Chapter 4 - Chapter 4

They saw Liu Zhong throwing down the documents angrily, then walking outside the house to calm down.

The two picked up the documents on the table and began to read them.

The more she looked, the paler Liu Yunshuang's face became.

These documents contained information about Lin Ming, and the contents were roughly as follows:

Lin Ming comes from a poor family, and his parents are both workers. Despite their efforts to send Lin Ming to high school, Lin Ming still didn't want to make progress. He hung out with people outside the school every day and often got into group fights.

Recently, Lin Ming's grades suddenly improved.

He claimed to be "enlightened" and to have a "will to improve himself."

However, many students thought he was cheating, as some had seen Lin Ming sneaking around during exams.

While shaking his head, some people asked him questions from the test paper, only to find that he couldn't even write the most basic trigonometric function formula.

But Liu Yunshuang didn't know this and instead admired Lin Ming, who frequently asked her and Xia Xinyan questions.

Lin Ming pretended to be a good student on the surface, but secretly, he was acquainted with Mr. Hu from the underworld. The gangsters near No. 1 High School called him Brother Ming.

Liu Yunshuang's face turned pale when she saw the photos of several gangsters.

Weren't these the same people who teased her in the past? Thanks to Lin Ming's intervention at the time, he had beaten them away.

In the end, Lin Ming was also injured. Liu Yunshuang had dismissed Wang Haoran at the time so she could take Lin Ming to the hospital.

Moreover, these gangsters had also teased Xia Xinyan but were similarly beaten away by Lin Ming.

"How could this be...?"

Liu Yunshuang hurriedly turned to the next page, and sure enough!

It was also these gangsters who had broken Lin Ming's hand a few days ago!

Not only that, but some gangsters had even called Liu Yunshuang and Xia Xinyan "sister-in-law" and thought they were Lin Ming's women.

Seeing this, Liu Yunshuang's face turned very ugly, while Zhang Yijuan continued to look through the documents with a blank expression.

The document clearly stated that Liu Yunshuang had quarreled with Wang Haoran many times to defend Lin Ming and had missed several appointments with Wang Haoran to "tutor Lin Ming."

The most significant point was when Wang Haoran had gone to school to give flowers to Liu Yunshuang, only to be provoked by Lin Ming, who had said, "Teacher Liu is destined to be my woman." Wang Haoran had become angry and beaten him.

But Liu Yunshuang, who arrived only afterward, had seen only the scene of Wang Haoran hitting someone and felt very sorry for Lin Ming, even throwing the flowers back in Wang Haoran's face.

After reading the document, Zhang Yijuan stood up with a cold expression.

"Mom?"

"Don't call me Mom! I don't have a daughter like you!"

Zhang Yijuan glared at Liu Yunshuang and prepared to leave the living room to find Liu Zhong.

She was a gentle and virtuous lady, but her use of such words showed how angry she was.

When she reached the door, she suddenly turned her head again with a look of hatred on her face.

"You are not allowed to touch the soup in the kitchen!"

...

When Wang Haoran returned home, he had already begun to take a bath, a look of satisfaction on his face.

[Ding! The host's manipulation and rearrangement of the truth have led Liu Zhong and Zhang Yijuan to hate the male protagonist Lin Ming. The female protagonist Liu Yunshuang feels alienated from Lin Ming. The male protagonist Lin Ming's protagonist halo is reduced by 100! The host's luck points increase by 100! Ability points increase by 10!]

Most of the contents in the document Wang Haoran gave to Liu Zhong were true, except for the last one.

For reasons unknown, the original Wang Haoran had felt an uncontrollable impulse to act against Lin Ming when he saw Lin Ming's grinning face, despite his usual education and the knowledge that Liu Yunshuang could arrive at any time.

Other than this incident, everything else was true. Wang Haoran's only change was rearranging the order of events.

According to the original timeline, the sequence of events was as follows:

1. Liu Yunshuang was harassed, and Lin Ming heroically rescued her.

2. Xia Xinyan was harassed, and Lin Ming heroically rescued her.

3. Lin Ming met the gangster Mr. Hu, and the two became fast friends.

4. Wang Haoran bribed Mr. Hu's men to cause trouble for Lin Ming.

5. Lin Ming defeated the gangsters sent to cause trouble.

6. The gangsters revealed they were Mr. Hu's subordinates, but Lin Ming laughed and called Mr. Hu himself. Upon hearing Mr. Hu's term of endearment, "little brother," the gangsters realized their error and pleaded for forgiveness, recognizing Lin Ming as their "big brother."

What Wang Haoran did was simply put events 3 and 6 at the beginning.

Wang Haoran didn't say the events in the document were in chronological order. If someone misunderstood, it wasn't his fault, was it?

Wang Haoran wasn't afraid of the Liu family investigating, as the arrangement was done meticulously, with no trails leading back to him.

The key was that the gangsters who troubled Lin Ming were indeed the same group of people each time!

It seemed the author of The Strong and the Romantic was too lazy to create new characters, reusing the same group of gangsters in multiple encounters.

Only these gangsters could dispute the document's authenticity, but compared to the Liu family's trust in Wang Haoran, who would believe the gangsters' words?

Moreover, Lin Ming had intentionally wrapped his scraped left hand in layers of gauze and splints to win Liu Yunshuang's sympathy. However, if his act was exposed...

By breaking off the engagement, Wang Haoran had secured a rift between the Liu family and Lin Ming.

Wang Haoran only had to deal with Lin Ming. Liu Zhong and Zhang Yijuan had been good to him, even calling to discuss an apology.

As for Liu Yunshuang, he left her to make her own choice. If she still clung to Lin Ming, they could be together.

Wang Haoran hummed a tune, feeling pleased.

...

Meanwhile, at the foot of an unknown mountain, a figure sat in meditation.

Dressed in white, her serene beauty was as untouchable as moonlight, radiating an aura of immense strength.

But suddenly, sweat beaded on her forehead, and her breathing turned erratic.

With a choked sound, she spat out blood, her energy diminishing.

Her attempt to break through had failed, and the backlash had diminished her strength to an early transformation stage.

But her power was not her main concern at this moment, as a flood of memories surged through her mind.

In her first life, she had failed to break through. Somehow, her enemy learned of her weakness and discovered her location. She had fled but, thinking herself safe, was killed by a man who appeared without warning.

In her second life, she was again surrounded by enemies. This time, the same man didn't kill her but saved her, protecting her at great risk.

For the first time, she felt moved by someone. But once more, just as she thought herself secure, time reversed, erasing her happiness.

In her third life, they managed to wed, promising each other a lifetime. Yet again, after the wedding, time reversed.

In her fourth life, the man even introduced her to a sister, which annoyed her for days. But just as she waited for him to soothe her, time reset again.

In her fifth life, they didn't marry. Though he saved her, he was rough, using various methods to compel her to aid him against Lin Ming.

At first, she resisted, but her body began to betray her, obeying his every command. Eventually, she even began to take the initiative.

As these memories flooded her mind, she collapsed, fainting.

Before losing consciousness, she murmured the man's name.

"—Haoran."