“It’s a bad person, right?” Lu Ningshuang said.
Killing.
This was not the first time these two words had come up today, and Lu Ningshuang had already prepared herself mentally. When she heard it again, her face showed no shock or horror.
But those eyes, still clear and untainted by any dust of the world, gazed straight at Qin Yushu with unwavering determination and trust—
The little dog had a certain instinct for these things.
Hearing was false; seeing was real.
In the past, she had only heard about it from Housekeeper Nangong. It was only after coming here today that she realized everyone in the Qin Family was rotten to the core.
Qin Yushu’s father, Qin Borong, visibly had a poor relationship with her, so he naturally wouldn’t hide such an important matter.
Qin Bolang had been eavesdropping nearby at the time, and Lu Ningshuang had paid attention to his expression. It wasn’t shock but guilt, which meant he most likely knew about it too.
Even assuming there was still some father-daughter bond between Qin Yushu and Qin Borong, the rest of the Qin Family wouldn’t hold back. They all wanted her to fall so they could carve up that massive fortune. They definitely wouldn’t keep it hidden.
So.
There had to be more to this story—some hidden truth. At the very least, the fact that Qin Yushu was still standing here safe and sound explained everything.
“Killing” might be the final outcome, or it might just refer to an action…
It couldn’t be taken at face value.
The end result probably wasn’t as severe as it sounded, and most likely, Qin Yushu was the one who had been wronged.
Lu Ningshuang was always called a “silly little dog,” but she could explode with performance during every major exam, getting lucky breaks and attending the best schools available. That proved she had real ability.
Even an ordinary person with heaven-sent luck couldn’t handle a flood of wealth without some genuine skills.
She just didn’t bother thinking most of the time. In the past, she had her family and Brother Facai. Now, with such a smart big sister, she didn’t need to think either. The little dog just had to obediently follow her owner. That was enough.
And it was plenty happy.
Once she figured this out, Lu Ningshuang looked at Qin Yushu again, her eyes turning watery, as if she wanted to pounce over, hug her, and comfort her.
Qin Yushu took in every bit of the little dog’s expression. She could pretty much guess what the little dog was thinking, and sure enough, Lu Ningshuang spoke next.
“Facing someone with bad intentions, choosing to fight back in self-defense is only right. You never know how insane bad people can get, so taking action even a little early is just protecting yourself. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you accidentally go too far… well, that can be handled accordingly, right?”
“The fact that you’re standing here talking to me now proves everything.”
“Youyou is making excuses for me right now?” Qin Yushu suddenly asked.
The dazzling, seductive smile on her face faded slightly, but her voice remained soft. She was close to Lu Ningshuang’s side, like a demon whispering temptations from the eighteenth level of hell.
Lu Ningshuang: “I’m just telling the truth!”
The Alpha’s voice was a bit loud.
This often happened during arguments with one’s partner or when lacking confidence—raising the volume to convince oneself before convincing others.
Who knew…
Qin Yushu smiled. She had clearly thought of the same explanation and found it amusing. “So Youyou still doesn’t want to face it even now?”
She paused.
“What is Youyou afraid of?”
“I…”
Lu Ningshuang opened her mouth, but Qin Yushu’s expression was too profound, and for a moment, she couldn’t come up with any effective rebuttal.
Her fingertip slid onto the Alpha’s face—they were so close that such a gesture was natural and effortless for Qin Yushu.
But when it touched the cheek, the smooth, soft pad turned into a sharp tip. The Omega’s nails were neatly trimmed and beautifully shaped, but they still had that fresh, pointed edge.
It landed on the cheek unexpectedly, bringing a slight sting. The original warmth was replaced by coldness, like a snake coiling around the body.
Cold-blooded, inorganic, full of threat!
“Is it the incident itself, or…” Qin Yushu paused before continuing, “me?”
“Of course not!”
Lu Ningshuang immediately refuted her this time. The little dog’s expression looked extremely aggrieved, and her voice was loud. “How could I possibly hate big sister?!”
The Omega simply watched the little phoenix man’s performance quietly from the side. Seeing her truly on the verge of tears from grievance, she retracted her fingertip, flipped her hand, and used the back of her hand—the knuckles—to gently rub against the Alpha’s soft, delicate cheek.
“Don’t cry.” She comforted softly, a rare tenderness from Qin Yushu.
But the temperature on the back of her hand was even colder.
“There might be people who didn’t even have time to do anything wrong,” Qin Yushu said, returning to Lu Ningshuang’s original question.
