Chapter 109: 109: Fang Bao confessed, together now~
Jiang Zhi had only stayed at the Luo Family for a little over ten minutes. Luo Changde was very skilled at playing Tai Chi, not giving Jiang Zhi a single useful word, so he didn’t bother wasting any more ti with him.
When he ca out, Qiao Nanchu was still in the Luo Family’s courtyard.
“Why did you co out so quickly?”
He was concerned about Zhou Xufang and didn’t care about anything else, “What about her?”
“She ran off really fast and scaled the wall quite smoothly, who needs to let her go?” Qiao Nanchu said with a cigarette in his mouth, pointing in a direction, “There, she ran that way.”
Jiang Zhi went after her.
...
“Jiang Zhi.”
Qiao Nanchu blew a smoke ring and stopped him, asking, “When did you start working with her?”
So, he was keeping secrets from him.
Jiang Zhi turned his head, standing under the streetlight, “It’s none of your business.” He looked far off at Qiao Nanchu, his short hair casting broken shadows on his face, half-lit and half-dark, “You already know I’m working with her, so stop tailing her.”
After finishing his sentence, he resud his pursuit.
Qiao Nanchu flicked the ash off his cigarette, tsk, this was quite unusual.
The Luo Family’s villa was situated in a sowhat special location, separated by a road opposite to the undeveloped slums, with deep alleys, intertwining paths, and old, chaotically distributed Ping buildings, where dogs barked at night.
There were no surveillance caras here, and with many intersections, it was a good place to hide.
Upon reaching the mouth of the alley, Jiang Zhi stopped, slightly out of breath, “Don’t follow.”
Ah Wan refused sternly, “How can that be okay? What if you encounter criminals—”
Jiang Zhi looked back with a glance.
Ah Wan imdiately shut up, “Oh.”
This damn, ubiquitous, reflexive reaction!
Jiang Zhi entered the alley alone, choosing a path away from the light, and upon reaching the deep alley, he stopped and looked around, “There’s no one else here, co out.”
Zhou Xufang, who was actually lying on the roof of a Ping building: “…”
There were the sounds of dogs barking and cats owing, but she could only hear Jiang Zhi’s voice, as though it was the wind that brushed in, softening both her ears and heart.
He said, “Co out and see , I have a question for you.”
Alright.
She gave up resisting, jumped down from the Ping building, and after landing, erged from a dim path.
Hearing footsteps, Jiang Zhi turned his head and saw her, a pitch-dark figure with her eyes completely covered by glasses, offering no glimpse at all.
It was strange that even in this disguise, he could still recognize her.
Worried about scaring her off again, he didn’t approach, standing still, and asked her, “Why did you co to the Luo Family?”
She answered, “Looking for a watch.”
She must have researched this case beforehand, or she would not have known about the clue of the watch, which ant that there must be a very capable hacker behind her.
This hacker… Are they male or female?
Jiang Zhi nearly blurted out the question but controlled himself, asking seriously, “Who hired you to look for the watch?”
She couldn’t co up with an answer.
“If no one hired you,” he looked at her, his gaze deep, like an unfathomable and clean sea, “then is it for ?”
Yes.
Zhou Xufang wouldn’t admit it, “Your grandmother paid twenty million, and I’m helping you because—”
Jiang Zhi interrupted her, “I will also pay you twenty million to hire you.”
She was taken aback, then reacted, “What do you want to do?”
He stepped forward out of the backlight, the fine shadows in his eyes slowly becoming clear, then reflecting into a pitch-black shape, which was her shadow.
He said, “Take off your mask.”
Zhou Xufang, without thinking, replied, “I don’t accept.”
She turned to leave.
Jiang Zhi called after her from behind, “Zhou Xufang.”
Zhou Xufang…
How on earth did he recognize her? How could he be so sure, without a shadow of doubt?
