Lethal Attraction

"Not me, believe me," Jian Tong stubbornly stared at the person in the car. Heavy rain poured down, and the rain splattered on the car window. Through the blurred window, she could faintly see the stern face inside the car. Jian Tong's trembling body stood outside the car, shouting loudly through the window, "Shen Xiujin! At least listen to me!"

The car door suddenly opened, and before Jian Tong could react, a strong force pulled her into the car. She fell onto his lap, and his crisp white shirt instantly got soaked.

"Shen Xiujin, those thugs who hurt Weiming, it wasn't my doing..." Jian Tong began to speak, but a long and powerful finger mercilessly pinched her chin, and his distinctive deep, magnetic voice echoed in her ear, "Do you like me this much?"

His voice was cool, with a hint of a faint tobacco scent - his scent.

"What?" Jian Tong was a bit confused. She liked him, and everyone knew it. Why was he suddenly asking this?

The man held Jian Tong's chin and extended his other arm, long and powerful, gently touching her cold, rain-soaked cheek with his fingertips. Jian Tong was captivated by his tender, watery eyes, and she felt as though she could hear the next question from this man, asking her if she was cold.

Suddenly, an icy chill emanated from the man, and he coldly said, "Jian Tong, do you like me this much? Enough to harm Weiming?"

A cold sensation welled up from the depths of her heart, spreading to her limbs in an instant. Jian Tong sobered up in a moment and couldn't help but smile bitterly... She had thought that this man's tenderness was real, but it turned out it was nothing more than a devil's smile.

"I didn't intend to harm Weiming..." she tried to explain for herself.

"Yes, you didn't intend to kill Weiming, you just paid off a few thugs to molest her," the man's eyes gradually filled with anger. He didn't give Jian Tong a chance to explain. With a forceful motion, he tore Jian Tong's clothes.

"Ah~!"

With a scream, Jian Tong was ruthlessly pushed out of the car, and she fell into the rain, looking disheveled. Amidst the sound of the rain, the man's cold voice sounded particularly distinct:

"Jian Tong, Miss Jian, do you like the feeling of being exposed without your clothes?"

Swish!

Jian Tong suddenly looked up, unbelievably at the man sitting in the car. He looked down at her from a higher vantage point, took out a handkerchief, and leisurely wiped his fingers. "Miss Jian, I'm tired now. Please leave."

"Shen Xiujin! Please listen to me! I really..."

"If Miss Jian wants me to listen, it's not impossible," the man raised an indifferent eyebrow and glanced at Jian Tong. "If Miss Jian is willing to kneel outside my Shennong Manor for one night, maybe my mood will improve, and I'll be willing to give Miss Jian ten minutes."

The car door suddenly closed, and a handkerchief was thrown out of the car, landing in front of Jian Tong, soaked by the rain.

Jian Tong lowered her head, picked up the rain-soaked handkerchief, and held it tightly in her palm.

The car drove into the Shennong Manor, and the iron gate of the Shennong Manor closed mercilessly in front of her.

In the rain, Jian Tong's face turned pale. She stood there for a while, then suddenly raised her head, walked to the gate of the Shennong Manor, and tightly pursed her lips. With a "snap," she kneeled on the ground.

She knelt!

Not to atone for her sins!

Only because Xia Weiming was her friend! Her friend had passed away, and she should kneel. Not because everyone believed she had caused Xia Weiming's death!

She knelt!

Also to beg this man to give her ten minutes to explain!

Her clothes were torn, tattered, but they barely covered the essential parts. She covered her body with her hands, but her waist remained upright. She was proud, and even while kneeling, she showed unwavering dignity. She was Jian Tong of Shanghai!

She knelt stubbornly, just for a chance to explain. She hadn't done it, and she wouldn't admit to doing something she hadn't done!

But would she really get that chance?

Could she really explain?

And would anyone believe her words?

The rain continued to pour, never stopping.

...

One night passed.

In the pouring rain, Jian Tong continued to kneel outside the Shennong Manor.

Her clothes were soaked by the rain, and she had been kneeling the whole night.

Finally, morning arrived, and the silent Manor that had been quiet all night began to show signs of life. The silver-haired butler, holding an old-fashioned black umbrella, walked over from the Manor's yard.

The iron gate, covered in dust overnight, creaked open, creating a gap. Jian Tong finally moved. She raised her head from her lowered position and showed a faint, pale smile to the butler standing in the middle of the iron gate.

"Miss Jian, Mr. Shen asked you to leave here," the butler's meticulously combed hair showed no signs of disorder, even on a rainy day. He was as precise as every tree and plant in the Shennong Manor, all carefully groomed. The butler threw a piece of clothing to Jian Tong.

Jian Tong extended her rain-soaked hand, shivering as she put it on. Her pale, colorless lips moved as she spoke, hoarse yet resolute, "I want to see him."

The butler didn't raise an eyelid and conveyed the words of the Manor's owner in a single breath, "Mr. Shen said that Miss Jian's presence pollutes the Manor's environment, and he doesn't want you to be in his sight."

From the incident to now, Jian Tong hadn't shown any weakness. But at this moment, the strength she was pretending to have became difficult to maintain. Her shoulders trembled, revealing the pain in her heart.

Jian Tong closed her eyes, her face soaked with rain, making it difficult to tell whether the moisture at the corners of her eyes was rain or tears. The butler stared at her without expression. Jian Tong opened her eyes again, raised her head, and said to the butler, "Master Xia, no matter what you think, I did not bribe those thugs to destroy Xia Weiming's innocence. Regardless of your resentment, I cannot bear it without complaint."

