Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After dinner, Lin Shuang proceeded to head upstairs while sending a message to Yun Ling. [Help me run a check on someone.]
Yun Ling replied pretty quickly. [Who?]
Lin Shuang’s fingers flew over the keyboard on her screen. [I heard that the Deiss family lost their youngest daughter in the past. She’s around 50 now and has a son who’s about my age. I want information on the son.]
There was a few seconds of silence on Yun Ling’s end before he replied, [Don’t tell me that the son is your fiancé?]
[Congratulations, you got it correct, but there’s no reward for you.]
Yun Ling sent a voice message over. “You sure are something! You haven’t even met the person, yet you agreed to the marriage.” I didn’t think I’d see an arranged marriage in the 21st century!
Lin Shuang put on her headphones as she typed, [Cut the crap. My dad’s intelligence department couldn’t find anything on him. Hurry up and look into it, but don’t send me any information if the son turns out to be ugly as f*ck. I’ll run away tomorrow.]
Even if it was just a paper marriage, she wanted to find a presentable man.
Yun Ling sent another voice message. “Speaking of which, the airport was in chaos again yesterday. It was worse than the first time around. What have you done to He Yidu?”
[Slept with him and ran away.]
On the other side, Yun Ling froze. He thought that it was already ridiculous enough that Lin Shuang didn’t even know who her fiancé was and how he looked, but it turned out that there was something else that was even more over the top.
[Send me the information asap.] After sending this message, Lin Shuang put her phone away and headed upstairs.
“Sis.” Sasha suddenly ran after Lin Shuang, who ignored her and continued walking ahead. However, she quickly overtook the latter and turned around to block the latter’s path. “Sis, I’d like to talk with you.”
Lin Shuang looked up insipidly. “But I have nothing to say to you.”
“Sis, don’t you think that your attitude towards Dad is too much?” said Sasha with a smile.
Lin Shuang scoffed. “When did you have the right to come meddling in my affairs? Your hands are pretty long, huh?”
“I know that Dad and Mom are responsible for your mother’s miscarriage, but isn’t your mother responsible for it as well?”
Lin Shuang narrowed her eyes. “Don’t make me slap you.”
Sasha stared at Lin Shuang with her hazel eyes. “I underwent the training that Dad arranged for me, but you didn’t. Are you sure you can win a fight against me?”
“Try me.” Lin Shuang smirked.
Sasha took a step backward. “I’m not that stupid; hitting you won’t do me any good, especially since Dad is biased towards you.”
Lin Shuang crossed her arms in front of her chest. While she was indeed no match for Gu Mang, Lu Chengzhou, and the others, her combat skills weren’t considered too bad across the entire international community.
“Matching backgrounds aren’t the only thing required in a marriage; abilities are needed, too.” Sasha then added, “My Mom can help Dad out with his work, but what can your mother do? She’s just a flower vase.”
Lin Shuang narrowed her eyes.
‘Dear, don’t bother about the intelligence bureau’s matters anymore. Just stay at home, take care of Xixi, and take her out to attend dinner parties. Leave those matters to me. I’ll protect you two well. Once our son is born, we father and son will protect you mother and daughter.’
Certain words, when recalled, just sounded so clear in one’s mind. The anger and hatred that Lin Shuang had been suppressing surged just like that. What can my mother do? Wasn’t it him who asked my mother to stay at home and look after the children? How did it become my mother’s fault in the end?
Seeing how Lin Shuang wasn’t saying anything, Sasha continued, “Sis, the Deiss family has very high expectations when it comes to choosing their spouses.”
Lin Shuang didn’t respond to her.
“I know four languages and have graduated from Imperial College with a double Ph.D. degree in computing and political studies. I’m the esteemed princess of Country D and…” Sasha took half a step closer toward Lin Shuang. “I’m also the Technical Director who will eventually take over the intelligence bureau.”
Lin Shuang smirked as she stood in place. The intelligence bureau? That lousy thing which had its security system hacked by me when I was 16?
“What about you? Do you have anything else to show off other than your identity as a princess?” Sasha let out a derisive laugh. Lin Shuang has never received any form of training, and I heard that she’s been freely squandering away Dad’s money and paying the bill wherever she goes in a bid to get back at him. She’s just a typical rich kid who hasn’t worked a day in her life. A wastrel, I call it.
The more Sasha said, the more superior she felt. “Surely you don’t want to follow in your mother’s footsteps, do you? Without any power, you’ll slowly lose your worth and get betrayed. Who knows? You might end up getting sent to Nata Nursing Home and placed under house arrest for the rest of your life as well.”
There wasn’t any change in Lin Shuang’s expression throughout. In fact, she broke into a smile and leaned against the railing behind her as she regarded the other in a lazy and nonchalant manner. “What, you want me to give up the arranged marriage to you?”
“Of course you should. I’m more suitable to marry into the Deiss family after all. Dad has always allowed you to do whatever you want. Shouldn’t you repay him now by making sure that he has no monetary worries?”
Lin Shuang chuckled. “Any idea of why I agreed to the marriage?”
