Chapter 241: I Agree, But I Have One Condition!

Chapter 241: I Agree, But I Have One Condition!

Wu Chen knew what He Shiqin was thinking.

What she said and what she actually believed were two very different things.

On the surface it looked as though she had thrown caution to the wind, as though she would let something real happen between them purely to take revenge on Ding Ruilong, purely to disgust him.

But Wu Chen knew He Shiqin was not that kind of woman.

She would never degrade herself simply to get back at someone.

And yet she really was undressing.

Any number of things had brought her to this point.

First, back at the door earlier, she had already crossed that line in her own mind.

Second, she was now caught in a place with no way forward and no way back. Whether or not she cooperated with Wu Chen, if the truth about Dong Yuantao ever surfaced, she would die.

Wu Chen, on the other hand, could protect her and her daughter both.

And more important than any of it—

He Shiqin had no idea what Wu Chen intended for He Xinxin.

All she knew was that the two of them had met yesterday, and the bond between them had formed almost instantly.

Xinxin seemed to like this teacher enormously. She had shown not a trace of resistance to learning painting from him, and had been obedient in every way.

Wu Chen had been friendly to Xinxin from beginning to end, forever praising her talent.

But what his real attitude toward her daughter was, He Shiqin had no way to judge.

She found Wu Chen terrifying.

The way he had approached her was terrifying.

He could paint, yes. That much was true.

But wanting to be Xinxin’s tutor had been false. A means to an end.

Which meant yesterday’s warmth might also have been false.

He Shiqin was genuinely afraid Wu Chen might hurt Xinxin simply because she was Ding Ruilong’s daughter.

What was she supposed to do?

Then she might as well—

Everything together had brought her to the point where she truly had thrown caution aside.

The barrier in her mind had already fallen.

Revenge on Ding Ruilong.

Protection for herself.

Insurance against Wu Chen ever hurting Xinxin.

And because Xinxin was her daughter too—

she would sleep with him.

Wu Chen was young and handsome besides, ten years her junior. At this moment there was nothing left in her that resisted the idea.

“You don’t need to do this.”

Wu Chen’s expression did not change. He turned his head and smiled.

“I think we should establish a relatively straightforward cooperative relationship first. Our goals are the same.”

He Shiqin was not listening to a word of it.

She wanted to solve the problem with her body.

This was the second time in this suite today. The first time, she had thought Wu Chen was coercing her for sex. The second time, the reasons ran far deeper, the sum of everything she had weighed.

That way of thinking traced directly back to the damage Ding Ruilong had done her all those years ago.

It was a scar on her mind that would never fade for the rest of her life.

So whenever she met another problem she could not solve, one that could reshape her whole life and even threaten her safety, her instinct was to handle it this way.

She believed it worked.

She also believed all men were the same.

Ding Ruilong had “taught” her that.

The tie at the waist of her dress was already undone. She let it fall to the floor and lifted both hands to raise the hem.

“Have you ever considered—”

Wu Chen asked, “what would happen someday if Xinxin found out that I killed her biological father?”

Her hands stopped at once.

She let go, and the dress fell naturally back into place.

Without the tie it was only looser, no longer close against her body, hanging like a soft house dress.

He Shiqin cared far too much about her daughter.

Which meant that when Wu Chen wanted to stop her from doing something, all he had to do was mention He Xinxin.

“She— she—”

He Shiqin went tense. Her eyes widened, her expression changed again, and her gaze flickered.

“We won’t let her know!”

“Sit.”

Wu Chen gestured toward the chair.

“We haven’t finished talking.”

Her breathing had gone slightly heavy from agitation. She paused, then walked back to the wicker chair across from him and sat down.

“Xinxin thinks her father died a long time ago,” she said, looking at him.

“I know,” Wu Chen said.

“All these years you’ve told her that her father left you not long after you got pregnant. That he was a bad man. And that he died in a car accident years ago.”

