“Stop pretending. If you don’t hand over the martyr’s certificates, forget about smuggling yourself to Hong Kong City.”
Lin Weihua looked at him steadily. “The old man definitely gave them to you back then, didn’t he?”
Cui Yuanwei’s gaze flickered for only a moment before he denied it flatly.
“No. I’ve never known anything about any martyr’s certificates.”
“Weihua, you know your parents have been gone for so many years. How could there still be any certificates left?
Everyone already knows your parents were martyrs. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
He sounded utterly sincere, but Lin Weihua knew this man too well.
The moment he spoke, she became certain—
the certificates really were in his hands.
Lin Weihua slowly raised a hand.
Her skin was pale, her fingers slender and bony, blue veins faintly visible beneath the almost translucent white in the dim light. Beautiful in a way that felt sharp, almost dangerous.
She slowly curled her fingers. Her nails were slightly long, and her thumb lightly scraped against her index finger, producing a faint, crisp sound.
The study was deathly silent. To Cui Yuanwei, that tiny sound felt like the tolling of a funeral bell.
Lin Weihua casually admired her fingertips as she spoke in a quiet voice.
“Hand them over. You know what I’m capable of.”
Cui Yuanwei’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
His thoughts were violently dragged back to an utterly ordinary night after Cui Qingshu was born.
His gentle, virtuous wife had brought him a cup of tea.
He drank it.
Every time he remembered that night, it felt like knives twisting through his heart.
He was ruined.
That poisonous woman had drugged him and destroyed his manhood.
He’d turned the entire household upside down over it, but the old man refused to allow a divorce and even forbade him from reporting it to the authorities.
All because of those damned martyr’s certificates.
Hatred surged through him instantly.
His entire life had been destroyed by Lin Weihua.
Because of those certificates, he’d been forced to separate from his true love, Fanghua.
Because of those certificates, he’d married a woman he never loved.
And because of those certificates, even after being rendered childless and ending the Cui family line, he still couldn’t touch a hair on this woman’s head.
Before the old man died, he had repeatedly grabbed his hand and told him to make sure Lin Weihua lived well.
If they hadn’t separated later, he would have been driven insane by this woman long ago.
The resentment of the past crashed over him like storm waves. Cui Yuanwei’s breathing quickened as he roared furiously:
“You poisonous bitch! You’re insane! You ruined me, and didn’t you doom yourself to childlessness too?!
If your parents were still alive, they’d beat a lunatic like you to death!”
Outside the door, Cui Qingshu—who had been secretly eavesdropping—suddenly widened her eyes.
Childless?
Her eyes lit up with terrifying excitement.
Oh my god.
Cui Yuanwei… can’t perform anymore?
Mom did that?
As expected of the deadly poison master—she never disappoints when she makes a move.
No wonder her mother always said the Cui family fortune would eventually belong to her.
No wonder Cui Yuanwei, despite caring so much about having a son, had never once tried to have another child.
She’d thought Cui Yuanwei simply loved his white moonlight so deeply that he didn’t even care about having a son and only doted on Su Ranyue.
Turns out—
he simply couldn’t.
Cui Qingshu was filled with absolute admiration for Lin Weihua.
That move had been flawless.
With her mother’s methods, if the original Cui Qingshu hadn’t once been deceived by Cui Yuanwei and grown distant from her mother, she never would’ve ended up so miserable in her previous life.
Now that she had her mother—the ultimate weapon—things would be much easier.
This lifetime, she absolutely would not repeat the same mistakes.
Inside the study—
Lin Weihua stepped forward slowly. That long, pale hand reached calmly toward Cui Yuanwei’s face.
“So? Hand it over, or do we both go down together? Think carefully.”
Terrified, Cui Yuanwei stumbled backward several steps. The flush of rage on his face vanished, replaced by ghostly whiteness.
“Y-you… don’t come closer!”
His eyes were fixed desperately on Lin Weihua’s fingers.
Back then, she’d hidden poison beneath her nails and crippled him.
Who knew whether there was something even deadlier hidden there now?
He couldn’t die.
Because of marrying this woman, he’d lost the love of his life and ruined half his existence.
He still wanted to go to Hong Kong City. Only then would he have a chance to go to America to find her.
He couldn’t die yet.
“Dad… Dad did leave me some things. Don’t come over. I’ll check whether what you’re talking about is there.”
