"Shen Jinci can’t possibly be outwitted by those incompetent people of the Shen Family," Li Sihe said, his expression numb, his fingertips pressing against each other until they turned pale, "He is too cunning, probably turning their sches against them."
Li Tingmo sneered at Li Sihe, "It seems burning for a few days didn’t fry your brains."
It was late at night at the Shen Family Mansion Ancestral Hall, where Shen Shiniang knelt prostrate on the ground, his entire body trembling incessantly.
"Jinci, the news in the newspaper has nothing to do with ! At my age, why would I take such a great risk to plot against you? What good would it do ?"
"It indeed does you no good, which is why I’m also curious if you’re tired of living since you drugged ," Shen Jinci said, his voice emotionless.
A chilling wind swept through the ancestral hall, bringing with it rain that intensified the sense of dread.
Shen Jinci stood with his back to Shen Shiniang. As he turned around, looking down at the panic-stricken man without a trace of pity, his indifference was to the extre.
"You... you have no evidence, how can you say I drugged you?" Shen Shiniang, filled with nerves, struggled to maintain a calm facade, "Jinci, after all, I am your uncle, why would I harm you! This newspaper, it has nothing to do with ! Do you have any evidence?"
Shen Jinci’s expression beca even colder as he replied, "The strategies that co out of your brain, I don’t need evidence to guess them."
Seems there is none.
Shen Shiniang breathed a sigh of relief and was even more determined not to admit anything.
He asserted strongly, with conviction, "I didn’t do anything! You can’t wrong , it would dampen the spirits of the Group’s veterans."
Shen Jinci couldn’t be bothered to engage in pointless talk.
"I rember you get seasick, so I bought you a cruise ticket - seven days and nights of luxury, heading straight for Singapore," Shen Jinci said indifferently, "Think carefully on the ship about whether you did anything, and write to once you’ve thought it through. If you still can’t figure it out after seven days, then there’s no need to co back."
Shen Shiniang truly thought there was a problem with his hearing.
He stared at Shen Jinci in disbelief, standing up in anger, "Shen Jinci! It’s you who’s driving people to a dead end, don’t bla others for fighting back! You want to get rid of now, but your father always respected when he was alive!"
"He’s been dead for so many years now, and you still rember?" Shen Jinci sneered, his face covered in frost, "I’m not him, those who don’t obey, don’t need to stay."
"I’ll die, and so will you! You’ve been poisoned! The person I had following you saw you vomiting blood!"
Shen Shiniang was so angered that his face trembled, "Even if you drive away! In a few years, I can still co back! By that ti, your bones will be cold!"
Shen Jinci turned to Kang Yu who was standing by his side. Kang Yu caught on with a look and signaled the suited bodyguard to take Shen Shiniang away.
Shen Shiniang was still cursing as he was being dragged out.
Kang Yu asked in confusion, "Mr. Shen, are you just going to let him go like this?"
These past few days, the headlines reported astronomical losses in market value for Lixing Group.
According to Mr. Shen’s character, Shen Shiniang should have t with an untily death no matter what.
Exiling him instead was indeed a rciful act.
Shen Jinci picked up an orange from the offerings on the ancestral hall table.
He peeled the orange ticulously, his voice casual, "He has, after all, done a big favor. Let’s spare his life."
Kang Yu was shocked as he looked at Shen Jinci, but seeing signs that the latter might lift his gaze, he quickly lowered his eyes, respectfully saying, "Mr. Shen has beco more lenient toward his subordinates since returning to the country."
"After all, I’m getting married tomorrow, and I don’t want to stir up any bad luck," Shen Jinci held the peeled orange in his hand, finished speaking, and walked away.
Kang Yu felt as if he had misheard.
Tomorrow?
Who?
Who is getting married tomorrow?
Kang Yu stood frozen in place, stringing the whole incident together. A thought surfaced in his mind—could it be that Mr. Shen orchestrated a plot to marry by exploiting Shen Shiniang?
But what kind of marriage required the evaporation of astronomical market value as its price?
Bian Yue slept well that night, and when she woke up, it was a rare sunny day.
Day after day, Xiangjiang had been shrouded in continuous rain, yet finally, there was a day of clear skies.
Bian Yue had breakfast in the hall and only after finishing did she realize sothing. She asked the amiable butler where Shen Jinci was.
The butler said that the master was outside on the phone, dealing with so issues that had arisen with Lixing the night before, and had just handled them.
Bian Yue felt a surge of sympathy.
—It mustn’t be easy, dealing with such stress while ill.
When Bian Yue found Shen Jinci, he had finished his call and was sitting in a pavilion next to a rockery in the courtyard.
The man’s posture was aloof and quiet, his back turned to Bian Yue. The red plastic case of the lighter under his fingertips clicked lightly, the fla outlining his profile as it ignited the cigarette at the corner of his mouth.
The lighter was carelessly placed on the table. Perhaps it was visual inertia, or perhaps because the object looked so cheap that it simply didn’t match Shen Jinci’s refined deanor.
In any case, Bian Yue walked up and curiously picked it up to play with it.
A red hard-case lighter, a common variety found at newsstands. Considered vulgar by discerning n, utterly ordinary.
But for so reason... it looked sowhat familiar?
"Your lighter..." Bian Yue hesitated before continuing, "is quite unique."
Shen Jinci finally looked up at Bian Yue.
Through the light mist of smoke, the man’s expression was blurred, and Bian Yue only heard his lazy tone, faintly amused: "You really have a bad mory."
Bian Yue clutched the lighter, completely bewildered. "Huh?"
Shen Jinci snuffed out the cigarette and said, "You gave this lighter, Bian Yue, do you really not rember at all?"
On her honor, Bian Yue couldn’t rember a thing, and she certainly wasn’t feigning ignorance.
She asked earnestly, "When did this happen? Why would I give you such... a populist gift?"
What Bian Yue really ant was, after all, I’m supposed to be dating you, giving you this is sowhat unbecoming.
But Shen Jinci said, "It’s nice; I like it a lot."
He took the lighter from Bian Yue’s hands and tucked it into his suit pocket, made of fine fabric.
He said, "Let’s go. We’re going to get our marriage certificate."
He made getting married sound as simple as having a al.
Bian Yue subconsciously touched her hair. Marriage was a significant life event that ideally occurred only once. She couldn’t help feeling nervous and asked, "Should I put on so makeup again?"
Shen Jinci naturally took her wrist, his voice even, making it hard to refuse. "No need, you look beautiful just the way you are."
Still, Bian Yue brought her makeup with her in the car.
The little princess strove for perfection in everything. She busied herself with makeup the whole ride and was so focused that she didn’t notice Shen Jinci was watching her all the while.
Shen Jinci, looking at Bian Yue before him, unaccountably recalled Xiangjiang International Airport, the delayed flight, and the young girl sitting in the deserted parking lot in front of the airport, carefully applying her lipstick like this.
Only back then, the person she was waiting for wasn’t him.
His gaze was so intense that Bian Yue finally noticed. Curiously, she looked at him and asked, "Shen Jinci, what are you looking at? Is my makeup ugly?"
Shen Jinci’s lips curved gently, his ring finger without a band stroked over Bian Yue’s hair. He smiled and said, "You look beautiful, and you’ll look beautiful on our marriage certificate, too."
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