Chapter 50 Midnight: A Long Night

After comforting everyone and sending them off to sleep, Fang Chuning was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, but was still called to the study by Hong.

In the European-style retro study, Hong sat at the desk, looking slightly fatigued as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She glanced at Fang Chuning out of the corner of her eye, “What happened to your hand?”

“…I accidentally fell.”

“Hmm?”

Such an obviously far-fetched lie clearly couldn’t fool Hong. Instead, it deepened her already unpleasant mood.

Fang Chuning pouted, “I got into a fight with someone and accidentally hurt it…”

Hong’s brows furrowed slightly. Her irritated mood made it difficult for her to maintain a serious and calm attitude even towards her own daughter. Her voice raised a bit, “Didn’t I tell you not to get into trouble like this outside? If someone takes a photo, it will only give those people an opportunity to add more drama to Fang Corporation. The company already has enough issues. Can’t you be more sensible?”

The scolding without asking for reasons made Fang Chuning’s pent-up frustration reach its peak. She retorted loudly, “This happened because of you, Mom! If you didn’t mess around outside, those men wouldn’t have come after me! I only wanted to help Gao Qiong because he deliberately set her up. Do you think I wanted to fight? All the inexplicable things today happened because of you!”

The more she spoke, the more aggrieved she felt. Fang Chuning’s eyes reddened as she held back tears.

It seemed to be the first time her daughter had spoken to her so loudly. Hong’s tightly knitted brows suddenly relaxed a bit, “Then I wronged you. Forget it, you can go now. Get some rest early.”

This time, it was Fang Chuning who refused to leave. “That man, what did you say to him? Why did he suddenly agree to let me come back?”

“You’re still young. You don’t need to know about these things.”

“Of course I need to know about this! Don’t you dare think about having an affair with that man. Otherwise, neither Dad nor I will forgive you.”

Hong sighed and leaned back in the sofa chair, “I won’t do anything to betray your father. I knew that man a long time ago, before I met your father. Now, there’s nothing between us. You don’t need to worry about anything.”

“But…”

As Fang Chuning was about to say something, Hong interrupted her, “You don’t need to ask about my affairs anymore. Also, I am your mother. You should use respectful language. Don’t just say ‘you’ this and ‘you’ that.”

Feeling chastised, Fang Chuning could only retreat from the study. She returned to her own room, too tired to even change her clothes, and flopped down on the bed.

She took out her phone. Since being “kidnapped”, she had barely looked at it. Now, as soon as she opened it, she saw a dense array of message notifications. Some were from Gao Qiong, some from Fang Tianli, but most were from Xu Muzhou.

She opened Xu Muzhou’s chat window. The latest message made her jump up from the bed immediately. She checked the time the message was sent – it was an hour ago.

Xu Muzhou: I’m outside your house.

Fang Chuning hurriedly put on her shoes and went downstairs, so rushed that she even forgot to call to confirm.

Outside the villa, there were several street lamps. The night wind rustled the leaves, and tonight even the insects were silent, the quietness amplifying the fear in one’s heart.

Fang Chuning looked left and right but didn’t see anyone. Not feeling reassured, she walked a few steps towards the right wall. At the corner, the slender and upright figure of a young man came into view.

He had his back to her, his head slightly lowered. His thin and lonely silhouette was heartbreaking to see.

“Xu classmate?”

Xu Muzhou turned around. His eyes were red, obviously having just cried.

“Why are you here so late? It’s very unsafe for a boy like you.” Fang Chuning voiced her reproach.

Xu Muzhou didn’t say anything. His gaze lowered to her plastered arm, and his melodious voice became slightly hoarse, “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

Fang Chuning, who had originally intended to scold him a bit, suddenly felt awkward. She turned sideways to hide her injured arm, “If I said I fell and got hurt, would you believe me?”

Xu Muzhou lowered his head, the shadow cast by his bangs hiding his brows and eyes, making it impossible to see his expression clearly.

“Alright, I got into a fight with someone and accidentally hurt it.”

Fang Chuning had to tell the truth, and then she saw a teardrop slide down his fair cheek. She panicked and quickly stepped forward to cup his face with her uninjured hand. When she saw his current appearance clearly, she was stunned.

Teardrops like clear crystals were swirling in his eyes, ready to spill out at the slightest movement. His nose tip was pink, his cheeks were pink, just like a delicate dodder flower, impossible to refuse.

“If Gao Qiong hadn’t let it slip, were you planning to keep deceiving me?” He accused her with a tearful voice.

Fang Chuning mentally cursed Gao Qiong a thousand times. She gently wiped his tears, “Don’t cry. I just didn’t want you to worry, I wasn’t intentionally hiding it from you.”

“But hiding it from me makes me even more worried and upset.” Xu Muzhou grabbed her hand as she tried to withdraw it, and said with reddened eyes, “I’ve been sending you messages and calling you all day, but you didn’t respond to me. Do you… not like me anymore?”

“Of course not,” Fang Chuning hesitated for a moment, then decided not to hide it from him anymore, “I was kidnapped when I left the hospital today.”

The young man’s eyes widened slightly, as if frightened, and he gripped her hand so tightly it hurt. Fang Chuning quickly added, “But it wasn’t anything serious. They didn’t do anything to me and quickly let me come back.”

