Qin Ruyan watched this scene, her heart shaking violently.
Was this still the cowardly and incompetent Lin Feng she remembered? He was so powerful that he felt like a stranger to her, yet he carried a fatal kind of attraction.
In her heart, she felt both shock and an unspeakable, lingering worry.
"Lin Feng, stop hitting him! If you keep going, someone's going to die! After all, he is a member of the Qiao Family!"
Lin Feng turned to look at her, his gaze calm yet emanating an unquestionable majesty.
Instead of pulling away, he simply said faintly, "Rest assured, I know what I'm doing."
He glanced down at the battered and disheveled Qiao Yu, letting out a cold snort. "Get lost. Go back and tell your Qiao Family that provoking someone who shouldn't be provoked comes with a price."
Granted his pardon, Qiao Yu scrambled up from the ground on all fours, staring at Lin Feng with venomous eyes. Clutching his neck, he roared in a hoarse voice:
"Lin Feng! You just wait! I, Qiao Yu, swear that I will make you pay back the humiliation I suffered today a hundredfold! You're a dead man!"
He struggled to run outside, but was stopped at the door by the shrill ringing of his phone.
"Hello? What is it?" Qiao Yu demanded irritably.
A joyful and breathless voice came from the other end of the line: "Third Young Master! Tremendous news! Eldest Miss has woken up! Eldest Miss Qiao Yuejian has woken up!"
Qiao Yu's body abruptly stiffened, the venom on his face instantly replaced by wild ecstasy.
He no longer cared about his disheveled state on the ground, nor about the groaning bodyguards, and completely forgot about both Qin Kuang and Qin Ruyan as he bolted straight out the door, his voice trembling with disbelief. "What did you say? Yuejian... she really woke up?!"
Haicheng First Hospital.
Su Aoxue hurried over to the Qiao Family's exclusive intensive care suite after receiving word from the family that Qiao Yuejian had regained consciousness.
Pushing open the door, she saw a woman of ethereal beauty sitting up in the hospital bed. Although her complexion was somewhat pale, her eyes were clear as she conversed in low tones with the people beside her.
As one of Qiao Yuejian's attending physicians, Su Aoxue had visited her almost every single day for the past three years and knew her medical condition inside and out.
Qiao Yuejian was the apple of the Qiao Family's eye and the most celebrated beauty in Haicheng. Three years ago, she had been in a car accident and, like Lin Feng, had lapsed into a vegetative state. Yet her condition was even more severe than Lin Feng's, and doctors had judged that there was virtually no chance of her ever waking up.
"Miss Yuejian!" Su Aoxue stepped forward in pleasant surprise, quickly checking her vital signs.
Qiao Yuejian offered her a faint smile. "Dr. Su, long time no see."
After a thorough examination, a look of profound shock appeared on Su Aoxue's face. All of Qiao Yuejian's physical indicators had returned to normal—she was even healthier than she had been three years ago! This was nothing short of a medical miracle!
"This is unbelievable! Miss Yuejian, you've really made a full recovery!" Su Aoxue praised her from the bottom of her heart, though deep in her shock, she couldn't help but think of Lin Feng.
"Miss Yuejian, did you know? A miracle happened in our hospital today as well. Another patient who had been in a vegetative state for three years woke up too." Su Aoxue's tone was complex, carrying a trace of hard-to-detect probing.
A subtle shift crossed Qiao Yuejian's eyes, but she quickly regained her composure and asked softly, "Oh? Is that so? Who is it?"
"His name is Lin Feng," Su Aoxue said.
The very instant the two words "Lin Feng" left her lips, Qiao Yuejian's pupils violently contracted on her previously calm face. Her body shuddered uncontrollably, and her hands gripping the blanket clenched hard.
Her complexion turned instantly ashen, and her breathing grew ragged.
"Lin Feng?" she repeated with difficulty, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible tremor that she quickly forced down, a flicker of panic flashing through her eyes.
