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Lin Xu's previous bedroom was still kept intact, and after eating breakfast, she moved back into it.
The bedroom seemed like it was cleaned often; not having been lived in for twenty years, the furniture was still spotless.
She walked in, looking around, and noticed that everything inside was still as it had been, except the family portrait on the wall had become yellowed with age and lost its original clarity.
Lin Xu approached the desk, where a wedding photo was placed. In the photo, she was leaning against a handsome man, her smile blooming like a flower while the man's lips were slightly raised as he sweetly gazed down at her with a tender and sticky look.
She reached out and gently touched the man in the photo, a pained expression appearing in her clear eyes as tears slid down.
On the day of the accident, Lin Xu and her husband were driving together when the crash happened, he held her tightly in his arms as steel pipes from a truck pierced through both of their bodies.
Now that she had been reborn, had he been reborn as well?
Lin Xu thought to herself and then shook her head.
If he really had been reborn, how come he hadn't come to find her, to check on their child?
While she was grieving over her husband's death, a harsh noise of arguing came from downstairs.
Ji Tingyang was gripping Wen Li's wrist tightly, his gaze dark and terrifying, "What did you say?"
Wen Li furrowed her brow in pain, yet she showed no sign of backing down, "Ji Tingyang, I'm a human being, not your pet. You can't keep me locked up in the villa forever, I want to go out!"
"Go out, and then what?" Ji Tingyang sneered coldly, "To meet Xiao Yu?"
Hearing the name of the man she loved, a shy blush spread across Wen Li's cheeks, and she ground her teeth, "Whom I meet is none of your business."
Ji Tingyang, seeing her like this, felt a chill spread over him even more icily, "Unless I die, you won't ever dream of leaving here in this lifetime."
Wen Li's face turned deathly pale, her red lips parting slightly, just as she was about to speak, a cry of surprise sounded not far away.
"Ji Tingyang!"
As Lin Xu came downstairs, she heard her eldest son's declaration of restricting personal freedom, and felt darkness cloud her vision.
She hurried over, twisted Ji Tingyang's arm, and pulled him aside.
"Who taught you to speak like that, to lock someone up? Aren't you afraid of the police arresting you?!"
Ji Tingyang wanted to lose his temper from the pain, but the person in front of him was his mother, so he could only hold back his anger and rubbed his arm.
"Who would call the police?"
Lin Xu said, "Wen Li."
Ji Tingyang, "She wouldn't dare."
Wen Li's parents worked in his company, and she wouldn't risk offending him and having her parents be unable to find work in the country.
Lin Xu felt frantic inside.
What wouldn't Wen Li dare to do? Your ultimate fate was still to end up in jail!
Lin Xu wished she could do what she did when Ji Tingyang was a child and made a mistake: pick him up and spank him, but with his height now at 1.85 meters, even taller than herself, she had to give up that impulse.
She decided to try a different approach, to appeal to his emotions, "Do you really like her that much?"
Ji Tingyang paused, then nodded slightly.
Lin Xu asked him, "Were your father and I not very much in love?"
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Ji Tingyang reflected for a moment and continued nodding.
Lin Xu: "That's right, that's because your dad would respect me and support every decision I make, which is why I like him. Of course, part of the reason is that he is both handsome and wealthy, seemingly cold on the outside, but every time I tease him, his ears would secretly turn red..."
Ji Tingyang: "..."
He unexpectedly had to endure a round of his parents' public display of affection.
"Ahem, anyway..." Seeing the speechless look in her son's eyes, Lin Xu quickly steered the conversation back on track, "What I mean is, if your dad was like you, cooping me up in a room all day, I would never have liked him. So, if you want Wen Li to like you, you should let her out even more because nobody likes a big villain who locks them up, you know?"
Ji Tingyang pursed his lips, his thoughts in his mind kept pulling and struggling.
A little black figure said that he should lock Wen Li up, this way she would always belong to him. Another little white figure said that his mother was right, love must learn to respect each other.
The black figure contested, what mother, she wasn't there when he was bullied, wasn't there when he struggled alone to raise his two younger brothers and sister, and now she suddenly shows up to educate him about what love is...
Suddenly.
A hand gently ruffled his head, the gesture was so tender it even stirred the still waters at the bottom of his heart.
Lin Xu tiptoed, her body swaying gently as she caressed his head, "But our Tingyang is so powerful, no matter what others think, I will always love you."
A sourness welled up in Ji Tingyang's heart. He swallowed hard, took Lin Xu's hand from his head, and held it tightly in his.
In the time not long after his parents died, Ji Tingyang would feel a sour envy when he saw children celebrating their birthdays with their parents kissing their cheeks and saying they loved them. But as time passed and he grew older, he had become numb to such scenes.
However, today, hearing Lin Xu say this, he found that numbness beginning to waver.
The little black figure in his mind also dissipated.
...
Wen Li watched Ji Tingyang and Lin Xu from a distance. Even though she couldn't hear what they were saying, she knew from their occasional glances that they were talking about her.
That woman seemed to be trying to persuade Ji Tingyang to let her out.
Wen Li stood there uneasily, her hand at her side clenched into a fist. She knew that Ji Tingyang was a pervert, no matter what anyone said, he would never let her go.
Suddenly, she saw the woman touch Ji Tingyang's head and, to her astonishment, not only did he not get angry, he also tightly held the woman's hand with a tenderness she had never seen before.
Wen Li was stunned for a long while and before she could snap out of it, Ji Tingyang walked over and said something that completely shocked her.
"Butler, from now on, don't obstruct Miss Wen wherever she wants to go."
Wen Li couldn't believe her ears, "Are you really willing to let me leave?"
Ji Tingyang's expression was as cold and ruthless as ever, as if the tenderness she had just glimpsed was her misperception.
"Leave? Don't even think about it. I'm just letting you step outside, but if you aren't back by 10 p.m., I can't guarantee what might happen to your parents."
Wen Li's face turned pale, and although she was still unwilling at heart, at least she could now go outside.
She bit her lip, nodding reluctantly.
Lin Xu listening to the glaring threats in Ji Tingyang's words felt overwhelmed, sensing the daunting task of educating her child resting on her shoulders.
But fortunately, there was now a good start, and the rest could be taught slowly.
Wen Li, with secretly delighted lips curving up, looked up at Lin Xu walking beside Ji Tingyang, her confusion deepened.
No one had ever been able to successfully dissuade Ji Tingyang... perhaps that woman could become a breakthrough.