Falling After Marriage - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Cheng Sangluo, Pick Up the Money

Lin Jin stood in the center of the group of thugs. Her slender, delicate figure was in stark contrast to the large, burly men.

Her exquisite, beautiful face held a cold smile, and her imposing presence completely overshadowed Xu Songheng.

She had only brought Sheng He, yet her demeanor was enough to disdain everything around her. Without speaking, someone would arrange things for her, just like Xu Songheng did now.

He was furious that Cheng Sangluo had managed to connect with Lin Jin. Unable to vent his accumulated rage, he was forced to maintain a pleasant facade.

He gestured to the creditor, and immediately someone prepared a chair for Lin Jin.

Lin Jin’s high heels made a rhythmic clicking sound as she walked. Her steps were, as always, unhurried. People naturally cleared a path for her wherever she passed, like a dominant pack leader.

She settled down leisurely, crossing her legs and resting her hand on her cheek. Her eyes, gazing at the puppy, were affectionate, yet her tone was chillingly cold: “Honestly, the situation today is your own doing.”

“My own doing?” Cheng Sangluo’s voice trembled. Enduring the pain that felt like her body was collapsing, she struggled for a long time before slowly standing up.

“In this betting game, you’re the only one who cares about winning or losing. Don’t you think it’s boring?” Cheng Sangluo’s question was laced with anger. Her bloody eyes, reflecting fragmented, dark light, swept over every hateful face, finally settling on Lin Jin.

“I said I came to help you. I said it’s hard to get you to approach me actively, and I also said I have many ways to deal with you.” Lin Jin pieced together the important information left in their every conversation.

Her eyes were lonely, as if saying: I gave you many chances for gentleness, yet you insisted on taking the hardest path. Who can you blame for ending up like this?

“Do you have to humiliate me so flagrantly? Do you have to hear me say ‘please’? Why won’t you let me go, why?” Cheng Sangluo gritted her teeth. Her hatred for Lin Jin was reaching the breaking point.

She had endured being repeatedly trampled and humiliated, but today was different.

She hated that Lin Jin brought Xu Songheng, hated that her most miserable and shameful moment had become a joke to her enemy.

Lin Jin didn’t reply, raising her hand to signal the person behind her.

Sheng He, following the command, pulled open a heavy suitcase. Stacks of thick cash were rattled out and spilled onto the ground at Cheng Sangluo’s feet.

Just enough to clear the debt.

Lin Jin rested both hands on her knees, leaning forward with a smile: “Today, I’ll teach you the third lesson: after learning to bend, you must learn to trample on your own dignity. Compared to fighting and killing, picking up money on the ground is indeed shameful, but it solves the actual problem, doesn’t it?”

She concealed her arrogant smile, then murmured to herself: “You never understood what I wanted to give you.”

“I won’t kneel! I won’t pick it up!” Cheng Sangluo clenched her fists until the veins bulged on the back of her hands. Her sharp, predatory gaze was filled with murderous intent.

She stared at Lin Jin’s carotid artery, silently calculating how many steps it would take to kill this hateful crazy woman with her bare hands.

Xu Songheng, watching from the side, showed great mockery on his face.

Lin Jin was always both friend and foe. He truly couldn’t guess the woman’s mind. Just as he was about to say something to twist the knife, he was silenced by a sudden glare.

Lin Jin’s gaze was not just cold, but sharp enough to slice through the heart: “Xu Songheng, I didn’t ask you here to watch a show. This mess was entirely caused by you. Can you walk away without cleaning it up?”

Xu Songheng felt a chill down his spine. He had to loosen his tie to alleviate the feeling of suffocation, quickly bowing and speaking respectfully: “Director Lin, whatever you require to solve this is just a word from you. However you want me to handle it, I will.”

“Cheng Sangluo! I’m your brother! Heaven will punish you if you abandon me!”

Cheng Xing, seeing his sister still refusing to pick up the money and show weakness, suddenly burst out in an accusatory roar, interrupting their conversation.

Lin Jin looked down at the man by her feet, calmly placing her stiletto heel onto his face and grinding it hard, relentlessly.

“Ah—”

Cheng Xing screamed in pain. The sharp heel almost embedded itself in his flesh. Fresh blood seeped down his cheek.

“Noisy,” Lin Jin snapped coldly, then ordered someone to gag Cheng Xing and drag him aside for a beating.

She would not tolerate anyone else bullying Cheng Sangluo. Not Xu Songheng’s mockery, and certainly not Cheng Xing’s abuse.

Only she was exempt from the rules. In moments of conscious and unconscious action, she freely tormented, humiliated, and bullied Cheng Sangluo, yet was always conflicted and distressed over her.

Seeing their son being beaten, the two elderly parents grew agitated. Disregarding the knives held to their throats, they constantly struggled.

Cheng Sangluo’s hands, hanging by her side, slowly crumpled her trousers.

She remained indifferent. The more her parents struggled, the colder her heart grew, until it reached numbness.

Lin Jin leaned back, observing the puppy’s expression, and suddenly asked the creditor: “Her bones are very hard. Do you have any good ways to make people submit?”

