Chapter 166: A Promise! The Delusional Son of Destiny
"Oh my god, does he want to~"
Wang Qin's heart immediately pounded like a drum against her ribcage when she heard Shen Anyu's words. She wasn't fully prepared, especially for that kind of thing to happen with a young man she had just met, who was only a few years older than her son, Xu Ping'an.
Wang Qin secretly raised her head and cautiously glanced at Shen Anyu beside her, only to find Shen Anyu looking at her with a burning smile, a gaze that seemed to peel away her clothes layer by layer. This made her even more flustered, her breath hitching in her throat.
Even her elegant, exquisite, and beautiful oval face was tinged with a lovely blush, spreading from her neck up to her ears like a drop of red ink in clear water.
However, thinking of her son Xu Ping'an in the cold, harsh detention center, surrounded by criminals, and the looming threat of the one million compensation, Wang Qin felt conflicted. The shame was burning her, but the maternal instinct was freezing her in place.
She couldn't refuse now; she didn't want her son Xu Ping'an to be imprisoned. Xu Ping'an was the most important person in her life; otherwise, she wouldn't have been so misguided as to swap him like a changeling back then, wanting her biological son to live a life of luxury while she raised another's child in poverty. That was the only guilty thing she had ever done in her life, a sin born of twisted love.
[Location: Wang Qin's Apartment - Living Room]
The air in the room grew heavy, charged with an unspoken, illicit tension. The humming of the electric fan seemed to fade into the background, drowned out by the thumping of her own heart.
A long, long time later, Wang Qin took several deep breaths, trying to calm her trembling hands. She gathered her courage, her eyelashes fluttering as she looked up. She shyly looked at the smiling Shen Anyu in front of her, saying with clenched white teeth:
"Young Master Shen, is your promise true?"
Her voice trembled, laced with vulnerability.
"As long as I'm willing to… be with you, you'll help me pay the one million compensation and get my son Xu Ping'an out? You won't go back on your word?"
Shen Anyu looked at the nervous and mature beautiful woman in front of him with a half-smile. He didn't say a word immediately. Instead, he maintained eye contact, asserting his dominance, enjoying her anxiety.
Then, with a fluid motion, he took out his phone. The screen lit up, casting a glow on his sharp features. He dialed a number, put it to his ear, and spoke.
"It's me. That matter regarding Xu Ping'an in the Modu Detention Center. Settle it."
"Yes. One million. Pay it. Tell the victims to sign the settlement agreement immediately. I want him released within the hour."
"Drop the charges. Clean his record."
He hung up. The entire conversation took less than thirty seconds.
Then Shen Anyu looked at Wang Qin, whose eyes were wide with shock at the casual display of authority, and said with a smile:
"It's settled. The people your son Xu Ping'an injured have received compensation and are willing to settle. Your son Xu Ping'an will be back from the detention center soon, and he won't have a criminal record."
This matter, for Shen Anyu, was just a matter of a single word. Money paves the way for the devil, and in this city, Shen Anyu was the one holding the gold.
Actually, Shen Anyu also had no intention of keeping Xu Ping'an in the detention center.
'Locking him up? That's too boring,' Shen Anyu thought, a cruel glint flashing deep in his eyes.
Wouldn't it be better and more stimulating to let him out? To let the "Protagonist" return to society, thinking he had survived a tribulation, only to find his world slowly crumbling? To watch how Shen Anyu took care of Xu Ping'an's biological mother Wang Qin, his elder sister Xu Ruoshui, and his second sister Xu Ruoxue?
To let the Son of Destiny witness his own mother serving the Villain… that was the ultimate "Face Slapping."
Wang Qin's expression immediately relaxed when she heard Shen Anyu's words. A huge weight, heavy as a mountain, was lifted off her shoulders. Her legs went weak with relief, and she almost collapsed onto the sofa. She looked at Shen Anyu as if he were a god.
"Thank you… thank you…" she whispered, tears welling up again.
Within a few minutes, the phone on the coffee table rang. The harsh ringtone shattered the silence.
The nervous Wang Qin, at Shen Anyu's nod, answered the phone with trembling hands.
"Hello?"
"Wang… Mom? Is that you?"
A familiar voice came from the other end. It was Xu Ping'an. But his tone was different. It wasn't the usual impatience or disdain. It was shaken.
"Mom, thank you for helping me pay the one million. The police just told me everything is settled. I… I didn't know you had that kind of money. I will definitely pay you back this money in the future, I promise!"
Xu Ping'an on the other end of the phone was quite touched. He was truly surprised. He never expected Wang Qin—this poor, nagging woman—to pay the one million for him so quickly. He knew her financial situation; or at least, he thought he did.
At this moment, his calling her "Mom" was also heartfelt. It was the first time since his identity was revealed that he felt a connection to her.
As for the one million? In Xu Ping'an's opinion, for a man with a Golden Finger like him—the possessor of the [Damage Reflection Aura]—it was certainly not a problem. He was a protagonist! Money was just a number. He would quickly earn it back tenfold, hundredfold!
Wang Qin listened to her son Xu Ping'an's words on the other end of the phone. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a sob, crying tears of joy.
"Mom…"
This was the first time Xu Ping'an had called her Mom!
Ever since the truth about the Xu Family's real and fake young masters in Shanghai was exposed, Xu Ping'an had always despised her. He looked at her with resentment, blaming her for his "fall" from grace. It was impossible for him to call her Mom; he usually called her "Hey" or "You."
But now, Xu Ping'an was finally willing to call her Mom.
