Falling After Marriage - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Slender Arms Like Supple Snakes

After driving for a while, the Maybach slowly stopped in front of a restaurant hidden in a bustling market area.

The maroon wooden doors of the restaurant blended with the wall, with no conspicuous sign, giving it a secluded, intriguing atmosphere.

Pushing open the door revealed a courtyard where one could listen to the wind and appreciate the rain. The thick bamboo wall isolated the outside world’s noise, making it too elegant to seem like a place for dining.

This low-key, avoid-detection style created an extreme contrast of luxury. Naturally, the prices here were astonishing.

Cheng Sangluo was eager to know Lin Jin’s so-called ‘explanation,’ but she hadn’t mentioned the three-million-yuan debt throughout the drive.

Her mind was consumed with deducing who was holding Cheng Xing hostage. She wasn’t concerned about his life; after so many years, the cold-blooded family had long since drained her affection.

However, having been a reconnaissance soldier, her perception was sharper than average, and she felt there was something strange about this, more than just a surface-level debt issue.

If Lin Jin was behind it, it was merely a trick to make her bend and surrender. Once she figured it out, she would treat it as a prank and ignore it.

If Xu Songheng was the culprit, that was a different matter. She would add another count to the feud, to settle the final score later.

By the time she snapped out of her thoughts, Cheng Sangluo had already followed her into the exquisitely decorated private room.

It was evident that Lin Jin was a regular patron. The manager who greeted them didn’t need to present a menu; hearing a simple, “The usual,” he took his leave with a knowing understanding.

Cheng Sangluo stood awkwardly before the dining table, her eyes wide and glaring. If looks could kill, the crazy woman would have been riddled with holes by now.

Lin Jin took a small sip of tea, noticing the murderous look on the puppy’s face, and couldn’t help but tease: “Glaring at me is less effective than sweet-talking me. Since you want the answer so badly, you have to show some initiative. I’m a businesswoman; I believe in exchange of benefits.”

“I’m now reasonably suspicious that you actually know nothing, given that you’re a habitual deceiver.” Cheng Sangluo clicked her tongue, deliberately choosing the chair furthest from Lin Jin.

“Then what if your habitual deceiver said…” Lin Jin deliberately drawled, her eye curving up with a mocking expression of watching a good show: “Three million is not a small sum. What should a puppy who is poor enough to only have one life left do?”

The three million spoken aloud was like a dart, precisely puncturing Cheng Sangluo’s skepticism and exposing her embarrassment.

Cheng Sangluo’s hands, resting on her knees, slowly clenched until her knuckles cracked.

She tried hard to control her emotions, calming herself before responding: “You said you didn’t do this, yet you know the whole story. Don’t you think that’s contradictory?”

“Can’t I just be an observer watching a good show?” Lin Jin put down her cup and recounted: “I know more than just that you have a brother who owes three million. I also know that you originally got into a top university in the country, but later…”

‘Slap—’ Cheng Sangluo’s face went pale. She slammed the table, immediately cutting off Lin Jin’s speech.

She absolutely didn’t want to revisit that messy past, urging: “Stop dragging up irrelevant details. Get to the point. What else do you know?”

She knew better than anyone that the answer lay in Lin Jin’s mouth, but asking wouldn’t yield results. After all, that manipulative crazy woman was constantly thinking of ways to tease her.

Lin Jin tilted her head, deliberately asking: “What else do I know?”

She rose and walked behind the puppy. Her slender arms were like supple snakes, wrapping inch by inch around Cheng Sangluo’s neck until she leaned in and whispered in her ear: “It all depends on your attitude…”

Cheng Sangluo resented this intimate gesture, but the breath blowing across her ear was filled with fragrance, threatening to ignite a storm in her heart if she wasn’t careful.

Fortunately, she remained as solid as a rock and clear-headed. She raised her hand to stop the one about to slide inside her collar, and stated calmly: “Is answering my question that difficult?”

Lin Jin feigned a look of unfulfilled longing: “Is saying a few words to make me happy that difficult?”

With a creak, a server pushed the meal cart in, interrupting their conversation.

Lin Jin chose a seat directly opposite the puppy, leisurely spread the napkin on her lap, and smiled with raised eyebrows: “My appetite improves just by watching you eat. I suppose you’re a feast for the eyes?”

Cheng Sangluo remained silent, only gripping her cup tightly, swearing furiously internally: Feast your dad! Be careful not to choke on shit!

In fact, Lin Jin had only ordered a set meal for one person. The exquisite plating covered most of the table, creating a stark contrast with the empty space in front of Cheng Sangluo.

She sampled the dishes in small bites, glancing at the poker-faced Cheng Sangluo from time to time, smiling more annoyingly than ever: “Mmm~ The food tastes excellent today~”

The little puppy looks very appetizing today too~

Spending most of the day in confrontation with the crazy woman had kept Cheng Sangluo tense. With this brief moment of relaxation, the headache from the high fever intensified.

