When Fu Jianzhi said these words, his tone was contemptuous and flippant, just like he would talk to a troublesome and disobedient pet.
As his last words faded, he swung his fist heavily at the glass door, which shattered with a creaking sound, and blood spread along the spiderweb-like cracks in the glass.
He toned down his previous cold tone and, when speaking to Ruan Chen again, adopted his usual coquettish and submissive attitude, "Sister, I was picked up by you. If it weren't for you, I would have died long ago. Are you going to destroy me with your own hands now?"
Even if it is, I don't think now is the right time.
His tone was a mix of soft and hard, perfectly balancing the situation: "If I die now, the main timeline and the sub-timeline will immediately converge, and everything you've painstakingly built up will be gone."
"If you keep me alive, we can slowly figure out a solution, and there is still room for maneuver."
Even with his current attitude, Ruan Chen's heart remained unmoved.
However, the clouds above the research institute seemed to be dissipating, because Ruan Chen had figured things out.
This matter stemmed from a lack of communication between myself and Fu Jianzhi.
Furthermore, he really cannot die.
As the dark clouds dispersed, Ruan Chen silently raised her hand, pulled away Nan Jing's hand that was gripping her shoulder, and quietly sat back down on the sofa.
In just a moment, sunlight once again streamed into the square courtyard.
"Do you know what you just did?!" This was the first time Nan Jing had ever lost his temper with Ruan Chen like this; his hands were trembling with anger. "Do you know that you've been on the research institute's key monitoring list all along?"
Ruan Chen scoffed inwardly, but her apology remained as sincere as ever, "I'm sorry, Director Nan, I've been under so much pressure lately, and then the topic of Fu Jianzhi came up again, I just couldn't control myself. It won't happen again."
Just then, a boy's gentle voice came from the doorway, "Nan Suo, this isn't my sister's fault. It's just that I really angered her last time. It's all my fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me."
Nan Jing recognized Fu Jianzhi's voice and breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to look at him. Nan Jing had wanted to stay away from Ruan Chen because of his out-of-control behavior just now. Fortunately, Fu Jianzhi arrived quickly, otherwise Nan Jing was afraid that Ruan Chen would lose control again while she was talking to him.
Nan Jing walked towards the door. He waved for Fu Jianzhi to come in, and then immediately noticed that blood was dripping from Fu Jianzhi's right hand, which was hanging by his side.
He almost fainted.
"What's going on with you? I called you here to discuss things, not to cause trouble!" Nan Jing was angry, but he still quickly went to the cabinet to get the first-aid kit.
"Did you crash into a car while driving too fast? It wasn't the injury you got at the Martial Arts Research Institute, was it?" Nan Jing muttered to himself as he pulled out bandages, cotton balls, ointment, and alcohol from the first-aid kit and tossed them onto the sofa with a disgruntled expression.
Although he was incredibly approachable, he wouldn't go so far as to bandage a junior's wound, especially with Ruan Chen present. So, his purpose in throwing the things on the sofa was quite obvious.
But Ruan Chen merely turned her head, her somewhat weary gaze sweeping over these things indifferently. Her fingers, which were resting on the back of the sofa, twitched slightly, but she made no further moves.
"It's nothing. I was in a hurry to get in, and no one opened the door, so I just smashed the door of your research institute," Fu Jianzhi said with a sweet and obedient smile as she sat down next to Ruan Chen. "The Fu family will come over later to help you replace the door. The door of your institute is really of poor quality. I'll have them replace it with the most advanced special glass from the Fu family's brand."
Nan Jing opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.
If he could, he really wanted to say to the seemingly harmless brother and sister, "You two are amazing."
Fu Jianzhi skillfully bandaged his wounds, even using a simple bandage to immobilize the fractured bone.
Ruan Chen noticed his fluid movements and couldn't help but think that he must have suffered a lot of injuries in the past.
"Let's go to the hospital first. We can talk about Duan Jingfu's matter later," she said somewhat stiffly and awkwardly.
Fu Jianzhi still smiled, as if she couldn't feel the pain. "Sister, it's not necessary. The Fu family's medical team is already on its way."
Ruan Chen remembered that some time ago, Fu Jianzhi had been acting strangely and refused to call Ruan Chen "sister," instead calling her "Ruan Chen" all the time.
Now she's behaving herself again.
Then, without waiting for Ruan Chen to ask, Fu Jianzhi took the initiative to talk about Duan Jingfu's matter, "Professor Duan must be alive. I listened to the car radio while walking just now. There was indeed an earthquake in the Southwest Islands, accompanied by a volcanic eruption. The timing was exactly the same as what Professor Duan said. The Geological Bureau had not observed any abnormalities before."
Nan Jing sighed.
While this incident could be explained as an extremely rare coincidence, or as Duan Jingfu using some technological means to make prior arrangements in the Southwest Islands, those in higher positions would certainly prefer to believe that Duan Jingfu had indeed made a major breakthrough in the study of time and possessed some kind of ability to predict the future.
"Then what are you doing here?" Ruan Chen seemed to be deliberately trying to make things difficult for Fu Jianzhi, not even glancing at him properly from beginning to end. "If he really makes any research results, your Fu family will definitely get a share. Is the young master showing off in front of me?"
Fu Jianzhi wasn't annoyed at all. "I can even give you the Fu family's patriarch's token. Why would you care about such a small profit, sister?"
Although he was still smiling, his words were sharp and veiled.
"Then I must thank Young Master Fu for his great kindness." Ruan Chen rested his hand on the back of the chair, revealing half of his wrist, the gold rope tied to it shining brightly.
Her tone was soft and gentle as she subtly retorted to Fu Jianzhi's words, "If it weren't for Young Master Fu's high regard for me, I might be somewhere—no, I might not even exist in this world."
When she said those words, she finally spared a glance at Fu Jianzhi.
As expected, Fu Jianzhi's expression turned ugly for a moment.
Ruan Chen was blaming him.
She should resent him. Anyone who discovers that their life trajectory is the result of someone else's careful manipulation should feel hatred towards the manipulator behind the scenes.
“He won’t have the chance to do anything to hurt you again,” Fu Jianzhi said, not wanting to continue silently stabbing Ruan Chen in the heart, so he abruptly changed the subject. “I assure you, you will never see him again for the rest of your life.”
"Hmm," Ruan Chen replied coolly.
“Sister, have you ever considered moving to the Fu family’s old house?” Fu Jianzhi mustered up his courage and made this request to her. “There are some academic issues that I think would be easier to discuss if we lived closer to each other.”
His academic question refers to the timeline issue: how to preserve Ruan Chen's consciousness from being erased after the timeline converges.
But discussing this issue was just an excuse; he simply wanted Ruan Chen to live closer to him, so he could see her every day.
He was prepared to be rejected, because Ruan Chen was not someone who liked living under the control of others.
But Ruan Chen slowly agreed.
"OK."
She wanted to meet Fu Jianzhi, who was twenty-two years old.
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