The little phoenix man’s thoughts were pulled back. Qin Yushu’s answer deviated from her expectations—there was something hidden in it. Lu Ningshuang couldn’t figure it out for the moment and just stared at her with bright, glistening eyes before asking again.
“So was it on purpose, big sister?”
For a moment, Qin Yushu didn’t answer.
Lu Ningshuang kept staring into the Omega’s eyes, giving her one last chance to struggle. “It definitely wasn’t on purpose, right…”
Qin Yushu remained silent.
She knew very well—
Compared to the usual playful scares she gave the little dog, this was the time to deliver the heaviest, most brutal blow to her heart!
To make the little dog see her true face clearly and dispel any lucky fantasies.
That was everything she had envisioned after realizing her situation was extremely dire.
But.
When it came time to swing that final blow, she seemed to soften. It was as if she always ended up going easy on the little dog.
She didn’t know when it started, but everything was beginning to feel unlike her usual self.
Qin Yushu’s behavior had always been bound by family rules or her own restraints. Suddenly breaking free felt exhilarating and unrestrained at first… but after the initial thrill faded, discomfort crept in.
The inability to control it was fear of the unknown future.
In business, she had the bold confidence to scatter a fortune and earn it back. But in emotions… this was her first time.
So Qin Yushu was extremely uncertain.
She didn’t want to gamble everything on this all-or-nothing bet!
With no explanation from Qin Yushu, the saying went: no denial meant affirmation.
Lu Ningshuang’s expression didn’t change much; it remained pure and clear. She had only just suppressed her own inner fear, but when she opened her mouth, it was to comfort Qin Yushu again.
“I’m not really some upright person with super high moral standards. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have agreed to this sugar mommy arrangement, haha~”
The little dog babbled on like she was messing around, but in the end, her gaze firmly met Qin Yushu’s. “I’ll always side with my own people.”
As she said this, she had already made the hardest decision. The next second, her thoughts scattered uncontrollably.
So how to handle the outside matters?
From Qin Borong’s tone, this was mostly in the past, unlikely to be brought up again.
As for the others who knew… silence them?
Lu Ningshuang, who would hand found money to a teacher or police uncle and had never done anything bad in her life, was suddenly contemplating silencing people and all the follow-up work she’d need to do.
Qin Yushu’s dad was definitely in the know, then fourth uncle Qin Bolang. From his attitude back then, many others knew—probably all the Qin Family elders. If the elders weren’t tight-lipped and it leaked to the younger generation…
Aaaah!
So, exterminate… no, silence a bunch of people? Impossible to silence them all!
And these people hated Qin Yushu so much—would they really follow orders? Today, Qin Borong had blurted it out in front of his little lover. With mouths that loose, even if ordered, would they never leak it again?
Maybe ask the almighty Brother Facai for help? Look for that new mute-inducing Gu technique that doesn’t kill. If not, the Bai Family grandpa had connections on the streets—something that doesn’t take lives, just silences… shouldn’t be too hard, right?
Lu Ningshuang always said Qi Jingming and the Old Lu Family folks had potential to go full outlaw.
But she had Old Lu Family blood too. When conventional methods failed, she couldn’t help veering in that direction herself.
Because that was the most direct and effective solution, wasn’t it?
Why seek far when it’s right here?
And human nature was always biased.
Everyone knew it was wrong, but when it hit home, they still couldn’t resist.
If there really was no other way…
Lu Ningshuang suddenly looked up, gazing intently and devoutly into Qin Yushu’s eyes. “Big sister, I’ll wait for you to come out.”
She kept repeating, “I won’t let those people take your company. I might not know how to run it, but I can learn. If worst comes to worst, I’ll cry to my cousin and ask him to lend me some professionals to help out…”
The little dog had considered every angle, her conscience clearly having wrestled deeply. The only thing she hadn’t thought of was:
Her marriage contract with Qin Yushu was only for three years, and the latter had never shown any intent to renew. After three years, their paths would part, no longer connected.
Qin Yushu met Lu Ningshuang’s serious eyes and suddenly smiled—relaxed and dazzlingly radiant. “I was kidding.”
“Really?”
“Mm.” Qin Yushu’s voice was soft as she flicked the Alpha’s forehead lightly with her finger.
The intimate gesture wrapped up everything that came before.
I was kidding.
Whether “kidding” referred to just one specific sentence being a lie, or everything being falsehood… Qin Yushu neither clarified nor made it knowable.
It seemed like the matter was over, but everything remained muddled, shrouded in fog—nothing truly explained.
