Chapter 42: Fight to the End
The investigation into the kidnapping incident had begun.
The Ruan family also received a follow-up call from the police, confirming the case was being filed.
By the time they returned to the Ruan house, the sky was already dim, but the gates were wide open and the lights were bright.
Ruan Yi rushed into the living room like a joyful butterfly.
Mom must be worried sick.
“Mom! I’m back safe!” The girl’s sweet voice echoed under the high ceilings.
Within the warm light, Ruan Ying’s hand holding the phone trembled violently. Her necklace even emitted a soft clinking sound against her neck with her movements.
Her bloodshot eyes stared dead at Ruan Yi’s unharmed face. Her nails dug deep into her palms, and the veins on the back of her hand twitched slightly.
“Mom? What’s wrong? I’m fine!”
Ruan Yi took her mother’s hand with heartache. She knew her mother was just too worried about her.
Even though she had received news that her daughter was completely safe long ago, she still looked like she was seeing a long-lost treasure.
Ruan Ying suddenly stumbled toward Ruan Yi, her arms clutching her shoulders tightly.
“Xiao Yi, you can’t have anything happen to you.”
Ruan Yi hugged her back softly, but was startled by the exaggerated amount of cold sweat on her mother.
Those familiar arms tightened more and more like iron pincers, carrying a suffocating force.
“Mm… Mom, I’m really fine. Don’t worry!” Ruan Yi rubbed against her mother, then looked up.
She met the emotions surging in Ruan Ying’s eyes—the pupils were contracting violently, and the whites of her eyes were covered in exaggerated blood vessels. She looked like she had been pushed into a dead end.
“It’s good you’re fine, it’s good you’re fine…”
The sound of Ruan Ying’s teeth chattering was very obvious. Her warm breath hit the top of Ruan Yi’s head.
But it made a fine coldness rise on Ruan Yi’s neck.
Something is wrong! Mom’s mental state is wrong!
She hadn’t eaten with her mother much these days, but a while ago, she clearly seemed normal.
“Mom, did something happen? Talk to me, okay?”
Before Ruan Yi finished speaking, her mother suddenly looked up. Her eyes seemed exceptionally cloudy.
Ruan Ying’s gaze swept over several servants. She blinked almost imperceptibly toward the door. The next second, the main door was pushed shut completely.
Only her rapid breathing remained in the air.
Gu Zhi stepped forward, blocking Ruan Yi. He moved Ruan Ying half a step away from the girl without showing it.
“Mom, Sister is tired. Let Sister go rest first.”
His voice was a bit deeper. His shoulder moved forward half an inch, completely concealing Ruan Yi behind him.
Ah Zhi also saw it; their mother’s emotions were very wrong.
Why? Why did the past life’s plot still not be escaped? I clearly made her get so many checkups!
And even if she were drugged, it’s impossible for her condition to suddenly become this severe. Mom must have been stimulated by something.
Ruan Yi urgently wanted to know what happened. Her waist was suddenly supported by a man’s palm.
The warm touch seeped through the thin fabric. His thumb rubbed her twice.
Ah Zhi was telling her to stay calm. In her mother’s current state, rational communication was indeed impossible.
Ruan Yi swallowed the words at the tip of her tongue.
“Ah Zhi is right. Xiao Yi should rest.”
Ruan Ying’s tone seemed to have suddenly returned to calmness.
She followed the two of them and saw them to the second floor, until they separated in front of their respective bedroom doors.
Ruan Yi collapsed onto her bed, her emotions on the verge of breaking. It was happening again; the plot was uncontrollably returning to its original track.
The image of her mother losing control and her usual gentle appearance overlapped in her mind, making her unable to stop her tears.
No. Mom cannot have an accident. I must fight this dead plot to the end!
Even if I have to die ten more times, a hundred more times, I will save my mother.
Wiping her tears, Ruan Yi walked to the cabinet and took out the three full checkup reports she had taken from her mother’s study.
She had read them many times; all the data was clearly normal.
Ruan Yi stacked the reports and flipped them, comparing every piece of data under the light.
Suddenly, her movements stopped.
This was her first time looking at all three reports together.
The paper grain of the three reports was almost identical. Even the angle of the doctor’s signature was exactly the same.
Ruan Yi turned on her phone’s flashlight to observe carefully.
Even more bizarre was that the dates on the three reports were more than half a month or even several months apart, yet every single indicator was exactly the same.
How could there be absolutely no fluctuation? The reports were fake?
So… she had been played. Played like a fool.
Her mother’s illness and discomfort caused by the drugs were actually getting more and more severe every day!
Who exactly could enter the study, stay by her mother’s side, and also handle the physical exam reports?
It was a servant again. The problem was definitely with the servants!
But she had already checked. There was absolutely no connection between the suspect Fu Jingchen and any of the Ruan family servants.
She couldn’t care about that much for now. She had to tell her mother about her current situation; the killer who wanted to harm her might be right beside her.
Ruan Yi grabbed the reports and rushed for the door. She pushed the handle down with force, but the door didn’t move. She shook it several times, only hearing the sound of chains clashing outside.
She was locked in.
“Ah Zhi!” she shouted against the door, but there was no response.
Footsteps sounded outside the door. Ruan Yi slapped the door hard. “Mom! Is that you? Open the door! Someone wants to harm you!”
The response was Ruan Ying’s exceptionally firm voice.
“Xiao Yi, someone wants to hurt you! Stay inside. Only home is safe.”
The sound of a metal key turning in the lock came, but it wasn’t unlocking. It was… adding another lock.
“Mom! The checkup reports are fake! Someone altered the data!” She only heard the footsteps gradually fading.
She had discovered where the problem lay.
But she was imprisoned.
Tears hit the fake checkup reports, blurring a patch of text. Ruan Yi curled up in the corner, her sobbing and gasping unable to stop.
Until the deafening sound of glass shattering occurred.
Gu Zhi kicked through the window and jumped into the bedroom with agile movements.
A familiar scene appeared again.
Last time was also like this. When Ruan Yi was crying, he, who was still a young boy, had ignored the danger and climbed the windowsill just to comfort her.
This was the second time. Only the boy had grown up and now possessed the ability to break through the window.
He was always like this, descending from the heavens.
“Sister!” The low call carrying a ragged breath arrived, and Ruan Yi was violently yanked into an embrace carrying a fresh soap scent.
The man’s large hand cupped the back of her neck. His palm rubbed her cold spine back and forth.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here.” His voice was soaked in a heartache that wouldn’t dissipate.
Ruan Yi buried her face in his neck, her scalding tears sliding into his collarbone. “Mom… Mom is sick.”
“The previous reports… the checkup reports were fake… Someone is harming Mom… Waaaah!”
The girl cried like a wronged child, pitifully and helplessly telling him everything.
Ruan Yi suddenly realized that Gu Zhi knew nothing yet. If she cried and talked nonsense like this, how would he know what happened?
She must look even more like she had a mental breakdown than her mother.
Thus, her tears fell even more uncontrollably.
Gu Zhi’s chin rested on the top of her head. His hand smoothed down her trembling spine over and over to comfort her. “I understand.”
He raised his hand to gently wipe away the tear stains on Ruan Yi’s cheeks. The temperature of his finger pad was hot enough to make a person’s heart tremble.
“No matter what happens, I will face it together with Sister. Believe me, okay?”
The deep voice held an unquestionable certainty.
Ruan Yi looked up. Her tear-blurred vision collided with the man’s pitch-black eyes.
A strange, scalding sensation arrived. she instinctively looked away.
But the heartbeat in her chest wouldn’t lie.
However, the girl had not yet discovered it.
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