The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

'What the hell? Is she offering herself as payment?'

Chen Dong froze, completely missing the hopeful look in An Ruoling's eyes.

He blurted out, "What would I do with you?" Then he added, "Forget about the fee. The An Family showed plenty of sincerity last time."

With a wave of his hand, he practically fled the room. He had to run. He could see the tears welling up in An Ruoling's eyes, about to spill over.

And just like that, Miss An's first love was shattered. Her confession ended in heartbreak.

The moment Chen Dong was gone, large tears began to stream down her face.

Pouting, she said with immense grievance, "If you don't like me, why did you have to flirt with me?!"

In a special ward at Jiangzhou First Hospital, Li Qinghe and Xia Yi's conditions had stabilized.

Li Jianwen gazed at the sleeping Xia Yi, his heart a tangle of emotions.

This whole ordeal had thoroughly convinced him of Chen Dong's capabilities. How he wished Chen Dong could truly be his son-in-law. He knew, of course, that Li Huiran and Chen Dong's marriage certificate was a fake.

The Li Group wasn't short on money. Once the Sunny Day Project kicked off, the Li Group would only become wealthier. But what good was all that money? They had hired Jiangzhou's most famous doctor, Jiang Yao, who had been helpless to save Li Qinghe and Xia Yi. In the end, it was all up to Chen Dong.

If only Li Huiran and Chen Dong's marriage certificate were real, they could bind him securely to the Li Family.

And so, he said to Li Huiran, who was standing nearby, "Huiran, why don't... why don't you and Chen Dong..."

Li Huiran knew exactly what her father meant. Her expression darkened. "Dad, Chen Dong is seeing another woman. I saw them at the Jiangzhou Hotel just yesterday."

Li Jianwen was taken aback for a moment, but as a man, he could understand.

But then he said, "What does it matter if he has another woman? With my daughter's beauty, what other woman could possibly compete?"

Li Huiran just shook her head.

This wasn't the kind of love she had always dreamed of.

Li Jianwen felt a little helpless. He had looked down on Chen Dong before, but now...

"Alright, let's drop it. My daughter's relationships are for her to decide."

Li Huiran nodded forlornly.

Seeing Li Huiran's unhappiness, Li Jianwen changed the subject. "The day after tomorrow is the He Family Patriarch's seventieth birthday banquet. They're making it a huge affair this time. Their territory, Lower River, borders Jiangzhou, so it wouldn't look good if we didn't attend. The Group needs someone here right now, so how about I hold down the fort while you go in my stead?"

"It's better if you go, Dad. It shows we're taking it more seriously. Besides, I can look after Grandpa and Mom. You're no good at taking care of people."

Li Jianwen nodded. "That works."

Just then, Xia Yi slowly began to stir. The father and daughter were overjoyed.

Once Xia Yi was a bit more lucid, Li Jianwen told her how Chen Dong had saved them.

"I've never seen medical skills like that. They were simply divine, beyond belief!" Li Jianwen said with an exaggerated expression.

Xia Yi, however, sighed wistfully. "Having a son-in-law like him is truly a blessing for our Li Family."

Hearing this, Li Huiran's expression grew even more forlorn.

By the time Chen Dong returned to the hospital, it was late into the night. The members of the Li Family were already asleep, today's ordeal having left them utterly drained.

It was then that the news of the Sun Family Patriarch's death began to spread.

The clansmen living at the Sun Family Manor were the first to get the news, and some had even been eyewitnesses.

Rumor had it that a god-like figure, wreathed in immense bolts of lightning, had slain their Patriarch within his own manor, ending him with a final, explosive thunderclap that obliterated him into dust.

The secret that the Thunder Spirit Pearl and the Sun Family Manor formed an Array was only passed down orally from one Patriarch to the next. They had no idea the lightning had been wielded by Sun Yuanliang himself.

Thus, no one even considered the thought of revenge.

Moreover, with the Patriarch of the great Sun Family gone, the various branches immediately began fighting over the inheritance. In a single night, more than half of the Sun Family's main lineage were dead or wounded, most of them killed by their own kin.

That night, as soon as the heavy rain stopped, a great fire broke out at the Sun Family Manor, consuming countless plots and schemes in its flames.

The Sun Family Manor was burned to the ground.

As for the Sun Family members who were away from the manor, countless of them heard the news and either fled with whatever wealth they could grab or struck out to start their own enterprises.

The Sun Family, with its legacy of over a century, began to disintegrate.

At the Huang Family Villa, Huang Biehe received the news at the crack of dawn and was utterly horrified.

He knew for a fact that Sun Yuanjing had gone to assassinate the Li Family. Now, the Li Family were all safe in the hospital, while the Sun Family Patriarch had been killed on the very same day. With Sun Yuanjing missing, his fate was easy to guess.

He guessed that the "god-like figure wreathed in lightning" they were talking about was Chen Dong. It was just like when he had dispatched Cui Hong to assassinate the Li Family; Chen Dong had shown up at his door seeking revenge that very same day.

It made his blood run cold. There were only a few days left of the ten-day deadline Chen Dong had given him. Now, seeing that Chen Dong was strong enough to topple even the Sun Family, he wavered, debating whether he should just submit.

Huang Yongfeng, the one who had delivered the report, could see what was on his mind and asked, "Patriarch, are we really going to just hand over the Huang Family's fortune?"

The wrinkles on Huang Biehe's withered face seemed to deepen as he furrowed his brow.

A handsome young man by the window drew his gaze back from the distance.

A sinister smile spread across his face as he said, "Wreathed in lightning? That's just a cover story deliberately spread to hide the Sun Family's internal strife. And even if this Chen Dong is a god, I, Huang Cheng, will be a god-slayer."

Huang Biehe asked hastily, "Cheng, what's your plan?"

A dark glint flashed in Huang Cheng's eyes. "So he killed Sun Yuanjing and destroyed the Sun Family. He's just a reckless brute, nothing to be afraid of. He might be able to destroy the Sun Family, but can he destroy the He Family? The He Family's birthday banquet will be the stage I've set just for him!"