83: My godfather really is my godfather.

He thought for a moment and spoke up bluntly.

"You..." His voice was a bit dry. "You aren't still mad at me, are you?"

"Hmm?" Hearing this, Shen Zhixia turned her head sharply, looking completely bewildered.

Mad at him?

Why?

He had just saved her life.

She looked at Lin Chao's face, which practically screamed "let's talk about something else." Her mind raced, and then she seemed to realize something.

"Are you talking about... what happened at the mall?"

Lin Chao didn't say anything, which served as a silent admission.

Shen Zhixia suddenly laughed.

"You heard it too, didn't you!"

"Thinking that I, Shen Zhixia, became that old man from our Kangyang Group's mistress for money?"

She stared into Lin Chao's eyes, not missing a single shift in his expression. "Do you also think I'm shameless?"

"Degrading myself?"

Facing such sharp questioning, Lin Chao's reaction caught her by surprise.

There was no disdain, no sympathy, not even a hint of gossip or curiosity.

He simply shook his head calmly.

"I don't think that at all."

His tone was as matter-of-fact as if he were discussing the weather.

"After all, making money isn't shameful."

The mockery on Shen Zhixia's face froze instantly.

She heard Lin Chao continue in that matter-of-fact tone.

"Besides, with your body in this condition..."

"...it's not incomprehensible to want to live a little better and more comfortably in the time you have left."

"..." Shen Zhixia was completely stunned.

She just stared blankly at Lin Chao.

Looking into his clear eyes, devoid of any impurities.

Looking at the matter-of-fact expression on his face that said, "Isn't this normal?"

She was certain he wasn't just being polite or pretending to be magnanimous.

He truly, genuinely thought that way.

"Pfft—" Shen Zhixia could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing.

"You..."

She looked at Lin Chao, her eyes curving into crescents, filled with mirth.

"Are really interesting."

Lin Chao was a bit baffled by her sudden laughter.

He frowned and looked at her seriously.

"However..." He changed the subject. "I just think..."

"...it's not great to be dating someone else behind that old man's back."

He looked at Shen Zhixia with a serious expression. "...It's a bit lacking in professional ethics."

Shen Zhixia's laughter stopped abruptly.

She stared blankly at Lin Chao, as if confirming whether she had misheard him.

A few seconds later.

"Hahahaha..."

A burst of laughter, even clearer and more joyous than before, erupted in the room.

Shen Zhixia laughed so hard her whole body trembled, and her hands clutching the quilt shook.

She even laughed until tears came to her eyes.

"What are you laughing at?" Lin Chao was even more confused; he felt he was making a valid point.

Watching her laugh until she was out of breath, he asked in bewilderment, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Was that man at the mall not your boyfriend?"

Shen Zhixia seemed to have laughed her fill.

She took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm her heaving chest, and her grip on the quilt relaxed slightly.

There was still a physiological tear from laughing in the corner of her eye.

She looked up at Lin Chao, who was still looking puzzled.

In those clear eyes, the previous coldness and sharpness were gone, replaced by a full, mischievous smile.

"You're not wrong," her voice, still a bit raspy from laughing, was unexpectedly pleasant. "Guo Fandong is indeed my boyfriend."

She paused, as if intentionally waiting to see Lin Chao's reaction, before slowly adding another sentence.

"We've been dating for almost a year."

Lin Chao's brow instantly furrowed into a knot.

Now, he was even more confused.

If they were boyfriend and girlfriend, hadn't his judgment about "professional ethics" hit the nail on the head?

What was so funny about that?

Looking at Lin Chao's face, which screamed "I don't understand, but I'm greatly shocked," the smile in Shen Zhixia's eyes deepened.

She seemed to enjoy his bewildered expression.

"However..." She intentionally dragged out her tone, as if announcing a huge secret.

"The big boss of our Kangyang Group..."

"...he really is my Godfather!"

Lin Chao was stunned for a moment, then realized. "...A real Godfather?"

He placed special emphasis on the word "real."

"Yes."

Shen Zhixia nodded as if it were obvious.

"How could he be fake?"

The expression on her face was frank, without a hint of impurity.

"I've had a bad heart since birth."

"Medical conditions were mediocre back then, and my parents were afraid I wouldn't survive. They followed some old folks' advice and wanted to find me a godparent, a Godfather, to help ward off misfortune."

"My Godfather was my father's Comrade-in-arms."

"They joined the army together, served in the same company, slept in bunk beds—they were brothers who could trust each other with their lives."

"In my Godfather's family, they had three sons in a row and were longing for a daughter."

"When he heard my parents' idea, he didn't hesitate to take me in as his Goddaughter, and he's treated me like his own since I was a child."

"Later, he left the army to go into business, and his ventures grew larger and larger until he became the 'big boss of Kangyang Group' you speak of, but his affection for me never changed."

"So when outsiders saw him always buying me this and that, they couldn't help but... misunderstand."

She slowly recounted this past story, sentence by sentence.

Her tone was very calm, as if telling a story that had nothing to do with her.

But beneath her calm tone, Lin Chao could hear a trace of weariness and helplessness from being long accustomed to rumors and gossip.

As if talking to himself, he murmured very softly.

"This really is... when a person's heart is dirty, everything they see is dirty."

The voice was very low, but in the quiet room, it was still clearly audible.

Shen Zhixia was looking down, smoothing the corner of the quilt. Hearing this, she paused and looked up at him sharply.

There was a hint of inquiry in her eyes.

Under her gaze, Lin Chao felt a bit embarrassed.

He coughed lightly and awkwardly looked away toward the window.

"Of course..."

"...that includes myself."

He added.

These words were heartfelt.

He admitted that when he heard those rumors, he had also preconceived notions and labeled this beautiful girl with an unsavory tag.

Shen Zhixia stared at him blankly.

Looking at his slightly reddened ears and his frank manner of admitting his own "dirty heart."

A few seconds later.

"Heh..."

A very light laugh, like a feather landing on the ground, escaped her lips.

This laugh was different from any before.

There was no mockery, no teasing, and no hearty laughter.

It was a... heartfelt, warm laugh of relief.

Back at the mall, she had indeed been very angry when Lin Chao said those messy things.

The feeling of being publicly misunderstood and judged by a strange man with that kind of look had made her feel humiliated and angry.

But now... this man had just used a set of Silver Needles to pull her back from the brink of death.

And now, he had frankly admitted his own prejudice.

Shen Zhixia's perception of Lin Chao had undergone a world-shaking change in just one hour.

This person didn't seem so annoying after all.

In fact... he really was quite interesting.