Ch 86: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

At Second High, compared to first and second years, the third year students had significantly fewer recreational activities.

In order to give graduating seniors a beautiful memory from their final semester, the school introduced a game several years ago called “King and Angel.” The idea was to let every student experience what it felt like to be cherished before graduation.

Ruan Cha stared at the two characters of Fu Chen’s name on the card for a long while before carefully unfolding the folded card. Inside, it revealed the wish of the person being guarded.

At that moment, Ruan Cha finally understood why, before leaving the academic office, the homeroom teacher had so casually asked her about her own wish—it was probably to prepare these wish cards.

But when Fu Chen was stating his wish, Ruan Cha had been deep in discussion with the system about Grandpa Shen and Yu Zheng, completely tuning out everything else around her.

Nervous and cautious, Ruan Cha opened the card to read the writing inside. The words that greeted her were: “Wish: study hard.”

Ruan Cha: “…”

Fresh and unpretentious.

She carefully read the words “study hard” over and over again but couldn’t interpret them as anything more. “Wants to study—”

Wants to study? That’s easy!

Her eyes lit up instantly with an idea. The next moment, she leaned toward Lin Yushu and lowered her voice. “Yushu, can I ask you for a favor?”

“Go ahead.”

Ruan Cha showed her the card. “If Fu Chen asks, can I say I’m guarding you?”

Lin Yushu laughed and quietly teased, “Aren’t you worried that my card is in Fu Chen’s hands? Wouldn’t that give you away right away?”

Ruan Cha shook her head. “The odds are low. Besides, unless I’m forced to say who I’m guarding, I’ll just keep it a secret and brush him off.”

Honestly, Ruan Cha thought Fu Chen’s wish was perfect. The two of them usually talked most about studying, so continuing their usual conversations wouldn’t raise suspicion. Still, just in case, she figured she needed Lin Yushu as cover.

“Okay,” Lin Yushu agreed, then leaned in. “I heard from upperclassmen that the first two weeks, everyone’s pretty reserved. I’ll observe who comes to talk to me.”

She grinned mischievously. “My wish is super obvious—someone to go see a month’s worth of operas with me. Whoever has my card definitely won’t be able to hide it. Once I narrow down the suspects, if Fu Chen’s not among them, I’ll tell you right away.”

The two exchanged a look and reached out to shake hands. Operation: cover-up, initiated √.

—

After school that afternoon, Ruan Cha walked with Fu Chen as usual toward the back gate, showing no signs of anything out of the ordinary.

Fu Chen wanted to ask who Ruan Cha was assigned to guard, but considering he wasn’t even acting like an intern boyfriend, he didn’t feel he had the right to ask. Instead, he casually changed the subject. “Cha Cha, with only a few months left before the college entrance exam, our study group has been idle for two months. Should we start it back up again?”

“Study group?” Ruan Cha turned to look at him, stunned. She clearly hadn’t expected him to bring that up.

She felt a little guilty. Back when she’d boldly promised to lead the group, she’d dropped the ball the moment Xu Nan was no longer threatened by Ren Qingqing. She’d totally failed as the group leader!

Fu Chen, looking as calm as ever, nodded. “I think before the exam, we need to push each other, help highlight key areas. Though we talk on WeChat voice sometimes, it’s not as efficient as studying in the same space.”

“You make a good point!” Ruan Cha agreed without hesitation.

Fu Chen taking the initiative to talk about the study group made Ruan Cha so happy, it nearly bubbled out of her eyes. Wasn’t his wish to study hard?!

He brought it up before she could even find an excuse—mission half accomplished!

But right after the joy came a bit of anxiety.

When her homeroom teacher asked her casually, she also answered casually: she wished someone would play a few popular co-op building simulation games with her.

Senior year. Playing mobile games.

She was pretty sure her poor little angel was about to die a social death.

—

As they chatted, they arrived at the Liang family’s car. Fu Chen’s eyes immediately narrowed at the sight of the driver waiting outside.

Ruan Cha didn’t notice his reaction and waved. “See you, Fu Chen! Let’s plan our study session on Friday night!”

