In Nan Jing's office, Ruan Chen tore off a piece of sticky note and drew a detailed perspective view on it.
Nan Jing understood at a glance: "This is the basement of the main test building. This entrance should be in the underground weapons depot, and the other entrance is the corridor directly opposite the main building."
Ruan Chen snapped his fingers to indicate that everything was correct, and then asked, "South Police Station, do you have the authority to conduct a search?"
“No rush,” Nan Jing memorized the perspective drawing and then burned it. “You don’t need to worry about this anymore. I’ll hold off on the arrest warrant process. From today onwards, you’ll stay at the research institute to study. I can’t help you much more. Just be careful not to fall into Lao Duan’s hands.”
Ruan Chen had nowhere safer to go.
There used to be Fu Jian's family, but now... Ruan Chen doesn't want to see him.
She didn't even want to think about Fu Jianzhi.
Ruan Chen had been to the research institute many times and was familiar with the place, so she was about to choose a dormitory when Nan Jing stopped her, saying, "You're staying at Fangzhou Garden. The cleaning service has already been arranged to clean the room."
Fangzhou Garden? Ruan Chen raised an eyebrow. "Living with professors and researchers?"
"Dislike it?" Nan Jing retorted. "Professors and researchers know each other inside and out, and the student dormitories are a mixed bag, which is troublesome—I've already transferred your student status, so you don't have any objections this time, right?"
Nan Jing's tone was somewhat teasing, implying that Ruan Chen should have been more obedient earlier, insisting on making such a big fuss with Duan Jingfu, and that the two of them only realized how good their hospital was after they fell out.
"No objections, no objections," Ruan Chen said, bowing her head slightly, a rare occurrence for her. "I'll go pack my things."
“Someone brought it to you,” Nan Jing said, pointing to the door.
Fu Jianzhi stood outside the glass door, surrounded by several large bags and packages—upon closer inspection, there were Ruan Chen's clothes, her usual daily necessities, the small blanket she used to hug every night, and a large bag of snacks.
Fu Jianzhi was alone. She had rolled up the sleeves of her exquisite Jinghua University of Technology uniform, revealing half of her arm covered with thin muscles.
The marks on his arms, left from carrying heavy objects, were slightly red and stood out against his fair skin, which had never seen the sun.
Nan Jing wisely slipped away beforehand, whispering in Ruan Chen's ear as she left, "You two siblings can chat slowly."
Ruan Chen lowered her head and gritted her teeth before stepping forward, her hands in her pockets, looking at Fu Jianzhi through the glass door with a chilling gaze.
Her long hair was loose, with a strand obscuring her eyebrows and eyes, but she was too lazy to reach out and brush it away.
Fu Jianzhi reached out and opened the door, asking softly with his head bowed, "Sister, where do you live? I'll bring your things over."
As Ruan Chen got closer, he could feel the steam rising from the boy's body. His collar was damp with sweat. Ruan Chen thought to himself, "This kid carried all this in by himself, and he's sweating like this."
In the past, she would have felt sorry for him, complained, and urged Fu Jianzhi to take off his elegant coat.
But Ruan Chen's heart was completely calm and undisturbed.
She knew this wasn't for her. When Fu Jianzhi did these things, he was thinking about that timeline that was about to be completely wiped out, and about the lover he had personally picked up and warmed little by little.
He just wanted to live a peaceful and uneventful life until he was twenty-six.
Then he will disappear completely, and he will enjoy lasting happiness.
"Sister..." Fu Jianzhi still didn't know what Ruan Chen knew or how much she knew, and still pretended to be a cute and docile puppy in front of her, eagerly moving closer.
Ruan Chen coldly took a step back, widening the distance between them.
This was a gesture she had never made in front of Fu Jianzhi before.
Fu Jianzhi seemed to realize something, and fear began to rise in his eyes. He tightened his grip on the bag.
"Sister..." he called again.
Ruan Chen waved to the cleaning staff, then turned to the stranger with a beautiful and friendly smile, "Auntie, could you please help me throw all these things away?"
Fu Jianzhi's face drained of color instantly, his eyes filled with disbelief, his voice choked in his throat, and for a moment, the overwhelming emotions prevented him from uttering a single word.
The cleaning lady walked over, looked at the items, and asked with some confusion, "They're all still in good condition, it's such a waste to throw them away. Look how clean these clothes and blankets are, and the toys, and all this food, are they expired? Why don't you want them all?"
Ruan Chen said politely, "Auntie, if you don't mind, you can stay. The food is all newly bought."
It was Nan Jing who contacted Fu Jianzhi, saying that Ruan Chen would stay at the research institute until the matter of Duan Jingfu was resolved, and asked Fu Jianzhi to pack up Ruan Chen's things.
Fu Jianzhi didn't think too much about it, only that Nan Jing's arrangement was quite good—Ruan Chen definitely couldn't study at Jinghua University of Technology anymore, so it was good for her to study at the First Academy. It was perfect for her to be under Nan Jing's tutelage, as Nan Jing was mild-mannered and would never mistreat Ruan Chen.
Fu Jianzhi even thought that Ruan Chen had asked Nan Jing to contact him and send him something, so he went to several supermarkets to buy snacks for Ruan Chen.
When Ruan Chen has trouble sleeping, she uses aromatherapy to help her sleep. The one she usually uses is out of stock, so Fu Jianzhi specially contacted the manufacturer and it will be delivered in a few days.
But it seems he was just being presumptuous; Ruan Chen no longer needed him.
The cleaning lady accepted everything Fu Jianzhi brought and kept thanking Ruan Chen. Ruan Chen smiled beautifully and shyly, just the kind of smile a girl her age should have.
But as soon as the cleaning lady left, Ruan Chen's smile vanished, and she felt so cold that she felt like she could freeze the air.
She reached out to press the silent alarm bell next to the glass door.
Fu Jianzhi finally couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed Ruan Chen's wrist tightly, his eyes red as if he was about to cry, and shouted, "Sister, what did I do wrong?"
Ruan Chen let him hold her hand, without looking at him, her gaze vacantly falling into the empty air.
When she was silent, Fu Jianzhi felt as if time stood still, and every second was unbearably painful.
After a long time, or perhaps only a few seconds, Ruan Chen spoke without any emotion, "Commander Fu, you must be tired after playing with me for so many years?"
The words "Commander Fu" floated lightly in the air, and Fu Jianzhi felt the blood in his body gradually freezing.
She found out anyway.
That day at the Fu family home, her mental network inadvertently came into contact with Fu Jianzhi's own mental network, and Fu Jianzhi knew that she had seen something he had been trying his best to hide in his own mental network.
Fortunately, Ruan Chen didn't investigate further, and Fu Jianzhi managed to get away with it.
After he returned to Jingzhou that year and officially became the master of Zhanlu, and after his mental network was developed to the extreme, Fu Jianzhi remembered all the causes and consequences of the two timelines.
Therefore, he had been carefully concealing this from Ruan Chen. He knew about the connection between Ruan Chen and himself in terms of their influence in the world, and as his memories returned, Ruan Chen would also know more or less about it.
How could someone as proud and radiant as her allow herself to be merely a stand-in for Ruan Chen from another timeline?
Ruan Chen was getting tired of it and wanted to shake off Fu Jianzhi's hand.
Fu Jianzhi gripped it tightly.
With a sob in his voice, he asked, "Ruan Chen, do you regret picking me up in Meicheng that year?"
"
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