Hearing the word "Fate," Song Lian raised his gaze slightly, his hand tightening in his pocket.
Looking down from above, Yuyin pointed at Cheng Fangnan's face and smiled. "It looks a bit asymmetrical."
With a sharp slap, Cheng Songbai struck Cheng Fangnan's right cheek hard. "Yuyin, take a look, isn't this much better now?"
One slap on each side; this time it was completely symmetrical, swollen like a frog puffing out its cheeks.
"Dad, I'm your son!" Cheng Fangnan felt like a plaything, and worse, a plaything belonging to the very woman he despised most.
"Yuyin has a great kindness toward our family. Marrying her is your way of repaying that debt. As long as she is satisfied, you can even be her riding horse," Cheng Songbai glared at his son, terrified that he might spill the secrets of the Cheng Family.
The engagement between the Cheng Family and Yuyin was known to the whole world, but very few people knew about the Tianyi Zhenren Fate.
What Cheng Songbai feared most was others finding out about Yuyin's fate and snatching her away; if that happened, the second half of the Cheng Family's lives would be completely ruined.
Hearing the phrase "riding horse," Cheng Fangnan's entire face turned livid.
Gao Zixia felt heartbroken for her son and insisted on taking Cheng Fangnan to the hospital to treat his injuries. "This stubborn girl is as obstinate as a mule; I'm afraid nobody's persuasion will work. Let's get our son's injuries treated first."
"Can a trivial injury like this kill someone? Let him stay right here. From now on, he will stay by Yuyin's side every step of the way. He is not to return to the Cheng Family until he signs the marriage agreement." Cheng Songbai turned around and walked away, his expression extremely ugly.
Cheng Fangnan wanted to refuse, but seeing his stern gaze, he lost his nerve and retreated back into the house.
After Cheng Songbai dragged Gao Zixia away, leaving Cheng Fangnan all alone in the room, he immediately straightened up, his expression turning ferocious.
"Old bastard, treating me like this for the sake of an outsider! Aren't I the one who will have to take care of you in your old age? If you dare hit me again, I'll drive you senile and send you to a nursing home!" Cheng Fangnan muttered to himself as he looked for a room to sleep in.
Yuyin pulled out her phone and played a recording. "I'm sorry, I accidentally pressed the record button."
"You..."
"Don't worry, as long as you behave, I won't send this to your dad." Clutching her phone, Yuyin walked back into her room and locked the door behind her.
Thinking of what Yuyin had said when she first arrived at the room, Song Lian turned around and pulled Cheng Fangnan into his own room. "You're sleeping in my room tonight."
"Why give me the master bedroom?" Before Cheng Fangnan even finished speaking, he had kicked off his shoes and run over to lie down on Song Lian's big bed.
"Because this room has good feng shui, it suits you, and it's far away from Yuyin."
Cheng Fangnan was moved to tears. "You shouldn't be surnamed Song, you should be surnamed Cheng. My own parents aren't even this good to me."
Song Lian smiled and watched as Cheng Fangnan went off to sleep in his room.
The two of them had known each other for many years, and Cheng Fangnan occasionally stayed over at his place for a couple of days, so he kept a room specifically for him. Changing Cheng Fangnan's room today was his way of testing what Yuyin had said.
Those people in Xuanmen had plenty of swindlers.
After changing rooms to sleep, Cheng Fangnan was kept tossing and turning all night by strange noises, and the curtains suddenly began to flutter like ghostly figures.
Being cowardly by nature, he quickly got out of bed and turned on the lights, only to discover that the curtains were moving because of the wind—the window had been left open at some point.
As soon as he lay back down, that uneasy feeling struck him again, and he seemed to feel a small, cold, delicate hand gently caressing his neck.
"Who's there? Are you going to let people sleep or not? Get the hell out here! I don't care if you're human or a ghost, if you dare touch me, I'll make you turn to ashes right now!" Brandishing a stool, Cheng Fangnan searched everywhere inside the room, his nerves strained to the breaking point and his legs shaking uncontrollably.
After searching once and finding nothing, he turned his head and saw that the distance outside the window was a cemetery.
Row upon row of lights were actually lit, looking exceptionally eerie.
Bad luck! When he had gone to sleep earlier, he hadn't noticed that the cemetery could be seen from here.
