Watching the space around her gradually empty out, Ruan Shujin’s gaze turned cold.
Zheng Yousai moved quickly, immediately gathering up everything in the basement, preparing to flee that very day.
But how could Ruan Shujin possibly let them leave so easily?
As the Ruan and Cui families hurriedly packed their things, Ruan Shujin went to see Minister Li from the Textile Bureau.
She had revealed the location of the small textile factory in Longquan Town to Minister Li back then precisely to prepare for this moment.
Ruan Shujin waited a long time before finally meeting Minister Li’s people.
Minister Li’s name was Li Kang. He had been transferred over from the capital. From the moment Ruan Shujin first met him, she knew this man was anything but simple.
The Cui family member being caught so quickly had actually been somewhat unexpected, but it also gave Ruan Shujin room for other plans.
Li Kang narrowed his eyes as he looked at Ruan Shujin, clearly surprised that she would seek him out again.
Ruan Shujin followed him into the car. There were only the two of them inside.
“They’re planning to take a ship to Hong Kong today.”
Li Kang looked at her.
“Have you ever thought about your own outcome? You’re family, after all.”
The corners of Ruan Shujin’s lips curved into a bitter smile.
“Minister Li Kang, we’ve dealt with each other before. Do family members really scheme someone to death?”
The young woman before him looked no more than twenty, yet when she spoke, she carried the weariness of someone at the end of life.
Li Kang was momentarily speechless.
“Miss Ruan, I won’t waste any more time with you. Pack up as soon as possible and go to the compound. I’ve heard you’ve already filed a marriage report with the Xie family’s second son. By his side, as his wife, your outcome will be far better than those people’s.”
Li Kang stared at Ruan Shujin.
“That boy Xie Zheng isn’t as happy as he looks, either. Perhaps the two of you might spark something different. The situation right now is changing by the day—keep a low profile, put away your former airs. Once you marry him, you’re no longer just yourself. You are you two.”
When Ruan Shujin was asked to get out of the car, she was still a little dazed.
After standing in the wind for a few seconds, she hurried back to the old residence—but did not go inside, keeping instead a suitable distance.
Zheng Yousai’s speed surprised her.
But she felt no panic. How could she possibly let these deserters escape?
Only after the ancestral home had completely emptied out did Ruan Shujin step inside for a look.
It was bare and desolate, no longer resembling its former prosperity.
When she entered her own room, she found that even the few belongings she had left behind had been stripped clean—perfectly in line with those people’s style.
Ruan Shujin immediately left the ancestral home as well.
Just as she was thinking about how to get to Longquan Town, a rustling sound suddenly came from behind her.
Xie Zheng was staring at her. Ruan Shujin silently swallowed.
“You?”
“Didn’t I already give you the address?”
Feeling a little guilty, Ruan Shujin glanced toward the distant car.
“I want to go to Longquan Town!”
Xie Zheng didn’t ask any further questions. He took Ruan Shujin into the car and focused on driving toward their destination.
“You’re going to Longquan Town—for Zheng Yousai’s small textile factory?”
“No. I want to go to his hometown. He has a house there.”
Xie Zheng quickly glanced at Ruan Shujin.
“You… try to see things more openly. I’ll treat you well.”
Ruan Shujin looked at Xie Zheng. Seeing his face redden, she suddenly felt it might be fun to tease him a little.
“And how exactly will you treat me well? You should know—I’m very hard to take care of.”
“Ajin, I’m not that unreliable.”
Ruan Shujin adjusted herself into a comfortable position and stared at him.
“Xie Zheng, Minister Li Kang must have said something to you, right? I’m probably not as good a person as you thought—someone who could even report her own parents.”
“You’re overthinking it. With parents like yours, all they did was give you life. If it weren’t for you—and if it weren’t for your maternal grandfather—you probably wouldn’t have survived at all.”
Xie Zheng’s words instantly wiped away all the guilt in Ruan Shujin’s heart.
After they arrived, Xie Zheng didn’t follow her inside. Watching Ruan Shujin’s retreating figure, he suddenly recalled his childhood—when he had been locked inside a dog cage.
He had heard people say that the eldest miss of the Ruan family was famous in name only and not favored at all.
They said she was willful, domineering, selfish, and self-serving.
But when she descended like a goddess, secretly sneaking him food and water every day, he truly wanted to beat up those people who only knew how to talk nonsense.
