Chapter 141: Lin Rui's Secret Base

Lin Rui's expression grew increasingly gloomy, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh.

Had Li Shuan taken even a single glance, she would have seen the repressed fury lurking beneath his calm exterior.

Yet she lacked the leisure for such observation, pulling out a compact to retouch her makeup while discussing the documents at hand.

"It is merely a minor project, a lukewarm travel variety show. I have drafted a few narrative arcs for them, and the cast and crew roster is right here. What is it that you wish to accomplish?"

Having already reined in his emotions, Lin Rui raised his gaze to look at Li Shuan and said, "See if there is anyone usable within it, or someone from an ordinary background who can be bought off."

Li Shuan let out a cold hum. "If you intend to walk the path Zhou Kuan once trod, dragging Zhou Lichuan into a variety program, I advise you to drop the thought. No one is a fool; who would risk the consequences of provoking Zhou Lichuan and sacrifice themselves merely for a bit of money? Would you?"

Lin Rui curved the corners of his lips and tapped a name on the list. "He would."

Li Shuan lowered her gaze to look. It was a minor, obscure idol-turned-trainee who occasionally made fleeting appearances in variety shows and acted in low-budget web dramas. With mediocre ability and limited talent, he merely relied on his youth to scrape by and had no prospects of going far.

"Dou Chengyu? You know him?"

Holding the document, Lin Rui replied, "The talent show he participated in was funded by the Zhou Group. I was present when that project was being handled."

Li Shuan swept her gaze up and down over him. "This type—broad shoulders, narrow waist, and deep-set, striking features—certainly aligns with your aesthetic."

With a smile, Lin Rui set down the document, stood up, and pulled Li Shuan into his arms. Drawing her slender waist close, he spoke with a voice laden with absolute temptation.

"Is not the one who best aligns with my aesthetic already standing right here? Look at the dark circles under your eyes and your fatigued appearance; you have been exhausted lately, have you not?"

With that, he stroked the corner of her eye with a look of tender pity.

Li Shuan looped her arms around Lin Rui's neck, gazed into the eyes hidden behind his glasses, and said in a soft, mellifluous tone, "I am exhausted, yet there is scarcely anyone to pity me. You even complained that I wore high heels; there is no one quite so bastardly as you."

Lin Rui lowered his head and captured her crimson lips in a kiss. The room was suffused with spring radiance, the air thick with the scent of cosmetics.

Forcibly suppressing the aversion churning in his heart, he bent down, swept her up into his arms, and slowly carried her into the bedroom.

After an indeterminate length of time, the storm subsided.

Li Shuan lay sprawled in Lin Rui's arms, snatching the half-smoked cigarette from his fingers. Completely naked, she tilted her head back and took a drag.

A wispy white plume of smoke drifted into the air, casting an ambiguous and indistinct hue.

"What information did you unearth when you went to the Zhou family residence a while ago?" Lin Rui stroked Li Shuan's arm and asked slowly.

Li Shuan shot him a sidelong glance and said with a playful trace of amusement, "Is the internet not already in an uproar? Zhou Lichuan has married, and that woman, Jiang Zao, is pregnant. By the looks of it, she will give birth in a few months."

Lin Rui sat up abruptly. "Jiang Zao is pregnant?! And she is already close to giving birth?!"

Looking at him as if he were derided of sense, Li Shuan remarked, "It is already all over the internet. Do you not go online?"

As a flake of ash dropped, Li Shuan righted herself and brushed the ash onto the floor beside the bed.

Observing this, Lin Rui furrowed his brow slightly, picked up his phone from the bedside table, and began searching the news.

Sure enough, the moment the relevant keywords were entered, a cascade of news interfaces unfolded before his eyes. Aside from the official pinned announcements, there were also videos and photographs captured by university students.

Zhou Lichuan, clad in a long black overcoat and a casual-style suit, was carefully assisting a visibly pregnant Jiang Zao out of a luxury car.

