YXJ - 18

Lin Wangshu had always been curious as to why Jiang Congxian treated her this way.

Before, out of fear, she didn’t dare to think about the answer that was already forming in her mind.

But emotions accumulated to a point, like a constantly expanding balloon.

It would eventually explode.

She finally asked, “Why are you doing this to me?”

Why are you doing this to me?

To outsiders, Jiang Congxian certainly treated her well. She lacked nothing in terms of food and clothing, he didn’t neglect her education, and he even assigned people to protect her.

But Lin Wangshu knew he was destroying her, little by little, in his own way.

He knew she was proud, so he trampled her self-respect under his feet. He knew she didn’t have many friends, so he deliberately used tricks to make her relationships with the people around her fall apart.

A person like him, even if he were to kill someone, would probably gently ask first, “Does it hurt?”

Lin Wangshu knew she was no match for him.

In front of him, she was like an ant.

Powerless to fight back.

He lowered his eyelashes, his voice clear and gentle, with a hint of self-reproach. “Did I make you unhappy?”

It seemed that the future was getting harder and harder to navigate.

This path truly had no end in sight.

Lin Wangshu wanted to hold back. She didn’t want to show her weakness in front of him again.

But she couldn’t help it. The more she tried to hold back, the more her emotions would fall apart.

Her eyes turned red, and her thin shoulders trembled.

She was crying so pitifully.

His heart began to tremble along with her.

Jiang Congxian wiped the tears from her eyes. “Why are you crying, my poor little thing?”

“So...”

Her voice was choked with sobs. The whole sentence seemed to be forced out from between her teeth. “A father’s debt is paid by the child, is that it?”

The action of wiping her tears stopped. His face showed a brief moment of surprise, as if he hadn’t expected her to figure it out.

She was indeed a smart child.

After the surprise, his face returned to a calm, indifferent smile. “Your father owes me. I have to get it back, don’t I? Or I’ll be miserable.”

He rubbed her waist. “As for your brother, I wouldn’t stoop so low as to harm a sick person.”

After a pause, he laughed again. “But then again, maybe.”

He said, “As long as you’re a good girl and don’t make me unhappy.”

Lin Wangshu felt like she had fallen from one hell into an even deeper hell.

She had briefly, in the past, felt sorry for him.

She felt sorry for Jiang Congxian.

She thought he couldn’t be that bad. At the very least, the subconscious tenderness he showed couldn’t have been faked.

But she was too naive.

Jiang Congxian himself was a performance.

He had personally pushed his life into a superficial abyss.

He deserved to be eternally damned.

She asked him, “What does it mean to be a good girl?”

He leaned down close to her ear, his voice low and seductive. “If you serve me well, that’s being a good girl.”

Her eyes were filled with disgust. “Is all you can think about is sex?”

His smile was gentle. “I only come to you when I want to have sex.”

She nodded and took off her jacket. “Okay.”

Jiang Congxian had lit a cigarette at some point. He sat on the sofa, the cigarette flickering between his knuckles. Beneath his gold-rimmed glasses, his deep eyes were calm and serene.

Lin Wangshu sat on his lap, her hands on his shoulders.

He watched her with an air of composure. He was quite curious about what she would do.

So he cooperated with her movements and leaned toward her. The distance between them was only a finger’s width.

Her eyes were filled with hatred. “I hope that ‘death by sex’ is a real thing.”

She was a tough nut to crack.

He smiled and unbuckled his belt. “Then let’s try it. Maybe you’ll be lucky and serve me so well that I’ll really die.”

________________________________________

When people reach a point of absolute despair, they will hit rock bottom and rebound.

Lin Wangshu wanted to take one last gamble.

She was proud. Even in this situation, she still couldn’t let go of her integrity.

But compared to Lin Yue, none of that mattered.

Pleasing him. Obeying him.

It wasn’t that difficult after all.

________________________________________

The next day, Lin Yue woke up early. In the living room, Xiao Lian replaced the recently delivered Diana roses and arranged them in a vase.

There were still glistening dewdrops on the petals.

Hearing the noise from upstairs, she looked up and saw Lin Yue coming down.

Their eyes met, and he turned around in a panic.

His hand was on the railing, and his body was trembling violently.

Xiao Lian knew he was scared, so she lowered her voice. “Xiaoyue, are you hungry? Would you like your sister to make you some noodles?”

He didn’t say anything, burying his head even lower.

