How many loves can be relived in the story of a devoted CEO pursuing his wife?

Something stirred in the man's deep, unfathomable eyes. His chest heaved, and he suddenly grabbed Liu Sisi's hand.

It was clearly soft to the touch, with her own warmth and unique fragrance, yet there was an undeniable resilience hidden between her fingers.

Lin Xuedong's Adam's apple bobbed, and he uttered two words in a hoarse voice: "Sisi..."

Liu Sisi blinked her watery eyes gently, pursed her lips, and chuckled softly, "Didn't you say that you would always remember that you are my husband?"

As she finished speaking, she slowly raised her eyes and looked at Lin Lan, who was a few meters away. The wind had scattered her hair, her eyes were red, her lips were pale, and the makeup on her face was smeared with tears. Her exquisite beige coat was also stained with hideous blood, and she looked completely disheveled.

She sighed softly, "Lanlan, recognize this: he is my husband."

There were no sharp accusations, no boastful pride, only a straightforward statement of the facts.

But it is this tranquility that is more powerful than any heated argument.

She held onto Lin Xuedong's hand tightly, the warmth of their palms pressed together providing the strongest sense of security, as if silently declaring: this entanglement should end, and the place beside this man has always belonged to her alone.

The cold light, mixed with the chilly winter wind, seeped into Lin Lan's lungs, like a flower of despair in full bloom.

"Cough cough..." She bent over, her hands trembling uncontrollably, and the hand holding the iron railing could barely support her body weight.

Her phoenix eyes lost focus, yet narrowed dangerously, the gaze within them scraping inch by inch across the face that had been etched into her heart for twenty years, from age eight to twenty-eight. Each stroke felt as if she were tearing away the imprint in her heart as well.

The man's thin lips were tightly pressed together, his jawline trembled slightly, and his eyes suddenly lit up like a galaxy. Fine light patterns spread out and surrounded Liu Sisi, and his eyebrows were also tinged with warmth.

Every detail shrank and focused wildly in Lin Lan's pupils, eventually turning into thorns that pierced her flesh.

Ah!

Lin Lan twitched her lips: "But your husband allowed me to give birth to Zhiyuan!"

Xie Xue, still shaken, frowned as she held her grandson in her arms again. Hearing Lin Lan's words, she immediately widened her eyes and her voice was as sharp as fingernails scraping glass: "Lin Lan, you pervert! What have we done to wrong you? We supported your education and found you a job back then, and this is how you repay our kindness? Using a child as a bargaining chip, is your heart made of stone?"

With each word she spoke, the regret in her eyes almost overflowed. "You ungrateful wretch! You deserve to end up like this!"

Lin Lan was stunned by the barrage of accusations.

Her grip on the iron railing tightened suddenly. She looked at Xie Xue, and the anger she had just felt when she scolded her transformed into a deeper disgust as her chest heaved, as if Xie Xue were something filthy, and that even a glance at her would taint her with bad luck.

Lin Zhicheng, standing beside her, shrugged slightly, as if even glancing up at her was unnecessary.

That child, who was so carefully protected, was the key she thought could open the door to the Lin family, the "chip" she had gambled everything for. Now, he was just as unfamiliar as their faces.

In this family's eyes, the child is a treasure, but she, the birth mother, has become a sinner despised by everyone.

Lin Lan blinked, then looked at Lin Xuedong and Liu Sisi's clasped hands. Her expression gradually froze, finally shattering into a cold mockery.

It turns out that in this "family affection" she craved, everyone could see clearly that she was nothing more than a despicable clown who used her child to cling to life and throw a tantrum.

The wind weaves a net around my ears, blurring all sounds into a murmur.

The restaurant manager's shouts, the police's footsteps, the child's cries... all seemed distant and distorted, as if separated by a thick layer of glass.

"They're here..." She heard herself laugh, the laughter shattering, but a chill ran down her spine. "Brother, is this the result you wanted?"

"Madam, according to the restaurant's report, you are suspected of maliciously disrupting public order and infringing on the personal safety of others. Please cooperate with us to go to the police station to assist in the investigation."

The blinding white light of the police flashlight shone on her face, and Lin Lan instinctively raised her arm to shield her eyes. Only then did she see the blood on the back of her hand, dark red, congealed, clinging to her knuckles like the sap of a withered flower.

