I Could Die for You (Ye Linglan's Confession) (Diamond Tier Update 101)

The man lowered his head and kissed her, covering her face. A blankness flashed through Linglan's mind. The moment this familiar yet unfamiliar scent struck her straight on, he had already pushed her against the wall, his hands firmly holding the back of her head. Her strength was no match for his at all. Yet, Linglan pushed and resisted with all her might. Although to him those struggles seemed insignificant, feeling her fierce resistance in his arms, did she really loathe him to this extent now?

He froze and loosened his grip. The next instant, a resounding slap met his face. The sharp "crack" echoed by his ear, only to be swiftly drowned out by the sorrowful and mesmerizing melody of the movie. That song, "Angel," was sung with such heartbreaking melancholy...

...Angel,
may you...

On that night at the Vivid Karaoke, in a darkness just as boundless, to a song just like "Angel," only then it was already a thing of the past.

That slap was enough to bring Ye Shenghan back to his senses. Across the darkness, he stared at her in a daze, yet he could clearly sense the deep repulsion in her eyes.

She wiped away the trace he had left on her lips. The scent in his kiss had been so unfamiliar. Linglan scrubbed at them desperately, an inadvertent action that pierced his heart. The next moment, she heard the woman's voice: "Young Master Ye, don't do this again."

As her voice trailed off, the man pressed forward aggressively: "Don't do what?" The calmness finally gave way to ripples, and the atmosphere between them was long no longer what it used to be.

Linglan averted her gaze. "I am very worried about Yuchen's current condition."

"Is that so? Do you still care about him?" He laughed bitterly, letting out a deep sigh, and turned his body away, leaning against the empty space beside her. "Didn't you say that once you returned from London, you would leave Sky City? What has happened these past few days? The moment you returned, you became a woman of his, Mo Zhicheng. I've always wanted to ask you these questions. You promised me you would come back, but why did you drift further and further away from me, so far that I can no longer touch you?"

With her back to him, she slowly closed her eyes, his voice still ringing in her ears: "That day when I saw you and him together in the news, I almost couldn't recognize you. I asked myself, is that really you? Are you the Linglan I knew when we were children?"

Ye Linglan bit her lower lip, trembling with repressed emotion. She could say nothing. The moment she chose to fall in love with Mo Zhicheng, she was destined to walk a thorny and uneven path.

One was the man who gave her a new perspective on life; she loved him, yearned for him, and depended on him. Another was someone she had quietly looked up to for more than a decade. The third was her sworn confidant, who sincerely guarded her unspeakable secret.

She no longer wanted to meddle in any of their grudges. What did those bottomless business tactics have to do with her anyway? Yet she clearly knew the whole trap, with both palms and the back of her hands being her loved ones, and still, she was expected to stand by and watch it all unfold. Nothing could be more cruel than this!

Linglan shivered, opened her eyes, and was met with pitch-black darkness once more. "It wasn't like this a year ago..." A soft whisper had already laid bare the labyrinth within her heart.

Looking at her slightly curled-up figure, Ye Shenghan understood that he could never win her back. Why did a stinging bitterness well up in the corners of his eyes? "Linglan..."

Ye Linglan slowly turned around and looked at him in the shadows. "I wanted to find out about Yuchen's situation today."

Ye Shenghan let out a long sigh. "We both know very well who is behind the Bai family's current predicament. However, I will not let Mo Zhicheng get his way so easily."

"What do you plan to do?" Linglan probed. The most important reason she had agreed to meet Bai Yuchen today was to find out how they could extricate themselves from this predicament.

"I have invested all the assets of Shengqi, the company I run, into the Bai family, but it is just a drop in the bucket. Most importantly, the Bai family currently has a partnership project. Whether it succeeds or fails depends entirely on this final gamble."

"A partnership project? A final gamble!" Ye Linglan's heart sank, and her body involuntarily retreated. As expected... it was all under Mo Zhicheng's control. She muttered in a daze, "What is this partnership project about? Who is the partner?"

Ye Shenghan briefly told her about the case, and Linglan already realized they had long fallen into the trap set by Mo Zhicheng. Mo Zhicheng had said that whoever struck first would reveal their eagerness for safety. They trusted the Liu family, little knowing that the Liu family had long been bought off by Mo Zhicheng. In the business world, indeed, there were no absolute friends. Even the profound friendship between Elder Bai and the Liu family could not outweigh their respective interests—just as Elder Bai had abandoned the Ye family back then to protect himself. As men scheme, the heavens watch; everything has its predestined number and cycle.

Ye Linglan could no longer judge who was right or wrong in this business war; their stances were simply different, and everyone was desperately guarding what belonged to them!

Only her—how should she choose?

Linglan bit her lip, bitter moisture gathering in her eyes. Many times she wanted to cry out and stop it all, yet she could only lean powerlessly against the darkness, listening as the massive outdoor screen broadcasted the words over and over: The three happiest words in the world are: Be together.

Be together...
Be together...

