Chapter 205 Departure

Chapter 205 Departure

Jiang Ruan's heart tightened, but she calmly replied, "You keep bringing this up because you want me to leave?"

"I don't want to." Huo Zhizhou's dark eyes were full of seriousness. "I'm just afraid."

“I’m not sure if I’ll be free that day.” Jiang Ruan didn’t give a direct answer, and didn’t dare to look him in the eye when she said this. “After I go with my mother to get the divorce certificate, I still need to buy some things. I’ll talk to you when I’m done.”

Huo Zhizhou: "Okay."

Jiang Ruan hummed in agreement and prepared to leave.

"Ruanruan." Huo Zhizhou hugged her from behind, burying his chin in the crook of her neck. "Don't lie to me, and don't leave me."

Jiang pursed her soft, light-colored lips.

Did he find out?

"I don't even know what I'm like when I get angry." Huo Zhizhou's warm breath brushed against her ear, causing her to tremble slightly. "You probably don't want Su Zhu and Ye Yanzhi to get into trouble because of you."

"What do you mean by that?" Jiang Ruan turned around to look at him.

"I dreamt last night that you left without saying goodbye." Huo Zhizhou's words were half true and half false. "I was very angry."

Jiang Ruan was unsure of herself, so she could only use anger to cover up her barely concealed emotions: "What does what happens in dreams have to do with me? If I dream that you marry Su Anran and have children, should I also settle accounts with you?"

"I won't marry her, and I won't have any emotional entanglements with her." Huo Zhizhou looked into her eyes as he said this. "And you, can you promise me you won't leave me?"

Jiang Ruan's hands, hanging limply at her sides, were sweating slightly.

Should we lie to him?

If they don't lie, they'll definitely become suspicious.

If you're deceived, who knows what kind of retaliation they might take later.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Huo Zhizhou was stung by her silence. "Are you really planning to leave?"

"No." Jiang Ruan decided to lie. If she couldn't even take the first step, how could she talk about the future? "I just don't want to answer the same question too many times. The answer I gave before is still the same answer now."

Huo Zhizhou didn't give her a vague answer: "I want you to answer me directly."

Jiang Ruan frowned as she looked at him.

"After your mother divorces Jiang Chenren, will you leave me?" Huo Zhizhou asked seriously.

This was the first time Jiang Ruan had told him such a lie: "No."

Huo Zhizhou: "Really?"

Jiang Ruan walked past him and left: "Believe it or not."

Huo Zhizhou: "I believe you."

Huo Zhizhou said he believed it, and he truly believed it.

Late that night, he called and removed all his informants, telling Lin Feng that he didn't need to protect Jiang Ruan closely on the 19th, but just keep an eye on her from a distance to make sure she was safe.

The next day, Gu Shixi called him after learning about it: "You really withdrew everyone?"

Huo Zhizhou, working in his study, replied, "Hmm."

Gu Shixi: "Weren't you worried that she would leave?"

"She promised she wouldn't leave." Huo Zhizhou handled the affairs of the Huo Group methodically.

Gu Shixi: "Aren't you afraid she'll lie to you?"

Huo Zhizhou: "She won't."

Gu Shixi glanced at Si Ning sitting next to him, who remained relaxed and showed no interest in the topic.

Huo Zhizhou said something and then hung up the phone after finishing his work.

"Why don't you check for him?" Gu Shixi said to Si Ning, "See if Jiang Ruan and the others have booked plane tickets for the next few days?"

"He didn't even ask me to investigate, why are you worrying about this?" Si Ning didn't care at all.

"I'm just worried that Jiang Ruan is lying to him and he'll go crazy later." Gu Shixi felt a headache coming on. "He even told me to prepare beforehand and to tell him as soon as I found out that Jiang Ruan was leaving."

Although he was later told not to keep an eye on it anymore.

Everyone knew that Jiang Ruan was going to leave, but the exact time was just unknown.

"You probably don't want us to suffer his cold-blooded attitude after something happens, do you?" Gu Shixi simply wanted to find an ally for himself.

“If you really don’t want to, you can always find an excuse to go on a business trip abroad.” Si Ning’s perspective on things was clear. “There must be a lot of things going on at the overseas branches as well.”

Gu Shixi: "..."

Gu Shixi is a true friend: "What will he do if I leave?"

Si Ning teased with a sly smile, "And you still say you don't have a crush on him?"

"This is purely brotherly affection!" Gu Shixi didn't want to be associated with Brokeback Mountain. "What if something really happens to him if I leave? I can't let him suffer alone."

He only felt at ease going abroad after seeing that he and Jiang Ruan had a stable relationship.

Now that he's about to have a falling out with Jiang Ruan, will his world collapse again?

“He can’t live without you, can he?” Si Ning sees things more clearly than anyone else. “He’s not as weak as you think. Now, besides being himself, he’s also a husband and a father.”

Gu Shixi: "?"

Then what.

Si Ning posed a question to him: "Are you one?"

Gu Shixi perked up: "Of course not!"

Si Ning: "Mm."

Gu Shixi was even more puzzled.

Just as I was about to ask her what she meant, Si Ning gave me the order to leave.

Gu Shixi shamelessly stayed, intending to stay with her for the next few days, so that if anything happened, he could take her with him to shield her from the cold air.

Si Ning ignored him and went back to her room for a good night's sleep.

On the 19th.

Jiang Ruan took Sui Sui and Jiang An to get their divorce certificate. Jiang Chenren was very cooperative, and they came out in less than ten minutes.

Looking at the notebook in his hand, he gave a wry smile and said to Jiang An, "Can I ask you a question?"

Jiang An held Sui Sui's hand and said, "You tell me."

Jiang Chenren glanced at Jiang Ruan before asking, "Who is Ruan Ruan's father?"

“At least ten minutes ago, you were her only father.” Jiang An was a discerning person, and as for what happened afterward, she could play both roles by herself.

Jiang Chenren paused, then a flood of emotions welled up inside him: "If I had listened to everything you said back then, the Jiang Group wouldn't have gone bankrupt, and our family could have lived a relatively happy life."

"No." Jiang An was never one to live in "what ifs."

Jiang Chenren's gaze paused.

Jiang An objectively analyzed: "Even if you listened to me completely at the beginning, after a while, people would say in your ear that your success was all thanks to me. Given your personality, you would still feel that your self-esteem was insulted, and thus you would vent your anger in front of me and the children."

Jiang Chenren remained silent and did not refute.

He knew Jiang An was right.

He genuinely liked Jiang An back then, thinking she was smart, capable, independent, strong, and knew everything. He felt proud from the bottom of his heart when others said he was lucky to have married such a good wife.

But as time went by, he became the president of the Jiang Group, and he began to feel uncomfortable when he heard these words again.

The longer it goes on, the more unpleasant it becomes.

As a result, he stopped listening to her opinions and felt that he could do just fine without her.

“We have to go now.” Jiang An calculated the time to catch the plane. “You… take care of yourself. I’ll let bygones be bygones for now, considering how good you were to Ruan Ruan before, but if you treat her like that again, I’m not one to hold a grudge.”

Jiang Chenren froze for a moment, then replied, "Okay."

Jiang An nodded and then left with Jiang Ruan and Sui Sui.

They went straight to the airport without stopping.

Jiang Ruan glanced at him through the rearview mirror. At that moment, Jiang Chenren seemed to have bent his back and aged several years in an instant.

She felt no pity or sympathy; at that moment, all she wanted was to leave.