Chapter 88 – Breaking Up with Cheng Yishu

The silvery gauze curtains, embroidered with the faint outlines of camellia blossoms, filtered the blazing sunlight, keeping the heat of summer firmly shut outside.

Sitting in a wicker chair by the floor-to-ceiling window, Sinan crossed his legs and folded his arms, offering Lin Xiaowen a gentle smile. Yet an innate sense of distance emanated from him, leaving Lin Xiaowen perpetually on guard, her hostility never wavering.

“If it weren’t for your sudden arrival, I would never have let anyone else care for Ranran,” Lin Xiaowen’s voice was hoarse, still recovering from the ordeal.

“Is that so?” Sinan propped his hand against his forehead, as if recalling something. “But just yesterday, Miss Lin, you contacted Xu Ningning for another reason, asking her to pick up Ranran and bring her to her own home… Isn't that correct?”

Lin Xiaowen was momentarily speechless, stunned for half a minute before she finally burst out, “You had someone follow me? What gives you the right?”

Sinan neither confirmed nor denied it. He stood and paced to the bedside, towering over the woman now sitting on his bed.

“Because you are one of the Sinan family…” His voice was rigid and cold. What should have been a warm declaration instead carried a note of helplessness and deep-seated resentment.

Once, Sinan had despised the old man’s constant refrain:

“Because you are the only heir of the Sinan family…”

“Sinan descendants must never lose themselves in frivolity or abandon ambition…”

“As heirs of the Sinan family, noble blood flows in our veins. We must always achieve the most illustrious results…”

He had long grown weary of such words. Yet today, he found himself echoing them unconsciously, much to his own frustration.

“I am not!” Lin Xiaowen uttered these three words softly, struggling to sit upright. Her heart thudded wildly as she fought the urge to vomit, lifting the thin blanket to leave the bed.

“Don’t move.” Sinan pressed her shoulder, voice low and firm. “The doctor said you need rest—low blood sugar, heatstroke. Neither is life-threatening, but I don’t want Ranran to see you like this and think her uncle failed to take care of you.”

“Ranran?”

Every time Lin Xiaowen heard Ranran’s name from Sinan’s lips, an inevitable sense of threat surged within her. Reflexively, she grabbed Sinan’s arm, her eyes wide with alarm. “Where is Ranran? What have you done to her?”

Men like Sinan, born to privilege, rarely considered others’ feelings. Lin Xiaowen feared he might whisk Ranran away, making her impossible to find, or send her back to Hong Kong without a word.

Sinan saw the tremor and fear in her eyes, understood the terror in her heart. He sighed softly, his gaze settling on her hand gripping his arm, the veins faintly raised. “Rest assured, I haven’t done and will not do what you fear. You need to rest. I’ve sent someone to bring Ranran to you.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll fetch Ranran myself…” Relieved, Lin Xiaowen swallowed hard and continued, “Sinan, we’re both adults. Let’s be frank—Ranran is my daughter, raised by my own hands. She is my life; I cannot let her leave me. I beg you, let us go. I have never intended to return to the Sinan family or fight for any inheritance. Never. You needn’t worry about that. And my friend has nothing to do with this; please, leave him out of it.”

“Friend? What friend?” Sinan asked knowingly, a faint smile on his lips. So close now, Lin Xiaowen’s clear eyes reflected a dangerous signal—one only he could decipher, teetering on the edge of fury.

“Boyfriend?” he murmured, almost answering himself, then laughed aloud. “Miss Lin, you truly are resourceful. Six years ago, you bewitched the eldest son of the Randong Group, even costing him his life. Now you’ve implicated a young idol, causing his career to falter, forcing him to attend investors’ banquets as mere company… Tsk, tsk… Perhaps ‘disaster star’ suits you better, don’t you think?”

Sinan’s words stunned Lin Xiaowen. The phrase “forced to attend investors’ banquets” echoed in her mind.

Cheng Yishu? Has it really come to this, where Yishu must lower himself so far?

The thought of Cheng Yishu—cold and taciturn in public, loathing contact with strangers—being forced into such humiliating situations wrenched Lin Xiaowen’s heart. Even as Sinan drew closer, his breath hot against her ear, she could not react. Her mind was wholly consumed by the image of Cheng Yishu enduring that mortifying scene.

“What do you want from me?”

Her eyes, filled with pain and helplessness, met Sinan’s victorious gaze at close range. She spoke quietly.

“It’s simple. Break up with that Cheng fellow. I have no interest in dealing with him.” Sinan magnanimously stepped back, smiling at her.

“That’s my business—nothing to do with the Sinan family. I don’t understand why you must interfere. Does causing others pain truly bring you joy?” Lin Xiaowen stared at him, her eyes full of questions and confusion.

Sinan’s gaze darkened. He straightened, thinking for a moment before replying, “Because you are part of the Sinan family. I cannot allow my brother’s child to call a performer ‘father’.”

“I have never claimed to be a Sinan. Even if my daughter bears the Sinan blood, the family never acknowledged me. Years ago, Old Mr. Sinan explicitly forbade me from having the child…”

Lin Xiaowen sprang to her feet, glaring at Sinan and speaking urgently, “Now you stand before me, declaring I am a Sinan, that because I bore a Sinan child, I must not fall in love with another man… Sinan, don’t you find your words utterly absurd?”

“So what if they are absurd!” Sinan also stood, a flicker of discomfort in his eyes, though it did nothing to diminish his innate dominance and commanding presence.

“All the aces are in my hand. You don’t have the right to refuse. Of course, you can choose to stay with Cheng Yishu, and watch his career fade, see him completely sidelined by his company—perhaps forced to pay a hefty penalty for breach of contract… Secretly dating is a violation.”

Lin Xiaowen’s pale lips trembled, but she could not utter a word.

“I’ll give you some time regarding Ranran’s custody. If you come to your senses, I can speak on your behalf to my father, help you and Ranran return to the family…”

“No need!” Lin Xiaowen glared fiercely at Sinan, her voice cold. “I will not go to the Sinan family, nor will Ranran.”

Sinan narrowed his eyes, regarding the stubborn, willful woman before him, and suddenly said, “I believe you’ll make the right choice. I’ll be waiting.”