She should have fled, she should have clung to the chance of not being fully exposed yet, hidden herself tighter, never to reveal that disguise, that protective coloration again, but she couldn’t move, as if nailed to the spot, foolishly letting Jiang Zhi enter her defensive circle.
He stood right in front of her, just an arm’s length away, and asked, “What are you afraid of?”
She feared many things.
Crowds, socializing, even just making simple eye contact, which is why she always wore her hat low, crouched in places without people, guarding vigilantly, hiding day and night.
“I—”
She had just lifted her head and hadn’t finished speaking when Jiang Zhi leaned in, placing his lips on hers, through the mask.
Her eyes widened, stunned for a mont before coming to her senses, intending to push him away, but he grasped her hand.
“Your hand is all red.” Jiang Zhi’s fingers caressed the back of her hand, where the skin swiftly reddened and grew warm, he laughed, released her hand, and placed it on her forehead, “Still won’t admit it?”
Now, she was utterly exposed.
Zhou Xufang bit her lip in regret, “Jiang Zhi.”
She no longer masked her voice, nor did she avoid Jiang Zhi’s gaze. Confused and lost, unsure of how to handle him, she watched as he stepped further into her territory, leaving her helpless.
Surrender, Zhou Xufang.
She stopped running, standing motionlessly as Jiang Zhi removed her glasses, her mask, and then her hat, a sliver of moonlight falling on her fair face.
Lips like capsized boats, eyes like phoenixes, cold and aloof when not smiling.
Her eyes were very large, distinct in black and white, splashed with the darkest ink, like a solitary star in the desert, coldly shimring with loneliness.
It was Zhou Xufang, a girl who rarely smiled, a girl who didn’t even know how to smile.
Jiang Zhi smoothed her ssy hair that was disheveled by the hat, without surprise or urgency, in his usual tone, he asked her, “Are you hurt anywhere?”
Zhou Xufang shook her head and said, “No.”
He stepped back to take a good look at her, ensuring she was unhard, then asked again, “Has anyone bullied you?”
She shook her head again.
“Luo Qinghe—”
Jiang Zhi was about to ask more when she interrupted him.
“Aren’t you curious?” Even though she hid it, her eyes still betrayed a glint of uneasy fear and caution, “About my identity, my background, my origins, and about as a person.”
Jiang Zhi had seen her running swiftly, he had seen her uprooting trees with her bare hands, he had also seen her sudden fever spikes followed by abrupt recoveries.
Perhaps, in the eyes of others, she was already a monster.
What did he think?
Jiang Zhi stood opposite her, looking up to et the light, his eyes brighter than the stars: “Curious, of course, I’m curious.”
Zhou Xufang didn’t understand: “Then why don’t you ask?”
Ever since he began to doubt her, he had never pressed her for answers. He accepted all her peculiarities and abnormalities; as long as she didn’t say, he would leave it at that, not questioning, nor investigating.
Wasn’t he afraid she was a demon? Or a ghost that road at night?
Jiang Zhi raised his hand, pressing down a tuft of stray hairs at the back of her head, but the disobedient lock sprang up again the mont he let go. Instead, he simply spread his palm and covered her head with it.
He smiled and said, “I’m more curious about when you’ll co to kiss .”
How could there be soone like Jiang Zhi? The shadows in his eyes were full, all of them were her, all of her little monster self.
Zhou Xufang didn’t want to think anymore, couldn’t think; her mind filled with Jiang Zhi’s voice, his appearance, so without pondering deeply, her body made a quicker move than her brain.
She tiptoed and kissed him on the face.
Then, he was stunned, staring at her without a response for a long ti.
She tugged at his clothes: “Jiang Zhi.”
His Adam’s apple turned red and bobbed: “You didn’t forget what I said, did you?” His speech was still calm, but his fluttering eyelashes betrayed him, “If you kiss , we’ll be together.”
That day behind the hospital in the garden, he had said if she agreed to be with him, she should co over and kiss him.
