It had been so long since she’d last had a good, proper look at him.
In her previous life, because of her betrayal, the two of them never had the chance to meet again.
She had tried to find him, but Jiang Hezhou seemed determined to have no further entanglement with her, avoiding her every time.
Lying in bed last night, unable to sleep, Meng Wantian had also considered whether she should step into Jiang Hezhou’s life earlier in this lifetime.
After all, the sooner she met him, the sooner they would fall in love in this life. She truly wanted to make up for all the wrongs she’d done him in her past life.
But the thought had barely surfaced before she shot it down again.
In her previous life, she had only gotten the chance to be by his side after his former fiancée had hurt him and he’d developed a phobia of women.
It was something she didn’t want to admit, but had to—if Jiang Hezhou hadn’t been hurt by that woman, she might never have qualified to be near him.
The gap between them was too vast.
Family background, age, education—he was a star she could hardly reach or touch in almost every way.
If she really intervened in his life early and helped him avoid that woman’s harm, then perhaps he wouldn’t need her to heal him anymore, and the two of them might never develop the relationship they once had.
Meng Wantian did feel sorry for the suffering Jiang Hezhou had gone through in her past life. But if it meant risking not being able to fall in love with him again, she didn’t think she could do it.
After much deliberation, she decided that in this life, she would quietly stay close to Jiang Hezhou without disturbing his current life. Once everything from her past life had unfolded, she would go to him again—just like before—to warm and heal him.
……
After the preparatory bell rang, Jiang Hezhou appeared in the classroom on time.
He wore black casual trousers today, with a crisp white shirt tucked neatly into his waistband, his narrow waist cleanly defined.
He was really tall—189 centimeters—with a lean, slender figure.
His frame looked slim, but not weak. Occasionally, when he moved, the contours of muscle beneath the fabric would subtly emerge.
He stood at the podium, flipping open the attendance sheet in his hand, and calmly looked down at the class—
“Let’s start with roll call.”
At that moment, Meng Wantian’s heart began to pound uncontrollably.
She was really seeing her beloved again—it was her Azhou, her Azhou!
For the entire class afterward, Meng Wantian was practically in a daze.
She vaguely heard that Jiang Hezhou was lecturing on how to determine time of death, but the finer details completely escaped her.
His familiar yet unfamiliar voice circled around her ears again and again. Her eyes grew hot with emotion. She wished so much that he would look her way—even just once—so she could meet his gaze.
But unfortunately, throughout the entire class, her wish never came true.
When the bell rang, the entire classroom seemed reluctant to leave.
Meng Wantian snapped out of her trance, threading past students packing up their books and bags, and stared blankly toward the podium.
She didn’t really know what she was thinking in that moment.
Her rational mind told her that at this stage, she shouldn’t disturb him or get too close.
But having seen him, she couldn’t control the impulse in her heart…
She had deliberately worn the white dress he loved most today. In her past life, Jiang Hezhou had always liked her in this style, and had told her she looked beautiful dressed like that.
Step by step, Meng Wantian walked toward the man. With every step, her heartbeat grew heavier.
Thump, thump, thump—
But just as she was only a few steps away from him, he suddenly took a phone call.
The man’s expression was very gentle—completely different from the cool, serious demeanor he’d had during class. There seemed to be a soft, flickering light in his eyes: “You’re awake?”
As he spoke, he picked up his laptop and walked step by step toward the door, brushing past Meng Wantian.
He was so absorbed in the call, as if all his attention were given to the person on the other end of the line. Meng Wantian stood there, watching him leave without a single extra glance falling on her, frozen in place.
Her classmate, who had come with her, caught up at that moment.
Looking at Jiang Hezhou’s departing figure, the girl hesitated before offering Meng Wantian some comforting words: “I told you this morning—our Professor Jiang has a fiancée now. And apparently, the ‘Professor’s wife’ is very beautiful. They make a great couple.”
When Meng Wantian had suddenly come to her late last night asking to sit in on Professor Jiang’s class, she’d already felt something was off.
And during class just now, she’d watched Meng Wantian stare at the podium with a completely infatuated expression the entire time.
At that moment, she thought to herself: it seemed this nursing department belle was just like other girls—swooning over Professor Jiang’s looks and entertaining some other little schemes.
As a fellow girl, she could understand that impulsive admiration and attraction based on appearance.
But since Professor Jiang already had a fiancée, she didn’t want Meng Wantian to get too deep into it, so she offered a gentle warning.
Meng Wantian, of course, wouldn’t believe what the other girl said—that Jiang Hezhou and that so-called “Professor’s wife” were deeply in love. Suppressing her disappointment, she turned and smiled at her classmate.