This made Wang Qin feel that her sacrifice—selling her body and dignity to the man sitting in front of her—was meaningful and valuable!
It was worth it. Everything is worth it for him, she told herself.
"Son, good, it's good to have ambition. Mom believes in you. Mom will wait for you to come back, boohoohoo…"
On the other end of the phone, Xu Ping'an heard his mother Wang Qin's crying, and his heart was filled with mixed emotions.
He stood in the hallway of the detention center, holding his belongings in a plastic bag. The air smelled of disinfectant and despair.
When he was in a panic in the detention center earlier, locked in a small dark room, he had also thought about whether to ask the Shanghai Xu Family for help. He thought of his former parents, his elder sister Xu Ruoshui, and his second sister Xu Ruoxue.
'Surely they still care about me? We lived together for twenty years!' he had hoped.
But later, he felt frustrated and helpless, realizing the cold reality. The Shanghai Xu Family would not care about him anymore. When the Xu Family of Shanghai drove him out, they were merciless, their faces cold as ice. They even froze his bank and credit cards instantly, almost leaving him homeless on the street.
But Xu Ping'an never expected that Wang Qin, his biological mother whom he despised for being poor and unsophisticated, would immediately pay out one million in compensation without a second thought, helping him deal with the aftermath and getting him out.
Xu Ping'an also knew that Wang Qin had no money at all and was usually very frugal. She bought vegetables at the night market when they were on discount. She wore clothes from years ago. This one million was probably all her savings, her coffin money, and she might even have borrowed money from loan sharks, yet she took it out to save him so unhesitatingly.
Hearts are made of flesh. Even a selfish protagonist feels something when faced with such absolute devotion.
Xu Ping'an felt a little moved. Then he thought that if it weren't for his biological mother Wang Qin swapping him at birth, he would never have been able to live the luxurious life of a young master of the Xu Family in Shanghai for twenty years. He had enjoyed the best education, the best food, the best women.
Although he still felt a bit awkward and unwilling to accept his "lowly" origins, after all this time and this tribulation, Xu Ping'an had come to understand some things.
At this moment, Xu Ping'an was full of thoughts of rising up. His fighting spirit burned brighter than ever.
'I will slap the Xu Family in the face. I will make them regret ruthlessly expelling me! I will make them beg on their knees for me to return! And I will take care of this pitiful woman, Wang Qin.'
"Indeed, a fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. I, Xu Ping'an, have grown! The Heavens cannot suppress me!"
Xu Ping'an smiled, a confident, almost manic grin returning to his face. He said to his mother Wang Qin on the other end of the phone, his voice loud and brimming with "Main Character Energy":
"Mom, just you wait. Your son Xu Ping'an will make those who look down on us regret it! I will make the Xu Family of Shanghai regret it! I will let you live a glorious and prosperous life, sleeping on piles of money!"
"A mere one million is nothing; I'll earn it back soon. Just give me a few days!"
"Alright, no more talk. I'm going to do the paperwork and leave the detention center. I'll be back soon."
Xu Ping'an hung up the phone, his expression returning to his usual spirited self. This setback did not defeat him; instead, it fueled his ego.
He looked at his hands.
'That fight… although I got arrested, I realized something. My [Damage Reflection Aura] is Heaven-Defying!'
He could hit others, but others could not hit him. If others attacked him, the damage would be reflected back to them instantly. Pain for pain, injury for injury.
With such an ability, world boxing champions were nothing; he could take them down without even moving. He was invincible in close combat!
"Set a small goal: earn a hundred million! I'll start by dominating the underground fighting scene!"
Xu Ping'an thought to himself, lifting his chin, and sweeping his gaze over the police officers and people around him, filled with a sense of superiority. 'You mortals have no idea who walks among you.'
Soon, he would rise up and achieve both fame and fortune!
At that time, he would make the Xu Family of Shanghai regret expelling him, make those who looked down on him bow and scrape, make beautiful campus belles like Su Hongmian and Jiang Linlin see him in a new light and throw themselves at him.
And he would make pretty boys like Shen Anyu worship him, begging to be his lackey…
Just thinking about these things made Xu Ping'an feel incredibly good, simply wonderful! The dopamine rush of his delusions was intoxicating.
"Xu Ping'an, hurry up and sign the papers. Don't fight again and end up back in the detention center. You have to be worthy of the money your mother worked so hard to earn! Modu University is a good university. As a university student like you, don't go to places like underground arenas, understand?"
An older police officer handed him a clipboard, giving him a stern lecture.
"Alright, alright, Officer Uncle, I understand…"
Listening to the police officer's kind advice, Xu Ping'an nodded perfunctorily, his eyes darting around. He didn't listen to a word. His mind was full of how to get rich, how to rise up, and how to slap faces.
'Underground arenas? That's exactly where I'm going,' he sneered internally.
...
On the other side.
[Location: Wang Qin's Apartment]
The room was silent again after the call ended. The atmosphere shifted from emotional to something darker, more primal.
After hanging up the phone, Wang Qin wiped the tears from her cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy, but filled with relief. She looked at Shen Anyu, who was sitting elegantly on her cheap sofa, with overflowing gratitude.
She stood up and bowed deeply to him.
"Young Master Shen, thank you for saving my son Xu Ping'an. I am eternally grateful! You have saved our lives."
Shen Anyu smiled. He didn't stand up. He simply looked up at her, his gaze traveling slowly up her curvaceous body, lingering on her tear-stained face.
He said meaningfully, his voice low and husky:
"Now that I have given my conditions, it is time for you to fulfill your promise~"
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