After Breaking Up, I Married the Dying Tycoon in a Flash
Chapter 99: The Defective One

Chapter 99: Chapter 99: The Defective One

The word "hurt," he’s always disliked it.

What is hurt?

It’s just cause and effect.

Everyone must bear the bitter fruit of their past.

"Housekeeper, you can leave first." Shen Shan smiled, his voice gentle.

"Master!"

"Leave."

The housekeeper clenched his teeth, reluctant to go.

In the study, only he and this nearly withered father remained.

"Over the years, I’ve been thinking, was I too harsh on you? Many things didn’t have to be taken so far."

Shen Shan stood up, walked over to him, his eyes filled with a faint expression of guilt, "If I say I feel guilty inside, would you believe me?"

"I don’t believe in guilt, I only believe in blood."

He sneered with a taut smile, utterly unmoved, "My name is Mors, not some magnanimous god; only if you die in front of me now will I believe you’re guilty."

After speaking, he threw the metal object in his hand onto the thick carpet, his eyes and brows laced with heavier mockery.

He knew how selfish Shen Shan was; he had never expected the latter could really make any compromise or sacrifice.

"Your brother died a few days ago." Shen Shan looked at the metal object on the carpet, picking it up with a self-mocking smile, "I know you hold resentment against me, but these years, your brother has been looking for you."

"Shen Shan, telling me this, I won’t feel anything. He was the pampered eldest son of the Shen Family, and I was not."

His eyes, cold and ruthless, made people cautious.

But Shen Shan’s expression remained unchanged as he continued, "His name was Shen Jinci, your twin brother from the same egg. Before his death, he even had his assistant book a flight to State S; he truly wanted to bring you back."

"Oh?" He asked with a cold laugh, "What then? Do you want me to go to his grave and kowtow in thanks for his concern for me?"

"He has no tombstone," said Shen Shan expressionlessly.

"No tombstone?" He was momentarily surprised, "You concealed his death?"

"The Shen Family cannot have a dead patriarch; everyone else can die, but Shen Jinci must be alive!"

Shen Shan said this, his eyes reddening as he looked at him, "I know I don’t deserve to be a father. Back then, for the sake of the Shen Family, I chose your brother between the two of you, but that’s because the fortune-teller said one of you children could only live! If you lived, then your brother had to die!"

"I’m curious, how did you make the choice between the two of us?"

He looked at Shen Shan indifferently, his voice cold, "We were both babies in swaddling clothes; how could you see who was superior or inferior? Why did you choose my brother and not me?"

"Because..." Shen Shan pursed his lips, looking at him with more apprehension, "the fortune-teller said, you would be a patricide."

He couldn’t help but laugh out in mockery.

"Patricide?" He curled his lips and said coldly, "It seems that he was probably right."

Shen Shan gripped the metal object tightly, closing his eyes as if resigned to his fate, "Master Zhang is a closed disciple of a highly achieved monk, and he hasn’t mispredicted in many years, and besides... you were frail when you were born; the doctors said you wouldn’t live past the age of 15, but the Shen Family doesn’t need a child who won’t live past 15. You were a defective product."

Defective product.

Such simple words easily deciding a person’s life.

"So, you banished me abroad, to fend for myself, and when my brother learned of my existence, you used me to hone him, sculpting him into what the Shen Family needed most?"

He decoded the unspoken implications of Shen Shan’s words, his entire being emanating chill, "What do you think my brother and I are? Property of the Shen Family?"

"It’s your duty! As the children of the Shen Family, this is what you should bear! Unavoidable!" Shen Shan’s emotions turned fierce as he looked at Shen Jinci, stressing each word, "I know you can’t forgive me; I’ve never thought you would forgive me in this lifetime. I just hope that, for the genuine concern your brother had for you, you’ll take good care of what he chased after all his life — the Shen Family."

Shen Shan walked up to Shen Jinci, his gaze deep, speaking slowly and deliberately, "If you’re willing, starting from today, you are Shen Jinci."

"I am Shen Jinci? Do you really think that becoming Shen Jinci is some honorable, good thing?" He looked at Shen Shan with sarcasm, slowly saying, "Don’t forget, I came here today to kill you; do you think I care about your precious Shen Family? That’s not what I’m concerned about at all!"

"I know, you only care about whether or not you can kill me. I promise that if you properly take your brother’s place, my life is yours now," Shen Shan said and then pressed the object against his temple; he was already very old, exuding a sense of desolation.

At this moment, he looked at him with a sighing and powerless gaze, full of entreaty, "Just... become Shen Jinci."

But he only found it all so ridiculous.

He mocked Shen Shan, speaking with derision, "What makes you think I would agree to you? Just one life in exchange for a lifelong service to the Shen Family?"

"I know, my life is worthless to you." Shen Shan smiled calmly, taking out a letter prepared in advance from his pocket and handing it to him.

It was a letter left behind by the now-dead Shen Jinci.

Only a simple line of words — ’Take my place, become me.’

In the man’s hands, the note turned into a crumpled waste paper.

"Why didn’t you act at the birthday party today?" Shen Shan watched calmly as Shen Jinci carelessly threw the crumpled note on the floor, looking down, speaking slowly, "Is it because you still have a bit of reluctance in your heart? We are still father and son after all."

"You’re mistaken. I just thought that little girl celebrating her birthday hadn’t done anything wrong; I didn’t want to disrupt her mood."

Shen Shan was startled, then laughed.

He said, "You and your brother... are so alike."

That word "alike," not until later on, when the Bian Family went bankrupt and Bian Yue was taken away by Li Sihe, did he understand its meaning.

But now, he just frowned at Shen Shan, his eyes dull.

Shen Shan also couldn’t say he didn’t have any affection for his own son.

Originally, because of so-called predictions, he exiled him; later, to test his own preferred future successor, he almost caused him to lose his life several times.

After all, he was still his own son.

Now, when Shen Shan thought back, he felt that he had been excessively harsh.

So he let out a resigned smile, speaking slowly, "That little girl is indeed very good, but that’s what the upper society cultivates, using countless resources and the best aspects of the world. If you want to have her, you should leave State S, become Shen Jinci. Such a girl is fit to be Mrs. Shen."

He admitted that his words carried enough temptation.