"Mm, and then?" Although she found his story a bit strange, she was afraid he might stop talking, so she quickly pressed on.

"You're a genius, so you might not understand the high school life of ordinary people. Back then, we all read a lot of novels too. The girls would fantasize about Cinderella wearing glass slippers, princesses meeting princes on white horses, or sparrows turning into phoenixes; the boys' fantasies were more passionate and magical. Some hoped to become sworn brothers, form gangs, roam the campus, dominate the streets, drink, smoke, fight, and become bosses; others hoped for all kinds of adventures, maybe being chosen by a martial arts master, finding a cultivation manual while traveling, or gaining superpowers from a fall...

What seemed like maturity in me at that time was just reading more books than others. But many of those books were still just novels. At that adolescent age, it wasn't so much about fantasizing about having multiple wives, but more about controlling everything after some adventure. That's why I wasn't panicked or thought of encountering bad people when I saw him demonstrate some abilities. Instead, I began to be a little bewitched by his words..."

Although Li Yan was ready to tell her, he spoke with reservations; otherwise, she certainly wouldn't accept it. And as for how far to go, he could only try to recall correlating with what he had told Qiao Huanxuan before.

"The truth is actually like this?" Yurong was very shocked. Li Yan shouldn't have been so easily deceived, but thinking carefully, twelve years ago he was just a teenager, a high school student with no social experience. Encountering such things, being tempted was possible.

"That's not the truth... Everything he told me was very mysterious and exciting. Learning that I was chosen by them after considering many people made me proud. But at that time, I was still a bit more mature than my peers, so while fantasizing, I was also cautious in reality, refusing his request. The truth is... I was kidnapped! I lost consciousness and was forcibly taken away by them. The runaway note left at home was actually their forgery, not written by me."

When Li Yan narrated up to this point, Zhang Yurong reached out her hand. She was previously passively being held by Li Yan, but now she was actively hugging him. It was as if the Li Yan in front of her was that kidnapped teenage Li Yan, and she gently comforted him. Realizing this gave her greater understanding and tolerance of Li Yan's character and temper.

Li Yan stopped here. When he told Qiao Huanxuan about it before, things spiraled out of control. That time, he vented on Huanxuan's body to break free from the invoked 'Heart Demon.' Although after that incident, he gained more confidence in facing this past, he still had a clear understanding of his 'Heart Demon' and dared not overly challenge it.

At that moment, he regretted not bringing the mysterious material accessory shared with Yue Yao, as it might have kept him calm. So, he had to rely on his own self-control and simply stopped, taking deep breaths, refraining from thinking further.

And Zhang Yurong's comfort fit perfectly, directly helping him calm down faster.

"After I woke up, I arrived in a closed and unfamiliar place. Then they had me begin long and arduous training..." Li Yan took another breath and said slowly, "I won't go into the specific training process. For me, it's a painful memory. In short, those years, they taught me some special skills..."

The skill of killing could be considered a skill too!

"Then, using these skills, I earned some money. But due to confidentiality principles, I couldn't tell my family or anyone else. So, even when I later called home or sent money, I never disclosed any of it."

Although Yurong didn't hear much more, she was extremely curious. But sensing Li Yan's very unstable heartbeat, she was amazed and secretly worried, so she didn't press further and just listened to what he was willing to say. To help calm him a bit, she leaned closer, placed one hand over his heart, and gently rubbed his back with the other, as this is said to make people feel better.

"It's okay... No matter what kind of hardships you've been through, they're in the past..." Yurong whispered as she got close to Li Yan, "No matter what kind of work you do, I'll support you."

Her comforting words made Li Yan's body tremble slightly. He smiled bitterly inside, thinking if you knew my job was killing, would you still support me? You'd probably leave and despise me, right?

Thinking of this result made him even more reluctant to reveal everything directly. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Noticing his peculiarity, Zhang Yurong quickly held him tighter. She had been whispering comfort to Li Yan in the dark, but now she unhesitatingly kissed his cheek!

It was absolutely rare for her to take the initiative to kiss! This made Li Yan momentarily stunned. But her kiss on the cheek wasn't the end; it was to confirm the position, followed by another kiss, and on the third attempt, she finally hit her target, which was Li Yan's lips!

Yurong had learned this from him: using intimate kisses and feminine tenderness to dissolve the tremors, whose cause remained unknown.

Usually, Li Yan would be delighted to enjoy Yurong's active kiss. But this time he was acutely aware that Yurong's intent wasn't passion or desire but to comfort him! To put it bluntly, it could be sympathy, reassurance due to his current unstable emotional state!

He didn't want that feeling!

And her warm lips would only evoke beautiful memories, making him more afraid of losing her!

He gently grasped her arm, then let go of her lips. To the slightly panting Yurong, he said, "Yurong, thank you... However, I want to clarify with you that actually, I've deceived you, or rather, I've concealed from you. In fact, over the years, I've made quite a bit of money. Although not as rich as your family, it's enough to provide for a family. So at the company, I didn't bother to work hard to avoid attracting too much suspicion since I got in through connections."

Yurong was extremely shocked to hear this news!

Although she had thought about the possibility, Li Yan hadn't even graduated high school and entered Paradise Group through fake documents and credentials arranged by her, the CEO! With such an experience, how much money could he earn?

Now hearing him say this, she finally understood. If he thought the money he earned was enough, then his poor performance in the business department was possibly intentional. At least this way, after mixing for over half a year and everyone looking down on him, no one would dig into his records. It also kept their relationship hidden deeper!

Yurong found it hard to calm down for a long time, not expecting... she had misunderstood him!

Li Yan took a deep breath, lowered his head, and bitterly smiled, "Until today, I was still hiding it from you because I feared that you'd leave me if you knew the truth... Because my work isn't respectable and could almost be said to be illegal. I don't want to lose you..."

Yurong was stunned, then she understood. With his level of education and experience, any big money earned would be illegal. But the scope of illegality was too vast, and she hadn't thought in the direction of killing, but rather about investment companies, scamming venture capitalists, thinking it might be related to financial fraud!

She sighed quietly; though it wasn't good, judging by his appearance, this was probably something he did abroad before and had already washed his hands of. Feeling that Li Yan was really nervous about her, her heart warmed. She hugged his head, letting him rest on her chest. "Listen to my heartbeat... I won't lie to you! I don't care about the past, and it won't make me leave you. Just try not to do anything illegal in the future, for... the future!"

Her heartbeat was indeed steady, genuinely not lying. But Li Yan's heartbeat was speeding up!

(4 updates, requesting 15,000 Monthly Passes!)