Chapter 132: I Will Support You
Her heart raced wildly. After a long moment, she asked cautiously, "Do you want to take some painkillers—"
“Don’t move.”
Before she could finish, Gu Zhenzhi tightened his embrace around her. He said nothing, holding her close as if drawing warmth from her, desperate to meld her into his very being.
Ruan Cha couldn’t turn back, but from Gu Zhenzhi’s faint, labored breaths, she could sense his weakness.
His pale face filled her mind. Instinctively, she clasped the hand resting on her waist. After a few moments of thought, her voice soft but resolute, she said, “Gu Zhenzhi, cut ties with the Gu family. I will take care of you.”
She thought, if Gu Zhenzhi refused to sever his connection with the Gu family and still chose to silently devour the Gu estate, manipulating every member as in the stories, she would stand by his side.
But that didn’t mean Gu Zhenzhi wouldn’t have a chance to turn back whenever he wished. She would always be his support.
She would become his strength.
If he wanted to plunge into darkness, she would grow wild alongside him in the shadows.
Hearing this, Gu Zhenzhi’s gaze froze.
His eyes lowered slightly, catching sight of the girl’s thick lashes trembling faintly.
His breath tightened, his heart swirling with tangled thoughts. “You really want to take care of me?”
“Of course!” Ruan Cha’s eyes brightened, eager to turn and hug him.
But she was suddenly held by the shoulder, unable to move.
“In that case... explain what just happened,” the man said abruptly, loosening his hold. Despite the pain in his back, he turned Ruan Cha around.
His dark eyes bore into her beautiful ones.
At his words, the girl’s clear eyes flickered.
She instinctively avoided his gaze, but Gu Zhenzhi reached out and pinched her chin. His eyes burned intensely, deep as ink. “So, how much have you concealed? How did you find the old man’s weakness? Who exactly is the person you mentioned? And you and Xerick... why does he call you ‘boss’?”
Gu Zhenzhi’s face remained pale, his lips ghostly white from blood loss, cracked slightly with traces of blood seeping out. Yet he gripped Ruan Cha’s chin firmly, not allowing her to look away.
Ruan Cha hesitated under his questioning.
How should she explain it to Gu Zhenzhi?
There were too many secrets she couldn’t reveal. Yet his willingness to ask showed he was determined to understand her better, that there was a chance for something more between them...
Each second she hesitated, Gu Zhenzhi’s heart grew colder.
“What? Can’t say it?”
He withdrew his gaze, and all the tenderness and dependence from before vanished like a dream, dissipating into thin air.
Ruan Cha’s heart raced anxiously; her breathing became disordered. Grasping Gu Zhenzhi’s arm, she took advantage of the moment he stiffened and threw herself into his embrace—
Her delicate hands curled around his neck, and her soft lips, quite by chance, pressed against his.
The man’s lips were slightly cool.
A faint, metallic sweetness lingered in his breath.
Ruan Cha’s eyes snapped wide open, like a startled little pufferfish, her cheeks puffed out.
Her soft, blurry gaze fixed on the eyes so close before her, clearly seeing her own reflection in Gu Zhenzhi’s.
His fists clenched tight.
He felt the girl hanging around his neck, her legs trembling in midair.
Gu Zhenzhi leaned back.
The defenseless girl fell into his arms.
Her knees rested on either side of his waist.
Her abdomen pressed against his thighs.