In the days that followed, in order to care for Jiang Hezhou’s recovery, Chu Luyu hardly went out at all.
He wasn’t as overtly restrictive of her freedom as before, nor did he bring out the handcuffs again. The two of them would occasionally sleep in the golden cage, but the door was no longer locked, and the two ankle chains lay completely idle at the edge of the cage, untouched.
Chu Luyu knew he had responded to her in silence. She had taken the initiative to let him put the bracelet back on her wrist, and he had truly let go of the past and started learning to trust her again.
However, sometimes when she woke up in the middle of the night, Chu Luyu could still see the side of him that was deeply insecure.
He would always stare at her intently after she fell asleep. She never knew whether, when she turned over next, she would see him asleep or see those dark eyes of his open wide in the night, completely devoid of sleepiness.
Whenever that happened, Chu Luyu wouldn’t say anything more. Still groggy, she would just snuggle closer, pressing her body fully against his. Their body heat mingled in the darkness, and she would pat his back gently, whispering, “I’m here, Jiang Hezhou. I’m still here.”
Later, Jiang Hezhou also asked Chu Luyu why she hadn’t run away that day. No matter how you looked at it, that had been the perfect opportunity to escape.
Without hesitation, Chu Luyu asked him, “If I had run, would you have stopped looking for me?”
“No.” Jiang Hezhou’s answer was resolute. He had never actually told her that after seeing the bracelet she’d left in the water room that day, once he’d calmed down, his first instinct was to have people intercept her at every major transportation hub in Jingzhou. He just hadn’t had the chance to make that call before she appeared.
“See?” The answer was within her expectations, and Chu Luyu showed no surprise. “If I ran, you’d catch me sooner or later anyway. Why waste the effort?”
When Jiang Hezhou spoke again, there was a barely noticeable stiffness in his voice: “Is that the only reason?”
“Of course not. That’s just the choice I made out of laziness, and it accounts for less than twenty percent of my final decision.” She tilted her little head up from his embrace and blinked twice. “Go on, ask me—ask me what the other eighty percent is!”
Jiang Hezhou seemed to know what she wanted to say. A bitter tightness rolled in his throat as he asked, “Then what’s the other eighty percent?”
“It’s that I love you!” Chu Luyu beamed, warm as sunshine in his arms at that moment. “Jiang Hezhou, because I love you, I’m willing to stay for you.”
In that moment, Jiang Hezhou felt an indescribable sense of unreality. It was as if all the blood in his body had suddenly reversed course, his mind went completely blank, and his body felt weightless—no longer under his own control.
It might have been two or three seconds, or it might have been several minutes. When he finally came back to himself, he pulled her into his arms again.
“Thank you, Chu Luyu. Thank you.”
About two weeks later, Zhang Jiting and the others suddenly showed up at their door.
The three of them arrived carrying bags full of ingredients and fresh fruit, planning to have hotpot at the apartment. Chu Luyu didn’t know it was them at first—when she opened the door, she thought it was a delivery person from a restaurant, so she opened it without a second thought.
When she saw each of them carrying two full bags, her mouth fell open in surprise.
“You… what are you all doing here?”
Xiao Yan was exhausted. She pushed past her and walked into the apartment: “They said they hadn’t seen Jiang Er in a while, and that day at the restaurant you two didn’t get to eat much, so they figured we’d grab some ingredients from my brother’s place and come have hotpot here.”
Chu Luyu was still dazed at first and didn’t stop them. But by the time she realized what was happening, Xiao Yan had already changed her shoes and reached the living room. It was too late—
“Holy crap! You two… this…” Xiao Yan saw the enormous golden cage in the living room and was so shocked her jaw nearly dropped. She stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.
Chu Luyu immediately felt a headache coming on. She didn’t know how to explain. Just then, Jiang Hezhou limped out of the bedroom on crutches—his foot had completely healed in terms of swelling, and as long as he didn’t put weight on it, he could move around freely with the crutches.
By now, Zhang Jiting and Ji Chen had also changed their shoes and come in. Both of them looked even more shocked than Xiao Yan.
“Holy crap, Jiang Er, what the hell! You… what triggered this?”
Chu Luyu’s face turned bright red at their reactions. In contrast, Jiang Hezhou looked completely unfazed.
“Just a bit of couple’s fun. It’s normal that you unmarried folks wouldn’t understand.”
All three of them had question marks floating over their heads. Finally, Xiao Yan muttered, “She’s only agreed to marry you for now—you haven’t had the wedding or registered the marriage yet. At best, you’re fiancés.”
Seeing that Jiang Hezhou’s expression was about to sour, Chu Luyu quickly interjected with an “Aiyah!” and stepped between them.
“I see you guys brought so much good food! Let’s get everything ready and eat. It’s getting cold outside today—perfect weather for hotpot!”
Jiang Hezhou’s place only had one electric divided hotpot. Xiao Yan had brought back several kinds of soup bases from her brother’s restaurant, and they eventually settled on the classics: spicy beef tallow Sichuan-style and mushroom tomato.
The hotpot bubbled and filled the apartment with rich, fragrant steam. The spacious living room slowly became hazy with warm, moist air. They hadn’t seen each other in over half a month, and their conversation wandered from one topic to another—lively and warm.
Later, when they were just about done eating, Ji Chen seemed to finally remember something important. His smile faded slightly.
“About what you mentioned before—we’ve been quietly looking into it these past few days. That building you two were near that night has dozens of households, and almost no one has the habit of putting flowerpots outside their windows in the middle of winter. Plus, none of the neighbors in that complex have any social ties to you or little sister-in-law, so intentional harm is unlikely.”
