Chapter 61: Double Fatherly Love! The Peony Garden Rendezvous!
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for successfully spending 10,000 Destiny Value to use the Son of Destiny Identifier to identify the Child of Destiny, Han Qi!]
Immediately after the mechanical chime faded from his mind, a holographic waterfall of information cascaded before Shen Anyu's eyes. It was visible only to him, scrolling rapidly against the backdrop of the opulent banquet hall, revealing the hidden secrets of the so-called "Dragon King."
[Name: Han Qi]
[Age: 25]
[Background: The Child of Destiny from 'The Three-Year Term is Up, Greet the Dragon King Son-in-law'. He is a bastard son from the Emperor Capital Han Family, a first-rate aristocratic family. He was suppressed by Han Xiu, the Han family's eldest legitimate son. His birth mother, Li Qi, died in a car accident. He endured hardship and married into the Liu family as a live-in son-in-law, secretly accumulating strength. He is known as the Emperor of the Modu Underworld, Dragon King Mr. Han!]
[During his three years as a son-in-law in the Liu family, he became increasingly infatuated and deeply in love with his wife, Liu Qingyue. Finally, with the help of his birth father, Han Tian, and his adoptive father, Tianfeng Ichiro, he defeated Han Xiu, reclaimed power over the Emperor Capital Han Family, won the beauty, and reached the pinnacle of his life…]
[Cultivation: Innate Peak (Actual combat strength: Martial Arts Grandmaster)]
[Abilities: Tianfeng Iai, Tenmei Consecutive Slash, Master of Ninjutsu…]
[Personality: Seemingly low-key and cowardly, a complete simp on the surface, but actually extremely tolerant and enduring hardship. He thrives on humiliation to temper his will.]
[Items: Dragon King Token…]
[Associated Heroines: Liu Qingyue; Situ Yueying]
[Destiny Value: 1,699,997] (Originally 2,200,000 Destiny Value, reduced by 500,000 and three Destiny Value respectively.)
...
Shen Anyu swirled the champagne in his glass, raising an eyebrow as he parsed the data. A smirk played on his lips.
"Interesting," he mused inwardly.
His birth father, Han Tian, needed no introduction; he was the current patriarch of the Emperor Capital Han Family, a man torn between duty to his legitimate heir, Han Xiu, and guilt over his dead mistress.
But this adoptive father... Tianfeng Ichiro?
Shen Anyu felt a surge of amusement. It seemed that being a "simp" was a hereditary trait for Han Qi, passed down not through blood, but through lineage of mentorship.
According to the classified intelligence Shen Anyu had previously sourced from the Shen Family's shadow network, Tianfeng Ichiro was a renowned genius and a martial arts fanatic in the Sakura Country. He was a man of tenacious character and terrifying talent. Now in his early forties, he had already reached the peak of the Grandmaster realm, with a high probability of breaking through to the Great Grandmaster level.
However, beneath that martial exterior beat the heart of a tragic romantic. Tianfeng Ichiro was deeply, hopelessly infatuated with Han Qi's mother, Li Qi.
Li Qi, a Chinese-Japanese woman, was Tianfeng Ichiro's childhood sweetheart. But she was ambitious. She left him to study in the Yanxia Capital, where she actively seduced Han Tian, dreaming of becoming the mistress of a First-Tier Family. She wanted her son to be the king.
Although Han Tian already had a perfect, aristocratic wife, that wife lacked Li Qi's delicate, subservient charm—the kind that men like Han Tian craved in secret.
When Tianfeng Ichiro learned that his beloved had chosen to be another man's mistress, he didn't hate her. Instead, he retreated into secluded cultivation for twenty years, nursing his broken heart. It wasn't until Li Qi died three years ago that he emerged, traveling east to Yanxia with a single purpose: to protect Han Qi, the only remaining bloodline of the woman he loved.
