“Come in.”
An extremely stern male voice came from inside the study.
Ruan Jiaqi steadied herself and gently turned the metal handle.
The moment she pushed the door open, a coolness mixed with the aged fragrance of wood, the slightly bitter tobacco scent of cigars, and the steady, cold hardness of leather silently swept toward her.
The study was spacious, laid out facing north to south. Entire walls of ebony bookshelves stretched all the way to the ceiling. The wood was clearly aged, giving off a dark, jade-like sheen.
The elegantly furnished room was illuminated by only a single floor lamp.
The atmosphere was heavy and oppressive.
She had pressed her ear against the crack of the door and secretly listened for quite a while, so naturally she knew what had just happened inside.
Under the enormous pressure filling the study, Ruan Jiaqi slowly walked in while holding a glass of water, holding her breath.
Before entering, she had warned herself not to make her intentions too obvious.
But she couldn’t help it.
At first glance, her eyes uncontrollably drifted toward Hua Feng.
The man stood with his back to the light, making his expression difficult to see. The indistinct contours of his features looked sharp and cold. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing muscular, solid forearms.
Ruan Jiaqi unconsciously stared for a moment, trying to read something from his expression.
Unfortunately, there was nothing.
Hua Feng’s calm, emotionless gaze rested on her without a trace of warmth.
“What are you doing here?”
It was Hua Yan who spoke.
Ruan Jiaqi came back to her senses and met an extremely vicious, murderous gaze, as though he wanted to devour her alive.
For the second young master of the Hua family, who had been pampered and treated like royalty, being seen by an outsider in such a humiliating state after being disciplined by his elder brother was an unbearable disgrace—enough to make him want to silence the other person permanently.
Especially when that outsider was the very Ruan Jiaqi he despised and detested most.
Embarrassment and anger surfaced on his face. He snarled at her, “You think you’re worthy of entering Big Brother’s study? Get out!”
Hua Yao was like an angry little kitten, hissing at her viciously.
“Exactly! Big Brother is disciplining us. What does it have to do with you? Don’t pretend to be nice!”
“Even if Second Brother and I get beaten to death by Big Brother, it’s not your place, you wicked woman, to come here pretending to plead for us!”
The tiny bit of inexplicable goodwill Hua Yao had developed toward Ruan Jiaqi earlier had instantly transformed into even deeper resentment after her elder brother’s stern reprimand.
For once, the siblings were united against a common enemy.
Hua Feng remained silent, his deep gaze fixed on Ruan Jiaqi.
Outside the window, autumn winds swept through the endless rain.
The study was extremely well insulated, so hardly any sound of thunder or rain could be heard.
Under the scrutiny of three pairs of eyes, Ruan Jiaqi spoke in a voice barely louder than a mosquito.
“I… I’m not here to plead for you.”
Hua Yao was furious and immediately rattled off, “If you’re not here to plead for us, then you’re here to watch us make fools of ourselves! You must be thrilled seeing Second Brother and me being punished by Big Brother, right?”
“Hmph, let me tell you, don’t think Big Brother punished us because of you. Don’t get all smug and imagine things!”
Ruan Jiaqi hurriedly shook her head.
“No, no, you’ve misunderstood me. I’m not here to watch you make fools of yourselves either.”
The next second, she took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, steeled her heart, and held the glass of water out toward Hua Feng with both hands.
“…If the belt gets wet, it hurts more when you hit someone!”
Hua Feng: “…”
Hua Yan: “!!!!!!”
Hua Yao: “???”
The air instantly fell dead silent.
In her heart, Ruan Jiaqi quietly asked the system: Is this vicious enough? If it isn’t…
The system was still sulking and refusing to speak to her, giving only an emotionless electronic voice.
【Character Deviation -10】
The next moment, Ruan Jiaqi suddenly felt a strange warm current surge through her limbs and bones, instantly dispelling the cold surrounding her.
Ruan Jiaqi: !
