Chapter 8: Rock Sugar Strawberries
Ruan Yi finished her breakfast with a sour expression, returned to her room, and casually pulled the door shut.
She had to catch him red-handed!
Putting other matters aside for now, she had to start investigating from the point where her mother was drugged.
If she remembered correctly, there was less than a year left before Ruan Ying would be admitted to a mental hospital due to uncontrollable emotional instability.
The diagnosis given by the doctor at that time was chilling: Ms. Ruan Ying was suspected of long-term, erroneous combined use of antipsychotics, hypnotic sedatives, and central nervous system stimulants.
The patient developed nervous system disorders, suffering from severe anxiety, irritability, and frequent auditory hallucinations.
The person who drugged her mother was exceptionally ruthless; the drugs were administered over a long period, and the dosage severely exceeded standards.
Her mother’s usual diet was almost the same as hers, and the possibility of being drugged while discussing business or eating out was low.
Was it Fu Jingchen? Ruan Yi wasn’t sure.
It was unlikely that Fu Jingchen could bribe the cooking staff as soon as he entered the Ruan household. The aunties in the kitchen were all old employees who had worked for the Ruan family for a long time.
Could it be just because Fu Jingchen had his eyes on Gu Zhi? If he wanted to do something bad, he should have just kidnapped Gu Zhi.
Ruan Yi thought until her head started to ache. Facts proved that not everyone had a “rebirth halo.” If one’s brain wasn’t good in the past life, it wouldn’t be much better after rebirth.
Although the Ruan family was wealthy, the family relationships had actually been quite simple since her father left.
It could be said to be very harmonious; there were no strange distant relatives, nor were there flocks of illegitimate children. This was the benefit of her mother being the head of the household.
Ruan Yi was like a flower in a greenhouse. Ruan Ying protected her with meticulous care inside a sturdy, luxurious glass flower house.
Before her mother’s mental health issues arose, she had firmly believed she would be happy under her mother’s wings for her entire life.
Ruan Yi buried her face into the pillow, scratching her head in irritation until her hair was a mess.
She even wanted to call the police directly or hire a private detective to investigate, but the protagonists in novels were practically outlaws.
Alerting the enemy without any clues might result in her being fast-tracked to the operating table at 8x speed.
Aren’t vicious female supporting characters usually the masterminds behind all the evil deeds? Why was she completely in the fog?
At this moment, the girl with her hair messed up looked less like a vicious villainess devoid of conscience and more like a helpless, bristling cat.
One should know, cats are not in a disadvantaged position in the food chain.
As secondary consumers in the ecosystem, they occupy a stable position in the middle-to-upper tier of the food chain.
Unfortunately, surrounding this kitty were not fish, mice, or insects. When a petite, cute predator is surrounded only by large, carnivorous beasts…
In the end, she could only become a delicacy torn apart and devoured.
Ding. A message notification sound interrupted Ruan Yi’s immersion in her thoughts.
A string of unknown numbers: [Xiao Yi, Dad is really tight on money recently. Send Dad some more money.]
Ruan Yi’s heart was a mess.
Cheng Huaiyuan was not a good husband, but Ruan Yi could not deny that during her childhood, he had been a good father.
Her mother was an atypical iron lady—strong but not rigid, gentle yet not lacking in power.
Did Ruan Ying and Cheng Huaiyuan not love each other? Quite the opposite.
It was precisely because they truly loved each other that the huge gap generated after the burnout was exceptionally heart-wrenching.
Ruan Ying loved her daughter very much, but because of her career, she couldn’t always be by Ruan Yi’s side. Cheng Huaiyuan took on the role of accompanying Ruan Yi during her childhood.
Ruan Yi’s figure often appeared on his shoulders.
But in most cases, he held two little dolls in his arms.
In the crook of his left arm was Ruan Yi, and in the right was Shen Xun. The two little ones in his arms would fight affectionately, and a smile was deeply engraved on his face.
Ruan Yi also frequently hated her father.
Why wasn’t he content? Why wasn’t he loyal?
