The target was Jiang Fuyue’s right shoulder.
She sidestepped to avoid it, and the man’s large hand grasped at empty air.
“What are you doing?!” she demanded coldly.
“I…” Lou Mingshen’s gaze fell on the tree trunk behind her, and he quietly let out a breath.
Just as he was about to explain—
“Yueyue, come here! Time to go home!”
Han Shen and Han Ke came out from the hall, standing on the lawn not far away, calling out to Jiang Fuyue.
Because Lou Mingshen was concealed in the shadows cast by the branches, and the lighting was dim, the two of them did not notice him.
Jiang Fuyue: “Coming.”
This time, Lou Mingshen did not stop her again, nor did he dare to.
He could only watch helplessly as the girl disappeared step by step from his line of sight. The cold wind swept past, and apart from a faint lingering fragrance in the air, there was nothing else.
Lou Mingshen felt a sudden emptiness.
He did not know how much time had passed when the butler discovered him beneath the tree and froze in shock—
“S-Sir?!”
“Mm.” Lou Mingshen gave a slight nod. “There’s a snake in the tree. Get someone to deal with it as soon as possible.”
“A-a snake?!” The butler’s eyes widened, and he immediately agreed. “I’ll call someone right away!”
Lou Mingshen prepared to leave.
Seeing this, the butler probed, “The old madam is back. You… aren’t staying at home tonight?”
“No.”
“Stop right there—” Suddenly, an aged reprimand rang out. Fu Choujun strode forward. “It’s so late. Where are you going?”
Lou Mingshen said indifferently, “In the half year since I came back, I haven’t lived in the Lou residence.”
The old madam cast an inquiring look at the butler, who gently nodded.
“Why won’t you live at home when everything’s fine?”
“This isn’t my home.”
More accurately, he had no home.
Fu Choujun did not know which sensitive nerve that sentence struck. Her gaze sharpened as she erupted, “What do you mean ‘not your home’? Lou Mingshen, let me tell you, there’s no one in this world more qualified than you to live here! You are the rightful CEO of the Lou Group and the head of the Lou family. Who would dare gossip?”
“What a fine ‘rightful’!” Lou Mingshen sneered. “When you say those four words, aren’t you feeling guilty?”
Fu Choujun’s aged face changed slightly. “Silence! We haven’t seen each other for twenty years, and the moment we meet you have to stab me in the heart with your words?! Ah Shen,” her voice trembled, “you are my own flesh and blood, ten months of pregnancy, one day of delivery…”
Lou Mingshen’s brows and eyes were indifferent. “As long as I live, I will never move back into the Lou residence.”
“You!”
“Whoever likes it can live here.” With that, he strode away without looking back.
The old madam trembled with rage, pointing at his retreating figure. “Unfilial son! Unfilial son!”
After shouting twice, she clutched her chest and nearly lost her breath.
The butler hurriedly supported her into the house. “Quick! Call the family doctor!”
……
The night was quiet, cold winds gusting.
Lou Mingshen returned to his residence, pushed the door open, and a roomful of darkness rushed at him.
He did not turn on the light. As he walked, he yanked off his tie, loosened the collar buttons of his shirt, and finally sat down on the sofa.
The darkness seemed ready to swallow him whole, the night indistinguishable from him.
Lou Mingshen closed his eyes in exhaustion…
He never expected that once he closed them, he would fall straight asleep.
In his dream, Lou Mingyue’s face and Jiang Fuyue’s face alternated, and in the end they actually overlapped.
The overlapped face began to bleed, until it was completely covered in bright red.
No matter how he roared, panicked, or cried for help, it was all futile.
At that moment, he lowered his head and saw a bloodstained dagger clenched in his own hand.
Lou Mingshen jolted awake.
He sat up, eyes vacant.
Raising a hand to wipe his forehead, it was drenched in cold sweat, and his shirt was soaked through as well.
Lou Mingyue… Jiang Fuyue…
They were clearly two different people.
Yet the faces that overlapped in the dream fit together so perfectly, as if they were born as one.
The man’s gaze suddenly turned sharp.
He abruptly stood up, switched on the light, and quickly headed for the study.
He turned on the computer and searched through his email, finally finding that message from two months ago.
It showed as read, yet at this moment, Lou Mingshen opened it again.
The first thing that came into view was a photograph. The girl was wearing a high school uniform. Compared with the sexy yet aloof little black dress she wore tonight, she looked a few degrees more pure and harmless, but those eyes were still cool and detached.
Below was the investigation file on “Jiang Fuyue.” From birth onward, every point in time was traceable, with photographic proof. She was not someone who appeared out of thin air.
If there was one thing worth suspecting, it might be the drastic change around her second year of high school.
From a withdrawn, taciturn underachiever, she suddenly became a top student. All kinds of awards and honors paved her way straight to success, creating the proud and aloof “genius girl” she was today.
But this change was not entirely without explanation, because—
Jiang Fuyue had been a beauty in middle school, and her academic performance had also been outstanding. It was only after transferring to No. 1 High School that she began going down an unconventional path and fell into being an underachiever.