“You’re overthinking it. I just wanted to ask Professor Jiang a few questions, but he was in a hurry to take that call, so I didn’t want to disturb him.” She paused, then added, “But are you sure your information is accurate? I heard that Professor Jiang’s fiancée… doesn’t seem like a good match for him? This engagement probably isn’t one he’s happy about.”
The other girl looked surprised. “Really? I haven’t heard that…”
Over on her end, Chu Luyu had called Jiang Hezhou a while after waking up.
Before going to sleep last night, she’d still been thinking about the task of getting the male lead to hand-wash her lingerie. This morning, half-asleep, she’d suddenly remembered that she’d tossed the bag from the lingerie shop by the door.
When she woke up and went to look for it, the bag was gone.
That was why she’d called Jiang Hezhou.
On the other end of the line, Jiang Hezhou first asked if she’d eaten, then mentioned that he’d be home late today. Chu Luyu answered each question in turn. Finally, she hesitated and spoke again.
“Jiang Hezhou, um… did you see that bag I brought back yesterday?”
The man on the other end paused for two seconds before replying: “You mean the one with the lingerie?”
“…Yes.”
“This morning, when the housekeeper came, she asked if I wanted her to wash the items in the bag. I thought you might feel awkward about someone else touching your undergarments, so I said no and put the bag away in my room.” He paused, then added, “If you’re not in a hurry, I’ll bring it to you when I get home tonight.”
There was no rush at all—Chu Luyu had just thought of it and asked on a whim.
She obediently said okay. Jiang Hezhou, hearing her soft, sweet voice come through the receiver, gently lowered his gaze and silently curved his lips.
“Wait for me tonight. I’ll bring food back for you.”
“Okay!”
Jiang Hezhou had arranged to meet Ji Chen at a restaurant in the evening.
After arriving, he ordered the food and waited there. Ji Chen arrived only five minutes later, looking a bit surprised to see Jiang Hezhou already seated in the private room.
“You’re this early? I thought I was early, showing up fifteen minutes ahead of time.”
“I didn’t have much else to do, so I came over first and ordered, so we wouldn’t waste time.”
Ji Chen frowned and asked, “What else do you have going on, that you’re in such a hurry?”
Jiang Hezhou picked up the glass of lemon water the server had brought earlier and took a sip. His eyes lowered behind his glasses. “There’s someone at home waiting for me to bring dinner back. I need to get home early.”
Ji Chen: ??????
Didn’t he say it was just a marriage arrangement?!
Ji Chen barely recognized the word “just” anymore.
After the server had brought all the dishes and confirmed that no one else would enter the private room, the two got down to business.
“No wonder we couldn’t find that mechanic abroad all these years—turns out he got plastic surgery right after leaving the country, and likely had his identity secretly changed as well.”
As he spoke, Ji Chen pulled out his phone, brought up a video, and handed it to Jiang Hezhou.
“My people went through a lot of trouble to find this footage from the plastic surgery clinic that mechanic went to back then. He was wearing a mask and hat when he went in, but the tattoo on his arm wasn’t completely covered—it’s most likely him.”
Jiang Hezhou took the phone and opened the surveillance video. He dragged the progress bar back and forth, repeatedly studying the man’s movements as he entered and exited the clinic. His cool, handsome face instantly turned cold and stern.
“Can we confirm his current situation now?” he asked Ji Chen.
“We still need to dig deeper. But things should move faster now—once we find the doctor who performed the surgery and know what he looked like after the operation, everything will become much easier.”
Jiang Hezhou was silent for a long time, not looking up. He simply handed the phone back and said quietly, “Thanks.”
Ji Chen waved it off. “What’s with the politeness?”
All these years, the people around Jiang Hezhou knew better than anyone how long he’d been haunted by his father’s death.
Having witnessed his father’s death firsthand, he’d been determined to catch the killer.
The only suspicious lead had been that auto repair shop.
After all, his father’s car had been kept in the garage after being sent there, and by the time it was driven out, the brakes had suddenly failed. More importantly, by the time Jiang Hezhou went to investigate, the shop was already empty and the mechanic had mysteriously gone abroad.
Jiang Hezhou had reported this to his family. He’d expected the elders to launch a thorough investigation overseas based on this lead, but after waiting for over half a year, nothing came of it. That was when he finally realized something was wrong and reached out to Ji Chen.
He still remembered what he’d said to Ji Chen back then.
“There’s something off about the people around me. I can’t make any more moves. Ji Chen, help me.”
Although the Ji family wasn’t as powerful as the Jiang family in Jingzhou, they had considerable influence overseas, which was why Jiang Hezhou had turned to him.
After years of effort, they were finally making some headway.
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