Lin Ruobing's Birthday

Six o'clock in the evening.

The sky grew dark.

The Lin family mansion.

Lin Tian stood alone in the kitchen.

His apron was tied neatly, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

All four burners on the stove were on.

Braised pork ribs bubbled in the clay pot.

The steamed sea bass had just been put on, filling the air with steam.

The broccoli was blanched, arranged on a plate, and drizzled with oyster sauce.

On the last burner simmered a pot of lotus root and pork rib soup.

Four dishes and one soup.

All of them were Lin Ruobing's favorites.

Today was Lin Ruobing's birthday.

For every birthday over the past three years, Lin Tian would personally cook a table full of food.

No outsiders invited, no cake ordered, no flashy extravagance.

Just quietly cooking a few of her favorite dishes and waiting for her to come home.

This was the only thing he could do as a husband.

It was also one of the few things he could do well.

Lin Tian plated the last dish and wiped his hands.

He walked into the living room and cleared the dining table.

He laid out a new tablecloth.

He set out two sets of bowls and chopsticks.

Opposite him, he placed a bouquet of flowers.

Not something ostentatious like roses.

It was a bouquet of white daisies.

Lin Ruobing had mentioned once before that daisies were her favorite when she was a child.

She only said it once.

Lin Tian remembered it for three years.

He placed the vase right in the middle of the table, took two steps back, and took a look.

Feeling it was slightly off-center, he stepped forward and adjusted it.

Done.

The food was ready.

The flowers were set.

The bowls and chopsticks were laid out.

The lights were dimmed to the softest warm yellow.

Everything was ready.

All that was left was for her to return.

Lin Tian sat down at the table.

He glanced at his phone.

Six forty-five.

Lin Ruobing usually got home around seven.

Fifteen minutes left.

He waited.

...

Seven o'clock.

Lin Ruobing did not come back.

Lin Tian checked his phone again.

No messages.

Normal.

Sometimes she worked late.

He continued to wait.

...

Seven thirty.

Still not back.

Lin Tian picked up his phone and sent Lin Ruobing a message.

"Honey, today is your birthday. I made your favorite food and I'm waiting for you at home."

Sent.

The message showed as delivered.

But not "read."

Lin Tian put down his phone.

The ribs had cooled a bit, so he got up, went to the kitchen, and reheated them.

He came back and continued sitting.

...

Eight o'clock.

The food on the table had been reheated twice.

The skin of the steamed sea bass had shriveled a little, no longer looking as good as when it first came out of the pot.

A thin layer of grease had congealed on the surface of the rib soup.

The daisies, however, were still fresh.

Flowers didn't know how tiring it was to wait for someone.

Lin Tian picked up his phone again.

The message was still unread.

He dialed her number.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

No answer.

Lin Tian put the phone down.

He glanced at the empty chair opposite him.

Empty.

Just like most nights over the past three years.

Empty.

He stood up and walked to the window.

The night had completely enveloped Jinling.

The streetlights outside cast a dim yellow glow.

No car headlights drove into the courtyard.

Lin Tian stood by the window for five minutes.

Then he took out another phone.

An encrypted phone.

He dialed Vermilion Bird's number.

"Where is Lin Ruobing right now?"

Vermilion Bird's voice rang out within a second.

"Your Majesty the Dragon King, Lin Ruobing left the company at four o'clock this afternoon and did not go home."

"Where did she go?"

Vermilion Bird fell silent for a moment.

"She went to the Shen family villa."

Lin Tian's fingers tightened.

"When did she arrive?"

"At five-twenty this afternoon. Our people have been watching from the perimeter. Her car entered the villa gates and hasn't come out since."

"Is she still inside?"

"Still inside."

It was eight o'clock.

She had been in Shen Fei's villa for nearly three hours.

On her birthday.

On the birthday when he had cooked a table full of food waiting for her to come home.

She was at another man's house.

For three hours.

Lin Tian's hand holding the phone slowly dropped.

He turned around and looked at the dining table.

Four dishes and one soup.

Two sets of bowls and chopsticks.

A bouquet of white daisies.

The warm yellow light illuminated everything warmly.

It looked like a happy home.

But the chair was empty.

The food was cold.

The person wasn't coming.

Lin Tian walked up to the dining table.

He reached out and picked up the bouquet of daisies.