Zhou Xufang, who had a good mory, naturally rembered.
She tiptoed again and kissed him on the lips, a light touch, and then she stepped back, standing up straight, and declared with the solemnity of an oath: “Jiang Zhi, I like you.”
Before, she wanted to buy an island, live hidden away by herself, walking on land when no one was around, hiding underwater when people ca.
Now, she wanted to follow Jiang Zhi.
These words, if thought over carefully, she wouldn’t be able to say them, so she seized the mont while the wind blinded her eyes, while Jiang Zhi’s gaze stole her soul, and she said it all at once.
“I really like you, I want to be with you for a lifeti.” Each word was solemn and earnest, although uttered in the heat of the mont, it was no joke; she was very serious.
“Ah Fang,”
Jiang Zhi’s eyes were warm, breaking all the stars apart, reflections scattered and bright.
He bent down to her height, his ears reddening, his voice floating: “Say it again, the words you just said.”
Zhou Xufang repeated with all seriousness and sincerity: “I like you; I want to be with you for a lifeti.”
Finally, he had waited for this mont.
The girl had opened her heart, her words sweet enough to kill.
Jiang Zhi opened his arms, hugging her close, his eyes and brows curving into a smile: “From now on, Jiang Zhi is yours.”
Oh, he was hers.
Zhou Xufang was delighted, lifting her hanging hands to embrace him tightly, her Jiang Zhi.
In her ears, he was speaking, his voice low, soft, and gentle.
“Are you hot?”
Zhou Xufang answered honestly: “Hot.” Her exposed skin was all red, as if boiled, exceptionally warm.
Jiang Zhi held her with one hand and touched her forehead with the other: “You have a fever again.”
Zhou Xufang: “Oh.”
So be it if it was a fever.
Jiang Zhi was hugging her; she wouldn’t be sad even if she burned to death.
No, she couldn’t burn to death; if she did, she couldn’t be hugged anymore.
With that thought, Zhou Xufang pushed Jiang Zhi away a little, just a little, so she could breathe.
Jiang Zhi relaxed his embrace slightly, tilting his head back, gazing at her face: “Are you in discomfort?”
“Not at all.”
It was just a bit of ringing in her ears, as if set off by fireworks, dizzy, with an urge to hop and leap.
Jiang Zhi asked again: “Any reactions other than the fever?”
Zhou Xufang: “No.”
Her heart was leaping wildly.
But she couldn’t say it, saying so would scare Jiang Zhi, and what if he never hugged her again… She couldn’t say it!
Jiang Zhi still let her go, holding her hand, leaning down, patiently explaining to her: “I know you’re different from ordinary people, you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to, just be my girlfriend, that’s enough, everything else is secondary. But you need to tell what you can and cannot do.”
He had held her, embraced her, and even kissed her.
Only starting a family was left.
“Oh, Jiang Zhi is infertile.”
Miss Zhou Xufang felt a bit lost since she still had no concept of this matter. She shook her head, “I don’t know either.”
He was like a big grey wolf coaxing a little lamb to open the door, his peach blossom eyes hooked with seduction, casting a spell to hook out soone’s heart and soul, gently and persuasively, “Then shall we give it a try?”
Zhou Xiaoyang: “Hmm?”
He leaned down and kissed her briefly.
In the end, he stopped and looked at her.
“Your face is very red.”
Zhou Xufang’s face turned beet red.
Jiang Zhi’s handso face ca close to hers, “Your eyes are a bit red too.”
In fact, it was the sa for him. His eyes misty with moisture, utterly bewildered.
He touched the temperature of her neck, “You’re very hot.” Probably more than forty degrees, “Does it feel bad?”
Zhou Xufang was still dazed, her mouth agape, red and moist, with a silly expression, she shook her head stupidly, “It doesn’t feel bad.”
It’s just tinnitus, just dizziness, just palpitations, just…
None of that mattered!