He got up to look for Song Lian, and as he passed Yuyin's doorway, he playfully slapped the door in a prank. There was no movement inside, so Cheng Fangnan assumed Yuyin was asleep and quietly pushed the door open.The door opened, and he saw a figure sitting by the bay window. Strands of hair drifted in the breeze behind her head, and when she looked up, she revealed a pale face, grinning at him.
"Ghost!" Cheng Fangnan cried out, terrified, as he collapsed onto the floor, his head hitting the door with a loud thud.
Hearing the commotion, Song Lian walked over in his pajamas. "What are you doing?"
"This damn woman scared me!" Cheng Fangnan, playing the victim, darted behind Song Lian for cover.
"Take a good look—you're the one who ran into my room," Yuyin said, making a face at him. Her fair, delicate skin looked even paler in the moonlight.
Cheng Fangnan couldn't take it any longer. Scared out of his wits, he scrambled to his feet and ran. "Marry whoever wants you! Even if you, Yuyin, were a fairy, I wouldn't want you!"
Song Lian watched Cheng Fangnan dash out and prepared to pull the door shut and leave. "Why did you scare him?"
"He brought it on himself. Sneaking into my room in the middle of the night instead of sleeping—I didn't beat him up, which is mercy enough," Yuyin said, lying back and stretching her limbs.
Song Lian glanced over and saw those two slender, fair, shapely legs under the thin blanket; he coughed and turned away.
"Yuyin, I am a man."
"I know. Back at the Lianxi Taoist Temple, I used to sleep naked," Yuyin said, resting her chin on her hand and smiling at him.
Song Lian walked out of the room in silence, even helping her close the door.
"Mr. Song, if you let me stay here for the night, I'll read your fortune. I told you before, the Cheng Family is headed for disaster, and anyone who comes into contact with them will be implicated. You and Cheng Fangnan are so close—the disaster heading your way is even greater."
Song Lian was skeptical of Yuyin’s motives. They were complete strangers, yet she was acting as if she had his best interests at heart.
"You should find your own place to stay tomorrow. They are too familiar with this place; they might keep coming by to harass you."
"Hmm." Yuyin was truly sleepy. She clutched her phone and burrowed into the quilt, though her two slender legs remained exposed.
Song Lian retreated from the room, unable to fall asleep no matter how hard he tried.
He returned to his studio. Just as he picked up his brush, a devastating sight met his eyes: the painting he had spent half a month on looked as if it had been soaked in rain, with all the colors bled together into a mess.
The painting had been commissioned for 100,000 yuan as a character promotional piece for a television drama.
He suddenly began to believe what Yuyin had said—that getting close to the Cheng Family was a stroke of misfortune.
But what if he, too, shared the Cheng name?
Song Lian felt he had to uncover the truth behind Yuyin breaking off the engagement.
...
The next morning, Yuyin left bright and early. She had originally intended to rent a small room, but after seeing a large transfer hit her phone, she decided renting an apartment would be just fine.
The money must have come from Cheng Songbai; he was so desperate now that he would give Yuyin everything in the world just to change her mind.
Yuyin transferred every cent of the money to her cousin, telling her to take it to the hospital for the surgery fees. The previous amount had likely run out.
Upon receiving the million yuan, Xu Weiying called her immediately.
"Cou... cousin, did you rob a bank, or have you been diagnosed with a terminal illness? How am I supposed to spend this much money?"
"It’s for Grandma's medical expenses."
Before Yuyin could finish, Xu Weiying took a taxi to meet her. They rendezvoused in a small alley, afraid of being spotted by anyone from the Cheng Family.
Hearing that Yuyin was headed to the hospital, Xu Weiying pulled out her makeup bag. "The Cheng Family is looking for you everywhere. You can't go to the hospital with that face. It just so happens that I learned some special effects makeup from a classmate; let me try it out on you."
Yuyin let her have her way. There was no harm in letting her experiment since it didn't cost anything, and she figured Xu Weiying was right.
Xu Weiying was a bit heavy-handed, and lacking experience, she drew Yuyin’s eyebrows too thick and applied the blush too heavily. It looked nothing like the "special effects" they’d agreed on; instead, she looked like one of the paper figures of a golden boy or jade girl.
"Where's the mirror?" Yuyin asked.
Xu Weiying hurriedly grabbed her hands. "Cousin, I have a friend who’s been running into bad luck lately and wants to consult a master. You know, why let outsiders profit when we can keep the business in the family? Such a good commission shouldn't go to someone else."
Yuyin turned to look at her, sensing that Xu Weiying’s expression was off.