Chapter 52 Grasshoppers on a Rope

Tears streamed down the girl's face.

"I...I killed someone, I really killed someone..."

Ruan Yi looked at her blood-stained hands, trembling uncontrollably. Panic overwhelmed her mind, and she didn't even have time to question the man's reason for appearing.

Fu Jingchen paused, his gaze falling on her blood-stained hands, and said, word by word.

"Xiaoyi just didn't let anyone hurt you, did she?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Jingchen stopped looking at her and turned to walk towards the man who was still convulsing on the ground with bulging eyes.

The blood on the hilt stained his hands, and just as Ruan Zhengyi opened his mouth wide, making his last silent plea for help, he did not hesitate to plunge the tip of the knife into the other's heart.

The man pulled out the knife, and blood dripped down the blade.

He turned around, his bloodied hand grasping Ruan Yi's cold hand again, the warmth of his palm mixed with the sticky blood.

Surprisingly, it made her tremble less.

“Xiao Yi.” He looked into her eyes, his tone calm.

"You only lightly scratched his neck, it's no big deal. Didn't I kill him?"

Fu Jingchen deliberately slowed down his speech, gently stroking the back of her hand with his fingertips, as if wiping away something dirty.

Ruan Yi looked at him, so shocked that her hands stopped trembling.

She forcefully pulled her hand away from Fu Jingchen's, her voice trembling with tears, filled with both anxiety and fear.

"No! We'll go to jail! Quick... quick, we need to clean up the scene and hide the body!"

Fu Jingchen raised his eyebrows, as if he hadn't expected Ruan Yi to react this way.

His eyes were still watery, and when he mentioned hiding the body, he was already about to take action. How could he be so adorable...?

The girl who was just breaking down crying and shouting that she had killed someone is now suddenly thinking about how to hide the body. What a erratic behavior.

Like a kitten cornered in a desperate situation, yet still clumsily trying to find a solution.

Seeing him standing there in a daze, Ruan Yi became even more anxious.

"Fu Jingchen, I'm not joking! Wait, wait a minute... I'll dig the pit while you move the body! We can't get caught! If word gets out, the company's stock price will plummet!"

The smile in the man's eyes deepened.

Money really held a special place in her heart, and... why use such an ancient method to hide a corpse?

"Xiaoyi, don't rush."

Fu Jingchen took out a pack of disinfectant wipes from the inside pocket of his suit, which was clearly not something he would normally keep on hand.

Next to the inner bag of wet wipes was a sharp metal object that never made an appearance.

From the moment he learned that someone was plotting against Ruan Yi, he had no intention of letting that person leave alive.

Having done it once before, the second time was naturally much easier.

But he didn't expect...

"His kitten was braver than he had imagined."

The man pulled out a disinfectant wipe, took Ruan Yi's still trembling hand in his, and used his fingertips to wipe away the bloodstains from her palm and between her fingers.

His movements were so slow, as if he were polishing some fragile treasure, as if the person who had just delivered the final blow was not him at all.

"The only thing that needed a little cleaning is done."

He let go of her hand after he used up the last wet wipe, and the girl's hand once again revealed its original fair and delicate appearance.

"What about him? He's so big! There's no way to hide him in a suitcase!"

The man's gaze swept across the room. When he raised his hand, he avoided Ruan Yi's waist and abdomen, and instead put his arm around her shoulder, avoiding the bloodstains on the ground, and led her outside.

Once they were in the corridor, away from the strong smell of blood, he said, "Xiao Yi, don't worry about anything, I'll handle it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the man took out his phone and tapped the screen rapidly with his fingertips, seemingly contacting someone. His face remained expressionless throughout.

When Ruan Yi came to her senses, she had already been led to a coffee shop, where Fu Jingchen pushed a glass of hot milk in front of her.

It was as if the blood-stained room from just moments ago was merely an insignificant interlude.

Ruan Yi opened her mouth, wanting to ask something, but before she could think of anything to say, she swallowed it back.

When she was about to speak again, she saw him calmly stirring his coffee and silently closed her mouth.

Several times, her lips opened and closed like a goldfish.

Fu Jingchen had noticed her expression long ago, and when she swallowed her words for the fifth time, he finally couldn't help but chuckle.

His laughter was soft, tinged with a helpless indulgence. He looked up at her, his eyes filled with subtle smiles.

"What does Xiaoyi want to ask?"

"Fu Jingchen, why are you here?"

Finally, when he took the initiative to speak, Ruan Yi immediately followed up with her question.

"Well, I can't answer that question."

He really couldn't say it, after all, the opportunity to be a hero and save the damsel in distress... was given to him by a complete stranger.

Ruan Yi frowned deeply, completely resigned to her fate.

Anyway, both she and Fu Jingchen committed murder, so they're in the same boat now.

Let's just ask her whatever she wants to know. Even if she gets struck by lightning for asking, let's just kill her and the protagonist together.

"Fu Jingchen, is my mother's illness related to you?"

Upon hearing this, the man's hand holding the coffee cup paused almost imperceptibly.

A crack appeared in the calm of his face, and a genuine shock flashed in his eyes, as if he had never expected her to ask that question.

His brows furrowed slightly, and he looked at her intently, as if confirming the meaning behind her words. He looked at Ruan Yi, his tone calm yet unquestionable.

"No."

There were no further explanations, no rhetorical questions, just two simple words, as if the surprise of being misunderstood far outweighed the displeasure of being questioned.

It was so real, so real that it didn't seem like acting; so real that she couldn't see a single flaw.

“Fu Jingchen, if you dare to lie to me, I will expose what happened today. This will be considered excessive self-defense, and we will both go to jail together.”

"I wouldn't do such a thing. Besides, Mr. Ruan and I have no conflict. Why would I do such a thing?"

The man's voice was a little deeper than before, but it was still calm, without the slightest hint of offense.

"Of course it's because you like it..."

"I like Xiaoyi."

The man made no jokes or attempts to be sentimental; his gaze was fixed intently on her face.

Ruan Yi froze, her eyes wide open, her body completely stiff, and she even forgot to breathe.

It's so realistic, so incredibly realistic. If this were acting, Fu Jingchen would definitely be an award-winning actor.

Is he trying to use her to get close to A-Zhi, or—is it really true?

If the plot were to develop into the main character falling for the villainous female supporting character, it would be no less awful than Pleasant Goat and Red Wolf starting a relationship...

That's absolutely insane.

Ruan Yi opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

"It's my turn to ask Xiaoyi."

Why is Xiaoyi here?

The man's words were like a needle, piercing Ruan Yi's chaotic thoughts.

The longing for the restoration of family affection was nothing but a conspiracy.

Her father completely disregarded her life and abandoned her entirely.

Ruan Yi had even considered that her father might threaten her with money and make exorbitant demands... but she never dared to imagine that he would actually push her into an abyss of fire.

That was her biological father.

"Because of my dad." Ruan Yi didn't say anything more.

The man's hand holding the coffee cup slowly tightened.

The girl's face held a familiar look in her eyes, a look of despair at being betrayed and pushed into the abyss by someone close to her.

He was like himself, used as a bargaining chip by his father.

The air remained quiet for a long time before Ruan Yi looked away.

Despite their vastly different, even opposing, stances, they are inexplicably confessed to and inexplicably similar.

An emotion that even the girl herself was unaware of spread quietly like mist, blurring the originally clear boundaries between the two.

"They were a perfect match made in heaven."