Xiaobai couldn’t bear it: “Xiaoman is already busy enough. Are you going to make her worry like this? She’s already overwhelmed. Now she has to take care of you too. Aren’t you supposed to be a fan? Is this how fans react when their idol is injured?”
“Xiaobai, stop,” Lin Xiaoman said sternly.
“Aren’t I telling the truth?” Xiaobai continued, “Even if he’s encountered something, he can talk to us. Holding everything inside won’t change anything. If he can’t resolve his own issues, he won’t be able to work properly.”
“No…” Xie Chi’s dark eyes were like they were covered in a layer of mist, watery and heartbreaking, “Don’t send me away.”
“But you’re unwilling to say anything, only causing worry. Isn’t this troubling Xiaoman?
“
“Xiaobai,” Lin Xiaoman’s voice became more severe, her smile fading, “To me, Xie Chi is my companion, my friend. He is not a trouble.”
“Xiaoman…” Xie Chi lowered his eyes, struggling internally. He couldn’t continue to be weak. Even if Xue Chenyan would make him leave Xiaoman, he couldn’t watch her get hurt.
Suddenly, he looked up, his gaze becoming determined: “I have something to tell you.”
Before speaking, he took Lin Xiaoman’s phone and turned it off, then looked at her timidly: “Your phone is being monitored.”
“Monitored?” Xiaobai reacted strongly, “What’s going on?”
“Not just the phone, possibly other surveillance devices,” Xie Chi nervously fidgeted with his fingers, “In any case, that person is monitoring Xiaoman’s every move.”
“Is it the person you saw by the pool that day?” Lin Xiaoman recalled his strange behavior recently, “Are you afraid of him?”
Xie Chi nodded: “He is my half-brother.”
“
Later, Xie Chi skipped grades and became the provincial top scorer in the college entrance exam, so he and his mother came to City A. During his college years, his mother passed away.
At the time, he frantically searched for memories related to his mother and accidentally discovered a will while invading his father’s computer, which would leave 30% of the company’s shares to him. However, he didn’t care and only copied photos of his mother from his father’s computer.
Unexpectedly, his father also passed away a year later.
Regarding the will, Xie Chi had never heard anyone mention it, and no one had come to him about inheriting the company.
However, Xie Chi had been starting businesses since college and didn’t care about his inheritance until this encounter with Xue Chenyan, which made him recall everything.
“He will drive me away,” Xie Chi’s body was trembling, “but I don’t want to leave Xiao Man, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“You’re not going anywhere, just stay by my side,” Lin Xiaoman held his shaking hand gently, “Don’t be afraid, he can’t hurt me, and he can’t hurt you.”
Xie Chi looked at her with confusion and unease. Xiaoman continued, “Because I will protect you. Everything they took away, I will help you get back.”
Xue Chenyan had previously felt okay about this person and thought he was quite a cute little boy. But after hearing about his family’s actions towards Xie Chi, she only wanted this family to receive their due retribution. Xie Chi, harmed to the point of being unable to live like a normal person, unable to communicate normally. Despite having a genius-like mind, he could only crouch alone in a corner.
She could hardly imagine how a child who understood nothing survived those six years and how he had spent the next decade under others’ cold looks and disdain. He believed in and relied on himself, which is why he found her.
And Xue Chenyan was threatening to send Xie Chi away, wanting to deprive him of the only person who cared about him. “You don’t need to be afraid of them, they’re not worth being afraid of,” Lin Xiaoman’s gaze was extremely firm. “Those who have done bad things should be the ones feeling afraid.”
Xie Chi’s tears fell, and the fear, anxiety, guilt, and pain accumulated over many days finally burst out. “What consequences will there be if I don’t comply?” Xue Chenyan smiled and said something terrifying. “I really want to see.”
” Ji Zhixian casually glanced at him. “You don’t think you can enter the entertainment industry after doing such things?”
“I only know that money is the most useful everywhere,” Xue Chenyan laughed and sat across from Ji Zhixian. “Doesn’t Director Ji know this principle?”
“If it comes out that the heir of Tianming Group is a stalker, Tianming’s stock will plummet. How much money will you have then?” Ji Zhixian looked at him slowly and said in a deep voice.
“Maybe those old men will kick me out of the company, maybe even go bankrupt,” Xue Chenyan nodded seriously, then grinned. “But if Director Ji had evidence, would you be talking to me like this? As far as I know, you’ve never been this soft-hearted.”
He was very confident in his technology and actions, absolutely certain he’d left no trace, so he was sure Ji Zhixian was only talking to him calmly because he had no evidence.
“Want to bet whether I’m soft-hearted?” Ji Zhixian suddenly curved his mouth and smiled.
When Xue Chenyan looked at him, he felt a fearsome power in his pitch-black eyes that made his heart race and panic with just one glance.
Could he really have evidence?
Xue Chenyan couldn’t help but think.
But he quickly realized that if Ji Zhixian had evidence, he definitely wouldn’t have come to find him.
Yet his confident appearance seemed to suggest he did have something.
Xue Chenyan couldn’t help swallowing.
Though he had seen many business people under his father’s leadership and was accustomed to false pleasantries, he had never met someone so unreadable.
“During this time of stalking Xiaoman, I’ve made an interesting discovery,” he suddenly changed the subject. “I know who the man rumored to be keeping him is.”
Although he hated the man before him, he had to compromise at the critical moment: “I not only know who he is but also have photos of them going in and out together. Guess what happens if I post these photos online?”
Seeing Ji Zhixian remain silent, he continued, “What I want is simple. We just don’t interfere with each other. I’ll turn a blind eye to your affairs, and you’ll ignore mine. How’s that?”
Ji Zhixian suddenly stood up and looked deeply at Xue Chenyan: “It seems the negotiation has broken down today.”
He walked a few steps, then turned back and said, “Anyone who harms Lin Xiaoman, I will not let off.”
He spoke slowly, like a threat, and Xue Chenyan only felt a cold wind sweeping by, with chills rising from the soles of his feet.
This man was terrifying.
★, Chapter Sixty-Five: Confession
From childhood to adulthood, except from his mother’s mouth, this was the first time Xie Chi heard someone say they would protect him.
That person spoke with absolute certainty, his expression so resolute that it began to give him confidence.
He should not be timid; he also wanted to be brave, to protect the people he cared about.
” he wiped away his tears and took out a necklace, “Xiaoman, wear this.”
“Isn’t this the anonymous express delivery from last time?” Xiaobai’s eyes were sharp and recognized it at a glance, “How can you let her wear this thing?”
“I installed a tracker on it.” He had been worried, afraid that Xue Chenyan would destroy everything and that Lin Xiaoman would be hurt. He installed a tracker on the gift Xue Chenyan sent, “Xue Chenyan won’t be on guard against his own things. If Xiaoman is in danger, we can find her immediately.”
“Would he go that far?” Xiaobai thought he was being ominous, “Don’t say such bad things.”
“I actually hope he would go that far.” Lin Xiaoman smiled slightly, “Only then can we catch his handle.”
