Volume One, Chapter Six: Reaching an Agreement
Lin Qianyu’s anxious voice came through the phone.
Lin Zhiyu tightened her grip on the phone unconsciously, a disdainful smile playing on her lips. She glanced down at the luggage by her feet, then spoke calmly.
“Brother, this is the last time I’ll call you that. From now on, Lin Zhiyu has nothing to do with the Lin family, and don’t come to me with any Lin family matters.”
As she finished speaking and was about to hang up, Lin Qianyu suddenly heard Lin Qianyu’s furious voice on the other end.
“Lin Zhiyu! Do you even understand what it means to be grateful? All these years, you’ve studied until your brain’s turned to mush! Isn’t Huanhuan like this because of you? Hurry up and come to the hospital! Don’t think you can threaten me with this!”
Lin Zhiyu frowned, about to respond, but her father, Lin Yuwen, interrupted with restrained anger.
“Family matters should be resolved behind closed doors, but now is not the time for you to be willful. Huanhuan’s condition is critical. If you still consider yourself my daughter, come to the hospital immediately!”
“Zhiyu, both you and Huanhuan are my daughters. It pains me to see either of you suffer. Huanhuan’s health was always fragile. Please, just listen, consider this a plea from your mother,” Cheng Nianhua wept in despair.
Everyone present was pressuring her to come and give a blood transfusion to the feigning Lin Yihuan.
Lin Zhiyu took a deep breath, closing her eyes as faces of everyone flooded her mind.
Years of disappointment, disdain, and those judgmental looks—she had truly had enough.
She no longer wanted to be bound by such moral coercion.
Leaving the Lin family was the only way to start a new life.
“I said it before, from now on, the Lin family and I have nothing to do with each other. Take care of your daughter yourselves, and never contact me again.”
“Don’t think saying this will threaten us. Who would believe you?” Lin Qianyu doubted, but before he could finish, Lin Zhiyu hung up.
The calls kept coming relentlessly.
A glance at the so-called messages of persuasion revealed that their main concern was still Lin Yihuan.
Perhaps finding it too annoying, Lin Zhiyu simply pulled out her SIM card and snapped it in two.
She rolled down the car window; the cold wind howled in, chilling to the bone.
Yet her expression remained unchanged as she tossed the broken SIM card out the window.
Sitting beside her, Shen Du watched everything without a flicker of emotion.
He watched the window rise again, then raised an eyebrow slightly, a trace of amusement flickering in his eyes.
“If it weren’t for the Lin family, you wouldn’t have suffered so much in the Shen household. What, just out and already planning to cut all ties?”
Lin Zhiyu’s expression was contemptuous. She looked at the red, swollen marks on her wrist—recently pinched—and a faint smile curved her lips.
“Clinging to what doesn’t belong to you is just another form of self-torture. Why bother?”
As the car drove off into an uncertain direction, Lin Zhiyu grew increasingly alert.
---
“So, Mr. Shen, where exactly are we going now?”
Shen Du’s deep gaze swept over her before he spoke coldly.
“To find a place to change your clothes. I’m not interested in torturing anyone.”
Inside the villa.
The maid had long prepared suitable clothes and was now leading Lin Zhiyu upstairs to bathe.
“Miss Lin, please this way.”
Lin Zhiyu nodded silently, then seemed to recall something and glanced at the man sitting on the sofa.
“If I wanted you harmed, I wouldn’t bring you here. This is my private villa—no one will disturb us.”
Shen Du took a sip of tea, then warned coldly.
Feeling his overwhelming aura, Lin Zhiyu shivered involuntarily.
She withdrew her gaze and followed the maid upstairs.
After washing and changing into clean clothes, Lin Zhiyu returned downstairs.
Standing there, she appeared somewhat restrained as she faced Shen Du, who had been waiting for some time.
“Sit. This time, we’re talking about cooperation, not as if I kidnapped you.”
Shen Du spoke softly, his gaze lingering on her for a moment.
Compared to the disheveled woman before, Lin Zhiyu now resembled a true heiress.
Lin Zhiyu nodded silently and sat opposite him, patiently waiting for him to speak.
She remembered the warning from the car clearly.
The more she spoke, the more mistakes she might make. It was better to remain silent.
A faint trace of invisible approval flickered in the man’s eyes.
It seemed he had chosen well.
After the maid placed the tea before Lin Zhiyu, she left with the others.
The large living room was left with just the two of them.
“How were the three years in the laboratory?”
Lin Zhiyu’s lips curled into a faint, indifferent smile upon hearing the question.
“What do you think, Mr. Shen? If it weren’t for the Shen family, I probably wouldn’t bear these injuries, and might not have healed fully to this day.”
Mentioning the laboratory, she couldn’t restrain the anger in her tone despite trying to calm herself.
Shen Du raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.
“So, now I’m giving you a chance for revenge, but I need your cooperation.”
---
Revenge again…
Lin Zhiyu frowned, staring at the man before her, but his expression remained calm, unreadable.
His inscrutability made her feel outmatched.
This was precisely why Lin Zhiyu hesitated.
Having barely escaped the devil’s grasp, she was naturally wary of being lured back into a trap.
“Miss Lin, with my power, if I wanted you dead, do you think you’d still be alive right now?”
The man’s cold voice echoed. His fingers tapped the table rhythmically, producing a chilling sound.
Lin Zhiyu clenched her fists silently but knew he spoke the truth.
This was not a matter of choice.
It was mandatory.
Sitting here meant she was destined to accept cooperation.
She exhaled slightly, withdrawing her thoughts, and nodded lightly.
“In that case, there’s no need for formalities. Mr. Shen, tell me what you want me to do.”
“Not so fast.” Shen Du’s gaze flickered over her as if seeing through her, searching for something beyond.
Lin Zhiyu, of course, didn’t know that what Shen Du truly desired was not her, but what was inside her body.
“It’s late. Rest here tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the laboratory.”
Shen Du rose, leaving those words behind as he headed upstairs.
Hearing “laboratory” made Lin Zhiyu’s scalp tingle.
She impulsively wanted to ask something…
“Lin Zhiyu, watch your tongue. Your life is in my hands now. Like I said, this is a cooperation. I can help you get everything you want, but you must cooperate. No tricks.”
Shen Du’s warning cut through the air.
“I’m not a patient man.”