CHAPTER 113: CHAPTER 113: HUMILIATION AND COUNTER-HUMILIATION

"Boom."

Qin Zhennan felt like his head was struck by a bolt of lightning. The thing he feared most had come true. He wished Gu Jiayin would vanish from his sight immediately. "Your Aunt Ye is crazy. Just listen to her words casually, but don’t take them seriously."

"Crazy?" Gu Jiayin sighed rather dramatically, "Aunt Ye still has her charm, after all. It’s truly a pity she’s gone crazy like this, suddenly claiming to have seen my mother’s ghost. It seems she feels quite guilty inside."

Qin Zhennan felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He mumbled a few perfunctory words and pulled his little secretary into the banquet hall.

He was truly terrified of the sinking incident from years ago coming to light, because once that incident was exposed, all the crimes he had committed in the past two decades might be uncovered one by one, leaving him utterly doomed.

Not to mention whether the law or public opinion would spare him, before things spun out of control, Gu Shaohua would be the first not to let him off. Although she was wary of him for their shared secret and endured him, if things could no longer be covered up, that woman would be more terrifying than the devil when cornered.

Despite having painstakingly built his influence over the years, he was well aware that his dark forces were nowhere near as powerful as those of Gu Shaohua, who built hers with the background of the Sheng Family.

Therefore, although Ye Zhilin wasn’t truly insane, he already treated her as if she were and imprisoned her.

Initially, out of old marital affection, he allowed her free movement within the Qin Family villa. But her frequent shocks and scares led the servants to wild speculations, rendering him apprehensive. Now, she was entirely confined to the basement behind the villa, guarded by bodyguards. Only he or those he permitted could approach.

No matter how desperately she screamed and cursed, the outside world couldn’t hear her one bit.

The Qin Family had always been lacking in familial affection. Initially, Qin Yiheng, Qin Yishu, and Qin Xueyao pleaded for Ye Zhilin, but over time, they ceased the futile persuasion, each minding their own schemes.

Watching Qin Zhennan’s retreating figure, Gu Jiayin curled her lips mockingly, a smirk of malice burning upward like a flame from within her being.

For someone who, though not offering her familial love, gave her life, she couldn’t kill him herself, but she certainly wouldn’t let him live peacefully.

She would help him open the gates of Hell, and how to enter would be his choice alone.

Sheng Qianchi stood silently throughout, slipping one hand into his trousers’ pocket with a rather leisurely stance, but his eyes were fixed on Gu Jiayin’s face, capturing every flicker of expression.

At the moment she smiled, he saw more clearly than ever the vast reservoir of hatred locked within her slender figure.

He frowned slightly and suddenly felt a deep pity for her.

He didn’t wish for her to harbor such emotions of hatred, as it was an intensely negative feeling, and hatred equated to pain.

Just like when he was young, he couldn’t see his family or feel his parents’ love, so he hated. Yet at the same time, it brought endless suffering to himself.

Eventually, he no longer wanted to subject himself to such pain, so he learned to control solitude and even relish in it.

He told himself he needed neither love nor hate.

In that moment, he realized love could cause pain too.

His emotions swayed with hers, pulsing up and down, with a smile ascending to Heaven and hatred dropping to Hell.

Suddenly, his hand was grabbed, and he felt the warmth beneath her fingertips. Gu Jiayin withdrew her gaze immediately, turned to the man beside her, and smiled brightly, hiding all her inner pain.

She didn’t know her smile made him ever more sorrowful.

Caught off guard, he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Jiayin, I will always love you."

The timing and the setting weren’t right, yet he suddenly said something that sounded both like a promise and a confession.

For a moment, Gu Jiayin didn’t know how to respond and froze on the spot.

"Qianchi."

A soft and gentle female voice broke the silence.

Sheng Qianchi frowned and straightened his body, yet he still didn’t turn around.

Instead, Gu Jiayin’s face lit up with a radiant smile as she turned to the newly arrived Qin Yiheng and Qin Yishu, "Mr. Qin, Miss Qin, long time no see."

Qin Yiheng couldn’t take his eyes off her exquisite face, and he felt his body react. However, with Sheng Qianchi present, he forced himself to suppress and hide it, "Jiayin, how have you been recently?"

Meanwhile, Qin Yishu remained silent, throwing bashful glances at Sheng Qianchi while occasionally catching Gu Jiayin’s gaze, where ripples of hatred and jealousy surged deep in her eyes.

Sheng Qianchi never once looked directly at Qin Yiheng and Qin Yishu throughout. He continued holding Gu Jiayin’s hand, even showing a hint of impatience, "Can we go now?"

Gu Jiayin arched her brow inwardly, after all, she satisfied her desires with someone else’s help for a night. How could he be so heartless when seeing each other again?

Detecting the sarcasm at the corner of her eye, Sheng Qianchi couldn’t help but grip her hand hard in frustration, "If you don’t go in, you’ll have to go back alone!"

Gu Jiayin glanced at Qin Yishu, "I have something to say to sister, you go ahead."

Sheng Qianchi reluctantly let go of her hand, "Then be quick."

Qin Yiheng was quick to perceive the mood and graciously made a gesture of invitation, "Young Master Chi, please."

Sheng Qianchi suppressed his brow and marched into the banquet hall. Qin Yiheng gave Gu Jiayin one last look before also turning to leave.

When only the two women remained outside the hall, Qin Yishu seemed to ignite a little universe within her, from the shy and timid before Sheng Qianchi now lifted her pointed chin with fierce determination, "Gu Jiayin, you’re truly shameless."

"Oh?" Gu Jiayin amusingly curled her lips, "How so?"

"You know very well that Qianchi and I have been together, yet you still cling to him. Truly shameless."

"Hehehe..." Gu Jiayin chuckled mischievously, "It seems you’re mistaken, sister. He’s the one clinging to me."

Qin Yishu, "..."

Unable to respond, the fact indeed spoke for itself.

Gu Jiayin tossed her long dark hair aside, continuing, "That night, he was quite wild, wasn’t he? Did he hurt sister?"

Qin Yishu, usually a smart woman, would lose her composure before Gu Jiayin. Knowing full well Gu Jiayin set a trap for her, she nonetheless leaped over without hesitation, "Yes, he was wild, pressing me insistently. He probably didn’t have the same interest in you, right?"

"Hah!" Gu Jiayin laughed again, her innate sarcasm and mockery brazenly unabashedly pouring outward all at once, "That day, he accidentally drank over a dozen glasses of Hehuan Wine; he was afraid of accidentally hurting me, so he went outside to find just any woman to resolve it."

She looked at Qin Yishu, shaking her head mockingly, "After spending a night with him, he didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic when seeing you today. Could it be sister’s taste doesn’t agree with him?"

"By the way," she suddenly remembered, looking at Qin Yishu’s already contorted face and adding more weight to the humiliation, "did he give you any money?"