Jiang Zao wore a warm yellow coat, her expression gentle and her complexion rosy—a completely different person from the one he had encountered last time.

Calculating by the timeline, when he confronted Jiang Zao before, she had already been carrying a child... If only he had discovered it back then...

"What is this? Seeing the person you fancy carrying another man's child, you feel unreconciled?"

Tossing aside the cigarette butt, Li Shuan stepped forward, draped her arms around Lin Rui's neck, and questioned him.

Lin Rui put down his phone without a single flaw showing on his face. Li Shuan had always believed that he harbored feelings for Jiang Zao, and he had never bothered to explain otherwise. This misunderstanding fit the circumstances perfectly, making many subsequent developments fall into place logically.

"The one I fancy... is clearly you."

"Is it?" Li Shuan looked into his eyes, a flicker of cunning dancing in the depths of her gaze. "Do you even believe yourself?"

The back of Lin Rui's hand gently caressed her fine features. "Why should I not believe it? I clearly care for you deeply, having even told you of such an important hideout and trusting you implicitly. Yet you still claim I do not care for you?"

Li Shuan raised an eyebrow. "You know best what is in your heart."

With that, Li Shuan rose from the bed, her long hair cascading over her chest, her waist marred by the ambiguous marks of intimacy.

The sight made Lin Rui's throat tighten.

Li Shuan truly possessed an exquisite figure—her skin firm and delicate, her flesh evenly proportioned. She never pursued an excessive, sickly slenderness; she was fair, smooth, remarkably vibrant, and striking.

Catching Li Shuan's arm to halt her progress toward the bathroom, he hauled her back onto the bed for another round of conquest.

An entire afternoon passed in such an absurd fashion. Putting his glasses back on, Lin Rui sat bare-chested at the dining table in the living room once more, resuming his manipulation of the stock market.

Yet his movements lacked their previous agility, and his mind was gradually hijacked by the image of a pregnant Jiang Zao sitting by the edge of the athletic field. A heavy, suffocating blockage weighed in his chest, remarkably agonizing.

Having dressed neatly, Li Shuan picked up the garbage bag from the bedroom bin, sat down beside Lin Rui, and lit another cigarette. Through the billowing smoke, she voiced her intentions.

"If you wish to plant a mine within the variety show, I can help arrange a meeting with Dou Chengyu for you. As for Jiang Zao... she is truly detestable. She cannot be crushed or broken, and her mind is entirely filled with schemes. She and you are truly a match. Since you can no longer have her, you might as well listen to my suggestion."

Lin Rui looked at her. "What suggestion do you have?"

Li Shuan stated, "During the early stages of her pregnancy, she suffered from threatened miscarriages twice and required prolonged preservation therapy; her condition has never been particularly stable. Coupled with her chronic overthinking and excessive anxiety, if a mishap were to occur... would the Zhou family choose to save the mother or the child?"

Withdrawing his gaze, Lin Rui answered indifferently, "Modern medicine does not pose the choice between saving the mother or the child. You are courting your own destruction."

Li Shuan let out a cold scoff. "Hmph, do not tell me you have suddenly grown soft-hearted? When you were seducing me, I certainly did not notice such tenderness on your part."

Reaching out, Lin Rui hooked his finger under Li Shuan's chin. "Because you are exciting, beautiful, and resolute. To put it bluntly, the cost is low, and you are cheap."

Provoked at last, Li Shuan—despite the intimacy they had shared just moments prior in the very same bed—cast aside all restraint and raised her hand to strike.

Lin Rui intercepted the hand hurtling toward his cheek mid-air, pulling her back into his arms once more. "What, you dislike hearing the truth? Who was it that seduced whom in the beginning? Was it not because you felt that attaching yourself to Zhou Lichuan was too arduous that you thought to take a shortcut through me?"

Her eyes flushed red with anger, Li Shuan snapped, "Lin Rui! Do not presume upon my affection for you to trample and humiliate me at will."