In fact, the latter possibility could have been ruled out from the start. After all, their decision to take a walk in the neighborhood that night had been completely spontaneous. If someone had really wanted to deliberately hurt them, they wouldn’t have chosen such an unpredictable method.
After Ji Chen finished speaking, he seemed to find the whole thing just as baffling, his tone full of confusion: “So Zhang Jiting and I both find it really strange—how did that flowerpot appear out of nowhere on a high floor, and how did it happen to fall right on top of you two…”
Chu Luyu had quietly lowered her head when this topic came up, not joining the conversation. At that moment, Jiang Hezhou glanced sideways at her. The girl’s head was buried so low that from his angle, he could barely see the two curved lashes resting against her cheeks.
In that instant, Jiang Hezhou seemed to understand everything all at once. He just lowered his gaze and replied quietly, “I see.”
After their friends left, the two of them cleaned up together in the kitchen.
In the past, Jiang Hezhou would have absolutely forbidden Chu Luyu from doing such things. But after he got hurt, she had told him several times that he couldn’t be the one doing all the chores while injured. Over time, the household work shifted from being solely his responsibility to something they did together.
Actually, there wasn’t much cleaning to do around the place. Occasionally, the two of them would take their time doing something together, and it had its own kind of charm.
Right now, one of them was washing dishes at the sink, while the other sat there drying the cleaned plates and bowls.
Jiang Hezhou, of course, was the one sitting. He glanced at the girl by the sink and suddenly said, “That accident before—it wasn’t really an accident, was it?”
His words came so abruptly that Chu Luyu didn’t react at first. She turned to look at him, and her gaze fell straight into his dark, deep-set eyes.
He looked back at her and calmly added, “I’m talking about that flowerpot.”
Chu Luyu’s grip tightened on the bowl in her hands. She was amazed by how perceptive and sensitive Jiang Hezhou was. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Then what do you think happened?”
“It should be that I didn’t follow the plot and let you leave, so something… arranged a punishment for me?”
Chu Luyu was completely taken aback that he had misunderstood. She opened her mouth to explain, but the words caught in her throat, and she hesitated.
“Jiang Hezhou, what if something like this happens again? You could lose your life because of it. Do you still think being with me is worth it?”
Jiang Hezhou’s expression turned heavy and hesitant. Chu Luyu thought he was starting to regret his choice after hearing that. Her lips instinctively pressed together.
“Actually, if you want to back out now, it’s still not too late. Given the current situation, as long as we—”
“If I die, will you be in danger?” Jiang Hezhou cut her off, his voice low.
Chu Luyu froze, not expecting that question at all. Seeing her remain silent for a long while, the man spoke again from where he sat: “I saw that little notebook of yours before—it said I’m the male lead. If I really am the center of this world, then if I die, what would happen to this world? And what would happen to you?”
Chu Luyu’s voice faltered. She shook her head. “I don’t know either.”
Jiang Hezhou sighed, set down what he was holding, and reached out to take her wrist.
“What I’m worried about is that if I’m gone, this world might fall apart too—and then what would you do? Before, I always thought that rather than letting you be free or letting you run away, I’d rather lock you by my side. Whether we live or die together, as long as you’re with me, that’s enough. But when real danger came that day, I realized I couldn’t bear to see anything happen to you.”
Chu Luyu was quiet for a moment, then replied, “So you’re only worried about me?”
“What else would I be worried about?” Jiang Hezhou pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist, resting his head against her lower abdomen. “If that day really comes—if something happens to me, but you’re still alive and well—then I’ll face death with peace of mind.”
His words gave Chu Luyu an inexplicable sense of relief. Only she knew that this was exactly the answer she had been hoping for.
She paused for two seconds, then hugged him back, smiling. “That won’t happen, Jiang Hezhou. You’re the male lead of this world. If something happens to you, this world will fall apart too. So you’re going to live a long, long life.”
Jiang Hezhou just assumed she was comforting him and didn’t take it seriously. After all, that flowerpot had already been a severe warning. If he kept persisting like this, who knew what else might happen next.
But it didn’t matter—whatever happened, as long as she was still by his side, that was enough.
The two held each other quietly for a while. Then, from the coffee table in the living room, Chu Luyu’s phone suddenly rang.
It was Chu Fanyin calling. Chu Luyu answered, put it on speaker, and walked back toward the kitchen.
“Mom.”
“Hey, sweetie.” Chu Fanyin’s voice still sounded as gentle as ever. “Why haven’t you called Mom in a few days? Are you and Hezhou still busy with the wedding plans?”
“Not lately. We’ve had some things going on, so the wedding plans have been put on hold for now.”
“I see. How about you two come over to Mom’s for dinner tomorrow? I bought a lot of fresh beef and ribs—I can make you a big feast.”
Chu Luyu hesitated, glancing at Jiang Hezhou’s injured foot. In the end, she declined: “Probably not, Mom. Jiang Hezhou got hurt recently and can’t go out easily.”
“Hurt? What happened? Is it serious?”
“It’s okay. We were taking a walk in the neighborhood when a flowerpot fell and hit his toes. He has a minor fracture, so he’s been resting at home these past few days.”
Chu Fanyin was silent for several seconds on the other end. When she spoke again, her tone was noticeably cooler than before: “It’s winter now. How could there be a flowerpot outdoors?”
Chu Luyu felt a bit awkward. She instinctively exchanged a glance with Jiang Hezhou and replied, “Yeah, we thought it was strange too, hahaha…”
Mother and daughter chatted for a little while longer before hanging up.
After Chu Fanyin ended the call on her end, she held the phone with a very serious expression.
Across from her, Chen Zhou sat there. He was wearing a gray suit today, looking as though he had just come from work at the law firm.
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