Chapter 27

Jiang Sen stood dumbfounded, staring at the person on the swing chair.
The light fell softly on her, her skin pale as if moonlight had sprinkled shards of silver across her body. Her hair was styled into loose, fluffy curls that framed her face, small enough to fit in a man’s palm. Her eyelashes trembled faintly with each breath, and when the breeze passed, a strand of hair clung gently to her lips...
Judging by appearance alone, no one would ever believe this was the arrogant, insufferable girl Su Ruan had described.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover”, a saying that proved true yet again.
Jiang Sen wasn’t the kind to raise a hand against a woman. Even though his living depended on violence, he wasn’t someone who beat girls. But he owed Su Ruan, she had saved him and given him shelter, and he had to give her an explanation.
He glanced around. The Xie family’s security system was top-notch, even the garden had multiple cameras installed.
Avoiding cameras had long become second nature to him.
In order to protect his little sister and ensure she could live independently before he ever got caught, he’d trained himself to handle matters without leaving traces on surveillance.
Circling the garden, he found three blind spots between the cameras.
If every person had their own gift, then Jiang Sen’s talent was unmistakable, at sixteen, he had managed to stand out among countless others and win the favor of Lord Luo San. Courage and luck played their part, but more than that, he was simply born sharp.
If the law didn’t forbid such gray industries, he would have long become someone extraordinary, though not necessarily in a good way.
After several passes, he picked up a sharp-edged stone, heavy enough to crush a skull with one swing. He stared at the girl on the swing chair for a long time, silently said sorry, then, like a sleek black panther, melted into the shadows of the night...
Gu An’an suspected this must be heaven’s punishment, she’d gained too much undeserved wealth lately, and fate had decided to even the scales. Otherwise, how could she explain that this swing chair, which could bear two hundred kilos, snapped the moment her forty-eight kilos landed on it?
There’s a phrase called speechless despair. Falling asleep only to wake up with a broken arm, she must be the first person in the new century to manage that!
Clutching her arm in agony, Gu An’an howled and quickly called 120.
The emergency operator, after years on the job, had probably never heard such a loud, vigorous voice from someone calling for help. Momentarily stunned by her energy, he asked, “How did you break it? What kind of injury?”
“I fell asleep on a swing, and the rope broke. I fell off, hit a rock, and broke my arm,” she groaned through clenched teeth, still clearly explaining the details. “I’m scared to move in case I hurt something else. I’m still lying here on the ground.”
Not exactly a car crash, but close enough...
“Alright,” said the paramedic after a pause. “Don’t panic. Please give me your address.”
Gu An’an had just reported her location when staff from the Xie residence, hearing the commotion in the garden, rushed over. Upon realizing it was Gu An’an who was hurt, they immediately phoned Grandpa Xie.
The old man had been chatting with guests; the call went through his assistant, An Shu. Knowing how much Grandpa Xie adored Gu An’an, An Shu whispered the situation into his ear. The old man panicked, wanting to go see her, but he was surrounded by important business partners and couldn’t leave, not to mention his unsteady legs. He urgently told An Shu to call Xie Jinxing.
When Xie Jinxing received the call, he thought something had happened to his grandfather. He excused himself and stepped aside to take it.
An Shu quickly explained the situation, and Grandpa Xie could be heard in the background, anxiously urging him to check on her.
Xie Jinxing hung up and headed straight for the garden.
By the time he arrived, a crowd had gathered, Lu Xingyu, Xie Youjun, Shen Shan, and others were already there.
Lu Xingyu was half-supporting Gu An’an. Though no one was shouting, the tension between him and Xie Youjun was palpable. Lu Xingyu was two years older, but Youjun, stubborn as ever, refused to back down.
Gu An’an’s face had gone white with pain, sweat beading across her forehead.
As Xie Jinxing approached, his expression was unreadable, yet his mere presence silenced the crowd.
His sharp gaze swept across the scene. He wasn’t physically stronger than these pampered rich kids, but his aura, cold, precise, commanding, subdued them instantly. His eyes fell briefly on the broken swing rope. The cut was clean. Someone had deliberately sliced it.
