Chapter 72 "Sister, you're hurting me."...
Su Cheng stared at him blankly.
With the shift in her position, she went from being passive to being proactive. Her lingering anxiety and fear of loss gradually dissipated, and she began to adopt a more reserved demeanor.
She had many suitors, but this was the first time she had ever been pursued by someone she liked.
What she really wanted to say was, why bother chasing after them?
As long as he gazes at her quietly like this, without doing anything, her heart has already irresistibly drawn to him.
The ending was already written, but she also wanted to experience some of the process.
It's like knowing how beautiful the scenery at the end will be, yet still being reluctant to miss the sunrise and moonlight at every stop along the way.
But she had no idea how to pursue someone.
She quietly raised her eyelashes and carefully examined the face so close to hers.
He... I don't think he was the one who chased after her, right?
The process was completely wrong, but the result was completely right.
Su Cheng chuckled, deliberately teasing him in a mocking tone, "I never thought that the top student in the grade would even think about cheating?"
Jiang Muzhou suddenly moved closer, so close that she could see her reflection in his eyes.
His eyes were deep and dark, darker than the night outside the window. Her smile fell into them, like starlight falling into a deep pool, creating shimmering starlight.
He gently rested his chin on her bent knee, his voice low and soft, feigning aggrieved, "Yes, for the sake of being neighbors, could you give me a back door?"
His fingers hooked around the hem of her draped dress, as if afraid she would run away. "Could the spot for pursuing you be allocated solely to me?"
A faint electric current surged through Su Cheng's knee, followed by a dense, itchy sensation.
They were even closer when they hugged just now, but this almost coquettish gesture made Su Cheng's heart beat even more erratically.
His bright black eyes stared at her without blinking, like a big golden retriever begging to be petted.
"It depends on how you do." Su Cheng's heart softened, and she couldn't help but reach out and gently rub his fluffy, soft hair.
Her bangs were messed up and hung messily on her brow bone, but Jiang Muzhou wasn't annoyed at all. Instead, she squinted her eyes with great pleasure, her lips slightly raised, looking like she was enjoying herself immensely.
The stray hairs on his forehead were brushed aside, revealing a band-aid that had been hidden, standing out conspicuously on his otherwise smooth forehead.
"Are you injured?" Su Cheng's tone suddenly became tense.
She immediately put down the glass in her hand and reached out to brush aside his bangs to take a closer look, but he turned his head away.
"On the way back on the highway yesterday, I was accidentally grazed by a car." He casually glossed over the terrifying accident, as if it were a trivial matter. "My phone broke, so I haven't been able to reply to your messages."
“I came back late and saw the cake at your door. I guessed you were probably asleep, so I thought I'd come and see you again today.”
Su Cheng frowned.
The phone was broken; how strong must the impact have been?
He didn't mention his injury at all, but instead explained why he broke the promise.
The pain, neither too great nor too small, fell on the two of them in different forms, yet at this moment, it healed together.
"Does it still hurt?" Her eyes were red, and her fingertips hovered over the edge of the band-aid, wanting to touch it but not daring to.
"I don't feel any pain." Jiang Muzhou's gaze fell on her face, and his expression dimmed for a moment. "I just feel like I've missed out on a lot because of this."
My gaze fell on that transparent square box.
The cake had been left outdoors overnight, and the mousse had slightly collapsed, while the carefully drawn chocolate frosting on top had become somewhat blurred.
It's regrettable, but thankfully it's not too late.
Fate didn't let him stray too far from his path; in the end, he was the one who spoke first, uttering the words "I like you."
"Who said your cakes weren't good?" His Adam's apple bobbed slightly. "It's because of you that I haven't been able to taste the cakes you made yourself."
Su Cheng smiled and said softly, "Then I'll practice a few more times when I get back, and on your real birthday, I'll definitely make you something even more delicious."
"I've always felt that I shouldn't have come into this world."
Jiang Muzhou's gaze sharpened slightly, as if he were lost in some distant memory. He curled his lips into a bitter smile, "They would be happier without me, wouldn't they?"
But when he looked up again, his deep gaze softened. "But now that I think about it, the reason I was born is probably because there was already someone like you in this world."
“That’s not how it is.” Su Cheng met his gaze, her eyes burning with intensity. “You are you, unique and irreplaceable. Your very existence is the most special thing, not for anyone else.”
"Wait a minute!" She suddenly remembered something, and her smile froze on her lips. "If that's the case, then I'm older than you, aren't I?"
"It's okay, I don't mind a relationship between an older woman and a younger man." Jiang Muzhou leaned lazily against her knees, looking up at her.
The smile in her eyes deepened, and her voice was clear and languid as she spoke, "And you, sister?"
"What?" Su Cheng blushed and felt flustered.
The clay pot on the stove was bubbling away, and the sweet aroma of pear soup spread with the rising steam.
The steam made her ears burn.
Oh no, oh no!
Su Cheng felt a wave of heat hit her face, making her ears burn.
The word "sister" made her heart tremble, and she was almost overwhelmed.