Lu Ningshuang was momentarily stunned.
A soft warmth lingered on her forehead, evidence of the earlier touch.
At this moment, no matter what she truly thought inside, her face showed immense relief. The rebuttal she uttered didn’t know if it was from clarity or just to convince herself.
“I knew it—big sister’s business is so huge. If someone had that kind of leverage, they’d have reported you long ago. How could you still be fine now…”
Qin Yushu sidestepped the issue without explanation.
Her gaze fell on the little dog’s chattering lips. The freshly applied color wasn’t deep enough and had already faded a bit into a cute, jelly-like shade—soft, kissable.
With that thought, President Qin leaned down. As her eyes fluttered shut, she gave the little dog’s lips a dragonfly-light kiss.
Heads close, the Omega’s deep black eyes gazed inwardly burning into the Alpha’s.
As she pulled away, she whispered softly.
“I like Youyou.”
This was Qin Yushu’s first explicit “confession,” though it hardly qualified as one.
Just a bit of sweetness tossed out to shut down the previous topic.
Lu Ningshuang first looked into her eyes, not missing a second. For an instant, she felt like she saw something different, but Qin Yushu’s eyes were too deep, too intense—the next moment, it was like she saw nothing.
Just like always.
No wild joy, but an indescribable sense of loss, grievance, sadness…
“Wah—!”
The Alpha was like a wronged little dog. Even though tricked by her owner, upon reflection, she still wanted to pounce into her arms, coquettishly begging for hugs and comfort.
Or perhaps.
She actually knew, more or less. She knew everything.
For the who-knows-how-manyth time that day, Lu Ningshuang embraced the Omega bearing her mark.
They had such an intimate relationship—done everything possible and impossible. In her arms was clearly a top-tier beauty, warm, fragrant, and soft as jade. Yet in that instant, why did her whole body feel so cold?
Like being trapped in a snowy wasteland, desolate white everywhere.
The sun shone brightly that day, and by now it had shifted slightly westward, scattering or bending its rays into Lu Ningshuang’s eyes. The light, not particularly intense, suddenly burned and stung like the midday sun.
Lu Ningshuang blinked, trying to adapt to the abrupt glare, but eyes were one of the body’s most fragile parts and couldn’t resist. Unexpectedly, tears welled up.
She blinked again.
The tears wouldn’t stop; instead, the pain made them flow faster and more urgently.
Before she could even turn away, they streamed onto Qin Yushu’s clothes. Her eyelids drooped, clipping the teardrops, which left a dark stain on the jacket.
Layer upon layer of fabric prevented the tears from spreading immediately, so Qin Yushu didn’t notice at first that the little dog was crying.
Lu Ningshuang, the “soft and easy to bully” Alpha, realized she couldn’t stem the stress-induced tears and stopped holding back. She let them flow freely, sobbing softly.
“Wu wu wu, Sister, you really scared me just now. How… how could you lie like that?…”
The little dog cried, wailing pitifully.
But the words she cried out didn’t seem to match what truly grieved her heart.
She obediently rested her head against Qin Yushu, pressing close. Only then did Qin Yushu finally sense it.
The Omega had been rubbing the Alpha’s head, her fingertips skillfully and naturally kneading Lu Ningshuang’s fluffy hair. Through the layers of clothing, the tears that finally reached her skin still carried the scorching heat from when they fell.
The heat made Qin Yushu pause her movements.
“Crying?”
Her tone held unclear emotions.
Lu Ningshuang offered no explanation. Once the post-event emotions eased a bit, the little dog sniffled and sobbed again—confirming the crying.
“I like Sister~”
She replied obediently and clingily, her voice soft and slow, ensuring every word was clear.
Perhaps responding to Qin Yushu’s earlier “like.” Since the master had expressed liking—whatever kind it was—the pet little dog always had to respond.
“…Mm.”
Qin Yushu hummed in acknowledgment, but the emotion in her voice was even more ambiguous and inscrutable than before.
The only change was that her strokes on the little dog’s head grew lighter and gentler.
There was no longer any need to question whether Qin Yushu would harm her.
The little dog gently, ever so gently, wrapped her arms around her master’s waist, nestling against her more dependently and submissively than ever before.
The tears flowed like an unclosed faucet, never drying up.
Even so…
Lu Ningshuang held the beauty in her arms in an intimate embrace, tears falling as she murmured and sighed endlessly, as if casting a spell on herself.
Or perhaps the most vicious curse.
“I like Sister so much, so much~~~”
