Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Bang! A bullet passed through one of the underling’s bodies.
The underling collapsed in a heap on the ground.
An overwhelming smell of blood overtook the place, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive. The other underling turned around and all he saw was Tang Chenyi holding a gun, glaring at him with a dangerously cold gaze. Tang Chenyi didn’t even bat an eyelid and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The two shots resounded in Lu Jinwen’s ears and his cigarette fell onto the ground. He suddenly felt lightheaded and knelt on his knee.
His nose started to bleed, two streams of blood dripped down and he started feeling dizzy.
Butler Ye panicked. “Sir, are you alright?”
Lu Jinwen’s vision slowly turned blurry, he shook his head around and lifted his eyes to look at Lin Xuanji.
Lin Xuanji had already gotten up from the ground, she stood beside Tang Chenyi and a red wool cloak was draped over her shoulders. She had a poker face on.
She just stood there, watching him fall on one knee. Her tone was impassive as she said, “I poisoned you.”
“Madam Xuanji, what poison did you give to Sir?”
Lin Xuanji smiled and looked right into Lu Jinwen’s eyes. “How could I pin all of my hopes on Lin Xuanyin? You know that I wanted to escape and just pretended to not know about it. You wanted to see how far I could escape and so I just beat you at your own game.
“It was incredibly easy to poison you, I didn’t have to do much. The poison is in my body, you were poisoned when you raped me earlier.”
Lu Jinwen’s eyes were completely bloodshot and gleamed with astuteness. He had already figured it out, she had an entire setup that was carefully planned.
To think she had used her own body as bait, so that she could poison him.
Great, this woman was still as intelligent as she used to be many years ago. She had won this game.
Lu Jinwen supported himself up with one hand and walked over to her.
Bang.
A bullet passed through his right leg.
Bam.
Lu Jinwen fell onto one knee again.
“Sir!” Butler Ye screamed out loud. He lifted his eyes, only to see Tang Chenyi aiming a gun barrel at Lu Jinwen without any expression on his face.
“Lu Jinwen,” Lin Xuanji gave the man on the ground a condescending sneer, “This lifetime of mine isn’t smooth sailing, my children have also been implicated though they have done nothing wrong. They’ve never received any form of motherly love from me. I’m not Mother Teresa, in fact, I’m rather vengeful. I’ll make sure to take revenge on those who have hurt me. But I currently do not have the ability to take revenge and so I can only leave for now. When I do have the capability to do it, I will make sure that you have to pay twice the price of your crimes when the day comes!
“Lu Jinwen, I know that I’m not your match and so you have to remember this, don’t ever invest real feelings in me. If you really do fall in love with me and I’m your only weakness on earth, I’ll make sure to take advantage of that fact and hurt you in the worst way possible. Take this as your warning.”
“Madam Xuanji, what kind of poison did you give to Sir? You have to give us the antidote.” Butler Ye blurted out in a panic.
“Someone will send the antidote over only after we manage to leave safely.” Lin Xuanji then looked at Tang Chenyi. “Chenyi, let’s go.”
Tang Chenyi looked at Lin Xuanji and muttered, “Sister… Sister…”
Lin Xuanji shook her head. “We’re not able to bring Mo’er with us. Her partner, her baby, her entire family is here. It’s not the best time for her to leave with us, but we’ll be back for her soon. I promise.”
She hadn’t fulfilled the responsibilities of a mother. She wasn’t like Lu Jinwen, Lu Jinwen’s mind was preoccupied with romance and lust, but she only wanted to focus on one thing for the rest of her life. She wanted to be a good mother.
Her Mo’er, her Chenyi. They belonged to her and only her.
Tang Chenyi stopped talking, he just held Lin Xuanji’s hand and took a few steps backwards.
Lu Jinwen had gotten up from the ground, though his right leg was still bleeding, he still staggered to move towards Lin Xuanji. His lips moved, he seemed to be saying something, but no one could hear his words.
Bang! Tang Chenyi fired another shot.
Lu Jinwen fell onto the ground again.
His chiseled features were covered with sweat. He seemed menacing, the veins on his forehead were twitching and he tried to support himself up again.
Bang! Tang Chenyi fired another shot.
Butler Ye could only watch as Tang Chenyi fired three shots at Lu Jinwen. This 18 year old was truly ruthless.
Lu Jinwen suffered two shots, blood streamed down both of his legs but he continued to struggle. He wanted to stand up.
And he did.
He continued to stagger towards Lin Xuanji.
Tang Chenyi raised his arm, aiming the gun barrel at Lu Jinwen’s chest.
“Sir!” Butler Ye shouted.
With every step that Lu Jinwen took, the blood dropped on the ground too. A bloody trail was behind him and he disregarded the gun in Tang Chenyi’s hand. All that was on his mind was that he was getting closer to Lin Xuanji’s face, he was getting closer to her. He was about to get hold of her.
She was so close.
But his vision darkened, and he collapsed on the ground again.
He placed his hand on his knee, trying to support himself up but he failed. Even after multiple tries, he still wasn’t able to get up.
His eyes were fixated on that alluring face in front of him. Her face was slowly turning blurry in his vision. “Don’t leave…”
Don’t leave.
