Inside the villa.
On the first floor.
"Sir, Miss, the soup is still heating up. It will take a little while longer."
Nanny Wang held a pair of chopsticks in her hand. From the kitchen came the bubbling sound of a simmering clay pot and the sizzling of sausages frying in oil. The chopsticks in Nanny Wang's hand were being used precisely to flip those sausages.
She felt like she was on the verge of success.
After her persistent efforts and constant feeding, Da Huang was finally willing to look her in the eye. Although it still had an aloof attitude, she was definitely heading in the right direction!
This was a good thing!
Keep it up!
Lin Tianxiong had just sat down when he seemed to remember something. "Nanny Wang, call Da Huang out to eat with us. It's so late now, you should come and eat with us too."
"Thank you, Sir, but I've already eaten. At my age, I can't eat too much at night. I appreciate your kindness..." Nanny Wang said with a smile.
Seeing this, Lin Tianxiong didn't force the issue. Everyone had their own considerations. Perhaps his presence would just make her feel constrained.
That was fine too; he could enjoy some rare father-daughter time.
Lin Baizhi furrowed her delicate brows. "Da Huang? What Da Huang?"
Was it the Da Huang she was thinking of?
How did it end up in her house?
"Woof!" A robust bark came from the kitchen. Da Huang, its mouth covered in grease from eating, dashed out of the kitchen, aiming straight for Lin Baizhi.
Lin Tianxiong's heart skipped a beat. Reacting swiftly, he stood up and threw himself onto Da Huang, barely managing to hug the dog. "Da Huang, do me a favor and let this go."
"Woof woof woof!!!" Da Huang bared its teeth, glaring fiercely at Lin Baizhi, who stood not far away.
Clearly, it still remembered being grabbed by Lin Baizhi earlier. She had already been labeled a bad woman by Da Huang.
It was determined to take a bite out of her no matter what!
Nanny Wang ran out of the kitchen, still holding a sausage, looking terrified. Everything was perfectly fine just a moment ago, why had Da Huang suddenly gone mad?
She rushed out, only to see her employer hugging Da Huang. One man and one dog were wrestling on the floor, with her employer muttering something about doing him a favor.
Nanny Wang: "..."
Lin Baizhi: "..."
In the end, Lin Tianxiong successfully bribed Da Huang with ten packets of crispy noodles, ten packets of spicy strips, a large bottle of iced tea, and two barbecue meals. A temporary truce was reached.
However, anyone could see that Da Huang was looking down on Lin Baizhi with immense disdain, as if to say: If it weren't for this meal... this wouldn't be over!
Lin Baizhi: "..."
Her plan had completely backfired. She was supposed to build a good relationship with it, but now she was utterly despised.
Lin Baizhi's resentment +1 +1 +1...
Her relationship with Da Huang was even worse than Da Huang's relationship with her dad!
As the father and daughter ate, Da Huang ate too. It had soup and bones. One person... oh wait, one dog, one basin, and a huge bowl of sausages, eating voraciously!
Not a single bite of food that contributed to the fat on its body was innocent!
Lin Tianxiong seemed to notice that his daughter was unhappy and feeling down. He took the initiative to say, "Sweetheart, Da Huang doesn't hold grudges. It will be fine after a while. You could also take it out to eat more often."
"Mhm," Lin Baizhi nodded, still unable to cheer up.
Lin Tianxiong deliberately changed the subject, or rather, steered it back to a topic his daughter would be interested in.
"Sweetheart, did you know that after I brought you back home back then, I actually went to see Xiao Cheng in private?"
Lin Baizhi nodded. "Yes, I know."
Lin Tianxiong: "???"
"You know?" Lin Tianxiong's eyes widened in shock. That couldn't be; he had never revealed this matter to anyone.
"I guessed it," Lin Baizhi offered to clear up her father's confusion.
Lin Tianxiong froze for a moment, then felt relieved. He smiled and said, "That's true. You are so smart, you should have been able to figure it out... Sweetheart, do you blame me for doing that back then?"