Seeing that she hadn’t noticed anything, Fu Chen didn’t say much. He simply smiled and replied, “See you tomorrow.”

He didn’t move until the Liang family’s car had completely driven off. Then his expression darkened and his brows furrowed deeply.

He recognized that driver. Back when Liang Cunjin had been kidnapped, that same man had been in charge of his security for quite some time.

To be exact, calling him a driver wasn’t quite right—he was more of a bodyguard.

Fu Chen pulled out his phone, ready to contact a few trusted people. If Grandpa Liang had suddenly arranged a bodyguard for Cha Cha, it was a clear sign her safety was under threat from an unknown source.

—

Not far behind, two people quietly watched them. When Fu Chen left, a man wearing a baseball cap and gold-rimmed glasses turned to the tanned young man beside him.

His hoarse voice carried a strange allure. “Classmate, about the cooperation I mentioned earlier—have you thought it over?”

After a moment, the boy clenched his fist at his side. “I agree.”

The man curved his lips into a smile and pressed a hand to his aching chest. His tone carried a hint of meaning. “Good boy.”

—

Ruan Cha, for her part, hadn’t noticed anything different about her days since her driver changed. After all, her former driver had just gotten promoted—shouldn’t she be happy for him?

Life went on smoothly for the next couple of weeks. Ruan Cha threw herself fully into her studies, reading diligently to earn more energy points.

With her leading the charge, her parents, Ruan Dad and Ruan Mom, also kept working hard. Seeing how focused the Ruan family of three was, the rest of the Liang family couldn’t help but feel inspired too.

Especially Liang Cunhuai, who had only been back from abroad for less than two months and had come to a profound realization:

Life back home was harder than life overseas.

Specifically:

He had his girlfriend, Yan Ruocan, watching over his work outside the home, and the Ruan trio leading by example inside the home. As a result, his hours at the company kept stretching longer and longer—any less effort, and he’d feel guilty toward both his girlfriend and his family.

What Liang Cunhuai didn’t expect, though, was that this extra work would actually lead him to uncover a major problem.

—

In the study.

Warm, gentle light from the lamp fell across the room, casting a glow on everyone present.

Seated were not only Grandpa Liang, Liang Zongqi, and Liang Cunhuai, but also a bewildered Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao.

Earlier, Grandpa Liang had received a file about forbidden rituals from an unknown email address. While still puzzled, the next day he heard the full scope of Yu Zheng’s plan from Grandpa Shen.

Once he calmed down, he immediately arranged for one of their more capable bodyguards to act as Ruan Cha’s driver, protecting her to and from school. He also reached out to old friends in hopes the police could help track Yu Zheng’s whereabouts more aggressively.

Grandpa Shen had also offered some reassurance—unless Yu Zheng didn’t care about his life, he wouldn’t be able to use any more forbidden occult methods for at least six months.

And over the last couple of weeks, with no progress from the police, Grandpa Liang had to seriously consider the possibility that Yu Zheng had already left Nanshi.

Now, he felt it was no longer right to keep Ruan Cha’s parents in the dark. They needed to be informed of the truth as well.

Ruan Dad and Mom were still in shock. Their entire worldview was being reconstructed. They had just seen the documents Grandpa Shen had compiled on Yu Zheng targeting Cha Cha—and were too stunned to even react.

Aren’t we just three perfectly ordinary citizens? How could we have anything to do with metaphysics?

Wei Jiao had always thought the garden at the Liang house and Liang Qianling’s bracelet were already bizarre enough—but now, someone was actually eyeing her daughter Cha Cha’s life?

Liang Cunhuai pointed at the video currently playing. “Grandpa, Dad, when he was tidying the freezer earlier, Old Chen mentioned he’d always been very diligent at the hotel, so I paid a little attention to his face. Last night I left the company late, and happened to see him go to the freezer again.”

“And after that, he went to the surveillance room.”

He didn’t finish the rest, but both Grandpa Liang and Liang Zongqi understood—the footage they were watching didn’t come from the main surveillance room.

On the morning of Lunar New Year’s Day, the Fu family came over for lunch. During the conversation, someone brought up the topic of surveillance. Then Ruan Cha and Fu Chen started talking about the advantages of having a secondary surveillance room.

