do you have, a heart full of unwavering courage to love me?"
Her beautifully manicured nails slid down the creases of his open collar, stopping at his violently heaving chest, and she poked him hard despite his pain.
"Shen Jingsi, stop being childish. You can't even protect the Shen family, so why should I love you?"
The usually sharp-tongued Shen Guishao was rendered speechless for a moment.
Because she was right about one thing: with his current abilities, he really couldn't even protect his family.
But he was unwilling, and even more unwilling, because he was Shen Jingsi.
How could Shen Jingsi possibly allow the woman he loves to marry someone else?
She even married a notorious scoundrel known to everyone in the capital.
"I said, give me some time, and I will do it."
"There's no time left!"
Lu Zhenyu suddenly shouted, reaching out with one hand to his right leg under his suit trousers, suppressing the pain in her heart, and pinching it hard.
"Shen Jingsi, have you forgotten how your legs were ruined?"
Shen Jingsi will certainly not forget, and will even remember it for the rest of his life.
Someone wanted him dead, and wanted the Shen family to be destroyed.
But as long as he's around, there's absolutely no way that will happen.
The pain in my legs was negligible, and the humiliation I had suffered over the past few months was tolerable.
But when he saw the girl dressed in red determined to marry someone else, his usually arrogant and unruly eyes were finally forced to reveal helpless tears.
Having lived for twenty-five years, this was the first time Shen Jingsi had pleaded in an almost humble tone, "Zhenzhen, believe me just this once, just this once, okay?"
Fool, of course I believe you.
But your growth takes time and requires support, not undignified begging from anyone.
No one will help the Shen family right now, not even the Duan or Feng families you've pinned your hopes on.
Because they don't love you.
You used to protect me, now it's my turn to help you, why not?
Suppressing the surging emotions in her heart, Lu Zhenyu forced a mocking smile onto her lips.
"Shen Jingsi, you can't stop me from doing what I'm going to do."
"What if I just refuse?"
"If you're so capable, then take me right here. If you can do it, I..."
Those lips pressed down on her without warning, the kiss fierce and forceful, silencing Lu Zhenyu's words.
The girl who had just been making those harsh remarks instinctively stood on tiptoe to receive his kiss.
In the dimly lit living room, the man's broad upper body, being still rather thin, did not fully cover the girl's slender figure.
In the blink of an eye, it became impossible to tell who was the aggressor.
A hot, pink tongue pierced through cool, thin lips, clumsily yet boldly prying open teeth still smoldering with whiskey, quickly making the man lose himself in the sensation.
Shen Jingsi had no resistance to Lu Zhenyu.
This was true before he was exiled to the United States, and even more so after his return.
They kissed their way from the lobby upstairs to the bedroom, where the light and shadows danced.
This is their secret base. The Zheng family can search the whole city for their missing bride, and no one will disturb them tonight.
Shen Jingsi's kiss was so intense, it almost felt like he wanted to crush her and swallow her whole.
As the kiss drew to a close, he cupped her face in his hands, his thin lips, stained with rouge, exhaling a deep, hoarse breath, "Lu Zhenyu, you have to keep your word."
Lu Zhenyu opened her eyes and looked at him; his rippled fox-like eyes were filled with a handsome face.
With such beautiful, deep phoenix eyes, looking at her again in the future will probably only bring hatred.
It's okay, at least tonight he belongs only to her.
Thinking of this, the fox's eyes filled with moisture.
In fact, if the night were to brighten a little more, Shen Jingsi would be able to see the answer hidden in the girl's amber eyes.
Unfortunately, Lu Zhenyu closed her eyes again.
As a tear silently fell from the corner of her eye, she told the second lie of her life.
"A promise is a promise."
Shen Jingsi's lips curled up, and with a forceful tug, the red engagement dress was instantly torn apart, then fell into the darkness where lightning had ripped a crack, and fell silent.
Once the floodgates of restraint are opened, spilled water cannot be gathered up again.
This was their first time. Shen Jingsi felt sorry for the girl who had half her face buried in the pillow and was trembling all over.
He eased the pressure on her waist and abdomen, cupped her cheeks, and kissed away each tear.
He buried his face in the crook of her neck, where her breath rose and fell, eagerly inhaling her sweet fragrance.
"Zhenzhen, you are mine."
Lu Zhenyu turned her head and gently kissed his ear. "Yes, I am yours."
Regardless of the future, in this moment alone, her heart and her body belong entirely to him.
For a long, long time, they remained tightly embraced on the bed.
Shen Jingsi rested his chin on the girl's forehead, which was covered with fine beads of sweat, and rubbed it gently like a cat.
His low, husky voice was gentle and tender, "Zhenzhen, let me raise you, protect you, love you, and never leave me, okay?"
Lu Zhenyu pressed her face against his rhythmically rising and falling chest, as if even hearing his heartbeat was about to become a luxury.
"How much do you love me?"
"I'll give you my life." Shen Jingsi said without hesitation.
But Lu Zhenyu knew that this was not just empty talk; this man was truly willing to risk his life for her.
If he hadn't been cruelly sent abroad by Shen's father fifteen years ago, Zheng Yaozong, who raped her, would have been killed by him with his own hands sometime in the dead of night.
The idea that Shen's mother wanted her to keep the secret was not wrong.
If Shen Jingsi knew that she married Zheng Yaozong for the sake of the Shen family, and that she wanted him to live in peace, he would do anything to bring Zheng Yaozong and the Zheng family to their deaths.
This man is strange; Lu Zhenyu has thought so since she was little.
Because she had never seen a boy risk his life to protect a girl simply because he liked her.
The Shen family, a tyrannical and unruly family in the capital, is mostly driven by a desire to protect the beautiful but orphaned girl from the Lu family, who is often bullied.
Lu Zhenyu swallowed the sob in her throat, and tears streamed down her cheeks into the rosy sheets covering her face.
She said, "Then please live well."
"What?" Shen Jingsi looked at the person in his arms.
Lu Zhenyu buried her face in his burning chest, her voice deathly still, "Only by living can you continue to love me."
So that's how it is.
Shen Jingsi smiled gently, lowered his head and kissed her forehead, "Okay, I will definitely live well."
Not long after, I heard steady breathing in my ear.
The fox's eyes slowly opened in the dim light, looking at the man's smiling lips in his sleep.
His eyes were swollen and dark, his cheeks were thin, and there were still scabs from the car accident on his collarbone.
Lu Zhenyu knew he was exhausted.
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