The man didn’t respond further. Instead, his gaze drifted forward again, and he spoke to her in a casual tone about some things from his past.
“The first time I dissected the body of a drug dealer, I had the urge to destroy key traces in the autopsy report. I knew that the person who killed that dealer was most likely a relative of a narcotics officer who had died in the line of duty. At that moment, my sympathies were entirely with the killer. I also thought that drug dealer deserved to die.”
“Another time, I assisted the team in arresting a child rapist. When that person committed his crimes, he forced the child’s parents to watch. After he was done, he killed the child right in front of them and forced the parents to eat the child’s eyes or genitals. When that culprit was eventually captured, I heard everyone on the team calling him an animal. At that time, I also had the thought of using my own methods to sentence him to death.”
“I know how to avoid vital spots and slice off human fat and muscle tissue piece by piece—even if he lost dozens of pounds, he wouldn’t die. I also looked into which canine breeds love raw meat and aren’t picky eaters at all. I could cut off his flesh while feeding it to the dogs, and throughout the entire process, I’d make sure the killer remained fully conscious, forced to watch his own flesh being eaten by dogs…”
As the man spoke of these horrific topics, his tone remained calm and rational throughout.
Chu Luyu had no idea what he was trying to do. She swallowed nervously, a wave of fear washing over her.
Jiang Hezhou didn’t seem to expect any response from her on the subject. After he finished speaking, his gaze settled back on her face.
“The adjectives you just used—they’re too perfect. The truth is, I might not be as good as you said. I have the ugliest dark sides that ordinary people have. I’m not entirely self-disciplined or composed, and I’m not immune to losing control.”
The latter part was something Jiang Hezhou had suddenly realized after what had happened in the car that night.
He hadn’t contacted Chu Luyu over the past few days precisely because he’d been thinking about these things.
He felt that the loss of control that day had opened some kind of door.
He was acutely aware that when it came to Chu Luyu, he could no longer treat her the way he had originally planned—as just an ordinary marriage partner to spend a stable, uneventful life with.
It seemed he wanted to take far more from her.
Perhaps even something extreme, dark, and unspeakable.
Chu Luyu still didn’t quite understand.
She pressed her lips together, her brows slightly furrowed, and thought for a moment before speaking: “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Jiang Hezhou looked at her deeply, his gaze so profound it seemed as though it could pull her into him—
“What I’m saying is, are you sure you want to go the distance—steadfastly and long-term—with someone like me?”
Chu Luyu was caught off guard by his question.
She asked the system: 【Cuihua, what does the male lead really mean? I feel like I don’t quite get what he’s saying.】
System Cuihua: 【Oh my god, isn’t it obvious?! He’s basically trying to get you to break off the engagement indirectly!】
Chu Luyu: 【Huh?】
System Cuihua: 【Everything he just said was clearly made up to scare you off, so that you’d choose to call off the engagement yourself! His personality is methodical and principled—he’d feel burdened by being the one to propose breaking it off. But if you’re the one to bring it up, the situation is different… It’s over, it’s over—the male lead is really mad. He can’t even wait half a year anymore!】
Hearing the system’s explanation, Chu Luyu immediately grew anxious too.
In her panic, a thin layer of moisture unconsciously welled up in her eyes. She looked up at Jiang Hezhou with urgency.
“Everyone has a dark side. But the vast majority of people still choose to abide by order and maintain their kindness. You thought about all those things that go against the law, but in the end, you still did nothing and just waited for them to face legal judgment, didn’t you?”
“I’m not here to say whether you’re right or wrong. But what I can tell you is that I’ve never wanted a partner who is perfect in every way. So everything you just said—I can completely accept it.”
Jiang Hezhou didn’t say anything. He simply looked at her quietly, his deep eyes holding an unfathomable darkness that others couldn’t read. Like thick black mist, it hovered lightly yet tightly around Chu Luyu.
“So, you’re sure you want to be with me, right?”
Chu Luyu nodded frantically: “Sure, absolutely, and positively!”
Then, afraid he wouldn’t believe her, she quickly added a few flattering words: “You’re upright and resolute, highly competent at work, disciplined and clean-living in your personal life, and most importantly, you’re tall and handsome… I’d have to be an idiot not to want to be with you! I want to be with you! I super want to be with you! Forever and ever!”
Her words were a bit over-the-top, and a flicker of guilt crossed her mind as soon as she said them.
But she quickly brushed it off. There was less than half a year before they’d part ways anyway—today’s words definitely wouldn’t stick in the male lead’s memory forever.
“Good. Then remember what you said today.”
Jiang Hezhou said the last sentence casually. After speaking, he naturally took her hand and walked forward.
This was probably the first time Chu Luyu had been actively held by the male lead’s hand since transmigrating.