The Fu family was highly experienced in their field, and after the two kids mentioned it, the adults took it seriously. Once the holiday ended and staff returned, West Shore Hotel installed a secondary surveillance room—its location known only to a select few.

In the footage from the secondary system, the man Liang Cunjin had spoken of was seen tampering with meat on the shelves, smearing it with some unknown liquid. In contrast, the footage from the main surveillance system had been altered to appear completely normal.

After speaking, Liang Cunhuai glanced at Liang Zongqi and, after a moment’s thought, asked, “Dad, should we play the long game?”

“No. Call the police directly.” Liang Zongqi’s face darkened. He clearly hadn’t expected anyone to target their hotel like this. If Cunhuai hadn’t noticed, if they didn’t have the secondary surveillance, or worse—if Cunhuai hadn’t returned to the country—wouldn’t they have been completely set up?

Even Grandpa Liang, who’d been silent, nodded. “Cunhuai, your dad’s right. That man’s only been here half a month, hasn’t proven any loyalty, and doesn’t fully know the layout of the hotel, yet he already made a move. That likely means whoever’s behind him has already abandoned him. If we play the long game, the big fish won’t bite.”

After Grandpa Liang spoke, he moved the mouse and closed the video. “Of course, maybe it was just personal dissatisfaction with our hotel. Whether or not someone is behind him, we’ll leave it to the police to investigate. They’re more professional than we are.”

That was what he said, but with a lifetime of experience navigating the business world, Grandpa Liang couldn’t help his suspicions. The person stirring up trouble at West Shore might very well be the elusive Yu Zheng.

Yu Zheng had been injured by Grandpa Shen less than two weeks ago—his original plans were likely thrown completely off. It wasn’t surprising that he’d sacrifice a few small pawns.

What Grandpa Liang couldn’t figure out was: was Yu Zheng targeting Cha Cha specifically, or was he after their whole family?

Seeing Grandpa Liang speak, Liang Zongqi and Liang Cunhuai both nodded. Then, the three men turned their attention to Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao.

Grandpa Liang softened his tone. “Jiao Jiao, Zhengfei—do you have anything to say about this matter with Cha Cha?”

Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao: …

They didn’t want to talk. They just wanted to slap Yu Zheng to death.

The conversation stretched until midnight. When Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao left the study, their emotions were in turmoil.

Once the anger faded, all that remained was fear—fear that something might actually happen to Cha Cha one day.

“Feifei, I really think my life is luckier than Cha Cha’s. Back in the orphanage, I had you to protect me. I had a gift for growing vegetables, so I never went hungry. Now I’ve even found my birth family, and I have you and Cha Cha with me. So why is someone after our Cha Cha?” Wei Jiao wiped her eyes, voice trembling with lingering fear. “Last time, Cha Cha said she dreamed she was all alone. Do you think maybe heaven was—”

Ruan Zhengfei quickly pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh.” Then he wrapped his arms around her. “Dreams are the opposite of reality. If Cha Cha dreamed of being separated from us, then in reality, the three of us will always be together.”

Wei Jiao was still downcast and tugged on Ruan Zhengfei’s sleeve. “Feifei… why don’t we just take Cha Cha back to the small town? She lived there peacefully for sixteen years. As soon as we came to Nanshi, someone started targeting her. Maybe Nanshi is cursed for Cha Cha.”

At that, guilt flashed across Ruan Zhengfei’s face. “Jiao Jiao, there’s something I need to confess. After Dad gave Cha Cha that gift, he messaged me yesterday. He—”

He looked into Wei Jiao’s eyes and, bracing himself, told her everything. “My dad said that when he was younger, he offended someone while trying to save someone else. He later found out that person changed their name to Yu Zheng. He warned us to be on guard—Yu Zheng might try to harm Cha Cha.”

Actually, Grandpa Ruan didn’t just give information—he also had Ruan Zhengfei install a program on his phone that could track the location of the hairclip in real time. As long as Ruan Cha wore it, they wouldn’t lose track of her.