She was so excited she wanted to leap to the moon and roll around!
Jiang Zhi beca worried, “Shouldn’t we go to the hospital for a checkup?”
She said no, and again that it wasn’t necessary, and then, she hopped in place twice, restraining herself from jumping several ters high, saying, “I’m completely fine.”
Jiang Zhi was amused by her and rubbed her hair, “If you feel unwell, you have to tell .”
“Mhm.”
Jiang Zhi hugged her back into his arms, caressing her soft hair with his head, “Another kiss.”
Zhou Xufang timidly said, “Okay.”
He pulled her into an alley.
The moon also hid behind the clouds.
After a while, there was a voice.
“Wait here for , I’ll go and distract Lin Wanwan.”
Zhou Xufang, still with red ears, “Why do you need to distract him?”
Jiang Zhi’s voice was hoarse, saying, “He’s too dumb. I’m not comfortable letting him know about your identity as an errand runner.”
Zhou Xufang, still with red ears, “Oh.”
He fixed her hat and mask again, “Hide there and wait for .”
Zhou Xufang, still with red ears, “Okay.”
She followed Jiang Zhi’s instructions, hid in the depths of the alley, crouching in the dark waiting for him.
Jiang Zhi erged from the mouth of the alley, onto the main road, where Ah Wan was still waiting, bored, counting the stones on the ground.
“Lin Wanwan.”
The voice sounded strange, sowhat sultry, sowhat seductive, sowhat beguiling.
Iron-straight man Ah Wan didn’t overthink it, “Boss, you finally ca out.” He looked behind Jiang Zhi, “Where’s that errand runner miss?”
“She’s gone.”
“Ah? She left just like that?” Such an unprofessional bodyguard! Ah Wan couldn’t help but ask, “Was it Miss Zhou?”
Jiang Zhi kept a straight face, “No.”
Upon hearing this, Ah Wan beca excited, overzealous: “I knew it! Miss Zhou is so dignified and virtuous, how could she possibly be involved in petty theft?”
Petty theft…
Jiang Zhi wanted to kick him.
The man didn’t know when to stop, kept badmouthing, kept blackening, “That errand runner, always clinging to you, must have fallen for your good looks.”
Jiang Zhi narrowed his eyes.
The man grew more excited as he spoke, “Boss, you must be very careful, I think she might be a scum.”
“Enough!”
Ah Wan was so startled that his body trembled.
So fierce… He was just looking out for him, how wronged, how heartbroken.
He didn’t dare to retort, and silently snorted through his nose, “Alright, I’ll say no more, just be careful.” In the end, if he got molested, it would be his own fault!
“Boss, why is your face so red?”
Jiang Zhi unnaturally turned his head away, licking his lips, “It’s the wind.”
Naive Ah Wan was so kind, generous, considerate, and professional. He cared without bearing any grudge, “You better get into the car quickly then, don’t get sick from the wind again.”
Jiang Zhi stood at the mouth of the alley, motionless, “Give the car keys.”
Ah Wan: “Ah?”
“The car keys.”
Ah Wan handed over the car keys, not understanding what he ant, “What do you need the car keys for?”
“I’ll drive myself; you go back first.”
“How can you drive with your condition?” What if he fainted halfway through… Ah Wan was scared just thinking about it, standing firm, “No no, I must stick with you. If sothing were to happen to you, not to ntion your family’s old lady, Ms. Song from my family would also kill .”
Jiang Zhi casually threw out, “If you don’t leave, I’ll kill you right now.”
“…”
Not human!
Ah Wan shrank her neck, feeling a bit intimidated, “Boss, you’re acting so strange today.”
Jiang Zhi lost patience and threw her a cutting glare, “Scram.”
Ah Wan: “Oh, I’m off then.”
Once she was gone, Jiang Zhi picked up the car keys and turned back into the depths of the alley.
“Xu Fang.”
