Chapter 389 Keep moving forward, don't look back

The torrential rain outside had stopped sometime earlier, and the surroundings were silent. The two of them remained silent, as if by unspoken agreement.

I don't know how much time passed.

It felt like a minute, but it also felt like several hours.

Jiang Ruan stood up from the chair and hugged him again, saying something to him as she let go.

A moment later.

Huo Zhizhou escorted her downstairs.

Looking at the person standing by the car door, he shed all emotion and tenderness, replacing them with detachment and unfamiliarity: "Don't come back this time. I don't need your pity, nor do I need your charity."

"I understand," Jiang Ruan replied calmly.

Tang Bai unconsciously frowned.

What did the two talk about?

Huo Zhizhou's eyes held everything he had hidden deep within them. He said to Jiang Ruan, "Keep moving forward, don't look back."

He was destined to make Huo Cheng pay the price for Shan Mu'an's actions, and all the paths he would take from now on would be shrouded in darkness.

She was surrounded by light.

How did he drag her into the mire?

"You too, keep moving forward and don't look back." Jiang Ruan said the same thing to him.

She got into the car.

As the car door closed, the car started and drove away.

Watching the car's taillights disappear into the distance, Huo Zhizhou's hands, hanging at his sides, tightened little by little, and he felt a physical pain in his chest from the suppressed tension.

After a while, he sent a message to Assistant Jiang: "Return to Jingzhou."

Jiang's assistant replied instantly: "The private jet has been arranged."

Huo Zhizhou and Jiang Ruan eventually went down different paths; one returned home along the predetermined route, while the other embarked on a different path in life.

On the way back, Jiang Ruan sat by the window, staring blankly out the window. Her eyes were unfocused, her mind was a complete blank, and she didn't even know what she was doing.

Mo Mo glanced back and gave Tang Bai a look: What if the boss is unhappy?

Tang Bai drove intently, pretending not to see it.

Mo Mo: "..."

Mo Mo: Should we tell her a joke?

Tang Bai retorted silently: Are you sure your joke is funny?

Mo Mo thought for a moment and nodded very seriously.

Tang Bai glanced at Jiang Ruan in the rearview mirror and gave her a look in response: Don't disturb her, she'll be fine after a good night's sleep.

They arrived home in a few tens of minutes. Since Tang Bai had informed Jiang An and Si Ning in advance, no one asked Jiang Ruan what was wrong when she got home, and everyone assumed everything was normal.

Sui Sui's reaction was different from theirs.

While Jiang Ruan was lying in bed sleeping, he quietly slipped into her room, lifted the covers, and crawled into her bed.

Jiang Ruan was taken aback.

I didn't expect him to come.

"Mommy."

"Um?"

Are you unhappy?

I don't know if this counts as being unhappy.

Is it because of Dad?

Jiang Ruan didn't answer. She didn't know how to tell him. Huo Zhizhou's affairs were too complicated, and his feelings were not something a five-year-old could understand.

“Your father is just as unhappy as I am,” Jiang Ruan said, rephrasing the statement.

“Although I don’t know what happened between you two, Dad said that as long as you and I are okay, he can get through any difficulty.” Sui Sui’s voice was soft. “He said that you are the only ray of light in his life and the most important support for everything he does.”

Jiang Ruan asked absentmindedly, "Really?"

Sui Sui's eyes sparkled: "Of course! He said it when we went to Jingzhou last time."

Last time?

What happened after their divorce?

“I believe in him, and you should believe in him too.” Sui Sui didn’t use any honorifics, simply talking to her from the heart. “We’ll live a normal life, there’s no need to worry about anything else.”

"Do you want me to remarry him?" Jiang Ruan thought about his emotions during this period.

“It would be a lie to say I don’t want to, but that’s a long, long time from now.” Sui Sui told her the truth, her words tinged with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Right now, I’d rather see Daddy chasing after you with all his might.”

Jiang Ruan asked, "Why?"

Sui Sui: "I'm curious about what happened to you before I was born."

He wanted to know the story of his parents' love affair.

I want to know how Dad managed to win over such a wonderful Mom.

Jiang Ruan's heart softened suddenly: "Do you want to go to Jingzhou to keep him company?"

“No.” Sui Sui refused decisively. “If I go, he will hide his bad mood and only show me his good side. I don’t want him to have such a hard time.”

Jiang Ruan hugged him.

Sui Sui is their little angel.

At the same time, at the Huo family's old residence.

Several hours had passed since Huo Zhizhou left. Huo Cheng sat in the courtyard, with the dark night sky above him.

He looked at Huo Sinian sitting next to him and said with a serious expression, "Do you think Zhizhou and Jiang Ruan will have a falling out this time?"

Huo Sinian poured him a cup of tea: "Probably not."

Huo Cheng frowned.

You don't even know this?

“Although Zhizhou is proud and cares a lot about this matter,” Huo Sinian said slowly, “Jiang Ruan is still the person he has liked for so many years. At most, he will draw a line between himself and her, but he will not really fall out with her.”

"How can we get back the property and custody of Sui Sui without a complete falling out?" Huo Cheng's face was grim.

“That’s actually the least important thing.” Huo Sinian placed the cup of tea in front of him as he said this, his refined face showing a calm demeanor. “You should be thinking more about how to explain things to Shan Mu’an.”

Huo Cheng said coldly, "What's there to explain? He jumped off the building himself, how can you blame me?"

"He asked you about this after so many years, so he must have heard some rumors or obtained some evidence," Huo Sinian said unhurriedly. "You know his personality."

Huo Cheng fell into a brief silence.

He was the only one who knew about it. Even the mother of the two children only knew the general outline and not the details. She knew the seriousness of the matter and could not tell anyone.

As for the surveillance footage, if he could access it, he would have found out back then.

"I don't believe he would dare to do anything reckless," he said bluntly after discovering that something had gone wrong.

"It's not like he hasn't messed around before," Huo Sinian said slowly. "Tell me the truth, was Shan Mu'an's death caused by you?"

Huo Cheng was immediately enraged: "Even you doubt me!"

“It’s not suspicion, just confirmation.” Huo Sinian was very calm, not giving anything away at all. “Of course I believe you have nothing to do with this, but Zhizhou is not the kind of person who would suspect someone so easily.”

Huo Cheng felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Huo Sinian continued to persuade him: "It would be best if you had nothing to do with this. If you do, I can make arrangements in advance to prevent him from harming you. After all, I still have lingering fears about what he did back then."

"I'm his father!" Huo Cheng said somewhat uneasy.

After Shan Mu'an died, Huo Zhizhou became a completely different person. If it weren't for their blood relation, no one knows how he would treat him.

If he knew that Shan Mu'an's death was related to him, he would probably...

no!

He absolutely must not find out!

"He offended even Jiang Ruan, whom he cared about a lot, in order to keep his promise, let alone you." Huo Sinian's words were harsh.

Huo Cheng's face was grim: "What do you mean by that!"

Huo Sinian didn't reply; he knew his father understood.