After receiving the message, Ruan Zhengfei had been struggling over how to tell Wei Jiao—and whether or not to tell Cha Cha there was a GPS chip in the hairclip.

They did worry about her, but they didn’t want her to one day feel like her parents were secretly monitoring her.

But he hadn’t expected Yu Zheng’s scheme to involve something as insane as life-for-life rituals.

Seeing that Wei Jiao didn’t respond, Ruan Zhengfei grew more and more anxious. “Jiao Jiao…”

“Shut up,” she said, shooting him a glare and dragging him back to the room. “Show me the message first. We’ll talk about the rest later.”

Ruan Zhengfei lowered his head like a scolded puppy and followed her back without a word.

In truth, Wei Jiao couldn’t really blame Grandpa Ruan. Their family had lived comfortably in that small town for decades, all thanks to him.

What she was angry about was that Ruan Zhengfei had hidden it from her—carrying the burden alone, keeping his fear to himself?

A married couple should share everything.

—

The next day, Saturday.

When Ruan Cha came downstairs, she immediately saw that Wei Jiao looked less than pleased, while Ruan Zhengfei looked pitiful. “Morning, Mom, Dad.”

She didn’t find it strange to see her parents downstairs early—she and her dad had already agreed to visit the recently acquired gaming company that morning.

After greeting them, she scooted over to her dad and whispered, “Dad, did you make Mom mad? Want me to give you some tips?”

“Cha Cha, come here to Mom,” Wei Jiao called out, her eyes suddenly welling up. She nearly cried seeing her sweet, lovely daughter—how could anyone be targeting such a wonderful girl? If someone was going to fixate on a member of the family, why not her, the mom?

She pulled a puzzled Ruan Cha into her arms and, without missing a beat, used the same excuse Ruan Cha once gave them. “Cha Cha, last night I had a dream. I dreamed your dad got lost and left the two of us standing in the snow for half a day. It made me so mad.”

Ruan Zhengfei and Ruan Cha: …

We’re not saying a word. Not asking either.

Wei Jiao finished and pinched her daughter’s cheek. “Right, Cha Cha, your dad and I talked it over. You’re going to take the college entrance exam soon, then head to university. After that, you’ll probably only come home on holidays. We won’t get to see you every day anymore.”

“So for your last semester of senior year, can we each take a turn walking you to and from school?”

Ruan Cha: ???

“Mom, Dad, are you two really okay? Why the sudden urge to walk me to school?” She shook her head. “There’s no need. I’m applying to Nanshi University—it’s right here in the city. I’ll be able to come home on weekends. You just bought a company and vineyard; you’re busy. You really don’t need to worry about me.”

Wei Jiao wanted to keep persuading her. “But—”

“Jiao Jiao, if Cha Cha says there’s no need, then let it be. If you walk her to school and miss other things, she’ll just end up feeling guilty.” Ruan Zhengfei tugged her sleeve and, with his back to Ruan Cha, gave her a pleading look—not wanting to say too much and risk raising Cha Cha’s suspicions.

Seeing this, Wei Jiao didn’t say anything else, but in her heart she was already thinking: if Cha Cha didn’t want them to walk with her, she’d just secretly follow. Until Yu Zheng was caught, she wouldn’t feel at ease.

Ruan Cha had a gut feeling her parents were hiding something from her, but since she was also keeping secrets from them, she didn’t dare ask.

After breakfast, Ruan Zhengfei and Wei Jiao got in the car to head out. Wei Jiao stood at the gate, her usually smiling face clearly tinged with worry.

As Ruan Zhengfei got into the car, he suddenly smacked his forehead and turned to ask, “Cha Cha, did you tell Fu Chen not to come over this morning?”

It had to be said, in just half a month, Fu Chen had made excellent use of his weekends—he’d shown his face at the Liang house four times. With his wide knowledge that allowed him to chat with anyone, he finally managed to change the impression Ruan Zhengfei had of him.

From initially blocking Fu Chen’s every move toward his daughter, to stepping back and watching from the sidelines, Ruan Zhengfei had stopped interfering. As for whether Fu Chen could win over Cha Cha—that was up to him. As a father, he wasn’t going to be the one to burst the bubble.