“You even considered telling her that her father was a murderer who was arrested and executed. But you thought it over and abandoned that version, because you didn’t want Xinxin growing up under the weight of having a murderer for a father.”

He Shiqin visibly froze.

Because Wu Chen did not merely know what she had told her daughter.

He knew what she had once considered telling her.

He knew what had gone through her mind?

“How do you know that?” she blurted.

“That isn’t important.”

Wu Chen smiled.

Of course he could not tell her that during the thousand-year loop he had slept with her. Using an entirely different approach, he had won her over within a single day—many times over.

After winning her over, before they actually went to sleep, they had sometimes lain there talking. Wu Chen had asked about Xinxin’s father.

What she had once thought of doing, she had told him herself.

“Xinxin— Xinxin can’t know. She absolutely cannot know.”

By the end her tone had turned hard.

“I think so too. She can’t know. On that point we agree.”

Wu Chen smiled, then said in a very level voice, “Actually, I did once consider whether I might be able to make Xinxin kill Ding Ruilong without her knowing what she was doing—”

Before he could finish, the color drained from her face.

“But I turned it over again and again, and I abandoned the idea.”

He went on, still smiling.

“However Ding Ruilong dies, he’ll have earned it. For everything he’s done over the years, executing him a hundred times wouldn’t be too much.”

“But Xinxin is innocent.”

“She has every opportunity and every right to live happily inside her own world. I shouldn’t be that cruel to her. I’m not in the habit of taking my anger out on innocent people.”

“Unless they threaten me.”

He Shiqin eased again, though a chill still moved over her skin.

Because the mere fact that such a thought had ever crossed his mind was terrifying enough.

Fortunately, he had rejected it himself.

“Then what do you plan to do with Xinxin?” she asked uneasily.

“Keep her away from the center of the storm. She’s still young. Her life is only beginning.”

He smiled as he said it.

“If you agree to take Xinxin to Donghai and stay there for a while, then once you’ve testified, I’ll arrange for the two of you to leave the country.”

“From the moment the Ding family first runs into trouble to the moment it’s completely destroyed could take several months.”

“During those months, you’ll both be very safe overseas. You won’t come into contact with any of the conflict.”

“Once the Ding family matter is over, you can return to China.”

Silence.

They looked at each other.

He Shiqin understood perfectly that once she agreed, there would be no way back. If Wu Chen’s plan failed, he could very well get her and her daughter killed.

And as for everything he had told her, all the circumstances he had laid out—apart from the matter of Dong Yuantao, she had no way of judging what was true and what was not.

But she felt the odds were overwhelming that he was telling the truth.

That inexplicable trust did not come only from his candor.

It came from the impossible things she had already watched him do.

Even now she could not work it out. She had been the one who went looking for him. So how had it turned into Wu Chen deliberately approaching her?

He had also told her secrets she knew for certain were real.

Even thoughts that had never left her own head.

It was uncanny.

But the single most important thing was this: Wu Chen had already had the chance to trick her and He Xinxin into going to Donghai. She had suggested it herself, taking her daughter there for a while so Xinxin could study painting with him.

And he had not deceived her into going.

He had laid his cards on the table instead and spelled everything out.

And there was more.

He had refused her body twice.

He Shiqin genuinely could not imagine what else he could possibly want from her if he were lying.

She could not find a motive for him to deceive her.

“One more thing.”

Wu Chen spoke again suddenly, smiling.

“While you’re in Donghai, I’ll go on teaching Xinxin painting as her teacher. Her talent really is quite good.”

Only Wu Chen could manage He Xinxin.

A small reminder.

It could be called the final straw.

“All right. I agree.”

He Shiqin spoke at last.

She agreed outright.

Then she paused, looked him straight in the eyes, and added, “But I have one condition.”

“Go ahead.”

Wu Chen smiled.

“I absolutely have to cuckold Ding Ruilong. No misunderstanding. I want it to be real.”

And as she said it, He Shiqin stood up.

The third time.