Shen Sixing raised the hand holding the gun, his expression flat, but his words were laced with malice.
In that instant, the private mercenaries on the scene raised their weapons simultaneously. Countless dark muzzles took aim at Song Guanyan.
The situation was spiraling out of control.
The night wind blew past. No one spoke; only the crisp, distinct clicks of gun safeties being switched off pierced the silence.
Song Guanyan did not move.
He stood his ground, his gaze sweeping over the gun barrels before finally settling on Shen Sixing's face. He met his eyes levelly, neither dodging nor evading.
"Your family..." he paused, "is involved with the underworld?"
Shen Sixing did not answer. The corners of his mouth merely twitched, looking like a smile, yet not quite one.
"You are from the Shen family?"
Upon seeing so many private bodyguards, he had finally guessed the identity of Shen Yi's adoptive father.
It was that family entrenched overseas, dominating both the light and the dark. They ran numerous illicit businesses, including arms dealing, money laundering, and assassinations—they did whatever brought in cash the fastest. Most of their enterprises were based abroad.
Domestically, they preferred placing wealthy individuals on a death list to extort protection fees from them.
Those who refused to pay could just wait to die in an "accident" someday.
To say they were universally despised would not be an exaggeration.
Yet, even though everyone cursed this family to the high heavens behind closed doors, on the surface, they still obediently paid up, praying they wouldn't be the next target.
Song Guanyan was once a regular on that payment list.
He had never imagined that one day he would stand face to face with a member of the Shen family.
And the person standing beside this man was his own biological daughter.
"I have no intention of clashing with you, Mr. Shen. I just want to take my daughter back."
His voice was somewhat hoarse.
Song Guanyan looked at the child hiding behind Shen Sixing.
"I am her biological father, Mr. Shen," he said, enunciating every word. "Whether you are willing to admit it or not, she is my child."
"I will compensate her. She was lost when she was only a year old, and my wife missed her until her dying breath." Song Guanyan ignored the guns that could riddle him with bullets at any moment. "I just want to take her home. A child ultimately needs a family."
Every single sentence he spoke was practically dancing on Shen Sixing's last nerve.
Even Shen Yi felt her hair stand on end.
Was this scumbag father really so unafraid of death?
She gripped Shen Sixing's hand, feeling the immense, suppressed force coiled within the tense muscles of his fingers.
Shen Yi felt that if she didn't say something soon, something terrible was truly going to happen.
So she stepped out from behind Shen Sixing and took the initiative to speak:
"Are you guys... talking about me?"
The girl's voice sounded exceptionally steady amidst the explosive tension of the scene.
Shen Yi squeezed Shen Sixing's hand, her knuckles applying a little pressure, as if trying to draw a bit of courage from his warm palm so she could speak her mind.
Shen Sixing's lips pressed together slightly.
He lowered his eyes to look at the hand holding his, noting her faintly trembling fingertips.
Ultimately, the knuckles of the hand gripping the gun twitched, but he did not pull the trigger.
Shen Sixing was looking at her.
Everyone present seemed to be staring at her.
Shen Yi's only wish was to be an inconspicuous mouse, not to be the center of so much attention.
The weight of their gazes made her feel entirely uncomfortable.
"Mr. Song..." Shen Yi tried to be as polite as possible, looking at him as if he were a total stranger. "I don't care about the family you speak of. For as long as I can remember, I lived in an orphanage, and I had a good life there."
When Shen Yi couldn't sleep at night, she had sometimes wondered what her life would have been like if she hadn't been taken away by Song Guanyan.
After thinking it over and over, the answer was simple: she would have had a normal life.
"Actually, even without you, without anyone, I would still grow up just fine."
"No matter what I end up doing in the future, I will work hard to support myself."
"I really have never hoped for you."
Shen Yi bit her lip, her eyes growing a little moist—not for anyone else, but for herself.
"I don't need compensation either," she stated clearly and logically, word by word. "Don't come looking for me."
Song Guanyan's lips parted, but no sound came out.
Many thoughts raced through his mind, but all that echoed at the end was her phrase: 'Don't come looking for me.'
He looked at the girl's utterly composed demeanor.
There was no hatred, no resentment, not even the slightest bit of expectation or curiosity toward her biological father...
Such a conclusion was undoubtedly far more devastating.
He would rather she hated him.
He would rather she hated him for not finding her sooner, hugging him and crying bitterly; anything would be better than this cold indifference.
"Oh, right." Shen Yi seemed to remember something.
"Actually, you don't need to look at me with such shattered eyes. You've clearly found a better daughter than me, right, sir?"
She flashed a bright smile. "We're even classmates."
"Since you have a better child, don't try to have everything. I don't need it, and it's not fair to her either."
