When You’re Supposed to Be Foolish, You’re Not Foolish
Liang Lu received the news in the latter half of the night. Hastily throwing on clothes, he rushed over. Seeing with his own eyes that Su Jingyang was indeed safe and sound finally put him at ease.
After that, he listened to Su Jingyang describe what had happened when they first noticed something was wrong. The fire had started from outside, which meant someone had deliberately committed arson to kill them.
Liang Lu listened with a grave expression. A dark cast gathered between his brows. He patted Su Jingyang on the shoulder and said he would get to the bottom of it, telling him to go home and rest first.
Su Jingyang was furious and wanted to stay and cooperate with the investigation. Liang Lu looked at his face and sighed. “If you trust me, leave it to me. I roughly know who did it. Your complexion doesn’t look good either. Ling Li and the child must’ve been badly frightened too. Go back first and clean up, sleep for a bit, then come again.”
Of course Su Jingyang knew full well who it was too. Nine times out of ten, it was still that Yunxiang Restaurant owner pulling tricks. Otherwise, they rarely stayed overnight at Lin’s Small Eatery, so how did someone know? Someone had definitely been watching them this whole time.
Snatching business and playing dirty little games before was one thing. Now they were trying to take lives. The viciousness exceeded Su Jingyang's imagination!
Su Jingyang turned his head and saw Ling Li sitting at the corner of the street, Ah Xuan asleep in his arms. His gaze flicked to them. He swallowed the anger tightening his chest and said to Liang Lu, “Then I’ll trouble you here. I’ll take Ah Li somewhere to rest first, then I’ll come back.”
Mu Jin had fainted from smoke inhalation. Luckily, the physician who rushed over examined him and said that once he woke up and rested for a few days, he would be fine with no major issues. Mu Jin was carried to the clinic for treatment and Xu Mei cried the whole way as he followed.
Rong Ci arrived later. He hadn’t been inside as long as Mu Jin, so aside from a bit of scorched hair and some scrapes, he was also unharmed.
When Su Jingyang was talking with Liang Lu over there, Rongci stood nearby with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed steadily on Su Jingyang.
On any normal day, Su Jingyang would’ve taken the rare chance to show concern for Rong Ci. He knew how much courage it took to charge into a sea of flames to save people.
Su Jingyang knew Rong Ci kept staring at him too, yet he deliberately avoided meeting his eyes. His whole body was full of intentional evasion.
He wasn’t actually an idiot. Rong Ci had bared that much genuine emotion earlier. How could Su Jingyang not understand what it meant?
What “Not letting go, can’t let go”?! Boil it down and it was one sentence. The guy who couldn’t go a day without snapping at him, who had even firmly denied liking him before, still couldn’t withstand Su Jingyang’s unique charm and had fallen for him!!!
This was truly killing him!
If this guy had continued disliking and cursing him, Su Jingyang could accept it more easily. Yet this sudden shift into “I actually like you” made Su Jingyang feel unsettled. He also absolutely wasn’t going to accept it, because… because he was about to leave! He didn’t want to leave behind any kind of emotional debt!
Su Jingyang didn’t want to run all the way home, but it was the middle of the night and most inns were closed. While Su Jingyang was still fretting, Rong Ci had already spoken to Ling Li. “Go to the inn I’m staying at. It’s not far from here.” Ling Li stood with the child in his arms. He didn’t say much and agreed.
Since Ling Li agreed, Su Jingyang didn’t argue. He just didn’t understand why Rong Ci had gone to stay at an inn that night instead of returning home.
Su Jingyang and Ling Li walked in front. Rong Ci followed behind at an unhurried pace, his long legs carrying him with ease.
Su Jingyang thought, if you don’t want to get tangled in feelings, then you have to be cold. You have to be firm and decisive. You can’t give him hope. He had already told him once not to like him. If he emphasized it again, someone that proud would definitely give up.
At the inn entrance, Su Jingyang sent Ling Li upstairs first, then came back down. Rong Ci was indeed waiting outside.
Su Jingyang stared at Rong Ci’s tall, slender silhouette under the moonlight. He blanked for a moment before walking over.
Hearing footsteps, Rong Ci turned his head to look at him. A faint glimmer flickered in his deep dark eyes. His face was calm, as if nothing was different from usual. Yet for some reason, being looked at like that made Su Jingyang tense. His steps unconsciously slowed before he continued, stopping beside Rong Ci.
