Chapter 129 finally provides the answer.
A rainy day, buried deep in her memory and almost forgotten, suddenly and unexpectedly crashed into her mind, carrying the damp scent of earth.
She was six years old that year.
The Ruan family had just begun to make a name for themselves in the southern part of the city and had not yet moved to the northern part of the capital.
On a summer afternoon, the sky over the southern part of the city was humid and muggy.
The park was deserted, with only the rustling sound of raindrops hitting the leaves.
Six-year-old Ruan Yao hugged her newly bought limited edition doll and hid behind a pillar of a park pavilion, her little mouth pouting.
Mom promised to take her to eat at the newly opened strawberry cake shop in the city, and her brother Ruan Sheng went to buy ice cream, but then it started raining so hard.
She was a little unhappy.
The sound of rain gradually grew louder, drowning out all other sounds in the park.
Suddenly, a chaotic cacophony of shouts, curses, and scuffling broke through the rain and drifted over.
Ruan Yao curiously poked half of her head out.
Not far away, under the slide, several boys taller than the older brother were punching and kicking a small figure.
"I told you not to steal my things! I told you not to run away!"
"Damn it, you little beggar, I'll beat you to death!"
The small, thin figure was kicked down into the mud and water, curled up in a ball, and remained silent, letting the punches and kicks rain down on him.
Ruan Yao's face turned a little pale with fright.
She had seen these boys before; they were notorious troublemakers in the neighborhood, often stealing pocket money from their classmates. Ruan Sheng told her to stay away from them.
Was the one who got beaten up... a little beggar?
He looked filthy, his hair was a mess, his clothes were tattered, and his face was covered in mud. Only his eyes were visible, frighteningly black, like those of a wounded wolf cub, fierce and wary.
He seemed to be completely still.
Those thugs seemed to have gotten tired of beating him, and one of their leaders spat on the person who was lying motionless on the ground.
"He's really fragile, is he going to die?"
"Hurry up and get out of here, don't cause any trouble."
They grumbled and laughed, then ran into the rain with their arms around each other's shoulders.
The world fell silent again, with only the sound of the rain pouring down.
Ruan Yao stood behind the pillar for a long time before she dared to cautiously walk out.
Her little leather shoes made a "pat-pat" sound as she stepped into the mud.
The little beggar remained motionless on the ground, rainwater constantly washing over his thin back, mixing with the blood seeping from his body, spreading a small dark red patch on the ground.
Ruan Yao's heart clenched.
Is he dead?
She thought of a scene from a cartoon where a princess kisses a frog, and the frog turns into a prince.
She took out a strawberry milk candy wrapped in pretty candy wrapper from her little pocket.
This is her favorite candy; she originally planned to wait for her brother to come back so they could eat it together.
She slowly approached the small figure in the mud, step by step.
She crouched down, stretched out her delicate white hand, and gently nudged his shoulder.
"Hello……"
Her voice was drowned out by the rain, as soft as a mosquito's hum.
The moment her fingertips touched his shoulder, the previously motionless "corpse" suddenly moved.
He opened his eyes, which shone like those of a cornered wolf cub in the dim, rainy light, filled with vigilance, hatred, and madness.
Before Ruan Yao could even see his face clearly, he shoved her hard with all his might.
"Get out of my way!"
Xiao Ruanyao stumbled as he pushed her, and landed hard on her bottom in the mud.
The newly bought princess dress was instantly covered in mud, and the doll she was holding fell to the ground.
She froze, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
She was clearly trying to help him, so why did he push her away?
Tears of grievance welled up in her eyes. She sniffed, scrambled to her feet, picked up the candy that had fallen to the ground, wiped it off, and stuffed it into his arms.
"Here you go!" she shouted angrily at him, her voice trembling with tears. "I'm not a bad person!"
After saying that, she turned and ran.
"……sorry."
A very soft, hoarse voice, almost drowned out by the sound of rain, came from behind.
"I thought you were like them..."
Ruan Yao stopped in her tracks.
She turned around and saw the boy looking down at the candy that had been stuffed into his arms. His thick eyelashes cast a small shadow on his face, obscuring his overly fierce eyes.
