Chu Luyu pulled her hand away almost instantly.
Normally, she wouldn’t have felt the need to be nervous—after all, she had absolutely no feelings for this male lead number two, and she wasn’t afraid of anyone misinterpreting their relationship.
But when her eyes met Jiang Hezhou’s just now, she inexplicably caught an unusual sense of oppression in his gaze. He hadn’t said a word, yet just that look alone had already made her feel inexplicably flustered.
She pattered over to him, all the prickliness she’d shown toward Qi Mubai gone. Pouting, she lifted her injured finger and whined coquettishly.
“Jiang Hezhou, look—I cut my hand with the paper cutter just now. It hurts so, so much.”
Jiang Hezhou’s gaze had been fixed on Qi Mubai the entire time.
He naturally had an aloof, cool demeanor, and when expressionless like this, he exuded an overwhelming pressure.
Qi Mubai, accustomed to being in a position of authority, was no slouch in presence either. The two men’s gazes silently clashed in midair—one faint and cold, the other nonchalant.
Hearing Chu Luyu’s voice, Jiang Hezhou slowly came back to himself.
He concealed the barely-suppressed ferocity in his eyes, lifted her hand for a look, and frowned. “The wound’s a bit deep. We need to go to the hospital.”
Chu Luyu nodded eagerly. She didn’t want to deal with that male lead number two anymore anyway. That little boy was cute, but during the trial session, she’d already noticed how advanced his fundamentals were.
She wasn’t confident she could teach someone at that level, and children from wealthy families came with all sorts of rules—better to avoid the hassle.
With that thought, she let Jiang Hezhou take her by the wrist while turning back to say:
“Little Xuecheng, Teacher has to go to the hospital to get her wound dressed! In that half lesson, I could already tell your foundation is excellent—it doesn’t seem like you need me to teach you anything! You should go home and continue learning from the tutor your family hired.”
Then she glanced at Qi Mubai, her tone cooling to mere politeness: “Today’s trial session ends here. Please take the child and leave.”
The three adults and one child ended up taking the same elevator down.
Since Chu Luyu had already issued her dismissal, Qi Mubai had no reason to linger with the child in the studio.
Besides… he could still sense the hostility from that man.
The elevator doors slid shut. In the cramped, enclosed space, Chu Luyu was tucked into the farthest corner, with Jiang Hezhou standing beside her, completely blocking her off from the other adult and child.
But for some reason, just two seconds after the doors closed, Jiang Hezhou’s grip on her wrist suddenly tightened.
His palm was large and warm; when he held her hand on normal days, it felt perfectly comfortable. But at this moment, his pale, prominent knuckles squeezed so hard that a dull ache spread across the bone of her wrist.
[What’s going on?] Chu Luyu asked the system. [Does the male lead have claustrophobia too? Why is he reacting so strongly in the elevator? He’s about to crush my wrist!]
System Cuihua: [You might as well ask my kneecap instead of me. Normally, seeing his fiancée being close to another man would make him jealous, and this could be explained by jealousy. But look—his aversion value for you is still clearly in the negatives! What normal person gets jealous of someone they’re disgusted by?… Maybe he just squeezed a little too hard.]
Chu Luyu glanced up at the monitoring program above. The male lead’s data was indeed still negative—it had even dropped another point from this morning, now at -70.
…How strange. She hadn’t done anything, and they hadn’t even seen each other all morning—how had his aversion value increased again?
Could it be a plot requirement? That no matter what the villainess did, she would gradually be pushed toward the ending where the male lead completely despises her?
Near the art class studio, there was only a small community hospital.
Jiang Hezhou didn’t take Chu Luyu far—the navigation showed it was the nearest hospital, so he drove there.
The hospital was nearly empty, with only two patients lying on beds in the back of the hall, receiving IV drips. The nurse at the triage desk was eating lunch—the fragrant smell of spicy hotpot filled the air—and looked up with flushed cheeks.
“What’s the problem?”