“Where’s the hotel manager?” His deep voice was calm but carried authority. “Bring him here.”
The manager rushed over in a sweat, clutching surveillance footage.
The moment the accident was reported, he had checked the cameras. This was Grandpa Xie’s birthday banquet, every guest a person of high status. Any incident here could destroy his career. He cursed inwardly, wondering which blind fool of a temp worker had caused such a disaster. Trembling, he handed over the tablet to Xie Jinxing.
While waiting for the ambulance, Xie Jinxing quickly reviewed the footage.
The Xie Hotel’s security coverage was comprehensive, three cameras monitored the entire garden. Yet the footage showed only a staff member in the hotel’s standard black uniform slipping behind Gu An’an while she was half-asleep and cutting the rope. The person even positioned a pointed rock beneath the swing.
Only the back was visible, no face.
Whoever did it was clearly experienced. Few could avoid cameras that cleanly.
“Made any enemies lately?” Xie Jinxing asked.
The footage was clear, someone had targeted her on purpose.
Gu An’an blinked her wide, tear-filled eyes (mostly from pain), looking innocent and confused. “No...”
She had tried so hard to stay out of trouble in this ridiculous world, avoiding the main cast like the plague. Who could she possibly have offended?
Oh...wait.
She did throw Zhou Jiayu into a stinking ditch that one time when she got expelled and lost her temper. But the Zhou family hadn’t brought him tonight, afraid he’d cause more trouble with the Xie family’s granddaughter.
Aside from that...nothing.
Seeing her dazed look, Xie Jinxing didn’t press further. “Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
Her arm was broken, not her legs. “I already called an ambulance myself. It should be here soon.”
“You’re pretty self-sufficient,” he muttered.
Behind him, Grandpa Xie’s private medical team had arrived. They examined her arm carefully. The bone wasn’t visibly displaced; not a severe injury, but they recommended a CT scan to be safe.
“If it’s not fractured, it’s no big deal,” said one doctor.
Xie Jinxing nodded and turned to the manager. “Find out who that staff member is. Identify and report. Arrange transport-”
Before he finished, both Lu Xingyu and Xie Youjun stepped forward, volunteering to escort her to the hospital.
The two young men glared daggers at each other.
Lu Xingyu was furious, never had he disliked his cousin so much. What was Xie Youjun playing at, fussing over Gu An’an like that? Just because their grandfather once asked him to drive her home, he thought that meant something?
Youjun, equally annoyed, found his cousin unbearable. He and Gu An’an had broken things off, so why was Lu Xingyu acting like a jealous husband?
The tension rose until
“I’ll go.”
Everyone turned. Shen Shan had stepped forward, her soft voice cutting through the argument like a thunderclap.
Gu An’an froze in horror. She turned to look at Shen Shan, elegant in a white dress, like a perfect little princess. Though she knew Miss Shen liked her, wasn’t she into Lu Xingyu? Why would she waste this perfect opportunity to cozy up to him, just to accompany her?
She looked up again, the pink slime-like “favorability meter” hovering above Shen Shan’s head was nearly at 80.
Holy crap.
Moved and confused at once.
She had expected Xie Jinxing to refuse, but to her shock, he simply gave Shen Shan a glance, and agreed.
Gu An’an: “???”
Hey, could someone at least ask for her opinion?
Apparently not.
So that was how she ended up sitting in the ambulance, staring awkwardly at Miss Shen across from her, completely blindsided.
But when she glanced back at the group outside, at Lu Xingyu, whose pink slime meter had climbed close to 70, she blinked again.
Then she looked at someone else and froze.
Where… was it?
Where the hell was his favorability meter?!
Her head buzzed. Even the throbbing pain in her arm dulled. Out of the four main characters, she’d been given a cheat that let her monitor their affection toward her, a warning system for when danger approached. But now, while Shen Shan and Lu Xingyu’s numbers were intact, the boss’s meter, Xie Jinxing’s was gone!
Why?! Why, heaven, do you hate me so much?!