He didn't seem so scary anymore.
Ruan Yao felt a little soft-hearted.
She went back and carefully squatted down in front of him.
"You're bleeding so much." She looked at the cuts and lacerations on his body, her brow furrowing like a little adult. "Are you going to die?"
The boy was too weak to answer.
“My brother said that if you bleed, you should go to the hospital,” Ruan Yao earnestly explained to him.
She thought for a moment, then took out all her pocket money from her little princess purse.
Several one-yuan and five-yuan bills, neatly folded by her, and a few shiny coins.
She stuffed all the money into his hand.
"Here's some money for you to see a doctor."
The boy looked up, and for the first time, his eyes revealed an emotion other than wariness and ruthlessness—a shock that Ruan Yao couldn't understand.
The rain was getting heavier, and Ruan Yao felt a little cold.
She looked at the boy's thin clothes, then at the small parasol beside her.
It was bought for her by her father; it was pink and had her favorite little rabbit printed on it.
She hesitated for a moment, but still placed her beloved little umbrella into his hand.
"Here, take this too. Don't get wet in the rain, or you'll get sick."
After she finished doing all this, she stood up and pointed in the direction of the park's back gate.
"Go out from there, walk a few hundred meters ahead, and there's a police station. Go find the police officers, and they'll help you."
"Ruan Yaoyao! Ruan Xiaoyao! Where have you run off to!"
The shouts of her brother, Ruan Sheng, came from not far away.
“I’m here!” Ruan Yao quickly replied.
She took one last look at the boy who was holding her pocket money, her candy, and her umbrella, then turned and ran towards her brother.
"Brother! Let me tell you, there's a pitiful little beggar over there..." She grabbed Ruan Sheng's hand and vividly described everything that had just happened, "Let's take him to the police! He looks like he's about to die!"
Without saying a word, she grabbed Ruan Sheng and ran back down the slide.
However, the place was already deserted.
Only a pool of blood remained on the ground, its color fading with each passing rain.
The boy, along with her wallet, her candy, and her pink bunny umbrella, vanished.
...
The tide of memory recedes.
Ruan Yao remained in the same position, tightly clutching the faded pink umbrella in her hand.
Tears had already streamed down her face without her noticing.
Drop by drop, it hits the umbrella surface, spreading out a small patch of dark water stains.
It was him.
It turns out that the boy she mistook for a little beggar in the rain, who was both fierce and vulnerable like a wolf, was Huo Yanzhi.
Everything makes sense now.
Why did he have her photos more than a decade ago, when she was still in Nancheng?
Why did he, in his past life, give such a lame excuse as "love at first sight, unable to control my feelings" for his detailed investigation data?
Why would he collect every little thing she threw away and treat it like a treasure?
Why did he say something like "When I wake up, I'll have strawberry candy to eat" in his past life?
That was more than just a word of comfort.
That was etched deep in his soul, his earliest memory of redemption.
He kept this secret for two lifetimes, never mentioning it.
He would rather she think he was a lustful bastard, a paranoid control freak, than let her know that he had such a shameful, humiliating past.
He is insecure.
This man, who held absolute power in northern Beijing and inspired fear in countless people, actually felt inferior when facing her.
He was afraid she would know about his past misery, afraid she would despise the filthy boy who had been beaten like a dead dog.
She finally understood where Huo Yanzhi's intense, almost pathological, love came from.
That wasn't love at first sight.
That was the only ray of light that a boy struggling in darkness and despair grasped.
It was twenty years ago, during a torrential downpour in the southern part of the city, that a six-year-old girl offered a piece of candy, an umbrella, and all her kindness.
Two lifetimes of misunderstandings, two lifetimes of twists and turns, have finally found their answer at this moment.
Ruan Yao hugged the small umbrella tightly to her chest, as if she wanted to embrace the helpless boy from twenty years ago in this way.
She buried her face in the umbrella, tears streaming silently down her face, her voice choked and broken.
"Huo Yanzhi..."
"You... idiot..."
She picked up her phone and dialed Qin Feng's number directly.
"Qin Feng, arrange a plane for me, I need to go somewhere."
Moonlight Island.
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