CHAPTER 146: CHAPTER 146 THE SECRET OF THE EMBROIDERY ON QIN JINHAI’S CHEST

Fu Bing picked up the fox-shaped mask and placed it aside, her hand searching the garment.

The fabric over the chest didn’t appear special to the naked eye.

If she hadn’t been the one who embroidered that pattern, she wouldn’t have paid much attention to it.

She checked the area over the chest almost immediately.

Wu Shi watched her with a thoughtful gaze.

Fu Bing had embroidered a lotus back then, but not an ordinary one.

It was an artistically modified lotus she had designed herself: a Fine-leaf Lotus, its petals also pointed.

When she was drafting the design, her mother had laughed at her. Her rebellious teenage spirit against traditional culture was evident; unwilling to conform to drawing plump, rounded lotuses, she loved to tread a different path.

Her emotions were incredibly complex as she touched the embroidery she had completed ten years ago.

It had once been worn by Qin Jinhai on his chest, the place closest to his heart.

Did he like this piece of embroidery that much? Or was it just a habit, and he was too lazy to change?

Fu Bing’s hand paused as she touched a petal. She grabbed a pair of scissors and cut a small slit along the inner seam.

Inside, there was an almost transparent tiny chip, thin as a cicada’s wing.

"What is this?" Fu Bing asked, puzzled.

Wu Shi took the chip from her hand, examined it for a moment, and said, "This is a new type of chip. It needs a specialized decoder."

"I don’t know much about this. If you’re familiar with it, you could try."

Wu Shi didn’t agree immediately. "Whatever Qin Jinhai went to great lengths to hide must be very valuable. It likely contains many secrets he left behind. Aren’t you afraid I’ll learn them and not tell you?"

"I opened it in front of you. If I don’t entrust it to you, it might make you suspicious of me," Fu Bing replied softly. "You can keep the chip for now and give it to me after you find a way to decode it."

"Okay."

"Where did you get this garment from?"

"Jian Yao asked me to give it to you, saying you should keep it as a memento. I was worried it would remind you of unhappy memories. I had no idea such secrets were hidden in the cloth."

Fu Bing nodded. "You can go. I need some quiet."

Wu Shi looked at her deeply. "Do I need to take the garment with me?"

"Leave it here."

Wu Shi closed the study door behind him and left.

Back in his room, Wu Shi locked the door and drew the curtains, ensuring no light could enter before he took off the mask.

The smile on Qin Jinhai’s lips grew increasingly unrestrained.

He planned to gradually give her everything he had ever owned, regardless of whether she wanted it or not.

The more powerful she became, the more she would become a thorn in others’ sides.

Imprisonment, car accidents—these bloody lessons had made him fully aware. She had to become the master of those who lived by the knife; only then would they risk their lives to protect her.

Fu Bing didn’t know what motivated her, but she expertly sewed the robe back together.

If one didn’t know it had been cut open, one could hardly tell where the new stitches were.

Fu Bing stored the long robe and the mask in a storage compartment and locked it.

She didn’t want to think about how sincere Qin Jinhai was in their complicated entanglement for now.

She had always been unsure about where they stood. She believed she would likely fail in matters of love, unable even to be sure if he loved her.

「Qin Family.」

When Qin Sheng came downstairs, he saw Li Yuan directing the butler to move luggage.

He frowned. "Where are you going?"

"Making space for you," Li Yuan said, displeased.

"Now is not the time to throw a temper tantrum."

"I’m not throwing a tantrum. I just want to go somewhere without you and calmly think about how I should live my life from now on." Li Yuan sighed deeply. "Qin Sheng, the first half of my life was very uncomfortable. At my parents’ home, I was humiliated. Back then, I didn’t have the strength to leave them, so I had to endure. After meeting you, because I loved you, I couldn’t bear to refuse you. These past decades, I have been very unhappy. I can’t control what you want to do, nor do I want to anymore. I just want to find a place to be alone. You can do whatever you want."

Qin Sheng’s face was cold, his eyes clearly showing his hurt. "Even you want to leave me?"

Li Yuan met his gaze. "I don’t know what you need in life, nor do I know if you love me. From some of your actions, I feel you have feelings for me, but most of the time, I can’t feel your love. I told you, I lack love, so I hope someone can give me explicit affection and care, which I don’t feel from you. You ruined one of my sons, and now you’re starting to destroy the second. Qin Sheng, I can be sure of one thing: you don’t love me. You actually hate me."

Li Yuan averted her gaze and lifted her skirt as she started to get out of the car.

Qin Sheng stood there coldly. Without his order, the driver didn’t dare to drive.

A bad premonition arose in Li Yuan’s heart. As expected, the next second, Qin Sheng opened the car door and pulled her out.

"Wherever I am, you must be! Even if you go mad, you have to stay by my side!"

"You’re truly a madman!" Li Yuan trembled with anger. "I once thought you promoted my family because you loved me. Only recently did I realize you just wanted to disgust Jinhai. They’ve always been subjects of scandalous rumors. If it’s revealed one day that they’re cousins, his reputation will be ruined!"

"Qin Sheng, I really don’t understand why you do these things. Is ruining your own son really worth making you happy?"

Qin Sheng retorted, "Think whatever you want! When we got married, you said you would never leave me. Don’t even think about leaving me now!"

Li Yuan laughed, a bitter sound born of extreme anger. "When we got married, you also promised to make me happy. Did you? You didn’t fulfill your promise, so why demand I keep my vow?"

"Being Mrs. Qin isn’t happiness enough for you?" Qin Sheng pushed her into the main house. "I gave you dignity, status, and the chance to bear two sons. What more do you want?"

"Two sons? You have the nerve to mention them? One you raised into a good-for-nothing, the other you trained as a killer. Am I supposed to be happy about that?" Li Yuan suddenly felt a wave of desolation.

She bore the title of Mrs. Qin, and her sons appeared glamorous.

Outwardly, they were heirs to a top-tier family, but who didn’t know how ridiculous that title was?

They had been deprived of their heir status from childhood.

Their existence was not much better than her situation had been in the Li Family.

"That’s their fate. They were just unlucky."

Li Yuan slapped Qin Sheng twice. "You’re sick! You used to say your family constrained you, that you had no choice! But you’ve already sidelined the other members of the Qin Family. They have no real power; the Qin Family is completely in your hands. Yet my sons are still mere pawns, disposable at any time. Jinhai is gone. What will you do to Jinmo next? Will you slow-boil him like a frog, let him taste the fame and fortune he desires, and then end his life?"

"Seeing things too clearly isn’t necessarily a good thing." Qin Sheng actually didn’t deny it.

Li Yuan felt her scalp go numb.

A bone-chilling cold coursed through her entire body.

The man who shared her bed was clearly a demon.