Chapter 27 Chapter 27

Chapter 27

1

Seeing her voice trail off, Chen Gujun straightened up and continued fanning her with the round fan, his expression placid.

Maybe it was the high temperature outside, but even though she was in the shade, Lin Chenxin still felt her cheeks grow somewhat warm.

She closed her eyes, lay back on the recliner, turned her head away, and muttered something under her breath.

Chen Gujun glanced at her sideways, the corners of his lips curling into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

Catching a glimpse of this from the corner of her eye, Lin Chenxin gave a light, inward huff, yet her demeanor remained utterly relaxed.

There was no scent of flowers here, nor the rustling of leaves.

But there was the crisp sound of wind chimes and the dazzling red lanterns.

—

After giving blood, Lin Chenxin had been keeping a close eye on news from the hospital.

Today, she finally received a reply from Doctor Jiang.

Doctor Jiang said many "volunteers" had arrived at the hospital. As long as a match was successful, the surgery could be arranged at any time.

This news was like the first light of dawn breaking through a sky of continuous rain.

Doctor Jiang's tone was excited, and Lin Chenxin could hardly contain her own exhilaration.

She clutched her phone to her chest, her turbulent emotions taking a long time to settle.

A short while later, Doctor Jiang asked if she was free recently and if she could come to the hospital to see Chenyi.

It had been a long time since she last visited her.

Reading this message, Lin Chenxin tightened her grip on the phone, a surge of sourness rising in her throat.

As if struck by a thought, her eyes brightened. She walked out and rang the bell in the courtyard.

After a while, she stood at the courtyard gate holding two boxes of pastries.

"Can I..." she began, the words rising to her throat, but then changed to, "Can I ask you to help me deliver these to the hospital and the kindergarten?"

Ever since her return from the study that time, many servants had been coming and going outside Junzi Courtyard.

They weren't openly guarding Junzi Courtyard like a prison.

Instead, they loitered outside from time to time. The moment Lin Chenxin showed any sign of wanting to leave, those people would fix their eyes firmly on her.

Hearing her request, the servant did not agree directly.

"Young Mistress, please wait a moment. I need to seek Madam's instructions," the person said, bowing expressionlessly before turning to leave.

Lin Chenxin couldn't help but take a step forward. Immediately, those outside all turned their heads to look at her in unison.

Their gazes weren't particularly sharp, but the moment they locked onto her, they brought a silent pressure.

She tightened her grip on the boxes, her expression unchanged as she retreated back into Junzi Courtyard.

Not long after, the middle-aged woman arrived. With a wave of her hand, the servant who followed her immediately stepped forward to take the boxes from Lin Chenxin.

Her eyes lit up, and she hurriedly said, "The note on top has the specific addresses. Please deliver them as soon as possible; they won't taste good if they get cold..."

Her voice softened on the last sentence, carrying an unspoken reluctance and melancholy.

Watching the servant's back disappear, she composed herself and turned to look at the middle-aged woman, who was also staring intently at her.

"I heard Young Mistress has been ill recently and has lost a lot of weight. Madam has instructed that Young Mistress come to have new measurements taken for new clothes."

The other woman's affected tone sounded particularly strange to Lin Chenxin's ears.

"Now?" she asked.

The middle-aged woman said without emotion, "If Young Mistress is free, that would be best, of course."

As she stepped out of the courtyard gate, the servants sweeping outside neither raised their heads nor glanced her way.

Following behind the middle-aged woman away from Junzi Courtyard, they did not head to the main hall or Lanting Courtyard, but instead arrived at a separate courtyard.

As the people they encountered on the path grew fewer and fewer until there was no one in sight, she looked at the middle-aged woman's back, then lowered her eyes imperceptibly.

Entering the courtyard gate, Lin Chenxin raised her eyes to survey her surroundings.

This separate courtyard had no name, but it contained everything one could need: a small bridge over flowing water, a pond with a rockery. The serene and elegant environment seemed no less impressive than Changsheng Courtyard. Even though there were no vibrant, colorful real flowers here, the path was lined with various artificial flowers and plants of all shapes and hues.

It was clear the place was well-maintained, yet there was no sign of anyone living here.

She walked into the pavilion and looked at Ms. Liang sitting on the stone stool.

"I wonder what urgent matter Madam has summoned me for."

She went straight over and sat opposite Ms. Liang, looking at her openly and directly.

Ms. Liang was watching the lotus flowers in the pond—also fake, yet strikingly lifelike on the shimmering water's surface.

Hearing her voice, Ms. Liang slowly turned her head, her gaze immediately falling on the bandage on Lin Chenxin's wrist.

"It must hurt a lot."

Hearing this, Lin Chenxin frowned, unsure what the other woman meant by these words.

Surely it wasn't a sudden pang of conscience prompting concern for her.

Sure enough, the next second, Ms. Liang said in her emotionless voice, "To be able to make such a ruthless move for him, it seems your feelings for each other are indeed quite strong."

Lin Chenxin didn't care at all about the wound on her hand. She looked directly at Ms. Liang's face and said, "Madam, please speak plainly."

She didn't want to waste time listening to useless talk here.

Ms. Liang wasn't angered. Instead, she asked, "You should already know your purpose. How long do you think you can last?"

Lin Chenxin glanced at her own hand.

Although it had hurt when she did it, losing that small amount of blood wasn't much of a burden on her body.

