Liu Yi’an froze. “How did you get in?”
“I climbed up.” Fu Yanchen walked to the bed, still carrying the coolness of the night air and dew on him.
“Are you crazy?” Liu Yi’an stepped back. “Get out.”
“I’m not leaving.” Fu Yanchen sat on the edge of the bed. “An’an, I have something to tell you.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“You have to.” Fu Yanchen grabbed her hand. “I went to investigate. What you said… might actually be true.”
Liu Yi’an looked at him.
“My dad really has risen through the ranks too quickly over the years,” Fu Yanchen said in a low voice. “And every promotion has been connected to your parents in some way.”
“So what?”
“So I want to help you.” Fu Yanchen looked up. “An’an, let’s investigate this together.”
“If my dad really did it, I’ll make him pay the price.”
Liu Yi’an stared at him. “You’ll go after your own father?”
“I will.” Fu Yanchen answered without hesitation. “If he really caused Uncle Liu and the others to die, I won’t let him off.”
Liu Yi’an laughed.
Fu Yanchen had said similar things in her previous life.
Then he had turned around and sold her out to Fu Jianguo.
“I don’t believe you.” She pulled her hand back. “Fu Yanchen, leave.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Then I’ll call for someone.”
“Go ahead.” Fu Yanchen looked at her. “That’s fine. When they come, I’ll just say I came to bring you food.”
Liu Yi’an froze.
Fu Yanchen pulled a thermal food container from inside his coat. “I know my dad ordered everyone not to bring you food.”
“So I made some myself.”
He opened the container. Inside was a steaming bowl of porridge.
“You…”
“I know you don’t want to eat anything I make.” Fu Yanchen placed the porridge on the bedside table. “But you still need to eat something.”
“If you starve yourself sick, how are you going to get your revenge?”
Liu Yi’an stared at the bowl of porridge, a complicated mixture of emotions welling up inside her.
In her previous life, Fu Yanchen had never cooked for her.
She had been starved for five days, and he hadn’t even come to see her once.
“An’an.” Fu Yanchen suddenly spoke. “You said just now that the person you love isn’t me.”
“Then who is it?”
Liu Yi’an said nothing.
“Is it Zhou Yuping?”
She raised her head. “That has nothing to do with you.”
“How does it have nothing to do with me?” Fu Yanchen’s voice carried a hint of urgency. “An’an, you’re my fiancée.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” Fu Yanchen grabbed her shoulders. “From the day you moved to this city, you’ve been my fiancée.”
“That’s what my father and Uncle Liu arranged.”
Liu Yi’an pushed him away. “That was your father’s wishful thinking.”
“My parents never agreed to it.”
Fu Yanchen froze.
“You think I don’t know?” Liu Yi’an sneered. “After something happened to my parents back then, your father was the one who volunteered to take care of me.”
“Then, under the guise of taking care of me, he took all the documents my parents left behind.”
“How much classified information was in those documents? How much of it did he use as leverage to climb higher?”
Fu Yanchen’s face turned deathly pale.
“So do you understand now?” Liu Yi’an looked at him. “The Fu family owes me a debt you can never repay in this lifetime.”
“I…”
“Leave.” Liu Yi’an turned around. “Don’t come here again.”
Fu Yanchen stood there without moving for a long time.
Finally, he took a deep breath and turned toward the window.
“An’an.” He looked back. “Whether you believe me or not, I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“If my father really did it, I’ll personally send him to prison.”
With that, he climbed out through the window and left.
Hearing his footsteps fade downstairs, Liu Yi’an walked to the bedside table.
The bowl of porridge was still steaming.
She picked it up and took a sip.
It tasted very light, but it was warm.
Her phone vibrated.
Zhou Yuping sent her a message: “Tomorrow at ten in the morning, the military will officially open an investigation into Fu Jianguo.”
“Are you ready?”
Liu Yi’an set down the bowl and replied, “I’m ready.”