Panicking, she blurted out, “Uncle! Uncle, you-”
He turned, sharp eyes dark as ink cutting through the crowd.
Gu An’an choked, completely sobered by that look.
His tall, striking figure made him impossible to miss, even with her eyes squeezed shut. Above his head… nothing. The gray slime that once had 29 points, gone. Completely gone.
She stammered, on the verge of tears: “Did you…wash your hair?”
“?” He raised a brow, puzzled.
She wanted to cry. “I just think you look especially handsome today. Your hair’s… so clean.”
“…?”
“Why’d you have to wash it so clean?” Inside, Gu An’an was screaming like a thousand guinea pigs. She nearly coughed up blood from despair.
Expression blank, she shed one beautiful, tragic tear.
Without that favorability meter, how was she supposed to tiptoe safely along her boss’s bottom line? What if she went too far one day, would she not only get “fed to the fish” but chopped into 180 pieces for shark food?!
“…”
“…”
Everyone fell silent.
After a long pause, Xie Jinxing tilted his head slightly, as if considering something. Then, politely, he turned to the paramedic beside him.
“If it’s convenient,” he said mildly, “please run a CT scan on her brain as well.”
The paramedic blinked. “Oh, uh, sure.”
Gu An’an: “……”
The ambulance wailed off. Within fifteen minutes, they arrived at the nearest hospital.
Inside, Shen Shan helped her in, or rather, dragged her along like an old lady, nearly making her trip several times.
The moment they entered the exam room, Shen Shan repeated the boss’s order word for word: “Give her a brain CT first. She fell off a swing. We’re not sure if she broke something in her head.”
You broke your head! Your whole family broke their heads!
Forcing a strained smile, Gu An’an explained the situation succinctly to the doctor.
The doctor nodded, told the noisy Miss Shen to wait outside, then had a nurse sit Gu An’an down to examine her.
Closed fracture, no surgery needed.
The orthopedic doctor had seen hundreds of worse cases, from car crashes to crushed bones. Compared to those, her injury was minor. He even praised whoever had wrapped her arm, not bad for an amateur. Then he rebandaged it, realigned the bone, and set it in plaster.
An hour and a half later, Gu An’an’s phone buzzed.
A message, from Boss Xie Jinxing.
“I’m on my way.”
The banquet must have ended. Since he was coming, there was no need to call another car. Exhausted, she left the exam room, where Shen Shan was leaning against the wall, gaming.
The ACE victory chime blared. Pale-faced, Gu An’an peeked at her screen, Miss Shen was cursing her teammates for being “useless trash” despite going 0–11–0 herself. Gu An’an silently thanked the heavens they weren’t gaming friends.
“Done?” Shen Shan asked, putting her phone away.
“Mm.” Gu An’an sighed. “Lucky it’s not a compound fracture.”
Shen Shan eyed her arm in the sling, lips twitching. “Only you could break an arm in your sleep.”
Expression blank: “…Didn’t you see? Someone did it to me.”
“I know,” Shen Shan said breezily, “I just wanted to rub salt in the wound.”
“…”
“Kidding! So, heading back now?” She giggled, pulling out her phone. “I’ll call the driver?”
“No need. My Uncle’s on his way.”
At the mention of Xie Jinxing, Shen Shan straightened instantly. She mumbled something about needing the restroom and hurried off.
Gu An’an barely looked up, waving her away.
She waited ten minutes. Still no sign of her. Curious, Gu An’an awkwardly made her way toward the bathroom, only to stumble upon Shen Shan, face to face with Su Ruan.
How else could it be, that fate’s opposition always belonged to the heroine and the female rival? A little past nine at night, most hospitals were already closed, yet somehow, these two managed to meet again, in completely unrelated departments. Only this time, it wasn’t Shen Shan’s stage. It was the heroine’s. Shen Shan was crouched sneakily by a doorframe, craning her neck to peek around the corner. Gu An’an, curious about her strange behavior, leaned over to take a look too.
Then she saw him, standing quietly at the end of the corridor, almost blending into the shadows, Xie Jinxing, who must have arrived long ago. The scene was painfully familiar, as if echoing what Xie Jinxing himself had once said: every time he met Su Ruan, she was crying. Sure enough, Su Ruan was clutching a blood test report, weeping like the world had ended.
