Chapter 68: A Bloody Clash Over One Seat?! Lin Tian Can’t Catch a Break!

Bai Bing’er’s tears went unnoticed by everyone except for Bai Ze. She hadn’t made a sound. She just quietly sat in her seat, silently crying.

Seeing this, Bai Ze thought someone must have bullied his daughter. He rushed to ask what was wrong, but Bai Bing’er wouldn’t say a word.

Eventually, she looked up at her father, eyes glistening with an odd mix of sadness and joy. Tears and joy, the two emotions that shouldn’t coexist, somehow appeared on her face at the same time. Even Bai Ze was momentarily stunned. Before he could ask further, Bai Bing’er spoke softly, “Dad, I don’t think I care about having this ‘see-through-hearts’ ability anymore.”

Bai Ze froze. He knew better than anyone how much pain his daughter had endured because of this talent. How many times she had suffered, how many burdens she had silently carried.

She used to tell him she wished she didn’t have such a gift. That way, she could’ve grown up like a normal girl. Not someone treated like a freak, someone people avoided out of fear or envy.

Back then, Bai Ze didn’t know how to comfort her. This gift wasn’t inherently good or bad. It simply was. But being able to perceive the darkest corners of the human heart from such a young age… it had been a cruel burden. Even when she used to express her hatred for her gift, Bai Bing’er had always done so with cold composure.

Yet, here she was, smiling through her tears, saying she didn’t mind having that gift anymore…

What had happened?

As much as Bai Ze understood his daughter, he could never fully peer into her heart. He didn’t know how suffocating it had been, growing up loved and praised by some, but hated and avoided by others.

He didn’t know what it felt like to say, “I wish I didn’t have this gift,” and really mean it from the depths of a lonely soul.

No one knew. But Lin Tian did.

He understood that Bai Bing’er had seen too much darkness because of her gift. And that darkness? She never sought it; it forced itself into her life.

As a child, she’d once believed that exposing the truth would make people honest and sincere with one another. But she had been wrong. And in the process, she became a “monster” in the eyes of some. That’s why Lin Tian thought—no, knew—that Bai Bing’er must have suffered deeply. And it was precisely this one simple thought, “She must have suffered a lot,” that cut through the dark fog of her life like a beam of light.

She realized, perhaps for the first time, that she wasn’t alone in knowing how painful her life had been. Someone else saw her, not her talent, not her potential, not her strangeness, but her. And that person didn’t idolize her ability or label her as anything special. He just… understood her.

That one plain, sincere sentiment gave meaning to all her years of pain, resistance, and endurance. Maybe, across mountains and rivers, through time and fate, she had struggled all this way just to find someone like Lin Tian.

Back in the auction hall, after Xuan Yuan Qingya and her daughter Xuan Yuan Xing extended the invitation, even the elderly Master He accepted. There wasn’t much ceremony to it—everyone simply packed their things and headed downstairs to board the cars bound for the Xuan Yuan family’s castle.

Qingya spent a bit of time finalizing the transactions for the agarwood and the jade sculpture “Spirit Monkey Offers Peach.”

Thanks to the auction, everyone had grown somewhat familiar with one another, and now chatted casually. Powerful families like the Mengs of Huancheng, the Star Association from Xingcheng, and the Lis of Tian’an usually didn’t mingle with the big families of Lichi. So this was a rare opportunity no one wanted to miss.

The atmosphere was warm and friendly, at least for now. Shang Chan, Zhao Mengmeng, Bai Bing’er, and the rest didn’t cause any more scenes. Lin Tian finally had a brief moment of peace. But it was obvious that this was just the calm before the storm.

At the Xuan Yuan castle, seven female leads would be gathered under one roof. Even without Jiang Yifeng, was it really possible for all seven to get along?

Lin Tian dreaded the thought. A single misstep, and he could end up dead before he even knew what hit him. But by now, swept along by fate and coincidences, there was no turning back. He’d have to take things one step at a time.

When Lin Tian arrived at the antique market on Bali Street, it was only 9:30 AM. By the time they left the He family’s three-story auction house, it was already 1 PM. Everyone had skipped lunch. Since there wasn’t much to eat nearby, Xuan Yuan Xing invited them all to dine at the castle.

All sorts of low-key luxury cars lined up outside the building. Lin Tian ended up riding with Shang Chan and Zhao Mengmeng in Shang Chan’s car, following the convoy.

Zhao Dongyun originally wanted Lin Tian in his car. But seeing the resolute expressions on his daughters’ faces, he could only sigh and give up. Even after sitting in the wine-red Porsche’s backseat, Lin Tian still felt dazed.

Wasn’t he just supposed to sneak into Bali Street to steal a chance from Jiang Yifeng? How the hell did he end up going to the Xuan Yuan family’s castle with seven heroines?!

Sure, the opportunity he had come for was now in his hands, but the situation had spun way out of his control. He was still mulling it over when he noticed neither Shang Chan nor Zhao Mengmeng had gotten in the car.

He looked up and saw the sisters locked in a silent standoff at the door. Shang Chan, calm and composed, gave her little sister a firm look and said, “Mengmeng, sit in the front passenger seat. I need to talk to Lin Tian about something.”

Zhao Mengmeng, of course, wasn’t about to comply. She smiled sweetly, wrapped around Shang Chan’s arm like syrup, and pleaded:

“No~ I wanna sit in the back too! I won’t be able to talk to you guys from the front!”

Let’s be honest, Zhao Mengmeng didn’t want to talk to her sister at all. Her mind was 100% on Lin Tian. In the end, she even whispered her ultimate move into Shang Chan’s ear.

“Hey sis, if I hadn’t found Lin Tian earlier and dragged him to the auction, would you even have seen him again?”

Shang Chan was silent for a moment. Then, with a resigned sigh, she gave up on her alone time with Lin Tian. After all, her cunning little sister wasn’t easy to deal with. Zhao Mengmeng beamed and leaned into the backseat.

But that was one step too far. Shang Chan had already compromised by letting her sit in the back. And now she wanted to sit next to Lin Tian? Shang Chan narrowed her eyes, grabbed Zhao Mengmeng’s ear, and tugged.

“Oww! Sis! That hurts!”

Shang Chan snorted. “Trying to play games with me, huh?”

Zhao Mengmeng no longer hid her feelings. She looked straight at her sister and said softly, “I want to sit next to Lin Tian.”

Shang Chan pressed her lips together. She’d always known how her sister felt. But she hadn’t yet figured out how to handle it. All she could do now was go with the flow. So, neither sister would back down.