Chapter Twenty-Two: Played for a Fool

Outside Jiang Ze’s room.

Ruan Mianmian had already taken three deep breaths, but in the end, she still couldn’t bring herself to knock on Jiang Ze’s door.

A Kuan stood not far behind her, watching as Ruan Mianmian’s hand rose and fell, again and again, hesitating each time. He grew increasingly anxious just watching her.

Finally, A Kuan could no longer stand it. He quietly slipped up behind Ruan Mianmian and, with lightning speed, raised his hand and knocked on the door. Before Ruan Mianmian could react, A Kuan had darted away like the wind.

“Come in,” Jiang Ze’s cool voice called out from within.

Ruan Mianmian stared wide-eyed, looking helplessly back at A Kuan. He continued to motion for her to go in, mouthing the words, “Go on! You can do it!”

Ruan Mianmian suddenly felt a bit ashamed of herself, but she told herself it was all worth it for the sake of the future.

Just then, the door was pulled open from inside. Startled, Ruan Mianmian instinctively took half a step back, and Jiang Ze’s tall figure appeared in the doorway.

“I…” Ruan Mianmian blinked innocently.

In the next instant, Jiang Ze reached out and pulled her into the room.

The door slammed shut with a heavy thud.

Pressed against the doorframe, Ruan Mianmian could feel Jiang Ze’s breath above her head, so close it was impossible to ignore.

If not for the bouquet of flowers in her arms, which created a barrier between them, she would have been enveloped completely in Jiang Ze’s embrace.

This sudden change left Ruan Mianmian speechless. She had no idea what to say or do.

“I…” she began, her voice faltering with obvious timidity.

Jiang Ze’s gaze rested quietly on her face, taking in her nervousness and confusion. Something stirred unexpectedly in his heart, a restless itch he couldn’t quite explain.

The person he had once longed for so desperately had always seemed as distant as the moon in the sky—so close to the eye, yet utterly out of reach.

But now, everything had changed overnight. Just as he was about to give up on that unreachable moon, he found it had become a firefly, its faint light drawing near, seeking to rekindle the fire within him.

What had happened, he wondered, to bring such a transformation in Ruan Mianmian’s heart?

As Jiang Ze studied her intently, his face drew closer and closer in Ruan Mianmian’s eyes, until his breath was something she could feel with ease.

Her heart pounded wildly, like a drum booming in her chest, as if no longer her own to control.

Was he going to kiss her?

Instead of thinking of pushing him away, Ruan Mianmian found herself considering how to make this kiss unforgettable—at the very least, it should leave a deep mark in Jiang Ze’s memory.

Closing her eyes, she waited, anticipation and longing mingling in the expectation of a passionate, soul-stirring kiss.

Jiang Ze paused, watching her trembling eyelashes, and suddenly stopped all movement. He curved his lips into a faint smile, leaned close to her ear, and whispered, “Is this what you want?”

A shiver ran through Ruan Mianmian as she snapped her eyes open and met Jiang Ze’s gaze, so close, yet devoid of any emotion—only a hint of teasing.

He was toying with her…

That was the only thought echoing in the depths of Ruan Mianmian’s mind. It was, indeed, unforgettable.

She pouted helplessly, lowering her gaze to his chest, secretly wishing she could vent her frustration with a good punch.

But his body was still covered in injuries.

Never mind, she thought.

Yet in the next moment, she felt a sudden warmth against her ear. Turning quickly, she saw Jiang Ze’s profile pressed gently against her, tender and soft.

“Why did you kiss me?” Ruan Mianmian bit her lip, a trace of stubbornness in her eyes.

Jiang Ze straightened up and put some distance between them, answering quietly, “Because I… really wanted to.”

A blush shot up Ruan Mianmian’s cheeks.

…

A while later, Jiang Ze stood quietly at the door, looking at the half-open door and the bouquet that had fallen to the floor in someone’s hasty retreat.

He bent down to pick up the flowers—a brilliant, radiant bundle of sunflowers. A faint smile played at his lips.

When Ruan Mianmian dashed back to her room, A Kuan happened to see her. Her face was flushed, and the bouquet was nowhere to be seen—he guessed things had gone well.

Just as he was about to share the news with his friends, bad tidings arrived.

Ruan Mianmian was still lost in a haze of shyness in her room when her phone rang unexpectedly, startling her upright.

Hardly anyone had contacted her recently; her phone had been so quiet it was as if it had broken, which was why her reaction was so strong.

She picked up the phone and saw that the caller was an unfamiliar number with no name attached. When she saw the location, however, her eyelid twitched.

“Hello?”

She answered anxiously, but instead of the expected voice, she was met by a string of harsh insults.

“Ruan Mianmian, so this is what you’ve become? You’ve been away so long without calling home—do you even care about your parents anymore?”

Ruan Mianmian’s expression turned cold. The caller was her stepmother, Chen Rong. Her relationship with Chen Rong had always been strained, and the Ruan family had been thrown into chaos ever since that woman’s arrival.

Back then, Ruan Mianmian had been willing to cut ties with her family just to follow Jian Yanzhi to River City. At that time, Jian Yanzhi had been the only light in Ruan Mianmian’s heart.

Though the current Ruan Mianmian was no longer the original, she could still empathize deeply with what her predecessor had endured at the hands of this stepmother.

“If you have something to say, say it. Don’t call yourself my mother—you’re just a homewrecker. Do you even deserve the title?” Ruan Mianmian retorted coldly.

“Oh, you little brat, you dare talk to me like that?” Chen Rong fumed.

Suddenly, there was a commotion on the other end, and it sounded as though Chen Rong was being led away. Things fell silent.

“Mianmian, something’s happened at home. You need to come back.” This time, it was her so-called father, Ruan Jianwen.

After Ruan Jianwen had married Ruan Mianmian’s mother, Tang Xue, the couple had struggled with infertility. The doctors said the problem was with Tang Xue, but Ruan Jianwen had shown her even more care, afraid that she would take it too hard.

He had played the role of the perfect husband, yet ended up keeping a mistress on the side—Chen Rong.

Chen Rong was cunning, and after only a few months with Ruan Jianwen, she became pregnant and pressured him into divorcing Tang Xue so she could take her place as Mrs. Ruan.

But fate is strange. Just as Chen Rong passed the five-month mark in her pregnancy, Tang Xue, who had been suffering from frequent nausea, went to the hospital for a checkup and, unexpectedly, was found to be two months pregnant herself!