Rong Ci withdrew his gaze and looked toward the shopfronts across the street. He spoke before Su Jingyang could. “Other than saying you’ll leave someday and won’t take responsibility for me, what else do you want to say?”
This question clearly confirmed Su Jingyang’s guess.
Su Jingyang choked for a second, then turned his face slightly and said seriously, “Also, I’m not going to be with you, so give up.”
Rong Ci asked evenly, “Anything else?”
Su Jingyang’s body tightened. “Anyway, anyway, don’t like me.”
Rong Ci said, “You’re refusing because of what you said, that you’ll leave in the future.”
“Yes.”
Rong Ci turned his head and met his eyes. “Not because you don’t like me?”
Su Jingyang’s pupils constricted sharply. Damn it, he got pinned!!! He really had been saying he was leaving, leaving, leaving, and never actually thought about that question. Did he not like this guy? Of course… of course he didn’t. Who would like being looked down on and mocked every day?
Su Jingyang lifted his chin at him, face cold and ruthless, voice firm. “Of course it’s also because I don’t like you. Even if you stop looking down on me, I still won’t like you.”
“Looking down on you… I’ll still do that. It has nothing to do with whether I like you,” Rong Ci said.
Su Jingyang’s round eyes went huge, pure disbelief filling his gaze. He was so angry he couldn’t speak, and he even wanted to hit someone.
Su Jingyang’s eyes reddened with fury. “Your kind of ‘liking’ is worthless!!! I don’t want it!! Get lost, you jerk! Get lost, get lost!”
He spun around in outrage, yet Rong Ci grabbed him from behind and pulled him into a tight hold. Su Jingyang exploded, kicking, flailing, and twisting, but he still couldn’t make the arms locked around his waist loosen.
Su Jingyang tried the same old trick, slamming his head back to smash Rong Ci’s chin. Rong Ci dodged easily and mocked him. “You thought I’d fall for that again?”
Su Jingyang got even angrier. “You still dare say that?! When we first met, you were so excessive to me, beating me down! Who gave you the dog’s guts to dare like me?! Take it back! You take it back!”
Rong Ci recalled what had happened too. He let out a short sigh, his tone lighter. “You looked like the kind of person who would annoy me for a lifetime, and the irritation in my heart got unbearable, so I hit you. If I really wanted to go all out, you would have ended up like that rapist.”
Su Jingyang ground his teeth. “Oh, then thank you so much, young hero, for sparing this dog’s life! Now let go. Take your claws off me!”
Rong Ci buried his face into Su Jingyang’s shoulder and nudged into him, voice low and muffled. “I won’t. Let me hold you for a while… You don’t know but… when I heard the commotion outside the inn and ran over, my heart was bleeding from anxiety. I really thought I’d never see you again…”
Su Jingyang remembered what Rong Ci looked like when he burst out of the fire. The heat in his chest eased a little, yet he still felt he couldn’t indulge him or Rong Ci would use this as an excuse and pester him endlessly.
“You already held me for a long time back there.” Su Jingyang truly was grateful that Rong Ci had risked his life to save people. He forced his tone to soften. “Let go. There’s no chance for us.”
Rong Ci lifted his head and murmured at his ear, “Su Jingyang, I don’t want you to take responsibility for my feelings. When the time comes that you want to leave, just leave. I won’t stop you either. Is that okay?”
“No! I want to leave right now!” Su Jingyang whipped his head around inside Rong Ci’s arms and glared at the handsome face resting near his shoulder. His tone flared even more irritable.
“Do you really think I’m stupid? What you said last time about, ‘it depends on the person,’ ‘play it by ear,’ ‘don’t be too aggressive,’ it was obviously aimed at me, wasn’t it? You know I won’t agree to be with you, so you say feelings don’t need responsibility. You’re trying to fool me and numb me. If I stupidly agreed to you, you’d slow-cook me like a frog, boil me through, then devour me completely without even leaving bone fragments. Isn’t that right?!”
Rong Ci stared at his mouth as it kept opening and closing, eyes unblinking. After a long silence, he let out a disappointed sound. “Strange. When you’re supposed to be foolish, you’re not foolish.”
Su Jingyang snorted. “When my life’s on the line, of course I need to be at maximum intelligence.”
Rong Ci’s voice gentled. “Su Jingyang, then how about this, I…”
Su Jingyang clapped his hands over his ears and shook his head hard. Not listening, not listening, not listening! It was all the kind of deception where you eat people whole without even spitting out bones.
Just then, the night watchman walked down the street. Rong Ci’s arms loosened slightly, and Su Jingyang took the chance to shove him away and bolt upstairs without looking back.