"The last 'you' only lasted three years," Ms. Liang said.

Her heart gave a jolt, and she snapped her head toward Ms. Liang.

What did that mean?

Her reaction made the corner of Ms. Liang's mouth twist into a cold smirk.

"This curse has been passed down through generations. Over hundreds of years, how many Chen Gujuns do you think there have been, and how many like you?"

The amount of information in these words was immense, momentarily rooting Lin Chenxin to the spot.

"What are you trying to say?" She balled her hands into fists.

Ms. Liang stared into her eyes and said, "You won't even last a year."

Lin Chenxin's heart began to pound violently.

"His curse has completely mutated and spiraled out of control in his generation. He won't hold on for much longer. From now on, at the end of every month, he will need your blood to sustain him, and the amount he needs will double every month. How many months do you think your body can sustain him?"

Lin Chenxin's mind was reeling.

At the same time, Ms. Liang's cold voice rang out.

"In less than a year, you will be drained dry by him."

She looked into Ms. Liang's eyes, finding no ripple of emotion within them. Those eyes were like a deep, cold, and still pool.

"In the end, either you die before him, or he dies before you, or... you both die together."

These words fell upon Lin Chenxin like a cold guillotine blade, plunging her entire being into an icy abyss.

She clenched her fingers hard, feeling the pain from her wound as blood seeped out.

At the same moment, the fog in her mind cleared instantly.

These past days, she had been immersed in the world with Chen Gujun, forgetting that the Chen residence was a monstrous leviathan that devoured people.

Her gaze sharpened as she looked at Ms. Liang.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

Ms. Liang shifted her gaze away, looking coldly at the flowers in the pond.

"Haven't you always wanted to know the secrets of the Chen family? I'm merely telling you the tip of the iceberg."

A sudden chill surged through Lin Chenxin's body, as if all her blood had frozen solid.

The chilling part wasn't that everyone in the residence knew what she was doing; it was Ms. Liang's phrase, "the tip of the iceberg."

This was still only the tip of the iceberg.

But her mind hadn't been so affected by these words that she couldn't think.

Ms. Liang couldn't possibly be without an ulterior motive.

"What exactly do you want?" She fixed Ms. Liang with a piercing stare.

Ms. Liang turned to look at her, her eyes unfathomably deep, as if carefully tracing her features.

Lin Chenxin felt extremely uncomfortable under this gaze, but then she saw Ms. Liang suddenly break into an eerie smile.

"Did you know, the lady of this courtyard was only twenty-two when she gave birth to her child."

A cold fist clenched around Lin Chenxin's heart.

A moment later, however, Ms. Liang lowered her eyes and said expressionlessly, "Go."

Lin Chenxin frowned deeply.

"In a few days, the custom-made clothes will be delivered."

After saying this, Ms. Liang spoke no more.

The middle-aged woman appeared behind Lin Chenxin and extended her hand, saying, "Young Mistress, please."

Under the woman's gaze, she stood up. She wanted to say something, but seeing Ms. Liang's aloof and distant attitude, she swallowed her words.

Escorted out of this unfamiliar courtyard, she turned back to look at Ms. Liang's figure sitting alone in the pavilion.

Perhaps it was because this place held no trace of human vitality, but it made Ms. Liang's figure appear exceptionally gaunt, as devoid of life as the scentless flowers around her.

Seeing her again this time, whether it was an illusion or not, she felt Ms. Liang seemed somewhat different from their first meeting.

Lin Chenxin turned away, but Ms. Liang turned her head to watch Lin Chenxin's retreating back.

Her gaze was distant and haunted, her thin face lost in the shadows of the pavilion.

—

Within a few days, a seemingly endless delivery of summer clothes arrived from outside.

The material was excellent, obviously expensive.

But Lin Chenxin's mind kept returning to Ms. Liang's words.

Before this, Lin Chenxin felt the goal she came with had never changed.

Her plan had always been to survive here while finding ways to uncover the secrets of the Chen residence and gain some benefits if possible.

But after that day, she suddenly realized that, at some point, she had begun to settle for the status quo, placing herself entirely in a passive position.

As she regained her clarity, even her blood felt cold. She was suddenly jolted awake to the deep-seated unease within her that had never disappeared.

This eerie place corrodes people's hearts and erodes their will.

The root cause was still there, firmly entrenched.

Lin Chenxin's eyes burned with intensity as she clenched her fingers tightly.

She no longer carefully avoided the pain but instead welcomed the sharp clarity it brought.

Chen Gujun, standing in the shadows, watched Lin Chenxin under the sunlight unblinkingly.

He was so close to her, yet so far that a mere shaft of sunlight was enough to keep him at bay.

This was an insurmountable chasm for him.

It had been destined since his birth.

Yet he, who had long accepted his fate, felt a sliver of hatred, piercing and bone-deep, take root in him at this very moment!

He clasped his hands behind his back, sharp nails digging into his palms, his eyes bottomless.

He stood watching silently for a long time before suddenly lifting his gaze to the sun beyond the eaves.

The sunlight was so bright it stung his eyes.

Suddenly, he laughed soundlessly, as two crimson beads of blood rolled from his eyes.

He laughed at himself.

Well-versed in poetry, pure as the breeze and bright as the moon, yet born with this bizarre, white-haired look.

He laughed at himself.

With an ugly face, yet filled with greedy desires.

And even more—he laughed at that absurd fate.