Chapter Seventy-Two: To Hell With You

"You want an egg?" Lin Yang reached out and gave Leng Nini's small head a gentle knock, his tone full of mock annoyance as he grumbled, "You little thing, you eat my food, live in my house, use my things—everything's mine—and yet you dare ask for an extra red envelope? Truly insatiable! How did I end up harboring such a greedy little imp like you?"

He shook his head with a sigh, "Alas, sympathy is a dangerous thing! It harms both others and oneself."

True, the house wasn't his, but it did belong to his little brother, and now the deed for this villa was in his hands, wasn't it? Fine, Lin Yang admitted that it was thanks to the girl, who had gone behind his back and accepted it on his behalf, but in the end, everything was under his name! In that sense, it was only fair to say Leng Nini was living off him.

"But, but, but I’m working for you! And you haven’t even paid me yet!" Leng Nini was on the brink of tears, her lips pouting in frustration as she muttered to herself, "Is it so hard just to ask for a bit of money? Other people don’t even open their mouths, and here you are, begging them to take your money. Yet I have to shamelessly demand and still get nothing. Don’t you care about a beauty’s pride at all?"

So she resorted to the oldest tricks in a woman's arsenal—tears, tantrums, and threats. With her big, doe-like eyes shining with unshed tears, she scanned the room like a scout searching for opportunity.

First, she launched a flurry of little fists at Lin Yang's chest, then made a beeline for the table in the corner—a table only about eighty centimeters high, not really tall at all.

"Hmm, the table. If I fall from there, let's see if that doesn't scare the life out of you," she muttered with wounded indignation. Climbing onto a chair, she stood atop the table, turned to glare at Lin Yang’s nonchalant face, her eyes rimmed red with anger. "Brother Yang, are you giving it to me or not? If not, I’ll jump!"

Before Lin Yang could reply, the soft-hearted Su Qin hurried over, coaxing worriedly, "Nini, come down now, Aunt Qin will give you hers. Your Brother Yang is just teasing you. Look, he’s even holding one in his hand."

"No! I don’t want Aunt Qin’s, I want his!" Leng Nini stubbornly shook her head, leaning forward and shooting Lin Yang a meaningful look that said, "If you don’t give it to me, I really will jump!"

Lin Yang was speechless. Was he really unable to handle her? Tears, tantrums, and threats? He refused to play along.

If anything could drive a man mad, it was Leng Nini’s relentless attempts to get a bank card from Lin Yang—or rather, to trick him out of one. She tried every tactic: seduction, coquettish pleading, even outright threats. Yet all he did was egg her on, "Go ahead and jump! It’s not that high—you won’t die. It’s only eighty centimeters. In most cases, you’ll be perfectly fine; in the worst case, you’ll get a little scrape. In any case, you won’t die, so jump away! A little exercise will do you good, you’ve been lounging around like a lazy pig."

It wasn’t entirely Leng Nini’s fault. Since coming to Jinhai, she’d only worked as a nurse at Lin Yang’s Thirteen Blades Clinic for two days before the place was smashed up, leaving her jobless. With nothing to do but eat and sleep, her days had become as aimless as a pig’s, and she was at a loss.

She’d even tried, on several occasions, some rather bold tactics, but Lin Yang’s willpower was uncommonly strong—he never once gave in, not even to her most tempting advances. The much-anticipated games of passion never materialized, much to her private frustration.

"Am I really so lacking in allure? How can you resist me?" she had muttered to herself often in recent days.

After putting Leng Nini in her place, Lin Yang, lacking even a shred of gentlemanly grace, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit up, and blew smoke rings, poking at the air as he entertained himself, completely unfazed by Leng Nini’s murderous glare.

"You said it, no take-backs. Today, I’m really going to jump!" Furious, Leng Nini, in a fit of recklessness, leaned forward and actually lost her balance, tumbling off the table.

As she plummeted toward the hard tile floor, fear overtook her. She couldn’t help but let out a high-pitched scream, the unique shrillness of a frightened girl echoing through the room. How unlucky could she get? She’d only meant to scare Lin Yang, but with her shoelace undone and her mind elsewhere, she’d tripped herself up. She had no one to blame but herself.

Staring at the rapidly approaching floor, despair washed over her. She braced for a bone-rattling impact and the explosion of pain sure to follow. Her large, resentful eyes shot Lin Yang—still calmly blowing smoke rings—a venomous glare. Stealing a chicken only to lose the rice, she thought bitterly, closing her eyes in resignation.

But instead of the expected hard, dull thud, she landed on something soft and springy.

