Chapter 121: What's Really Going On

The drizzling autumn rain lightly fell on the surface of the small courtyard's pool, creating gentle ripples. Two large banana trees swayed gently in the wind, their broad leaves blocking what little light there was, casting blurry shadows on the floor inside the French windows.

In the early morning, Rose's bedroom seemed cold and quiet. The bedside lamp, adorned with quaint patterns, had been left on all night. Due to the overcast sky, the light from the lamp appeared particularly bright amidst the yellowish haze.

Yang Chen, now dressed in loose blue and white linen pajamas, lay on the bed with his eyes closed, emitting a faint but steady breath. However, his thick, jet-black eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

The coffee-colored bedsheet, wrinkled like melted chocolate, seemed to tell others of the intense activities of the man who slept on the bed last night.

At this moment, the door was quietly pushed open, and Rose, carrying a tray of millet porridge and a plate of garlic sugar, had changed into a creamy white silk nightgown. Her beautiful face was filled with worries and concerns as she tiptoed to Yang Chen's bedside, placing the food down and gently pulling up the thin blanket for him.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Rose looked at the sleeping man with a complex expression. She hadn't slept all night. After taking Yang Chen to the hospital and ensuring that he was stable and out of danger, she had called a private physician to come and treat him here. Only after Yang Chen had stabilized did Rose handle the aftermath of the banquet.

After making a series of decisions that would profoundly affect the future underground situation in the Western District, Rose hurried back to the house to personally take care of Yang Chen until this morning.

This man once again brought her a profound shock, but at the same time, he made her feel the gap between them more keenly than ever before!

Rose didn't like this feeling. She had too many questions, but everything had to wait until Yang Chen woke up.

As Rose pondered over some complicated thoughts, Yang Chen, who had been closing his eyes, slowly opened them, letting out a long sigh.

Rose keenly caught this moment and was instantly filled with joy. She firmly grasped one of Yang Chen's hands. "Husband, are you awake?"

"What time is it now?" Yang Chen smiled faintly, casting a reassuring glance at Rose.

"It's still early, only seven o'clock. Do you want to rest a little longer?" Rose looked at Yang Chen's pale face, feeling a pang in her heart, but she forced a smile and said, "You scared me. You were acting so strangely all of a sudden, and I didn't sleep all night!"

Yang Chen pushed himself up with both arms from the bed, leaning in to kiss Rose on the cheek. "I'm fine now. But what happened after I passed out last night?"

Seeing that Yang Chen didn't seem inclined to explain himself, Rose obediently refrained from asking and said, "Yesterday, I took you to the hospital. After a simple examination, the doctor said there was nothing special, except you seemed particularly agitated and your heartbeat was fast. After giving you a sedative, you calmed down a lot. Later, I brought you back here and had my personal doctor prescribe you some calming medicine. You've been sleeping until now."

"I see... I don't remember anything," Yang Chen said with a bitter smile, touching his forehead. In fact, the only thing he remembered was the intense pain exploding in his brain.

He had thought that after a year of recuperation and more than half a year of leisurely days, even if he were forced to act seriously again and kill dozens of people, he wouldn't be as uncontrollable as before. But unexpectedly, his old problem hadn't improved much.

Fortunately, with the continuous improvement of his peculiar martial arts realm, he could barely restrain that terrifying rage. That's why Rose had to knock him out later. Otherwise...

Yang Chen shuddered at the thought. It seemed he had overestimated himself. He would have to continue to ensure he kept his nerves relaxed, maintained a relaxed mindset, avoided excessive fatigue. Otherwise, if he couldn't control his emotions in time and made a big mistake, it would be hard to recover from.

Rose continued, "As for the banquet venue, only Situ Mingze and four bodyguards survived. I've already imprisoned Situ Mingze. The Western Alliance Society is now in chaos; almost all the important figures were killed by you. I've instructed my men to cooperate with Zhang Hu to reorganize the power of the Western Alliance Society. There might be a lot of things happening in the days to come, but soon, the entire Western District won't have the words 'Western Alliance Society' anymore. Oh, and it's funny, Zhou Guangyuan, that old fox, actually called to congratulate me when he got the news, saying he wants to live in harmony in the future."

Yang Chen nodded, asking, "What are you going to do with Situ Mingze?"

Rose's eyes flashed with a cold light, but after hesitating for a while, she sighed, "I don't know. For now, I plan to send him abroad for a while, pick a small European country, give him some money, and let him retire there."

"You're not going to kill him?" Yang Chen was somewhat surprised. In his eyes, Rose clearly had the potential to be a ruthless queen of the underworld.

Rose looked at Yang Chen with a complex gaze. "If it were before, I would definitely have killed him. But now, because of you, I feel like I can't kill him."

"Why?" Yang Chen felt he wasn't clever enough.

Rose smiled bitterly. "Actually, he said something right. Regardless of who he is, whether human or beast, his blood runs through my veins, and that fact will never change. He's my father. Even though I hate him, look down on him, it's true that he and my mother brought me into this world together. Without him, there would be no me. I think, for whatever reason, a daughter killing her own father is an unforgivable mistake..."

"Just like..." Rose looked steadily at Yang Chen. "Just like, if we have children in the future, I simply can't imagine how a child could kill you, kill their father... Even as a mother, even if I'm already dead by then, I would still be heartbroken in another world."

Yang Chen was taken aback before smiling gently. "It's not comparable. I could never be like Situ Mingze. I won't let my children hate me or even think about killing me."

"Situ Mingze didn't want me, his daughter, to hate him or think about killing him from the beginning," Rose said with a touch of resentment.

Yang Chen was speechless, unable to find words. After a moment of thought, he said, "It's up to you. As long as you think it's right, I'll support you."