A head peeked out from around the corner: “Hmm?”
She was squatting there, like a mushroom.
Jiang Zhi walked over and plucked the black mushroom up: “Still feverish?”
Mushroom Xu Fang said, “Not anymore.”
Jiang Zhi touched her head, which was no longer hot; her fever had co quickly and dissipated just as swiftly.
He led her outside, “I’ll take you ho.”
Xu Fang obediently followed, her mouth still red—where he had bitten her earlier, “Aren’t we going to the hospital?” He was still admitted there.
He pulled her hand into his, their fingers intertwining tightly, “No need, the beds there are uncomfortable.”
“Then, can you be discharged?”
“Yes.”
The car was parked on the opposite side of the alley, and Jiang Zhi opened the passenger door. Xu Fang didn’t get in, instead saying, “I’ll drive.”
Driving was tiring, and her boyfriend was quite delicate.
Jiang Zhi agreed, handing her the car keys: “Drive slowly.” He wanted to spend more ti with her.
“Sure.”
All the way, Jiang Zhi did nothing but watch her. Xu Fang drove with full concentration, never glancing at Jiang Zhi, which made him a bit grumpy.
At the traffic lights, he pecked her on the face to ease his irritation.
Xu Fang drove unusually slow, taking an hour and a half for a fifty-minute journey, and by the ti they reached Yuquan Bay, it was past ten o’clock.
She parked the car at the roadside and didn’t drive in.
“We’re here.”
Jiang Zhi furrowed his brows, “That’s it?”
“Mhm.”
He sat still without unbuckling his seatbelt and suggested, “Let’s go for another round.”
Xu Fang chuckled, “Okay.”
Then, after circling another three tis, the car once again stopped at the entrance of Yuquan Bay—now it was eleven.
Usually, Jiang Zhi would have been asleep by this ti.
He checked the ti and unbuckled her seatbelt for her, “If you feel unwell at all, call .”
Xu Fang agreed, “Sure.”
Jiang Zhi got out and opened the car door for her: “When will you let visit your place?” he said with a hint of grievance, “I’m already your boyfriend.”
It just wasn’t right not having visited his girlfriend’s ho yet.
Xu Fang replied, “It’s very late now, and you’re not well. You shouldn’t be staying up.”
Sotis she was so obedient.
And sotis, she had a rationale for everything.
Jiang Zhi had figured out her temperant by now; she was very principled, yet outside those boundaries, her tolerance was quite high.
He still needed to coax her slowly.
He put the hood of her hoodie on her, “Go upstairs.”
Xu Fang waved, “Goodbye, Jiang Zhi.”
After saying that, she walked toward the residential complex.
Jiang Zhi leaned against the car door, watching her enter; just as her silhouette disappeared from view, she ca darting back.
He laughed, “Why did you co back? Can’t bear to leave ?”
Xu Fang had raced back: “I’ll take you ho.”
“No need.”
She insisted, “I’ll take you.”
The world was full of dangers, with so many vile people around, and many who wished to harm Jiang Zhi—a beautiful young man on his own would be in grave danger.
Xu Fang couldn’t rest easy.
Jiang Zhi, half-amused and half-touched by her earnestness, said, “If you take ho, then I’ll have to drive you back again. Do we even need to sleep tonight?” Seeing the little lady standing firm, he had to cajole her, “I’m not so frail. You be good and go sleep. I’m heading to the old house; my grandmother is there, it’s safe.”
Xu Fang hesitated for a long ti: “Then be careful on the way.”
“Mhm.” Jiang Zhi held her, reluctant to let go, “How about a hug before I go?”
“Okay.”
She looked around nervously; once sure no one was around, she timidly and tensely… snuggled into his embrace.
“Xu Fang.”
“Mhm.”
Jiang Zhi whispered in her ear, laughing, his eyes shining like the stars, “I had a great ti today.”
She spoke softly, saying that she did too, very, very much.
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