Outside the shop, in a narrow alley beside the road.
In the corner covered with moss, on the wall with vines climbing up, at the end of the narrow alley, there was a quiet silence, except for the pounding of my heart, which continued to beat fiercely.
The petite and slender girl tiptoed, her soft, jade-like arms encircling the man's neck, burying her face in his chest.
Shi An's hand hung limply to his side, his fingertips trembling slightly.
He seemed to want to rest his head on her waist, but his always cold and restrained emotions made him instinctively suppress almost all his overreactions, as if he wanted to gradually push them back into his heart.
"...She's talking nonsense."
"Yes, I know."
Ruan Qing'an buried herself in his arms, her voice muffled: "But I'm still unhappy, it's like my star has been tarnished..."
Shi An remained silent for a moment, then sighed helplessly.
Feeling that large hand land on her waist, Ruan Qing'an tightened her arms around his neck even more: "Brother Shi, I'm your nominal sugar daddy, so—can I ask for a hug?"
He didn't answer, but simply reached out and hugged her back, as if he had found a legitimate reason, tightening the grip of his hand.
—Because this is the client's request, it must be met.
But actually...
Even Shi An herself didn't know who she was satisfying.
Only when footsteps broke the silence outside the narrow alley did Ruan Qing'an hurriedly let go of Shi An's hand. She pulled Shi An towards the car, saying, "No, you can't be seen. It will affect you!"
"Don't rush."
Shi An simply grabbed Ruan Qing'an and pulled her into the car, thus avoiding any potential pedestrians outside.
The car fell silent for a moment.
Just then, Shi An suddenly took out the small transparent packaging bag that Ruan Qingling had just brought over and placed it in front of Ruan Qing An: "It seems that your relationship with your sister is already very bad."
"This is……"
Ruan Qing'an was slightly taken aback, then picked it up and looked at it.
Observing the tiny white particles inside, she suddenly realized something, and her face darkened abruptly: "It seems that it is indeed true."
037: [W-w-w, could this be...?]
"Gambling, prostitution, and drugs, what do you mean?"
Ruan Qing'an sneered inwardly: "I didn't expect that even if I didn't follow the original plot and let Li Xin stay by my side, my good sister Ruan Qingling would still want to completely destroy me."
037: [Fine, what a vicious method...]
Ruan Qing'an closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and held the small transparent package in her hand: "She won't let me go."
Shi An countered, "Family feuds among the wealthy?"
"Um."
Ruan Qing'an nodded: "This thing is useless. Ruan Qingling won't admit it. As long as the evidence isn't solid enough to pin the evidence on her, she has connections to escape. As for Father's side..."
"He won't care unless it's clear that Ruan Qingling harmed me."
She spoke softly, her voice laced with a bitter laugh, and Shi An had never seen Ruan Qing'an like this before...
Shi An stared at Ruan Qing'an's profile with his dark eyes. Only then did he realize that in his memory, the girl in front of him had always been full of energy, always chattering and always being mischievous.
It's always her, constantly enlivening everything around her, like throwing a pebble into a still, stagnant pool.
But it wasn't until now that Shi An realized how different she was.
When Nguyen Thanh An lowered her head, she did not speak. When faced with her own pain, she was unusually silent and reserved until the sensation fell on her head, on the large palm.
Shi An was always a man of few words, even now.
"I am here."
He spoke softly, pressing Ruan Qing'an's head down so she could lean on his shoulder. The silent gesture, however, was reassuring.
Shi An lowered his head and looked at her long eyelashes—the usually noisy young lady was as fragile as a porcelain doll that would break at the slightest touch.
Finally, Ruan Qingan spoke up: "Actually, when we were little, my relationship with my sister was pretty good. But when I went to high school, everything suddenly changed. I... I became an adopted daughter."
"Adopted daughter?"
"Yes, it was found out that I am not of the Ruan family bloodline."
Shi An frowned: "But you and Ruan Qingling look somewhat alike, how come?"
Upon hearing this, Ruan Qingan also said with a headache: "Rather than saying she resembles me, she actually looks more like our father. Anyway, with the authoritative DNA identification report, this matter is a foregone conclusion."
"Soon, I became an adopted daughter, and after university, Ruan Qingling began to take over the group's affairs. As for me..."
"She maintains a policy of praising me to the point of destruction, using my incompetence to highlight her own abilities. As a result, she has more supporters than me at the group's board meetings."
At this point, Nguyen Thanh An's smile grew increasingly bitter.
Shi An felt a slight stinging sensation in his arm. He looked down and realized that Ruan Qing'an's fingernails seemed to be digging into his skin.
Her voice trailed off: "If it weren't for Li Xin, I wouldn't have realized that my good sister of so many years was plotting against me with such intentions, even though I kept backing down and didn't interfere in the group."
"Really, I never thought of it..."
Ruan Qing'an buried his head in Shi An's chest, his voice trembling with sobs, like a lonely, weary traveler wandering aimlessly.
Shi An sighed softly, lowered his head, and rested his chin on her head.
"Why are you crying? I'm here."
"I didn't cry, I didn't cry at all..."
"Okay, you didn't cry."
Shi An's indifferent voice carried an lingering, slightly indulgent smile as he raised his hand and placed it on her back—he saw another side of her, vulnerable and needing to rely on him.
A strange, despicable, filthy sense of satisfaction.
His eyes darkened, as if mixed with a thick darkness, making it difficult to discern his emotions.
Shi An's voice was low and hoarse: "Alright, alright, I'll help you."
【Affection Level: 65】
037: [Wait, wait, why did the male lead's affection level increase?]
Ruan Qing'an didn't care at all: "It's very simple. Why does it have to be me who saves the male lead? Wouldn't it be better if the male lead saved me instead?"
037 hesitated: "It's not that it's bad, it's just..."
However, it always felt that things might not develop in the way its ancestor had predicted or guessed.
Although the affection level has increased.
But no matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like it's out of heartache!
However, Shi An did not give Ruan Qing'an time to think deeply. He suddenly asked, "Then what do you plan to do?"
"If they won't give us a way to survive, then we'll take back what's rightfully ours."
As Ruan Qingan spoke, his leaden-gray eyes turned completely cold.
\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e\u000e
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com