It was thanks to this powerful adoptive father teaching him Ninjutsu and Sword Arts that Han Qi could build his underground empire in just three years without the Han Family's resources.
"So, Han Qi isn't too miserable after all," Shen Anyu thought, tapping his finger against the glass. "He has two daddies protecting him. Double the paternal love..."
A cold calculation flashed in his eyes.
"I wonder... if I eliminate Han Qi's two fathers, will his spirit break? How much Destiny Value would I plunder from destroying his support system?"
But that was a game for another day.
"Let's take our time. I can't let the beauty wait too long now."
Shen Anyu drained the wine in one gulp, the expensive liquid burning pleasantly in his throat. He nodded politely to the sycophantic guests surrounding him and slipped away from the bustling banquet hall.
He walked out into the cool night air, heading towards the private gardens of the Riverside Luxury Mansion.
The destination was the Peony Flower Forest.
It was a place of breathtaking beauty, cultivated at an astronomical cost. Under the silver moonlight, thousands of peonies were in full bloom, their petals unfolding like layers of velvet—red, pink, white, and purple. The air was thick with their heady, sweet fragrance, mixing with the scent of the river breeze.
Amidst this sea of flowers stood a woman who outshone them all.
Qin Ningbing.
She was dressed in a custom-made blue evening gown that flowed around her like water. The moonlight caught the diamonds at her throat, making her skin glow with an ethereal luminescence. She looked like a moon goddess who had descended to inspect her domain.
Hearing his footsteps, she turned. Her usually cold, CEO demeanor melted away, replaced by a radiant, slightly mischievous smile that reached her eyes.
"Darling," she purred, her voice soft and sultry. "There were a few great beauties at the banquet tonight. Liu Mi, Liu Qingyue... I saw you looking. How did your interactions go?"
Shen Anyu chuckled low in his throat. He stepped closer, entering her personal space.
"Ningbing... are you jealous?"
Qin Ningbing didn't retreat. Instead, she lifted the hem of her gown with a graceful hand and walked quickly towards him. She stopped inches away, tilting her exquisite face up to meet his gaze.
"Darling... I really am jealous."
Her confession was a whisper, intimate and vulnerable.
Seeing the usually noble, icy, and elegant Qin Ningbing acting so sweet and possessive was an extreme stimulant. It was the conquest of a queen.
Shen Anyu knew that with Qin Ningbing's intelligence and rationality, she likely wasn't truly consumed by jealousy. She understood the game. She knew that showing a little possessiveness would stroke a man's ego, satisfying his sense of accomplishment.
It was a dance.
However, with her favorability rating now at a staggering 89, Shen Anyu suspected that even Qin Ningbing herself couldn't tell how much of this was performance and how much was genuine fear of losing him.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xia Liu's spirit broke! Plundering +6,666 Destiny Value!]
Deep in the shadows of a wall corner, obscured by the dense foliage, a pair of eyes watched this scene.
They were wide, bloodshot, and filled with despair.
Xia Liu clutched his chest, his fingernails digging into his skin through his cheap shirt. Seeing Qin Ningbing admit her jealousy, acting like a lovesick girl who had fallen completely for another man... it felt like a physical blow to his heart.
He had followed them from the main hall, desperate for a chance. He wanted to rush out, to pull her away, to reveal his identity as her fiancé and save her from this "villain."
But he couldn't.
Qin Ningbing was surrounded by an invisible wall of power. Shen Anyu's presence was overwhelming, and the shadows rippled with the presence of hidden guards. Xia Liu, stripped of his tools and confidence, didn't dare to act rashly.
He could only lie in wait, like a rat in the gutter, looking for a crumb of opportunity.
As a result of this waiting... he saw his own execution.
Shen Anyu seemed to sense the gaze in the darkness. He didn't look over. Instead, he sighed inwardly with satisfaction. Xia Liu, this leek field, is truly easy to harvest. He breaks down so beautifully.
"Baby, come here."
