“I’ve seen you more than once.”

Shen Fengran stared at her and suddenly added this.

“Oh? Is that so? When else did you see me?” Rong Qian played along.

Shen Fengran’s lips curled. “Six years ago, at a casino.”

Rong Qian furrowed her brow. Six years ago, at a casino? Wasn’t that when she and Shen Yi went to meet Yao Zhengxing? Rong Qian still remembered accidentally nearly being knocked over by someone — that someone had been Thomas.

And just as that thought crossed her mind, Shen Fengran added: “At the time, it was me, Thomas, and Lin Jie — all in the same gambling room.”

Rong Qian was startled. Lin Jie had been there too? But thinking back, that was the very day Shen Yi had brought Lin Jie home, so it wasn’t so surprising after all.

That Lin Jie and Shen Fengran knew each other — that didn’t shock Rong Qian. But the fact that they had been together with Thomas that day — that was beyond what she had expected.

Shen Fengran seemed to read her thoughts, and dropped another piece of news that stunned Rong Qian even further.

He said: “I’m the one who had Thomas broken out of prison.”

“It was you? Why? And how do you even know Thomas?” Rong Qian was astonished.

Shen Fengran shrugged. “Is that so strange? For that matter — having Lin Feng pinned under the tire and run over? That was my idea, too.”

He said it while doubling over with laughter, looking utterly unhinged and deranged. Rong Qian stared at him in disbelief. In that moment she finally understood why Shen Yi had called him a “madman.”

“You were only ten years old at the time,” Rong Qian said, deeply disturbed.

Shen Fengran’s laughter ceased instantly. His expression dropped, and he muttered to himself like someone speaking to no one in particular: “Right — I was only ten, and I was already that clever. So why, why, can I still never get the better of a Shen Yi?”

“Clever? You call that clever?” The look Rong Qian gave him was no longer the look you’d give a normal person.

She thought of the time she and Shen Yi had been at KFC, when he had disguised himself as an innocent, oblivious child and asked for a children’s meal, then left looking perfectly content.

The more she thought about it, the more her skin crawled.

“Don’t you think so?” Shen Fengran saw nothing wrong with any of it. As he said it, he fixed his gaze on Rong Qian’s face again, then broke into a gentle smile and reached out to touch her cheek — only for Rong Qian to slap his hand away.

“Ouch, that hurt,” he said, clutching his hand with an aggrieved look. “Goddess, I just wanted to touch your face — why did you have to hit me?”

The expression on Rong Qian’s face at that moment was worse than if she had bitten into a cockroach. This Shen Fengran was absolutely deranged.

“Don’t you want to know why I call you Goddess?” Shen Fengran sat down on the edge of her bed. Rong Qian’s expression darkened immediately, and she warned him sharply: “Get up right now, or I will not be responsible for what happens next.”

The only person allowed to sit on the edge of her bed was Shen Yi. No one else could even dream of it.

Shen Fengran didn’t move. He seemed to drift into memory, speaking with something like feeling: “I still remember the first time I saw that portrait — I was completely captivated by you. You were so pure, so beautiful. I thought to myself, if you were real, I would cage you by my side and never let you go.”

“But I was one step too late.” Shen Fengran let out a disappointed sigh and shook his head. “You were already claimed by Shen Yi. What a shame.”

He shook his head mournfully, then looked at Rong Qian and smiled as he said: “Let me tell you something. Shen Yi and I are the same kind of person. He’s just better at hiding it, which is why you haven’t seen through him yet.”

“Say one more word against him, and I promise I will knock your teeth out.” Rong Qian’s face had gone iron pale. The fist she clenched was visibly veined with tension.

She was ready to make good on that threat the instant he uttered another word.

Shen Fengran seemed to sense it, and stood up cooperatively. He left Rong Qian with one final remark: “Goddess — just wait. One day, I will take you away from him. And if Shen Yi dares to stop me — I will kill him.”

With that, Shen Fengran walked out laughing, leaving Rong Qian behind with a face full of dark clouds, still reeling from everything he had said.

Rong Qian suddenly realized that she had perhaps been aiming her attention in the wrong direction entirely.

The person who had been targeting Shen Yi might not be Thomas at all — it was Shen Fengran.

He was the true mastermind behind everything.

Meanwhile, under Shen Yi’s “intensive interrogation,” the men in his custody had cooperated and come clean — the whole affair had been arranged by Meng Yuxin, with the purpose of teaching Rong Qian a lesson.

Upon learning this, Shen Yi had already drawn his own conclusions.

Once he had finished handling everything, Shen Yi returned to the clinic. The moment he entered the room, he found Rong Qian massaging her temples with a pained expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Ugh, my head is killing me,” Rong Qian said with a sigh.

She didn’t hide anything from him, and told Shen Yi everything about Shen Fengran’s visit.

Once Shen Yi heard it all, his reaction was exactly what Shen Fengran could have predicted — because Shen Fengran had been watching his elder brother for a very long time.

After Shen Fengran dropped Meng Yuxin and Sheng Wanqing off, he returned to his own residence — a grand villa, with bodyguards standing tight watch at the entrance.

But stepping deeper inside, you would find the entire house cold and empty, as if no one lived there at all. There was no sense of life anywhere.

Shen Fengran slipped off his shoes and went upstairs. He entered his room and dropped onto the sofa, closing his eyes. He seemed to be waiting for someone.

But after a long wait, the person still hadn’t appeared. He grew impatient. “Where are you? Where did you disappear to?”

There was a concealed door in the room. It was pushed open now, and a man in white clothing walked out. Both of his ankles were shackled with chains, which clanged and jangled with every step he took.

And looking more closely, one would notice that this man looked very much like Shen Yi.

“Kneel,” Shen Fengran commanded.

The man walked over, slowly bent his knees, and then lowered his head and knelt.

“You must feel so aggrieved, don’t you?” Shen Fengran tilted the man’s chin upward, a contemptuous smile at the corner of his lips.

The man said nothing. His entire bearing was vacant and hollow — as though the soul had left him, leaving only a body that moved without purpose, like a walking shell.

“Are you mute? Speak!” Shen Fengran struck him across the face, but the man still did not make a sound.

Shen Fengran’s tone turned to one of furious contempt, like someone who had given up on a hopeless case: “And you think you’re fit to impersonate Shen Yi looking like this? Do you have any idea how Shen Yi would respond if someone treated him the way I’m treating you? He would fix me with that look of his — the kind that makes fear creep into your bones — and then he would end me. And you? You can’t even compare to a single finger of his!”

Shen Fengran delivered another savage kick. “Get out of my sight! You make me sick!”

The man kept his head down, not daring to stand. He could only crawl away.

Then Shen Fengran called after him: “Mu Chaoxue — don’t forget who it was that brought you out of prison. Without me, you’d still be rotting in that cell. You should be grateful.”

Mu Chaoxue said nothing. He simply kept his head bowed — and then clenched his jaw and forced out: “I will never forget… your great and boundless generosity…”