She didn’t react in time and quickly asked the system: 【So, is the crisis temporarily averted now?】
System Cuihua: 【Well, look at how much you buttered him up! Even if he still wanted to break off the engagement, he’d probably feel too awkward to say it now.】
Chu Luyu let out a sigh of relief.
Her gaze inadvertently drifted downward and landed again on the hand Jiang Hezhou was using to hold hers.
The man’s palm was very slender, with prominent knuckles and long, fair, clean fingers. When he curled his hand around hers, faint veins and sinews rose slightly on the back of his cool, pale hand.
While admiring the male lead’s hand, Chu Luyu asked the system again: 【So what does him holding my hand mean now? He’s reluctantly not breaking off the engagement, but he should still be annoyed with me—so why is he suddenly being so intimate?】
System Cuihua: 【Why don’t you take a look at how much traffic there is in this old downtown area? I’ve actually wanted to tell you this for a while—you walk like you’re completely blind to your surroundings! You don’t check the road conditions at all! Half the time you just drift toward the middle of the street! No matter what, you’re still the male lead’s fiancée right now. He probably noticed your bad habit and is putting up with his own discomfort to hold your hand so you don’t get into an accident while walking next to him.】
Chu Luyu let out an embarrassed little chuckle. She did indeed have the habit of not checking traffic when crossing the street—she’d tried to change it for years but never fully succeeded.
Jiang Hezhou had parked his car at a public parking spot some distance away from the noodle shop.
After they’d walked hand in hand for a bit, he suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to ask her.
“Why did you come here all of a sudden?”
“I wanted to find something to do with myself, so I planned to open an art interest class. There’s a school nearby, and the location is pretty ideal, so the agent brought me here to look at some properties.”
Jiang Hezhou paused inwardly.
He had heard a lot about what the original Chu Luyu was like.
Before their formal meeting, his family had given him a profile on her.
After graduating, she’d always relied on her mother and the Chen family for everything—food, clothing, spending money. She’d never held a proper job for even a single day, nor had she ever had to worry about making a living.
The wording in the profile was tactful, but between the lines, it conveyed that she spent her days idle and lazy, doing nothing but leeching off her elders.
Jiang Hezhou hadn’t really cared about any of that before.
He had only viewed the engagement as a task to be completed. Even knowing all that, he hadn’t paid it much mind.
After all, his personal income, combined with long-term dividends from the family business, was more than enough to support another idle person.
So whether she had a job or not hadn’t mattered much to him.
But now, hearing her bring it up on her own, he was genuinely surprised.
Chu Luyu could tell what he was thinking just by looking at his expression.
After a moment’s thought, she came up with a story that best suited the current situation and fabricated a lie.
“You’re wondering why I suddenly want to find something to do, right? The truth is, I’m changing for you. After all, my fiancé is a forensic medicine expert with extraordinary professional skills. If I want to be worthy of you, I definitely can’t keep coasting through life like I used to!”
She finished speaking with a smile, her almond-shaped eyes curving as she looked at him, holding tiny, sparkling lights within—so beautiful that Jiang Hezhou couldn’t look away.
In that instant, he thought again of the screenshot of the chat log he’d seen earlier in his childhood friends’ group.
So all these changes she’d been making lately really were all for him.
So she really did like him this much.
Becoming aware of this, Jiang Hezhou’s gaze unconsciously softened.
The two of them continued walking hand in hand. Then, out of nowhere, the familiar system notification sounded in Chu Luyu’s mind—
【Ding, new task! Have the male lead go into an lingerie store and pick out a few pieces for you. Say the key line: “My size is 32C.”】
Chu Luyu: …
What the hell! Didn’t she just finish today’s task?! Why is there another one?!
…
A hundred meters away, Meng Wantian had just finished her tutoring job and was walking toward the bus stop with her roommate.
“We both got tutoring gigs in the same neighborhood again—what a coincidence!”
Hearing her roommate’s words, Meng Wantian smiled. “The affiliated middle school here is a key city school. Almost all the houses nearby are rented by parents accompanying their kids for school. It’s natural that we’d both end up tutoring here.”
Her roommate hummed in agreement. A moment later, she seemed to spot something and pointed ahead.
“Hey, Tiantian, the other day you mentioned wanting to buy a new bra. There’s a lingerie store right ahead—it doesn’t look big, so the prices should be pretty affordable. Want me to go in with you and take a look?”
Meng Wantian thought to herself that the “other day” her roommate was referring to was probably before her rebirth. Back when she and Jiang Hezhou were together, he had never skimped on material things—everything she ate and used was thoughtfully arranged by him, so she never had to worry about a thing.
That said, she had been feeling quite uncomfortable wearing her current bra out these past few days.
During this graduation period, she was still quite poor. She only had one bra, washed over and over, and the underwire had long since poked through, occasionally scraping the soft flesh under her arm with every step.
She hesitated for a moment, glanced at the lingerie store sign ahead, and finally nodded—
“Let’s go.”
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