TWWMABMTBH Chapter 98

After Rong Ziyan and Ji Shu got together, Rong Ziyan tried to ask Ji Shu about what happened that year, but Ji Shu always avoided answering.

One reason Rong Ziyan didn’t push it was that he was worried Ji Shu would be hurt by reliving those memories. Another was that he didn’t think it was that important.

After all, it didn’t matter how they met. What mattered most was how they would manage their lives together in the future.

But in reality, after regaining his memory, Rong Ziyan only felt regret.

If he hadn’t forgotten, he might have known Ji Shu much earlier. He wouldn’t have let Ji Shu be sick for so many years, without anyone by his side, not even daring to sleep soundly.

Ji Shu explained many things to Rong Ziyan. For example, his playboy persona, and why he always carried a goose around.

That goose was a gift from Rong Ziyan to Ji Shu. He told him to hatch it so it could protect him. As for Ji Shu’s playboy persona, it was simply because he couldn’t expose his fear of the dark. He forced that image on himself.

In reality, those young lovers who came to accompany him all knew the truth. They were subordinates, or people who were simply doing business with him for money, or had requests for him.

Privately, Ji Shu had been looking for Rong Ziyan, but all the information Rong Ziyan left for Ji Shu back then was fake. Except for the high school uniform that Ji Shu took away.

Rong Ziyan’s mind was a mess, but he easily recalled the day he first met Ji Shu.

Ji Shu had climbed in through the window.

The window in the men’s dormitory washroom was very small. At least, it was difficult for someone as tall as Rong Ziyan at the time to climb through.

But Ji Shu was too thin, even thinner than most girls of that age.

He was covered in injuries, his clothes and wounds covered in dust. His face was so thin it looked like a skull, and there wasn’t even a trace of the beauty he had now. The only thing that was the same was his beautiful pair of peach blossom eyes.

But what were Ji Shu’s eyes like then?

They were filled with shock, fear, and even a desire to run away the moment he saw Rong Ziyan. If the window hadn’t been so small and difficult to push through, Rong Ziyan wouldn’t have been able to catch him.

It could only be said that Rong Ziyan was also very cautious at that time. Plus, Ji Shu was too badly injured and wouldn’t listen. Rong Ziyan faked his identity to trick him into taking his medicine.

Rong Ziyan said he was a senior student who had come back to help look after the dorm during the summer vacation. If Ji Shu didn’t listen, he would send him to the police station.

At that time, Ji Shu, who had just escaped from the countryside, was most afraid of the word “sent away.” Rong Ziyan scared him, and he didn’t dare to move.

So, Rong Ziyan smoothly took Ji Shu to his dormitory, changed his clothes, applied medicine, and cooked a meal.

Although he lived alone, Rong Ziyan’s cooking skills were far from good.

Plus, in a high school dormitory, what kind of cooking equipment was there? A bowl of instant noodles with sausage and an egg was a feast.

But even so, the moment it entered his mouth, Ji Shu couldn’t help but cry.

Because, as far as he could remember, this was the first time someone had made a meal for him.

When he lived in the Ji family’s old house, although Ji Shu was nominally the young master, Old Master Ji didn’t care about him. The servants only respected him on the surface. Whatever appeared on the dining table, he would eat. If he didn’t like it or couldn’t eat it, he would simply go hungry.

But Rong Ziyan’s bowl of noodles was different. It was made especially for him.

Ji Shu was young at that time, and his emotions were unstable. Even if Rong Ziyan was only one percent good to him, he would be ten times grateful. Especially since Rong Ziyan had helped him without asking for anything in return.

In that instant, Ji Shu even thought that if Rong Ziyan was biased against him, it wouldn’t matter.

Even if Rong Ziyan sent him to the bad guys after he finished the noodles, it wouldn’t matter.

At least, before he died, he would have known what warmth felt like.

But in reality, everything was different from what Ji Shu had expected. Rong Ziyan wasn’t sent by his stepmother to kill him. Instead, he was a stranger who genuinely wanted to save him, out of pure kindness.