Xie Jinxing’s face wore that same unsettling gentleness as he patiently listened to her despair over her mother being RH-negative. Because that blood type was so rare, even if a kidney transplant donor appeared, her mother’s chances were slim.
Gu An’an and Shen Shan stood far away, mostly because Shen Shan was afraid of Xie Jinxing and didn’t dare get closer, but from where they were, they could see, though not hear.
Shen Shan’s face looked sour, like the world owed her ten million. Arms crossed, leaning against the emergency exit door, she muttered in a bitter whisper, “See? Heaven really does punish the cheap. That little slut Su Ruan probably brought this on herself. Look at her crying, bet her mom’s got cancer or something. Think they can even afford the hospital bills?”
You had to admit, Shen Shan’s mouth really was vile. Sometimes, a slap was well-deserved.
It was a good thing Gu An’an was the one beside her; if it had been Lu Xingyu, Yang Yue, or Zhou Jiayu, Shen Shan would’ve been thrown straight off the fifth floor by now.
“Have a little decency, will you?” Gu An’an muttered. “Mocking is one thing, but don’t pour salt on wounds.” Su Ruan might be a manipulative “green tea” type, but insulting her when her mother was sick was crossing a line.
Still, Gu An’an couldn’t help thinking she was ridiculous herself, the first thing that popped into her mind was her high-paying job mission.
Money earned had to be work done, after all.
So she sprang forward, completely disrupting the tender, tragic moment between a handsome man and a weeping girl. “Uncle!” she chirped brightly, “When did you get here?”
Instantly, Xie Jinxing’s expression snapped back into his usual cold composure. That was the real domineering CEO face.
He pried Su Ruan’s hand off his sleeve, turned calmly, and asked, “Just got here. How’s your arm?”
“Closed fracture,” Gu An’an replied, glancing at the trembling Su Ruan. “No surgery needed.”
“Mm.”
Shen Shan, still fuming, whispered behind her, “You don’t even hate her? She must’ve talked bad about us behind our backs!”
Hate her? Gu An’an thought dryly. What for? I’m just a powerless side extra. Still, she walked over toward Xie Jinxing.
He seemed to forget Su Ruan existed altogether, walking straight out of the stairwell. Gu An’an’s sharp eyes caught sight of Su Ruan’s blood report as she passed, her blood type: RH-negative.
It really is panda blood!!!
Gu An’an wanted to scream. For God’s sake, author, can you not? Do you have to cram in every tacky melodrama cliché? What’s next, car crash, amnesia, secret pregnancy?! Please stop embarrassing humanity!
Inside, she was fuming. And to make it worse, the black, paint-peeling slime hovering over Su Ruan’s head was still steady at –100.
If there were a lower score, Su Ruan would definitely give it to her.
Quality? She’s never even heard of it! Stupid two-faced little white lotus, infuriating!
“Let’s go,” Xie Jinxing said, his face dark as storm clouds. Under the dim light, his expression looked like a volcano seconds before eruption.
Gu An’an didn’t know what had set him off, but she tugged on his sleeve anyway. “Uncle, I…”
He lowered his head and stared at her in silence.
Gu An’an pursed her lips, nervous but still gutsy enough to blurt, “How about I go get my blood tested too? I’ve been feeling dizzy, maybe I’m anemic…”
She needed to confirm whether she was RH-negative herself.
“It’s too late,” he said. “Next time.”
She nodded. Fair, labs wouldn’t process results this late anyway.
As the two turned to leave, Su Ruan suddenly stood up, bracing herself against the wall, and called out, “Gu An’an.”
Her voice, soft, trembling, delicate, was the kind that made men instinctively want to protect her.
Gu An’an stole a glance at Xie Jinxing. Unfortunately, he didn’t look the least bit protective, if anything, his face grew even darker.
Gu An’an turned back. “?”
“Your arm…what happened?” Su Ruan asked lightly, as though out of casual concern.