Xu Muzhou took a light breath, slowly reached out and hugged her waist tightly, pressing his face against her neck, “In the future, no matter what happens, don’t hide it from me, okay? No matter what you do wrong, I can forgive you, but please don’t lie to me or hide things from me…”

A warm, moist sensation seeped from her neck into her collar. Fang Chuning hadn’t expected him to react so strongly, “Xu classmate…”

“Promise me.”

He didn’t give her a chance to say anything else, his attitude very stubborn.

“Okay, I promise you.”

Then Fang Chuning felt a not-too-light bite on her neck. Xu Muzhou lightly licked his red lips, his reddened eyes looking at her right hand. He raised his hand and touched it gently, “Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt. The doctor said it’s not serious and I can remove the cast in a few days.”

Xu Muzhou pressed his lips together, “Why did you have to fight with others?”

Fang Chuning indeed didn’t hide anything from him this time, and told him everything in detail.

Xu Muzhou lowered his eyes slightly, his expression seemingly calm, “There could have been better ways to handle this. Why did you have to go yourself?”

She thought the same, “Gao Qiong was angry, you know. She’s very stubborn. But we didn’t expect those people to bring weapons.”

“Gao classmate’s behavior is really not good.” Xu Muzhou looked up at her, “She told me so much this morning but didn’t mention you were hurt.”

“Hmm?” Fang Chuning was stunned for a moment, “You two chatted this morning?”

Could it be when her phone was out of battery?

The street lamp shone on the young man’s face, the shadows on his features making it hard to see his true expression. “Mm, I couldn’t get through to your phone, so I wanted to ask her. She said you were drinking last night.” He hesitated for a moment, then added very softly, “And said a lot more…”

“…She’s a bit improper. You should just ignore her.”

Xu Muzhou looked a bit disappointed but still nodded.

“It’s late. I’ll send you home.”

“No need, I can go back by myself.”

Fang Chuning looked at the time. It was almost 1 AM. After experiencing being sold out by a taxi driver, how could she feel at ease letting him take a taxi back alone? After thinking it over, she simply let him stay the night in the detached villa next door. This villa also belonged to their family, but was usually unoccupied and always empty.

After settling him in, Fang Chuning returned to the Fang family villa yawning, planning to take a shower and go to sleep.

As soon as she opened her room door, Fang Chuning saw Fang Tianli sitting in her room looking puffy. It seemed he had been waiting for her. “Why aren’t you sleeping so late!?”

Fang Tianli sat on the sofa with his arms crossed. Hearing this, he coldly snorted, “I’ve been worried sick about you, not sleeping. And look at you! Acting like nothing happened, sneaking out in the middle of the night to meet with that boy!”

“What nonsense are you talking about? I need to shower. Get out.”

“You still won’t admit it! I just saw everything. I didn’t quite believe what Su Qi told me before, but it turns out it was all true! What’s so good about that boy? He just has a pretty face, how can he compare to Su Qi? How can you be so shallow!”

He didn’t lower his voice at all, as if afraid he wouldn’t wake others up.

Fang Chuning only felt her teeth ache. She simply admitted frankly, “Yes, I am shallow. Xu classmate is good-looking, has a good personality, studies well, is polite, he’s a hundred times better than you in every way. How could I not like him?”

Fang Tianli was stunned. This was the first time someone had belittled him so thoroughly, and that person was his own sister. He was furious, “I’m going to tell Mom and Dad you’re dating!”

“Go ahead and tell them. I’ll also tell them about how you scored 52 points on that test last time. I was the one who forged the parent’s signature for you.” Fang Chuning said unhurriedly as she gathered her pajamas.

Fang Tianli cried angrily, “Fang Chuning, you’re the worst woman in the world!”

“Then the worst woman in the world should be grateful to me, because I’ve taken her title.”

It was like punching a cotton ball. Fang Chuning’s unresponsive attitude made Fang Tianli extremely frustrated, but he was unwilling to give in. He knelt on the carpet, glaring at her tearfully.

Even after Fang Chuning finished her shower and came out, he was still sitting on the carpet. His eyelids were drooping, but he stubbornly refused to go back to his room.

“Go back to sleep. I’m turning off the lights.”

Fang Tianli shook his head, rubbing his eyes as he said, “No, you have to apologize to me and break up with that guy.”

In some ways, her brother’s stubbornness was sometimes incomprehensible. Fang Chuning turned off the lights and got into bed.

In the pitch-dark room, the boy mumbled sleepily, “You bad woman…”

About ten minutes later, Fang Chuning turned on the bedside lamp. Sure enough, the person who had been sitting there complaining was now asleep on the carpet.

Amused yet sighing, she went over and carried him back to his own room.

The next day, Fang Chuning was woken up by knocking on her door before she had fully woken up, accompanied by Fang Tianli’s energetic calls.

She rolled over and pulled the covers over her head, then heard the sound of her room door opening.

Fang Tianli jumped onto the bed and tugged at her blanket, saying with a smile, “Fang Chuning, guess what? I’ve agreed to you two being together.”

Fang Chuning opened her sleepy eyes a crack to look at him, “What?”

“I even bought two movie tickets for you. Quick, get up and go on a date!”

In just one night, what kind of intense ideological struggle had this person gone through in his dreams?