Chapter 137: Fated to Meet, Destined to Part

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“Make me regret it for the rest of my life? Ha, ha, ha...” Qi Junyuan burst out laughing as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world. He laughed without restraint, without even knowing what he was laughing at.

Mo Fei had confronted him repeatedly and even threatened him. Though Qi Junyuan was seething with resentment, he had still managed to hold himself back. For one thing, he was mindful of the consequences of tearing their relationship apart completely. For another, Mo Fei was, after all, a woman of equal standing who might one day become his wife. The basis of a family-arranged marriage was not deep affection between the two parties, but mutual benefit. As long as there was no direct conflict of interest, falling out on the spot would be nothing short of foolish.

But Hong Chen was nothing in his eyes except a nobody from some insignificant backwater. Now this nobody was relying on someone else’s power to threaten him as well. It was utterly absurd and completely unreasonable!

“Have you laughed enough? If you have, answer my question.” Hong Chen’s expression did not change in the slightest. He spoke again to urge Qi Junyuan on, his tone still as indifferent as water.

The laughter stopped abruptly. Qi Junyuan’s smile vanished, replaced by a face dark with anger and a trace of ferocity. In a chilling voice, he said, “What are you supposed to be? Do you think you’re worthy of questioning me? You want to make me regret it for the rest of my life? Believe me, I could crush you right now. It wouldn’t take much more effort than crushing an ant.”

At that moment, Qi Junyuan had none of the warmth or charm of a perfect idol. He was like a beast driven into a rage, one step away from baring its fangs.

Mo Fei’s expression turned cold. “Qi Junyuan, do you think I was joking? Then let me make myself perfectly clear. Hong Chen saved my life, and he is also my personal assistant. Anyone who touches him becomes my mortal enemy. I will fight them to the bitter end!”

Taking in the determination between Mo Fei’s brows, Qi Junyuan frowned and glanced at Hong Chen. Then, suddenly laughing out of sheer fury, he said, “Mo Fei, don’t tell me you’ve been acting for so long that you can no longer distinguish fiction from reality. Let me tell you this: the love between a princess and a commoner exists only in fairy tales. In the real world, it will receive no one’s blessing. It will only end in two people who are destined to miss each other. There is absolutely no other possibility.”

He narrowed his eyes, and his smile grew somewhat mysterious. “Besides, I wonder whether he has told you that he is already a married man.”

Mo Fei’s pupils contracted slightly, and for no apparent reason, her heart seemed to sink into a sudden emptiness. Yet not a trace of it showed on her face. Furrowing her brows, she said coldly, “Qi Junyuan, my private affairs have nothing to do with you. You need only remember what I said. Do not treat it as something to be ignored, or the next time we meet, we will be enemies.”

At the end of her words, she glared at Hong Chen. “Why are you so interested in other people’s private affairs? Besides, he is a celebrity. Even if something did happen, do you honestly think he would admit it to your face? Aren’t you leaving? Do you really need to be thrown out?”

Her words jolted Hong Chen awake from his delusion. The photographs had provoked him, which was why he had stubbornly insisted on an answer. But the truth was that no real answer could possibly be obtained at present. If so, what was the point of continuing this deadlock?

Hong Chen did not insist any further. He immediately rose and left.

Liao Tingrui courteously escorted Mo Fei and the others downstairs before returning to the third-floor terrace. There she found Qi Junyuan sitting beside the dining table. His white suit had already been removed, and the top three buttons of his shirt had been pulled open. He held several photographs in his hand, his expression gloomy.

Liao Tingrui approached him with her head lowered and softly called, “Young Master Qi.”

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Qi Junyuan casually handed her two photographs and ordered, “Given Mo Fei’s temper, after she has made herself this clear, touching that boy again would only force her to turn against me. For now, I have no desire to fall out with Mo Fei completely. If we cannot touch him, then we can touch the people around him. One is his wife, and the other is his sister-in-law. At first, I was only planning to pay them a little money and have them serve me for a few nights. But now, I want to take them away. Once I grow tired of them, I’ll turn them into call girls and have them earn money for the company. Handle this quickly. I’ll be staying in Green City for at most another week.”

The two photographs clearly showed Lin Yuxin and Lin Yufei.

After giving his instructions, Qi Junyuan slowly rose and walked back inside. As he passed Zhang Yan, who was still lying unconscious on the floor, he extended a foot and nudged her face.

“Take her to the hospital and have her broken bones set. Then get her plastic surgery. Put the cost on the company account and let her pay it back slowly as a call girl.”

Liao Tingrui hurriedly agreed. A trace of sorrow flashed through her eyes. Zhang Yan had lost her usefulness and had been discarded mercilessly by Qi Junyuan. When one rabbit dies, the others grieve; what had happened to Zhang Yan today might well happen to her tomorrow...

