Shu Nian stared at his slightly cracked lip corner, not fooled by his calm and composed appearance this time. She remained silent, took a tissue from in front of her, unbuckled her seatbelt, and leaned over to wipe the blood from the corner of his lip.

This silence made Xie Ru He somewhat uncomfortable.

Like someone who had done something wrong, he didn’t dare move, sitting rigidly in place.

The confined space of the car seemed isolated from the outside world, so quiet that one could almost hear the flow of air.

There was no medicine in the car, so she could only roughly treat the wound. Shu Nian thought for a moment, moistened the tissue with some water, cleaned his wound, then grabbed his hand and stared at his scraped knuckles.

Shu Nian seemed lost in thought.

She suddenly remembered the past.

At that time when her mind hadn’t fully matured, at that age when she believed the world around her was completely beautiful, she never believed in the dark side of human nature, only fearing those intangible things.

Shu Nian remembered that after receiving the female ghost link sent by Chen Han Zheng, she had been afraid for a long time. She always felt that in the shadows, in places she couldn’t see, there was a blood-covered, fierce ghost watching her.

She also remembered seeing Chen Han Zheng at school with his bruised face, claiming he had “tripped.”

And Xie Ru He’s hands with injuries just like the ones before her now.

After wiping the dirt from his wound, Shu Nian glanced over his body: “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Xie Ru He was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head.

Shu Nian took a fresh tissue and asked softly: “Did you go fight with Xu Ze Yuan?”

Xie Ru He licked the corner of his lip, forgetting there was a wound there, and immediately frowned. He touched his neck, unsure of her attitude, and hesitantly gave an affirmative sound.

Compared to before, he seemed unchanged.

At least in front of her, he remained the same.

Indifferent to anyone’s difficulties or malice toward him, as if he didn’t care. But if the subject changed to her, everything seemed different. He was always like a protector standing in front of her, seeking justice when she was wronged.

He would always protect her.

Shu Nian’s lips formed a straight line: “Did he hit you back?”

“Didn’t notice,” Xie Ru He said. “He just hit me once.”

Hearing this, Shu Nian’s displeasure became more apparent: “What about him?”

“Forgot.”

“Forgot what?”

Xie Ru He’s face showed no emotion: “Didn’t count. Don’t know how many times I hit him.”

“…”

Originally, Xie Ru He had intended to keep this from Shu Nian and handle it privately.

After all, just moments before, he had promised her he wouldn’t go looking for Xu Ze Yuan.

But he happened to see Xu Ze Yuan nearby and discovered he hadn’t left the area. The reason didn’t require much thought—it was obviously for Shu Nian.

Xie Ru He couldn’t be bothered to waste energy looking for him again, so he simply resolved half the matter directly today.

When Xu Ze Yuan first saw Xie Ru He, he greeted him with fake politeness. But after Xie Ru He’s direct punch to his face, he immediately dropped his pretense.

Because of his leg condition, Xie Ru He had been consistently training every day until now, and his physical condition was still decent. But also because he hadn’t fought in a long time, his movements appeared rusty.

It was purely an outlet for his anger toward Xu Ze Yuan.

So he was also injured, with wounds on his lip corner and leg.

Probably knowing that Xie Ru He’s legs had been previously injured, toward the end, every one of Xu Ze Yuan’s blows targeted his legs.

Finally, Xu Ze Yuan was grabbed by the collar by Xie Ru He and stopped resisting. He lay on the ground, his entire body in pain, and suddenly laughed. His teeth had cut into the flesh inside his mouth, filling it with blood.

Disheveled and ugly.

A loser, yet desperately trying to pretend to be a winner.

Looking even more defeated.

“She’s yours,” Xu Ze Yuan spat out bloody saliva and clicked his tongue. “Anyway, I find her disgusting.”

Hearing this, as if remembering something, Xie Ru He immediately released his hand and also laughed.

“Who’s disgusting?”

He drove back home.

Passing the entrance of the community, Xie Ru He suddenly stopped the car.

