Chapter 1 Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A jet-black car was parked at the entrance of H University. Outside stood a man in a suit who appeared to be a bodyguard, wearing a black suit and white gloves. His posture was ramrod straight, his gaze fixed ahead, exuding a cold, rigid formality.

Many students instinctively glanced over, but daunted by that keep-your-distance aura, no one dared to approach.

One bespectacled male student stared at the car for a long time. Only when a slender figure emerged from the school gate did his eyes light up. But before he could speak, another voice beat him to it.

"Miss Lin."

The male bodyguard standing by the car door opened it.

There was a moment of silence. All eyes turned toward Lin Chenxin—some curious, some suspicious, some sizing her up with ill intentions.

At the center of this attention, Lin Chenxin calmly got into the car under everyone's gaze.

The heavily tinted windows soon blocked the onlookers' view. The male student at the entrance watched the departing car, his face dark as storm clouds.

Simultaneously, a wave of hushed whispers erupted among the crowd.

Inside the car, Lin Chenxin kept her eyes fixed ahead, her gaze unwavering.

—

The car drove out of the city center, turned onto a quiet, tree-lined avenue, and continued for a while before stopping before a gate.

Tall, imposing walls lined the entire route, yet even through the car window, one could glimpse pavilions and towers within the compound.

Lin Chenxin looked out the window, a flicker of unreadable light in her eyes.

After getting out of the car and stepping through the gate flanked by stone lions, a breathtakingly beautiful Chinese-style courtyard suddenly opened up before her.

Gravel paths, a pond with rockeries, flower gardens, and bamboo groves—it felt as though passing through that gate had transported her into another world, one of carved beams and painted rafters, full of charm.

"Miss Lin, please follow me."

A middle-aged woman waiting inside the gate led the way with an expressionless face.

Lin Chenxin took a deep breath, her eyes burning with intensity as she followed.

The moment Lin Chenxin stepped into the courtyard, a dark cloud covered the sky, shrouding the entire majestic and exquisitely crafted Chinese-style garden, casting a heavy, somewhat oppressive gloom.

—

Sitting in the front hall, Lin Chenxin surveyed the opulent decorations around her. She ran her hand over the armrest of the rosewood chair, mentally calculating the value of everything within sight.

Rosewood tables and chairs.

A jade screen.

Blue-and-white porcelain vases.

The Chen family truly had deep roots.

Lin Chenxin looked up, her eyes filled with unwavering determination.

Rumors said the Chen family had a reclusive eldest young master. He was twenty-eight this year and had already been married twice.

Both wives had dropped dead on their wedding day.

There were many demonizing rumors about this Eldest Young Master Chen, born with a silver spoon in his mouth yet never stepping foot outside.

That he jinxed his wives was already the mildest of the gossip.

Some even said he had unspeakable eccentricities, taking pleasure in tormenting others. More extreme rumors claimed he suffered from a strange illness that made him crave human flesh and blood, specifically targeting young women.

Lin Chenxin didn't know if he had any strange illness, but she knew the two women who died suddenly had not been abused; they had succumbed to sudden death.

This wasn't a secret, and the Chen family hadn't tried to hide it.

The families of the two women had taken the bodies back after receiving compensation; everything had been done openly.

So, when she discovered the Chen family was still seeking a bride for the Eldest Young Master, Lin Chenxin stepped forward.

Others feared Eldest Young Master Chen; she did not.

Because in her eyes, the mysterious and dangerous Eldest Young Master Chen was a gold mine.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door. Lin Chenxin concealed the glint in her eyes, lowering her gaze as a woman wearing a jade ring and jade bracelet passed in front of her and sat directly in the seat of honor.

The middle-aged woman who had guided her earlier presented a stack of documents to the woman.

They contained Lin Chenxin's identity information from birth to the present.

The woman flipped through the documents right in front of her, glancing at her as if inspecting a commodity.

"Miss Lin," the woman spoke.

Lin Chenxin tore her eyes away from the pigeon-egg-sized jade pendant on the woman's chest, looking up with a smile.

"Ms. Liang."

The woman paused, set down the documents in her hand, and fixed her eyes directly on Lin Chenxin.

Lin Chenxin was not the first to step forward.

The Chen family had been an institution here for years; many people wanted to enter its doors.

But the Chen family had always maintained a reclusive style, rarely appearing at usual banquets or social gatherings. The Chen family was like a deeply rooted yet mysterious, reclusive clan.

Yet no one doubted the Chen family's wealth.

However, after the sudden death incidents, those who had sent visiting cards to the Chen family quietly fell silent, perhaps plotting how to gain more benefits from the Chen family through this.

Lin Chenxin was the first person brave enough to knock on their door since then.

Ms. Liang remembered that day when this young Miss Lin stood outside the gate, openly declaring to the door, "I heard you're looking for a wife for Eldest Young Master Chen. I don't know if I'll do!"

It wasn't raining that day; it was a sunny, beautiful day.

The bright-eyed girl with gleaming teeth radiated a bold and confident light.

Ms. Liang lowered her eyelashes slightly, her face devoid of any emotion. She took a sip from an expensive teacup before speaking to Lin Chenxin. "The Chen family's daughter-in-law is not chosen based on family background or appearance. There is only one requirement: to be docile and obedient."

Hearing this, Lin Chenxin's smile remained unchanged. She stood up and said respectfully, "Naturally."

Her demeanor was perfectly measured.

