Chapter 13: Dad, You’re the Best to Me

Binhai City People's Hospital.

Inside a VIP ward.

Guo Zikun lay on the hospital bed, his eyes vacant as he stared at the ceiling, his whole demeanor one of utter despair, which tore at Guo Yunxiong’s heart like a knife.

Especially when he saw the bandages circling his son’s head, exposing only his eyes, and the fresh blood still seeping from the area where his ears had been. The fury in Guo Yunxiong’s chest threatened to burst forth at any moment.

The Guo family had only one male heir in each of its three generations. Guo Yunxiong had fathered his son late in life and treated Guo Zikun with the utmost care, cherishing him as the future head of their clan. Now, seeing his son in such a wretched state, how could he possibly accept it?

“Who did this?”

“And all of you useless fools—how exactly were you protecting my son?”

“Don’t you always brag about being invincible in the underworld? Is this your so-called invincibility?”

“You all deserve to pay for this with your lives!”

Guo Yunxiong was livid, saliva flying as he unleashed a torrent of curses—most of them highly personal—at Guo Zikun’s bodyguards.

“Can you all just get out? I want to be alone!” Guo Zikun suddenly sat up, nearly roaring.

The rage that had just been directed at his men instantly evaporated from Guo Yunxiong. He hurried over to his son’s side, a smile plastered on his face, and said gently, “Son, who is this ‘Alone’? If you want her, I’ll bring her here to warm your bed tonight.”

Guo Zikun’s lips twitched violently. If the man in front of him weren’t his father, he’d have smacked him a few times just to vent.

“Sorry, I misunderstood, son. Don’t be angry, it’s bad for your health,” Guo Yunxiong apologized repeatedly, realizing he’d let his concern get the better of him.

“And don’t worry. I’ve already contacted the top reconstructive surgeon. When the time comes, we’ll use the finest prosthetics—your appearance won’t be affected in the slightest,” Guo Yunxiong continued to soothe his son, who was on the verge of another outburst.

Hearing that his looks wouldn’t be compromised, Guo Zikun’s rage subsided a little. But as soon as he thought of that mysterious mastermind, the fire in his chest blazed up again, even fiercer than before.

“Dad, I must avenge the loss of my ears. I won’t rest until this grudge is repaid!” Guo Zikun shouted, barely able to contain his fury.

Guo Yunxiong tried to calm him again. “Of course, we will have our revenge. Just tell me who did this—I’ll take a team and wipe out his entire family.”

Guo Zikun wanted to answer, “I have no damn idea,” but then Qin Chuan’s face flashed through his mind.

Over the years, Guo Zikun had made plenty of enemies, but recently his only direct conflict had been with Qin Chuan—more precisely, Qin Chuan had publicly humiliated him. What’s more, Guo Zikun had sent Lao Xue to deal with Qin Chuan, and though he didn’t know how Qin Chuan had managed to turn Lao Xue against him, he was convinced that Qin Chuan must be behind everything.

Guo Zikun shared his suspicions, and Guo Yunxiong flew into a rage. “Damn it! He dares lay a hand on my son? I’ll make him regret ever being born. Don’t worry, son—when it comes to enemies like this, it’s better to kill an innocent than let the guilty go free.”

He turned to his personal bodyguard and ordered, “Go invite Master Zhu out of retirement. No matter what background this Qin Chuan has, I want him destroyed. And hunt down Lao Xue with everything we’ve got. There’s no need to keep a dog that bites its master.”

“Dad, keep Qin Chuan alive. I want to make him suffer with my own hands,” Guo Zikun said through gritted teeth.

Guo Yunxiong agreed without hesitation. “No problem. With Master Zhu, there’s no chance of failure. Even Lao Xue wouldn’t last ten moves against him.”

Guo Zikun nodded, having complete faith in his father’s words. Master Zhu was the Guo family’s ultimate trump card.

“Qin Chuan, you bastard—I’ll make you wish you were dead,” Guo Zikun swore to himself.

Meanwhile—

Inside a Porsche sports car.

Achoo! Achoo!

Qin Chuan sneezed twice in a row. Just as he was about to make a narcissistic quip, Lan Jin, who was driving, cut him off.

“Brother Chuan, as the saying goes, one is thought of, two is cursed, three is gossiped about. Someone must be cursing you behind your back. I bet it’s Guo Zikun. What do you think?”

Qin Chuan raised an eyebrow and kindly corrected her, “Sweetheart, don’t mess up our family roles when there’s no one else around.”

Lan Jin was rendered speechless.

“Besides, your dad is so outstanding—lots of beautiful women love me but can’t have me. It’s only natural they curse me behind my back to vent their feelings. What can I do? I can only endure the pain and joy, alas,” Qin Chuan sighed, shaking his head in mock helplessness. “Sweetheart, you can’t imagine the happiness your dad experiences.”

Three black lines immediately appeared on Lan Jin’s forehead.

This jerk is addicted to being called ‘dad’ now?

“Qin Chuan, given how you always bully me, I’m officially severing our secret father-daughter relationship,” Lan Jin declared solemnly.

Qin Chuan teased, “No way. The reason a dad is a dad is because he has veto power and the final say.”

Lan Jin was again struck dumb and simply pressed harder on the accelerator, sending the sports car shooting forward like an arrow off the string.

“Hey, don’t be reckless! Your dad doesn’t want to die young!” Qin Chuan instinctively gripped the handle above the door.

“Think hard about what our relationship should be.”

Before he finished, the car’s engine roared even louder.

“Your brother doesn’t want to die young.”

Vroom, vroom, vroom!

“Your little brother doesn’t want to die young, either!”

Vroom, vroom!

“I still don’t want to…?”

Vroom!

“Lan Jin, if you keep showing off, I’m not going to cure your underarm odor.”

“Daddy, you’re the best!”

Qin Chuan was nearly thrown out of his seat by Lan Jin’s sharp turn. This girl was all too willing to call him ‘dad’ when she needed a favor.

And so, the contest ended once again with a narrow victory for Qin Chuan—though during the rest of the drive, Lan Jin kept slamming the brakes at random, which Qin Chuan suspected was a bit of personal revenge.

It didn’t really matter though, because under Qin Chuan’s mixture of threats and bribes, Lan Jin ended up calling him ‘dad’ even more frequently.

About forty minutes later, Lan Jin parked the car in front of a commercial building, where a security guard came over to help with the parking.

As they got out, Lan Jin introduced him, “Brother Chuan, this is Liu Qingcheng’s headquarters. She works here most of the time, mainly dealing in cosmetics. Honestly, she’s just a shameless vixen.”

“Oh?” Qin Chuan raised an eyebrow. “An ugly woman can be a vixen?”

Lan Jin instantly realized her slip and rushed to clarify. “Actually, she’s not ugly. It’s just that she’s rumored to be extremely promiscuous. She’s had at least fifty, if not a hundred, boyfriends. To me, that’s the definition of ugly.”

“So that’s another way to define ‘ugly’?” Qin Chuan felt his store of strange trivia growing once again.

Lan Jin nodded vigorously and backed her claim with a famous quote. “The renowned writer Lu Xun once said that a person’s beauty is both spiritual and physical. A woman like Liu Qingcheng, with a dirty mind and a messy private life, is destined to be ugly.”

“Are you sure Lu Xun said that?” Qin Chuan looked skeptical.

“If a quote is clever but has no source, I just attribute it to Lu Xun,” Lan Jin replied with conviction.

“Damn, that actually makes sense. For a moment, I’m left speechless,” Qin Chuan said, looking sincerely moved, as if he’d just learned a profound truth about life.