Once she got in contact with her child, An Rouyu’s mind was both clear and unclear. Clear in the sense that she had a singular focus—to see her child, take him away, and rely on each other for survival. Unclear because everything else became unimportant in her fixation.
Harboring the thought of fleeing far away with her child, An Rouyu walked a few steps but sensed something was wrong. There seemed to be an extra shadow on the ground… She was so frightened that her face turned deathly pale. Pretending not to notice, she took two more steps before bolting.
Sure enough, the sound of pursuing footsteps came from behind. An Rouyu had barely run a few steps before someone pressed her against the wall, rendering her immobile. A man’s low voice scolded, “Don’t scream. It’s me, Ruan Chenxuan.”
At first, An Rouyu let out a sigh of relief, but immediately after, she couldn’t help feeling angry and aggrieved. She couldn’t stop herself from blaming Ruan Chenxuan. Blame him for the dissolution of the arranged marriage with Xu Chenghao and for her child being taken away by Old Mr. Ruan—it was all his fault.
Her feelings toward Ruan Chenxuan were now extremely complicated. Perhaps there was still a trace of the reckless affection of youth, but so much time had passed, and everything had changed.
An Rouyu shook off Ruan Chenxuan’s restraint and leaned against the wall without speaking.
The two stood in the corridor, one disheveled and haggard, the other with scratches on his face, looking equally miserable. The most ridiculous part was that their current sorry states were entirely caused by each other.
Forcing back the sourness in her heart, An Rouyu said coldly, “What now? Are you going to hand me over to Old Mr. Ruan?”
The scratches on Ruan Chenxuan’s face stung, so he kept his expression minimal, responding coolly, “If I were going to hand you over to him, I would’ve called out directly.”
An Rouyu instinctively avoided looking at his face. “At least you have a conscience… Ruan Chenxuan, you should know what I want to say. I just want to find my child. If you have any conscience, can’t you give him back to me?”
Ruan Chenxuan: “Starting points determine heights. You can’t give him a future.”
An Rouyu gave a bitter smile. “I don’t need a high starting point. I just want a peaceful life for me and my child. I don’t want him to lose his childhood and end up like you—forever missing it.”
Ruan Chenxuan: “Aren’t you afraid he’ll resent you in the future? No one willingly gives up this kind of life.”
An Rouyu: “I won’t tell him.”
Ruan Chenxuan: “That’s incredibly selfish of you.”
An Rouyu: “And isn’t it selfish of you to keep the child and raise him to become a money-making machine?”
Ruan Chenxuan: “Even if you raise the child, won’t he grow up and have to work and earn money? By then, he’ll have to support the whole family by himself, and his burden will be even heavier than now. Can you bear that?”
An Rouyu insisted, “I won’t become his burden, and I won’t let him become another you.”
An Rouyu said, “Ruan Chenxuan… please give my child back to me. I beg you, just give me my child… I ask for nothing else but my child.”
Ruan Chenxuan quietly looked at her, his gaze complicated. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you want?”
The corridor fell silent again. After a long while, An Rouyu finally said, “Yes, just the child!”
Ruan Chenxuan clenched his fists and said coldly, “I’ve lost my memory.”
An Rouyu’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”
“I’ve lost my memory,” Ruan Chenxuan said. “It’s partial and temporary amnesia. I have no memory of the past three years.”
An Rouyu stammered, “Then you… and me…”
Ruan Chenxuan said, “It hasn’t recovered yet, and there’s no set timeline for when it will. I only learned about our situation from reading the files. I can also explain the misunderstanding you had when you left. I didn’t cheat or go looking for another woman.”
An Rouyu was dumbfounded, utterly stunned by the information.
At this moment, Ruan Chenxuan became even calmer. Looking at her, he said calmly, “I can restore your status, allowing you to become the Ruan family’s fiancée and the child’s mother, but the condition is that the child must remain under the Ruan family’s care.”
