Chapter 62: Gloomy
Old Master Shi stared at Ruan Zhimian, speaking as if he were kindly offering advice. “Ruan Zhimian, do you really think someone like him is capable of truly liking you?”
“His feelings for me are not for you to evaluate.”
“Shi Zhengsheng, do you think the trauma you’ve inflicted upon Shi He is minor?”
Most of the time, people only choose to believe in their own imaginations.
This was especially true for an elderly man like Old Master Shi, who had lost his child. Unwilling to face the truth lying right in front of him, he relied on suspicion and imagination to piece together a self-righteous version of reality.
Growing up shrouded in such suspicion, Shi He found it utterly impossible to defend himself.
“You don’t understand him, let alone know what kind of person he truly is.”
“If you truly suspected him back then, you could have handed him over to the police for a proper investigation.”
Ruan Zhimian looked at Old Master Shi. The root cause of everything was often far more laughable than he had ever imagined. He used to genuinely believe that Shi He had been sent abroad for his own protection because the Shi family was in crisis.
However, looking at the documents he had just read, the other Shi family grandchildren of the exact same age were still active in Huajiang, accompanying Old Master Shi to various social gatherings.
The Shi family had merely encountered a few issues; they hadn’t collapsed.
Ruan Zhimian’s heart ached with a stifling pain. Shi He had simply been abandoned.
“Your understanding of Shi He came entirely from your son and daughter-in-law. Have you ever actually listened to Shi He speak for himself? Do you have any idea what he’s been through from childhood to adulthood?”
“Let me tell you, from the time he was young, he was constantly subjected to various forms of corporal punishment. Your ‘good son’ and ‘good daughter-in-law’ acted like they treated him wonderfully on the surface, but behind closed doors, they showed him absolutely no care and each had their own lovers.”
“If you truly believe he is a murderer, why did you bring him back to inherit the Shi family? It’s simply because he is the most capable and promising child in the Shi family.”
Ruan Zhimian’s volume increased. Just moments ago, he had received a text from Wen Song, detailing quite a few things about Shi He’s childhood.
The young Shi He was a boy of few words who never complained. Even when he was punished, he would never speak of it. When Wen Song and Gu Xici were children, they only found out because Shi He showed up at school injured on several occasions.
“Shi He was frequently locked in the basement and punished for all sorts of fabricated reasons.”
“You, and all the rest of you, are not fit to be his family.”
Ruan Zhimian reached out, grabbed his brother’s arm, and strode out of the Shi family’s reception hall. As he navigated the long corridors, his body trembled slightly. He bent over, taking deep breaths as a sharp pain flared in his stomach.
Right now, he desperately wanted to see Shi He.
Ruan Xubai held onto his brother’s hand. “Mianmian, don’t be afraid.”
Ruan Zhimian’s eyes were rimmed with red and slightly damp. His voice was hoarse, and his left hand clutched his stomach. The emotional fluctuation had been too severe. “Ge, I want to go back.”
Ruan Xubai agreed to everything. “I’ll take you back.”
The lights illuminated the entire length of the corridor. Ruan Xubai supported Ruan Zhimian as they reached the entrance, only to find two people blocking their path outside the door.
One was Shi An of the Shi family, and the other person was…
Ruan Xubai grasped Ruan Zhimian’s arm, staring coldly at that familiar silver-haired figure. Three years unseen, and he still looked exactly the same. He was still just as detestable.
Ruan Xubai averted his gaze, his cold, detached eyes staring straight ahead. He pressed his thumb against his ring finger, producing a soft crack. “Second Young Master Shi, is there an issue?”
“Visiting in the middle of the night—what matter could CEO Ruan and Young Master Ruan possibly have that requires disturbing my grandfather?”
Ruan Zhimian slowly lifted his head. His small face was pale, his eyes filled with ice as he addressed him directly by name. “Shi An, if you want to know, go ask him yourself. Your grandfather shouldn’t be resting right now.”
“No, he probably won’t be able to sleep at all tonight. You two, grandfather and grandson, can have a nice, long chat through the night.”
Shi He’s sweetheart, Ruan Zhimian, was also the precious, deeply doted-upon young master of the Ruan family.
