klisemfg Chapter 425 Wen Qi, Dragged Towards the Abyss by Invisible Shackles
Chapter 425 Wen Qi, Dragged Towards the Abyss by Invisible Shackles
A suffocating silence enveloped one corner of the card table.
Lin Qingyang finally stopped dealing the cards. He leaned back in his chair, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and looked the trembling young woman up and down with a predatory gaze, clearly filled with malice and ferocity.
He spoke slowly, his voice low, yet like a viper's hiss, each word piercing the heart: "Lu Bingxian."
He called out the other person's name accurately, a cold smile playing on his lips: "I heard you got divorced?"
He paused deliberately, enjoying the other person's face turning even paler in an instant: "And you brought a daughter with you?"
He flicked his cigarette ash, his eyes growing even more playful and cruel: "Oh, by the way, that girl just got into Nanjing University this year, right? Tsk tsk, she's a good student!"
He seemed to suddenly remember something, feigning realization, his voice abruptly rising, carrying a chilling edge: "What was her name again? Wen...Qi? Was it Wen Qi? A top student from Nanjing University, the campus belle?"
The moment Lin Qingyang uttered the name "Wen Qi," it was like a knife stabbing into Lu Bingxian's taut nerves!
"No--!"
She jerked her head up, her large, terrified eyes instantly flashing with a mother animal's desperate and frantic protectiveness, her voice shrill and distorted: "Don't touch my daughter! Please! Mr. Lin! You can do whatever you want to me! Just don't lay a finger on my daughter!"
She trembled like a leaf in the autumn wind, overwhelmed by immense fear.
Her daughter is her only weakness, her only hope, and also the source of her deepest fear at this moment.
Almost at the same time, Ye Fan, who had been standing next to Wu Shaojie with an indifferent expression, also stiffened slightly, almost imperceptibly!
Wen Qi!
The name struck him like a bolt of lightning!
Of course he knew Wen Qi! One of the most recognized beauties at Nanjing University, a shining star in the Department of Industrial Management, except that she was in a different class from Ye Fan—she was the class monitor of Class 1 of Industrial Management, while he was the class monitor of Class 2.
The two had quite a few interactions when they met in the counselor's office and handled grade affairs. Although their exchanges were not in-depth, her beautiful and refined face, with its cool temperament and a touch of the flexibility unique to dancers, was definitely unforgettable!
Ye Fan's sharp gaze swept over the beautiful woman on the verge of collapse before him—
Those equally striking facial features, especially those identical large eyes, now brimming with tears yet still beautifully shaped...
The image of Wen Qi in my memory quickly overlapped with the image of Lu Bingxian in front of me!
Sure enough! No wonder she looked vaguely familiar when we first met! Wen Qi's outstanding appearance is definitely inherited from her mother!
His suspicions were confirmed. Ye Fan subtly turned his head and whispered to Lin Qingyang, the female secretary who had been standing beside him, "How did she lose that million? What were the specific steps?"
His tone was calm, yet it carried an undeniable sense of inquiry.
The female secretary immediately bowed slightly respectfully, lowered her voice, and explained in a steady tone, "Young Master Ye, I don't have all the specific details. But according to President Lin, this Ms. Lu has fallen into a typical 'recovery' trap."
She carefully chose her words: "She might have initially only lost a small amount, but then, in order to recoup her losses, she kept increasing her bets, even borrowing money to 'double down' her bets, trying to win everything back in one go... The result was predictable; the hole just kept getting bigger and bigger. In the end, she lost everything she could lose, and may have even mortgaged something. Finally, she wanted to borrow another million from Mr. Lin as her last chance to turn things around..."
The secretary paused, her tone carrying a barely perceptible chill: "Fortunately, President Lin refused her request for another loan; otherwise, she would probably owe much more than just one million."
Ye Fan listened in silence, his eyes deep.
The secretary's words were like a key: with a click, they unlocked the floodgates of his long-sealed memories—
In his past life, he and Wen Qi were in the same department but different classes, and they didn't have much interaction.
At that time, Wen Qi was radiant. She came from a privileged background, excelled academically, and was a pillar of the school's dance troupe, hailed as the "Dance Goddess of Nanjing University".
Every time she led a dance performance or club activity, the audience would be packed with enthusiastic boys. Even Li Yifeng had skipped class countless times just to grab a front-row seat, and would come back and gossip about it for ages.
Back then, Wen Qi was the unattainable white moonlight of countless boys on campus.
However, the good times did not last long.
It's unclear when exactly, but rumors about Wen Qi began to quietly spread throughout the campus.
The rumors became increasingly offensive, claiming that she had a chaotic private life, dating multiple boyfriends both on and off campus, and even being kept by a sugar daddy... Vicious jokes such as "her boyfriends could form a reinforced company" were rampant.
Her reputation plummeted, and her former glory turned into a heavy shackle.
Before Ye Fan was reborn, he seemed to have vaguely heard that she had never married and was not living a happy life.
Until this moment!
All the mysteries were suddenly cleared up!
That's the root of the problem!
Right here in front of us is this mother, crushed by debt and fear!
Lu Bingxian was deeply mired in gambling dens, losing all her family fortune and even owing a huge debt of millions to someone like Lin Qingyang! The enormous family upheaval and the overwhelming debt completely destroyed a young girl's carefree youth and future!
One can imagine a girl who has just entered university and should be enjoying the best years of her life suddenly falling from grace, burdened with such a heavy secret and an insurmountable debt...
The rumors of her later "degeneration" – those choices that may have been forced upon her or made for survival – reveal the despair and helplessness behind them!
A chill ran through Ye Fan's heart.
Although it is 2014, a million-dollar debt is nothing short of a devastating blow to a college student who has just come of age and lost the support of his family.
This is simply not a burden that someone her age could bear!
The capriciousness and cruelty of fate appear so naked and ferocious at this moment.
His gaze swept over the despairing Lu Bingxian again, and seemed to penetrate her to see Wen Qi, the aloof and proud woman in his memory, who might now be being dragged into the abyss by invisible shackles.
Lu Bingxian's heart-wrenching cry of "Don't touch my daughter!" did not evoke any sympathy from Lin Qingyang; instead, it seemed to ignite the fuse of the violence deep within him.
At this moment, all notions of the demeanor of a listed company CEO and the image of a shrewd businessman are cast to the winds.
He slammed his hand on the table!
With a loud "bang!", the cards and chips on the table jumped up!
"You begged for that money on your knees, Lu Bingxian! It's all in black and white, with your handprint in red! It's crystal clear!" Lin Qingyang suddenly stood up, leaning forward, his face contorted with rage as he pointed at Lu Bingxian's nose, his voice like a beast's growl, "You want to deny it now? Do you think I'm a philanthropist?"