Chapter 2

At that moment, the icy water drove into my bones like knives.

I stared at her, my eyes turning red from the cold wind.

“You know I’m afraid of this!”

When I was fifteen, I got trapped in a collapsed old factory building.

The rain outside was pouring down hard, and water rose all the way to my waist.

All around me was darkness and broken steel bars.

My father tried to push me out, but he was crushed inside by a collapsed concrete beam and never opened his eyes again.

From then on, I feared enclosed spaces, I feared the sound of water that never stopped, and I feared any rainy night I couldn’t escape from.

Over the years, I had never told anyone that casually, and only Shen Mingtang knew.

Because back then, when debt collectors had cornered the Shen family in an underground garage, she too had been locked in a car for an entire night.

When I sat with her through psychological counseling, she leaned against my shoulder and said, “Yanzhou, from now on, I’ll protect you from your fears.”

But now, she stood downstairs and turned my fear into everyone’s joke.

Lu Wenchuan laughed as he added, “Brother Yanzhou, you’re a man. Don’t be so petty.”

He turned to the guests on the terrace, and his voice suddenly rose.

“Everyone, tonight’s betting game officially begins.”

“If he’s crying and begging Mingtang to save him within half an hour, I lose.”

“If he holds out and doesn’t beg for mercy, I’ll transfer one hundred thousand to each of you.”

The crowd erupted.

“Young Master Lu is generous!”

“Then of course we’re betting he can’t hold out.”

“A man with no background really thinks wearing a custom suit can turn him into the Shen family’s son-in-law?”

“Is President Shen really going to marry him? I thought it was just for fun.”

My fingertips had gone numb from the cold.

Rainwater ran from my hair into my eyes, stinging so badly I could barely keep them open.

I pounded on the door hard.

“Shen Mingtang, I’m saying this one last time. Have someone open the door!”

Shen Mingtang finally looked up at me, and there was no guilt in her face, only annoyance at being questioned in public.

“Jiang Yanzhou, do you really have to make this so ugly?”

“Wenchuan’s been spoiled since he was little. Why are you taking him so seriously?”

“Besides, aren’t you the best at handling crises?”

“You can’t even handle this little thing?”

I stood there for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

So, in her eyes, my fear of being locked in the rain was just a little thing.

All the crises I had shouldered for her over the past three years had become her reason for humiliating me in the end.

When Lu Wenchuan saw me laugh, his expression changed a little.

He hated me looking like this.

He hated that even though I was already in such a miserable state, I still refused to bow my head.

He raised his hand and pressed the remote control, and the conservatory’s sprinkler system suddenly increased the water flow.

Colder water came pouring down on me, and my knees gave out, nearly sending me to the ground.

A wave of excited gasps immediately rose from downstairs.

“He’s about to give in!”

“Quick, film it. This video is definitely going viral tomorrow.”

“President Shen’s fiancé is actually pretty stubborn!”

Lu Wenchuan leaned close to the glass.

He lowered his voice, and only I could hear it.

“Jiang Yanzhou, stop pretending. I know this is the kind of place you fear most.”

“Those are all things Mingtang told me herself.”