Chapter Five: Schemes

A middle-aged man with slightly greying hair and an aura of overwhelming, irrepressible authority walked into the room. His gaze swept past Shen Liangxin, who was sitting calmly on the white hospital bed eating lychees, and landed on Li Fengyin, who was busy peeling one for her. Li Fengyin felt a significant sense of pressure under that scrutiny.

After a brief pause, Shen Wansan turned his attention to his daughter. "Xiaoliang, are you alright?"

Shen Liangxin swallowed the lychee flesh in one gulp. Without even looking at her father, she said to Li Fengyin, "This lychee is pretty good!"

It was clear that the relationship between father and daughter was far from harmonious.

Since seeing the bodyguards last night, Li Fengyin had been certain that this girl possessed a prominent family background.

"Ahem," Li Fengyin coughed drily, looking slightly awkward. "Since your uncle is here, I’ll step out and let you two talk."

"Pfft!" Shen Liangxin retorted with resentment. "You’re really getting ahead of yourself! Since when is he your 'uncle'?"

Li Fengyin shot Shen Wansan an apologetic look for having defused the tension, and upon receiving a nod of acknowledgment, he exited the VIP ward. Outside the door, two bodyguards in crisp black suits stood guard with meticulous severity.

Li Fengyin found a metal chair in the hallway and sat down. As the door clicked shut, he realized he could guess most of the conversation inside—it was nothing more than the typical dialogue between a stern father and a daughter who had grown wings of her own.

"Still, I should have left a good impression..."

He cared about how he was perceived by Shen Liangxin’s father. After reflecting, he felt his behavior had been faultless so far. Though he had inadvertently triggered Shen Liangxin’s double entendre, Li Fengyin felt helpless; he had merely been trying to bridge the gap between them. It might have been calculated, but Li Fengyin had reached a level of sophistication where his machinations were so natural that an ordinary person would never detect them.

"What is your name?"

With the hallway deserted, the female bodyguard looked curiously at the boy sitting nearby.

"My name is Li Fengyin." Answering truthfully, Li Fengyin remained at ease. He then asked, "Isn't Shen Liangxin from the Shen family in the capital? Why is she studying in Shangbei City?"

Li Fengyin had seen Shen Wansan’s face on television before. While he was momentarily surprised, he had instantly deduced Shen Liangxin’s identity. Asking this question felt natural and would help him gather more information about her.

For Li Fengyin, this was no longer mere calculation; it had become instinct—the instinct honed after eleven years of constant thought.

The bodyguard thought for a moment before replying, "The young lady wanted to escape the shadow of the Shen family, so she came here under an alias. There is another reason: this city houses the world’s first quantum computer, and she is a genius in the field of quantum physics."

"I see." Li Fengyin smiled slightly. The pieces fit together: the reason Shen Liangxin had sought him out, and why she was attending Huaqing University.

"It’s unlikely the young lady would bare her heart to someone she’s only known for a day," the bodyguard asked with a serious tone. "Are you someone who approached her with ulterior motives?"

Having ruled out the possibility that he was a malicious actor, she asked the question bluntly. As a bodyguard, she was well aware of the temperament of the woman who was so dedicated to scientific research.

"She said she wanted to conduct an experiment with me," Li Fengyin replied. "I don’t even know why I ran into her."

"I see..." The bodyguard’s furrowed brow relaxed. She advised, "The young lady is the heir to the Shen family, so she inevitably has a bit of a temper. I hope you don't mind."

*The heir to the Shen family?!* Though he had suspected as much, the confirmation still shocked him. Fortunately, he remained composed on the surface, keeping his near-exclamation buried deep within.

"Actually, she seems to have a good temper," Li Fengyin said after a pause. "At least, she seems more like a scholar than a socialite."

The corner of the bodyguard's mouth curled up slightly. "That’s good."

They fell silent. It was clear the bodyguard held deep affection for Shen Liangxin. Li Fengyin boredly opened his phone to scroll through short videos. One particular post caught his attention: news about the U.S. national debt ceiling hitting new highs, with talk of a potential default.

"If they can't solve it internally, they'll have to solve it externally!" Li Fengyin mused. "The legendary 'Great Change' is coming! I fear it will trigger turmoil, or even a world war!"

At that moment, a buzzing sound echoed in his mind, and fragmented visions flashed before his eyes. Li Fengyin gripped both sides of his head in agony. About half a minute later, his cold, terrifying black eyes returned to calm, but this time, something was different.

Those fragmented visions seemed to exist in the past, the present, and even the future.

Unlike the past, where he only had memory fragments of what had already occurred, this terrified him—because he had seen his own death.

Seeing the boy suddenly clutch his head in apparent pain, the bodyguard looked on with confusion. But as he quickly returned to normal, she resumed her stoic expression.

*Hah... hah...*

Breathing deeply as he always did, Li Fengyin quickly shook off the fear, but he understood that some change had occurred within him. At the same time, he felt as if he could sense a trace of Shen Liangxin’s emotions—a hint of resentment and helplessness.

"Strange..."

As Li Fengyin stared at the floor, contemplating the connection between his memories and the fragments he had just seen, the door to the ward opened.

The head of the Shen family emerged, ending their fifteen-minute private conversation. Just as he was about to leave, Shen Wansan turned and walked toward Li Fengyin, who quickly stood up.

Shen Wansan seemed satisfied with Li Fengyin’s reaction. He placed a large hand on the boy’s shoulder and said, "Young man, don't be so somber. Have some youthful vitality."

Li Fengyin nodded silently. Shen Wansan continued, "I’ve given her some time. I hope you take good care of her. I don't care about a son-in-law's status, background, or even his ability. All I care about is whether he treats my daughter well."

Hearing this, Li Fengyin’s heart raced. Was this a test?

He broke into a cold sweat. If Shen Liangxin revealed that he was merely a participant in a research experiment she had picked up just yesterday afternoon, his performance would have been for nothing.

Watching the back of Shen Wansan as he walked away, Li Fengyin felt a sense of relief, yet he warned himself, "It seems I need to practice my interpersonal skills more. My experience is still far too limited."

The scene shifted. A man with silver-grey tousled hair and an Eastern face sat with his legs crossed in a room on the twelfth floor of the Emperor Building. Outside, the bustling cityscape of Shangbei lay beneath the glass curtain wall. Zheng Chao looked with annoyance at the middle-aged man standing nearby, whose right ear was missing. "I've had my fun. Keep a close eye on that man named Li Fengyin."