The room fell into a heavy silence.
Jiang Ci let out a cold snort, his voice low and lazy, yet laced with a biting edge. “Now even stray cats and wild dogs think they can meddle in my affairs?”
Jiang Xuan’s complexion turned pale once again. Her large, glistening eyes, which usually shimmered with innocence, now brimmed with grievance and humiliation. Her lips trembled as tears threatened to spill. Jiang Ci’s sharp words nearly drove her to tears on the spot.
“I spoke out of concern… I was only worried about Su Yue. Do you really have to insult me like this?” she said, biting her red lips. Her usual soft demeanor hardened for a rare moment of defiance. But the second the words left her mouth, a shiver ran down her spine. An inexplicable fear gripped her heart.
Jiang Ci raised his eyebrows. The corners of his lips curled into a cold sneer, arrogance laced with disdain twisting his already unsightly face into something even more unapproachable. “Insult? You came here uninvited. What else am I supposed to do?”
His eyes narrowed, and his tone turned languid yet venomous. “Is Jiang Muhang dead? Can’t even keep his own mutt on a leash?”
Jiang Xuan froze.
She looked at him with stunned disbelief.
In her past life, she had only thought of this man as disfigured and aloof, cold to the core. She hadn’t expected his tongue to be so sharp, so heartless.
“How… how could you be like this…” she murmured, her voice trembling. Apparently, even in her last life, she hadn’t known the real Jiang Ci. Thankfully, she had gotten away from him in this one.
Jiang Ci was already in a foul mood after being denied the mango cake he had been craving. Now he was being harassed by this inexplicable woman who suddenly burst into his day. His patience, thin to begin with, had snapped. The sneer on his lips vanished, and his eyes darkened.
“So much nonsense,” he muttered coldly.
His thin lips curled upward once more, this time with frost in his voice.
“Get lost.”
“Su Yue… she—” Jiang Xuan’s voice faltered as she met his icy gaze. The chill radiating from Jiang Ci was terrifying. She immediately covered her mouth with her delicate hand, no longer daring to utter another word.
She fled from Xiaoyanglou in a panic, her heart pounding. She had come with the intention of helping Su Yue, but how could she reason with someone as unreasonable as Jiang Ci?
She had really done all she could.
When Jiang Xuan returned to the villa, Jiang Muhang had just arrived home from the company. Dressed in a sharp, black slim-fit suit, his tall frame and serious expression exuded power. His assistant trailed behind him, reporting something in hushed tones.
Jiang Xuan’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him.
Such a perfect man—he was dazzling. Even the maids standing nearby were momentarily stunned by his presence.
Upon seeing his young wife, Jiang Muhang dismissed the assistant with a wave. With his long legs moving at a measured pace, he approached Jiang Xuan and wrapped an arm firmly around her slender waist.
“Waiting for me?” he asked, his deep, magnetic voice laced with warmth.
Jiang Xuan’s fair cheeks flushed a light pink. Her hands fluttered helplessly at her sides, unsure of where to rest. She replied shyly, “No… not really…” Her voice was soft and coy. “Mu Hang, let go… people are watching.”
Jiang Muhang let out a low chuckle. Her bashful expression amused him. He liked this delicate, soft version of her. Teasingly, he leaned in. “Who dares to watch?”
Jiang Xuan leaned against his chest, torn between delight and embarrassment. Public displays of affection weren’t proper. She lowered her voice and coaxed gently, “Let’s go back to our room, okay?”
Jiang Muhang smiled knowingly, the meaning in his tone unmistakable. “Back to the room? Sure.”
Jiang Xuan’s cheeks turned scarlet.
She remembered she’d be joining the film crew in a few days. She wouldn’t be able to return for quite some time. Right now, she just wanted to be close to Jiang Muhang.
Her bright eyes shimmered with emotion. Clinging to the hem of his suit, she nodded shyly. “Okay.”
—
Night deepened.
The small western-style building, hidden in a shady courtyard, lay quiet and still beneath the heavy darkness.
Inside Jiang Ci’s bedroom, there was no light—none at all. The dark gray curtains had been drawn tightly, smothering even the faintest glow. The entire room seemed swallowed by an oppressive blackness.
