Jiang Li had a habit of sharing gossip shoulder-to-shoulder with others, a habit that originated from her marriage to Shen Muran.
The sports world had no shortage of juicy scandals, no less than the entertainment industry. Whenever she was bored and wanted to hear some gossip, she would coax Shen Muran into telling her stories in a half-playful, half-coaxing manner.
This physical memory hadn’t changed, and she didn’t want to change it either.
Song Ying’er didn’t want to be a third wheel, so she set an alarm to pretend it was a phone call and excused herself.
The room fell silent.
“Anything else?” The man stood up, backpack slung over his shoulder, and looked at her.
Meaning, could he leave now?
Jiang Li cleared her throat. “I wanted to say that the people on the forum don’t know the whole story. Their judgments about you are biased, so don’t take them to heart. You did a good job with this matter, at least that’s what I think.”
“Mm.” Shen Muran lowered his gaze.
“Oh, and you didn’t reply to the message I sent you this morning. The words ‘received’ aren’t hard to type. The pinyin is shōu for ‘receive’ and dào for ‘arrive.’ If you haven’t read the message yet, read it now, and reply to me right away.”
Jiang Li liked to be direct.
When she asked a question, she always expected an answer.
Her beautiful lychee-like eyes blinked, fixed on him, not letting him leave.
Shen Muran took out his phone and replied to the last message titled “Underling Rules” right in front of her: 【Received.】
Jiang Li heard the satisfying ding from her phone and smiled. “Remember to bring me breakfast tomorrow, and don’t forget to apply the ointment.”
She turned and walked away, but after two steps, she suddenly turned back.
Her slender fingers swiped across his still-lit screen, setting her own chat window as the top conversation on Shen Muran’s phone.
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
Shen Muran stared at the girl’s retreating figure. Her steps were unusually light, and the ends of her hair bounced playfully behind her.
At the very top of his WeChat was a cartoon image of a fragrant pear, complete with cute blush painted on it.
Everything that happened today felt like a wildflower dreaming of being a rose.
But whether it was real or not, he didn’t care anymore.
The boy still held the torn-off band-aid in his hand. He pulled out a tissue, wrapped it carefully, and tucked it into his pants pocket.
Suddenly, his fingers paused, and a low, disdainful chuckle escaped his throat. What on earth had he been thinking!
As soon as Jiang Li left the infirmary, she was met with an interrogation from Ji Chengyu and Song Ying’er.
The two stood with their arms crossed, wearing sunglasses and smirking in unison. “Spill it.”
Jiang Li had no intention of hiding it from them. “Shen Muran is under my protection from now on. Don’t bully my person.”
“Ber, Sister Li, you change your tune faster than a chameleon changes color!”
“Yeah, Little Pear, we’re in a new era now. You don’t have to repay a life-saving favor by offering yourself, do you?”
A smile played on Jiang Li’s lips. “Why not? Of course I will.”
She had already done so in her past life.
She lowered her head, gently rubbing the band-aid on the back of her hand, a sweet feeling bubbling up inside her.
Truth be told, when she was getting checked at the hospital, she had been quite nervous.
What if gentle persuasion didn’t work on Shen Muran? What would she do then?
But after what had just happened, she was filled with confidence.
If Shen Muran was extremely resistant to someone, he wouldn’t let them get within half an arm’s length of him.
Earlier, they had been sitting hip-to-hip, shoulder-to-shoulder.
A normal reaction from Shen Muran would have been to immediately spring away, putting as much distance between them as possible.
But he hadn’t.
Song Ying’er, seeing her friend’s lovestruck expression, kindly reminded her, “If you just want to casually date and have fun, go ahead and do whatever you want. But if you’re serious about it, you won’t be able to handle it. Just getting past your brother would be impossible.”
The two had been close since they were in diapers.
She knew the inside story of the kidnapping case the Jiang family had refused to discuss for the past ten years.
“Putting aside Shen Muran’s family background, just his terrible reputation alone means you can’t bring him home.”
Surprisingly, Jiang Li grew serious. “I know what I’m doing.”
Ji Chengyu didn’t say anything more, mouthing to Song Ying’er, “Anti-addiction mode has failed~”
Neither of them took Jiang Li’s words seriously.
That evening.
After returning to the villa and enjoying a comfortable hot bath, Jiang Li threw herself heavily onto the bed.
She sprawled out in a starfish position, swishing her hands and feet across the sheets a couple of times.
“Dear bed, I haven’t slept on you in years!”
After her eldest brother’s death, the Jiang family’s stocks plummeted to rock bottom. To give an explanation to the shareholders and the board, the wolves forced Jiang Li to use the Jiang family’s assets to pay off debts. Everything under her name that could be sold was stripped clean.
She became utterly penniless, to the point where even sleeping on a soft bed became a luxury.
Thinking of this, Jiang Li pulled her head out from under the covers, sprang up like a carp, and sent a message to a private investigator she knew well.
[Got a job, big reward.]
[Investigate the sensational Shen Xinye murder case from ten years ago. There’s injustice involved. 200,000 for each valid lead, the more the better.]
[Also, check if there are any suspicious individuals lurking around Jiang Lintian, the CEO of Hengtian Group. Do it well, and the bonus won’t disappoint you.]
The reply came instantly: [Accepted.]
Jiang Li always felt the plane crash was suspicious. Logically, the company was well-managed. Even with her eldest brother’s death, it shouldn’t have hit a trading halt and been liquidated within just three days.
This inevitably led to thoughts of conspiracy.
As for the case involving Shen Muran’s father, she could only investigate privately for now. Once she obtained authorization from the family to appeal, she would hire a lawyer to overturn the verdict directly.
At sixteen, Shen Muran had already ranked in the top fifty nationally in junior tennis. If he hadn’t lacked the funds to travel across the country for tournaments, his points would undoubtedly have been higher.
Even her brother, whose tennis talent was freakishly good, only reached that position at eighteen.
The future tennis prodigy had limitless potential, something proven in her past life.
He shouldn’t be held back by a wrongful conviction.
If she could help Shen Muran achieve his dreams a step earlier, Jiang Li was willing to be the one to lift him up.
Unfortunately, when she read the retrial verdict back then, she was too panicked to remember the specific details clearly.
But where there’s a high reward, there will be brave souls!
Jiang Li’s bank account wasn’t empty now. She refused to believe that throwing money at it wouldn’t yield evidence!
Just then, her little nephew Jiang Fan came in looking somewhat impatient. “Hey, Dad wants to know if you’ve received your failed physical fitness test notice yet?”
Jiang Li fished out the failed notice from under her pillow.
The bold words ‘Make-up Exam’ stared back at her—the sky was falling!
Mentioning the physical fitness test was an absolute nightmare for Jiang Li.
The Jiang family had strong athletic genes.
Her parents were national sports coaches while they were alive. Her brother was an internationally renowned tennis prince—though retired now, his achievements were on record. Her little nephew was a sprinting prodigy.
Only Jiang Li was the odd one out.
Her athletic ability was lacking, as if she had muscular weakness.
Failing the freshman physical fitness test meant Jiang Lintian would definitely be on her case.
Jiang Li looked down at the sit-up section, staring at the score of “10 in one minute,” and couldn’t help but recall Shen Muran’s nickname for her in her past life—a bedridden loser.
Crunches? She just couldn’t do them.
Back then, she always sat on Shen Muran—letting him do the work for her.
Frustrated beyond measure, Jiang Li squirmed restlessly in bed until midnight…