Chapter 122: The Lone Star of Calamity!

Outside the room.

Deng Qianlong looked utterly despondent.

Suddenly, he regretted his decision. But the words had already been spoken—he was to wait at the door. He had already waited for five hours, and if he abruptly said he was leaving now, he wouldn’t be able to save face.

So...

He had no choice but to keep waiting.

Unconsciously...

He slowly drifted off to sleep.

Inside the room.

Another piece came to a gentle end.

Deng Ruyan was about to continue playing when Ling Qiu lifted his eyelids slightly and said, "No need to play anymore."

Deng Ruyan smiled faintly and set her hands down. "Alright."

Ling Qiu had actually been awake for quite some time. Or rather... even if resting in slumber, his powerful vigilance allowed him to clearly sense everything around him.

He knew...

Five hours had already passed.

During these five hours, Deng Ruyan had not stopped for a moment, one piece after another.

The key point was...

Not a single piece was repeated!

This woman was quite patient.

Ling Qiu was not deliberately making things difficult for her; he was simply testing.

He knew very well what kind of existence the Deng family was, and Deng Ruyan was the cherished jewel of the clan, a figure as ethereal as a celestial maiden. For her to insist on an engagement with him, there had to be some hidden motive—it couldn’t be without reason.

Therefore, Ling Qiu deliberately made excessive demands, leaving her waiting for hours.

No matter how well-bred a person was, they would inevitably feel displeased and reveal emotional weaknesses. Ling Qiu could then easily extract some information.

A person who loses their composure, no matter how strong, is psychologically fragile.

Of course...

Ling Qiu also happened to want to rest a bit.

Deng Ruyan’s performance had won his interest enough to want to have a conversation.

"Aren’t you angry?" Ling Qiu slowly rose, looking at Deng Ruyan with a penetrating gaze.

Deng Ruyan smiled softly. "I am."

She lightly twirled a strand of hair with elegant, gentle grace. "But I won’t show it."

Ling Qiu narrowed his eyes. "What makes you so patient with me?"

Deng Ruyan answered matter-of-factly, "Because you are my fiancé."

"Yet you’re not."

"Soon, I will be."

"You're so confident. Do you think I’ll agree?"

Deng Ruyan turned her head, her beautiful eyes gleaming with a radiance that could captivate countless men. "You should ask me why I’m not confident."

Indeed...

Why wouldn’t she be confident?

Excellent background, stunning looks, perfect figure, graceful manners, and a composed mindset...

This woman might well be the perfect woman people say shouldn’t exist in this world.

Ling Qiu smiled. "Tell me, why must it be me?"

"Because it can only be you."

Deng Ruyan gently closed the piano lid and caressed it softly. "If you don’t marry me, then I will remain unmarried for life."

"I want to hear why."

"There is no reason."

Deng Ruyan stared at Ling Qiu for a moment, then shook her head with a smile. "If I had to say, perhaps it’s all fate."

She slowly stood, walking over to the bedside. Her eyes gazed at the dazzling starry sky outside, seemingly reflecting the starlight within their brightness.

"Fate?"

"Yes, fate."

"I don’t like it when others keep secrets from me."

Deng Ruyan chuckled softly. "I’m not keeping secrets—this can only be fate."

After a pause, she changed the subject. "May I tell you a story?"

Ling Qiu said nothing and quietly watched her.

This woman had a unique aura that irresistibly drew one's attention to her. She seemed to radiate a healing energy that could soothe all, and even if she seemed to be withholding something now, Ling Qiu felt no impatience whatsoever.

Deng Ruyan began to speak on her own:

"When I was born, my mother died in childbirth. My father died in a car accident on the way to the hospital. Since then, I have lived with my uncle, whom I regard as my father. So, in the entire world, besides our family patriarch, my uncle, and me, you are the fourth person to know this."

"Assuming what you say is true... no one else in the entire Deng family knows?"

"No."

Deng Ruyan shook her head softly. "My uncle, my foster father, and my grandfather arranged everything perfectly, leaving no loose ends."

"…"

Ling Qiu narrowed his eyes and said nothing more, choosing to listen.

Deng Ruyan continued:

"When I was three, my foster father had a car accident. Fortunately, a master appeared and saved his life. This master cast a divination for me, and after the reading, he coughed up blood and died on the spot, leaving behind a sorted set of birth data and a piece of advice."

"What advice?"

"Four characters."

Deng Ruyan turned her head, gazing at Ling Qiu with a deep look.

"Heavenly Calamity, Lone Star."

Ling Qiu: ...

He didn’t understand divination, but if he wanted to learn, he could easily search through his mental archives and quickly master it.

However, he did understand what kind of fate "Heavenly Calamity, Lone Star" represented.

He had encountered it once in the underworld.

A wealthy family, four generations living together, more than seventy people in total. After the birth of one child, all seventy-plus family members died within three years.

At first, Ling Qiu hadn’t paid attention. Later, when he saw these people arriving one after another in the afterlife, he became curious and investigated. That’s when he discovered...

That child was born with the rare Heavenly Calamity, Lone Star fate.

Translated into today’s terms, it meant the three words: doomed to be alone.

Completely doomed to be alone.

From the moment of their birth, they were destined to cause the death of everyone around them.

Whether family, lover, or friend.

However...

There was a way to resolve this Heavenly Calamity, Lone Star fate. One only needed to find a master with sufficient skill to bestow a certain “Life-locking” spiritual talisman to neutralize it. But... that could only partially work. Family and friends might be spared, but lovers were inevitably lost.

Ling Qiu narrowed his eyes and suddenly said, "So... do you bear a deep grudge against me?"

Logically.

If what Deng Ruyan said was true...

And she insisted on marrying him...

Wasn’t she clearly doomed to bring about his ruin?

Oh, of course, Ling Qiu’s fate was not something an ordinary mortal could casually break.

But...

One thing was one thing—no one could kill him easily; another was if someone was determined to destroy him!

"That’s why I say this is all fate."

Deng Ruyan smiled gently, her bright eyes sparkling like magnificent stars.

"When my father sought doctors and masters everywhere, all were helpless. When your grandfather heard of this, out of long friendship with my grandfather, he gave me an heirloom of your Ling family."

As she spoke, Deng Ruyan slipped her hand deep into her neckline and pulled out a jade pendant, emerald green.

Ling Qiu narrowed his eyes and immediately recognized it.

"Yu Xin Suo? So... it wasn’t lost after all, but ended up in your hands?"