When Cheng Huaiyuan knelt before Ruan Ying, crying bitterly and admitting his mistakes, perhaps because blood is thicker than water, or perhaps because she was still young, Ruan Yi almost wanted to stand by her father’s side and persuade her mother to forgive him.
But Ruan Yi didn’t do that.
The disintegration of the family pained her, but how could Ruan Yi not know that the person in the most pain was her mother?
No one is qualified to forgive a husband on behalf of his wife.
Not even their only child.
Ruan Yi zoned out, the corners of her eyes already stained with a tinge of crimson.
Her father always described his situation as miserable. She had transferred money many times before; her mother wasn’t unaware, she just turned a blind eye.
Her slender fingers trembled slightly as she typed.
Ruan Yi: [I’ve transferred it to your card. This is the last time.]
The amount this time was not small, because she had made up her mind that it would be the final one.
As long as he was willing to live steadily, this money was enough to keep her father stable and happy for the rest of his life.
After the money was sent, she didn’t even receive a reply.
In the beginning, he would still meet her privately, but it had gradually turned into the current situation where he wouldn’t reply after receiving the money.
People change. The familiar, kind face in her memories had gradually become abominable.
When she lowered her eyes, she suddenly felt a spot of coldness on her knee. Brushing it gently with her fingertip, she realized it was a tear that had fallen from her eye.
Ruan Yi’s eyelashes trembled. She sniffled, and another crystal-clear tear rolled down.
“Sister?” The voice was very light. Gu Zhi had appeared beside her at some point, without even the sound of footsteps.
Ruan Yi was startled. “Why didn’t you knock?” She wiped away her tears in a slight panic.
They weren’t that easy to dry; her face was still wet.
Ruan Yi’s face was cupped, the soft flesh of her cheeks squeezed into his palms.
Looking up, Gu Zhi’s expression was frighteningly gloomy.
“I knocked. Sister didn’t hear.”
He lied.
“Because of who? Shen Xun? Or Fu Jingchen?”
“What the hell, how could it be because of them? It’s because of Dad.” Her speech was a bit slurred as her cheeks were being held.
Gu Zhi’s movements stiffened slightly, and he gently let go of her face.
He walked to the side, accurately finding the soft lotion tissues on Ruan Yi’s vanity table, despite the dazzling array of bottles and jars piled there.
He meticulously wiped the tear stains from Ruan Yi’s face.
“Dad looked for you again?”
Had she told Gu Zhi about this?
“Mn, I told Dad that this is the last time I’m sending him money.”
“Don’t be sad. Sister did the right thing.” He rubbed the top of Ruan Yi’s head.
“Mn.” Ruan Yi’s voice still carried a sticky nasal tone.
“Do you want to eat rock sugar strawberries?”
Ruan Yi was a bit stunned by this unrelated sentence. She looked up at him; her small face was pink, and the tip of her nose was still red.
Gu Zhi stared at her, his Adam’s apple moving slightly.
“When I first came to the Ruan family, thinking of my parents always made me want to cry. Sister always fed me rock sugar strawberries. Do you remember?”
Ruan Yi certainly remembered, though the truth might not be so beautiful.
When Ruan Yi was little, she deserved a beating. When eating strawberries, she only ate the strawberry tips. The same went for rock sugar strawberries, but Mom didn’t allow her to waste food.
When the creature known as “younger brother” first arrived, he always had a silly look, like he was about to cry but hadn’t yet.
When the girl stuffed a rock sugar strawberry, bitten down to just the strawberry butt, into the little boy’s mouth, his expression became much cuter.
Ruan Yi seemed to have inadvertently discovered a fully automatic strawberry butt processing machine.
It didn’t waste food, and it made both siblings happy.
Back then, she really thought she was a genius.
Recalling this, Ruan Yi wiped away nonexistent sweat with a guilty conscience. “Haha, I remember, I remember.” Only, now that she was grown up, she had long lost those affected habits.
The smile in Gu Zhi’s eyes deepened.
What was she guilty about? Did she think he didn’t know?
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