Shu Nian looked up: “What’s wrong?”

Xie Ru He paused, his voice very low, as if somewhat guilty: “Didn’t you want to eat soy milk box cake?”

“Oh.” Shu Nian shook her head. “Not anymore.”

Xie Ru He found an empty parking spot and unbuckled his seatbelt. Noticing Shu Nian’s gaze, he turned his head and took his wallet: “I’ll buy it first. If you don’t eat it, I’ll finish it.”

Shu Nian immediately grabbed the edge of his clothes and also unbuckled her seatbelt.

“I’ll go buy it.”

Xie Ru He thought for a moment and was about to say “Then let’s go together,” when Shu Nian, with a stern face, added: “Otherwise I’m afraid you’ll go fight with someone else again.”

“…”

After speaking, Shu Nian got out of the car first.

Xie Ru He pursed his lips and quickly got out of the car too, following Shu Nian’s footsteps.

Her unhappy emotions were always clearly expressed.

And she would always directly express any dissatisfaction she had with him.

Shu Nian walked ahead, took a few steps, then turned back. Seeing that he had followed, she stiffly turned away and continued walking. She took out the phone from her pocket and pushed it into his hand: “Here’s your phone back.”

Xie Ru He accepted it in a daze. He didn’t want Shu Nian to be unhappy, and after several seconds, he suddenly said: “I know I was wrong.”

Hearing this, Shu Nian said sullenly: “You should know. You were wrong.”

“…”

As she spoke, Shu Nian turned to look at him: “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Xie Ru He wasn’t feeling great either and changed his words: “I was wrong.”

“Your behavior wasn’t good,” Shu Nian looked at the wound on his face again and said seriously, “Really too impulsive.”

At these words, Xie Ru He lowered his eyes and made an affirmative sound: “I know.”

“You don’t know if he had other people with him,” Shu Nian didn’t soften at all and continued scolding him. “You might be able to beat him alone, but what if he had others with him? What then?”

Xie Ru He suddenly raised his head and stammered: “Aren’t you angry because I hit Xu Ze Yuan?”

“…” Shu Nian’s voice stopped, and after a while, she asked puzzledly, “Why would I be angry about that?”

Xie Ru He didn’t speak.

“I hit him too,” Shu Nian thought for a moment, her expression becoming serious. “Although hitting people is wrong, sometimes you just can’t help it.”

“…”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“…”

Shu Nian’s anger came quickly and left just as fast.

She just repeatedly emphasized to him that if he encountered such a situation again, he couldn’t go alone, and must tell her. Only after getting his promise did her expression soften.

Afterward, Xie Ru He handed the phone back to her.

Shu Nian glanced at it and accepted it.

Xie Ru He said gently: “I just tried it, yours doesn’t work well anymore. Use this one for now, and I’ll buy you a new one tomorrow.”

Shu Nian said: “Just fix it. I don’t use my phone much anyway.”

“We’ll get it fixed tomorrow,” Xie Ru He said. “You use this one. I need to contact you.”

Hearing this, Shu Nian blinked: “But your phone is with me now. How will you contact me?”

Xie Ru He took her phone out of his pocket: “I’ll use this.”

Shu Nian was confused: “Isn’t it not working well?”

Xie Ru He nodded: “Then should we buy a new one?”

If the phone was for Xie Ru He, Shu Nian thought about it and quickly agreed.

“Then let’s buy one.”

The two went to the dessert shop to buy the treats and then returned home.

It was almost dinner time. Xie Ru He helped Shu Nian open the lid of the soy milk box cake, poured her a glass of warm water, and then went to the kitchen.

Shu Nian downloaded a game on Xie Ru He’s phone and played clumsily, quickly finishing the soy milk box cake. With nothing to do, she simply went to the kitchen to keep Xie Ru He company while he made dinner.

Standing beside him, Shu Nian watched him skillfully cutting meat when her right eyelid suddenly twitched, then quickly stopped. She felt something strange and couldn’t help saying: “Be careful, don’t cut your hand.”

