Tidal Engagement - Chapter 12

Father came three days later.

He had aged a lot.

But his first words upon entering were: “Ah Wu, you can’t get involved with the Pei Family anymore.”

I pushed my mother’s report in front of him.

“Then why did you sign back then?”

Father’s face went pale.

He didn’t sit.

I didn’t ask him to either.

Some father-daughter relationships collapse starting from a single piece of paper.

After Father finished reading the report, his hands shook badly.

“Your mother was already beyond saving by then.”

“So you collaborated with Pei Zongyue?”

“I didn’t.”

“The signature is right here.”

Father closed his eyes.

“He used you to threaten me.”

I looked at him.

“What about later? This marriage alliance, did he also use me to threaten you?”

Father couldn’t say a word.

The answer was clearly no.

This time it was because Lin Corporation was going bankrupt, and he couldn’t bear to part with the fleet, with the dignity of a lifetime.

So he sent me back to the same table.

I waited for a moment.

“Dad, I’ll give you a choice.”

He looked up.

“You make public the documents from the Pei Zongyue and Wen Family Experiment back then, and cooperate with the investigation. I’ll help Lin Corporation apply for bankruptcy restructuring and protect the workers’ wages.”

“What about the company?”

“The company will be gone.”

Father’s face turned ashen.

I said, “You can also keep protecting the company, and then I’ll send you in together with it.”

He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

“Ah Wu, how did you become like this?”

I smiled.

“Maybe it started the day you sent me to the island.”

A very soft sound came from outside the door.

Pei Tinglan had been standing in the corridor.

He heard that sentence and lifted his eyes to look over.

I knew he was taking notes again.

Noting when I hurt, how I fought back, who owed me a debt.

This was dangerous.

But also disarming.

I averted my gaze.

“Don’t do anything rash.”

Pei Tinglan looked at me innocently.

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

“Your eyes already did.”

In the end, Father still cooperated with the investigation.

His conscience didn’t suddenly return.

The choices I gave him were all real.

On the day of Lin Family Bankruptcy and restructuring, I saw Pei Tinglan at the courthouse entrance.

He stood below the steps, holding a black umbrella.

The weather was blindingly clear.

I walked over.

“Do you have some misunderstanding about sunny days?”

“Not for blocking the sun.”

“Then what’s it for?”

He handed the umbrella to me.

“For the tide.”

I took the umbrella and noticed the handle was made from an old silver ring.

The inner patterns were mostly worn away, leaving only a faint ring of marks.

“The research institute has results?”

Pei Tinglan nodded.

“The Old Ring can’t be used.”

“I know that.”

“But it can be modified into an External Stabilizer, not bound to your body, just borrowing your Blood Sample Calibration once.”

I looked at him.

“Borrowing a blood sample?”

“You can refuse.”

He said it very quickly.

As if he had practiced this sentence many times.

“What happens after I refuse?”

“I’ll return to the sea.”

He looked at the distant traffic.

“But I won’t die immediately. Maybe I can hold on for some time.”

I didn’t speak.

Pei Tinglan didn’t urge me either.

He truly was better at waiting now than before.

At least on the surface.

After a long while, I asked, “Do you want me to agree?”

His fingers around the umbrella handle slowly tightened.

“Yes.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to take you to the seaside, want you to soften, want to tell you I’m in pain.”

He paused.

“And also want to deceive you by saying it doesn’t hurt.”

I looked at him.

“Then why didn’t you say so?”

“Because you would get angry.”

“Is that the only reason?”

Pei Tinglan lowered his head and smiled slightly.

“Because I promised to listen to you.”