Lin Xuanji heard his words this time.
Tang Chenyi aimed the barrel on Lu Jinwen’s heart, preparing to fire the last shot.
But a hand reached over and held onto his gun, Lin Xuanji sounded sorrowful. “Chenyi, don’t kill him. I’ve told you, he is your father.”
She had already told Tang Chenyi the secret the moment she regained her consciousness.
Lu Jinwen wasn’t fit to learn about that secret, he had to be kept in the dark for the rest of his life. Everyone had assumed that she was callous but that wasn’t the truth. She was held captive by him back then and she didn’t have the ability to protect Chenyi. Her firstborn, Mo’er was almost sent to Lin Xuanyin, Mo’er almost had to call Lin Xuanyin Mommy. She suffered a miscarriage during her second pregnancy all because of Lin Xuanyin. What would happen to her third child, Tang Chenyi?
There were many people eying her, they would never wish for Lu Jinwen’s son to be delivered safely.
No one knew about her circumstances back then. The struggles, agony and despair she had to go through by herself.
She had no one by her side, not even one person to talk to.
Her love for Lu Jinwen had already dissipated the moment she lost her second child, the moment he gave her that slap on the face. But she had no other way to leave, she had to tolerate that man named Lu Jinwen. All she could do was to try to make him happy, just so she could breathe, so she could survive. So she could live.
Her Mo’er, her Chenyi, they had gone through so much hardships all their lives, but as a mother, she just couldn’t do anything to help them.
She was a failure.
She had shouldered all the agony and fallen unconscious, she wasn’t willing to get out of her dreamland. She bore all the guilt and pain that was left from her son.
Lu Jinwen wasn’t fit to know about that secret, but Chenyi had the right to know.
Chenyi had the right to know about his biological father’s identity. And so, she told Chenyi the secret right after she regained consciousness.
But she could tell from Chenyi’s cold eyes, he had no love for his father.
Just now, he was really going to kill Lu Jinwen, when he aimed the barrel at him.
Lin Xuanji knew that their relationship as father and son was long over, or rather, it had never begun. But after all, Tang Chenyi still resembled his father, in terms of his personality.
Bam! Lu Jinwen fell onto the ground again.
Lin Xuanji didn’t give Lu Jinwen a second glance. It had already been so many years, too much time had passed, with all those years wasted and gone forever. Whatever feelings, be it love or hate, it should all dissipate just like the clouds and the smoke. She just couldn’t bother with him anymore.
“Chenyi, let’s go.”
Lin Xuanji held Tang Chenyi’s hand and they left together.
The two figures were walking away from him. Lu Jinwen pinned them with his gaze, he continued watching them from the back and the red wool cloak she was wearing seemed exactly like the one she wore in the temple many years back. She had been so charming.
And now, she had left so decisively.
“Don’t leave…”
Don’t leave.
He would never allow her to leave again.
He had spent so much time, so many years before he finally found her and brought her back.
Ten years, twenty years… time passed so quickly. He was almost half a century old, he would never be able to afford to have any more time to wait for her and search for her.
Don’t leave.
Lu Jinwen’s lips were still moving, Butler Ye crouched down to listen to his words. All he heard was Lu Jinwen murmuring pitifully, “Sorry… sorry…”
He said sorry.
…
Lin Xuanji had brought Tang Chenyi with her and disappeared. No one knew their whereabouts, they seemed to have disappeared from the surface of earth, even Jun Mosheng and Tang Mo’er were unaware of their location.
Jun Mosheng wanted to bring Tang Mo’er back with him to Country Z, but she rejected him. When Jun Mosheng stood at the pier and prepared to leave, he looked at the calm waters and said, “It’s been so many years, but I still haven’t chased up with her.”
No matter her love-hate relationship with Lu Jinwen, he could never enter their wold after all.
Time passed quickly, four months later, Tang Mo’er was already seven months pregnant.
She never once tried to find out about Lu Jinwen’s current state. It was said that Lu Jinwen had returned to the Capital and with Lin Xuanji’s disappearance, the Lu family seemed to have taken a huge blow again. Be it Lu Jinwen, Lin Xuanji, or even the Lu family, they were no longer in the public eye. They had gradually faded out.
The Lu family’s villa seemed to be cold and lifeless when compared to before. There wasn’t much light entering the place and it was just like living hell there.
An’an was admitted to the hospital and started on chemotherapy once she was came back from Miaojiang. The chemotherapy wasn’t working as well as expected and her condition continued to worsen. She had to enter the operation theater for another emergency surgery.
Though her life was saved, the doctors had asked them to prepared for the worst. Gu Mohan and the entire team of doctors had frequent meetings to find alternative solutions but there was just no other away about it.
One day, Tang Mo’er had boiled some soup and put it in a thermal flask. She brought it to the hospital and once she stepped into the ward, she noticed that An’an wasn’t in her bed. She was standing in front of the windows instead.
An’an wore a striped hospital gown and even the smallest size seemed too loose for her. She had lost a lot of weight over time.
She lifted her head, looking at the world outside. Her face was pale and tiny veins were visible under her delicate skin. As she lifted her head and stared at the clouds outside, she appeared to be thinking of something.
Or someone.