“I need some cleaning, disinfection, and bandaging supplies.” As Jiang Hezhou spoke, he kept holding up Chu Luyu’s injured hand while his other hand gripped her shoulder. “Her hand was cut with a knife. We need to treat it.”
Such a minor issue didn’t really require a doctor. The nurse nodded, typing to generate their order slip.
“Pay at the cashier first, then the pharmacy is across the way. Take the slip and pick up your supplies.”
Jiang Hezhou settled Chu Luyu onto an empty bed in the back. When he returned with the supplies, he rolled up his sleeves and personally cleaned and bandaged her wound.
He first took a cotton ball soaked in alcohol and gently wiped around her injured fingertip. After cleaning the dried blood from the edges, he took a fresh alcohol-soaked cotton and tentatively dabbed at the wound itself.
“This might sting a bit. Bear with it.”
Chu Luyu knew it would hurt, of course—alcohol was so harsh, and her wound was quite deep. When she’d first cut it, if not for the child being present, she definitely would have cried like the delicate girl she was.
Now with only Jiang Hezhou around, she had no reservations and let her emotions show completely.
“I’m really afraid of pain, Jiang Hezhou. Be gentler.” The little girl’s voice was already tinged with tears, soft and low, carrying a strong intimacy and dependence that she herself didn’t even notice.
Jiang Hezhou’s heart clenched in sympathy—but the scene he’d witnessed at the art class kept replaying in his mind, refusing to go away.
And that unforgettable men’s cologne he’d caught in the elevator…
His expression turned uncontrollably cold, yet his hands moved with instinctive gentleness.
“If you’re afraid of pain, why did you let yourself get hurt?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose—I was just careless…” Chu Luyu’s voice grew more aggrieved as she spoke. “I was already so annoyed by that man, and then he showed up with the kid for a trial class and I couldn’t just ignore them. And now I’m hurt, and you’re yelling at me…”
Whether it was from the pain or genuine distress, tears started streaming down her face.
Jiang Hezhou panicked slightly. He tossed aside the alcohol cotton, cupped her little face, and wiped her tears away.
“I was just worried about you—not yelling. The wound on your finger is really deep. If you’d used even a little more force, you might have sliced off that entire piece of flesh on your fingertip…”
“Wahh, I know that! But I’m the one who got hurt, and I’m the one in pain—you think I wanted this?”
Jiang Hezhou realized reasoning with her wasn’t going to work right now. After a moment’s thought, he acknowledged that his tone had indeed been a bit harsh. So instead of explaining further, he simply apologized in a low voice.
“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I didn’t control my tone well—it’s my fault for making you upset.”
The sudden apology caught Chu Luyu completely off guard.
She’d just wanted to vent her emotions—after all, her current persona was that of a spoiled, unpredictable little drama queen who acted on impulse at all times.
She was in pain and upset. Under normal circumstances, a mature adult wouldn’t cry over something like this.
But she was a drama queen now—half a lunatic, really. Especially in front of the male lead, she felt no need to hold back.
So she didn’t. She cried when she felt like crying.
But what was happening now? Given how the male lead felt about her, shouldn’t he have been annoyed when he saw her crying? Why was he suddenly apologizing?
Chu Luyu looked up blankly, tears dangling half-shed in her eyes, lips slightly parted. She looked foolish yet impossibly pure.
Jiang Hezhou’s eyes behind his lenses darkened involuntarily. Every drop of blood in his body seemed to boil over in that moment, and the emotions in his chest were flooded with dark, sinister thoughts—
He wanted to break her.
Just like this—watching her cry, watching her at a loss.
That slightly parted lips should be swollen by him, her tears should be the result of him bullying her senseless. All her strength should be drained away until she could only cling to his arms, needing him to feed her and give her water, her soft pale skin covered in marks he’d left behind.
She should belong completely to him, ruined in his embrace. That way, no one would covet her anymore. No one would think of taking her from him.