Shen Anyu sat down on a marble bench surrounded by the blooming peonies. He patted his lap, his eyes locked on Qin Ningbing's.
It was a command, wrapped in an invitation.
Qin Ningbing hesitated for only a fraction of a second. Then, under the moonlight, she moved. She twisted her delicate body, her movements fluid and graceful, and sat directly on Shen Anyu's lap.
Her jade-like arms reached up, wrapping around his neck. She buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, inhaling his scent.
Shen Anyu did not hold back. His arms encircled her slender waist, pulling her flush against him. One hand rested possessively on her hip, his fingers splaying against the silk of her dress.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xia Liu's mentality exploded! Plundering +9,999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xia Liu's mentality exploded! Plundering +9,999 Destiny Value!]
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xia Liu's mentality collapsed! Plundering +19,999 Destiny Value!]
…
[Ding! Child of Destiny Xia Liu's mentality utterly collapsed! Plundering +50,000 Destiny Value!]
In the shadows, Xia Liu's expression distorted into a mask of pure agony. He gasped for air, feeling as if he were suffocating.
It hurts... it hurts so much...
"Ningbing! No! How could you be like this?! No..."
He watched his "fiancée"—the woman who was supposed to be his pure, icy goddess—melting in another man's arms. He saw her affectionate gaze. He saw her flush. He saw her taking the initiative to be close to Shen Anyu.
Xia Liu suffered blow after blow, each one heavier than the last.
"It was clearly me first! Clearly, twenty years ago, I had an engagement with Qin Ningbing! Why?! Why did it turn out like this?!"
His vision went black, and dizziness swamped him. A high-pitched ringing filled his ears.
She was the fiancée he had been looking forward to for years. When he heard of her reputation as the "Iceberg CEO," he had fantasized about melting that ice himself.
Upon seeing her with his own eyes earlier today, he realized she was even more perfect than his dreams.
But why... why was she sitting on another man's lap? Why was she looking at that man with eyes full of stars?
Regret washed over Xia Liu like a tidal wave.
If only I hadn't delayed so long! If only I hadn't wasted time in the village flirting with the widows! If I had come to Modu sooner, she would be mine! I missed my chance!
While Xia Liu wallowed in hell, Shen Anyu was in heaven.
He felt incredibly pleased, both physically and mentally. The soft weight of Qin Ningbing in his arms, the scent of peonies and woman, and the constant chiming of the System plundering Destiny Value—it was a symphony of victory.
Unlike Han Qi, the "Turtle Ninja" who could endure any humiliation, Xia Liu was emotionally fragile. He had given Shen Anyu tens of thousands of Destiny Value in mere minutes.
"A massive windfall," Shen Anyu thought, stroking Qin Ningbing's hair.
However, what came next was not for Xia Liu to see. Shen Anyu had no special fetishes for voyeurism, nor would he allow another man to gaze upon the beautiful scenery of his woman.
Shen Anyu looked at Qin Ningbing with deep affection, his voice dropping to a husky whisper that only she could hear.
"Baby... let's go back to the room."
Qin Ningbing's beautiful face flushed a deep crimson. She felt the heat radiating from him, felt the change in the atmosphere.
She bit her lip with her pearly teeth, then nodded gently, burying her face in his chest.
"Okay."
She stood up, her hand still held tightly in his. Together, they turned towards the mansion.
"No!!!"
At this moment, seeing Shen Anyu and Qin Ningbing about to disappear into the privacy of the villa, Xia Liu's rationality finally snapped.
He couldn't hold back anymore. The pain was too great.
He rushed out from the corner of the wall, stumbling into the moonlight. His face was twisted, tears and snot running down his face, his appearance wretched and desperate.
He pointed a trembling finger at them and screamed hysterically, his voice tearing through the serene night:
"Qin Ningbing! You are my fiancée! You're not allowed to be with this man! STOP!!"
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