In the center of the large bed, a man lay silently on his back.
After a long while, Jiang Ci opened his eyes. With evident reluctance, he shifted his body to the side of the bed where Su Yue used to sleep.
Still not enough.
The next moment, he turned onto his side completely, burying his face in the sheets where her scent still lingered. Only then did he close his eyes again.
—
Lu Chenli stepped into Jiang Ci’s room and immediately noticed the familiar chill. It had reverted back to how it used to be—cold and lifeless.
He flipped the light switch, and bright white light flooded the room.
“I swear, I was finally sleeping with my girlfriend in my arms. You calling me in the middle of the night? Do you know how much of a sin it is to wake someone like that?” Lu Chenli looked like a mess, his hair tousled, his face full of irritation. He rubbed his eyes in frustration. “Unbelievable. You’re out of your mind.”
Jiang Ci was seated at the edge of the bed, his posture lazy. He leaned back slightly, palms resting on the mattress behind him. Dressed in black silk pajamas, his skin looked almost ghostly pale, his aura exuding the chilling beauty of a vampire.
“I can’t sleep,” he said, his tone as casual as if he were stating the weather.
Lu Chenli glared at him and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, practically shaking with anger. “So you decided I shouldn’t sleep either?”
“I need someone to talk to,” Jiang Ci replied, mouth curling into an insufferable smirk.
Lu Chenli was so angry, he nearly hurled the medical kit at Jiang Ci’s face. Who wakes people up for a chat in the middle of the night?
“No way.” He stomped over and bent down to examine Jiang Ci’s eyes. “Are they stinging again?”
Jiang Ci responded with a lazy hum. “You do have a brain, after all.”
Lu Chenli clenched his jaw.
“Last time I checked, you said they didn’t hurt anymore. I thought they were getting better,” he said, inspecting closely. “What did you eat or do recently? I need to figure out the trigger.”
Jiang Ci’s voice was full of deadpan sarcasm. “Maybe I’m just pissed I haven’t gotten any mango cake in two days.”
Lu Chenli: “…”
Hold on…
“What else?” he asked through gritted teeth.
Jiang Ci frowned, his expression unreadable. “I drove Su Yue away.”
Lu Chenli froze.
“You… what?” he gasped. “You actually drove Su Yue away?”
No wonder the girl hadn’t been seen lately. But just the other day, Jiang Ci had been all over Su Yue—concerned about her hand injury, even begging Lu Chenli to bandage her gently.
And now he’d kicked her out?
Wasn’t he afraid of the Su family coming after him?
Lu Chenli waved his hand in disbelief. “Alright, that’s not what I meant. I’m asking if anything you ate or felt could be affecting your condition. Something that triggered your mood or strained your eyes.”
“I couldn’t sleep without Su Yue in my arms,” Jiang Ci replied blandly.
Cough cough cough!
Lu Chenli choked on his own saliva, coughing violently.
Jiang Ci stretched his long legs, crossing them carelessly. His entire demeanor screamed lazy indifference. “Before, when I smelled the scent on her, the stinging in my eyes would ease a bit. And when I held her to sleep, the pain went away completely.”
Lu Chenli stared at him, mouth agape. “So you’re saying… your eye pain came back because Su Yue isn’t here anymore?” He quickly adjusted his glasses. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Jiang Ci gave a disdainful snort. “How could I say anything when she was right next to me? Wouldn’t that give her leverage to threaten me? Besides, I wasn’t even sure then.”
Lu Chenli nodded slowly. That… actually made a twisted kind of sense.
Resting his chin on one hand, Lu Chenli went into thought. “The scent on Su Yue… Could it be that it matches your olfactory response? Maybe it soothes your nerves, calms your emotions, and takes pressure off your optic nerves. That could be why your eyes stop hurting.”
He wasn’t entirely sure of his theory, but the signs certainly pointed to that possibility.
However, in a way, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, relying too heavily on painkillers to dull the pain was hardly ideal for Jiang Ci.
