Chapter 212 I, Yan Tingnan, am not a pawn you can manipulate.
After listening to this long and twisted story, Yan Tingnan remained silent for a long time.
Only the faint sound of burning candles and Yan Hongyi's heavy breathing remained in the ancestral hall.
He finally spoke, his voice eerily calm.
"Are you done talking?"
Yan Hongyi was taken aback.
Yan Tingnan raised his eyes, his gaze so deep it seemed impenetrable.
"Your tragedy stems from your poor judgment of people and your stubbornness and suspicion."
"It's Yue's fault for betraying you."
"Your grandmother redeemed you; it was out of her kindness."
"But you impose A-Yue's sins on all the women you can't control, using your fear and narrow-mindedness to torment and control your offspring."
"What did my mother do wrong? She just loves my father."
"What did my father do wrong? He didn't want to be a tool for you to maintain your power through marriage!"
"What did Su Ruan do wrong again? She just loves me, and I love her too!"
He took a step forward, exuding an imposing aura.
"You're not doing this for my own good, you're doing it for yourself."
"You're afraid of losing control, afraid of admitting mistakes, afraid of facing the imperfect version of yourself that was once deceived!"
"So you've trapped yourself in the shadows of the past, dragging everyone else down with you in your suffering!"
Yan Tingnan's words were like daggers, striking Yan Hongyi's already crumbling defenses.
"The Yan family's legacy that you keep talking about has long been rotten to the core!"
"Because it's built on your twisted fears and desire for control!"
"I am not you."
"I will not punish myself for other people's mistakes, nor will I let the ghosts of the past extinguish the light of my present."
"Su Ruan, I'm going to take her."
"I don't want the Yan family anymore."
He took out his phone, and the screen lit up, displaying a countdown interface.
"Half an hour left."
Yan Tingnan looked at Yan Hongyi, whose expression had suddenly changed, and spoke in an icy tone.
"Half an hour later, all the original documents and records concerning the special handling of early military orders that you hid in your UBS safe in Switzerland will simultaneously appear in the email inboxes of seven international media outlets and financial regulatory agencies in five countries."
Yan Hongyi was stunned for a moment, then laughed in anger.
"Tingnan, you are still too young."
"You're talking to me about a countdown? When I was playing with guns, you weren't even born yet."
Yan Hongyi took a step forward, the candlelight stretching his hunched shadow into a distorted shape, casting it upon the somber memorial tablet with a blasphemous ferocity.
"You think I'd be afraid of you flipping the table if I dared to touch Su Ruan?"
He looked up, his eyes filled with a chilling glint in their murky depths.
"You win the bet, but I'm utterly disgraced."
"But can you afford to gamble with Su Ruan?"
"Su Ruan is located at the foot of Yunnan, just a step away from Myanmar."
A flash of bloodlust appeared in Yan Tingnan's eyes, and the pressure around him suddenly dropped.
Yan Hongyi watched his subtle reaction with satisfaction, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Half an hour?"
"Okay, go ahead and press send."
"The moment you press the button on your end, I'll make a phone call on my end, and she'll be immediately sent across the river to Myanmar to enjoy a good life."
He deliberately slowed his speech, enjoying the pleasure of slowly torturing the other person.
"Of course you can find her. President Yan has connections everywhere, I have no doubt about it."
"But how long will it take to find it? A day? Three days? Or half a month?"
"This period of time is enough for many stories to unfold."
"That's enough for the scorpions of Myanmar to thoroughly cleanse her from the inside out."
“There are plenty of ways in Myanmar to grind a piece of jade into dust.”
Yan Tingnan clenched his fists tightly at his sides, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.
Yan Hongyi's smile deepened as he watched him try his best to restrain himself, a twisted sense of pleasure in it.
"Do you think that when she comes back, she'll still be the same Su Ruan who cuddles and acts spoiled in your arms?"
"What would such a fair-skinned, beautiful, and eye-catching young girl experience in that lawless area?"
"By the time you find her, she will have been ruined, and her bones will be filled with filth."
“Psychological trauma is like a bone-deep infection; it will stay with her for the rest of her life.”
“I know you don’t care whether she’s clean or not, and you’ll still wholeheartedly cherish her and bring her back.”
"And what about her?"
"What if she has nightmares and sees those men's faces?"
"What if the moment you touch her, she's reminded of the days she spent wallowing in the mud because of you?"
Yan Hongyi's voice was filled with malice as he delivered the most fatal blow.
"Will she still let you touch her? In the middle of the night, when she wakes up screaming, is it you who pushes her away?"
"Ting Nan, destroying a person is never about taking their life."
"Instead, it destroys the light she depends on for survival, and her ability to love."
Are you sure she'll still choose you then?
Yan Hongyi straightened up, his face shrouded in shadow.
“Ting Nan, acting on your emotions is your biggest weakness.”
"You can't bear to see her get hurt in the slightest."
"So, you're doomed to lose."
The ancestral hall was deathly silent, with only the crackling of the burning candlelight.
Yan Tingnan stood still, the candlelight flickering in his unfathomable pupils.
He looked up, his voice thin and cold.
"So, you're not planning to release them."
It's not a question, it's a conclusion.
Yan Hongyi leaned on his cane, his cloudy eyes swirling with a triumphant sense of control and years of obsession.
"Release her? Sure."
"But the condition is that you can never be with her again."
"Either you preserve her intact, and you never see each other again in this life."
"Either you get a broken heart and body, and you torment each other until love turns into hatred."
"Choose one of the two."
Yan Hongyi squinted, enjoying the prelude to his prey bowing its head.
Seeing Yan Tingnan remain silent, he knew that the stakes had been placed, so he waved his hand towards the shadows.
Mu Chuji walked in timidly, her head down, dressed in a plain dress, carrying a bowl of darker-colored medicine, her steps hesitant.
Yan Tingnan glanced at her, his eyes expressionless.
"Drink it, then go upstairs and be with her. I'll have someone livestream the whole thing to Su Ruan."
"This completely extinguishes Su Ruan's hopes and cuts off your escape route."
Mu Chuji handed the medicine bowl to Yan Tingnan, not daring to look at him.
Yan Tingnan lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on the bowl of soup. After a long while, she suddenly chuckled softly.
He reached out and took the bowl that Mu Chuji handed him.
A hint of smugness flashed across Yan Hongyi's eyes.
However, in the next instant...
Clang—!
A crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out!
Yan Tingnan slammed the porcelain bowl to the ground, splashing soup everywhere and sending shards flying!
"Yan Tingnan!"
Yan Hongyi roared angrily.
"Grandpa, your illness is more serious than I thought."
He spoke each word slowly and deliberately, his voice as cold as iron.
"I've said it before, I, Yan Tingnan, am not a pawn you can manipulate."
He turned his gaze to Mu Chuji, who was frozen in shock, and his tone suddenly changed.
"Assistant Mu, shall we continue this charade?"
Yan Hongyi's expression changed drastically, and he looked sharply at Mu Chuji.
"you!"
Mu Chuji shrank back slightly under his murderous gaze.
Instead of backing down, she took a deep breath and quickly walked to stand beside Yan Tingnan.
This action says it all.
"There's no need to look at her."
Yan Tingnan spoke calmly, cutting off Yan Hongyi's surprised and uncertain gaze.
"She turned to the light much faster than you think."
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