"I don't know any Lin Feng," she vehemently denied, but her overreactive response was captured entirely by Su Aoxue.
Su Aoxue furrowed her brow, her misgivings deepening. What on earth was the connection between this Qiao Yuejian and Lin Feng?
Meanwhile, the Qin Family Old Residence.
Qin Ruyan pulled Lin Feng away from the Qin estate in a hurry and got into her car. Seated in the driver's seat, she gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands while casting frequent sideways glances at Lin Feng in the passenger seat.
"Lin Feng, who on earth are you?" she finally couldn't help asking, her voice carrying suppressed curiosity and a trace of subtle awe.
Lin Feng leaned back against the headrest with his eyes closed, looking thoroughly leisurely and content.
"Didn't I tell you? I'm your 'lawful' husband," he answered casually.
"I'm not talking about that!"
Qin Ruyan felt on the verge of losing her mind. "I'm asking you, why do you know martial arts? How could you become this powerful after being in a coma for three years?"
She left the rest unsaid, but her meaning was crystal clear.
Lin Feng opened his eyes, glanced at her, and spoke in a flat tone, "Oh, you mean that? I was in a coma for three years, and my body underwent a mutation. My genes reorganized, and I awakened my ancient bloodline."
Qin Ruyan: "..."
What kind of explanation was that? Gene reorganization? Ancient bloodline? Why did it feel like Lin Feng was just fobbing her off?
She looked at him suspiciously, trying to find a flaw in his expression, but his face remained calm and his gaze deep, making him utterly impenetrable.
Realizing that Lin Feng had no intention of talking, she stopped pressing the matter.
Although doubts still lingered in her heart, her attitude toward Lin Feng had undergone a complete and earth-shattering transformation.
This man was far more mysterious and powerful than she could have ever imagined.
The car drove to Qin Ruyan's apartment. It was her private residence, decorated in a minimalist yet artistic style.
Qin Ruyan took a document out of her bag and handed it to Lin Feng. "This is our new marriage agreement."
Lin Feng took it and flipped through it casually. He noticed a newly added clause: [Should Party A (Qin Ruyan) or Party B (Lin Feng) unilaterally propose to dissolve the engagement, they must pay the other party a penalty of three hundred million Huaxia coins.]
Seeing this clause, a playful smile tugged at the corner of Lin Feng's mouth.
Had Qin Ruyan been so startled by his "three hundred million" remark that she wanted to restrict him in return? Or had she already started recognizing his "value"?
"Sign it," Qin Ruyan said, watching him with a somewhat complicated expression.
Without hesitation, Lin Feng picked up a pen and dashed off his signature with bold, flowing strokes.
"Monday morning, we'll go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get the marriage certificate," Qin Ruyan said.
"No problem." Lin Feng nodded.
That evening, Qin Ruyan took Lin Feng to a high-end Western restaurant.
"Let's just treat tonight as a celebration of our 'newlywed' status," Qin Ruyan said, her tone carrying a hint of awkwardness.
Lin Feng merely raised an eyebrow and said nothing.
No sooner had the two of them sat down and ordered their food than a grating voice rang out from nearby.
"Well, well, if it isn't the Qin Family's eldest miss, Qin Ruyan? What's this? Young Master Qiao didn't show up, so you traded him for some kept boy-toy?"
Following the sound, Lin Feng and Qin Ruyan looked over to see a stylishly dressed man and woman holding glasses of red wine and looking at them with mocking expressions.
The man was the young scion of a second-tier family in Haicheng, and the woman was his girlfriend; both were notorious gossips in high society.
"Qin Ruyan, didn't you pride yourself on being Haicheng's number one iceberg beauty who disdained all men? How come you're not even letting a vegetable go now? Talk about desperate!"
The woman said with biting sarcasm, her tone dripping with gloating delight.
Qin Ruyan's face paled, and she was just about to retort when Lin Feng gently pressed down on her hand.
Lin Feng's gaze swept over the couple, a trace of amusement dancing in his eyes. "What did you just say?"