Jiang Zhou looked directly into Jiang Huai’s eyes. “Ruoruo is not a tool to advance your career. She’s the woman I love, and I won’t let you control her life. You might stop me temporarily, but you can’t stop me forever…”
Before Jiang Zhou could finish, Jiang Huai fainted right there, falling rigidly onto Jiang Zhou’s bed, completely unconscious.
Feng Yun had just arrived in Jiang Zhou’s room when she saw Jiang Huai faint. Filled with panic, she shouted at her son, “What are you doing? Call the ambulance now! Are you waiting for your father to die of anger?”
Jiang Zhou also panicked; he nodded quickly, pulled out his phone to make an emergency call, and then called the servants to open the gate in advance.
Jiang Ruo, having been sent back to her room by Jiang Huai, had been all ears to the noise outside, but the wall was so well soundproofed that she couldn’t hear a thing. At first, she assumed that her brother had angered their father, who had come to scold him. But when she heard the piercing sound of an ambulance outside the balcony, she realized something was seriously wrong.
When she opened her door, she noticed that her brother’s door was also open, with her mother’s loud crying coming from inside. She rushed in to see Jiang Huai lying rigidly on the bed, clearly unconscious. Her brother knelt silently by the bed while their mother cried, holding their father’s arm.
“Brother…” Jiang Ruo looked at Jiang Zhou, frightened and confused.
Jiang Zhou stood up, turned back to her, and said, “It’s okay, I’ve called an ambulance. Just stay home, okay?”
“No,” Jiang Ruo refused outright. “What exactly happened to Dad?”
However, Jiang Zhou fell silent again, clearly unwilling to answer her.
Even when the servants finally guided the paramedics upstairs and they transported Jiang Huai into an ambulance, Jiang Ruo still didn’t return to her senses. She couldn’t figure out what her brother had done to cause their father to end up like this.
That night, the entire Jiang household was in chaos. Feng Yun had completely forgotten the argument with Jiang Huai; she even forgot that her knee was injured. After following the ambulance to the hospital, she sat quietly in Jiang Huai’s hospital room, silent as a statue, until she heard from the doctor that Jiang Huai was stable and would wake up soon. She finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Feng Yun turned to Jiang Zhou, instructing him to take Jiang Ruo home first. As for her, she would stay in the hospital with a caregiver to look after Jiang Huai.
Nevertheless, both Jiang Zhou and Jiang Ruo were adamant about not leaving—they both insisted on staying until Jiang Huai regained consciousness, as they couldn’t be at ease otherwise.
Feng Yun sighed and looked at Jiang Ruo, “You have your college entrance exam tomorrow, you should go rest. Otherwise, how will you attend it?” Without waiting for the girl to respond, she turned to Jiang Zhou next, “As for you, what are you staying here for? Are you planning to wait for your father to wake up so you can make him faint from anger again?”
“…” Jiang Zhou knew that if his father woke up and saw himself and Ruoruo, he might indeed faint again. “Let’s go back first,” he said to Jiang Ruo.
“But…”
“Listen to me,” Jiang Zhou said, stepping forward to take her hand, “Mom will call us once Dad wakes up.”
Seeing Jiang Zhou’s firm stance, Jiang Ruo reluctantly followed him out. After they left the hospital, they took a taxi home. During the ride, Jiang Ruo asked many times why their father was so angry, but Jiang Zhou maintained his silence.
Upon returning home, Jiang Ruo refused to go back to her own room. Desperate to know what caused their father to faint, she held onto Jiang Zhou tightly. Seeing he still continued to ignore her questions, she made up her mind to accompany him to his room, declaring, “If Brother stays silent, I won’t return to my room tonight. We can stay up all night, and I can even sleep during the exam tomorrow.”
Jiang Ruo knew that Jiang Zhou always doted on her, so she resorted to this tactic, confident that her brother would eventually give in. Unexpectedly, Jiang Zhou acted out of character tonight. He approached her, step by step, backing her into a corner with his arms braced against the wall, “Ruoruo, do you really want to stay tonight?”
With everything that had happened today, Jiang Zhou’s mind was not clear. He looked at Jiang Ruo, his voice deep, “If you decide to stay, I can’t guarantee that I won’t do anything.”
“…” Jiang Ruo was stunned. Though her brother’s expression was frightening, she strangely felt very safe…
It was too bizarre!
Seeing that Jiang Ruo was lost in her thoughts, Jiang Zhou gently caressed her cheek and whispered in a soft voice, “If we had a child, do you think Dad would immediately prepare a wedding for us?”
Jiang Ruo pushed Jiang Zhou away and glared at him, “What are you blabbering about? I’m not talking to you anymore.”
After saying this, she ran back to her own room without looking back.
Once back in her room, Jiang Ruo lay on her bed, ready to sleep, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Jiang Zhou’s behavior just now. She had always seen Jiang Zhou as her brother. That day, she had promised him an answer after the exams, but she regretted it almost immediately.
Ever since Jiang Zhou confessed his feelings, she had been conflicted. But just now…
Jiang Ruo decided not to dwell on this matter anymore. Her father was still unconscious in the hospital, and even though the doctors said he was out of danger, she still couldn’t stop worrying. As Jiang Ruo was praying for Jiang Huai to wake up soon, her phone vibrated. It was a message from her mother, informing her that her father had regained consciousness and telling her not to worry.
Relieved by the message, Jiang Ruo finally relaxed, but as soon as she did, the images of Jiang Zhou cornering her earlier filled her mind.
She and her brother were not related by blood; if they really got together, it shouldn’t be a problem… Even if people would talk, he had promised to take her away to a foreign country where no one knew them, and they could be like any other couple…
But before that, she needed to focus on her college entrance exams and strive for a good score to repay all her hard work. Besides that, she needed to find time to talk to her mother to understand what exactly had happened between her father and brother, and then find a way to reconcile them.
Just as Jiang Ruo was about to lie down to sleep, she suddenly felt the need to go to the bathroom. She got up, put on her slippers, and headed to the bathroom.
For some reason, she felt that her health seemed to be getting worse recently. She was always tired during class, frequently distracted, and often woke up at night. She also had little appetite and occasionally felt nauseous.
But Jiang Ruo didn’t take these issues to heart—assuming it was probably just the stress of the upcoming exams.
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