Chapter Fifty-Three: Guarding You from the Shadows

"Uncle!" Qin Anxin and Qin Yiting called out in unison.

"Yes, you two little ones have grown up. You're no longer the tiny newborns you once were." Qin Cheng smiled indulgently, gently ruffling their hair. "Anxin, you really do resemble your mother when she was a child."

"All my uncles and godmother say the same thing when they see me," Anxin replied obediently, nodding.

"Don't be fooled by how well-behaved she seems now," Leng Zheng laughed softly, glancing at Yiting. "She can be quite mischievous in private, not nearly as obedient as I was at her age. Yiting, though, is just like him."

"Mom, when you say 'him,' do you mean Dad?" Anxin tilted her head, looking up at Leng Zheng with curiosity.

"Let's not talk about it now. Let's take these things home first, then we'll go see your grandparents and collect some red envelopes," Leng Zheng rubbed her eyes as if something had gotten in them.

"Alright!"

Qin Cheng draped his suit jacket around Leng Zheng's shoulders. "You haven’t fully recovered yet. Beijing is cold now—be careful not to catch a cold."

"Yes, yes..."

In the distance—

"Old Cheng, why don’t you go over and see Xiao Zheng? What are you doing sneaking around here? What if someone mistakes you for a peeping tom?" Shen Dongleng looked at Cheng Yunting helplessly, his tone resigned.

Cheng Yunting’s eyes were red as he watched Leng Zheng from afar. He didn’t dare approach, only gazing at her from a distance...

"Anxin really looks like Xiao Zheng," Cheng Yunting saw the two children. "Yiting resembles me, but his eyes are exactly like hers—those fox-like eyes."

Shen Dongleng said nothing. He knew that his brother’s lifelong obsession was only with Leng Zheng. She was his weakness, the one person he most wished to have.

"Let’s go." As Leng Zheng and her family slowly walked away, it was time for Cheng Yunting and Shen Dongleng to leave as well.

Qin Cheng noticed Cheng Yunting hidden in the shadows, sighed, and got into the car.

Leng Zheng followed Qin Cheng’s gaze and saw the man in the darkness. For some reason, tears threatened to spill from her eyes...

"Xiao Zheng, back then, it wasn’t intentional on Yunting’s part. Du Ruoyan threatened him with you, that’s why he behaved that way.

Look, the two children have grown up, and he’s waited for you for so many years. All this time, he’s watched over you from afar, quietly helping you with every difficulty.

Even your new company’s move to Beijing was arranged by him. The past is gone—let it go, and look to the future." Qin Cheng started the car as he spoke.

Leng Zheng lowered her head. "I know. I’ve noticed all these years. I’ve always given him opportunities. If he could just take a step forward...

If he could tell me the truth about what happened back then, I could forgive him. I don’t want things to stay this way forever..."

"Well, do as you see fit. Leave Anxin and Yiting with me, and focus on your own matters. Everything’s ready for your public appearance. Just attend the Shen family’s banquet when the time comes."

"Alright, got it, brother."

Perhaps the greatest regret is those four years between them. Anxin and Yiting have grown up, and Cheng Yunting outwardly missed their childhood, but he was always watching from the shadows.

Leng Zheng knew Cheng Yunting was close by. As the top assassin, a legend, how could she not? It’s just that there was a knot in her heart she couldn’t untangle.

Qin Cheng, too, has quietly laid aside his feelings for Leng Zheng these past years, guarding her just as Cheng Yunting has.

That’s all for today. Goodbye~