“But you have another choice. If you decide to leave with the child, I can help you one last time… but once you leave, no matter what happens, we will sever all ties and have nothing to do with each other anymore.”
The corridor fell silent again. The swaying light cast their shadows long and distorted, like intertwined branches under the setting sun, separating and merging as the light flickered, until finally, the curtain fell as the light went out.
“Something’s wrong—the child is missing!!”
A cry of alarm suddenly erupted from the second floor. The guests, still enjoying the banquet, all looked up in surprise, only to see the nanny and security guards rushing in a panic, quickly shutting the doors. The walkie-talkies of the bodyguards crackled with communication as they began locking down the entire villa.
The cheerful banquet suddenly became tense and alert.
Ruan Chenxuan sat in his room without turning on the lights. In the darkness, he listened to Old Mr. Ruan’s scolding, the nanny’s tearful pleas, the hurried footsteps of security guards running back and forth, and the chatter over the walkie-talkies…
Yes, An Rouyu had chosen the child.
And he was still alone… or rather, all he had left was himself.
Annoying.
Really annoying.
Ruan Chenxuan closed his eyes and sighed softly in the darkness. In the end, he still opened the door and walked out calmly. “What’s going on?”
_____________
Xu Chenghao had just finished showering when he received a call from his father. His voice was slightly hoarse as he answered, “Dad, What’s wrong?”
Father Xu briefly explained the situation before adding, “Old Mr. Ruan just fainted from anger. From the looks of it, we might not be able to leave tonight.”
Xu Chenghao frowned. “Have you called the police?”
Father Xu: “They’re investigating.”
Xu Chenghao: “Wait for me with Mom for ten minutes. I’ll be there right away.”
Father Xu: “Okay.”
After hanging up, Xu Chenghao buried his face in the pillow, only to feel the humid warmth of someone approaching. Without hesitation, he retaliated with an elbow strike.
A soft chuckle came from behind as someone gently caught his arm. “Not tired anymore, huh?”
Xu Chenghao snapped angrily, “Get lost!”
Jing Yicheng began massaging his waist. “I’m sorry, Haohao. I got too excited. But when you declared your dominance earlier, I couldn’t help but want to **** you—”
“Stop, stop, stop!” Xu Chenghao interrupted. He could tell this guy was the classic type who’d apologize while planning to do it again—apologies were as good as air to him. “But next time, not in the car. It’s too exhausting.”
Jing Yicheng replied smugly, “Exhausted just means my stamina’s great. It has nothing to do with the location.”
Xu Chenghao wanted to say something but, considering the consequences of speaking too freely, swallowed it back silently: “Yes, you’re the best, your stamina’s the best… Enough, I need to get dressed and pick up my parents.”
Jing Yicheng frowned. “What happened?”
While getting dressed, Xu Chenghao recounted what Father Xu had told him, concluding firmly, “It’s definitely An Rouyu’s doing.”
Jing Yicheng began getting dressed as well. “I’ll go with you… If it’s An Rouyu, just how incompetent is the Ruan family that they couldn’t stop a single woman?”
Xu Chenghao: “Don’t underestimate An Rouyu.”
After all, she was a woman blessed with the protagonist’s halo.
The two of them finished getting ready and set off again. Jing Yicheng drove while Xu Chenghao took the opportunity to catch a nap. By the time they returned to the Ruan family’s old mansion, they saw that police tape had been set up outside, and the scene was grand in scale.
“Whoa… Old Mr. Ruan really does care a lot about this kid,” Xu Chenghao remarked with a touch of amazement. He turned his head and spotted Ruan Chenxuan standing outside as well.
The night wind was chilly, but Ruan Chenxuan seemed unaffected, wearing only a white shirt. At first, Xu Chenghao thought he was out there because he was worried about the child, but after taking a closer look, he realized Ruan Chenxuan appeared to be so bored that he’d started gazing at the moon.
