I spent a little money to bury all the comments praising him for becoming a “pure-hearted warrior” for Hứa Lê.
A scumbag like him deserves those four words? Don’t insult them.
As soon as I finished, Hứa Lê called.
“I found something. Come out for a minute.”
“Okay.”
After arranging a place to meet her, I immediately caught a cab there.
Hứa Lê set a small bag of white powder in front of me. “I found it in Tần Triết’s study.”
I was stunned.
I knew this world was a mess, but I hadn’t expected Tần Triết to be so brazen.
“This time, there’s no way he can get out of this.”
He could cheat and find a substitute, and people might call him a young playboy, even praise him for his charm.
His reputation might take a hit, but he was still the Tần family’s grandson.
But if drugs were involved, even the Tần family couldn’t protect him.
“Leave the rest to me. You… just keep playing with him.”
Hứa Lê’s lips curled slightly. “All right.”
A youthful secret crush, a first love—those were always hard to forget, especially when you’d never gotten the chance to have it.
Now Hứa Lê was pretending to be with Tần Triết. He knew full well I was making things difficult for him, but for Hứa Lê’s sake, he was still willing to put up with it.
When he learned the truth, it would hurt him to the core.
I hired a private investigator to look into Tần Triết and learn his routine.
On the fourteenth of every month, he went to an unremarkable bar and stayed until late at night before heading home.
It went without saying what he was going there to do.
At the same time, Hứa Lê started picking fights for no reason, regularly arguing with Tần Triết over trivial things until he was utterly exhausted.
But what I didn’t expect was that Tần Triết would contact me.
He spoke drunkenly, his voice full of nostalgia.
“Linh Linh, I miss you so much. Why can’t Hứa Lê learn to be a little gentle and understanding, like you…”
“I miss you so much, Linh Linh. Could you come pick me up? I regret it. I really do.”
“If I’d known Hứa Lê was like this, I never should’ve gotten together with her. Linh Linh… you still love me, don’t you?”
I gripped my phone tightly, facing Tần Mục, who sat across from me with an innocent look on his face.
Tần Triết kept rambling.
“You’ve kept all our memories safe. You and my uncle are just putting on an act, right? He’s so fierce. Don’t be with him—come back to me.”
Tần Mục’s expression darkened. Just as he was about to speak, I hung up.
“When are you going to make your move?”
Tần Mục’s lips curled slightly; he had clearly run out of patience.
From the beginning, he’d said he could help me get revenge. I was the one who wanted to do it myself, which was why it had dragged on until now.
“Tonight?”
Tần Mục lowered his gaze. “Yeah.”
I asked cautiously, “Are you… upset?”
Tần Mục let out an angry laugh. “Do you think I should be happy?”
I immediately shook my head.
Suddenly, he stood, bracing his hands on the table as he leaned down to look at me.
Darkness engulfed me, and the pressure was overwhelming.
“I stayed out of it before because you wanted to get revenge yourself, and I respected that. Besides, I didn’t think much of that kid’s games.”
“But that doesn’t mean I can keep putting up with it forever. I get angry too.”
“Do you understand, Linh Linh?”
I shrank back, but still found the courage to speak.
“I asked you before, and you said you weren’t angry.”
“I asked you at the Tần family’s house.”
Tần Mục frowned, leaning down close to me.
“Do you think I’m angry because of your past with Tần Triết, because of the romantic things you two shared?”
That question made me feel a little guilty.
I didn’t understand myself, either. Why did I care about this?
I stood up, trying to escape. “I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”
To my surprise, Tần Mục grabbed my hand, drew it around in front of me, then gently lifted me onto the table and braced both hands at my sides.
“We haven’t cleared this up yet. How can you go to bed?”
“I…”
I leaned back, trying to avoid him.
Unexpectedly, he wrapped his right arm around my waist and pulled me closer.
“Hmm?”
I turned my head away, unsure what to say.
Tần Mục leaned down and kissed my neck. His soft hair brushed my face, tickling me.
He murmured.
“I don’t care about the past between you and Tần Triết because it isn’t worth caring about. Those so-called romantic moments are just childish games to me.”
“If I had that kind of time, I’d rather spend it in bed.”
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Understand?”
He raised his head and looked into my eyes.
“If I went around measuring myself against Tần Triết and competing with him, wouldn’t I be lowering myself?”
“Besides, I trust your judgment.”
Tần Mục pulled me even closer. “Hmm?”
I was a little flustered. “I… I understand.”