She desperately suppressed the urge to smile, forcing a straight face, and gently patted his shoulder. "Who said I wanted to be in a relationship with you?"
Jiang Muzhou let out a feigned hiss, rubbing the spot where she had slapped him as he straightened up, looking utterly aggrieved. "Sister, you hurt me."
Seeing the blush creeping up Su Cheng's ears, Jiang Muzhou moved even closer, his strong chest almost touching her knees, his voice soft and cloying: "Be gentle."
Su Cheng's head was buzzing, and her heart was pounding like crazy.
How can he be so good at this!
The timer on the stove went off, as if rescuing Su Cheng from dire straits.
Jiang Muzhou reluctantly stood up, turned off the heat, picked up a ladle and gently stirred the pot, the pear pieces swaying gently in the amber-colored broth.
Su Cheng snapped out of her daze and touched her flushed face, wondering if she had a fever again.
She took out her buzzing phone from her pocket when she had a moment to spare and saw a message from Lin Yang.
He retrieved the surveillance video from the entrance of the rescue station and sent Su Cheng clips of people passing by after the notice was posted.
In the video, most people only pause briefly in front of the wall with the notices posted, but one white SUV lingered in the night for a long time.
Su Cheng thanked him gratefully, picked up her phone and played the video repeatedly, trying to make out something from the blurry light and shadow.
However, the lighting at night was so poor that the people inside the car could not be seen clearly at all.
"What are you looking at so intently?" Jiang Muzhou walked over with a bowl of pear soup, gently blew on it to cool it down, and handed it to Su Cheng. "Drink some pear soup to soothe your throat."
Su Cheng hesitated for a moment, thinking that since Jiang Muzhou had edited that documentary focusing on rescuers, he should have seen all the negative comments online.
She took a sip of pear soup and finally told the whole story: she found the abused kitten at the entrance of the rescue center, people threw excrement into the rescue center, and she was misled by marketing accounts.
She silently swallowed those harassing phone calls with their vicious words, never mentioning them again.
"I'm wondering if I've been too naive all along." She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow beneath them, her amber eyes filled with melancholy. "Perhaps this rescue shouldn't have been done in such a grand manner?"
"Just do what you want to do." Jiang Muzhou held her wrist, bringing a comforting warmth. "I'll take care of the rest."
He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, unlocked his phone, and pulled up several screenshots. "This account was the first to post the notice online."
As you swipe your finger across the screen, familiar profile pictures appear one after another. "These are marketing accounts that follow the trend and spread misinformation, as well as those who leave negative reviews on the shops."
“They used a low-level disguise, but when you look up the backend data, these accounts all come from the same IP address.”
Su Cheng looked up in surprise, only to meet his determined gaze.
Jiang Muzhou opened the short video app, clicked on the pinned video, which was the same one he had just played for Su Cheng on the projector.
Within three hours of its release, it had already garnered over a million likes, and the number continues to rise.
"This is the video that has gained the most popularity since I started my short video account. Many people are paying attention to animal rescue."
He turned to the side, his shoulder brushing against hers unintentionally, then tilted his phone slightly in front of her and opened the comments section.
Su Cheng's gaze followed his direction and fell upon the screen filled with comments:
[My eyes are watering. So this is how hard rescue work is. Don't these haters have any conscience?]
[The words are so beautiful! I hope all rescuers will be treated kindly! Let's capitalize on this traffic boom!]
[Die, you marketing accounts that stir up trouble!]
[I go online to see these kinds of things, not to see who's had another scandal or who can't control their lust.]
“Although we don’t know their specific purpose yet, their actions are too organized. They are definitely not just simple cat abusers.” Jiang Muzhou turned to look at her, his gaze steady. “Your video has touched the interests of some people, so they want to make you back down and not dare to speak out for stray animals anymore.”
Su Cheng gently bit her lower lip. After being annoyed by those marketing accounts and harassing phone calls, she hadn't opened the short video app again, and naturally missed the heartwarming comments under this video.
Her thoughts suddenly drifted back to that day, to this very room, when she made the bold statement that she would reduce the number of stray animals by one percent.
The road ahead is long, and she was nearly defeated before she had even truly begun her journey.
The warmth of his palm reached her wrist, coursing through her veins and making her heart, which had almost stopped beating, start beating again.
Su Cheng looked up at the bunch of sunflowers; their golden petals stubbornly faced the light outside the window in the twilight, forever holding onto hope.
She turned her phone towards him, the screen showing a blurry image of the white sedan, and her voice regained its characteristic tenacity, "If we find this person in the surveillance footage, won't we be able to follow the clues and catch the mastermind behind it all?"
Send me a copy of the video.
Jiang Muzhou skillfully opened the video editing software and repeatedly adjusted the contrast and exposure.
The screen light flickered on his face, revealing a meticulously sculpted profile of focused attention.
As the parameters changed, the image gradually became clear, revealing a blurry face holding a phone and taking a picture of the notice.
Jiang Muzhou stared intently at the figure on the screen, his eyes narrowing.
"I've seen this person before."
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