If that was how it worked, then…
Under three stunned, furious, and incredulous gazes, she tremblingly opened her tightly clenched palm again.
Resting in her pale, delicate palm was a small packet of salt.
Like someone with Parkinson’s, Ruan Jiaqi shook her hand as she poured the entire packet of salt into the glass with a loud whoosh, then even stuck her finger inside and stirred it around.
Then she raised her innocent, fragile little face, once again closed her eyes and steeled her heart, and offered the salted water to Hua Feng with both hands.
【Character Deviation -15】
As the emotionless electronic voice sounded, it was as though dead wood had come back to life.
Ruan Jiaqi watched as the skin on her arm visibly regained its rosy color, while even the wound on her wrist miraculously faded and began to heal.
Ruan Jiaqi’s heart pounded with excitement.
This meant she could temporarily stop worrying about being erased by the god of this bizarre world.
But… whether she could keep her life was still uncertain.
What if the young master really didn’t remember her at all?
According to the original plot described by Xitong, if she angered the male lead, there was a very good chance she would trigger the ending ahead of schedule.
Ruan Jiaqi barely dared to breathe, let alone raise her head to look at Hua Feng’s current expression.
Her gaze darted around nervously, accidentally passing over Hua Feng’s right hand gripping the belt.
Below the rolled-up shirt cuff, the muscle lines running from his forearm to the back of his hand were smooth yet taut, with bulging veins full of terrifying explosive strength.
She only dared sneak one glance before silently mourning for Hua Yan—or perhaps herself.
That hand definitely looked like it hurt terribly when it hit someone. Judging by the strength in it, he could probably beat someone hard enough to shatter their bones…
At the same time, Hua Yan was glaring fiercely at Ruan Jiaqi’s profile, his eyes bloodshot.
If hatred could take physical form, Hua Yan’s hatred toward her at this moment would have already exceeded the maximum limit and begun emitting a shrill alarm.
Hua Yao, meanwhile, had completely frozen.
She was so shocked that she had forgotten to cry. With tears still glistening in her eyes, she widened them to their absolute limit: °ࡇ°
Was this woman insane?
Was she okay? Was she really okay?
Did she even know what she was doing?!
She must have truly gone crazy…
“Get out.”
A low, cold reprimand came from above.
All three people instinctively shrank their necks at the same time.
Ruan Jiaqi immediately nodded like a pecking chicken, saying very obediently, “Okay, okay, I’m leaving. You can continue…”
She had just turned around, ready to flee, when Hua Feng suddenly raised his hand and tossed the heavy belt with a sharp smack onto the ebony table beside Hua Yan.
Hua Feng lowered his eyes, his deep, ink-black gaze capturing her figure, impossible to read.
The next moment, his brow lifted almost imperceptibly.
His gaze swept over his younger brother and sister, both of whom had been thoroughly disciplined.
“You two, get out.”
The punishment was over?
Hua Yan thought he had misheard.
When he looked up, however, his eyes unexpectedly caught something.
His elder brother, whose expression was usually as imposing and cold as an iceberg, seemed to have had the slightest upward curve at the corner of his normally hard-set lips…
Just for an instant.
Had Big Brother just… smiled?
Impossible.
It must have been his imagination.
Yet when Hua Yan looked at Ruan Jiaqi again, his gaze gradually changed from pure anger, disgust, and contempt into something more complicated and meaningful.
He couldn’t quite figure out what this woman was up to.
Was she playing some new trick…
Or was she using this strange method to plead for him?
Ruan Jiaqi, however, didn’t notice Hua Yan’s changing gaze at all.
In such an awkward situation, she really couldn’t bear to face the young master.
All she wanted was to flee as fast as possible and hide for a while.
Unfortunately, before she could escape to the door, that low, cold voice sounded again from behind her.
“Ruan Jiaqi.”
Hua Feng stared at the back of her head, his gaze deep and unreadable.
“Stay.”