Chapter 387 Huo Zhizhou Opens Up

Chapter 387 Huo Zhizhou Opens Up

Jiang Ruan did not understand.

Didn't we already guess this beforehand?

What's there to panic about?

"I don't know what Huo Cheng said to him, but he wasn't in a good mood when he left." Gu Shixi still clearly remembers the cold, unapproachable look Huo Zhizhou gave him.

He had rarely seen this in him since he was a child, let alone seen him like this.

Jiang Ruan didn't want to worry, so she said, "I understand."

Gu Shixi tentatively asked, "Then you..."

“I will have Mo Mo and Tang Bai take turns on duty,” Jiang Ruan said calmly, “to keep him away from my house.”

Gu Shixi: "???"

Gu Shixi's mind was full of question marks.

He never expected this answer.

"I'll hang up now if there's nothing else." Jiang Ruan didn't intend to talk to him any further. "You don't need to tell me about his affairs in the future. This place isn't an emotional refuge, nor is it his after-sales service center."

"Don't you care at all what he went through at the old house?" Gu Shixi still couldn't believe that Jiang Ruan could be so ruthless.

Huo Er was supposed to go to the old house for dinner last night, but he was delayed by company matters and didn't go until noon today. However, he left in a bad mood after less than an hour.

He didn't harm Huo Cheng.

It wasn't directed at Huo Sinian.

They went straight to Haicheng without doing anything.

He didn't know why he went to see Jiang Ruan. If it was because he cared about his secret being exposed to Jiang Ruan, he should have gone to her. But when he passed by her, he didn't look at her again except for that "keep away" look in his eyes.

It was as if he were a complete stranger.

"I don't care," Jiang Ruan said before hanging up the phone.

Gu Shixi felt that he was born to worry.

He immediately bought a plane ticket to Haicheng and sent messages to Si Ning and Huo Zhizhou before boarding the plane.

On the plane, Huo Zhizhou ignored his phone in his pocket, his mind filled with the scene of talking to Huo Cheng at the old house at noon and the words he had said to him.

"—You think she cares about you that much? She just feels sorry for you after learning about your past. Don't you hate it when people pity you? What, you can accept Jiang Ruan's pity and sympathy?"

He couldn't remember what they talked about after that.

All he knew was that he needed an answer from Jiang Ruan.

It was past 7 p.m. when Huo Zhizhou arrived at Jiang Ruan's house. Seeing Tang Bai and Mo Mo blocking his way, Huo Zhizhou had a feeling that someone had tipped him off or said something.

He took out his phone and dialed Jiang Ruan's number. His gaze was fixed on the second floor of the villa. His voice was still gentle, but a closer listen would reveal a hint of emotion: "I need to talk to you. Could you come down for a bit?"

"I'm very busy, I don't have time," Jiang Ruan replied decisively.

She roughly knew why Huo Zhizhou had come to see her.

From the moment they fell in love, she knew that Huo Zhizhou didn't like being pampered; what he wanted was pure liking and love.

So much so that he never resorted to self-inflicted suffering during their courtship and marriage, nor did he ever show weakness in front of her. It wasn't that he didn't love her enough, but rather that his personality and pride wouldn't allow him to do so.

So when Huo Sinian showed her that photo of her covered in blood, she didn't say anything.

But caring for and cherishing the people you like is an instinct.

"Either I come up, or you come down." Huo Zhizhou, unusually, didn't go along with her. "You choose."

Jiang Ruan's heart clenched.

She knew that Huo Zhizhou meant what he said.

After a two-second silence, she gave her answer: "I'll get down."

A moment later, Huo Zhizhou led her to the manor he had bought in Haicheng. The two of them did not say a word along the way, like the calm before a storm.

They arrived at their destination around eight o'clock.

It had started raining heavily outside, the raindrops rhythmically pattering on the ground, creating a stark contrast with the quiet room.

Huo Zhizhou placed a cup of hot water in front of her and calmly asked, "Have you had dinner?"

Jiang Ruan: "I ate it."

Huo Zhizhou: "Has anyone been giving you trouble these past two days?"

Jiang Ruan: "No."

Huo Zhizhou: "Is work tiring?"

He kept asking trivial questions.

Jiang Ruan wasted no time and went straight to the point: "Didn't you need something from me? Go ahead, I have things to do when I get back."

Huo Zhizhou fell silent.

On the plane, he thought about many questions he wanted to ask.

He wondered how he would react if Jiang Ruan gave him different answers.

But when he actually reached this critical juncture, he suddenly began to feel afraid. He was afraid that the answer he would receive would not be what he wanted to hear, and afraid that the person he loved most would stab him in the heart with the sharpest knife.

"I'll be going now if there's nothing else." Jiang Ruan stood up as she spoke.

"What did Gu Shixi say to you while I was in the hospital?" Huo Zhizhou first confirmed whether Huo Cheng's words were true or false.

"Your past." Jiang Ruan spoke bluntly, like an emotionless machine, "How Huo Cheng abused you when you were a child, your best friends, and all the little things about you, I told you everything."

Huo Zhizhou's hand tightened little by little: "And then?"

Jiang Ruan looked at him calmly: "That's all."

Huo Zhizhou: "You clearly hated me back then, so why did you stay in the hospital to take care of me?"

"Firstly, it's because I made a deal with Gu Shixi. I stayed, and he promised to help me if I needed anything in the future." Jiang Ruan didn't hide anything. "Secondly, it's because I feel sorry for your past."

Huo Zhizhou's aura gradually cooled down, and the air pressure around him instantly decreased.

Jiang Ruan could clearly sense that his mood was deteriorating drastically.

"Why?" He looked at her, his eyes filled with a hint of suppressed emotion.

Jiang Ruan knew what he was asking, but did not answer.

"You know perfectly well that what I hate most is feeling sorry for someone and being pitied." Huo Zhizhou was trying hard to control his emotions, not wanting to really fall out with her. "I would rather you ignore me and do nothing for me."

"Then let me tell you about the good treatment I've given you all this time, and how I locked you in the locker room and agreed to change my promise—it was all because I felt sorry for you." Jiang Ruan simply laid everything bare. "And what about you?"

She can lie to him.

You can tell him that it was all for pure self-interest.

He will believe it 100%.

But these things will eventually come to light, so it's better to clarify everything at once than to expose them one by one.

Huo Zhizhou was on the verge of a breakdown: "Ruan Ruan!"

“Feeling sorry for someone is an instinct.” Jiang Ruan knew he was angry. “Just like you would feel sorry for me if I were hurt, you can’t take away my right.”

“I didn’t deprive you of anything.” This was the only thing Huo Zhizhou couldn’t accept. “I don’t care about anything else, but you shouldn’t have shown concern and been nice to me after learning about Shan Mu’an’s situation.”

Jiang Ruan looked at him, puzzled: "Why?"

“This makes me feel like the care I receive is bought with his life.” Huo Zhizhou blurted out, his eyes reddening with suppressed emotion.

He still vividly remembers the way Shan Mu'an left.

If she hadn't met him, Shan Mu'an would have had a happy and perfect life.

If it weren't for him, Huo Cheng wouldn't have had the ability to target the Shan family. He was the one who told Huo Cheng how to make the Huo Group grow rapidly, he was the one who gave Huo Cheng the ability to harm Shan Mu'an's family, and he was also the root cause of Shan Mu'an's death.

How could he accept the heartache that only happened because of him?