When Su Jingyang returned to the room, Ah Xuan and Ling Li were both asleep on the bed. Su Jingyang leaned in to check, then pulled the quilt up over Ling Li, who had fallen asleep fully dressed.
Su Jingyang sat at the table, about to drink some water, when Rong Ci walked in at an unhurried pace. Since this room was booked under Rong Ci’s name, Su Jingyang couldn’t exactly throw him out. Su Jingyang also noticed the pixiu jade pendant Rong Ci always wore at his waist. He gave a light snort and ignored him while drinking.
Rong Ci didn’t look particularly shaken. His expression was as usual.
After he sat beside Su Jingyang, he made a request. He wanted Su Jingyang to cut his hair.
Su Jingyang kept a stiff face as he looked at Rong Ci’s hair ends, which really had been burned into a mess. In the end, Su Jingyang still felt too guilty to refuse. He got up to find scissors and actually found a pair. Rong Ci loosened his hair. Su Jingyang then stood behind him and patiently trimmed it for him.
Afterward, the hair was much shorter, almost the same length as Su Jingyang’s. Rong Ci picked up a ribbon and casually tied it up again in a couple of motions.
Su Jingyang wrapped the scorched hair clippings in cloth and handed them to Rong Ci. Rong Ci lifted his eyes. “What for?”
“Isn’t it ‘body, hair, and skin are received from one’s parents’? Aren’t you sad? Won’t you keep it as a memento?” Su Jingyang remembered people in ancient settings seemed to care a lot about these things.
Rong Ci said, “It isn’t worth my sadness. Throw it away.”
“…Hmph, cold and heartless man!”
Rong Ci narrowed his eyes at him. “Itching for a beating, are you? Starting to pick at me now?”
Su Jingyang scoffed. “Do your flaws even need picking?”
Rong Ci nodded, smiling without warmth. “Very good. Very good. You’ve learned to read the situation and act fearlessly because you have backing.”
On the bed, Ling Li turned over softly. Su Jingyang’s mouth, which had been open to retort, immediately closed. He hastily made a shushing gesture, telling Rong Ci to stop talking too.
They sat a bit longer. Su Jingyang stood to go check on Lin’s Small Eatery again. Rong Ci followed right behind, refusing to leave him for even a step, and Su Jingyang couldn’t shake him off.
Though the arsonists were caught quickly, they stubbornly refused to admit there was a mastermind behind it. Yet after just one night, for reasons unknown, they all confessed. The one who ordered it really was the Yunxiang Restaurant owner, Liu Yun.
Liu Yun had started as a street thug, and he had always been reckless because he had connections in the yamen. This time he had truly fallen. During the court hearing, it was like he’d been possessed.
He not only confessed to the arson, but he also blurted out, in full detail, the three murders he committed before, even where he secretly buried the bodies. He nearly made everyone’s eyes fall out of their sockets!!!
After he was jailed, he cried and screamed about recanting, yet the bones had already been dug up from the burial sites he had revealed. With ironclad evidence, he couldn’t deny it even if he wanted to.
Lin’s Small Eatery, as well as the neighboring shop that had been dragged into it, were compensated for all losses. Liu Yun got what he deserved and was thrown into prison, soon to face legal punishment.
Even so, Su Jingyang still couldn’t swallow the anger. Ling Li, Ah Xuan, and Xu Mei had almost been burned to death. All their hard work had been reduced to charcoal. Su Jingyang wanted nothing more than to storm into the jail and beat that bastard senseless.
Su Jingyang tried to discuss rebuilding Lin’s Small Eatery with Ling Li, but Ling Li shook his head lightly. After a long moment, he lowered his lashes and said softly, “Are you… planning to leave town? If you are, I’m going with you.”
So he had noticed after all. Su Jingyang sighed helplessly. He basically expected Ling Li to react like this. Yet Ah Xuan still needed continuing treatment, and that was the problem. Ling Li had clearly thought of it too. His pale brown eyes were damp, heavy sorrow sinking inside them.
He grabbed Su Jingyang’s hand and pleaded, “Jingyang, wait for us. When Ah Xuan gets better, we’ll leave together, all right? I really don’t want to be separated from you. Please…”
“All right, all right, I’ll wait for you. Don’t worry.” Su Jingyang embraced the anxious Lingli, promising him.
