"Speak! As long as we can annul the engagement, anything is negotiable!"
Ready to throw all decorum to the wind, Zhou Xueman no longer bothered with any pretense of courtesy. She crossed her arms and stared coldly at Qin Fan as she scoffed. Born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she hardly looked her eighteen years. Of course, in the eyes of Zhou Yihang, Qin Chu, and Wei Shuying, Qin Fan seemed even less like a boy who was not yet seventeen!
As the two spoke one after the other, Zhou Yihang and the Qin Chu couple all fixed their gazes on Qin Fan, awaiting his answer.
"Negotiable, you say? Fine. My demand isn’t high. Sleep with me for one night. After that, you go your way, and I’ll go mine. We’ll owe each other nothing, and the debt your father owes my family will be erased. That’s not too much to ask, is it?" Qin Fan licked his lips, his gaze aggressively sweeping over Zhou Xueman. That piercing look seemed to see right through her.
The moment he said this, however, Zhou Yihang and the Qin Chu couple were utterly stunned. They had imagined countless responses from Qin Fan, but they never would have anticipated this one. How could this high school senior say such a thing in front of both families’ adults?
"Damn you! Qin Fan, have you taken a good look at yourself lately?" Zhou Xueman’s face was an icy mask as she snarled, her voice sharp.
"I have. I’m quite handsome."
Completely unbothered by her attitude, Qin Fan continued, "If I don’t annul this engagement, you’ll have to sleep with me until I decide to cast you aside. I’m now giving you the option of a single night. Is that demand excessive? In any case, my offer stands. Go home, think it over carefully, and then give me your answer. You owe me this. Now, please make a graceful exit."
With that, Qin Fan waved a dismissive hand, showing them no courtesy whatsoever.
But the Zhou father and daughter remained frozen on the spot. A graceful exit? Isn’t that just a polite way of telling us to get lost?
At that moment, even the guilt-ridden Zhou Yihang couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger. First the silver tongue, then the despicable and absurd condition, and now he was telling them to get lost?
For Qin Chu and Wei Shuying’s sake, Zhou Yihang forced himself to swallow his rage. He then forced a smile and spoke to the couple with a dry laugh. "Since that’s the case, we’ll find another time to talk. Brother Qin, Shuying, work has been busy lately, so I won’t impose any longer. Xueman and I will take our leave."
"Alright, head back to work then," Wei Shuying said with a genuinely amused smile, waving her hand.
After receiving a silent, heavy-faced nod from Qin Chu, Zhou Yihang sheepishly pulled Zhou Xueman out of the apartment.
Just as they were leaving, however, Zhou Xueman suddenly turned back and gave Qin Fan a chilling, meaningful smirk. It was a look of biting, venomous hatred.
But did he care? The him from his past life might have. But now, he was no longer that timid, easily bullied boy. He was a Cultivator who had returned from five hundred years in the future, bearing the might of the Shura Venerable! Zhou Xueman? Hah... To him, she was nothing more than a female ant, a mere plaything. Despite the outrageous demand he had made, to put it bluntly, even if Zhou Xueman actually agreed and stripped naked before him, he would resolutely refuse to touch her. She was simply not qualified to receive the favor of a Heavenly Venerate!
Suddenly, Qin Fan recalled another detail from his previous life. The Zhou Family’s fate had been utterly tragic. Everything Zhou Yihang had worked so hard to build eventually ended up in someone else’s hands—specifically, the hands of Zhou Xueman’s fiancé at the time. That so-called fiancé not only usurped Zhou Yihang’s empire but also mercilessly abandoned Zhou Xueman while she was pregnant with his child. According to later rumors, she went mad. Her hair turned white overnight, and she was often seen singing and dancing deliriously in the streets.
Thinking of this, Qin Fan couldn’t help but sneer. Zhou Yihang, the ungrateful wolf, and Zhou Xueman, the vicious woman... If no one else was going to punish them, he certainly wouldn’t let them have an easy life. However, since the course of history had already sealed their fate, he would just let them bring about their own destruction.
"Xiaofan, you—what’s wrong with you today?"
As Qin Fan was lost in his memories, Wei Shuying suddenly cupped his cheeks with her hands. Her voice was filled with a mix of confusion and bafflement as she asked the question quickly. Qin Chu was also clearly anticipating the answer, his gaze fixed intently on his son.
"Nothing’s wrong, Mom, Dad. I was up all night thinking, and I’ve decided it’s time I lived my life differently. From now on, no one will bully me. No one will insult me. And no one will ever hurt you again! Mom, Dad, believe me, I will become someone you can be proud of. Truly proud! A pride that will make the entire world envy you!"
It was rare for Qin Fan to make such a grand declaration. His lips moved with conviction, and his deep, steady gaze held a hint of resolute, lonely arrogance.
In his heart, he secretly established a new code for himself. From this day forward: If I am not wronged, I will live in peace. If I am wronged, I will eradicate the problem, root and stem! He, Qin Fan, the reborn Shura Venerable, had the power to make such rules!
"Silly child, no matter what, you’ll always be our pride!" Gently wiping the moist corners of her eyes, Wei Shuying’s voice caught with relief.
She didn’t know what had caused such a drastic change in Qin Fan overnight, nor did she feel the need to ask. All that mattered was that this Qin Fan was a hundred times better than the timid, bullied outcast of the Qin Family he used to be. As for his lofty, arrogant pronouncements, Qin Chu and Wei Shuying simply filtered them out.
At their age, they had seen far too much of the world. No one can bully you, no one can insult you, no one can harm you... How many people in this world could truly achieve that?
"Dad, Mom!"
Looking at the faces that now bore the faint lines of age, Qin Fan called out, his voice tinged with a deep ache. He opened his arms and pulled them both into a hug.
The old Qin Fan would never have been capable of such a gesture. But this Qin Fan, who had endured five hundred years of life-and-death struggles and witnessed the turn of ages, now cherished this familial bond more than anything. It was more precious than his own life. With such a mindset, why would he be constrained by something as trivial as awkwardness?
He sat down on the sofa between them, draping his arms around their shoulders. Joyful laughter filled the room, erupting constantly from the family of three. The couple seemed to have completely forgotten to ask why he had skipped school, not mentioning it even once.
Amid the cheerful conversation, two hours flew by in the blink of an eye.
RING... RING...
The landline, which rarely rang, suddenly shrilled. Wei Shuying walked over with a smile. After glancing at the caller ID, she turned to Qin Chu with a puzzled expression. "A call from Xiaofan’s school?"
"Dad, Mom, I’ve got something to take care of. I’ll step out for a moment!"
As soon as he heard his mother’s words, a strange look crossed Qin Fan’s face. He shot to his feet and, ignoring the calls from behind him, strode quickly out the door.
A call from school at this hour could only mean one thing: a report about my disciplinary infraction. To buy myself some breathing room and dodge the inevitable lecture, I have to get out of here. Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is the best!