The three women from the Ruan family, plus Madam Ran who was just there for the fun, made Yin Zhuo sweat profusely and feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Women of this age, whose children are of marriageable age, tend to develop a penchant for matchmaking and enjoy gathering young people together.
Since this involved their own children, Ruan's daughter-in-law immediately launched into a barrage of inquiries and questions.
Madam Ran chimed in, considering herself half a member of Yin Zhuo's family and very willing to form a marriage alliance with the Ruan family. She spoke highly of Yin Zhuo, praising her diligence at work and her good character.
It's no wonder the Ruan family overthinks things. Ruan Xi really doesn't have any close male friends, so when Yin Zhuo suddenly appears, they naturally start to think in that direction.
Yin Zhuo was so confused by the questions that he vaguely told her most or least about his situation, even finding out how many people were in his family.
Finally, when he heard his second aunt whispering to his mother that he was tall and handsome and had a good personality, and that he was a good match for Ruan Xiting, Yin Zhuo felt a strange sense of pride.
When Mrs. Ruan asked him tactfully, "What do you think of our Xixi?"
Yin Zhuo suddenly blushed, the blush spreading from her cheeks all the way down to her neck and ears.
He wondered, what about Ruan Xi?
He didn't know either, having only met them twice.
But upon recalling it, the scenes of those two meetings reappeared vividly in his mind.
Upon first meeting, he was sitting in his car. After parking, he habitually observed his surroundings. The beautiful girl in the long dress stood out against the backdrop of the old residential buildings around her.
His gaze lingered for a second, a natural reaction to beautiful things, for no other reason than that his preference had never been for such quiet and delicate girls.
This was the first time he had misjudged Ruan Xi.
Upon seeing the injury on her younger brother's face, the usually calm and collected girl's eyes instantly ignited with anger. She dropped her suitcase and rushed over, fiercely protecting her brother.
She was clearly half a head shorter than her younger brother, and there was no way to hide it. She was still a helpless little girl, yet she was incredibly fierce.
At that moment, Yin Zhuo felt neither fear nor excitement, but rather a headache.
He thought of his sister.
The Yin family has practiced martial arts for generations. In this generation, he and his sister Yin Ying are the most talented, especially his sister Yin Ying, who is not only talented but also hardworking, and is also a few years older than him.
From a young age, he was naughty, lazy, disobedient, and did poorly in his studies, which became his sister's reasons for beating him. For a time, he went to school with a bruised and swollen face, which became the most painful black history of Yin Zhuo's childhood.
However, Ruan Xi certainly couldn't beat him up like his sister did. His sister was a real tigress, a man-eater, and in front of her was at most a little cat, whose claws weren't even sharp enough.
But Yin Zhuo really wouldn't have any thoughts about any girl who could remind him of Yin Ying; he wasn't a masochist.
I gave Ruan Xi a ride to school because of Ruan Bei. The two barely spoke a word the whole way, except for a polite thank you from Ruan Xi when she got out of the car.
The reunion was unexpected. Yin Zhuo was on leave and went out for a drive. He didn't have any bad habits. As a top bodyguard and a martial artist, he couldn't have a smoking or drinking habit, for fear of delaying his employer's business or ruining his good martial arts body.
Yin Zhuo spent all his money on food and drinks. He wandered the streets and alleys looking for good food, and then he stumbled upon Ruan Xi being bullied.
A man dragged her off the bus that had just stopped. Ruan Xi struggled and hit him with her bag, while many people watched.
The man said that Ruan Xi was his girlfriend and that she was throwing a tantrum at him. Some people were skeptical. The man pointed to the red marks on his hands that he didn't know what he had made and the handprint on his face, saying that those were Ruan Xi's doing. If he didn't know her, why would she hit him?
He mentioned Ruanxi's name, her school's name, and the more he said, the more believable it sounded.
The passersby hesitated. Yin Zhuo had good eyesight and saw through the crowd the girl who was baring her teeth and claws in front of him. She bit her lip until it bled and her eyes were red but she didn't shed a tear. She just begged the onlookers to call the police for her.
Yin Zhuo suddenly felt a pang of sadness. At the time, he thought he couldn't stand seeing a young girl being bullied, especially since it was someone he knew.
Looking back now, Yin Zhuo, his face flushed, suddenly revealed a somewhat silly smile. Perhaps it wasn't an act of heroism, but simply a man's infatuation.
There's not much to say about what happened next; Yin Zhuo quickly took the man down.
Having worked as a bodyguard for years, he's very experienced in handling these kinds of situations. His movements may not seem forceful or aggressive, but he secretly gave the man a few slaps, enough to keep him in pain for ten days to half a month without any apparent cause of injury.