The girl’s tears were like a stimulant, igniting the darkest, most evil part of Jiang Hezhou.
And yet she remained utterly oblivious, still daring to look at him with that foolish, defenseless gaze.
Jiang Hezhou let out a silent sigh. Then, still cupping her face, he leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to her damp eyelid.
“Stop crying. It’s all my fault.”
It was that man who had approached her—she had done nothing wrong. She’d even said she found him annoying…
He shouldn’t have let his emotions show and made her feel bad.
Chu Luyu was far too shocked. For the rest of the time, she was like a doll, letting Jiang Hezhou do whatever he wanted with her, completely unresponsive.
But internally, she was having a very lively conversation with the system.
Chu Luyu: [Cuihua… the male lead… the male lead seems broken. He… you… did you see that? Not only did he apologize to me out of nowhere, he even kissed me.]
System Cuihua: [Uh, I hate to burst your bubble, but I have to remind you—the male lead’s aversion value just went up again. It’s now -73.]
Chu Luyu: [That’s what makes this so weird! He clearly hates me this much, and got even more annoyed inside when I cried—so why is he acting… so… so… and he even kissed me!]
Even if it was just her eye…
System Cuihua: [Maybe he thought your crying face was too ugly and annoying, and wanted you to shut up, so he pulled out the big guns? An apology alone wasn’t enough, so he threw in a kiss.]
Chu Luyu: [I’m so frustrated. Ever since this monitoring program showed up, the male lead’s behavior has become harder and harder to predict.]
System Cuihua: [Oh honey, it’s not that bad. The male lead’s overall logic is: he’s annoyed by you inside, but he can’t break off the engagement. He’s disgusted by you, but he has to treat you as his future wife. So a lot of the time, he does the opposite of what he feels inside. Especially for a workaholic like him who just wants to focus on his career… he just wants to quickly resolve whatever trouble you’ve caused and move on. That’s definitely it—whether it’s apologizing or kissing you, the root cause is he wants you to quiet down. He’s out of patience and just wants you to shut up.]
Based on the numerical data, Chu Luyu felt the system’s explanation made the most sense.
But once she set the numbers aside, everything felt strange.
Later, after her emotions settled a bit, she gradually stopped dwelling on it.
Jiang Hezhou carefully treated her wound, then wrapped it with medical gauze. Normally, he would have secured it with medical tape, but after a moment’s thought, he wrapped it an extra two times and tied it into a pretty bow.
“Be careful for the next few days. Don’t get it wet, don’t strain it. It should heal completely within a week.” Jiang Hezhou paused, then added, “Maybe you should postpone the trial classes? You injured your right hand—you won’t be able to paint for a week.”
Chu Luyu had been agonizing over the same thing. After a long hesitation, she sighed. “I guess that’s all I can do.”
Jiang Hezhou had originally packed lunch from the municipal bureau’s cafeteria to eat with Chu Luyu. But after all the commotion, the food had probably gone cold by now—the texture definitely wouldn’t be as good.
“What do you want for lunch? Let’s go out to eat.”
Chu Luyu thought of the spicy hotpot the triage nurse had been eating earlier, and her eyes lit up. “Spicy hotpot!”
Jiang Hezhou paused. His mind immediately conjured up images of the excessive additives and questionable data in typical spicy hotpot. He opened his mouth, then finally just said, “Okay.”
He drove around quite a bit, eventually ending up at a mall in the city center, where he found the highest-rated spicy hotpot place in the city for green, healthy dining.
Chu Luyu was amazed as she walked in, saying to the system: [Oh my god, Cuihua! This spicy hotpot place serves foie gras! Arctic surf clams! Wow, and Australian lobster!]
She looked like she’d discovered a whole new world, happily ordering a huge pile of items.
Once she was done ordering and they were waiting for their food, Jiang Hezhou finally voiced what he’d been holding back the entire ride.
“Let’s go wash your hands first?”