“So, are you just going to chase her away like that?” Lu Chenli raised a brow, clearly surprised. Who would’ve thought that Su Yue had become Jiang Ci’s human painkiller?
Jiang Ci gave a lazy shrug. “I didn’t like her back then.”
“You’re blind and you still didn’t like her?” Lu Chenli rolled his eyes, utterly speechless.
But then again, he could somewhat understand where Jiang Ci was coming from. What man could accept marrying an ugly, dull-witted woman who constantly clung to his younger brother—and worse, basically handed him a green hat?
“So what are you planning to do now? Want me to write you a prescription for painkillers, or are you going to try and get that woman back?” Lu Chenli rubbed his chin, half-serious. “Though, if you really did kick her out, even if you wanted Su Yue back now, there’s no guarantee she’d be willing to return. Whatever, I’ll write you a prescription. It won’t help much, but at least you’ll be able to sleep.”
Jiang Ci pressed his lips into a thin line. He didn’t respond.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Su Yue had been living in comfort at the Su residence these past few days. With her loving father, gentle mother, and protective younger brother, the warmth that surrounded her felt like a dream she’d once desperately longed for.
If there was any flaw in this otherwise perfect picture, it was her increasingly unbearable headaches. They were growing worse by the day, and the constant ringing in her ears—like the sharp tolling of a bell—was beginning to feel maddening. At night, she had to sleep with earplugs and soft music, trying in vain to drown out the relentless tolling in her head.
That cheapskate Jiang Ci—he was getting angrier by the day. His anger value had already reached 10.
She didn’t even know what or who had provoked him this time, but she was the one suffering for it. Worst of all, she was staying at her parents’ home now and had no way of soothing his anger.
Su Yue bit her lower lip. She couldn’t bring herself to return to the Jiang residence. If she went back now, who knew what that stingy man would think? Maybe he’d think she was trying to cling to him… or worse, that she couldn’t live without him.
But if Jiang Ci kept raging like this, wouldn’t she be doomed to suffer from these headaches and that wretched bell ringing every single day?
“Yueyue? Yueyue…” Fang Ru’s voice suddenly pulled her out of her thoughts.
“Huh? Mom? What is it?” Su Yue quickly snapped back to reality.
“What’s got you so distracted, hmm?” Fang Ru asked, amused. “I was asking you—tomorrow we’re attending a wedding. Which dress do you want to wear?”
In the past, her daughter’s figure didn’t allow much room for choices. But now that Yueyue had transformed into a breathtaking beauty, Fang Ru was determined to dress her up like a little princess. She couldn’t wait to see the stunned expressions of those who had once mocked her daughter.
Su Yue glanced at the array of dresses laid out in front of her. She pointed without hesitation. “This pink one—it complements my skin tone.”
In her previous life, she’d walked more red carpets than she could count. Wearing gowns and judging dresses by eye had long become second nature. Even without trying it on, she knew at a glance which style would highlight her best features.
“Yueyue really has a good eye. I thought the same. Let’s go with this one, then.” Fang Ru beamed.
Just then, Su Yue’s phone rang from the coffee table.
She picked it up and glanced at the caller ID. It was an unfamiliar number.
Her finger moved automatically—click. She declined the call.
After all, she’d been harassed by fans so many times before that rejecting unknown calls had become second nature.
“Anger value: 11.”
Su Yue froze.
Meanwhile, back at the small western-style villa, Jiang Ci’s expression darkened the moment he heard the voice prompt in his ear. She had hung up on him. That woman actually hung up on him!
Standing beside him, Jiang Haoyan tilted his little head up and looked at his father’s stern face. Seeing the furrowed brows, he asked in his childish voice, “Dad, did she pick up? That woman hasn’t come back for days—is she having too much fun outside?”
Little Haohao pouted, visibly displeased. He also wanted to go out and play!
Jiang Ci didn’t respond. Instead, he redialed.
This time, after a few seconds, the call connected.
“Hello?” A woman’s cautious voice came from the other end.
Jiang Ci held the phone up to his ear, his brows still furrowed.
“…It’s me.” His voice was low and steady, but there was a subtle edge in it, like a ripple beneath calm waters.