After parking the car, Jing Yicheng turned to see Xu Chenghao staring at Ruan Chenxuan in a daze. Nearly dying of jealousy on the spot, he unbuckled his seatbelt and pounced. “What are you looking at?!”
Xu Chenghao barely managed to turn his head back before Jing Yicheng was right in his face. He could only laugh awkwardly: “Nothing, nothing… Just admiring the moon…”
Jing Yicheng’s eyes were practically spitting fire. “Admiring the same moon, huh? Sounds pretty romantic! Your butt’s not sore anymore, is it?”
Xu Chenghao immediately switched to a placating tone. “I was just curious why he isn’t worried about the child.”
Jing Yicheng glanced out the window, noticing Xu Chenghao seemed like he was about to look again. His expression darkened instantly. “Haven’t you seen enough?!”
Xu Chenghao shrank back timidly. “I’ve seen enough, I’ve seen enough.”
Jing Yicheng: “So you really did look closely!!”
Xu Chenghao: “…”
Jing Yicheng pressed him against the car door, making him face away from Ruan Chenxuan. “Not allowed to look!”
Xu Chenghao: “…”
Whatever makes you happy.
But Jing Yicheng wasn’t happy—not in the slightest. He was about to die from anger. In his heart, he was thoroughly convinced that Ruan Chenxuan was deliberately standing outside, in such an open and noticeable spot, pretending to admire the moon to flaunt his allure and make himself impossible to ignore.
Definitely. Just shamelessly trying to seduce people everywhere!!
While cursing inwardly, it was as if his nemesis shared a telepathic connection with him. Ruan Chenxuan, standing in the distance, suddenly turned his head and looked over. He stared at the dark car window for a long time without averting his gaze.
Ruan Chenxuan had sensed an unsettling attention coming from this direction, and to Jing Yicheng, this action was absolute proof of his suspicions!
Jing Yicheng completely forgot that this wasn’t Xu Chenghao’s car. He was convinced Ruan Chenxuan recognized it and was deliberately lingering here on purpose!
Damn it. So infuriating.
No, he had to teach this guy a lesson.
With this thought, Jing Yicheng suddenly rolled down the car window and shot a provocative glance at Ruan Chenxuan. Then, without warning, he leaned down and kissed the unsuspecting Xu Chenghao, who was leaning against the car door. Xu Chenghao was utterly dumbfounded. While passively receiving Jing Yicheng’s kiss, he couldn’t help but wonder: If you wanted to kiss me, just kiss me—why open the window? …Was it to fart?
On the other side, when Ruan Chenxuan saw Jing Yicheng’s face appear as the car window rolled down, he had a so it’s him kind of feeling. After all, who else could exude such aggressive, invasive attention that made people so uncomfortable?
He was just about to turn back to the moon to clear his mind when he suddenly caught Jing Yicheng glancing at him. The distance wasn’t too far but wasn’t exactly close either, so Ruan Chenxuan couldn’t quite discern what that look was supposed to mean.
In that brief moment of hesitation, the other party suddenly lowered his head, gently tilting up a fair chin to plant a light kiss. From his movements, even if it was intended as a display of dominance, there was still a tenderness to it. When their foreheads touched, he even gave a couple of comforting nudges.
Only then did Ruan Chenxuan notice that there was another person leaning against the car door, back facing him, wrapped in Jing Yicheng’s arms. From his angle, all he could see was the other person’s slender hand resting on Jing Yicheng’s chest. As the kiss deepened, the hand slowly curled up, clutching Jing Yicheng’s shirt tightly, the reliance and affection unmistakable.
Ruan Chenxuan, already nursing a heavy blow, completely fell apart. He could practically hear the sound of his own heart shattering into pieces, and he couldn’t help but mutter a curse under his breath as he turned and stormed off.
Damn it. What moon? To hell with moon-gazing—he was already furious enough to explode.
The author has something to say:
Ruan Chenxuan: Daily profanities.jpg
T/N: I feel bad for the original protagonists….sigh