He’d seen very clearly how that man had grabbed her wrist and palm just now. Back at the hospital, if she hadn’t started crying, he would have scrubbed her hands repeatedly with alcohol.
Nothing from any other man should remain on her—whether it was a scent or the trace of a touch.
Chu Luyu didn’t think much of it. They’d just come from the hospital, and given Jiang Hezhou’s slight mysophobia, of course he wouldn’t let her eat without washing her hands first.
But then another thought struck her.
He had mysophobia! So why had he kissed her at the hospital? Was her crying really so annoying that it made him overcome even his physical aversions?
Her mood turned conflicted and complicated.
At the sink, Jiang Hezhou was very careful with Chu Luyu. He told her to keep her bandaged finger sticking up and not worry about anything else.
Chu Luyu obediently complied, watching as Jiang Hezhou meticulously lathered soap over her palm and… uh, her wrist? Over and over again. After rinsing off the white foam with clean water, he’d squeeze out more soap and start again. He washed her hands about seven or eight times total—by the time her wrist started turning red, he was finally satisfied.
After drying her hands and returning to their seats, Chu Luyu could still feel a burning sensation on the back of her hands and wrists.
She took a look. Her skin was already very fair, so any abnormality showed clearly. Now, a patch of red covered the area, stubbornly refusing to fade.
She glanced at Jiang Hezhou again, almost in tears: [Cuihua, the male lead’s mysophobia is really severe. Look at what he did to my hands! And we just went to the hospital!]
System Cuihua: [Oh honey, you should be grateful. Normally, he even washes his own hands with disinfectant—remember how you used to complain about him smelling like that? He was pretty gentle with you today!]
But it really hurt!!!
Chu Luyu pouted. Although the red areas weren’t painful enough to hurt, the burning sensation was too obvious and uncomfortably intense.
Jiang Hezhou noticed she’d been hanging her head and not eating properly, so he asked: “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you eating?”
Chu Luyu shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just that the spicy hotpot is too hot—I’m waiting for it to cool down.”
Jiang Hezhou used his chopsticks to stir and toss the food, then scooped a small bowlful and pushed it toward her. “It’s not hot now. Eat up.”
Chu Luyu hesitated for a moment, then took a bite anyway.
A moment later, Jiang Hezhou spoke up again casually: “You’re going to install real-time surveillance cameras at the art class, right? So parents can observe remotely?”
“Yes, I’ve been looking for an installer recently.”
Jiang Hezhou picked up a piece of crab leg from his own bowl and placed it into Chu Luyu’s, his tone sounding relaxed and natural: “Let me install them for you. This kind of thing affects future safety—it should be handled carefully.”
Chu Luyu hesitated, then looked up. “But do you have the time?”
Jiang Hezhou smiled, his tone unhurried: “I have time to install a set of cameras.”
·
After dropping Chu Luyu back at the art class, Jiang Hezhou drove back to the police station alone.
His face no longer carried the patient, gentle smile he wore around the girl. His brows and eyes returned to their usual cool detachment, his gaze deep and unreadable.
He called Ji Chen.
“Local Jingzhou license plate, number 77777. Have your people look up the owner for me.”
Ji Chen sounded surprised on the other end. “77777? No need to look that up—it belongs to the Qi family’s guy, the one running most of the Qi Group now. Actually, he’s pretty close with your little sister-in-law’s stepbrother—they’re good buddies. Remember that chat log we posted in the group last time, about your sister-in-law selling clothes and bags? He was in that group, with her stepbrother. Same circle.”
Jiang Hezhou’s tone remained flat; he showed no reaction.
“You know him? Crossed paths in business?”
“Had a meal together once at a gathering someone organized. He seemed like a pretty normal rich kid… Wait, shit. I think I just remembered something.”
Jiang Hezhou’s hands unconsciously tightened on the steering wheel, his voice dropping low. “What?”
“When I was having dinner with him back then, some people teased him about how a friend’s stepsister had been chasing him around for a while… That, uh, couldn’t be your little sister-in-law, could it?”
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