The bedroom door next to the study on the second floor opened. Jiang Congxian was putting on his tie and walking out. He ran into Lin Yue on the stairs.

His face was pale, and his whole body was trembling.

Jiang Congxian frowned slightly and asked Xiao Lian, “What’s wrong?”

Xiao Lian said with difficulty, “He was like this when he saw me just now.”

After seeing him, Lin Yue stopped trembling, but he still didn’t say anything.

The man’s long fingers folded the corner of his tie inward and then pulled it out, straightening it. “Your sister is still asleep.”

Lin Wangshu had been exhausted last night and fell asleep halfway through, in his room.

Lin Yue gripped the railing with his hand and called out with great effort, “Bro...ther.”

Jiang Congxian looked up with a calm demeanor. “Yes?”

He shook his head and didn’t say anything else.

...

Jiang Congxian didn’t continue the pointless conversation with him. He walked past him and went downstairs.

He took the ironed jacket from a maid and put it on as he walked out.

Xiao Lian asked, “Aren’t you going to eat breakfast?”

“No.”

Xiao Lian still wanted to say something.

His stomach wasn’t very good to begin with, and if he didn’t eat breakfast, his stomach would probably start hurting again later.

But she was a servant, and it wasn’t her place to interfere in the master’s business.

Realizing this, she went back to arranging the flowers.

Diana roses with eucalyptus were Lin Wangshu’s favorite.

The curtains were tightly drawn, not letting any light in.

The room was pitch black. Lin Wangshu turned over. Her legs were incredibly sore.

She stared at the chandelier on the ceiling for a while, then sat up with great effort. Her clothes were thrown on the floor.

She wrapped the blanket around herself, picked them up, and put them on.

There was a place to wash up in the room. She also put on some light makeup to cover the fatigue from staying up all night.

In the living room, Lin Yue was sitting alone on the sofa.

A glass of milk was on the coffee table in front of him, but he hadn’t touched it.

Lin Wangshu came downstairs and sat next to him. “Why are you up so early?”

He looked up and saw her. “Sister.”

Seeing that he was in good spirits today, Lin Wangshu’s mood also improved a lot.

“After breakfast, we’ll go visit Mom and Dad, okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.”

________________________________________

The cemetery was far away. It took more than an hour to get there by car.

Lin Wangshu got off the car halfway to buy two bouquets of flowers from a florist.

The last time she came was more than a month ago.

Lin Yue wasn’t with her then, and she had come alone.

Lin Wangshu still hadn’t fully come to terms with the news of her father’s death.

He might have been a good father, but he wasn’t a good husband.

A young Lin Wangshu had once accidentally seen him beat her mother.

That memory was still a shadow in her heart to this day.

So when her mother insisted on divorcing him later, Lin Wangshu never objected.

Her mother deserved to have her own life. She was still young at that time.

________________________________________

After talking to them for a while, Lin Wangshu and Lin Yue took turns offering incense.

Then they left.

The sky had become overcast at some point, and a light drizzle was falling on the ground.

Fortunately, it was still easy to flag down a car here.

Lin Yue was mostly normal.

It was just that a sudden change to a new environment would inevitably cause some discomfort.

After being there for a while, he would feel a little better.

When they got home, Xiao Lian came down from the study on the second floor with a file bag in her hand, looking rushed.

Lin Wangshu asked her, “What’s wrong?”

Xiao Lian said, “Mr. Jiang left his contract at home and asked me to take it to him.”

There was soup simmering in the kitchen, and she needed to watch the heat, so she couldn’t leave.

Lin Wangshu thought for a moment, then took the file bag. “I’ll go.”

Xiao Lian was slightly stunned. “Huh?”

Lin Wangshu smiled. “I said, I’ll go deliver it.”

Xiao Lian was so touched she was about to cry. “Sister Shushu, you’re so nice.”

With that, she hugged her.

Lin Wangshu was amused. “Do you want me to bring you anything back?”

“Bring what?”

Her smile was gentle and beautiful. Her almond-shaped eyes curved slightly into crescents, and her voice was pleasant. “Like your favorite milk tea.”

Xiao Lian loved seeing Lin Wangshu smile the most.

When she first arrived, she didn’t smile much and always had a cold face.

She would occasionally cry.

The few times she smiled were when she was on the phone with her family, speaking in a soft, gentle way that was endearing.

Before she left, Xiao Lian also prepared some food and packed it for Lin Wangshu to take to the company.

