Chapter 1146 - 1173:

Chapter 1146: Chapter 1173:

Shi Yue had long known that Lu Xingshen favored Shi Nuan. Clearly, she was the rightful eldest daughter of the Shi Family, while Shi Nuan was nothing but a nobody’s orphan. Yet, whenever Lu Xingshen returned from a trip, he would buy gifts only for Shi Nuan.

Shi Yue hated Shi Nuan, not only because she was jealous of Shi Nuan’s beauty but more so because Lu Xingshen was just too kind to her.

But she never expected Lu Xingshen’s favoritism to reach such an extent.

Lu Xingshen had been adopted into the Shi Family because the family originally had a second elder who worked as an international police officer and had died saving Lu Xingshen in the early years.

Lu Xingshen’s parents were deeply grateful and didn’t want the second elder’s lineage to end without heirs, so they volunteered for Lu Xingshen’s adoption into the Shi Family. He was five or six years old at the time and, being highly intelligent and emotionally perceptive even as a child, was thankful too. So he was adopted into the family. However, he remained aloof, even within the Shi Family, keeping to himself.

Shi Yue was always secretly in love with him, understanding him, knowing that he never truly integrated into the Shi Family. He was merely fulfilling a grateful obligation, making sure to offer incense to the second elder every year. His heart remained empty and isolated.

He allowed no one into his sanctuary, yet he gave Shi Nuan the keys to his private retreat. Was this not an indication that he only wanted Shi Nuan to enter his world?

Shi Yue ground her teeth in resentment. She had merely disliked Shi Nuan before, but now, there was hatred.

Shi Nuan, her mind preoccupied with the household register, embarked on such a secretive act for the first time, completely oblivious to the figure sneakier than her who slipped into the retreat.

Shi Nuan gingerly made her way upstairs, reaching the study in the retreat, continuing her search, but still found nothing.

Instead, she noticed an encrypted box.

Instinctively feeling it might contain Lu Xingshen’s case files, she left it unopened.

"Shi Nuan, what are you doing?"

Lu Xingshen’s voice abruptly sounded from behind, startling Shi Nuan into a shudder as she nervously turned her head.

Lu Xingshen had somehow appeared at the doorway, dressed in a black suit, tall and striking, his face shrouded in an icy frost, gaze sharp and intimidating.

His deep, dark eyes glanced past Shi Nuan, landing on the box behind her, with a fleeting flash of alarm in them.

Inside it were the documents about Shi Nuan’s background. He had deemed them unsafe in the Shi Family study last time and had specially brought them here.

He bounded forward and placed the box at the very bottom, pressing it down with books. Turning around, barely containing his anger, he asked,

"What are you searching for here? Don’t you know these are all my important documents!"

"I..."

Shi Nuan was startled, as Lu Xingshen rarely lost his temper, and when he did, no one dared to provoke him.

The deep-seated respect and fear she held for Lu Xingshen surged forth overwhelmingly at this moment.

She softly spoke, "Second Uncle, I didn’t mean to rummage through your things. I didn’t touch any of your confidential files. I just came to retrieve what belongs to me."

Lu Xingshen stared at her coldly, letting out a series of sneers, "Your things? Haven’t you already abandoned your Second Uncle to run into the arms of your little lover? Even going as far as seeking him out on the snowy mountains, what could possibly be here that belongs to you?"

"The household register." Shi Nuan blurted out, "And my household register, Second Uncle, can you please give it back to me!"