The white petals were soft and fragile.

His fingers pinched a petal.

He gave it a gentle tug.

The petal fell off.

It drifted onto the tablecloth.

He plucked another one.

And another.

Piece by piece.

No sound.

No expression.

Only his fingers mechanically repeating the same motion.

Pluck.

Pluck.

Pluck.

Petals fell all over the table.

The white fragments scattered under the warm yellow light, like a silent snowfall.

When the last petal was plucked, Lin Tian was left holding only a bare stem.

He tossed the stem onto the table.

Picked up a pair of chopsticks.

Picked up a piece of completely cold rib.

Put it in his mouth.

Chewed.

Swallowed.

No taste.

It tasted like nothing at all.

Lin Tian put down the chopsticks.

Picked up his phone and took one last look at that unread message.

"Honey, today is your birthday. I made your favorite food and I'm waiting for you at home."

Unread.

Still unread.

She wasn't going to read it.

Because she was at Shen Fei's place.

Eating the food Shen Fei made.

Or Shen Fei had taken her to some high-end restaurant.

Or they were drinking red wine and chatting in Shen Fei's multi-hundred-million-dollar villa.

While he was here.

Sitting in front of a table full of cold food and torn petals.

Like a joke.

Lin Tian picked up the encrypted phone and dialed a number.

This time it wasn't Vermilion Bird.

It was the public channel for the Four Great Heavenly Kings.

The moment the call connected, four voices rang out simultaneously.

"Your Majesty the Dragon King!"

Lin Tian's voice was calm to the extreme.

Calmer than ever before.

So calm that it sent chills down the spines of the four gods of death at the same time.

"The plan is moved up."

The four of them tensed their bodies simultaneously.

"We are not waiting for two in the morning."

Lin Tian stood up and flipped the dining table in front of him!

Crash!

Bowls and plates shattered all over the floor!

The rib soup splashed across the floorboards!

The shredded daisy petals were soaked by the splattered broth and plastered against the wall!

Four dishes and one soup.

The first uneaten birthday banquet in three years.

Shattered.

Lin Tian walked out of the living room, stepping over the floor covered in broken porcelain and soup.

The crunch of the broken porcelain under his feet was piercingly harsh.

"Tonight at midnight."

"All personnel assemble."

"The target remains unchanged."

"The Shen family villa."

He walked into the basement and opened a hidden compartment.

Inside hung a neatly arranged all-black combat suit.

Military boots.

Bulletproof vest.

Tactical gloves.

A dagger for the waist.

Lin Tian put them on neatly, piece by piece.

Finally, he took out one last item from the deepest part of the hidden compartment.

A token.

Pure black, engraved with a dragon in gold thread.

The Dragon King Token.

The holder of this token commanded a hundred thousand soldiers.

Lin Tian hung the Dragon King Token on his chest.

He zipped up his tactical vest, hiding the token inside.

He walked up to the mirror.

The man in the mirror was no longer that live-in son-in-law wearing an old gray sweater.

The black combat suit outlined his lean, powerful physique.

His face was cold and hard as a blade.

The corner of his mouth twisted upward into a bloodthirsty, sinister sneer.

There was no longer any warmth in his eyes.

Only pure killing intent remained.

An Asura descending upon the world.

Lin Tian took one last look at that unread message on his phone.

Then, he deleted it.

"Ruobing."

His voice was deep, like iron scraping against a whetstone.

"After tonight, you will know exactly what kind of man your husband is."

"Shen Fei's head is the birthday gift I am giving you."

He turned off his phone.

Stepping in his combat boots, he walked out of the Lin family mansion.

The night swallowed his silhouette.

...

The Shen family villa.

At the same time.

The living room was bustling with activity.

The hotpot was already set up. The broth in the copper pot was boiling, and a spicy, numbing aroma filled the entire first floor.

Su Qingxue was arranging the plates.

Ling Xue was slicing the meat.

Lin Ruobing sat on the sofa, holding a glass of red wine, looking somewhat uneasy.

She had originally only come to sign a cooperation agreement.

But upon her arrival, Su Qingxue suddenly said, "Today is your birthday, stay and have hotpot with us."

Lin Ruobing was taken aback.

She had almost forgotten it was her birthday herself.

This past month had been too busy. With company matters piling up one after another, she simply didn't have the mind to think about such things.

