Shock, astonishment, speechlessness, bitterness, embarrassment, shame, disbelief…
The expression on the usually placid Ding Lan's face was now a complex mask of emotions.
Lin Qingyun looked at Ding Lan and said, "Miss Ding, you once told Zhao Dong to accept his ordinary life. Now, let me offer you some words in return."
"And what would that be?" Ding Lan bit her lip.
Lin Qingyun smiled faintly. "It's this: thank you, Miss Ding, for breaking up with Zhao Dong. Otherwise, I never would have found such an outstanding man. Thank you for not holding him back."
Ding Lan's face turned deathly pale in an instant, followed by a burning flush of shame.
By the time she collected herself, Zhao Dong and Lin Qingyun were already seated in a private room.
Zhao Dong scratched his head and looked at Lin Qingyun across from him. "Thanks for helping me out back there."
Lin Qingyun just glanced at him and rolled her eyes.
Soon, the dishes arrived, but Lin Qingyun ate absently.
Zhao Dong couldn't take it anymore. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Lin Qingyun put down her utensils, her gaze wistful. "Zhao Dong, would it be so bad for me to be your woman?"
Without a second thought, Zhao Dong replied, "It would be good. Very good."
"Then why can't you marry me?"
"Let's not talk about this. I truly have my reasons, and I'm doing this for your own good. Besides, I know you have a fiancé from the Xiao Family of the Provincial City."
Lin Qingyun was taken aback. "How did you know that?"
"A woman named Xu Yafei told me. She said she's both your best friend and your rival."
Lin Qingyun's expression instantly turned cold. "I don't know how you met her, but let me give you a piece of advice: don't get too close to that woman!"
"Why?"
"Because you're too naive. I'm afraid you'd end up dead without even knowing how it happened."
Zhao Dong was surprised. Why was Lin Qingyun so hostile toward Xu Yafei?
"Did she tell you anything else?"
"She said that your fiancé is arriving in East Sea tonight and that he plans to propose to you publicly at a banquet," Zhao Dong added with a self-deprecating laugh.
Lin Qingyun bit her lip so hard her face grew pale.
Zhao Dong sighed. "Honestly, I don't get why you want to marry me. Your fiancé is so exceptional... I'm a piece of shit compared to him. At the end of the day, I just slept with you."
"You bastard, Zhao Dong!"
SNAP!
Lin Qingyun's palm struck Zhao Dong's face, and her own eyes reddened with tears.
Zhao Dong was stunned for a moment before touching his stinging cheek. "That was a good hit. If you're not satisfied, keep going until you've had enough."
Tears streamed down Lin Qingyun's face.
Zhao Dong wanted to comfort her but didn't know what to say.
Lin Qingyun spoke, her voice hoarse, "Zhao Dong, my engagement to Xiao Hongtian was arranged entirely by my father. I'm completely against these family-arranged marriages. On top of that, Xiao Hongtian is a complete scumbag. He not only fools around with other women, but he's also cruel, ruthless, and treacherous. Do you understand now why I don't want to marry him?"
Zhao Dong's mouth twitched.
Lin Qingyun wiped her tears away and gave Zhao Dong a self-mocking smile. "It's true, I look down on you. Compared to Xiao Hongtian, you're a total waste. But you surpass him in one regard."
"And what's that?"
Lin Qingyun closed her eyes as another tear escaped. "You took my virginity."
Zhao Dong was left speechless. He sullenly lit a cigarette and remained silent.
Lin Qingyun continued mournfully, "I came looking for you because of tonight's banquet. I want you to attend with me, as my man."
"And if I don't go?"
"Then I'll be taken away by Xiao Hongtian."
A sharp pain lanced through Zhao Dong's heart.
They say even one night as a couple creates a bond that lasts. To just let such a beautiful, outstanding woman—a woman he had slept with—be taken away by another man… he would be a real piece of scum. But what could he possibly do if he went? Xiao Hongtian is a young master from the Provincial City's Xiao Family, and I'm just a veteran. Worse, I have a terminal illness. If I agree to help Lin Qingyun, I'd just be pushing her off an even deeper cliff. Marrying a scumbag is better than marrying a dying man like me.
Thinking this, Zhao Dong sighed softly. "I'm sorry... I can't agree to your request. I actually hope you marry Xiao Hongtian."
Lin Qingyun looked as if she had been struck by lightning, the color draining completely from her face. She couldn't seem to believe those words had come from Zhao Dong's mouth.
After a long silence, she gave a tragic, resigned smile. "Zhao Dong, you will remember this day for the rest of your life. Always!"
"Because today is the day you personally pushed me into the abyss! I will hate you forever!"