Sasha shook her head.
“Because…” Lin Shuang paused. “You want to marry into the Deiss family, and I don’t want to let you have your way. Doesn’t it sound infuriating?”
Sasha pursed her lips.
“No matter how useless my mother may be, she has the support of her family at least. What about your mother? She’s just a mistress with no background. It must feel terrible hearing others gossiping about you, right?” Lin Shuang cocked an eyebrow,
Sasha had lived in the mercy of others all these years. No matter how outstanding she might be, the real bluebloods still looked down at her because she was the daughter of a mistress.
“You want to marry into the Deiss family so that there’ll be people backing you and your mother?” Lin Shuang gave her an overall glance. “Isn’t there any mirror in the President’s House?”
“You!” Sasha completely dropped her facade.
“The tides have turned. My mother has gone crazy, while my younger brother died prematurely. What makes you think you and your mother have the right to get what you want?” Lin Shuang looked at her. First, they stole my mother’s husband, and now, they’re dreaming of stealing my fiancé. Well, they can happily dream on.
After saying that, Lin Shuang let out a laugh and bumped Sasha’s shoulder away as she headed upstairs.
…
Lin Shuang’s room was cleaned every day. Even when she wasn’t staying there, the household items would be changed regularly.
After coming out of the shower, she turned on her laptop, logged into a game, and saw Gu Si online for once. She poured herself a cup of water and then went back to take a seat in front of her computer.
It appeared that Gu Si had finished playing a round of a game as he had sent her a message. [Sis Lin! I haven’t seen you online in a long time!]
Lin Shuang hadn’t been in the mood to play games as she had been preoccupied thinking about the matter with He Yidu lately. As she took a sip of water, she typed with one hand, [You still have the time to play games?]
Gu Si currently had a jam-packed training schedule, and the people from the Elders’ Association would monitor him all day. Gu Mang had gotten Black Eagle to help Gu Si out, and from what she heard, the Elders’ Association was always threatening to tell Gu Mang about Gu Si’s behavior if he refused to cooperate. This method always worked, so Gu Si was very obedient there.
[Gu Si: Sigh… You can’t always do as you like.]
Lin Shuang laughed.
[Lin Shuang: Stop playing games. Kids won’t grow tall if they stay up at night.}
[Gu Si: What the?! For real?! (horrified)]
[Lin Shuang: Yes.]
[Gu Si: I only heard that girls will have small breasts if they stay up late. How come we won’t be able to grow taller too?]
[Lin Shuang: …Where did you hear that from?]
Who’s been saying such things to the boy?
[Gu Si: I heard the people from the secretarial department talking about it.]
[Lin Shuang: …]
[Gu Si: Sis Lin, that’s it for now. I have to go to bed. If you happen to be free recently, help me carry a friend when you’re playing games.]
Lin Shuang raised her eyebrows.
[Lin Shuang: Sure, get him to add me.]
Gu Si soon sent her a game ID.
She nearly choked on her water when she saw the name Tangtang.
[Lin Shuang: Is that a girl?]
[Gu Si: Yes, she’s only five years old. Don’t worry though, she’s very obedient.]
[Lin Shuang: …]
[Gu Si: I’m going to bed! Bye!]
Lin Shuang felt as if she had make a huge discovery. Has spring come? Even Gu Si is in love.
She then played a game with Tangtang, who turned out to be as obedient as Gu Si said. The girl wasn’t chatty and would do everything she said. When the girl got a star, she went offline after saying thank you to her.
Lin Shuang raised her eyebrows as she contemplated on whether or not she should tell Gu Mang about this. But just then, an invitation to a video call appeared at the bottom right corner of her laptop’s screen.
The caller was Yun Ling.
Lin Shuang lit a cigarette. “Found anything?”
Yun Ling appeared to be somewhat embarrassed as he said, “I think we have another unsolved mystery in Shadow League.”
Lin Shuang fell silent. “Surely the Deiss family isn’t so powerful that they can avoid Shadow League’s detection and totally wipe out their personal information?”
“It wasn’t done by the Deiss family. It was done by your fiancé or his family. Quite impressive, I’d say.”
Although Shadow League struck fear in many people’s hearts, there was always someone better than them out there. It was unavoidable that there were more powerful and hidden families that even the Shadow League couldn’t trace.
Take Red Flame for example. Although they were evenly matched with Red Flame, there was a lot of information within Red Flame that they couldn’t get access to. Arctic Fox had also never revealed much, other than occasionally sharing certain information so that they could avoid some embarrassing situations.
“Never mind, there’s still time for me to run away if I don’t like his looks when I meet him.”
Yun Ling was speechless.
After ending the video call, Lin Shuang was just about to start another round of the game when she suddenly recalled what Gu Si said about breasts becoming smaller if girls stayed up at night.
She tugged at the neckline of her pajamas with her finger and looked down. Her chest was covered with scratches and bruises—compliments of He Yidu—which looked worse after a night instead of getting better. As she looked up again, she sighed. “Virgins sure are scary.”
She then closed her laptop and went to bed.
