Chapter 418 – A Dead End
“Impossible!” Shen Huai’s voice rang out, loud and urgent, as he vehemently denied it.
After Shen Huai’s denial, the other person fell silent, as if sinking into quiet contemplation.
Lin Wangshu, who had been eavesdropping, suddenly realized that the woman they were talking about was Xu Jinning.
Could the person talking to Shen Huai be the same master of metaphysics that Xu Jinning had mentioned—the one Shen Huai had been searching for?
The master had claimed that Xu Jinning’s fortune wasn’t stolen from them?
No, that couldn’t be!
If it weren’t for Xu Jinning, she wouldn’t have had such terrible luck. Everything would have gone smoothly—it had to be Xu Jinning, how could it not be?
How could it not be Xu Jinning who had stolen their fortune?
These thoughts ran through Lin Wangshu’s mind, and it became clear that she and Shen Huai were indeed well-matched as a couple.
Just as Lin Wangshu had thought, after a moment of silence, Shen Huai asked the same question.
Then, Lin Wangshu heard the master speak again. “Even if you kill her, the fortune she possesses won’t transfer to you.”
“Besides, you can’t kill her. If you continue down this path, you’re only headed for a dead end.”
In fact, what Master Long Ming said closely matched what Xie Ting’an had seen in his dream.
Shen Huai, now just an ordinary person, was no match for Xu Jinning. The previous assassination attempts had already shown that he couldn’t kill her, and continuing down this road could lead to his downfall.
In the dream, it was only after Shen Huai had transferred Lin Wangshu’s fortune to himself that he barely gained the power to confront Xu Jinning. But even then, the final outcome was his death and Xu Jinning being severely injured. Even at that point, he still couldn’t kill her.
Inside the small house, Shen Huai couldn’t help but feel disheartened upon hearing this.
His eyes darkened with gloom.
So, people do have their own fortunes, just like that woman, Xu Jinning. Her fortune was much greater than his—so much so that she “coincidentally” avoided the assassins he sent after her multiple times, and if he tried to kill her again, he would suffer a backlash.
In other words, even though Xu Jinning had such a powerful fortune, it was hers, and there was no way to transfer it to him.
It was unfair, so incredibly unfair! Shen Huai felt that fate had been utterly unfair to him.
Why was he born into a family like the Shen family, where it was survival of the fittest, with no affection? Why had his parents never loved each other since his childhood? The only person who had ever cared for him, the nanny, died early, leaving no one else to love him…
Even the wife he chose only picked him because he was the male protagonist in her story.
It seemed that whatever he wanted, he could never get—like the position of the Shen family head—and he was repeatedly targeted for assassination.
Why was he so unlucky, with such poor fortune?
Who was responsible for giving him such a wretched life!
The word “setting” suddenly flashed in Shen Huai’s mind, making him think of one person—Lin Wangshu!
Yes, his life was set by Lin Wangshu, wasn’t it? He was merely a character that Lin Wangshu had created; whatever he experienced was what she had written for him.
Since he was the protagonist, why couldn’t she have given him everything from the start?
If she had written that his parents were loving from the beginning, that they were capable, and that he was favored by his grandfather… would everything be different now?
Why did she have to set those first twenty-something years of his life as so unhappy?
It was all Lin Wangshu’s fault!
A streak of resentment toward Lin Wangshu crossed Shen Huai’s heart.
If one were to ask Lin Wangshu, or rather Xu Jinwen, why she gave her male protagonist, Shen Huai, such a backstory, one would have to go back to the books Xu Jinwen had read when she was writing the story.
When Xu Jinwen was writing this story, she did read other novels.
At that time, it was common in other stories for the male protagonist to have the “miserable, handsome, strong” archetype. After all, having unloving parents, a tragic childhood, and possibly even strange illnesses were typical setups for these characters… In fact, Shen Huai’s experiences fit the standard for this archetype perfectly.
Only by writing it this way could the story later highlight how much love he received from the female protagonist, love that he had never experienced before.
It also allowed for the portrayal of his later success, creating a dramatic contrast with his earlier suffering and the disdain he endured.
This kind of setup gave readers a sense of satisfaction and made the plot more engaging.
In the original storyline, Shen Huai indeed became the head of the Shen family and established a business empire under the Shen name.
But now…
Shen Huai, among the “miserable, handsome, strong” traits, only embodies the “miserable and handsome” part. The “strong” aspect hasn’t materialized yet, and without the male protagonist halo and the female protagonist’s support, it’s very likely that Shen Huai won’t become strong later on.
That’s why Shen Huai felt so stifled and blamed Lin Wangshu.
Then, Shen Huai recalled something else Lin Wangshu had mentioned—that she was the creator, the author, and also the female protagonist…
So, does Lin Wangshu still have any fortune left on her?
“Master Long Ming, could you please calculate my wife Lin Wangshu’s fate…”
When Lin Wangshu, who was eavesdropping, heard Shen Huai mention her birth date and time to the master, her heart skipped a beat.
Why would Shen Huai want to calculate her fate? Could it really be, as Xu Jinning speculated, that he wanted to take her fortune?
And soon, the master spoke again.
“Mr. Shen, your wife is quite extraordinary. A being from another world, with a dual soul…”
What the master said next left Lin Wangshu deeply shocked.
This master, it seems, truly has some real skills—he actually saw through the fact that she was from another world and described her situation so clearly.
“…Your wife originally possessed extremely strong fortune, even surpassing that of the young woman we just discussed, standing above everyone else in this world. She was, in essence, a true favored child of the heavens.”
Of course, the “heavens” here didn’t refer to the Tiandao but rather to the world Lin Wangshu herself had created.
“Unfortunately, her fortune is now rapidly dissipating; it’s almost gone!”
Shen Huai quickly caught on to the key phrase in Master Long Ming’s words.
“Master, you said ‘almost gone’? Does that mean Lin Wangshu still has some fortune left? At least more than I do?”
Then, Shen Huai saw the master nod. “Much stronger than yours.”
Shen Huai’s heart skipped a beat as a new possibility surfaced in his mind.
Without hesitation, he asked, “Then, Master, is it possible to transfer the fortune from my wife to me?”
Lin Wangshu: !!!
Eavesdropping, Lin Wangshu had initially felt relieved to know she still had some fortune left. But now, her fists clenched tightly.
Shen Huai, as expected, was plotting exactly what Xu Jinning had predicted.
Why? Didn’t Shen Huai love her? She loved him too, and she was even carrying his child.
They were husband and wife, so wouldn’t it be better for the fortune to stay with her? She would use it to help him as well.