Lin Qingyun turned and left. Zhao Dong stood there, dazed, for a long while before finally rising and walking numbly out of the restaurant.
「Outside the restaurant」
"Zhao Dong!" a voice called out as soon as he stepped outside.
He stopped and turned to see Ding Lan. "What is it?" he asked numbly.
Ding Lan bit her lip. "Can we talk for a moment?"
Zhao Dong shook his head. "No. If you have something to say, just say it here."
Ding Lan's expression stiffened, and she asked awkwardly, "When did you get a girlfriend?"
Zhao Dong frowned at her. "What about it?"
She forced an unnatural smile. "Did you meet her after we broke up, or before?"
"Does asking that even have a point now?" Zhao Dong said coolly.
"It does!"
Zhao Dong shook his head. "I don't want to answer that. Is there anything else?"
Ding Lan's body trembled slightly. "Zhao Dong... I don't want our relationship to be this strained. You know I had my reasons for the breakup. It was my parents..."
"Enough!" Zhao Dong cut her off with a cold glare before turning and walking away, leaving Ding Lan watching his back, her lower lip caught tightly between her teeth.
「By the riverside」
Not far from his small courtyard, Zhao Dong bought a few cans of beer and sat drinking alone by the river, a heavy weight pressing down on his heart. Lin Qingyun's final words echoed relentlessly in his mind. He chugged a beer and gasped for air.
"Well, well, drinking your sorrows away? Let me guess, is it about what's happening tonight?"
Jiang Nianyu's cheerful voice came from behind him. An instant later, she sat down beside him as if they were old friends. "You're hesitating about whether to go tonight, aren't you?" she asked, popping open a beer and taking a sip.
"Yes," Zhao Dong admitted.
Jiang Nianyu wiped a drop of beer from her alluring red lips. "If you go tonight, Xiao Hongtian will definitely have you killed. If you don't go, you'll live... but Lin Qingyun will be finished."
Zhao Dong took a hard swallow of beer. "Is that Xiao Hongtian really so terrifying? I was a special forces soldier. Can he really just kill me that easily?"
Jiang Nianyu rolled her eyes. "To an ordinary person, a special forces soldier is a legend. But to a master like Xiao Hongtian, you're a joke. And that's not even mentioning the Xiao Family backing him."
Zhao Dong frowned. "A master? Like that guy from last night? He said he was an Inner Strength master. Is Xiao Hongtian one too?"
"Exactly. In Huaxia, powerful individuals like them are called Inner Strength masters. The man who tried to kill you last night was a fifth-level Inner Strength master. I wouldn't have been able to kill him if I hadn't spent half the day setting up a surprise attack. And Xiao Hongtian... he's even stronger."
With that, Zhao Dong finally understood the gap between himself and Xiao Hongtian. He had always thought his special forces training made him powerful. Now, that seemed laughable.
Jiang Nianyu stood up and glanced at the time. "It's four o'clock in the afternoon. The banquet starts in two hours at the East Sea International Hotel. Whether you go or not is up to you," she said with a smile. Before her voice had faded, her figure was already distant.
Zhao Dong clenched his fists and slammed one into the ground.
Why do I have to be terminally ill? Why am I so weak? If only I were a master too!
「Back at the courtyard」
Zhao Dong staggered into his room and collapsed onto the bed, thoroughly drunk. Feeling the lumpy book of the Mystic Sky Technique beneath the bedsheets, he, as if moved by some mysterious force, took it out and began to read.
He gazed at the fine script and read aloud, "Nature of heaven and earth, let foul energies disperse. Within the void of the cavern, the Great Origin brightly gleams. Divine might of the eight directions, let the celestial net answer, with the profound astral energy of the cavern..."
As soon as he finished reading, a sharp pain lanced through his brain, followed by an indescribable sensation that spread through his entire body!
Zhao Dong shot upright, silently feeling the changes. After a few seconds, his pupils contracted, and he was completely stunned...
「That evening」
As night fell and the city lights began to twinkle, a white Ferrari pulled up to the entrance of the East Sea International Hotel. Lin Qingyun emerged from the car.
Faint tear tracks were still visible on her beautiful face, and her eyes were slightly red and swollen. She glanced around and saw a Rolls-Royce with a Provincial City license plate parked nearby. Her face paled instantly. She checked her phone one last time, but there were no messages from Zhao Dong.
Letting out a self-deprecating laugh, she abandoned all hope and walked into the hotel, moving like her soul had been torn from her body.
「Across the city」
Zhao Dong sat cross-legged on his bed. He clenched his hand into a fist and threw a punch. A terrifying shockwave tore through the air, which filled with an indescribable, oppressive force!
Zhao Dong muttered to himself, "I, Zhao Dong... did I really succeed?!"