“Good. I need to make sure you really understand, so you don’t keep overthinking things.”
He lifted my legs.
With both feet off the floor, I felt uneasy.
Maybe it was because of his words, “I care about you,” but I suddenly felt much braver.
“Tần Mục, do you like me?”
“Hmph. Looks like you didn’t hear what I said.”
What words? Which ones?
But soon, I had no time to think anymore…
12
Even after I woke up, I was still thinking about what Tần Mục had said to me.
It wasn’t until news came that Tần Triết had been arrested that I finally got up, slowly washed and dressed, and prepared to gloat over his misfortune.
The police had received a tip the previous night, conducted a surprise inspection, and caught Tần Triết and the others using drugs.
At the time, Tần Triết was completely out of it.
When I arrived at the police station, I saw Hứa Lê there too. It was obvious she’d taken special care with her makeup.
I was no exception.
As soon as I walked up, Hứa Lê complained, “You have no idea how hard I had to pretend to be tired. As soon as we got together, all Tần Triết could think about was how to get me into bed. I made every excuse I could think of. I swear, I wanted to tear him limb from limb.”
I laughed. “You’ve been through a lot.”
We went inside together.
At that moment, Tần Triết was being held in a detention room and had not yet been questioned. I heard he’d taken too much of the drug the night before and still hadn’t recovered.
The moment he saw Hứa Lê and me, Tần Triết’s sluggish mind suddenly started working again, and his eyes turned bloodshot.
“You two…”
Hứa Lê struck first. “Surprised? Lộc Linh and I have been on the same side all along. The truth is, I never liked you—not after I found out you’d even found someone to replace me.”
“Sorry, I only went abroad. It’s not like I died. If you really loved me, you should’ve come looking for me. Why find someone to replace me?”
“You have no idea how exhausting it was to keep pretending with you all this time. I was practically sick with it.”
Then, as if something had just occurred to her, Hứa Lê added cheerfully, “And besides, you really don’t measure up to foreign men.”
She clicked her tongue and shook her head, her face full of contempt.
In an instant, Tần Triết seemed ready to explode.
“Hứa Lê!”
He tried to lunge at her, but his handcuffs held him fast.
“Hứa Lê, I should’ve forced myself on you back then! I only held back because I felt sorry for you! I can’t believe you teamed up with Lộc Linh to take me down!”
“Regretting it now? Too bad you don’t have another chance.”
I had to admit, Hứa Lê was very good at kicking people when they were down.
“Just wait! Just wait until I get out!”
I smiled faintly. “I doubt you’ll get out. The Tần family found out about your drug addiction, and to keep the rest of the family from getting dragged into it, they disowned you last night.”
“You’re no longer the lofty young master of the Tần family. Whether you get out now depends on the police investigation. If you were involved in drug trafficking…”
Tần Triết’s face instantly turned pale, and panic began to set in.
“Where’s my dad? I want to see him! He wouldn’t treat me like this. He couldn’t!”
I reminded him, “Tần Mục is the one in charge of the Tần family.”
“Come to think of it, I should thank you, too.”
Tần Triết went deathly pale and crumpled helplessly to the floor.
He muttered, “It can’t be… It can’t be…”
He looked up at me. “Lộc Linh, Lộc Linh, I’m begging you. Please ask my uncle to spare me, will you?”
“Think about it. If I hadn’t casually mentioned him back then, you wouldn’t even know my uncle, right? My uncle likes you. Please save me!”
I raised an eyebrow. “Get down on your knees and beg me.”
“I will! I will!”
Tần Triết dropped to his knees at once, as if he feared I’d change my mind if he waited even a second.
I laughed. “Even if you get down on your knees, I still won’t agree.”
“Tần Triết, everything you’re suffering today is what you deserve.”
“Those who betray sincere love deserve to swallow a thousand needles!”
I couldn’t bear to look at Tần Triết’s miserable state any longer, so Hứa Lê and I left the police station.
13
Outside, I happened to run into someone who looked familiar.
“Giang Tri?”
The woman stopped and turned around. “Lộc… Lộc Linh, let’s talk another time. I have something urgent to take care of right now.”
With that, she hurried off.
“What’s going on…?”
“You don’t know?” Hứa Lê looked at me in surprise.
I shook my head.
Before my family went bankrupt, I’d met Giang Tri a few times. We got along pretty well.
But after the bankruptcy, we lost touch.
“I only heard about it, too. Do you know the Hắc family?”
“Hắc Thâm?”
Speaking of Hắc Thâm, he was quite an unusual person.
