Chapter 4: Shut Up

A calm gaze fell upon her drenched hair and mud-stained clothes, and a faint trace of disdain flickered across his handsome face.
“Too dirty. Take her back and clean her up.”
His voice sounded alongside the patter of rain on the black umbrella.
…
Lin Nanxun drifted through a long dream. In it, she lived happily with her grandparents in a small town, but one day, they suddenly disappeared. She was sent to her uncle’s house, where her aunt always glared at her fiercely. When angry, her aunt would put Lin Nanxun’s hand under the hot water tap, making her cry out in pain.
“Wake up, quickly, wake up!” A gentle woman’s voice sounded beside her ear.
Lin Nanxun slowly opened her eyes to see a woman in her fifties gazing at her with worry.
“Thank goodness you’re awake. Are you uncomfortable anywhere? Why were you crying so sadly?”
At these words, Lin Nanxun paused, quickly turning to look at her surroundings.
She was now in a large, warm room, soft carpet covering the floor—a world apart from her uncle’s cramped little house.
The unfamiliar setting sent a wave of fear through her heart. Instinctively, she shrank back, only to remember her uncle had abandoned her and walked away…
“Uncle!” She cried out in alarm, hastily throwing off the blanket and trying to get out of bed, but was stopped.

“Mr. Lin has already left. Don’t look for him,” Aunt Xu said, blocking her path and reminding her.
He’s gone…
Hearing this, Lin Nanxun’s face turned pale, despair gripping her heart.
Her uncle didn’t want her anymore.
At that thought, tears welled up in her eyes again, falling uncontrollably.
“Uncle… Uncle…” Lin Nanxun sat there in a daze, crying and calling for her uncle, her heart aching with sorrow.
Her large, watery eyes looked as though the tears would never end.
Seeing her like this, Aunt Xu could only sigh helplessly.
She tried to comfort the girl several times, but it was of no use at all.
Then she remembered what the others had said—her uncle had mentioned before he left that the girl’s mind wasn’t quite right.
“Oh dear, please don’t cry anymore. Hearing you cry like this makes my heart ache, too,” Aunt Xu sighed, running out of ways to help.
It puzzled her—she was over fifty and had seen all manner of things in her life. She’d witnessed all kinds of crying fits, no matter how unseemly. Yet this girl didn’t throw a tantrum; she simply sat there, calling for her uncle and weeping mournfully. Somehow, this made Aunt Xu’s own heart ache as well.

There was something in this girl’s gaze that made people feel inexplicably sorry for her…
Just as Aunt Xu was at her wit’s end, the door to the room was pushed open from outside.
A tall, slender man in a black trench coat entered, his expression impassive.
“Sir…” Seeing him, Aunt Xu quickly rose from the bedside, greeting him with respect.
The man was strikingly handsome, his features so perfect they seemed almost mathematically precise—utterly captivating.
Yet in those deep black eyes, there was only a chilling coldness; his gaze, sharp and cool, seemed as though it could pierce through anything…
At last, his eyes landed on the troubled girl sitting on the bed, and his brows knit slightly.
“Be quiet.” His stern voice rang out, cold and commanding.