"Shengqi was founded with the last sum of money Elder Ye left you. You are investing all your assets into the Bai family. If, heaven forbid, the Bai family fails to weather this crisis, it means you will lose your last assets and be left with nothing!" she said with difficulty.

Yet she was met with his calm smile: "It doesn't matter. In fact, ever since you left, I've had nothing left anyway!"

"Young Master Ye!" Her lips trembled. This game was a dead end; he was going bankrupt right along with Bai Yuchen!

"Do you have anything you want me to pass on to Yuchen?"

Ye Linglan took the exquisite brocade box from her bag and handed it to Ye Shenghan. He raised his eyes: "What is this?"

"Take this and sell it. Tell Yuchen, this money is for him to redeem the title deed to the pottery studio!"

Ye Shenghan felt the heavy weight of the brocade box pressing into his palm. Without opening it, he guessed it was jewelry. He smiled blankly: "Did he give this to you at an auction?"

"Don't ask!! Tell Bai Yuchen this money is to redeem the pottery house!" she roared once more. To her surprise, Ye Shenghan slammed it onto the ground with a loud crash and left without looking back, abandoning her alone.

Linglan slowly slid down, stooped to pick it up, and even in the gloomy darkness, the brilliant luster of the diamonds seemed stripped of color!

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When she returned home, Mo Zhicheng had not yet come back. She called him while he was out socializing: "Come back early."

Mo Zhicheng chuckled softly on the other end of the line: "Alright, darling!" He seemed particularly fond of calling her that. Every time he said it, his deep voice carried endless warmth. Clearly, she and he were happy, yet why did she still feel a bitterness? It turned out that love was truly not as simple as just two people.

Linglan smiled ruefully: "Don't drink too much. Your stomach has never been good."

"Alright..." he answered with a pampered smile, his drawn-out tone sounding as happy as a child receiving candy.

"Don't drive after drinking. Have driver Chen take you back!"

"Alright... Whatever you say, alright?! Darling!"

Hearing the noisy commotion on the other end of the phone, Linglan softly said, "I'll be waiting for you!" Thinking he hadn't paid much attention, she was caught off guard when the line fell momentarily silent. Mo Zhicheng had left the banquet table and found a quiet spot, casually leaning against a wall. The cool night breeze ruffled his dark hair, and amidst a slight intoxication, he murmured, "Kiss me."

Yielding to his childlike stubbornness, Linglan smiled and gently placed a kiss right there into the phone. Under the hazy night glow, the man's silhouette appeared somewhat unreal. Mo Zhicheng murmured, "When I go back tonight... I want you..." He had endured for a long time: "Will you give yourself to me?"

Ye Linglan's heart trembled. Even a man's romantic endearments could be spoken with such lingering tenderness, freezing the smile at the corners of her mouth. She hadn't deliberately pawned the "Star of Sierra Leone"; she felt a sense of guilt in her heart. However, Bai Yuchen had treated her with kindness and grace. Aside from the orphanage director, only Bai Yuchen knew about her illness. When her attacks became unbearable and uncontrollable, Bai Yuchen was the only one she could contact. Many times, when she stood on the brink of death, it was Bai Yuchen who pulled her back.

The only way she could help Bai Yuchen was by raising money to redeem the title deed to the pottery garden for him! By repaying this debt of gratitude, she only wished for them to be even, owing each other nothing!

The sound of a gentle breeze drifted through the phone, and Linglan murmured, "Alright, I'll give myself to you." Seemingly remembering something else, she immediately cried out, "Zhicheng..."

"I'm here."

"It's nothing. Sometimes I feel helpless simply because living in this world means one cannot live entirely alone. I just wanted to tell you that despite all that, whatever I, Ye Linglan, have to give you, I will offer it without reservation—forever, and ever!" As her voice trailed off, she smiled: "I love you, Zhicheng. I want to spend the rest of my remaining days loving you without reservation. I couldn't be born for you, but I can... die for you!" She quickly cut herself short, terrified that the moisture in her eyes would become uncontrollable and spill over with a loud splash.

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That night, when he pushed open the door and entered the house, only a floor lamp was lit in the bedroom. Mo Zhicheng leaned casually against the doorway, drunkenly loosening his tie. Narrowing his starry eyes, knowing he was returning late, she had left the porch light on to guide him. He shed his suit in a flash, tossing it impatiently onto the floor, and walked over to the window. Hearing the noise perhaps, the woman curled up beneath the covers shifted. When Ye Linglan opened her eyes again, a shadow pressed heavily down over her. Linglan murmured, "You're finally back..."

Mo Zhicheng leaned down, supporting himself with both arms on either side of her head, cupping her chin with one hand and gazing closely at her: "Didn't you say you'd wait for me to come back?"

"I don't know why I became so sleepy..." Before she could finish, he lowered his head to kiss her. His body was burning hot like fire after drinking, and impatiently tearing open her pajamas, his palm already covered the softness of her chest.

"I really want to ask if you've ever fallen for me..."

Linglan was jolted completely awake by a ringing sound: "The phone!" she cried out, but Mo Zhicheng could no longer care as that delightful melody chimed on and on.