Earlier, Su Jingyang had gone to the inn to see Mu Jin and Xu Mei. Mu Jin was recovering very well and Xu Mei personally cared for him the entire time. There was no need for words between them. Sweet warmth filled every corner. As long as Mu Jin was awake, those bright eyes stayed on Xu Mei, and the curve of his smile never truly dropped.
Xu Mei told Su Jingyang privately that he agreed to marry Mu Jin. After agreeing, he learned that Mu Jin had been waiting for his nod all these years. Mu Jin had prepared several sets of wedding clothes every year. He had even drafted all the invitations. The moment Xu Mei agreed, Mu Jin nearly went mad with joy and immediately sent a message home by carrier pigeon to have them start preparing.
The wedding date was set for one month later. Su Jingyang was genuinely happy for them. He also decided that after Xu Mei and Mu Jin, the suspected protagonists, got married and things were complete, he would look at the progress bar and decide what to do next.
Before Mu Jin and Xu Mei left town, they came hand in hand to Ling Li’s home for a visit. Mu Jin saw that Rong Ci lived next door and went over to exchange a few words, thanking him for the rescue that day. In the end, everyone ate a lively meal together.
Of course, Su Jingyang ignored Rong Ci’s direct stare the whole time, treating him like air.
Su Jingyang admitted he wasn’t as clever as Rong Ci. That meant he had to work hard to stay far away from him and ignore him. He absolutely couldn’t be stupid and get dragged into Rong Ci’s trap.
At the table, Su Jingyang casually said to Xu Mei, “If Murong were here, it would’ve been even livelier today.” Xu Mei asked curiously who Murong was. Su Jingyang said it was a very pretty girl. Xu Mei laughed. “Murong. That’s a nice name. When I have grandsons and granddaughters later, I’ll name them Murong. It’s perfect since the surname is Mu.”
Su Jingyang reflexively asked, “Huh? Why not sons and daughters, why grand—” He remembered something and immediately clamped his mouth shut.
Xu Mei only smiled and exchanged a look with Mu Jin.
After the meal, Xu Mei pulled Su Jingyang into the courtyard to chat. Xu Mei first thanked him sincerely, grateful for what Su Jingyang had said before. “I know it’s impossible for everyone to think the way you do, but it’s enough. At least it gave me the courage to accept it.”
Su Jingyang’s smile was bright. “If you can accept it, the main reason is that you love him too.”
Xu Mei was infected by his smile and laughed as well. After laughing for a while, the curve at his lips slowly eased back. His expression turned serious. “Jingyang, that… I’m sorry. I actually lied to you about something before.”
Su Jingyang made a confused sound, completely lost.
Xu Mei lowered his head and looked at his toes, then raised his eyes again to Su Jingyang. His lips moved slightly. “Back then, I kept failing to conceive, so I really did see a physician. However, the physician said my body was very healthy, and I was extremely fertile. There was nothing wrong with me.”
Su Jingyang’s eyes went wide. What kind of twist was this?
“I was afraid… that man’s pride would be hurt. After thinking it through, I decided to lie and say I was the one who couldn’t. I even drank medicine for two years to ‘condition’ my body, yet I still didn’t conceive. That part doesn’t matter. If I had been ‘infertile’ and he could truly hold firm for me, I would’ve been willing to give up children and hide it from him for life. But…”
Xu Mei’s gaze drifted away. He gave a cold, mocking laugh. “In the end, I was humiliated in public by his mother and thrown out, because I had no child after three years. My three years, in the end, were traded for his pained face and one sentence, ‘I’m sorry.’”
Su Jingyang was so angry he couldn’t stop himself from cursing under his breath.
Xu Mei saw how indignant he was and smiled instead, eyes shining as he looked at him. “Leaving that household was good. Otherwise, why would I be willing to waste my beautiful life there! He has remarried and remarried again, but he still doesn’t have a single child. What terrifying pride. He probably still hasn’t considered that it might be his problem.”
Xu Mei grinned. “I really like children. Mu Jin and I have already planned it. We’re going to have six kids together. Three daughters, three sons. We even picked out all the names two days ago. Isn’t that amazing?”
Only then did Su Jingyang understand. No wonder Xu Mei said he was saving the name Murong for grandsons and granddaughters.
Xu Mei also draped an arm over Su Jingyang’s shoulder and smiled cunningly, saying in a low voice, “Then let’s wish that man a house full of sons and grandsons, generations upon generations.”
Su Jingyang reacted at once and followed with a wicked grin too, eyes bright as he gave him a thumbs-up. “Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Let him have a house full of descendants. A whole song of ‘Green Light’ dedicated to him!”
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