She lowered her arm, breathing heavily, her chest feeling as if it were stuffed with a burning cotton ball, each breath accompanied by a searing pain.

His gaze pierced through the dazzling halo, remaining fixed on Lin Xuedong's face, as if determined to extract an answer from his eyes.

But the man just stared at the ground, his long eyelashes drooping heavily, his right hand tightly gripping Liu Sisi's fingers, his knuckles turning white.

After a long while, she slowly raised her eyes, and a slight fluctuation finally appeared in her gaze.

There was not even a trace of pity she had hoped for, not a shred of the warmth between siblings, only a chilling, almost gnashing coldness. "You want me to wait for your next move?"

Lin Lan's pupils suddenly contracted, and her heart felt as if it had been pierced by an ice pick. A chill ran through her veins and spread to her entire body.

She stood frozen in place, forgetting even to breathe, watching helplessly as the unfathomable coldness in his eyes spread out, completely devouring the shimmering light and warmth around her.

My fingertips started to go numb, but suddenly the first cry of a baby exploded in my mind.

On the day Xiao Zhiyuan was born, the man did indeed comply with her wishes and accompanied her into the delivery room. The warmth of his palms came through the sterilized gloves, but there wasn't a single word of comfort.

At that time, she thought it was his natural calm and composed nature, and that he had promised her that "everything would be arranged after the child is born."

Only now do I understand that it might have been the last bit of warmth I felt.

Thinking back to the day she stormed into the president's office, it was pitch black outside. She never expected that Liu Sisi would reconcile with him and agree to have the child.

She would rather completely break ties with them than give up her child. So, she screamed about how "filthy" she had become pregnant, wanting to see Liu Sisi's face break down and to shatter their illusion of "happiness".

But Liu Sisi simply straightened her back and said calmly, "It really is terrible."

As she walked around the desk, her fuller, rounder figure, radiating a sense of "moisture," made Lin Lan feel an unprecedented sense of panic.

Later that night, it rained heavily outside.

Lin Xuedong arrived with the police. He kicked over the crystal coffee table, and amidst the sound of shattering glass, Lin Zhiyuan's warm little body was snatched from her arms.

The child's cries mingled with the sound of rain, becoming the background noise of every one of her nightmares.

Perhaps from that moment on, she lost the chance to touch the child again and was completely dominated by obsession.

She asked herself if these escalating hysterias were really because of the child.

That's not the case, otherwise how could she have gradually stopped recognizing the child's appearance and smell?

She knew in her heart that this was just an excuse for her to justify her entanglement by clinging to her resentment.

So when the three knives were originally meant for Liu Sisi but were blocked by Lin Xuedong, she almost without hesitation plunged the knife into the man's back.

What does that feel like?

Feeling relieved? Sad? Angry? Hateful?

nothing.

She only remembers staring numbly at the pool of blood spreading on the ground, unable to laugh or cry, her mind a complete blank, yet she knew clearly...

She was finished.

"You..." Lin Lan opened her mouth, her lower lip bitten so hard by her teeth, leaving deep marks. The taste of blood spread on her tongue, but she refused to utter a single sob. "You knew all along?"

The coldness in Lin Xuedong's eyes intensified, and the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

He slowly released Liu Sisi's hand, gently patting it as his fingertips left her palm, before gliding his wheelchair toward Lin Lan.

The soft, rustling sound of the wheelchair wheels rolling across the ground struck a chord deep within one's heart.

Lin Lan's heart suddenly clenched, but her legs felt like they were made of lead, rooted to the spot and unable to move an inch.

"What do you think those marketing accounts you set up in private can bring down?" He leaned forward slightly, and the wheelchair slid forward another half inch, completely blocking the light behind him. The heavy shadow pressed down on Lin Lan, like an invisible boulder.

"Lin Lan, you never know your own limitations." His voice came from close to the ground, flat, yet carrying a crushing weight. "Those IPs behind those accounts, the phone numbers they're linked to, every anonymous account you transferred money to—who do you think you can hide it from?"

Lin Lan's shoulders trembled uncontrollably, her fingertips were icy cold, and even her breathing was trembling.

"Is this what you call 'knowing you were wrong'? Is it for Zhiyuan's sake? So, what are you planning to do with all this?"

In the shadows, the man's outline was indistinct, only his eyes shone with a chilling light.