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“What happened?” Yin Yichen, though panting from exhaustion, was the first to ask.
“Someone hired an assassin to kill you.” Ming Yu glanced at Yin Hanyu. “The down payment alone was a hundred million—quite generous. Should we take the job?”
Without hesitation, Yin Hanyu nodded. “Take it.”
Yin Yichen: “…”
Lin Qingyou: “…”
Are you seriously planning to assassinate yourself?
“You seem to have already known?” Ming Yu frowned. That shouldn’t be possible.
She had just learned about it and rushed over immediately.
“I did know,” Yin Hanyu admitted. “Probably even before you did.”
After all, those ghostfire youths had overheard it.
At this, Lin Qingyou grew curious. “Why would those ghostfire youths specifically come to inform you? Didn’t you give them a brutal beating before? Are they up to something?”
“Probably just beaten into submission,” Yin Hanyu replied casually. “They admire strength.”
Lin Qingyou: “…” No words.
Yin Yichen: “…” Feeling a bit personally attacked.
So… was he beaten because he was weak?
What did he do to deserve this?
“Since you already know, then my job here is done.” Ming Yu showed no intention of stepping inside and turned to leave.
“Wait a moment…” Yin Hanyu stopped her.
“What else?” Ming Yu asked.
“You and Yin Yixuan…”
“That’s my private matter. No comment.” Ming Yu coldly cut him off.
Yin Hanyu clicked his tongue. “I don’t care about your private affairs, but your private affairs are affecting my safety.”
“Huh?!”
For once, Ming Yu was caught off guard.
Yin Hanyu explained, “Yin Yixuan planned to kill me right after you visited me that night.”
That night, Ming Yu had stayed over to treat his leg for almost the entire night.
Yin Yixuan must have followed Ming Yu and misunderstood their relationship.
Thus, he developed the intent to kill him.
If this were purely about power struggles, Yin Yixuan would have acted earlier—either before or right after Yin Hanyu returned to the Yin family.
Yin Hanyu looked at Lin Qingyou, squeezing her small hand tightly. “Lately, I’ve become very attached to staying alive.”
“If this happens again…” Yin Hanyu shook his head. “It won’t happen again.”
He wouldn’t give anyone another chance.
“He’s my brother. He’s your man. That’s the only reason I’m letting him go this time.”
Ming Yu was silent for a moment. “I understand. I’ll handle it.”
“Thank you for sparing him this time.”
After Ming Yu left.
Lin Qingyou immediately interrogated Yin Hanyu. “What exactly is your relationship with Ming Yu?”
“Partners,” Yin Hanyu replied.
“Partners?”
That answer again?
Lin Qingyou was clearly dissatisfied. She pounced on Yin Hanyu and viciously grabbed his neck. “Yin Hanyu, I’ll give you one more chance. Speak!”
Yin Hanyu smirked and steadied her waist to keep her from falling. “Life-and-death partners.”
“Life-and-death partners?”
Lin Qingyou frowned. That didn’t sound like a good thing.
“Can you elaborate?”
She loosened her grip on his neck, feeling somewhat stifled.
She couldn’t blame Yin Yixuan for being jealous. That night, even though she knew nothing happened between Yin Hanyu and Ming Yu, she had eavesdropped outside the door.
Though she didn’t catch the full conversation, she did hear Yin Hanyu saying something about entrusting his life to Ming Yu.
A man willing to entrust his life to a woman…
That night, she too had been consumed with jealousy.
And so, she had done something foolish—drowning her sorrows in alcohol.
She remembered hauling out all of Yin Hanyu’s liquor and drinking herself into oblivion.
If Yin Yixuan truly loved Ming Yu and had followed her that night, seeing her stay in Yin Hanyu’s house for so long… it was only natural that his mind would spiral into wild conclusions.
And in the end, he completely lost it.
Of course, killing someone out of jealousy was still wrong.
Yin Hanyu sighed, then pulled Lin Qingyou into his arms, holding her tightly.
He spoke.
“The first day I returned to the Yin family… my mother died.”
Lin Qingyou’s eyes widened in horror. “How could that happen?”
Returning to the Yin family should have meant a life of comfort, shouldn’t it?
He was the legitimate eldest son of the Yin family, and his mother was the lawful wife.
However, in Lin Qingyou’s faint memories, Yin Hanyu’s mother never left a strong impression.
Her biggest memory of her was that she was beautiful… and melancholic.
There was no doubt that Yin Hanyu’s mother was an extraordinary beauty. But unlike Lin Qingyou’s own mother and aunt, she was different.
Her aunt, Xiao Xue, was a vibrant and passionate beauty—full of life and strength.
Her mother, though gentler than her aunt, was stubborn. She had spent her life defying her father, who had disowned her for wanting to study medicine.
But regardless of their struggles, both her mother and aunt were lively and full of spirit.
Yin Hanyu’s mother, however, was cold.
Not just cold on the surface like Ming Yu—but cold to her core.
Or rather… lifeless.
There was no warmth in her.
She had no friends.
Her world revolved solely around Yin Hanyu.
Only when she was with him did she seem truly alive.
Most of the time, she would simply sit quietly in the courtyard, seemingly within reach yet impossibly distant—like she could vanish at any moment.
Maybe it was because she was so cold that she took a liking to Lin Qingyou.
She would always encourage Lin Qingyou to play with Yin Hanyu.
She couldn’t provide her son with warmth and happiness—but Lin Qingyou could.
Because of Lin Qingyou, her son had finally started acting like a normal child.
She had thought things would stay that way forever.
But one night, everything changed.
Yin Hanyu shut his eyes in pain, a single tear slipping down his face.
“I woke up in an unfamiliar place—the Yin family.”
“But my mother wasn’t by my side.”
“So I searched everywhere for her.”
“And then, through a window, I finally saw her.”
“I rushed in excitedly… only to find her lying in a pool of blood.”
“And the man I had never met before—the so-called father, Yin Haoting—was standing there, his hands covered in her blood, gripping the very knife that had killed her.”
In that moment, Yin Hanyu’s world shattered.
The mother who had raised him alone was gone.
And she had been killed by his own biological father.
That night, the entire Yin household descended into chaos.
But Yin Hanyu had only one thought—to find a doctor to save his mother.
Yet the Yin family estate was too vast…
He ran and ran, searching desperately, but found no one.
He didn’t even know if he was captured before or after he had escaped the Yin estate.
All he knew was that when he woke up, he was locked in a dark, windowless chamber—along with many other children.
And from that moment on, his twelve-year-long nightmare began…