No pain at all—on the contrary, it was surprisingly comfortable. She opened her eyes to see Lin Yang, still lounging on the sofa, throwing her a mischievous grin.

Annoyed, she shot him a glare and looked down to see what she’d landed on.

Three sofa cushions. Leng Nini was dumbfounded. She looked back over at Lin Yang. She’d been too distracted by his infuriating smirk to notice that the cushion beneath him had vanished. Now, she saw it was missing from under him.

Curiosity piqued, she wondered when Lin Yang had managed to move so quickly. She’d planned to question Su Qin and Zhang Qiqi, but when she glanced over, she saw both women frozen like statues, eyes wide, mouths open in disbelief.

Unhurt, and feeling no pain, she smacked the soft cushion in annoyance, climbed to her feet, and strode over to Su Qin, waving a hand in front of the woman’s dazed eyes. "Aunt Qin, what are you staring at? Did you see something strange just now?"

Jolted back to her senses, Su Qin blinked and finally recognized the lovely girl before her. She seemed unclear on what had just happened, her mind still foggy as she asked, "What is it, Nini?"

Leng Nini was speechless. Had Lin Yang bewitched them or something? How could they not recall what had just happened? Unwilling to give up, she turned to the equally stunned Zhang Qiqi.

Zhang Qiqi, though, recovered more quickly. Sensing someone approaching, she snapped back to normal, flashing a pretty smile at Leng Nini. She beat her to the punch, saying, "If you want answers, ask him. He knows best what happened."

Truly, clever women are terrifying—they never answer questions directly, but throw them right back at the culprit.

"Haha, it’s simple. I just did the right thing at the right time," Lin Yang replied with a shameless grin, blowing out a stream of smoke.

Sensing Leng Nini’s murderous glare and the way her delicate hands threatened his waist with a twisting motion, Lin Yang hurried to add, "I just threw the cushions under you a split second before you hit the ground. Oh, by the way, did you get hurt? Especially your chest—that’s the softest spot. Wouldn’t want the cushions to take advantage."

Leng Nini’s fall had been an accident—she’d landed face-first. Her chest had borne the brunt against the cushions, though thankfully she’d protected herself with her arms. Otherwise, it might have been a painful ordeal.

Had it not been for his last remarks, Leng Nini might have been grateful. But those final words left her both embarrassed and furious. She cursed him silently, "Hypocrite! When I shamelessly tried everything to seduce you, you pretended to be all pure. Now you make dirty jokes in front of two other women! How am I supposed to live with this humiliation?"

Careless words can kill, and indeed, Lin Yang’s offhand comment drew three very strange looks from the women.

"Young people these days! No shame at all, spouting such things even in front of me. How will this end? I must warn Qiqi to be careful—if she falls for his tricks and takes advantage of her, that would be a real loss," thought Su Qin.

No one worries like a parent, and Su Qin’s concerns were likely shared by mothers everywhere—who would want their daughter to fall prey to a scoundrel?

"Brother Yang is getting more and more shameless. How could he tease me like that in front of others? How can I face them from now on?" Leng Nini was almost in tears, silently blaming Lin Yang for his unfiltered tongue.

Though all women, she was nowhere near as uninhibited as those island girls known for parading naked before crowds of thousands, even millions, and engaging in wild games. Compared to that level of brazenness, Leng Nini was far behind—just a hug from Lin Yang was enough to make her blush. Never mind her daily pretenses with her bold attire; inside, she was terrified.

"Brother Yang has changed—a lot. But perhaps this side of him is even more attractive to women," mused Zhang Qiqi, her sharp eyes seeing through everything. Only a mature woman could label a rogue’s behavior as ‘charming.’ She thought this to herself, but her face remained perfectly composed.

Lin Yang had no idea his casual words were so destructive, but with his acute senses, he picked up on the subtle ripples of emotion in the three women—Su Qin’s concern, Leng Nini’s grievance, Zhang Qiqi’s jealousy. What surprised him most was Zhang Qiqi’s reaction—was she actually jealous? Lin Yang admitted he was handsome, but surely not to the point of inspiring jealousy in every roomful of women.

"Are you giving it or not?" As Lin Yang pondered, Leng Nini, after some hesitation, boldly walked over to him, her cheeks flushed, lips pouted, and hand stretched out stubbornly.

"Fine, you win," Lin Yang surrendered, defeated by her persistence. He lifted his arm and put a bank card, loaded with fifty thousand, into her delicate hand, feigning reluctance. Before Leng Nini could say anything, his smile vanished and he said seriously, "Alright, Nini, that’s enough. Take Aunt Qin and Qiqi to get familiar with the villa. I’m going to take another look at Uncle Feng’s condition."