Shen Yi frowned. "...Is the Shen family some kind of mysterious cult? Once you join, you can never leave? Leaving the family gets you the death penalty?!"
That was terrifying.
Shen Sixing shrugged lazily. "Pretty much."
"I was on the verge of dying back then. In the end, it was your mother who swooped in like a heavenly deity and took me away. You don't want to end up like me, right? Hmm?"
Shen Yi felt he might actually be telling the truth. She remembered seeing the scar on her father's back as a child—stretching from his left shoulder blade all the way down to his waist, like a patch of scorched tree roots.
Back then, she thought it was an injury from his days as a hitman. But it wasn't.
It all came from the family.
Shen Yi couldn't even imagine what kind of hellish atmosphere the early Shen family had.
"Hey, Dad... what about Grandma?" Shen Yi suddenly grew curious about something. "When she got divorced, was she beaten half to death like you were?"
"Of course not. Your grandmother left very decisively. Your grandfather tried to use the children to tie her down, but clearly, that didn't work. Your grandmother was naturally the type who was wild and loved her freedom."
Recalling the past, Shen Sixing's expression turned slightly complicated.
His family atmosphere was hard to describe, but fortunately, Shen Sixing wasn't someone who craved a family anyway.
He had a "couldn't care less" attitude about everything that happened.
Wen Ya said, "Your grandmother and I used to collect eggs together at some organization."
Shen Yi's attention completely derailed. "...Why were you collecting eggs?"
"If you believe in an organization, they give out free eggs," Wen Ya said casually. "Your grandmother and I were really close back then, but we don't keep in touch much anymore. I don't know if she'll come back around New Year's."
Shen Yi opened her mouth. "What organization?"
"A useless organization, a cult. Not sure what their doctrine is. Their main function was handing out eggs and rice, flour, and oil."
"...Then what exactly were you believing in?!"
"Believing in eggs."
Shen Sixing cut in, "Stop right there. This isn't the time to talk about your grandmother. Compared to your grandmother, your problem is clearly more serious, Xiao Yi."
The moment Shen Yi heard this, she opened her mouth again, a light reigniting in her eyes that made Shen Sixing's scalp crawl. "Dad, you're so rude. We're true love!"
Shen Sixing pulled her into a hug and covered her mouth—a standard kidnapper move—and said softly, "Shut up, Shen Yi."
"Sit down and be quiet. Let me show you what your so-called true love has been up to behind your back."
Shen Yi had been joking when she said she wanted her dad to get her Lorenzo's full file in three minutes.
But Shen Sixing wasn't joking.
He could genuinely dig up every last detail of Lorenzo's personal information in three minutes.
When Shen Sixing's phone screen lit up, Shen Yi's pupils lit up along with it.
She leaned in, craning her neck like a giraffe, her chin nearly resting on Shen Sixing's shoulder.
"That fast?"
"Three minutes, with time to spare." Shen Sixing pushed the phone toward her.
Wen Ya added coolly from the side, "Back when he was a wanted fugitive trying to make money, he hacked into over a dozen countries' databases on the side. Your dad is a multi-threading kind of talent."
Shen Sixing swiped his finger, and a photo popped up. Lorenzo Visconti, in a suit, standing on some luxurious balcony, holding a glass of red wine, smiling brightly, with Florence's skyline in the background.
Shen Yi cupped her face in her hands. "So handsome—"
Shen Sixing flicked her forehead in response.
The file pulled up.
Lorenzo Visconti, twenty-three years old. The data listed his social connections, asset distribution, and various whereabouts in exhaustive detail.
There were also several screenshots from secretly recorded videos, showing him with different women entering nightclubs and hotels, his expression frivolous and sleazy.
Shen Sixing tapped a line on the screen with his finger. "Last month, he was photographed in Milan entering a hotel with three female models at the same time. The media buried it—the family bought up all the photos. This is your so-called true love?"
Shen Yi stared at the frivolous face smiling on the screen, feeling absolutely nothing inside.
She parted her lips slightly, putting on a perfectly calibrated expression of being hit hard. "...That was the past. He told me he's changed now."
Shen Sixing said, "Yesterday, he was still drinking in a hotel with three women. Do you want to see the video?"
"That was business!"
"He had his arm around their waists."
"That's social etiquette!"
"His hand was on their—"
"Enough, Dad!" Shen Yi abruptly stopped in her tracks, planted her hands on her hips, and glared at Shen Sixing with the tragic expression of someone whose love was incomprehensible to adults. "Love is blind! It's crazy! It defies reason! Even if he goes to nightclubs and hugs a hundred women, as long as he tells me he only loves me, then I believe him!"
Shen Sixing took a deep breath and quietly watched her perform.
He had to admit, Shen Yi's acting could compete for an Oscar.
Shen Sixing had obviously let his anger get the better of him earlier.
But when presented with evidence, she still refused to see reason—it was no longer about her being dim-witted or having love on the brain.
She just wanted to piss them off.
On a rational level, Shen Sixing believed she was playing dumb on purpose to set that Lorenzo up. But emotionally...
He pinched his brow.
He was still so pissed off!!
Shen Sixing couldn't bear to imagine if things were actually real—if he, in his old age, would have to travel across the ocean to Italy to visit his terminally lovesick daughter.
How terrifying!
His daughter was a demon!
Wen Ya had already had enough of Shen Yi's earth-shattering declarations.
Without a word, she left the living room.
From somewhere nearby came the sound of a safe combination lock turning, followed by a rustle of searching.
The clinking of metal objects. The sound of a zipper opening.
Shen Yi asked, "What is Mom planning?"
Shen Sixing replied with a slight smile, "Preparing some 'nice presents' for your true love."