And her later awakening was not something that happened all of a sudden either. It was said to be triggered by a failed confession and a blow dealt by the school heartthrob, after which she resolved to work hard and improve herself.
This was also the key reason why Lou Mingshen did not think much of it after reading the file back then—
It was too smooth, too reasonable.
Every change in Jiang Fuyue could be traced and verified. It did not look like… she had become a different person.
Yes.
From the first moment he saw her, a wild, nearly absurd conjecture had taken shape in Lou Mingshen’s mind.
Although the timing did not match, the age did not match, and her appearance was completely different, Lou Mingshen could not stop himself from thinking in that direction.
What if?
What if she really was still alive?
But reason told him again and again—
Wishful thinking, self-deception.
Lou Mingyue had died twenty years ago. Died.
Reality and desire tugged back and forth, as if they were about to tear him in two the next second.
It was not until that dream just now, where the two faces overlapped without the slightest discord, that Lou Mingshen finally made up his mind to verify it.
If… if Jiang Fuyue really was “her,” then there must be clues hidden in this file.
The man’s sharp gaze swept across the screen, not missing a single detail.
Under the lamplight, his brows and eyes were cold and stern, his side profile heavy.
He found nothing on the first pass, so he continued with a second.
Nothing on the second, so he began a third…
Outside the window, the darkness gradually faded, and dawn arrived at the horizon.
Lou Mingshen sat upright before the computer, his expression never relaxing, his gaze never shifting aside.
Every word on the screen, every piece of information related to her, after a whole night, was etched into the man’s mind as if copied and pasted.
Jiang Fuyue… born December 6, 2033… from Linhuai City, Province J…
Lou Mingyue… born December 7, 2005… died April 1, 2030…
There was not the slightest overlap between the two sets of information.
Yet the suspicion in Lou Mingshen’s heart grew clearer and clearer, like boiling magma ready to erupt at any moment.
Despite having no basis, even though they were completely unrelated…
He released the mouse in frustration, got up, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. Looking at the sky where light was just breaking through, his brow gradually furrowed. “Where exactly did it go wrong…”
Some endured a long night, suffering without sleep. Others slept soundly and woke to a bright morning.
Because all of Jiang Fuyue’s classes the next day were in the afternoon, she simply followed her two uncles back to the Han residence for the night.
In the car, the two of them talked about Old Madam Lou’s bizarre way of doing things, sneering at it without restraint.
“At her age and still stirring up trouble. She really knows how to make things difficult.”
“With a senior like that, it’d be strange if the Lou family didn’t decline. Back then, when Lou Ming… uh! was still around, that was the true number one wealthy family, at its absolute peak.”
“One generation worse than the last. Maybe that’s the tragedy of wealthy families.”
“Not all wealthy families are like that. Look at the Xie family, they’re pretty good. At least they’re united, and they’ve got a national-treasure-level genius holding things together.”
Han Ke stroked his chin and chuckled twice. “If you put it that way, our family isn’t bad either. We’re united too, and we’ve got Yueyue, a genius, right?”
Han Shen, usually so low-key and steady, actually nodded this time. “Makes sense.”
Besides, Yueyue is much younger than Xie Dingyuan. The future holds infinite possibilities, with a bright road ahead.
Jiang Fuyue: “…” Sudden pressure descended, and she did not dare to speak.
In the end, the two uncles reached a unanimous conclusion—
First, the Lou family lacked propriety, and Fu Choujun was no respectable old lady either, so it was not advisable to get too deeply involved with them.
Second, Jiang Fuyue was the hope of the entire village… oh no, of the entire family.
After waking up and washing up, Jiang Fuyue went downstairs to eat breakfast.
After eating, she was about to return to school. Coincidentally, Han Shen was heading to the company, so Jiang Fuyue did not have the driver make a separate trip.
The car stopped at the school gate. Han Shen gave her a few reminders, and Jiang Fuyue nodded at each one, her attitude impeccable.
“Then I’m going. Bye, Uncle.”
“Bye.”
Only after watching her enter the school gates with his own eyes did Han Shen tell the driver to leave. “Such a good kid. How come I can’t give birth to one like that?”
Han Ting, already sitting in the classroom for morning self-study: “Achoo— achoo— is someone thinking about me?”
Over there, as soon as Jiang Fuyue entered the school gate, she was called to the office by a phone call from Xiao Shan.
“What can’t be said over the phone?”
On the other end, Xiao Shan’s tone was brimming with excitement, like he had just picked up five million. “I’m telling you, we hit the jackpot this time! I recruited a really great professor! He used to work at the Northwest Research Institute… Anyway, I can’t explain it clearly over the phone. Come to the office and meet him in person!”
Northwest Research Institute?
Jiang Fuyue raised an eyebrow. It sounded a bit familiar…
Who’s coming, everyone should be able to guess, right?
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Her first love 💔 (well her first suiter to be more accurate)