Miss Ruan was clearly a good person.
Xie Zheng realized that those memories he thought he had already forgotten resurfaced one by one after meeting Ruan Shujin—as if something had triggered them.
Ruan Shujin crawled in through a dog hole by the back door of the house. Following her memory, she found Zheng Yousai’s room. The entire room was stacked full of large crates.
She opened one—inside were freshly issued Hong Kong dollars.
She opened another—an entire box of gold bars.
Every single crate in the room was filled with valuable goods.
What her grandfather had left her were antiques, but Zheng Yousai’s stash consisted entirely of new valuables.
Ruan Shujin’s eyes lit up green with greed. Without bothering to sort anything, she stuffed everything into her space, then duplicated identical crates.
This duplication function had been something she exchanged for gold bars inside her space.
Including the items Zheng Yousai was currently taking from the basement—every single one of them was fake.
She had only discovered this function by accident.
Just as she was happily packing things away, Ruan Shujin suddenly heard sounds outside. She jumped out the window and pressed herself tightly into a corner. Beside the corner was a thick pillar—so even if someone opened the window, they wouldn’t see her.
Two voices could be heard—one was Zheng Yousai’s; the other was unfamiliar.
She heard Zheng Yousai say urgently, “You and the people outside, move all of this onto the car.”
The unfamiliar man hurriedly replied, “Boss Zheng, I’ve been watching over this house for you for so long—you’ll have to give me more.”
“Got it, got it. You won’t be shortchanged.”
Zheng Yousai’s tone was extremely impatient.
That Zheng Yousai had arrived so quickly really caught Ruan Shujin off guard, but thinking about the kind of person he was, it no longer seemed surprising.
She counted the crates in her space—twenty large boxes in total.
Zheng Yousai was truly greedy.
He had even exchanged Hong Kong dollars. And yet, in her previous life, she had painstakingly prepared supplies for them, even cutting back on her own share.
To say she wasn’t hurt would be self-deception.
“Hand—reach it out!”
The moment Ruan Shujin looked up and saw Xie Zheng, her mouth opened in shock. Before she could scream, she clamped a hand over her own mouth!
Dragged up onto the roof, her legs trembling, Ruan Shujin didn’t even recover after sitting in the car—her face deathly pale.
Xie Zheng stared at her.
“So you’re quite bold, aren’t you? The people Zheng Yousai hired are criminals with heinous records, yet you dared go in there. But when I made you climb onto a roof, you got scared like this?”
Ruan Shujin called out “Xie Zheng” coquettishly, and Xie Zheng immediately shut his mouth.
He didn’t ask further questions.
He simply reported calmly, “They just moved quite a few large crates. Looks like they couldn’t bear to part with them and deliberately made time to come here. Minister Li’s people are waiting for them at the docks. Do you want to go take a look?”
“Mm.”
Xie Zheng’s words struck straight at Ruan Shujin’s heart.
If she didn’t personally see Zheng Yousai get arrested, she wouldn’t be satisfied.
Thinking of the favoritism she had endured since childhood, and their selfishness, Ruan Shujin ground her teeth in hatred.
Shanghai docks.
Night fell quietly, yet several ships suddenly lit up.
Xie Zheng found a good vantage point from which he could observe everything at the docks.
Seeing Ruan Shujin so silent made Xie Zheng uneasy.
“If you regret it now, you can go over and warn them.”
“I don’t regret it. Why would I?”
Ruan Shujin’s voice rose higher and higher, her eyes reddening.
“You’re not me—you don’t know what I’ve been through. I’m just glad I didn’t keep being foolish.”
Suddenly, the distance erupted into commotion. Before Ruan Shujin could see clearly, the ships that had been lit all fled, and the Cui and Zheng families on shore were surrounded.
Xie Zheng naturally knew more than Ruan Shujin.
“They were far too conspicuous. Fleeing would’ve been one thing, but trying to take all that stuff with them? Impossible.”
Ruan Shujin said slowly, “They’re just greedy.”
She even spotted a familiar figure among them—An Minhua. Watching him protect Zheng Shuya in his arms, Ruan Shujin recalled the scene of An Minhua and those ungrateful brats forcing her in her previous life. Her chest tightened painfully.
She pounded her chest lightly.
“Xie Zheng, let’s go. There’s nothing left to watch.”