Chapter 14 Silencing
Jiang Ru should have known long ago that this audacious regent from her past life was involved in beheadings behind the scenes. How could he possibly be a simple and harmless little rabbit as she thought!
He actually did something potentially heinous right under her nose; otherwise, how could a fifteen-year-old boy have saved up so much money?
Jiang Ru looked at Pei Wu more and more and felt that he was a dangerous teenager. She thought he must have earned this money by doing something shady.
As expected, honest people don't make money; it's dishonest people like Pei Wu who make a lot.
Good, good, good. It's a waste that Jiang Ru treated him like a pitiful child. In reality, he would use all sorts of underhanded methods behind the scenes!
Jiang Ru thought he only turned bad later, but now it seems that Pei Wu was already a villain all along; he had already gone astray.
Back then, Jiang Ru judged him by his appearance, thinking that he was indeed a person of high moral character and integrity, just as others had said. In fact, he had deceived everyone.
Jiang Ru can only hope that if Pei Wu's money is ill-gotten, it's best if it's not the kind of thing where he commits murder and robbery. If it's not completely wicked, she can still try to salvage the situation.
But if he really did something heinous, Jiang Ru would have no choice but to sever ties with him and hand him over to the authorities, otherwise her life would be in grave danger again.
Her expression of shock and suspicion was so obvious that she even backed away, as if Pei Wu was some heinous criminal and she wanted to sever all ties with him right now.
Pei Wu hadn't expected things to turn out this way, and he certainly hadn't expected Jiang Ru to suspect him. He silently took a step forward, and Jiang Ru immediately reacted as if facing a formidable enemy, quickly retreating several steps.
After several such attempts, seeing that Jiang Ru was almost back outside the courtyard, Pei Wu had no choice but to stop, speechless.
He sighed helplessly, "I don't know which sentence caused you to misunderstand. I haven't done anything shameful."
Jiang Ru gestured towards the money on the table, indicating that the evidence was there.
Pei Wu was truly at a loss. Before, when he didn't take out the money, Jiang Ru was afraid they would starve to death. Now that he had taken it out, Jiang Ru was afraid he would do something bad.
His cousin trusted him almost nothing. Pei Wu remained expressionless, as if he were caught in a very difficult problem, his emotions tumbling and wavering. Finally, he gave in and beckoned to Jiang Ru: "Come here, I want to show you something."
Jiang Ru remained wary and hesitant. Pei Wu knew that although she had doubts, she was still wavering, so he simply turned around and went into his room first.
He started rummaging through the bookshelf, but the room was too dark, and he searched for quite a while.
The figure by the threshold hesitated and didn't come in. Jiang Ru stood hesitantly outside the door, craning her neck to look at Pei Wu. The door was open, and the moonlight cast a long shadow of her, which blocked the only light source at the doorway.
She watched Pei Wu rummage through the papers for a long time, then asked hesitantly, "You're not thinking of killing me, are you?"
She lingered at the doorway, her hand slowly moving to the chair by the door. If Pei Wu were to attack her with a knife, she would smash the chair down and run for her life.
Pei Wu hadn't expected that he had this image in Jiang Ru's mind. He was extremely helpless. Fortunately, he finally found the book and pulled it out from the bottom.
Jiang Ru only saw that he was holding a square object, and she became frightened again: "Is that a brick you're holding?"
As she spoke, she tried to dodge to the side and run away, but Pei Wu laughed and emphasized, "I'm holding a book, look carefully!"
Jiang Ru hesitated and peeked out with one eye. Pei Wu had already raised the book. With Jiang Ru no longer blocking the doorway, the moonlight finally shone into the room, forming a long beam of light. By the light of the moon, Jiang Ru could see clearly that it was indeed a book.
She knew Pei Wu wasn't that kind of person; how could he possibly do something as heinous as silencing someone?
Even so, Jiang Ru didn't go over. She remained standing at the door, waiting for Pei Wu to approach her before slowly walking closer to him.
Pei Wu was also a little annoyed by her misunderstanding. He stood by the table with a blank face and opened the book in his hand for Jiang Ru to see.
The rows of small characters inside were all written by Pei Wu. The handwriting was familiar, and the characters on the whole page were extremely beautiful. Jiang Ru breathed softly and couldn't help but marvel at his handwriting once again.
The previous few words were enough to reveal his character, and the full book of words is even more pleasing to the eye.
Pei Wu, fearing she would overthink things, immediately explained, "These are books I copied. Every now and then, someone comes to collect them. I've been using these to cover my expenses for the past few years."
Jiang Ru bent down to look, and she could barely make out some of the words. She instinctively wanted to read them, but before she could see them clearly, Pei Wu suddenly closed the book.
His lips were pursed, as if he was still angry: "Since you know I didn't do anything wrong, then I'll put the book away."
Yes, he should be angry to be wrongly accused for no reason, especially since Jiang Ru even suspected him of that. For Pei Wu, who is completely innocent, this is nothing short of slander.
Pei Wu picked up the book and left, and Jiang Ru hurriedly picked up all the money on the table and chased after him.
She misunderstood Pei Wu. Although there were extenuating circumstances, she had wronged him, and she would not pretend to be ignorant.
Pei Wu took long strides and returned to his room in just a few steps. He tidied up the books and put them back in their original places. When Jiang Ru went in, he glanced at her warily, as if afraid that she would come up and snatch her books.
