One month later.
The day before Valentine's Day.
Qin Ruan carefully folded a dumpling wrapper, shaping it into a beautifully crafted dumpling.
She placed the dumpling on a plate and glanced at the other, more simply shaped dumplings on it. She couldn't help but look at the person beside her: "Sister, have you never made dumplings before?"
"No," Wen Yixin paused slightly. "Why? Did I not do a good job?"
"It's not that. They're fine," Qin Ruan replied, though Wen Yixin's technique did seem a bit like that of a beginner. But that was a small matter.
She hesitated, her movements slowing as she thought of something else: "Sister, I want to visit the Qin family today."
Wen Yixin's hand, which was scooping the dumpling filling, suddenly paused: "Why do you want to go back all of a sudden?"
"I need to get something." Qin Ruan pursed her lips. "If I get it, I might never have to go back there again."
"What is it?" Wen Yixin frowned slightly.
Qin Ruan just smiled: "Something good."
"When I bring it back, I'll show it to you."
Seeing her like this, Wen Yixin relaxed her brows a little: "I'll go with you."
"No need, I can go by myself."
"I'll worry if you're alone."
Qin Ruan's lips curved into a warm smile: "Then, can you wait for me downstairs? I'll come to you right after I get it."
"Alright." Wen Yixin nodded, then asked: "Are you confident you can get what you want?"
"Hmm…" Qin Ruan's voice dragged out: "I'm about seventy to eighty percent sure."
Wen Yixin paused slightly.
She thought for a moment, then wiped her hands with a few tissues, pulled out her phone, and tapped on it for a bit before setting it down.
At the same time, Qin Ruan's phone buzzed. Looking at the notification, Qin Ruan glanced at Wen Yixin, asking curiously: "Sister, what did you send me?"
Wen Yixin smiled: "Take a look and you'll see."
"These should be quite helpful to you."
"Let me check." Qin Ruan wiped her hands clean, opened her phone, and clicked on the newly received files, her gaze deepening as she read through them.
After a while, she looked up: "Thank you, Sister. These are very useful."
If she originally had seventy to eighty percent confidence, now she was fully assured.
Wen Yixin raised an eyebrow: "Aren't you going to ask how I got these?"
Qin Ruan blinked: "When did you find out about all this, Sister?"
It wasn't that she didn't want to ask; she just wanted to thank her first.
Wen Yixin chuckled: "Last time you went back, I was worried, so I had someone look into the Qin family, which is how I ended up with so much information."
What she had given Qin Ruan mostly related to the Qin family's business dealings. If any of this information were leaked, their stock prices would definitely plummet. If someone added fuel to the fire, it could even result in the stock being suspended. Push it further, and bankruptcy wasn't out of the question.
The consequences depended on how the Qin family chose to handle it.
With that thought, Wen Yixin smiled, looking at Qin Ruan: "As long as this information is useful to you, I'm happy. I believe you can put it to good use."
Qin Ruan nodded: "I will."
…
That afternoon, Qin Ruan timed her visit to the Qin family just as Qin Zhengyang was about to get off work, armed with the freshly acquired information.
The moment she stepped into the living room, she saw Mrs. Qin.
The woman was trimming the flowers in a potted plant. When she looked up and saw Qin Ruan, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, she was momentarily stunned.
After a brief pause, she sneered maliciously: "So, you're not dead yet."
"I thought you'd have died out there long ago."
Qin Ruan was long accustomed to the woman's venomous words and was completely immune to them by now.
Not wanting to waste time with this woman, she got straight to the point: "I'm here to get my household registration book."
Since coming to the Qin family, her household registration had been separated from the others, but because she was still young at the time, the book had remained in this woman's hands.
Mrs. Qin, unconcerned, continued trimming the flowers.
"You want your household registration book?" She sneered. "You can keep dreaming."
Qin Ruan said nothing, just walked closer, her dark eyes fixed on Mrs. Qin, a slow, low laugh escaping her lips as she dropped a bombshell: "Fifteen years ago, that person's death wasn't an accident, was it?"
Snap—the sound of scissors cutting through a branch.
A green twig fell lightly to the ground. Mrs. Qin gripped the scissors tightly, so hard that her nails dug into her palms, but she didn't notice.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Really?" Qin Ruan glanced at the fallen twig, her eyes darkening. "But I clearly saw you behind him, pushing him off the balcony while he was drunk."
Mrs. Qin's pupils constricted, her face tightening: "Impossible."
"You're talking nonsense."
Impossible. How could Qin Ruan have seen it? She had gone out to buy alcohol; she wasn't at home.
It was absolutely impossible.
Seeing the woman's attempt at composure, Qin Ruan continued: "Do you remember the tree in the courtyard back then? I was hiding behind it. I saw you two arguing, him hitting you while drunk, and then you pushed him off the balcony."
Mrs. Qin's face paled: "What do you want?"
Qin Ruan's eyes narrowed slightly: "I already told you."
"I want my household registration book. Give it to me, and I'll pretend I don't know about what happened back then." She paused, adding softly, "And Qin Yi won't find out either."
Back then, that man had a gambling and drinking problem. Whenever he lost money or drank too much, he would beat this woman. He would also beat Qin Ruan, though not as frequently.
But… every time this woman got beaten, she would secretly take it out on Qin Ruan.
You could say that Qin Ruan had been tormented by both of them since childhood. It wasn't until that man died and this woman remarried that her life improved slightly—at least she no longer bore fresh bruises every day.
Mrs. Qin's palms ached: "I can't decide this on my own."
When she remarried, she hadn't wanted to take Qin Ruan with her, but Qin Zhengyang was interested in her face, thinking she could be used for an advantageous marriage once she grew up, contributing some value to the Qin family.