“We people on the street don’t know much else, but we have plenty of ways to intimidate. Chopping off fingers and toes is what we do best.” The creditor pulled a knife from his waist and walked straight to Cheng Xing: “Your luck is so bad, keeping your hands is useless. Might as well chop them off so you don’t gamble again.”

“Don’t, don’t chop my fingers…” Cheng Xing was terrified into collapse, shrieking: “Sangluo, Sangluo… pick up the money, please… I beg you… If you won’t save your brother, at least think of Mom and Dad…”

“Mmmph—Mmm—”

The old couple, seeing their son about to lose his hands, frantically let out cries for help, their eyes turning to glare at their daughter with resentment.

That level of hate suggested they blamed Cheng Sangluo as the ultimate culprit.

Lin Jin watched, unconcerned by the escalating drama: the creditor’s relentless pressure, the blind hostility of the parents.

Cheng Sangluo was caught in the middle, the focus of everyone’s attention.

She lowered her head self-mockingly, staring at the piles of tempting cash, and suddenly let out a chilling laugh that made her shoulders tremble.

The laugh sounded like half a lifetime of accumulated suffering: embarrassment, bitterness, unbearable pain.

It wasn’t her fault, so why did she have to bear all the unfairness again and again?

Lin Jin’s eyes widened in excitement, her face practically screaming: Quickly, let me see how you transform from being unyielding to being utterly subservient.

Cheng Sangluo remained silent. The moment she bent down, it was as if all her vitality was drained away. Her eyes finally lost their light.

She picked up stack after stack of money, hugging a full load, numbly placing it into the suitcase, then miserably continued picking up.

Lin Jin gave a hollow laugh. The long-awaited scene had finally played out, yet why did it fail to satisfy her desire for gratification? Why did bitterness catch in her throat? Why did a pair of hands seem to grip her heart, causing sharp pain?

Was it Cheng Sangluo’s deathly calm, or the loss of her resolute spirit as she endured the humiliation?

“Don’t pick it up.” Lin Jin suddenly lashed out, shouting fiercely: “I told you to stop!”

No, don’t bend down. Never learn the lesson of bending down. You are you, the person who astounded me!

All the onlookers were stunned, but Cheng Sangluo acted deaf, still burying her head and picking up money.

Xu Songheng signaled his subordinate, and someone quickly snatched the money from Cheng Sangluo’s arms, clearing the scene.

Cheng Sangluo’s shoulders slumped. Her empty eyes showed no ripple of emotion. She maintained the posture of embracing something, still refusing to speak.

Lin Jin stood up, intending to walk toward her, but was stopped by Sheng He: “Boss, it’s dangerous.”

Lin Jin gave him a dagger look: “Get out of the way.”

She knew Cheng Sangluo harbored murderous intent toward her, yet she insisted on getting closer.

Cheng Sangluo’s gaze slowly followed her figure until the approaching subtle fragrance grew stronger, bringing back a sliver of clarity.

“Your subordinate is right to stop you,” Cheng Sangluo murmured, her eyes still fixed on the slender neck.

At this close distance, all she needed was to cup that face with both hands and give a firm twist, and the crazy woman would be gone.

“I am doing this willingly.” Lin Jin saw through her thoughts, yet stepped even closer: “If you want to lay hands on me, now is the best time.”

Cheng Sangluo turned her head, avoiding Lin Jin’s eyes, as if afraid of drowning in a dark abyss: “Kneel, beg—I did it your way, and now you won’t let me pick up the money. What else do you want from me?”

Yes, she is so contradictory.

Lin Jin did not answer. Instead, she reached out and hooked the hem of Cheng Sangluo’s shirt, turning her head to look at Cheng Xing: “Your family has never been worth all this, right?”

Cheng Sangluo pursed her lips, finding she couldn’t answer, because those people were indeed not worth it.

Lin Jin turned her eyes to Cheng’s parents, scoffing: “I know you’ve been looking for them since you got out of prison. Why bother? The father who doesn’t love you, the mother who doesn’t care, and a brother addicted to gambling. You can completely discard these people who suck your blood.”

“You have no reason…” Cheng Sangluo’s voice grew hoarser: “You’ve never had a reason to barge into my life. Every time, there’s been no reason…”

Lin Jin finally raised her trademark false smile: “So, why would I approach you, tease you, and help you? Do you want to know why?”

“Even if I ask why, you never give me an answer.”

“Many questions will resolve themselves. There’s no rush for an answer right now,” Lin Jin still left a cliffhanger.

She walked around behind Cheng Sangluo, pressing her forehead against the slightly bowed back.

Her breathing was filled with the puppy’s scent—plain soap mixed with a hint of sweat. It wasn’t particularly fragrant, yet it somehow soothed her emotions.

Cheng Sangluo stood still. The touch on her back wasn’t repulsive; rather, it created the illusion of finding a strong support when she was at her weakest.

She found Lin Jin contradictory, and herself contradictory, always hurting each other, yet drawing closer amidst the rejection.

“Tell me, what is the condition in exchange for such a large sum of money?” Cheng Sangluo turned around, rarely ever taking the initiative to search Lin Jin’s eyes.

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