"Yeah, sometimes I wanted to stab you to death," Lin Baizhi nodded.
Lin Tianxiong: "???"
Lin Tianxiong looked horrified, his old face turning pale. Pfft, Lin Baizhi burst out laughing, though her tone carried a hint of resentment.
"Who told you to be so cruel to me back then..." Her previous words were just a joke. She knew her father's situation hadn't been very good at the time, and she was his only solace and hope.
Her father had nothing left but her.
Lin Tianxiong's mood sank. "I'm sorry, Baizhi. I've made you do so many painful things over the years..."
"Not at all, those things were quite simple." Lin Baizhi's tone was light. She swung her pale legs, her white nightgown highlighting a unique beauty about the young woman.
"When I said you were cruel, I meant why did you have to separate me from him? I lived in torment every single day. Life without him was so painful for me, truly painful, Dad..."
Lin Baizhi's voice trembled as she seemingly recalled the past.
The things she had to learn to take over the company were only slightly difficult for her. Once she understood them, it was no big deal. What truly caused her pain over the years was the matter concerning Ye Cheng.
She used to be a very independent person. It was only after meeting Ye Cheng that she became dependent. Ye Cheng had a way of handling everything perfectly, so she never needed to worry excessively.
In Lin Baizhi's heart, Ye Cheng was omnipotent, far more outstanding than anyone his age. If she could... she wanted to tie Ye Cheng up and keep him at home every day, where only she could look at him, touch him, and...
But that was impossible. She couldn't control her brother.
Her brother was as dazzling as the sun, while she was a star at best, not even a moon... She didn't think anyone in this world could fully keep up with her brother's train of thought and ideas.
She didn't want to be the moon anyway, because the sun and the moon could never meet. She just wanted to be a satellite orbiting Ye Cheng, constantly revolving around her brother, round and round, until she burned out...
"Dad, I can't read him. My relationship with him is stuck. It's stuck at a critical bottleneck, and I can't push it forward anymore. What should I do?"
Lin Baizhi suddenly spoke, her tone filled with confusion.
Lin Tianxiong remained silent for a moment.
"Sweetheart, do you know how I've felt interacting with Ye Cheng all these years?"
Confusion appeared in Lin Baizhi's eyes, and she instinctively replied, "He's very capable, omnipotent."
"Yes, very capable, extremely capable, and... his way of thinking is different from ordinary people. After I took you away, I met with him alone. I offered him money and other forms of help... but he refused them all."
"His greedy and street-smart demeanor can be somewhat annoying, but those all seem to be just a facade. Five million, an ordinary person wouldn't see that much money in a lifetime, yet he didn't even blink an eye. How old was he back then?"
Lin Tianxiong's tone was full of emotion and shock. Even after all these years, the memory was still vivid in his mind.
He had never met another young man as outstanding as him. No other brilliant youth could ever catch his eye again; there was always that one person standing tall in his mind.
"For all these years, I could never figure out what he was actually trying to do or what he truly wanted. It was only recently that I finally grasped a few key clues!" A sharp gleam flashed across Lin Tianxiong's eyes.
It was the intuition of a formidable mastermind!
He had discovered things that no one else could possibly see!
Lin Baizhi grew frantic with excitement. "Dad, tell me quickly! Stop reminiscing and just tell me!!!"
She was so anxious she was practically ready to shake the answers out of him. She wanted it too badly; she dreamed of making her brother hers!!!
Lin Tianxiong was speechless. "..."
My dear daughter, you are a young lady, at least try to show a little restraint...
Seeing this, Lin Tianxiong stopped keeping her in suspense. He told his daughter everything he knew, everything he had deduced, and every little detail he had caught onto!
"Over the years, he has worked under the table, repaired cell phones, worked as a private tutor, and even acted as a human forklift at a logistics company..."
Lin Tianxiong sighed deeply.
"Do you know, my daughter? I only just realized it. What he wants isn't money, nor is it a stable job. What he wants is..."
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