Ruan Xi insisted on calling the police, and when the police arrived, all three of them were taken to give statements.
Upon arriving at the police station, Yin Zhuo learned the full story from Ruan Xi.
On the bus, she saw a man molesting a teenage girl. The girl was so frightened that she trembled and dared not make a sound. Seeing this injustice, Ruan Xilu used her key to cut the man's hand.
The man turned the tables, claiming that Ruan Xi was his girlfriend and that she was trying to get rid of him by dating a rich second-generation heir, deliberately ruining his reputation.
He repeated the same thing he said after getting off the bus: Ruan Xi's name and school.
This puts the key point on the young girl, but under the watchful eyes of everyone on the bus, she refuted Ruan Xi's words and did not admit that the man had just molested her.
The man, emboldened by his success, made advances on Ruan Xi, and that's when he received the slap on the face. Just then, the bus arrived at the station, and he dragged Ruan Xi off the bus, which led to the scene that Yin Zhuo witnessed.
After Ruan Xi finished speaking, she said to the police officer taking her statement, "I know that my one-sided statement can't convict him. I called the police and asked you to come out. I just wanted you to get to know him so that if any girl is bullied by him next time, she can muster up the courage to call the police. This can at least be considered a prior offense to help corroborate the case."
The girl, her eyes still red, tilted her chin up and glanced disdainfully at the lewd man. Judging from his skill level, this guy had definitely done this more than once.
She wanted to say these things to his face, hoping to scare him and prevent more girls from becoming victims. Even if she didn't scare him, what she said was exactly what she wanted to say—to let him know that not all girls would silently endure.
At that moment, the little girl, with her disheveled hair and disheveled face, seemed to be glowing.
Yin Zhuo smiled, resting his chin on his hand, his heart filled with admiration for Ruan Xi.
The policewoman taking the statement cooperated by carefully examining the lewd man several times, causing him to lower his head and cover his face, only to look up again under the police's reprimand.
Finally, the lewd man reluctantly admitted that he did not know Ruan Xi. He only knew her information because Ruan Xi received a phone call at the bus stop, and he heard her type her name.
Then Ruanxi mentioned a shop outside the school, and he happened to know that shop, so he guessed that it was Ruanxi's school.
Yin Zhuo's statement was too simple: if a girl he knew was being bullied, of course he would lend a hand.
Because the victim refused to come forward, and Ruan Xi did indeed hit the pervert, she could not be convicted and was simply given a reprimand.
The lewd man wanted to cause trouble, saying that Yin Zhuo had beaten him up and that he was in pain all over and demanded compensation.
Ruan Xi was so angry that she almost rushed over and slapped him twice more. She clearly saw with her own eyes that Yin Zhuo only twisted his hand and knocked him down, but did not hit him at all!
Several police officers looked at Yin Zhuo, who was clearly not an ordinary person, exchanged glances, and asked the lewd man where he was in pain. Then they made him take off his clothes to check his injuries.
And of course, there wasn't a single scratch on his body. The most obvious injury on his body was probably the red mark on his hand that Ruan Xi had scratched with the key.
But he was in pain, as if someone was tearing his flesh out of his bones. He howled for a long time, and the police got impatient and told him to get a medical examination and then come back to sue Yin Zhuo with the report.
In the end, the lewd man could only stagger out, clutching his aching stomach. Yin Zhuo, knowing that he knew Ruan Xi's name and school, deliberately blocked the entrance just in case.
When the lewd man came out, Yin Zhuo smiled and said, "Did it hurt? Let me tell you, kid, if anything happens to my sister in the future, I'll hold you responsible. I can make sure no one can see how badly you're hurt, and I can make sure you die without a sound. Do you believe me?"
The lewd man's legs went weak and he almost knelt down before him. If he were really bold, he wouldn't only dare to bully girls weaker than him. This kind of person is actually both cowardly and disgusting.
After threatening the man and scaring him away, thankfully he didn't dare to cause any more trouble for Ruan Xi, and the matter was considered resolved.
A minor accident occurred later. Yin Zhuo was in a hurry to save people and parked illegally, resulting in a ticket from the traffic police.
The fine itself was a minor issue; what frustrated Yin Zhuo was that despite his excellent driving skills and the fact that he had never lost points since getting his license, he had gotten into trouble here.
Ruan Xi had thanked Yin Zhuo countless times since leaving the police station, and even said she wanted to treat him to a meal to express her gratitude. Now, seeing Yin Zhuo's unhappy expression, she felt bad and wanted to pay his fine.
Yin Zhuo refused, but Ruan Xi insisted, and in the end she still managed to get her to pay the two hundred yuan.