He’d taken Buddhist vows at a very young age.
Well… he was what people called a “Buddhist devotee of the capital’s elite circles.”
Hứa Lê nodded. “My family does business with the Hắc family, so I’ve heard a few things. The Hắc and Giang families had an engagement agreement. Giang Tri seduced Hắc Thâm and made him break his vows, then ran away. Somehow, she ended up at an auction.”
“To bring her back, Hắc Thâm infiltrated the enemy’s stronghold.”
“A few days ago, that organization was taken down, and Giang Tri was rescued. But there’s still no news of Hắc Thâm.”
“She’s been asking around about Hắc Thâm for the past couple of days.”
I nodded. “I hope he’s okay.”
After I got home, I kept an eye out for news about Tần Triết.
He was only a drug user and hadn’t been involved in trafficking, so he was held for ten days or half a month before being released.
But the police followed up on that lead and took down an entire organization, which was deeply satisfying.
After his release, the Tần family refused to take him back and froze all his assets, leaving him to wander the streets.
By then, winter was setting in, and the weather was getting colder.
When it was cold, I especially liked curling up in Tần Mục’s arms. He was so warm.
Every now and then, he’d even let his tail show, which I found even more irresistible.
The only problem was that his metal prosthetic leg was unbearably cold.
I couldn’t help tapping it lightly. “Tần Mục.”
“Hmm?”
After thinking it over, I decided to ask, “What happened to you?”
I’d always been curious about it.
“You want to know?”
I nodded.
He lifted my chin. “Bribe me.”
I rose onto my toes and kissed him. “Will this do?”
Tần Mục smiled with satisfaction. “Bribe me tonight. This doesn’t count.”
“But I can tell you now.”
“My mother was a beast-person, very beautiful. She was taken to an auction and sold. My father was over forty at the time. He saw how beautiful she was and bought her.”
“When my mother found out she was pregnant with me, she ran away from the Tần family because she knew they wouldn’t accept a beast-person. She risked her life to give birth to me, but then she contracted a serious illness and died when I was three.”
“After that, I wandered from place to place.”
“Wolves are vicious by nature. I was taken to an arena and used as a test subject. This arm was cut off when I fought a ferocious beast-person. I lost an arm, and he lost his life.”
“The arena saw that I could make them money and didn’t want to lose me, so they paid to have this metal prosthetic leg fitted.”
As he spoke, Tần Mục clenched his fist. “It’s pretty useful, actually.”
He lowered his head to look at me, then noticed. “Why are you crying?”
I held him tightly and leaned against his chest, silently comforting him.
Tần Mục stroked my head. “It’s all in the past.”
“Before that, I knew a beast-person at the arena named Bạch Xuyên. We planned to escape together, but something went wrong in the end. He chose to stay behind and hold off our pursuers to protect me.”
“He was already in poor health, and afterward he nearly died.”
“Once I got out, I learned who I really was, so I went back to the Tần family and forced them to acknowledge me as quickly as I could, so I could go back and save Bạch Xuyên.”
“So, can you guess what happened?”
I looked up at him. “What?”
Tần Mục gave a faint smile. “Just as he was about to die, a girl bought him. He’s doing great now, and even pretends to be pitiful so he can call her ‘Master.’”
I laughed too. “I’m glad he’s okay.”
“Yeah, but I’m not.”
“Huh?” I looked up at him in surprise.
Tần Mục caressed my cheek. “Tonight’s my heat, just like the first time.”
“Ah!!!”
Our first time had been three months ago.
It suddenly dawned on me. “So when you said you were in heat before, you were lying to me?”
Tần Mục laughed. “Sorry. I just wanted you too much.”
He leaned down and kissed me.
Lost in the moment, I struggled to push him away. “There’s something else I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“What was that thing you told me to guess, after all?”
I’d been wondering about it ever since.
Tần Mục sighed. “Wolves choose only one mate for life.”
“Linh Linh, I love you.”
I admit, in that moment, he won me over completely.
I kissed him first. “I love you, too.”
Right after that, Tần Mục carried me into the bedroom.
He said hoarsely, “I’ll keep myself under control.”
As it turned out, men’s promises couldn’t be trusted at all.
At midnight, half-asleep, I heard Tần Mục answer the phone.
“Hmph. Let him die, then.”
“What?”
He hung up and held me tight.
“It’s nothing. Let’s keep going.”
“Uncle, please give me a break…”
This time, please don’t go looking for Mạnh Đàn again. That would be so embarrassing…
(The End)