The next three days were the warmest memories of Ji Shu’s life in his first seventeen years.

He was often left speechless by Rong Ziyan’s blunt remarks. He was forced by Rong Ziyan to change his medicine daily and was almost dragged to the hospital by Rong Ziyan. But in the end, it didn’t happen because he couldn’t say his name clearly.

As for food, Rong Ziyan was poor, so naturally there weren’t any grand meals. His cooking skills were also extremely average. Sometimes, they would buy a few buns outside, and that was their meal. But Ji Shu felt like those days were heaven.

And Rong Ziyan’s bad habit of subconsciously hugging the people or objects around him when he fell asleep actually brought Ji Shu a great sense of security.

Rong Ziyan’s embrace was very warm. When Ji Shu was close to him, he felt like he gained great courage. Even the darkness he feared most was no longer frightening, because Rong Ziyan was his brightest light.

But the peace didn’t last long. Good days always come to an end.

Ji Shu didn’t say his name, and Rong Ziyan thought he was an orphan who had escaped from some kind of human trafficker.

After Rong Ziyan’s parents passed away, he had always lived alone. He wasn’t the kind of busybody who liked to meddle in other people’s affairs. But he felt differently about Ji Shu.

The child was covered in injuries, thin and small, relying on him like a drowning person clutching a piece of driftwood.

That despair reminded Rong Ziyan of himself the year his parents had just passed away. He couldn’t let go of Ji Shu either.

On the fifth night of their time together, Rong Ziyan made a very important decision.

He took out all the money he had saved from his part-time jobs and divided it into two portions in front of Ji Shu.

One pile was bigger, and one was smaller.

“Brother, you don’t have to give me money, I have my own way of leaving!” Ji Shu’s first reaction was that Rong Ziyan wanted to drive him away. The child’s eyes immediately turned red, but he still stubbornly held back his tears.

Ji Shu knew that Rong Ziyan couldn’t support him for a lifetime, even if it was out of sympathy. He had already caused Rong Ziyan a lot of trouble. Now that his wounds were a bit better, this uninvited guest should also leave.

But then, he was smacked on the back of the head by Rong Ziyan. “Listen to me first!”

Rong Ziyan, aware of the child’s sensitivity, ignored it and gave Ji Shu two options.

One option was to take the larger portion of money and find his family.

“I know you escaped. The people who were chasing you should be gone now. If you want to go home, I’ll send you to the train station to buy a ticket.”

“No, no! I don’t have any family!” Ji Shu anxiously tried to explain.

The Ji family, which appeared to be wealthy on the outside, was corrupt and immoral in Ji Shu’s eyes. Old Master Ji himself wasn’t a good person. He had married two wives, and none of them had a good end. In the end, he even brought his illegitimate son home openly, treating him like a treasure.

As for his father, he was an absolute bastard. He had deceived his mother’s feelings, manipulated his maternal family’s sincerity, and ultimately killed his mother.

He had been unblessed since birth. Then, on his father’s wedding day, he was sent back to his hometown because his father wanted to take care of his true love and illegitimate son’s feelings.

If he had really been told to go for a change of scenery, Ji Shu wouldn’t have hated them so much. It was clearly a way to get rid of him.

Thinking about the five years he had spent locked in darkness, Ji Shu even felt like if he had to do it all over again, he might not even be able to survive.

Rong Ziyan saw the fear in his eyes intensify, and he immediately hugged him and patted his back to comfort him. “Don’t cry, I’m here, don’t cry.”

With a sigh, Rong Ziyan told Ji Shu about his other plan. “If you don’t want to leave, then stay and be my little brother! I’ll find a way to let you take my surname. But I’m very poor, and it’s hard enough for me to support myself. If you stay, we’ll have to live a hard life, relying on each other.”

Looking at Ji Shu’s eyes that were full of dependence, Rong Ziyan made the biggest decision of his short fifteen years.

He wanted to use his not-yet-mature shoulders to take on another person’s life.