Although Jian Tong was tired, she spoke every word clearly and distinctly, her pronunciation sharp... She was a woman who, even though she was willing to bow temporarily, was full of pride.

The butler finally showed a reaction other than indifference. His gray eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at Jian Tong with a look of disgust. "Weiming was my daughter. She was well-behaved and sensible from childhood. She had never set foot in a chaotic and dirty place like a bar or nightclub, but she ended up being insulted and killed by a group of hooligans in such a place. Miss Jian, we checked her communication. Before the incident, she made a phone call and sent a text message to you. The content of the message was: 'I'm at 'Nightfall,' where are you, Xiaotong?'"

The butler's gaze on Jian Tong was full of hatred. "Miss Jian, you didn't kill cats and dogs, you killed a living person! She's already dead, and you're still trying to argue! Everyone knows that Miss Jian is infatuated with Mr. Shen, but Mr. Shen only has feelings for my daughter Weiming. He's thoroughly disgusted by you. You're obviously jealous of Weiming and, since you couldn't have Mr. Shen, you wanted to ruin Weiming's innocence. Miss Jian, your malice is beyond words!"

Jian Tong was speechless. Xia Weiming was the butler's daughter, the beloved of Shen Xiujin, and she, Jian Tong, was merely the supporting actress who had a one-sided love for Shen Xiujin. Now, Xia Weiming was dead, and she was not only a supporting actress but also a malicious one.

"Miss Jian, please leave," the butler said. "Oh, Mr. Shen asked me to pass on a message to you."

Jian Tong suddenly looked at the butler.

"Mr. Shen said, why wasn't it you who died?"

Jian Tong's body, kneeling on the ground, began to shake uncontrollably, and a sharp pain radiated from her chest.

The butler turned away, the corners of his mouth wrinkled, and his expression became cold and cruel.

Weiming was dead because of Jian Tong, and he was far from satisfied. He despised Jian Tong for her malice.

Supporting her cold, bone-chilling body, Jian Tong staggered to her feet. Just as she stood up, her legs went numb, and she plopped down on the cold asphalt. She gave a self-deprecating smile... Why wasn't it you who died?

Indeed, those were the kind of words that man would say. Jian Tong forced an even uglier smile than crying and said, "Weiming, oh Weiming, with your death, I've become a target of public criticism."

Upstairs in the Shennong Manor, the man had a tall and well-proportioned figure. He wore a black robe casually draped over him, barefoot, standing still in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. He coldly gazed outside at the silhouette in the rain.

"Mr. Shen, I have conveyed your instructions to Miss Jian," the butler dissipated Jian Tong and stood quietly at the entrance to the master bedroom.

Shen Xiujin swirled the red wine in his glass, and upon hearing the butler's words, he withdrew his indifferent gaze from Jian Tong and coldly issued a series of orders, "Notify the Jian family that if they want Jian Tong, there will be no Jian family. If they want the Jian family, from now on, there will be no Jian Tong."

"Yes."

"Secondly, inform S University that there are no records of Jian Tong. Notify Yi High School that Jian Tong was expelled for fighting during her school years. Her highest educational attainment is middle school."

"Yes."

"Lastly," Shen Xiujin said coldly, "send her to prison."

The butler suddenly looked up, startled. "Mr. Shen?"

"Murder deserves a life sentence, bribery, and attempted murder. Send her to prison for three years. What's wrong? Does Master Xia think I'm wrong?" Shen Xiujin had set the three-year time frame for Jian Tong, even though the current evidence was insufficient, he was furious and determined.

"No, Mr. Shen, you are absolutely right. Thank you, Mr. Shen. If it weren't for you, Jian Tong would never have faced consequences for what she did to Weiming. As a member of the Jian family, I had no way to deal with Jian Tong. Thank you, Mr. Shen. Sob, sob, sob~" Tears streamed down the butler's face as he spoke.

Shen Xiujin turned away, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the figure on the pitch-black road below disappear around the corner. His eyes were filled with gloom, and his slender fingers clenched the wine glass. He raised it to his lips, not spilling a drop, and swallowed it down.

"Master Xia, I disciplined Jian Tong not because Weiming was your daughter, but because Weiming was the woman I had chosen," Shen Xiujin said slowly.

...

Jian Tong, exhausted, returned to the Jian family.

She couldn't even step through the Jian family's front door. The butler, who had served the Jian family for a lifetime, delivered Shen Xiujin's message and gently "asked" her to leave the Jian family. Throughout the ordeal, she hadn't even seen her biological parents.

Was she really so afraid of Shen Xiujin? Jian Tong tugged at the corners of her mouth... She withdrew her gaze from the iron gate, severing her ties with the Jian family and everything that once belonged to her.

Jian Tong couldn't describe what she was feeling at this moment. As she turned, two men in police uniforms blocked her way. "Miss Jian, due to your involvement in bribing and inciting others to harm Miss Xia Weiming's innocence, which led to her accidental death, please come with us."

Before being sent to prison, Jian Tong saw Shen Xiujin, that man, towering by the window.

Jian Tong shook her head firmly and said, "I never harmed Weiming."

Shen Xiujin's imposing figure approached Jian Tong. She told herself not to be afraid; she was innocent, she hadn't committed any crime.

Her delicate face remained fearless, attempting to stay composed, but her trembling shoulders betrayed her nervousness... and it didn't go unnoticed by those sharp eyes.