Chapter 23: I Hit Fei Jing...

Deep in the night.

When Lu Tian woke up at the local hospital, the nurse informed her that the father and daughter who had brought her in had left in a hurry, leaving no contact information—not even a note.

After completing the discharge procedures, she waited for a ride-hailing car on the roadside, where she saw the latest international trending news on major web portals. Even though the photos were blurry, Lu Tian, as the person involved, recognized them instantly.

"So it wasn't a hallucination. The person who saved me really is from the Li family of Northern Europe?"

The nurse had mentioned it was a father and daughter. It seemed the Li family was doing an excellent job of keeping the head of the house's marital status a secret. As she got into the taxi, she began searching for any trace of information regarding Mrs. Li while formulating a preliminary plan in her mind.

She sent a message to Lawyer Wang: "Mrs. Li is the breakthrough point. Make contact as soon as possible."

To go to such lengths to protect a woman's personal information from being turned into entertainment for netizens—Lu Tian was one hundred percent certain that the head of the Li family must love his wife very, very much.

It was daytime in Jinggang. Lawyer Wang replied quickly: "Mrs. Li? I’ve never heard of that mysterious man having a wife. Though, there’s been a rumor in the circle that this big shot is in Jinggang specifically to search for his first love."

"Go and find her. She is his wife!"

They had a child together; could he still be unmarried?

The taxi pulled into the castle.

After deleting the text message history, Lu Tian had barely stepped out of the car before a powerful force shoved her unceremoniously toward a small tree in the garden. The tree trunk was rough, and she was already injured. This impact, layered upon her existing wounds, caused her body—which had only just regained a sliver of strength after the hospital fluids—to wither rapidly.

She struggled, but Fei Jing bit down on her ear. His tongue, which had once teased Lu Youyou, carried the most repulsive sensation as it tried to force its way into her mouth.

*Slap!* A heavy, forceful blow.

The man’s handsome face tilted to the side.

Shadows danced across the trees. He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, one hand braced against the tree beside her. He leaned in, rubbing against her cheek like a puppy abandoned by its master.

"Returning so late, where did you go? Don't you know how much I missed you?"

Ever since Lu Tian had met Fei Jing, she had felt that this poor boy, unloved by his parents, feared nothing more than loss. To make him feel secure in their relationship, she had proactively installed an interactive tracking app on his phone so he could know her whereabouts at all times. But since Nannan’s funeral, she had uninstalled it.

Fei Jing let out a long breath. The pungent smell of alcohol wafted over. The man was slightly tipsy, his pitch-black pupils tinted with the coldness of the moonlight. He raised his hand and slowly smoothed her disheveled hair, his movements so gentle and considerate that one could find no fault.

"Wife, you are mine. From every strand of hair to your entire soul, you can only be mine. You cannot leave me, and you cannot fool around with others. I could lose everything—my life, my family, my career—but I cannot lose you. Truly! Without you by my side, Tiantian, you have no idea how much I would collapse."

Fei Jing had drunk plenty; he was somewhat incoherent. Lu Tian listened quietly, finally asking, "After saying all that, Fei Jing, have you truly cared about me even once?"

He only cared about his own feelings, his own joys and sorrows!

"Lu Tian! I love you, isn't that enough?" he roared, his voice filled with grievance and anger.

When he finished, the man swayed, cupping her face and smiling bitterly. "Tiantian, even if outsiders say your private life is scandalous, that you’d sell yourself for a project, I don't care. Nobody is truly clean. I just want you."

"So, it’s not out of trust, but because you think I’m as dirty as you, so it doesn't matter anymore?"

Lu Tian heard her own voice, filled with unprecedented self-mockery and trembling, squeezing out word by word, mixed with the metallic taste of blood from her throat.

Fei Jing remained silent for a long time, then pressed his forehead against her thin shoulder, his voice muffled and hoarse. "Tiantian, no matter what you are, I love you, I..."

"You bastard, get lost!"

Using all her strength, she kicked him where it hurt most. Lu Tian ran away; she was afraid that if she faced this trash for one more second, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from killing him.

Entering the living room, the sharp, pungent smell of blood made her feel nauseous. Three or four servants were dragging half-dead men past her. They were still alive, but even the one with the lightest injuries appeared to have a deformed and sunken forehead.

The butler explained tremblingly, "As soon as Sir returned, he sent people to 'invite' the business partners who were vacationing on the island, saying he wanted to treat them well on your behalf, Madam..."

These were the very people she had personally dealt with when she first started the business. They were also the ones who had spread the most vicious rumors about her in the circle! They often boasted to others that Mrs. Fei would willingly strip off her clothes to play with them just to secure projects.

"Sister, it seems Brother-in-law really cares about your past. Unlike me, I’m clean, and I gave him my first time." Lu Youyou was wearing a semi-transparent silk nightgown, the ambiguous hickeys on her skin visible at a glance. She leaned lazily against the railing of the second-floor landing. Her voice was neither loud nor soft, but clear enough for every servant in the main house to hear.

Lu Tian recalled that her first time with Fei Jing was the night they had rushed to the civil affairs bureau to register their marriage after the company started to see success. He had held her preciously and said, "Wife, I’ve finally married you. I didn't dare give you any promises before, so I didn't touch you. But from now on, I’m afraid I’ll die in your bed."

But the next day, the sheets had been clean. Fei Jing hadn't said anything at the time, and she had to explain, "A woman's first night doesn't always involve bleeding, husband, I..."

The man had ended the awkwardness of their first day of marriage with a kiss. Lu Tian had believed that her husband, for whom she had given everything to provide happiness, would never suspect her because of the nonsense of virgin blood.

But the truth? She had been the fool all along.

She spent the entire night staring at the red crosses that increased daily on her memo. She leaned against the bed, one arm wrapped tightly around her legs, trying to give herself a little bit of the warmth she could never hope for from others.

"Fei Jing, you really do make me hate you more every single day. Ninety days. Heh, I used to complain that there wasn't enough time. Why does it feel like the days are passing so slowly now? Too slowly..."

Outside the castle, in the passenger seat of a Cullinan, the little one had puffed-out cheeks, pouting in frustration. "Daddy, Mommy is in so much pain next to that bad man. Why can't we just steal Mommy away and go back to Northern Europe?"

After a long silence, Li Yanchen held a cigarette between his fingers, but did not light it. His eyes, deeper than the night, stared unblinkingly at the dark, hollow window on the second floor.

"Because there are some things she must settle herself if she wants to escape completely and start over. I cannot help her with that."

The next day, Lu Tian woke up on the cashmere carpet. Early in the morning, she was awakened by the deafening voice of Fei’s mother. Looking at the guest room door, she realized it had been opened from the outside at some point. The urn on the nightstand was gone.

Panic-stricken, she didn't even have time to wash up and ran downstairs, disheveled. There, she saw a woman dressed as a shaman, hopping about while holding Nannan’s urn high, preparing to smash it to pieces.