Jiang Ru was standing by the door with an apologetic smile on her face. Pei Wu then turned to the side, blocking Jiang Ru's view, and hid the book somewhere else.
His trust in Jiang Ru had reached its lowest point. Jiang Ru was innocent: "What are you afraid of? I won't steal your book."
After she finished speaking, she felt Pei Wu stiffen for a moment. Then Pei Wu turned around, his clear, cold phoenix eyes sweeping over Jiang Ru's face. The young man remained calm and composed: "When have I ever been afraid of you?"
Jiang Ru stared at Pei Wu's tense body and obviously defensive movements. He probably didn't realize how obvious he was, that there was something fishy about the things in the bookshelf, and that he was determined not to let Jiang Ru see them.
He was too easy to understand. Jiang Ru suppressed a laugh: "What are you hiding in your closet? Why won't you let me see?"
Pei Wu stiffened, a flicker of panic crossing his face for a moment before he quickly regained his composure. He stubbornly persisted, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Jiang Ru shrugged, stopping her teasing. "Fine, I was just kidding. I came here to tell you that I misunderstood you earlier. It was my fault. Are you still angry?"
Seemingly surprised that Jiang Ru would take the initiative to apologize, Pei Wu's expression froze for a moment. After all, he thought that he was a few months older than Jiang Ru, so he would not hold a grudge against his younger sister. He said, "I am not angry. It's just that you are making wild guesses about others, which is wrong."
Jiang Ru nodded repeatedly: "Yes, cousin, you're right."
Knowing that Pei Wu hadn't done anything heinous, Jiang Ru completely relaxed.
She was too emotional earlier, and her emotions fluctuated suddenly. Her heart is still pounding like a taut string, so she naturally needs to find something to do to release her emotions.
Jiang Ru leaned against the doorframe, her gaze sweeping over Pei Wu's room. She had noticed the curtain hanging over Pei Wu's bed earlier, but hadn't had a chance to ask. Now that she had a moment, she could tease Pei Wu, "Why is there a curtain over your bed? Are you afraid I'll peek?"
There was no oil lamp lit inside, so Jiang Ru couldn't see Pei Wu's expression clearly, but she could roughly guess that he did indeed have this thought.
Jiang Ru immediately became dissatisfied: "What do you mean by this? Do you think it will cost you a piece of meat?"
Pei Wu didn't answer her unreasonable question. He walked towards Jiang Ru, blocking the doorway and obstructing her view: "I let you into my room a few days ago because it was raining. Now that it's not raining, you shouldn't come into my room again."
He had many rules, too many to count. Usually, Jiang Ru would be willing to argue with him, but today she was tired and didn't have time to debate anymore, so she actually left Pei Wu's room.
After walking a few steps, Jiang Ru remembered something and turned back.
Pei Wu was on high alert and was about to block the door when Jiang Ru opened her palm, revealing the money Pei Wu had placed on the table. She gestured for Pei Wu to open his hand, then dumped all the money into his palm before leaving without looking back.
Pei Wu stood by the door watching her and noticed that Jiang Ru really didn't go into his room or argue with him. She simply went to wash up on her own. He couldn't help but wonder if he had spoken too harshly and made Jiang Ru unhappy.
He reflected for a moment, then took a tiny, almost imperceptible step forward. Just as he was about to step out the door, he saw Jiang Ru undressing her hair in the courtyard, so he retreated back inside.
The wooden door creaked shut as Pei Wu closed it.
He retreated back inside, leaving Jiang Ru some space, and then thought to himself: It is indeed too late. If Jiang Ru is upset, he can apologize tomorrow.
Jiang Ru fetched water and returned to the room. She carefully washed herself, changed her clothes, poured out more water, and then went back to bed.
Pei Wu, on the other side, lit an oil lamp and read a book. Since moving into this room, the two rooms have been separated by only one wall, and he can hear everything Jiang Ru is doing clearly. This is very impolite behavior, as if he is spying.
He tried to ignore the sounds, but the rushing water kept flooding into Pei Wu's ears. Pei Wu didn't want to listen, so he stuffed his ears with strips of cloth, but he found that he couldn't concentrate on his book.
He picked up his pen to write, but when he was about to put pen to paper, he couldn't write a single word.
He thought that in a few days he would have to move back to his old room, and even if it rained, he wouldn't move back.
In the stillness of the night, when all was quiet, the oil lamp gradually dimmed. Pei Wu turned the lamp up a little brighter and lowered his head.
He was very inefficient today, perhaps because he was misunderstood by Jiang Ru and was physically and mentally exhausted, or perhaps because his mind was in turmoil, so he couldn't concentrate on reading.
Much later, he put down his book and pulled the cloth covering his ears a little off; the noise from next door had stopped.
After waiting a while longer and confirming that Jiang Ru was fast asleep, Pei Wu dared to remove the cloth strip with peace of mind. He was distracted, and it would be futile to continue learning.
Pei Wu quietly opened the door and went to the courtyard to wash up.
He and Jiang Ru had tacitly avoided meeting each other these past few days. The thatched hut was too small and inconvenient, but fortunately Jiang Ru didn't mind.
He never thought there was anything wrong with living here, but now, he suddenly felt that the house was too dilapidated and it was really uncomfortable to live in.
A note from the author:
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