The Obsessive Tycoon Claims the Deserted Heiress-Chapter 169 - 168: Afraid of being treated as a monster by him

At the same time, in the study next door.

A couple with unfamiliar faces sat on the couch, seeming deeply shocked, wiping tears from the corners of their eyes.

"I thought... this time we could finally see Wanwan." The woman, dressed in a Chanel-inspired suit, choked as she clutched the piece of paper in her hand tightly.

Her demeanor was elegant, her features delicate. Even though she was entering middle age, the years had left no visible marks on her face.

"I will make the Yu Family pay the price!" The man beside her, his reddened eyes filled with bloodshot veins, spoke with rage.

Perhaps due to extreme anger, even the veins on his forehead were visibly protruding.

"Chang Xiao, don’t get ahead of yourself." Jin Heng offered a few words of comfort while analyzing the current situation and workable options.

Since Yu Baisheng could rise to prominence in Imperial City’s business circles in such a short time, he must be no ordinary man.

Without evidence, it would be hard to pry the truth from him. The most reliable approach was to start with the people around him.

When mentioning "the people around him," Jin Heng picked up a recorder pen from the desk. Before playing it, he turned to Shi Wei and asked, "Have you investigated that girl before?"

"I did." Shi Wei admitted openly, sitting up straighter as he lazily rested his hands back on the couch. "But I didn’t read what I found."

After his first trip to Shengde, he had asked Chen Cai to investigate her.

Ultimately, however, he chose to truly understand his little girl with his heart, rather than relying on words written on paper.

Jin Heng was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Then you’d better prepare yourself mentally."

He pressed the play button, and a woman’s voice came from the recorder. There was a slight accent, but it was still easy to understand.

"That little girl was so pitiful. It was because of her cursed fate as an ’Unlucky Star’ that she was sent here."

"She was living with the most despicable couple in our town, the Zheng Family. That Zheng man often returned home drunk and beat the poor child. I could hear her crying even from upstairs—it was heartbreaking."

"Once, I went out to buy groceries and passed by their house. I saw that man dumping food from the bowl onto the ground, forcing the little girl to crawl and pick it up to eat."

"That poor girl—her entire body didn’t have a single unbruised spot. Several times, those vile monsters beat her so badly she ended up in the hospital with a fever..."

"Smack—"

Shi Wei lost control of his emotions and smashed the recorder pen onto the ground.

His brows were tightly furrowed, his bloodshot eyes filled with agony as he clutched at his chest, as if a giant hand was gripping his heart painfully, making it hard for him to breathe.

"Little Wei, are you okay?" Xu Changxiao looked at the man, whose expression resembled that of a drowning person, with deep concern. Her face wasn’t any better off.

Shi Wei shook his head, taking a few deep breaths. He braced himself against the couch and stood up unsteadily, walking out of the study to see the person he most wanted to see at that moment.

Downstairs, the girl had finally solved the challenging question under the boy’s unclear and vague "guidance."

She dropped her pen, yawned, and then noticed the man descending the stairs from the opposite side, his emotional state clearly unstable.

Trusting her instincts, she immediately set down her pen and ran toward him. When she saw his terrifyingly red eyes, her heart inexplicably tensed with pain.

"Shi Wei, what’s wrong?" As her voice fell, Yu Zhi was pulled into his strong embrace.

The strength of his hug felt as though he wanted to fuse her into his very bones, entwining their souls.

Shi Wei buried his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent deeply. His eyes, bottomless as an abyss, were full of guilt. "Zhizhi, I’m sorry."

He should have found her sooner. He should have saved her from that horrific place earlier. He should have given her all the warmth in the world earlier.

He should have... been there earlier.

"Shi Wei, what exactly happened?" His unsettling demeanor made Yu Zhi uneasy as well.

Ignoring the pain caused by his tight embrace, she gently patted his back to comfort him.

"Why didn’t you tell me?" Shi Wei’s lashes grew damp, and his hoarse voice carried a trace of sorrow. "Why didn’t you tell me about everything in your past?"

Yu Zhi fell silent and glanced toward the stairs before instinctively linking her thoughts to a certain possibility.

She pushed against his shoulders slightly, cupping his face with both hands, and gazed into his sorrow-filled eyes.

After a long moment, she finally mustered the courage to speak. "Shi Wei, that wasn’t me."

"What?"

"That wasn’t me." Yu Zhi caressed his cheek and whispered in a voice only they could hear, "I don’t want to see you hurting for someone else."

"Zhizhi..." Shi Wei stared at her with such seriousness, her words echoing repeatedly in his heart.

A bold yet unbelievable thought began to take form in his mind.

Seeing the shift in his gaze, Yu Zhi nervously clutched his sleeve, her lips gently pressed together. "Are you... afraid?"

Feeling disheartened, she lowered her head. The thought that he might one day treat her as a monster and break up with her left her nose tingling and her eyes moist.

"What nonsense are you saying?" Shi Wei brushed away his chaotic thoughts, ruffled her hair, and embraced her tightly again.

With his arms wrapped around her, he gave his little girl a sense of absolute safety. "Zhizhi, I told you before—no matter how different you are from others, I like you."

Even if she were a ghost from Feng Metropolis or a deity from the Upper Realm, now that she had stumbled into his arms, she could only be Mrs. Shi.

Yu Zhi’s arms, previously dangling by her side, hesitantly rose to wrap around his slender waist. She leaned into his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

"Shi Wei, aren’t you going to ask me?" Typically, anyone hearing something so shocking would at least be curious if not frightened.

Shi Wei seriously considered it for a moment before tightening his arm around her waist. "Will you disappear suddenly one day?"

If his little girl truly was a wandering spirit, wasn’t there a chance she could vanish one year, on one specific day?

Truth be told, his thoughts had already spiraled far.

Yu Zhi shook her head and answered with certainty, "No."

"Can you enter temples?"

"Of course."

"Alright, let’s find time to visit one together." At this point, Shi Wei genuinely believed she might be some kind of ghost.

Though such things lacked scientific evidence, the vastness of the world left many mysteries unexplored, and he couldn’t completely dismiss the idea.

Yu Zhi gave a light nod, not thinking much about his sudden suggestion to visit a temple.

She tugged at his clothes slightly, leaning back just enough to say, "You’re hugging me too tightly; it hurts a little."

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