Lin Weihua stopped walking and coldly urged, “Find it. Now.”
Cui Yuanwei wanted to drive her out, but the words died in his throat the moment he met her eyes.
His legs weakened as he walked toward the bookshelf.
Opening the cabinet door, he noticed from the corner of his eye that Lin Weihua hadn’t followed him. Only then did he breathe out in relief.
He looked down at the dark green safe hidden inside. Deliberately shielding it with his body, he turned the combination dial with his right hand, slower and slower.
The martyr’s certificates were inside.
He had long planned everything.
Once he left, without those certificates—and with him and Lin Weihua still legally married—Cui Qingshu would definitely be sent down to the countryside.
That madwoman Lin Weihua would never abandon her daughter. She would certainly follow.
And with his daughter’s pampered, delicate temperament, life in the countryside would drag that poisonous woman to death.
Best if mother and daughter both died out there.
Unfortunately, all those plans had been ruined by that idiot Su Ranyue.
Cui Yuanwei was moving too slowly. Lin Weihua lost patience.
The moment she took a step forward, his expression changed drastically. Panicking, he sped up, pulled out a key from his pocket, and opened the safe.
He stuck his head inside, backside sticking awkwardly into the air as he frantically rummaged around.
The instant he touched the martyr’s certificates, he immediately withdrew his head and hurried to close the safe.
But a pale, slender hand pressed against the safe door before he could.
Cui Yuanwei froze mid-motion.
Forcing out a smile, he stammered nervously,
“F-found it. Dad really did leave it in the safe.
H-here you go.”
Lin Weihua showed no courtesy whatsoever. She snatched the certificates straight from his hand.
Though the writing had faded somewhat, they were unmistakably martyr’s certificates.
Three of them.
One each for her father, mother, and older brother.
In all her life, she had never once seen them.
These were the things her family had exchanged with their lives.
Clutching the three small booklets tightly, Lin Weihua’s eyes reddened slightly.
They were all gone now.
But what they had left behind was still protecting her and her daughter.
She would take her daughter and live well.
Live beautifully.
Suppressing the emotions surging in her chest, she looked at Cui Yuanwei again, and all that remained was bone-deep disgust.
Lin Weihua reached out and pulled open the safe door completely.
“What treasures are hidden in here that made you so nervous?”
Cui Yuanwei’s face changed slightly. He was too late to stop her.
Lin Weihua had already taken out several property certificates.
She thought they were just deeds to ordinary courtyard homes, but when she opened them, she froze.
They were properties in the capital.
“These houses are quite nice. I’ll give them to Nannan.”
There were also several pieces of women’s jewelry and a few gold bars inside the safe.
Lin Weihua barely spared them a glance. She clearly didn’t care about such things.
Seeing that she hadn’t touched the jewelry he’d saved for his white moonlight, Cui Yuanwei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Those items carried special meaning to him. He absolutely could not allow Lin Weihua to defile them.
Watching the property deeds being taken away, Cui Yuanwei’s heart bled.
Those were the most valuable siheyuan estates owned by the Cui family. He’d been planning to reclaim them someday after returning.
He could only pretend to be generous.
“Take them. Give them all to our precious daughter. Those things were going to be hers sooner or later anyway.”
Lin Weihua shot him a calm glance.
“Since you’re being so generous, then give Nannan another box of jewelry too.
It can only be more than what Su Ranyue took. Not less.”
Cui Yuanwei: “…”
He endured it.
She hadn’t left yet. He couldn’t provoke her. Couldn’t push her too far.
Grinding his teeth, he compromised. “Fine.”
Lin Weihua’s tone remained calm.
“Since you’re leaving, hand over the family assets to your daughter in advance.”
Cui Yuanwei: “…”
Give the child of the woman who’d destroyed his bloodline his fortune?
Dream on. He’d rather die than agree.
“All the property buried in the courtyard goes to Nannan.
Otherwise, forget about smuggling yourself to Hong Kong City.”
Cui Yuanwei gritted his teeth in fury.
“After I die, everything will belong to Qingshu anyway. Why are you in such a hurry?!”
Lin Weihua lifted her eyes slightly. Her voice was light, but every word stabbed straight into him.
“I am in a hurry.
So… why don’t you just die now?”
Outside the door, Cui Qingshu, still eavesdropping:
“!!!”
This was way too thrilling!
As expected of the deadly poison master!
Absolutely badass.
So freaking cool.