"How did you know today is my birthday?"

Su Qingxue smiled.

"Your ID information is on the cooperation agreement."

Lin Ruobing smiled too.

"Thank you. But I feel bad just crashing your dinner."

"Don't be so polite, it's just an extra pair of chopsticks."

Su Qingxue pressed her back down onto the sofa.

Lin Ruobing stopped declining.

Shen Fei walked down from the study.

He had changed into loungewear—a gray hoodie paired with dark sweatpants—looking completely at ease.

In his hand was a small box.

He walked up to Lin Ruobing and handed it to her.

"Happy birthday."

Lin Ruobing paused, took the box, and opened it.

Inside was a women's wristwatch.

It wasn't one of those flashy, diamond-encrusted models.

Instead, it was a minimalist, handcrafted Swiss watch.

A white dial, Roman numeral indices, and a brown genuine leather strap.

Low-key, exquisite, and of superb quality.

As a woman who had seen the world in the business realm, Lin Ruobing instantly recognized the watch's brand and model.

Limited to fifty pieces worldwide.

You couldn't buy it on the market even if you had the money.

But what truly shook her wasn't the watch's value.

It was its design style.

Minimalist.

Professional.

Unobtrusive.

It perfectly matched her aesthetic.

How did Shen Fei know her taste?

They had only known each other for a month.

"President Shen, this is too expensive, I can't accept—"

"Why 'President Shen'?"

Shen Fei sat down opposite her and picked up his wine glass.

"We aren't talking business today. Just call me Shen Fei."

Lin Ruobing's lips parted slightly.

"Shen Fei."

She said the name.

No "President."

No honorifics.

Just a name.

But the moment she said it, the distance between them seemed to suddenly shorten.

Lin Ruobing put the watch on.

The strap length was just right.

It was as if it had been custom-made for her wrist.

"Thank you."

She looked down at the watch on her wrist, her voice softening.

"You're welcome. Come have some hotpot, the broth will dry up if we wait any longer."

Shen Fei stood up and walked toward the dining table.

Lin Ruobing followed.

The four of them sat around the hotpot.

Shen Fei, Su Qingxue, Lin Ruobing, and Ling Xue.

Ling Shuang wasn't at the table; she was in the villa's security room, staring at the monitors.

The steam from the hotpot rose thickly, blurring everyone's faces.

Su Qingxue was in charge of cooking the vegetables.

Ling Xue was in charge of eating the meat.

Lin Ruobing's cheeks were slightly flushed from the steam. She held her glass, taking small sips of red wine.

Shen Fei sat across from her, occasionally picking up a piece of meat, but spending most of his time looking at his phone.

On the surface, he looked very casual.

But his system panel remained open.

In the corner of his vision, data was jumping.

[Dragon King Palace Assembly Progress: 97%]

[Elites Arrived in Jinling: 1963]

[Operation Launch Time Adjusted: Tonight at 12:00 AM (advanced by 2 hours)]

[Time Until Operation Launch: Approx. 3 hours 48 minutes]

They moved it up.

Shen Fei had anticipated this long ago.

He picked up his phone and sent a message to his uncle under the table.

[The enemy has moved up the schedule. Tonight at midnight.]

A reply came five seconds later.

[Received. Adjustments synchronized. Everyone will be in position before 11:30 PM.]

Shen Fei locked his screen and placed the phone on the table.

He looked up, his eyes meeting Lin Ruobing's.

She was looking at him.

The steam from the hotpot rose between them.

"What's wrong?"

Shen Fei asked.

Lin Ruobing shook her head.

"Nothing. I just feel..."

She paused.

"This is the most relaxing birthday I've had in recent years."

She raised her wine glass, gesturing to Shen Fei.

"Thank you, Shen Fei."

Shen Fei clinked his glass against hers.

"Happy birthday."

The glasses met with a crisp, light clink.

Lin Ruobing took a sip of red wine, her eyes narrowing slightly in contentment.

She didn't know that her husband had cooked a table full of food and was waiting for her at home.

She didn't know that the bouquet of daisies had already been torn to shreds.

She didn't know that in three hours, a storm of blood and violence would descend upon the very villa she was sitting in.

She only knew that the hotpot in front of her was warm, the red wine was delicious, and the man sitting across from her made her feel safe.

And that was enough.