Ruan Xi had recently incurred high expenses during her internship and didn't have much money on her to begin with. After paying Yin Zhuo a fine of 200 yuan, she couldn't afford to treat herself to a decent meal with the remaining 100-plus yuan.
Ruan Xi secretly touched her empty wallet, her fair cheeks gradually turning red. She had promised to treat everyone, but what if she couldn't afford to?
Yin Zhuo certainly didn't need to miss out on a meal, but for some reason he didn't want to smooth things over for Ruan Xi and find an excuse to leave. Instead, he took the initiative to suggest that he had heard there were many delicious and cheap restaurants near the university town that he hadn't tried yet, but he didn't know which one was good.
Then, at his urging, the two went to eat some spicy hot pot, and Ruan Xihao said generously, "Order whatever you like!"
Yin Zhuo, with his long legs huddled under the folding table, ate a cheap but delicious hot pot meal with Ruan Xi, their heads almost touching. No wonder Ruan Dong misunderstood when he saw this; the table was simply too small.
This time, the two stopped keeping silent and started talking back and forth about whatever they were saying, without any awkward silences.
Finally, Ruanxi begged him not to tell her family about what happened today, for fear that her family would worry.
Unable to resist her pleading, Yin Zhuo nodded in agreement.
Yin Zhuo suddenly realized why he was speechless when Ruan Bei questioned him.
If he were truly innocent, he could easily fool Ruan Bei with any excuse, and Ruan Xi would definitely cooperate with his explanation anyway.
Yin Zhuo felt as if he had just experienced an earthquake, his heart churning and a burning emotion bubbling like lava, making his cheeks even redder.
Just as he finished thinking through all his miscellaneous thoughts, Ruan Xi returned.
"Yin Zhuo? What are you doing at my house? Hey, why is your face so red..."
"XiXi, how can you talk like that?"
Ruan's mother stepped forward and took the bag from her daughter's hand, blocking her with her body, and whispered in Ruan Xi's ear, "Mom knows everything. This Yin Zhuo is very good. If you scare him away, I won't let you off this time."
Ruan Xi: "?" No, what do you know?
She was dazed and pulled to sit down next to Yin Zhuo. One by one, her aunt and her mother asked her how she and Yin Zhuo met.
Ruan Xi was completely bewildered. She had just realized what she was thinking. She had never been in a relationship since she was a child and had practiced martial arts since childhood. She imagined a hero rescuing a damsel in distress. Yin Zhuo, with a big red face, sat down next to Ruan Xi like a little wife with his head down.
Ruan Bei was sent to do chores. Leaning against the kitchen door frame, the scallions he had peeled were torn into several pieces. His eyes were blazing with anger as he looked at Yin Zhuo.
Qin Gu couldn't help but chuckle and rescued the poor scallion. It was alright; it was going to be chopped into scallion flowers anyway, so this saved him a couple of cuts.
After sitting for a while, with her cousin Ruan Dong's help, Ruan Xi finally realized, in a daze, that her elders had misunderstood her relationship with Yin Zhuo.
She wanted to explain, but explaining would mean clarifying why she had invited Yin Zhuo to dinner.
If she hadn't come back before, Yin Zhuo could have vaguely said that he had helped Ruan Xi, and the Ruan family elders wouldn't have asked for details. But it wouldn't have been the case with Ruan Xi; she couldn't get past her mother's hurdle.
Ruan Xi silently turned her head. The other person who had been misunderstood had finally managed to lower his temperature a little, but Ruan Xi's gaze made it rise again.
Ruan Xi choked up. That day, when she saw him take action, he was clearly a tough guy. How did he suddenly become so shy?
However, she ended up dragging her benefactor into this mess; the person had kindly helped her but was misunderstood.
Ruan Xi thought for a moment, and under the teasing gaze of her elders, pulled Yin Zhuo aside and whispered, "I'm sorry, my parents seem to have misunderstood. I will explain to them properly and I will definitely not let your girlfriend misunderstand."
All the relatives are here today. If she were to tell them what happened that day, her mother would definitely cry first, and then give her a beating.
Yin Zhuo: "...I don't have a girlfriend."
Before Ruan Xi could speak, he added, "He also doesn't have a wife."
Ruan Xi: "It definitely won't stop you from finding a girlfriend."
Yin Zhuo: "..."
He stared intently at Ruan Xi, the surging pink wave in his heart gradually calming down, and his mind returning to normal.
He, Yin Zhuo, is in unrequited love.
I'm heartbroken because I haven't won over the girl I like yet.
After a birthday banquet that left me wondering what it was all about, the elders seemed quite happy, while the younger generation had their own thoughts.