"Once I cross this threshold, I'll be part of the Chen family. If you tell me to go east, I won't go west."

Lin Chenxin looked up with a smile, her eyes curved, a sly glint flashing in their curve.

Her demeanor didn't seem like someone coming to be matched, but more like a humble interviewee.

Ms. Liang watched her with an inscrutable gaze, her powdered face pale, her lips blood-red, with a thin face and a high nose bridge. The slight curl of her lips held a hint of harshness.

"As long as you fulfill your duties properly, the Chen family can give you whatever you want."

Lin Chenxin's smile bloomed, her eyes dark and bright.

"Thank you, Ms. Liang."

—

Stepping out of the main hall, outside a light drizzle had begun, the overcast sky shrouded in a layer of gray fog.

The Chen residence, a garish display of wealth, covered a terrifyingly large area and was equally eerily quiet. Even the servants, heads bowed as they worked, seemed as gloomy and cold as the weather itself.

Lin Chenxin turned back, looking through the doorway she had just left at Ms. Liang sitting inside.

The other woman was adorned with ostentatious jade, but now in the shadows, Lin Chenxin could only see those strikingly bright red lips.

Ms. Liang sat there motionless, watching her with no expression. For a moment, the figure sitting there, bedecked in jewels and dressed in vibrant colors, seemed to transform into a cold, gloomy paper effigy.

A sudden chill shot down Lin Chenxin's spine. Startled, she looked up—it was just the rain from outside spattering onto her.

Even though it was already late spring, the wind still carried a bone-piercing cold.

No one came to offer her an umbrella. Lin Chenxin stood still for a moment, then turned and left on her own.

She descended the steps and walked forward through the rain.

But the rain grew heavier and heavier, soon sheeting down so hard it blurred her vision.

Lin Chenxin kept her head down, turning this way and that but unable to find the exit, instead wandering deeper and deeper.

She stopped, tilted her head, and through the rain and mist, looked at the layers upon layers of circular moon gates, stretching endlessly into the dark depths, like a bottomless black hole.

For some reason, a strange chill crept into her heart.

Suddenly, a voice sounded behind her.

"Miss Lin, you're going the wrong way."

Lin Chenxin quickly turned to see a middle-aged woman who had appeared at some point, holding a black umbrella and watching her expressionlessly.

Her heart gave a violent thump.

After a moment, she pressed her lips together and said softly, "My apologies."

She didn't ask further, simply followed the woman's steps to leave.

And just after she left, the clank of heavy chains echoed from deep within the dark moon gates, quietly fading into the sound of the rain.

—

By the time she returned to school, it was already noon.

The moment she appeared in the cafeteria, everyone's eyes turned toward her in unison.

She sat at the dining table, her expression unchanged, showing no trace of embarrassment.

Lin Chenxin was not a nobody at H University.

She had been admitted to H University on a recommendation, and over the years, she had been a regular recipient of various scholarships.

During the talent show a year ago, her dance was elegant and lively, like a graceful, ethereal lotus flower.

From then on, everyone remembered her.

Besides that, she also played the piano beautifully.

According to her former high school classmates, she had even won major awards in city-level painting competitions.

Someone so accomplished in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting must have been born into a well-off family and received an excellent education.

But in reality, everyone knew that Lin Chenxin hardly went a day without working part-time.

Even with a fully packed daily schedule, she could squeeze out a few hours in the evening for part-time jobs.

How could someone like her have the means to receive such an outstanding education?

It wasn't until rumors about Lin Chenxin spread through the school one day that everyone learned she was actually the daughter of the Lin's Pastries family.

No one was unaware of the story of Lin's Pastries.

It was a decades-old establishment, honest and trustworthy, holding a unique place in the hearts of many in H City.

Yet, this very honest and trustworthy Lin's Pastries was suddenly exposed for food safety issues.

It was an almost fatal blow.

Without any backing, having slowly ingrained this flavor in the hearts of everyone in H City from just a small cart, Lin's Pastries declared bankruptcy within just one month.

The massive compensation brought enormous debt to the Lin family, and the employees' wages also weighed them down unbearably.

Mr. Lin fell ill and never recovered, while Mrs. Lin died suddenly in an accident. In less than three days, the gravely ill Mr. Lin also passed away.

Everything happened so suddenly. At that time, Lin Chenxin was only in her third year of high school, and her younger siblings had just learned to crawl.

Lin Chenxin thus swiftly fell from being a high-society young lady into the mud.

She had to balance her studies, raise her young siblings, and shoulder debts heavy enough to crush her.

A pearl falling into the mud might evoke pity, but it more easily stirs up malicious, dark satisfaction.

Even though Lin's Pastries was cleared of wrongdoing the year before last, the deceased Mr. and Mrs. Lin would never return, and the once-famous Lin's brand had completely declined.

No one knew how Lin Chenxin had made it through all these years.

In any case, after learning all this, the way people at school looked at Lin Chenxin changed.

No longer filled with admiration and appreciation, but mixed with more onlooker-like scrutiny and judgment.

Today, Lin Chenxin had gotten into an expensive car in front of everyone. Now, those gazes fell upon her, filled with all sorts of dark speculations.

But Lin Chenxin, at the center of those stares, remained calm and composed, utterly indifferent.

Compared to money, these so-called "external judgments" were nothing.

She stood up, placed her tray in the recycling area, and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

The cheap, unpalatable university cafeteria—this was the last time she would come here.