She held her forehead and gulped down tea. Only then did she realize she hadn’t eaten all day. A fierce hunger swept over her, causing her stomach to cramp.

Lin Jin noticed the puppy was hungry and deliberately picked up a delicate crystal crab meat dumpling, biting a small piece on the spoon, causing the translucent soup to spill out instantly.

Cheng Sangluo only glanced at it, but could imagine how fresh and sweet that bite must be, and involuntarily swallowed.

In the quiet dining environment, the rumbling of her stomach suddenly sounded, even overriding the clinking of cutlery.

Cheng Sangluo had no time to manage her embarrassment. She quickly covered her stomach, turning away from the delicacies on the table.

She bit her lower lip, secretly hating her stomach for acting up at the worst possible time.

Lin Jin listened to the adorable, strange noises and picked up another crab dumpling, dangling it in front of the puppy: “Want some?”

Cheng Sangluo was stubborn as always, outright denying: “No.”

She chanted internally: Do not eat charity, especially from the crazy woman. It’s poisoned, highly poisoned.

Lin Jin didn’t have much appetite. She had barely touched the dishes before picking up her napkin to wipe her mouth: “Since you don’t want to eat and refuse to say something nice, what’s the point of you staying here?”

Cheng Sangluo also felt that staying there was pointless and made her purpose unclear.

Being dismissed by the crazy woman made her feel a surge of wounded pride, so she got up, ready to leave.

Three days were plenty of time. She hadn’t planned on raising the money, but it was enough time to investigate Cheng Xing’s matter. At worst, she would be retrieving a corpse from the Seventeen Port Pier in three days.

Seeing her about to leave, Lin Jin regretted her provocative move and called out: “Stop. Hold my bag for me. I’m going to pay the bill.”

Cheng Sangluo scanned the barely touched dishes in disbelief and let out a startled gasp: “You’re done eating?!”

“Yes.”

“You barely touched this food.” Cheng Sangluo couldn’t stand food waste and criticized: “Do you know how many people starve to death in this world every day?”

Lin Jin shrugged indifferently. The cold-blooded nature in her bones was condensed into a single, malicious rhetorical question: “What does that have to do with me? I’m not the one who caused it.”

With that, she picked up her phone and walked out.

Cheng Sangluo was speechless with anger, hating this minority group that enjoyed resources without concern for the common people. She passed judgment on Lin Jin in her heart: For wasting food in this life, you’ll be a starving ghost when you die, and a beggar in the next life.

She strained her neck to watch for a moment. Seeing the crazy woman was out of sight, she tiptoed over to the table.

Looking at the exquisitely arranged dishes, she mumbled to herself, swallowing constantly. She was genuinely hungry.

She muttered: “It’s not shameful, not shameful. Waste is the real shame, right?”

After only a moment of internal debate, she quickly grabbed a crab dumpling and stuffed it into her mouth. One wasn’t enough, so she stuffed another, until her face puffed out like a hamster.

Chewing vigorously with her cheeks bulging, she couldn’t help but curse: “I curse you to be a beggar in your next life… and the life after that… and the life after that… so you’ll never eat such delicious… whatever this dumpling is called… again.”

After clearing one basket of crab dumplings, she angrily picked up a chopstick full of spareribs and put them in her mouth. Tasting the fresh, vibrant flavor, her eyes widened in delight!

Cheng Sangluo didn’t even notice that she was using the crazy woman’s chopsticks to clean up the meal.

Lin Jin pretended to have walked away but then circled back to the doorway, silently watching, hidden from the puppy’s sight.

For a VIP like her, the bill at established restaurants and clubs was always automatically deducted from her account. There was no need to ‘pay the bill.’

The more frantically Cheng Sangluo ate, the more heartbroken Lin Jin felt.

Her eyes dimmed, showing no hint of mockery. An indescribable feeling of distress traveled from her chest all the way to her throat, making it tight and bitter.

Initially, she only wanted to indulge her mean streak and catch the puppy’s embarrassing moment for a bit of humiliation.

But seeing the scene in the private room, she was the one who panicked, to the point of feeling afraid—afraid that her appearance would disturb the puppy’s meal.

Seeing Cheng Sangluo choked by the food and patting her chest, she sniffled, her nose red, and murmured resignedly: “Silly, eat slower.”

Only when the puppy had devoured everything, rubbing her stomach and letting out a satisfied burp, did Lin Jin stroll casually back to the doorway.

Cheng Sangluo mistakenly thought she was discovered. She quickly turned her back, wiping her mouth with her hand, secretly cursing: She didn’t notice, did she? I don’t have money to split the bill!

Lin Jin smiled at the puppy’s poor acting, but restrained her doting smile, proposing seriously: “You want to know who kidnapped your brother, don’t you? I’ll tell you who did it, why he owes so much money, and the solution. In exchange for this information, you have to stay with me for one day and follow my instructions. Deal?”

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