Gu An’an hadn’t expected that. She shrugged. “Accident. Fell and broke it.”
“Oh,” Su Ruan said softly. “Does it hurt?”
“…” No kidding. You try breaking yours!
“So pitiful…you really should be more careful” she murmured, dragging out her words. “My mom’s in the inpatient ward, her condition’s getting worse. The latest tests were terrible. I’m really scared to be alone. Can I…come with you guys?”
Before Gu An’an could answer, Shen Shan popped out from the corner like a cannonball. “No! We’re leaving right now, who has time to babysit you!”
Xie Jinxing said nothing.
Su Ruan looked at him hopefully.
He didn’t even glance her way. “Let’s go,” he told Gu An’an, and walked off.
Gu An’an shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, ask one of the nurses to stay with you.”
Then she hurried to catch up.
Downstairs, in the lobby, they ran into Grandpa Xie and the rest of the family.
Lu Xingyu and Xie Youjun had caused such a scene earlier that Madam Xie had kicked them out of the car. Now, the whole group was waiting in the lobby. The old man had been worried when he hadn’t heard back about Gu An’an’s condition, so he’d insisted on coming himself.
Of course, Madam Xie wouldn’t let him go alone, she knew his health too well.
To be fair, in all these years, Gu An’an had behaved impeccably in the Xie family, humble, discreet, self-aware. Madam Xie didn’t dislike her; she even liked her, in a way. But once Gu An’an got entangled with Lu Xingyu, that goodwill evaporated. A mother always believes her son deserves better, and in her eyes, Gu An’an simply wasn’t enough.
After confirming that Gu An’an’s arm injury was minor, Grandpa Xie finally relaxed.
He patted her head affectionately, half-scolding, half-worried. “If you’re tired, there’s a lounge upstairs. Why’d you nap in the garden instead of using it?”
Gu An’an flushed. She’d only gone out to get some air, the garden had just been too comfortable. Quiet, pleasant temperature, nice breeze…she’d closed her eyes for a second and dozed off.
She promised she wouldn’t do something that dumb again, next time she’d sleep in the lounge like a normal person.
It was late, past the old man’s bedtime.
Since everything was fine, everyone was eager to go home and rest. But with her arm hurt, living alone wasn’t ideal. Grandpa Xie took the opportunity to insist she move back to the old family estate.
“You’re injured, you can’t take care of yourself. Come back home; the staff can look after you.”
Gu An’an stood there awkwardly, surrounded by the entire Xie family. The old man’s affection for her had long surpassed that shown to some of his real grandchildren. Even Madam Xie’s expression was starting to turn complicated.
Gu An’an quickly declined. “I-I can hire a part-time helper.”
“A helper? To take care of you?” Grandpa frowned. “She’s just a maid, not a nurse. Be good, move back home. Aunt Xiu will look after you.”
Aunt Xiu was the gentle housekeeper at the old estate.
“But Grandpa, I still have to work,” she protested weakly. “I’ve got to go to Uncle’s office every day, be his lucky cat by the door…”
The moment she said it, every gaze turned to Xie Jinxing.
Under the burning scrutiny of his family, he didn’t so much as twitch. After a pause, he furrowed his brows slightly, then said calmly, “Then let her stay at my place for now. I’ve got an apartment nearby.”
Madam Xie, already tired of this back-and-forth, immediately nodded. “Perfect. Let the youngest look after her.”
Xie Jinxing lived alone, but he had a driver and housekeeper. Security there was top-notch; even if she stayed alone, nothing would happen. Madam Xie smiled. “He practically lives at the office anyway, the place is empty most of the time. Might as well let An’an use it.”
No one else saw an issue with that explanation.
Except Grandpa Xie who glared at his “youngest son” like he wanted to strangle him. You shameless man eight years older than her! You think I don’t see what’s going on, you wolf in human skin?!
Xie Jinxing caught the old man’s murderous glare and couldn’t help smirking. His father really thought he was some kind of predator? Please. What was he going to do, actually make a move on her?
Still, he shot Gu An’an a sidelong glance. “Come on. My car’s outside.”