So she really couldn't make a decision about the household registration book on her own.
Qin Ruan pulled out a chair and sat down: "Then I'll wait for him to come back. We can have a nice chat."
Mrs. Qin eyed her warily, gripping the scissors even tighter.
Qin Ruan rested her chin on her hand, casually asking: "Has Qin Yi come back?"
"What do you want with her?"
"Nothing much, just want to have a chat." Qin Ruan smiled.
Mrs. Qin's grip on the scissors suddenly relaxed. She set them down and found a seat for herself, becoming silent.
It wasn't long before Qin Ruan finally saw Qin Zhengyang return.
When Qin Zhengyang walked in and saw his wife sitting with Qin Ruan, he was surprised. He had never seen his wife be so calm around Qin Ruan before.
As soon as Qin Zhengyang entered, Qin Ruan glanced over at Mrs. Qin.
Mrs. Qin frowned but had no choice but to get up and approach him.
"Zhengyang," she said with a forced smile, "Qin Ruan says she wants her household registration book."
Qin Zhengyang frowned, looking at Qin Ruan: "Why do you suddenly want that?"
Qin Ruan stood up: "It's mine, and I'm simply taking it back."
"Besides, I'm not here just for that."
Qin Zhengyang frowned deeper: "What else?"
"I want to sever ties with the Qin family." Qin Ruan said clearly.
"What?! Impossible." Qin Zhengyang refused immediately, not even thinking it over.
He had raised Qin Ruan as the eldest daughter of the Qin family for so many years; there was no way he would agree to her request.
Moreover, now that she had a connection with the Wen family, Qin Zhengyang wouldn't easily let her go.
Qin Ruan wasn't in a hurry. She tossed the documents in her hand onto the table with a loud slap: "Why don't you take a look at these first? Decide after you've read them."
Qin Zhengyang picked up the documents, and as he flipped through them, his face darkened. With each page, his expression grew more severe: "Where did you get these?"
Qin Ruan didn't answer, instead asking him: "What do you think?"
"It was her." Qin Zhengyang didn't hesitate.
Only someone from the Wen family could have access to so much information.
Qin Ruan neither confirmed nor denied it, simply reminding him: "What you should be thinking about now is whether you'll agree to my request."
Qin Zhengyang gripped the documents tightly: "If I agree, these things…"
"Will naturally disappear."
Qin Zhengyang didn't hesitate for long: "Fine, I agree."
He was a businessman and naturally prioritized his own interests. While he coveted the connection with the Wen family, he knew that not just anyone could reach those heights.
"Get her household registration book and give it to her." Qin Zhengyang turned to Mrs. Qin.
Then he looked back at Qin Ruan: "I'll make sure word gets out that you've left the Qin family. You can rest easy."
Qin Ruan nodded, and after getting her household registration book, she left the Qin family.
Downstairs.
Qin Ruan walked quickly over to Wen Yixin, a smile spreading across her face: "Sister, it's done."
Wen Yixin smiled: "Did everything go smoothly?"
Qin Ruan's eyes curved with her smile: "Thanks to what you gave me, everything went perfectly."
"I got what I needed too."
"What did you get?" Wen Yixin asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.
"This." Qin Ruan brought her hands out from behind her back, revealing a brown household registration book.
"A household registration book." Wen Yixin's eyebrows shot up.
Qin Ruan opened the cover and smiled: "It's mine alone."
Wen Yixin focused on it, and it was indeed just as Qin Ruan said, only hers.
"And I've cut ties with the Qin family. I won't have to go back there anymore." This way, Qin Zhengyang wouldn't be able to scheme against her.
Wen Yixin's eyes softened with a smile: "Congratulations, Ruan Ruan."
Qin Ruan smiled, her lips pressing together as she handed the household registration book to Wen Yixin: "Sister, can you keep it for me?"
"I'm afraid I might forget where I put it one day."
"Of course." Wen Yixin took it and put it in her bag: "When we get home, I'll put it together with mine."
Qin Ruan smiled contentedly: "Then let's go home."
As the sun set, the night arrived on schedule.
In the dim room, soft gasps rose from the direction of the bed.
Wen Yixin kissed the tip of Qin Ruan's nose, then slowly trailed downwards, finding the small, heated earlobe, taking it between her lips, and licking it intermittently, occasionally brushing against the ear canal, causing the person beneath her to tremble lightly.
Qin Ruan couldn't resist lightly biting Wen Yixin's collarbone, but after the bite, she couldn't help but kiss the spot, slowly sucking until a red mark appeared.
She followed the line of Wen Yixin's collarbone upwards, her lips pressed against the slender neck.
A faint, unbearable tickle spread from her neck, causing Wen Yixin to lower her head involuntarily, capturing the soft lips that were teasing her neck.
They kissed for so long that Qin Ruan's eyes gradually reddened, and her fair skin slowly took on a pink hue.
Her breathing grew heavier, and as she blinked, her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears.
She wanted more...
Sister…
Qin Ruan tightened her hold on the person above her, her fingers searching for Wen Yixin's hand.
Ever since she first used Wen Yixin's bathtub, she knew she desired her.
As their interactions deepened and her affection grew, so did her desire.
She craved Wen Yixin's touch, her kisses, and longed for an even closer connection.
The kisses they shared now were just a temporary fix for her longing.
What she wanted more was to possess her completely.
But Wen Yixin always kept a boundary.
Qin Ruan closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she gently guided Wen Yixin's hand to her cool leg, her eyes misty, as if veiled in a layer of water:
"Sister, touch me…"