“Damn it, you’re looking for trouble, aren’t you!” Yao Wankun swung his arm back, ready to strike.
Zhai Yu tilted his head to dodge, and the man, unable to stop his momentum, missed and fell face-first to the ground.
Zhai Yu grabbed his arm and twisted it outward forcefully, flipping him over and pinning him down. Yao Wankun was restrained.
Zhai Yu’s grip was too strong, causing Yao Wankun to cry out in pain, “Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is? Let me go, motherf—”
Zhai Yu sneered and tightened his grip. “You’d need the ability first.”
With that, he lifted his foot and kicked the man hard between the legs.
Yao Wankun let out a piercing scream.
Zhai Yu released his hand and delivered another fierce kick to the man’s back, sending him sprawling on the ground.
He dusted off his hands as if brushing off something dirty, then glanced at his assistant and said, “Take care of this.”
The assistant nodded. “Yes, Mr. Zhai.”
This time, Yao Wankun, still lying on the ground, heard it.
“You’re Zhai Yu? The youngest son who was just recognized by the Zhai family.”
He let out a mocking laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re after her too? Let me tell you, Song Ruannin tried to seduce me.”
“Who knows how many men she’s seduced over the years. You better watch out, or you might catch something.”
The man who was about to leave turned back, clenched his fist, and slammed it into Yao Wankun’s face with a thud. “Shut your filthy mouth.”
Yao Wankun was knocked unconscious by the punch.
Zhai Yu turned around, gently took Song Ruannin’s wrist, and led her to his room.
Under the light, Zhai Yu finally saw her face, pale and bruised from the pain, and the wounds on her hands.
He immediately let go. Ruan Ning rubbed the red marks on her wrist—left by Yao Wankun’s grip.
Zhai Yu’s gaze darkened. He took out a lighter, lit a cigarette, walked to the sofa, and sat down.
“Song Ruannin, did you come here to find him?”
Song Ruannin shook her head. “No.”
The crease between Zhai Yu’s brows softened slightly. “How do you know him?”
“I don’t know him. We just happened to run into each other. I came here because Yunmeng’s influencers are here for auditions.” She hurriedly explained.
Zhai Yu’s brows had already smoothed out, and he suddenly chuckled. “Is that so?”
He stood up and walked over to her, leaning close to her ear, mimicking Ruan Ning’s earlier tone. “Zhai Yu, save me.”
“That sounded really nice. Say it again.” He lifted Ruan Ning’s chin and saw her flushed face. “Song Ruannin, how were you so sure I’d save you?”
Ruan Ning turned her face away, no longer daring to meet his dark eyes.
She wasn’t actually that sure, but in that situation, she would have called for help no matter who she ran into.
It just happened to be Zhai Yu.
“Thank you for earlier.” She expressed her gratitude to Zhai Yu.
The man let out a low hum from deep in his throat. “Song Ruannin, have you counted how many times this is that I’ve saved you?”
He leaned down, almost pressing his entire body against Song Ruannin, trapping her in the corner.
“Do you think I have a habit of saving other men’s wives, or a habit of saving ex-girlfriends?”
Ruan Ning bit her lip and looked up, meeting his gaze directly. “Thank you.”
Zhai Yu: “Is ‘thank you’ just something you say with your mouth?”
Song Ruannin: “Then what do you want?”
Zhai Yu’s face drew closer and closer. Ruan Ning held her breath but couldn’t avoid inhaling the cool, refreshing scent of the man.
It really smelled good.
Just as their lips were about to meet, Zhai Yu spoke: “Explain what he meant just now. Did you seduce him?”
Song Ruannin lowered her gaze, her eyelashes trembling. “If I said no, would you believe me?”
After her father’s accident back then, the Yao family came into power, and Yao Wankun would frequently harass her and her sister.
She also knew about the slanderous rumors Yao Wankun had spread about the two sisters in Yancheng, claiming he had slept with both her and Song Zhirou.
At that time, their father had just died, and the two sisters had lost their support. He Yanxing was also abroad.
They were powerless, and no one believed their explanations.
Yao Wankun brought people to harass them multiple times, and each time, it was her sister who stood in front to protect her.
To escape the harassment, her sister moved several times with her and Song Ziyan until they heard Yao Wankun had been sent abroad, and their lives finally quieted down.
But after that, the two sisters were involved in a car accident, and her sister has been lying in the hospital ever since.
She looked quietly at Zhai Yu’s dark brows and eyes, a trace of sorrow coloring her gaze.
That look made Zhai Yu’s heart tremble.
“I believe you,” his cool, steady voice fell.
Song Ruannin froze. At this moment, she actually felt the impulse to bury herself in Zhai Yu’s arms and cry her heart out.
If she told him now about the grievances she had endured over the past six years, would Zhai Yu no longer be as cold as before? Would he gently hold her shoulders and comfort her?
But the thought vanished as quickly as it came.
Zhai Yu stood up and walked to the cabinet, taking out the first aid kit inside.
He then took Ruan Ning’s hand and pulled her to the sofa.
Taking a cotton swab dipped in iodine, he carefully cleaned the wound on Ruan Ning’s wrist.
The action made Song Ruannin feel both pain and itchiness, and she instinctively tried to pull her wrist back.
“Don’t move,” the man frowned, and Song Ruannin immediately stopped.
The air grew quiet. Only after treating the wound did Zhai Yu speak: “Song Ruannin, how long have you been married?”
Song Ruannin paused. “Six years.”
Zhai Yu clenched his back teeth. So, right after breaking up with him, Song Ruannin had immediately married someone else.
He slowly relaxed his jaw and let out a scoff. “With your husband never by your side, have you ever thought about divorce?”
Ruan Ning withdrew her hand from his warm palm and raised her eyes to meet his sharp gaze.
There was something in Zhai Yu’s eyes that she couldn’t quite understand.
Just then, her phone rang. Without looking at the caller ID, Ruan Ning immediately answered, standing up to put distance between herself and Zhai Yu.
A steady male voice came from the other end of the line: “Miss Song, your sister’s condition is more complicated than we anticipated. The awakening surgery may take longer than expected.”
It was Du Yunfei, Song Zhirou’s attending physician.
“Miss Song, do you have time to come over now?” Du Yunfei asked.
Only then did Song Ruannin realize: “I’m not in Yancheng right now. I’ll come find you when I return.”
After exchanging a few more words, Ruan Ning hurriedly hung up the phone and looked at Zhai Yu, who was sitting on the sofa with a dark expression.
“I… I should go now. Thank you for today,” she said, her voice trembling, before immediately running to the door to open it.
Zhai Yu caught up to her in two steps, pressing her against the cold door panel. “Song Ruannin, you haven’t answered my question yet. Have you ever thought about divorcing your husband?”
For a moment, Ruan Ning almost impulsively wanted to tell Zhai Yu everything.
To tell him that she wasn’t married, that Song Ziyan wasn’t her daughter but her sister and brother-in-law’s child.
She had only claimed to be her mother to keep Song Ziyan from being hurt.
They once had a child, but it died in a car accident.
Yet Du Yunfei’s phone call made her face reality and recall the reason behind the car accident she and her sister had been in years ago.
It was because she had gone to see Zhai Yu.
Her sister’s news felt like a warning from heaven.
A warning that she must never again have any connection with this man she had once loved so deeply.