231 Do You Have the Capital?

Even if it was over a tiny matter, it could still cause her immense grief and pain.

That was why Lin Nuan had guarded herself so tightly all those years, refusing to let anyone get close.

"Is there a difference?" Lu Jinnan asked indifferently. Rainwater had collected underneath his leather shoes, and the cigarette ashes had turned into a muddy mess.

"If this is Fu Huai'an's idea, get him to speak to me personally!" Lin Nuan thrust the file into Lu Jinnan's arms.

Lu Jinnan narrowed his eyes, clutching the file that Lin Nuan had just shoved to him.

"If this is what he meant, then I don't want the information! I had no intention to sell myself out to Wang Quan… Likewise for Fu Huai'an."

"Is your pretentiousness worth more than your father's life?" Lu Jinnan tucked the file under his arm and sneered.

Lin Nuan's face was ghastly pale even under the warm light.

She clenched her fists tightly, pangs of pain hitting the pit of her stomach.

"Do you have the capital to be so pretentious? Lin Nuan, think about how much you are worth, then consider your father's life. You decide if your virtuousness is able to save your father's life!"

Lu Jinnan inhaled his cigarette deeply while looking at Lin Nuan, who was as pale as a sheet. He deliberated for a moment and leisurely removed his cigarette from his lips and took a step towards Lin Nuan. His gaze was icy as he muttered next to her ears, "Do you know what's inside this file?"

He was standing too close for her comfort, and Lin Nuan wanted to step back, but Lu Jinnan gripped her arm in a flash and stopped her from moving. He stared at her darkly from the side of his eyes and said, "This is classified information that I've just brought over from Jincheng to Haicheng… Shady information that was supposed to be kept confidential as it can be used against him—the new guy in office! With this information, not only can your father be saved, even your second uncle's life can be spared, and he can also retain his position at work!"

Stunned, Lin Nuan looked at the file Lu Jinnan had wedged under his arm. She could imagine how important the information in the file was just by those words.

Her heart started racing.

Lu Jinnan observed Lin Nuan's expression changing and was satisfied with the reaction he had gotten from her. He let go of her arm and sneered, raising his brows. "Are you still intending to act all virtuous?"

Lu Jinnan could have chosen not to mention it to Lin Nuan. In fact, he had intended to leave immediately after dropping off the file.

But he recalled his conversation with Fu Huai'an just as he saw Lin Nuan coming down the stairs. "You've done so much for her, are the two of you intending to get married?" He had asked Fu Huai'an.

Fu Huai'an smiled and said, "Lin Nuan is too guarded, so I can only take it one step at a time."

Lu Jinnan was afraid that Fu Huai'an was doing all of it in vain. What if Lin Nuan decided to act virtuous and cast Fu Huai'an aside after resolving her family's crisis? It was a pain that Lu Jinnan had experienced before. He felt that all women were hard to grasp and that they were all scheming and weren't as harmless as they looked.

Instead of an ambiguous and vague relationship, Lu Jinnan thought it would be better to openly declare the terms and conditions, making it something like a business deal, where both parties would get to benefit.

"Once you use this confidential information to save your father and second uncle, the person in question is bound to trace the source of the leak." Lu Jinnan raised the file in his hand. "Other than his most trusted aides, the only one who could have gained access to the data must be the law firm that handled them in the first place. Don't you think that Fu has taken a huge risk to help you? You can't just benefit at the expense of others and keep taking advantage of them, don't you agree?"