Chapter 106: A Shift in Mindset

Chapter 106: A Shift in Mindset

“Yaxin, do you hate me very much right now?” Lin Cong suddenly looked at Chen Yaxin and asked.

“What?” Chen Yaxin froze, seemingly unable to understand.

“You’ve liked me ever since we were children. You’ve done so much for me, and you’ve never even found yourself a boyfriend. Yet I’ve never given you any promise in return,” Lin Cong said.

Chen Yaxin stared at him in astonishment without saying a word. She had never expected him to suddenly say something like that.

The atmosphere in the room instantly grew oppressive.

Several minutes passed before Lin Cong finally spoke again. He looked at Chen Yaxin with a complicated expression. “Yaxin, actually, I…”

Before he could finish, Chen Yaxin interrupted him.

“I know. In your heart, I’ll always be that little girl who never grew up. You’ve always regarded me as your younger sister.” Chen Yaxin smiled, though there was a bitter edge to it.

“I…”

Lin Cong opened his mouth but said no more. His gaze toward Chen Yaxin was exceedingly complicated. What he had meant to say was not that at all, but after she interrupted him, he could no longer bring himself to continue.

“Lin Cong, may I ask you something?” Chen Yaxin said.

“What is it?” Lin Cong asked in return, the calm smile once again returning to his face.

“You’ve always been a man of principle, yet a few days ago you took the initiative to break the rules and help me obtain control of the Xuhui project. Why?” After asking the question, Chen Yaxin looked at him with complete seriousness.

“What do you mean, why?” Lin Cong smiled. “It’s only control of a piece of land. What reason could there be?”

“Is that so?”

Chen Yaxin gave a bitter smile and looked at him. “I’m not suited to this project. Everyone in the Qilin Society knows that. If you hadn’t insisted, the project would never have fallen into my hands. Ying Zipeng was the most suitable candidate.”

Lin Cong frowned as he looked at her.

“Are you trying to compensate me this way? And at the same time keep me occupied because you’re afraid I’ll ruin your marriage to Fu Ziqing?” Chen Yaxin asked bluntly.

“Yaxin, do you really think I’m that kind of scheming villain?” Lin Cong said with an awkward smile.

“You’re admitting it by refusing to explain.” Chen Yaxin continued, her expression complicated. “Actually, you don’t need to worry. It’s true that I like you. I wouldn’t even care if I had to follow you without a title. But you’ve underestimated me, Chen Yaxin. I may love you, but I’m not so shameless that I would destroy your marriage to Fu Ziqing.”

Her voice rose, carrying a trace of resentment.

“Yaxin…”

“I understand. In your heart, I’m nothing more than a little sister. I’ll know my place, and I absolutely won’t pester you in the future.” Her expression grew even more complicated. “Lin Cong, since you’ve come here today, perhaps it’s better for us to say everything openly, so you won’t have to avoid me every time you see me.”

Lin Cong frowned again.

“Lin Cong, I wish you happiness with the woman you love.” Chen Yaxin suddenly offered him her blessing, though her smile held no joy.

“Yaxin, don’t be like this.”

Lin Cong suddenly rose to his feet and walked over to Chen Yaxin. Looking down at the woman who had followed him for more than twenty years, he instinctively reached out to touch the top of her head.

But Chen Yaxin deftly moved out of reach.

Lin Cong froze once more. That affectionate gesture was something only he and Chen Yaxin shared, and even then, he rarely did it. Whenever he had, Chen Yaxin would smile foolishly and let him run his fingers through her hair, looking like a lovestruck girl.

But now, she had moved away.

Chen Yaxin realized that her reaction had been somewhat abrupt and gave an awkward smile. “I’m not a little girl anymore. And you’re about to become a man with a fiancée. It wouldn’t look good if someone saw you touching me like that.”

“That’s right. You’ve grown up.” Lin Cong smiled awkwardly and withdrew his hand.

Yet his heart felt strangely bitter. If what he had sensed before had merely been an illusion, then he was certain now: a rift had truly appeared between them, as though an invisible barrier had risen between them.

The distance made Lin Cong deeply uncomfortable. It was as if something that had once belonged to him had been forcefully taken away, leaving him frustrated and unwilling to accept it.

He had never cared that much about Chen Yaxin. In his eyes, she was a follower, a beautiful sight to behold—but certainly not a lover.

And yet he had grown accustomed to her presence.

Lin Cong slowly raised his head and looked once more at Chen Yaxin’s graceful, voluptuous figure. Suddenly, he made up his mind and smiled.

“Yaxin, the reason I came here today wasn’t only to check on your health. I also wanted to confess something to you.”

“What?” Chen Yaxin asked in confusion.

“The truth is, it isn’t that I feel nothing for you.” After a moment’s hesitation, Lin Cong spoke, his eyes fixed seriously on hers.

“Ah…”

Chen Yaxin stared at him in shock and remained silent for a long time, completely stunned by his words.

Lin Cong said he had feelings for her?

Was he confessing his love?

Chen Yaxin’s mind went blank. She lost the ability to think.