Rose smiled tenderly, leaning forward to plant a moist kiss on Yang Chen's lips, her eyes brimming with affection. "Husband, thank you, thank you for everything you've given me."

"There's nothing to thank me for. I'm just doing what I love," Yang Chen said deeply touched.

"I've decided to tell you a secret," Rose suddenly made a momentous decision. "Originally, I had planned to never tell anyone, but now I feel that hiding that past would be unfair to our relationship."

Yang Chen frowned, silent.

Rose took a deep breath before continuing, "The reason I left Situ Mingze and ended up on the path I'm on today isn't just because I despise his character and actions. There's another reason."

"Husband, do you know, I look almost exactly like my mother when she was young..." Rose said.

Yang Chen nodded; he remembered Situ Mingze mentioning this in a bar before.

"When I was still a child, Situ Mingze led a large group of people from the Western Alliance Society to fight in the Western District. Every day, he came home reeking of alcohol, sometimes even with the smell of blood. Towards us, mother and daughter, when he was good, he seemed like the best husband and father in the world. He doted on my mother immensely; he would give her anything she wanted. He also cherished me; whenever I cried, he would comfort me until I laughed, and he would even spin me around and push me on the swings..."

"But, whenever he got drunk or killed many people, or when he was in a bad mood, he became like a different person... He was fierce, cruel, devoid of humanity. He would come home and find any small flaw to beat and scold my mother, even smashing her with a bottle... and he would... he would do those things to my mother in front of me..."

"Wait," Yang Chen asked puzzledly, "Didn't your mother pass away when you were very young?"

"That was a lie. It's a lie that Situ Mingze and I made up together," Rose smiled bitterly and continued her story...

"I was very young then, and I didn't understand a lot of things adults did, but I knew that Situ Mingze was like an unpredictable lion. You never knew if you would live or die next to him." Here, Rose paused, as if recalling many past events. She wiped her moist eyes and continued:

"Until one day, I heard my mother arguing with Situ Mingze again. By then, I was already in elementary school, and I could understand what they were talking about... My mother had an affair; she had a relationship with one of Situ Mingze's subordinates and tried to leave this mentally unstable man, wanting to elope... But, Situ Mingze found out early and stopped her."

"The day Situ Mingze and my mother argued was so loud that I felt like the entire building was going to collapse. I hid outside the door, wanting to escape, but I couldn't summon the strength to leave."

"In the end, I heard my mother screaming in the room, calling for help incessantly, scaring me to death. But at that moment, all I could do was cry..."

"After the house quieted down, the door was finally opened. Situ Mingze walked out. Seeing me crying at the door, he just kicked me aside with a foot and walked away without even looking back..."

Rose bit her lip, her eyes filled with anguish. "Husband, do you know, that was the first time I saw a dead person in my life... My mother was the one who died..."

"My mother was beaten to death by Situ Mingze, her body covered in blood, dying in our home, in front of me. I still have nightmares to this day; I dream of that scene and wake up startled because my mother's eyes were open. It's like she was looking at me, like she hated me for not being able to stop it... But... what could a ten-year-old girl do..."

Yang Chen listened silently, not saying a word. Since he could remember, apart from being called Yang Chen, he knew nothing about the concept of family or parents. So, while Rose's past was poignant, Yang Chen couldn't truly understand; he could only listen quietly.

"As I grew up, Situ Mingze didn't do anything to me. He seemed to have forgotten he killed my mother. When he was happy, he'd smile at me; when he was angry, he'd still scold me..."

"I lost my mother, but I always convinced myself it was because she betrayed my father that she met that fate. So I didn't resist Situ Mingze. I thought he must love me."

"Until... my eighteenth birthday..." Rose's tears gradually dried up, her voice chilly. "That night, after he and a few uncles celebrated my birthday, they came back home. He came into my room very unusually and talked to me about many things: about my childhood, about his business, about the gang, and some other people's children..."

"At the time, I didn't understand why he was saying so much, but I just listened... Until the end, he started talking about my mother, something he never mentioned before..."

"He said he missed my mother, he regretted losing control and beating her to death. But he hoped I wouldn't blame him because he was in more pain than anyone else..."

"In fact, as time passed, things naturally faded away. Although I was sad and resentful towards him, seeing him crying and begging for forgiveness in front of me made it hard for me to blame him. After all, he was my biological father."

"But..." Rose's breathing became rapid. "But then he suddenly said, said I looked so much like my mother, just like when he first met her. He looked at me with infinite desire, with an aggressive gaze, and asked if I was willing to help him make up for the shortcomings, to take my mother's place and become the mistress of the Western Alliance Society!"

"He wanted his own daughter to be his woman!"

The last words seemed to drain all of Rose's strength. She bowed her head, murmuring, "I don't remember what I thought at that moment. I just desperately pushed him out of the room and cried in bed all night... Until later... I finally realized he was beyond redemption, and that's when I made up my mind to leave him..."

Yang Chen hadn't expected such a background to Rose's story. Rose, having a father like Situ Mingze, not falling into irreversible paths, was indeed fortunate. Seeing Rose's exhausted figure, he reached out and pulled her into his embrace, patting her soft back. "Speaking out should relieve a lot. At least I can help share the burden. Someone as heartless as me is best suited to help women bear these headaches."

Rose lay on Yang Chen's chest, smiling slightly. "Yes, I feel much better now. Regardless of how you see it, I can face you with a clear conscience."

"Actually, you didn't have to hide it from me. It's not your fault; you were just a victim," Yang Chen said indifferently.

Rose suddenly struggled to turn around, gazing into Yang Chen's eyes with immense concern and a hint of grievance. "Then, husband, shouldn't you also tell me about your past? At least, I want to know what happened to you last night."