“Mr. Jiang’s diet is irregular, and he didn’t eat breakfast. I’m worried he’ll forget about lunch when he gets busy.”

Lin Wangshu took the thermal lunch box and nodded. “Okay.”

Xiao Lian thought that if it was Lin Wangshu, Mr. Jiang would probably listen.

The black Mercedes was waiting outside the door.

Lin Wangshu opened the car door and got in.

The driver was surprised for a moment, then politely asked her where she was going.

He was the driver assigned to Lin Wangshu by Jiang Congxian, but she had never used him. She always took the bus or a taxi.

This leisurely work had lasted for several months. Today was the first time he had seen her get in the car.

Lin Wangshu placed the thermal lunch box down. “To the company.”

After the driver responded, he backed the car out.

This was Lin Wangshu’s first time at Jiang Congxian’s workplace. A large LED screen was playing news, which was boring and bland.

The 67th floor was the CEO’s office. Regular employees couldn’t go up there. Only the CEO’s private elevator could.

Lin Wangshu went to the front desk and said she was looking for Jiang Congxian.

The receptionist looked up at her and assumed she was one of those socialites who came to seduce the CEO.

Her eyes nearly rolled back into her head. “During work hours, our CEO doesn’t see outsiders.”

Her voice was a little loud, and everyone around them looked over to watch the show.

The number of women who came to see CEO Jiang every day was countless. They would either claim to be his sister or his fiancée.

So it was not a surprise to them.

But this one, not to mention her looks and figure, just the pure and cold “little white flower” aura around her was enough to outshine those previous women by a long shot.

The men sighed in admiration and envy. Being a rich and handsome CEO was great. Even the beauties who came to them were this good.

The female employees, on the other hand, rolled their eyes frequently and whispered to each other, calling her a gold digger.

Which single girl in the company didn’t have a dream of a CEO falling in love with her?

So they were all guarding against Lin Wangshu as if she were a love rival.

The whispers weren’t loud, but they were loud enough for her to hear.

Lin Wangshu didn’t say anything. She took out her phone and went to a corner to make a call.

It was still his assistant who answered.

“Miss Lin.”

Lin Wangshu’s voice was soft. “I’m here to deliver a contract. I’m downstairs at your company.”

The assistant thought she was asking for the floor number and told her the 67th floor.

She said, “Could you please come down and get it? I can’t go up.”

“Please wait a moment.”

After he said that, it was quiet for a long time.

After a while, a voice came through.

“Miss Lin, please go to the front desk now. Someone will take you up.”

After the call was hung up, she went to the front desk.

The woman who had just rolled her eyes at her was now looking at her with a strange expression.

Lin Wangshu wasn’t sure what the assistant had said to her, and she didn’t ask.

She followed her into the elevator, watched her swipe the card to activate the elevator, and then the receptionist left.

Lin Wangshu stood inside alone, watching the floor numbers change.

Until it stopped at 67, and the elevator door opened.

The hallway was quiet. The CEO’s office was at the very end.

Lin Wangshu walked over and knocked on the door.

There was no sound from inside.

After a moment of hesitation, she carefully pushed the door open.

In the big black swivel chair, Jiang Congxian was leaning back, his thumb rubbing his thin lips. His eyes naturally fell on her.

He was wearing a dark gray shirt. His jacket was draped over the back of the chair, his tie was loose, and his expression was lazy and relaxed.

It was clear he hadn’t expected her to come.

Lin Wangshu placed the file bag on his desk and opened the thermal lunch box. “Xiao Lian said you didn’t eat breakfast and was worried you’d skip lunch, too, so she asked me to bring it to you.”

She took out the dishes one by one. Jiang Congxian glanced at them indifferently and then moved his gaze back to her face.

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to please me?”

Lin Wangshu’s movements paused slightly.

He was indeed good at analyzing people.

Lin Wangshu’s every thought and intention couldn’t escape his eyes.

She didn’t deny it.

She poured him a glass of hot water. “If your stomach isn’t good, you still need to eat breakfast.”

She handed him the glass of water, but he didn’t take it.

After a moment, she softly called his name. “Jiang Congxian.”

Her hand remained outstretched. The glass wasn’t insulated, and her fingertips were getting a little red from the heat.

Her voice wasn’t as cold and hostile as usual.

It was gentle and soft, with the sweet, delicate tone she naturally had.

Jiang Congxian was a little dazed and suddenly felt an urge to smoke.