She looked out the window.
In the darkness of the night, Fu Yanchen’s figure was still standing in the courtyard.
He looked up at her window.
Separated by a pane of glass, neither of them looked away first.
Liu Yi’an put down her phone and looked at the gray, inactive profile pictures in her contacts.
She sent more than a dozen messages to her former colleagues at the research institute, but no one replied.
When she called them, their phones were either turned off or they hung up.
The last person who answered was her former mentor.
“An’an…” Her mentor’s voice was troubled. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s just that…”
“I understand.” Liu Yi’an cut him off.
“Deputy Director Fu’s people contacted us and said that your work ability was inadequate and told us not to contact you anymore.” Her mentor sighed. “You know that all the research institute’s project approvals have to go through him.”
“So no one dares to help me.”
“I’m sorry.”
Liu Yi’an hung up.
She leaned against the headboard and stared at the ceiling.
It had been the same in her previous life.
With just one word from Fu Jianguo, she had become an outcast in the entire field.
Everyone was afraid of offending him, and no one dared to lend her a hand.
Her phone vibrated again.
Zhou Yuping sent another message: “The investigation is moving a little slowly. Fu Jianguo’s network of connections within the Space Administration is more complicated than we expected.”
“How long will it take?”
“At least a week at the earliest.”
A week.
Liu Yi’an tightened her grip on the phone.
She couldn’t wait that long.
If Fu Jianguo dared to starve her, it meant he was already prepared to completely break with her.
If this dragged on any longer, she might not even be able to keep her life…
She might not even be able to keep her life.
The sound of a car came from outside the window.
Liu Yi’an walked to the window and saw Mother Fu’s car parked in the courtyard.
When she got out, she was still carrying shopping bags in her hands, a smile on her face.
“Yanchen, look what Mom bought for you!”
Fu Yanchen stood at the doorway and didn’t take them.
“Mom, just leave me alone.”
“What’s wrong?” Mother Fu froze. “Who made you angry?”
“No one.” Fu Yanchen turned to leave.
“Is it because of Liu Yi’an?” Mother Fu grabbed him. “Yanchen, don’t let her fool you.”
“She didn’t fool me.”
“Then why have you been ignoring Mom these past few days?” Mother Fu’s voice was filled with hurt. “Did she say something to you?”
Fu Yanchen was silent for a few seconds.
“Mom, how much do you know about what happened to Uncle Liu and the others back then?”
Mother Fu’s expression changed.
“Why are you asking about that?”
“I just want to know.”
“That was your father’s business. I don’t know anything about it.” Mother Fu avoided his gaze. “Don’t go digging into things you shouldn’t.”
“So there really is a problem.”
“Yanchen!” Mother Fu raised her voice. “What exactly are you trying to do?”
“I’m going to find out the truth.” Fu Yanchen looked at her. “If Dad really caused Uncle Liu and the others to die, I won’t let him off.”
Mother Fu stood there in stunned silence.
“Are you crazy?”
“I’m not crazy.”
“Then Liu Yi’an has brainwashed you!” Mother Fu trembled with anger. “Yanchen, she’s trying to turn our family against each other!”
“She’s not turning us against each other.” Fu Yanchen took a step back. “Mom, you know the truth in your heart.”
He turned and went upstairs.
Mother Fu stood where she was, her face deathly pale.
Liu Yi’an watched everything from the window without feeling the slightest ripple of emotion.
In her previous life, Mother Fu had put on similar performances.
Every time, she acted like the victim, as though the whole world owed her something.
But in reality, she knew better than anyone what Fu Jianguo had done.
She had simply chosen to pretend she knew nothing and turn a blind eye.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Mother Fu pushed open Liu Yi’an’s door without knocking.
“You’re feeling pretty pleased with yourself, aren’t you?”
Liu Yi’an turned around.
Mother Fu stood in the doorway, her eyes filled with hatred.