Grandpa Liang, also in the know, didn’t say anything either, letting the two kids develop on their own.

Besides, Grandpa Liang had his own selfish reasons.

If Fu Chen and Ruan Cha really ended up together, that would solve two major concerns at once. He knew both kids well; their characters and upbringing were beyond question. When he eventually passed away, he could rest easy.

“I did tell him,” Ruan Cha replied, pulling out her newly polished proposal. “Good thing Fu Chen kept me company during our study breaks to play some base-building mobile games, and even helped optimize the proposal. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have finished for another two months.”

On the first Saturday after the study group resumed, Ruan Cha had taken the initiative to ask Fu Chen if he could play some cooperative base-building games with her during their study breaks. Fu Chen had seemed a bit surprised but still agreed.

And since the Fu family had ties to the gaming industry, several of his suggestions were practical and valuable.

Not only could Fu Chen offer input, his gaming skills were solid too. When building cities, he could calmly analyze each district’s layout and function with Ruan Cha.

With both of them bouncing ideas back and forth, the build speed soared. Most importantly, money wasn’t a problem—whatever they needed, they bought. Total pay-to-win.

When the entire country in the game was built, Ruan Cha felt a level of joy she never experienced when playing alone.

As for the “King and Angel” activity, where everyone had a secret angel—it had been half a month, and Ruan Cha still hadn’t seen hers. But since Fu Chen was always around, she didn’t feel disappointed.

If anything, she did feel one little pang of regret.

When she resumed the study group, the second member—Xu Nan—politely declined. She said she and Huang Jiajia had started their own two-person group.

They explained that a group of four might disrupt each other’s focus, especially since Jiajia was a slower learner. If she held back Ruan Cha and Fu Chen’s second-round review progress, it wouldn’t be good.

After being turned down, Ruan Cha could only admit it: she had become the old flame, and Jiajia was the new favorite.

Watching his daughter talk about Fu Chen with sparkling eyes, Ruan Zhengfei suddenly felt a little sour—like when he used to proudly brag about Jiao Jiao at the orphanage.

It might not be love yet, but it definitely wasn’t indifference. Among all the unrelated boys, Fu Chen was probably the only one special in Cha Cha’s eyes.

An hour later, the two of them arrived at an office building. Ruan Cha looked up at the towering structure and pointed. “Dad, that company working in a building like this was still acquired by us?”

To her, being able to afford rent in such a high-end space meant the business must be doing well. Truly struggling companies would probably be like certain shops in their old town—relocated into someone’s backyard.

Ruan Zhengfei, clearly familiar with the place, led her inside. “What are you thinking? They used to be in a residential building. I went to check it out, and the space was cramped, the environment messy. I figured you wouldn’t like it, so I had them move to an office building.”

Then he ruffled her hair. “Come to think of it, your grandpa was really farsighted. He didn’t just buy homes—he bought offices too. Let me tell you, collecting rent from commercial property is way better than from residential. Tenants take care of the place.”

As Ruan Cha glanced around the bright elevator, she pressed her lips together. Her dad always managed to surprise her with the family’s hidden assets. If it weren’t for Yu Zheng, she really could’ve coasted as a happy slacker for generations.

But her thinking had started to shift. Being a slacker didn’t compare to the joy of watching someone benefit from one of her reports.

Even if she had already convinced herself, her slacker tendencies weren’t easy to shake. She looked at her dad curiously. “Dad, how many floors do we rent out?”

Ding—

The elevator arrived at the 22nd floor. Ruan Zhengfei led her out, glancing around the clean, bright hallway as he searched for the person in charge. “The whole building. Your grandpa bought three of them. Once I make a bit more money, I’ll buy you three too.”

The buildings had been purchased years ago by Grandpa Ruan directly from the developer. Over the years, Ruan Zhengfei hadn’t become a pro in other industries, but he’d mastered real estate. Not only could he avoid getting scammed—he could even out-talk others.

Ruan Cha: “…”

Her grandpa might actually be the kind of male lead Huang Jiajia always called a self-made king.

Honestly—

A bit too strong.