The color drained entirely from Song Guanyan's face. His gaze was dazed as he raised a hand, still wanting to explain himself. "Xiao Yi, I am a very irresponsible father. I..."
"I will change. I won't always be like this. At the time, I just wanted to find some solace."
"I have been looking for you this whole time."
Shen Yi looked at him strangely.
"You're not a child anymore," she said. "No one is going to wait patiently for you to change. Are you expecting a child to accommodate your feelings?"
Speechless.
Song Guanyan never imagined that one day he would be rendered completely speechless by a child.
"I will send her away." Assuming she was unwilling to leave with him because of Song Yi, he suddenly offered, "Is the day after tomorrow okay? Tomorrow I'll help her quickly process the paperwork to go abroad."
Song Guanyan naturally knew that tossing a little girl into an unfamiliar foreign country was not a good choice.
But he had already made the wrong choice before.
He couldn't afford to be wrong again.
He needed Shen Yi.
"..." Now it was Shen Yi's turn to be stunned.
Send her away?
Song Yi?
She didn't feel the slightest bit moved. Her mind was entirely consumed by how extraordinarily absurd and ironic this development was.
Memories of his inaction from her past life flashed through Shen Yi's mind. Hearing those words broke her composure on the spot. Her voice trembling slightly, she blurted out, "Then what were you doing earlier?!"
Why not earlier?
Why didn't he choose her in her previous life?
She wanted to demand answers to so many things.
But it all seemed pointless now.
As the words slipped out, Shen Yi realized her voice had risen, and she tightened her grip on Shen Sixing's hand.
"Forget it, I don't care," Shen Yi said, speeding up her words. "You can send her away or keep her, it has nothing to do with me. I'm going home now."
Song Guanyan frowned slightly, not quite understanding why her emotions had suddenly spiraled out of control.
She seemed even more resistant to him now than before, especially after hearing his plan to send Song Yi away.
The moment he took a step forward to chase after her, he was forcefully shoved back by the surrounding bodyguards.
Shen Yi didn't look back again, slipping straight into the car.
Shen Ruxu found this entire spectacle quite splendid.
It was more entertaining than television.
Moreover, seeing his father look slightly nervous was a rare treat.
In his impression, Shen Sixing had always had a somewhat wicked sense of humor, a lazy and scattered personality, never caring much about anything.
Just now, when Song Guanyan was rambling on, if Shen Yi hadn't interrupted, Shen Sixing genuinely intended to kill the man.
It wasn't just Shen Ruxu who noticed it; Shen Yi felt it too.
Watching him get into the car, she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Dad, I thought you were going to shoot just now."
The police here were inactive simply because the judicial system in this world was a mess.
The rich did whatever they wanted, and there were too many criminals dancing on the red line. The inside had long since rotted.
As long as murder wasn't committed in broad daylight in front of a crowd, they could turn a blind eye.
But that was only for ordinary people. Song Guanyan's status was anything but ordinary.
If Shen Sixing dared to shoot the richest man in the country in front of so many people, with all the financial news and TV reports that would follow, there was no way he could walk away unscathed.
Shen Sixing responded with a nonchalant "oh." As if drained of all his strength, he leaned against the backrest, turned his head, and looked at his daughter with an indiscernible expression. "Xiaoyi."
"Hmm?" Shen Yi blinked.
"That's your biological father," he said. "Just now, in front of him, you looked..."
The man paused, searching for the right word. "...very wronged."
She didn't actually sound like she was crying; she was merely narrating.
But to him, an earnest narration often represented an accusation against the past.
And in that moment, he truly wanted to shoot Song Guanyan.
He couldn't care less about what news channels he'd be on the next day, or what international turmoil and consequences it would trigger.
Meeting her father's deep gaze, Shen Yi gently bit her lip, feeling an inexplicable illusion of being seen right through.
"I wasn't feeling wronged at all!"
As the saying goes, he who talks too much errs.
Especially when dealing with a man like Shen Sixing, who liked to peel back layers and had a deeply scheming mind—it was simply terrifying.
Not really wanting to be seen through, Shen Yi rested her head on his arm and changed the subject. "I'm sleepy, Dad. Today was so scary."
"Sigh," Shen Sixing looked down at her and sighed. "Do you really not want to talk to me that much?"
If Shen Yi had chatted with Song Guanyan for just a little longer, he could have deduced most of Shen Yi's past by combining it with what he already knew.
Shen Yi was clearly still very resistant to this.
Fine.
He didn't want to force her.
Shen Sixing wasn't a creep; he had no interest in digging up other people's pasts, especially Shen Yi's.
Even if he dug it up, it wouldn't make him happy.