When the banquet started, Ruan Bei kept a close eye on his sister. He and Kun Kun had agreed to sit on opposite sides, but after they were all seated, their mother called them to get something. When they came back, their seats had been taken by Yin Zhuo.
There was an empty seat next to Qin Gu. When he looked over, Qin Gu shrugged, indicating that he was powerless to help.
Ruan Bei was so angry that he gritted his teeth.
After seeing the guests off, Ruan Xi struggled with how to tell her family. She felt that she would be scolded if she spoke up, and might even get beaten by her mother.
Her parents encouraged her and her siblings to do good deeds, but emphasized that their own safety should be the priority. At the time, she never imagined that the pervert would be so shameless.
Ruan Bei finally had a chance to talk to his sister privately, eager to find out what had happened.
He was certain! His sister and Yin Zhuo didn't date. In her past life, his sister had a brief relationship with a jerk. In the near future, when his sister started dating, even her smile was different.
Later, his family had a lot of trouble. When the scumbag heard that his family had a lot of debt, he broke up with his sister. At that time, his family was going through a lot of troubles, and even being sad was a luxury.
His sister's short-lived relationship came and went suddenly, and she remained single afterward. When he died, his sister was all alone.
Ruan Bei wasn't saying his sister couldn't date, but... he just felt uncomfortable.
To be honest, Yin Zhuo's character is probably ten times better than that scumbag, but that's his sister! He just got reborn and hasn't even had a chance to let his sister enjoy life yet, so why is someone else trying to take her away from him?
Ruan Xi had no idea that her younger brother had such a delicate mind. When Ruan Bei came to ask, she suddenly had an idea and pulled Ruan Bei into her room.
The siblings were having a private conversation. Even though Qin Gu was clinging to Ruan Bei, he knew he couldn't follow her right now, so he went to talk to Ruan's mother to stall her and buy Ruan Bei some time.
Ruan Xi thought that since she had to say it anyway, she should try to find an ally. Her parents would scold her if they got angry, but her younger brother wouldn't.
So she discussed it with Ruan Bei: "I can tell you, but you have to help me explain to my parents."
Ruan Bei readily agreed, and Ruan Xi told him what had happened. Ruan Bei was so angry that he jumped up. If that lewd man were in front of him, he would have slapped him until his face was swollen and chopped off his genitals to vent his anger.
Ruan Xi'an calmed Ruan Bei down after a while, but he was still indignant: "That girl, you helped her, and she acted like that, it's really too much."
Ruan Xi patted his back to soothe him and said gently, "Xiao Bei, the world is a good place now, but girls are always relatively vulnerable. She is still young and not brave or strong enough. She is afraid to face the strange looks from others. I can understand, and I am not without anger, but I do not regret what I did at the time. It's just that I was not prepared enough."
“I helped her because I knew it was wrong. If I see evil and choose to shut my mouth and turn my eyes away, then if evil were to befall me one day, why should I pray that someone would stand up for me?”
Ruan Bei remained silent for a long time, then opened his arms and hugged his sister, whispering, "I know you're a good person, but I'm selfish. I hope you can think more about me and Mom and Dad. Just be well. If you're in danger in the future, I'll protect you. You don't need to ask others for help."
Ruan Xi smiled, then her eyes reddened: "Okay, Xiao Bei will protect your sister."
The little dumpling who cried and complained to her has grown up.
The siblings had a conversation, and when they came out, their eyes were red, which startled the three people outside.
With Ruan Bei's endorsement and Ruan Xi's insistence, Ruan's mother finally believed that she and Yin Zhuo were really not dating, and returned to her room with regret.
Mr. Ruan was completely unaware of the situation from beginning to end. Originally, Mrs. Ruan planned to ask Ruan Xi for clarification before explaining, but now there was no need to say anything. He followed Mrs. Ruan back to the room, utterly confused.
Ruan Bei gave the gift to his sister, and Qin Gu also gave her a necklace that matched the bracelet Ruan Bei gave him. Ruan Xi grumbled a few times about how "wasteful" it was and told them not to spend money recklessly in the future.
Ruan Bei pouted: "How is spending money on my sister considered wasting money? If I don't give my money to you, who else should I spend it on?"
Ruan Xi beamed with joy.
The next day, a weekend, Ruan Bei was thinking about his promise to Grandma Sun. He got up early, ate breakfast, and then went to Grandma Sun's house with Qin Gu.
Under a roadside tree outside the residential area, Ruan Bei saw Grandma Sun. She had probably been there for a while and was waiting.
They had agreed to meet in the afternoon or evening. Because of what Qin Gu had said that day, Ruan Bei was still worried about the little girl whose fate was unknown, so she was unwilling to take Grandma Sun with her to inquire about the situation and pretended that she hadn't brought the umbrella from her schoolbag.
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