Xie Ru He focused intently: “Okay.”

Shu Nian watched for a while longer, then voluntarily picked up the cabbage nearby to wash it, somewhat absent-minded.

This state continued until they finished dinner.

Thinking it was because they had met unpleasant people today, affecting her mood, after dinner, Shu Nian pestered Xie Ru He for quite a while, using up all her energy before returning to her room.

Shu Nian took a shower, took medicine as instructed by Xie Ru He, and then lay on the bed playing games.

She had intended to play for a while before sleeping.

But this was an action game, and Shu Nian wasn’t good at it. The more she played, the more alert she became. She was playing with full concentration, focusing all her attention on it, just about to clear a level.

Suddenly the phone screen changed to an incoming call display.

It was Fang Wen Cheng calling.

Shu Nian’s eyes widened, not knowing if this would affect her game progress. She couldn’t help but let out a wail, quickly got up, and wanted to take the phone to Xie Ru He.

But she realized he was taking a shower in the bathroom.

Shu Nian didn’t think much and answered the call.

Before she could speak, Fang Wen Cheng urgently said: “Young Master, Shu Nian is trending. I’m already looking for PR to handle it and will get the trending topic removed as soon as possible. You and Shu Nian should try not to look at it…”

“Assistant Fang,” Shu Nian interrupted him. “This is Shu Nian.”

“…”

Feeling his words weren’t very credible, and it seemed to be something bad, Shu Nian pretended not to have heard, saying softly: “Xie Ru He is taking a shower. I’ll have him call you back later.”

“…Alright.”

Shu Nian hung up the phone. She lowered her eyes, stood at the bathroom door, and calmly opened Weibo to take a look.

The top trending topics she had seen in the afternoon had disappeared from the front ranks.

Instead, they were all about her.

[Shu Nian]

[Shi Yan Town Serial Killer Case Survivor Shu Nian]

[A He’s Girlfriend]

[Survivor]

All at once, some whistleblowers hiding in the dark appeared in droves.

Exaggerating and embellishing, dissecting her past one by one, dragging it out.

[…Oh my god.]

[Same person????]

[I recognize this girl… This was quite a big deal at the time, but all the information was censored to protect the victim. How did it suddenly come out again?]

[A He never said they were together, right?]

[I was in the same class and year as Shu Nian. It was tragic. She disappeared for a week, and you can probably guess what happened. The school tried to suppress it but couldn’t. And after this happened, she dropped out. This kind of thing is a huge blow for a girl.]

[Poor girl QAQ]

[If A He is really with her… I really can’t understand it.]

[Emmmmm… Don’t dress so revealingly, don’t go home so late at night, and you’ll get caught? Can only say you deserve it.]

[Is something wrong with the person above? Victim blaming? And wearing shorts is revealing?]

Shu Nian suddenly remembered what Xu Ze Yuan had said today.

—”It’s different because the current situation is different from before. What if the situation becomes the same again?”

She didn’t read any further.

She pressed the power button to turn off the screen.

Just then, Xie Ru He came out of the bathroom, and heat wafted out with him. He had a white towel draped around his neck, water droplets falling down his cheeks, his expression cold.

Noticing Shu Nian, he looked over and was stunned: “Why are you crying?”

Shu Nian held the phone in one hand, looking bewildered as she touched her face, only then realizing she had unconsciously shed tears. She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand, handed him the phone, and said hoarsely: “Assistant Fang is looking for you.”

Xie Ru He took it, asking helplessly: “What’s wrong?”

Shu Nian held back her sobs, having trouble speaking: “Nothing…”

Was it nothing?

It was just that there were always such helpless and desperate moments.

She was living her life properly, diligently, with difficulty, evolving from loving the world to being death-oriented, and even so, she was still striving with all her might to live.

Yet such people always appeared, destroying her currently peaceful and beautiful days, grinding that tiny hope into powder, scattering it in the air.

As if they were everywhere.

Using this method to continuously hint at her.

Go die.