When Hong Chen had driven Mo Fei to the meeting, he had come alone in his GTR. When they left, a Cadillac followed behind it. Mo Fei was still sitting in Hong Chen’s GTR. Seeing the troubled look on his face, she hesitated again and again before finally asking, “Were there women you knew in those photographs?”

Hong Chen did not look at her, but he nodded. “My wife and my sister-in-law.”

Mo Fei was slightly surprised. So that was why Hong Chen had asked Qi Junyuan such a childish question, at least from her perspective. It was like the fans at a fan meeting who always loved asking celebrities about their private lives during the interaction session. They did not understand that nine out of ten answers celebrities gave were false, while even the one truth had been carefully embellished to benefit their public image.

Mo Fei lightly bit her red lips. After a moment of hesitation, she could not help asking, “If you have a wife, why do you live alone?”

Hong Chen did not hide the truth. “My wife and I are married by agreement. I’m a live-in son-in-law who depends on his wife for support. My mother-in-law doesn’t like me, so I had no choice but to move out and live by myself.”

A glimmer appeared in Mo Fei’s eyes. When she had first heard that Hong Chen was a married man, she had felt inexplicably uncomfortable. Now that she knew it was only a marriage of convenience, her mood inexplicably brightened.

“Could it be that I’ve truly fallen for him?” Her innermost feelings could not deceive her. The thought suddenly surfaced in Mo Fei’s mind and startled her. She immediately shook her head and denied it to herself. Without realizing it, a bitter smile touched the corners of her lips.

Mo Fei knew her own identity all too well. She also knew that when it came to her future marriage, she would only be allowed to choose from a list of options; she would never be permitted to fill in the answer herself. Love was a luxury she could not afford. She and Hong Chen belonged to two different worlds. Their meeting was fate, but they were not destined to be together.

Green City was destined to be only one stop along her journey through life, and Hong Chen was destined to be no more than a passing traveler in it.

Hong Chen suddenly asked, “Since Qi Junyuan is your fiancé, even if only in name, you must know something about him. Can you tell me?”

His abrupt change of subject left Mo Fei momentarily stunned. After ten seconds of silence, she finally said, “He’s a hypocrite who only pretends to be a gentleman. He’s narcissistic and conceited. You were right about one thing earlier: of the hundred things he says, perhaps not even one is true.”

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As she spoke, she seemed to realize something and warned him, “Those photographs contained pictures of your wife and sister-in-law. If you care about them, you’d better warn them as soon as possible. Qi Junyuan appears to be a gentleman, but in truth he’s a womanizer. I may not care for him, but objectively speaking, he meets—or even exceeds—the standards most girls have for a partner in every respect. On top of that, he has the halo of a celebrity. The girls he sets his sights on don’t have a particularly high chance of escaping him.”

Hong Chen took a moment to absorb this. A cold glint flickered deep in his eyes, but on the surface he merely smiled and nodded without saying a word.

Mo Fei did not spend the night at Hong Chen’s villa again. At an intersection in the city center, she made a gesture indicating that he should contact her by phone, then got out of the car and boarded the Cadillac behind them.

The GTR pulled over by the roadside. Hong Chen watched the Cadillac drive away until it finally disappeared at the end of the road. He lit a cigarette and smoked it, then lit another and smoked that one as well. He lit a third. By the time he finished it, he had made his decision. Taking out his phone, he dialed a number.

Twenty minutes later, Hong Chen arrived at the entrance to the residential compound where Lin Yuxin lived. He had barely pulled over when a dark figure appeared like a ghost, opened the passenger door, and got in.

A black leather jacket and trousers, black hair, and dark, gleaming eyes lent Qiu an air of mystery.

Hong Chen first took out his phone and displayed photographs of Qi Junyuan, Lin Yuxin, and Lin Yufei to Qiu.

Then he gave Qiu detailed instructions. During the explanation, he first made a chopping gesture across his hand, then drew a finger across his eyes, and finally drew it across his throat.

Qiu nodded silently, her expression utterly impassive. As soon as Hong Chen finished speaking, she got out of the car without hesitation and left on her own.

Hong Chen lowered his head and stared at his phone screen for a long time. In the end, he decided that since he had not obtained an answer from Qi Junyuan, he would ask Lin Yuxin directly and make her tell him the truth.

He sent her a message:

Are you home?

Lin Yuxin replied almost immediately:

I am. Come home and stay tonight. Grandma’s birthday celebration is on Saturday, and Mom and Dad were called over early to help with the preparations. I’m the only one at home.

Hong Chen had originally intended to ask Lin Yuxin to come downstairs. But after reading the message, his heart stirred, and he replied with a single word:

All right.

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