Shi An merely held a superficial, empty title within the Shi Corporation, completely and utterly suppressed by Shi He. Over the years, he had tried countless times to drag Shi He down, failing every single time.
He couldn’t afford to provoke Ruan Zhimian, nor could he afford to provoke Shi He.
Ruan Zhimian pulled Ruan Xubai toward the exit. Ruan Xubai opened the car door for his brother first. Shi An turned his head and asked the person beside him, “Are we just going to let him go like this?”
Finally, that person moved. He took a few steps forward and stopped right in front of Ruan Xubai.
“Ruan Xubai.”
Ruan Xubai was just closing the passenger door. He walked over to the driver’s side door and, without any warning, shot his hand out, slamming the man against the car window. The man’s hair tie snapped, his silver hair scattering and pressing flat against the glass.
Ruan Xubai’s hand clamped around his throat. He lowered his eyes, his voice as calm as a placid lake. “Jiang Yanzhi, so you’re actually still alive.”
However, the force in his fingers grew increasingly crushing.
He leaned in close to the man’s ear, his tone freezing. “You might as well be dead.”
Jiang Yanzhi’s light hair color only accentuated the extreme pallor of his skin.
He was even thinner than when he had left him.
Ruan Xubai violently shoved the man away, pulled open the car door, turned the key, and swiftly sped away from the Shi residence.
Jiang Yanzhi watched the vehicle disappear into the distance before crouching down, coughing violently.
Shi An hurried over anxiously. “CEO Jiang, what do we do now? Didn’t you promise to help me snatch back the Shi family?”
To his utter surprise, Jiang Yanzhi lifted his eyes. “Who exactly is ‘we’?”
“Shi An, you will never reach the level I require. You are leagues behind Shi He. If I’m going to invest, I will invest in Shi He.”
A black car pulled up to the curb. The driver stepped out and opened the door, speaking in fluent, authentic Hong Kong dialect. Jiang Yanzhi departed from the Shi residence.
Shi An cursed under his breath, seething with anger. He had finally managed to build a relationship with Jiang Yanzhi in Hong Kong, only for Jiang Yanzhi to flip on him without a second thought.
He pulled out his phone. “Send those photos from earlier over to me.”
…
In the car, Ruan Zhimian answered a call from Shi He. He had been out much longer than anticipated. “My brother and I came out to handle some matters. Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
In the dimly lit bedroom, the black-haired, black-eyed Alpha sat alone on the edge of the bed. His head was bowed, his gaze fixed on an anonymous message on his phone screen. His long, well-defined fingers gradually tightened their grip on the edge of the quilt, his entire aura radiating an intense, suffocating gloom.
Ruan Zhimian and Ruan Xubai standing together at the entrance of the Shi residence.
Why did he go to the Shi family? To do what?
He had dialed the number, but upon hearing that soft, gentle voice, he answered, “Baby, I don’t want anything.”
Shi He opened the tracking app connected to his smartwatch. Ruan Zhimian was currently moving toward the apartment, likely already in the car.
He said obediently, “I’ll wait for you to come home.”
The call ended, and Ruan Xubai handed over a tissue. “Mianmian.”
Tears hung on Ruan Zhimian’s eyelashes. He took the tissue and wiped his eyes, listening as Ruan Xubai spoke to him. “Don’t like him too much. When you give your true feelings so easily, it’s very easy to get hurt.”
From Han He’an to Shi He, his brother’s level of devotion and attention was completely different.
Ruan Xubai saw it clearly.
Ruan Zhimian lowered his snow-white face, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Gege, have you ever been in love?”
“Yes.”
Ruan Xubai rarely spoke of his own affairs, and the manga hadn’t depicted it either. If he hadn’t seen it just now, practically no one would have ever known.
Even someone as composed and rational as Ruan Xubai could be pushed to anger.
Ruan Zhimian rolled down the car window, letting the cool breeze blow over his face. “Ge, I’ll head up first. Drive safe on your way back.”
“Alright.”
Ruan Zhimian wrapped his coat tightly around himself and stepped into the elevator. Once his emotions stabilized, his stomach pain eased considerably.
He used his key to open the door, only to find the Alpha sitting on the steps in front of the entryway. The dark grey bathrobe hung slightly open, his curled black hair falling forward, shadowing his pitch-black eyes.
“Shi He…”
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