“I’m speaking from the heart. I came here today because I wanted to make everything clear to you. You’ve been by my side since childhood, and you’ve grown into such a beautiful woman. It would be impossible for me to feel nothing for you.” Lin Cong’s expression turned solemn. “But I can’t make you any promises, and I can’t marry you. That’s why I’ve always kept my distance—I was afraid of hurting you. But now Grandfather has decided that I must marry Fu Ziqing. As the eldest son of the Lin family, I have to consider the interests of the family, so…”

“So you have to marry Fu Ziqing. What about me? What do you intend to do with me?” Chen Yaxin had come back to herself by then. She looked at Lin Cong with a strange expression, unable to understand his sudden confession or what he hoped to accomplish.

“So, if you don’t mind, we could…”

“I mind!”

Chen Yaxin suddenly cut him off, leaving Lin Cong rigid with surprise.

“I’m sorry. My mind is a mess right now. Could you give me some time to think? I want to be alone for a while.” Chen Yaxin spoke apologetically, not daring to meet his eyes.

“It’s all right. This is, after all, a major decision in your life. Calm down and think it over carefully. Whatever choice you make, I’ll support you.” Lin Cong smiled gently.

But at that moment, Chen Yaxin was completely unable to notice his tenderness.

“Mm.” Chen Yaxin nodded lightly, then added, “It’s getting late. I won’t keep you for dinner. I wouldn’t want the Fu family to hear about it and misunderstand you.”

“All right, then I’ll leave first. You must take good care of yourself.” Lin Cong nodded without saying anything more. He turned and walked out of the living room, then out of the villa.

“Click.”

Seated in his car, Lin Cong lit a cigarette and drew on it hard. He then turned back toward Chen Yaxin’s villa. Through the window, he could clearly see her standing on the steps, watching him leave like a young wife seeing her husband off.

But Lin Cong felt deeply oppressed.

He could clearly sense the distance Chen Yaxin had placed between them—a distance that had never existed before.

What was going on?

Could it be that she was truly angry because of the marriage proposal?

Lin Cong thought about it gloomily. At that moment, he suddenly realized how pathetic he was. When Chen Yaxin had followed him everywhere without complaint, he had failed to cherish her. Now that she had decided to give up on him, he suddenly found himself unable to let go.

If that wasn’t pathetic, what was?

And yet Lin Cong knew exactly what he felt. He truly did not want Chen Yaxin to leave him. That was why he had said what he did. Her strange behavior had made him realize that if he had not spoken those words today, he might never have had another chance.

She needed time to think.

Lin Cong withdrew his gaze. He, too, needed some time alone to consider matters of the heart.

“Where to now, Young Master Lin?” the driver asked after starting the car.

“Yuyuan.”

Lin Cong leaned back in the rear seat, his expression dark and troubled. He was a man, after all, and he had his own desires to vent. There was a woman at Yuyuan who could help him do just that.

—

Chen Yaxin continued watching until Lin Cong’s car had disappeared. Even then, she remained standing silently on the steps, lost in thought.

His words continued to echo in her mind.

Lin Cong had, in effect, been pursuing her. He wanted her to become his mistress?

If he had said such things a few days earlier, she would have been deliriously happy. She would have thrown herself into his arms without hesitation, because that had always been her greatest wish: to become Lin Cong’s woman. She would not have cared whether she was his third, fifth, or sixth woman. As long as she belonged to him, nothing else mattered.

But when she heard the implication behind his words just now, she felt no joy at all.

To be precise, she felt nothing but shock and surprise.

And when she saw Lin Cong hesitate before saying those words, Chen Yaxin felt as though the towering image of him in her heart had collapsed in an instant.

It was like watching a god suddenly fall from the heavens and become an ordinary mortal.

So Lin Cong was merely an ordinary man after all. It was only that she had idealized him far too much.

But at that moment, another face involuntarily surfaced in Chen Yaxin’s mind—a face far more handsome than Lin Cong’s.

Chu Fei.

In truth, Chu Fei’s image and presence had been circling uncontrollably through her thoughts these past few days. Most of what she remembered were scenes from that night of brutal fighting, along with the moments when Chu Fei had held her in his arms while battling the assassins.

At that moment, Chen Yaxin suddenly realized that compared with Chu Fei’s handsome, intensely masculine face, Lin Cong’s appearance was actually rather ordinary.

How could this be?

Why was she comparing Lin Cong with that Chu Fei?

Chen Yaxin suddenly came to her senses, her pretty face turning deathly pale.

—

Just as hidden currents surged throughout Donghai, Chu Fei was struggling to support his beautiful employer as they stumbled out of a nightclub.

Xi Menlu had drunk quite a lot that day. Her cheeks were flushed and alluring, and she swayed with every step. Her shapely legs, clad in sheer stockings, wobbled beneath her. If Chu Fei had not been holding her up, she would probably have collapsed onto the ground long ago.

[Don’t think Chen Yaxin’s description is overly detailed. There’s a major twist hidden here, so wait to be shocked, brothers and sisters!]

[Here is today’s fourth update. Two more chapters will be posted tonight. I’m going back to bury my head in writing!]