Chapter 82: So, This Was All Just a Test?

"I refuse!" Lin Feng retorted with defiance, turning on his heel and heading into the bathroom. He filled a large basin with water.

"In order to spare everyone some discomfort, Miss Chu, please bear with it a little," he said, and without further ado, poured the entire basin of water over Chu Lingshuang.

A cascade of cold water drenched her from head to toe, quelling the fever burning through her body for the moment and bringing a measure of clarity back to her mind. She didn't blame Lin Feng. Instead, she wrapped the man's coat tightly around herself, gripped the fruit knife in her hand, pressed her red lips together, and strode directly toward Gu Wenxuan.

Lin Feng, having just doused himself with the remaining water for relief, turned back only to witness Chu Lingshuang's next move. Before he could utter a word, she drove the fruit knife straight at Gu Wenxuan's wrist!

It was like slaughtering a pig for the New Year—Gu Wenxuan was shocked awake by the stabbing pain!

"Aaaahhh!!" he howled in agony.

Gu Wenxuan fought desperately, but found himself immobilized. Facing him, Chu Lingshuang was now like a demon, wielding the fruit knife and slicing at his wrist.

"It hurts! It hurts! You crazy woman, what are you doing?!" he roared, his face contorted with pain and fear.

Brother, you’re just now realizing she’s a maniac? Lin Feng sucked in a sharp breath, but he was no longer surprised by such scenes. Rubbing his wrist and shrinking his neck, he hurried back to the bathroom for more water.

Even the rush of the water couldn’t drown out the screams outside, reminiscent of a pig being slaughtered.

When Lin Feng returned with more water, he saw Chu Lingshuang still slashing with the knife. He couldn’t help but interject, “Miss Chu, I don’t think this place is very soundproof…”

He had heard everything clearly from the bathroom, and with security guards outside, if this continued, people would soon break in. If they saw this scene, none of them would escape unscathed. At least he still had his wits about him, but Chu Lingshuang had taken too much—the consequences might not have occurred to her.

“Don’t worry,” Chu Lingshuang replied abruptly. Though her hands were stained in blood, she didn’t pause. She curled her lips into a smile. “Do you think the Gu family would dare to do such a thing without having made full preparations?”

Ah! That did make sense. Lin Feng realized, so this hall really was soundproof…

“Miss Chu, Miss Chu, please, I beg you, have mercy! I was wrong, I really was wrong! Aaahhh!”

Gu Wenxuan’s face was twisted with pain, his hand nearly severed and hanging by a thread. Terror and agony overwhelmed him—this was his right hand, the hand he used to eat and write! Now, all he could do was beg for his life.

But Chu Lingshuang seemed deaf to his desperate screams. She continued her work, barking, “Where’s the water?!”

“Coming, coming!” Lin Feng, already on standby, poured another basin of cold water over her.

He had no choice—both of them depended on that water to keep themselves alive.

Watching the blood on the carpet swirl away under the water, Lin Feng’s lips twitched. Why did this scene suddenly remind him of some S-class horror…

Indeed, it really looked the part.

By the time Chu Lingshuang finished, Gu Wenxuan had fainted dead away from the pain.

She tossed the knife casually beside his severed hand and sprang to her feet.

But the heat was still surging through her veins!

Fighting the burning within, she glimpsed Lin Feng returning to the bathroom for more water. Narrowing her eyes, she slipped off her high heels and strode in after him.

Lin Feng, in the midst of dousing himself, felt unbearably hot—he didn’t know what kind of drug this was, and he’d only had a little, but the effect was overwhelming…

He was about to drench himself with another basin when someone shoved him hard from behind.

Caught off guard, he toppled straight into the bathtub, his bones aching from the impact. Struggling to turn over and barely managing to stand, he was suddenly enveloped in darkness as Chu Lingshuang collapsed directly on top of him!

The moment her warmth pressed against his palm, Lin Feng’s mind went completely blank from the heat.

In his last conscious moment, he mustered the strength to turn on the tap and let water flow into the tub.

After that, he remembered nothing.

His final fragments of consciousness were only of the water splashing everywhere, and the chaos that followed, wild and overwhelming…

When he regained awareness, Lin Feng felt his hands and feet wrinkled from being soaked for so long. Chu Lingshuang stood before him, making a phone call.

“Yes, take care of everything outside.”

“Idiots! Just say there’s been a kidnapping, seal off the hotel!”

Hearing the water behind her, Chu Lingshuang hung up, her expression once again calm and composed. Yet her gaze was as icy as ever.

She advanced on him, step by step. “I never imagined, even now, you’d still be thinking of escape!”

Lin Feng, just about to get up, blinked in confusion. “What?”

Chu Lingshuang strode forward, planting a foot on the edge of the bathtub, bending down to look him directly in the eyes. “I just wanted to test you. I never thought, after all this time, you’d still be the same.”

“What do you mean?” Lin Feng was a little dazed—was he still half asleep?

No, wait! Did she mean that her attending this banquet was actually a test for him?!

Lin Feng suddenly understood. “But wasn’t this your mother’s idea…”

“I always listen to my elders, but this was just a convenient opportunity,” Chu Lingshuang replied coolly, though the look in her eyes grew even more severe.

Lin Feng finally saw the truth. So that was why Chu Lingshuang would agree to come to this kind of party and so readily bring him along—she’d been waiting for him all along!

But so what?

“What’s the point of testing me? You already know what I want,” he said, bracing himself on the tub and draping a towel over his shoulders.

All he’d ever wanted was freedom. He had no interest in being the Chu family’s young master. No matter how many times Chu Lingshuang tested him, his answer would never change.

Perhaps it was his nonchalance that provoked her—Chu Lingshuang’s brow furrowed tightly at his words.

If she didn’t have leverage over Lin Feng, he would probably walk away as heartlessly as he did the first time. After all their time together, he had never once tried to stay for her!

This man truly was unlike any other.

Chu Lingshuang seemed to understand something then. She lowered her leg and studied Lin Feng.

Unnerved by her stare, Lin Feng stepped out of the bathtub and couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

He wanted to change clothes. He’d fallen and his head ached terribly, while Chu Lingshuang had fallen right on top of him, woken up before him, and already gotten dressed.

It was starting to make him feel awkward.

Just as Lin Feng grabbed his wet clothes, preparing to put them on, Chu Lingshuang’s voice, low and uncertain, reached his ears.

“I just want to know—what would it take for you to remember me?”