Sixty. Doubts Arising

A sharp glint flashed across Jun Lengche’s eyes. He silently followed the man.

Upon reaching the parking lot, as the man lowered his head to unlock the door, Jun Lengche stepped forward, shoved him into the driver's seat, and instantly gripped his throat. "Speak! Why were you tailing Michelle? Who sent you?"

The man widened his beady eyes. "Kid, none of your damn business! Let go of me right now!"

People like this wouldn't talk without tasting some hardship.

Jun Lengche’s expression darkened. He landed a direct blow to the man’s ribs while simultaneously pressing down on his windpipe to silence him.

Beads of sweat the size of soybeans trickled down the man’s sideburns. His already sneaky and rat-like features twisted together, making him look even more grotesque.

He was docile now.

"Good man! I'm just a petty private investigator, spare me! I'll talk, I'll talk! I was hired by Long Tianyang, the newly appointed General Manager of the Longteng Group, to find out who Long Tianyu was having an affair with. Second Young Master Long just notified me that Michelle had a huge fight with Long Tianyu and ran off, so I followed her here," the man blurted out everything.

"Why is Second Young Master Long looking into this?" A bad premonition arose in Jun Lengche.

The man winced. "Good man, I really wouldn't know about that."

"Get lost!" Jun Lengche released his grip and stepped out of the car.

The man hurriedly started the engine and fled.

To Jun Lengche's surprise, this incident made him resolve to protect the little girl properly and ensure no one could harm even a single hair on her head. However, for the time being, he didn't plan to tell her about this, lest she worry.

Meanwhile, in the hospital room, Julie was grumbling, "Little Zhenzhen, remember how arrogant and annoying Michelle used to be? Look at you today, playing the role of her sympathetic confidante."

Tong Zhenzhen knew Julie was sticking up for her. "Julie, you know what? When the members of the Jun family came to visit me, I realized quite a few of them didn't want this child of mine. Afterward, I wondered if it was because I'd accumulated too much resentment. There were too many people who didn't want my child to come into this world, so..."

Her voice trailed off, her expression desolate. Losing the child wasn't just losing a piece of flesh; it felt like half her heart had been gouged out. Every time she thought of it, a tearing pain ripped through her soul.

Julie sighed, but a sudden thought struck her. "Little Zhenzhen, how did you lose this child so easily? Your health has always been top-notch."

"What do you mean?!" Tong Zhenzhen, once again invaded by grief, felt a jolt in her heart.

Previously, completely immersed in the agony of losing her child and her hatred for Jun Lengche, she had overlooked something.

Although a doctor had warned her to be careful some time earlier, Jun Lengche had later specifically brought a colleague to examine her, and the result was that everything was normal. As long as it wasn't strenuous exercise like badminton, activities like walking and swimming were entirely fine.

That day, Jun Lengche had only slapped himself and grabbed hold of her—how could the baby have been lost just like that?

Recalling carefully, her lower back had been terribly sore that afternoon, and she had originally thought it was just fatigue.

Was it really just that?

A growing chill crept into Tong Zhenzhen’s heart.

Seeing her expression, Julie acutely sensed that her old friend must have thought of something. It seemed the loss of this child was shrouded in suspicion.

Tong Zhenzhen’s heart surged with turbulence. If this child had been murdered, she was determined to uncover the truth.

Julie felt this was a golden opportunity to melt the estrangement between Tong Zhenzhen and Jun Lengche. "Little Zhenzhen, don't you think your husband was beaten awfully miserably that day? Didn't he have any strength to fight back?"

"Who beat him? I'm not entirely sure," Tong Zhenzhen replied slowly, though she remembered that Jun Lengche's martial arts skills were quite good, and very few people should have been able to beat him like that. Unless he chose not to fight back. But why?

"Little Zhenzhen, I feel that your husband's pain over losing this child is certainly no less than yours. Liming said he stood guard by your bed all night without closing his eyes even once. Yesterday, when Liming drove him back, the moment he got into the car, he fell fast asleep. Will keeping you two apart be playing right into someone else's hands?" Julie felt some things needed to be laid out in the open.

Tong Zhenzhen was not stupid; hearing Julie put it this way, it all sounded logical and reasonable. Yet, she stubbornly believed that if someone had harmed her child, it was still tied to Jun Lengche somehow. For the moment, she was still unwilling to forgive him.

Noticing the expression on Tong Zhenzhen's face, Julie understood that her old friend had taken her words to heart. At the very least, her spirits had lifted.

A short while later, Jun Lengche returned to the hospital room and calmly packed their belongings to take Tong Zhenzhen and Julie home.

That evening, Liming also rushed over, eagerly volunteering to act as the chef and cook dinner for everyone.

Stepping out of her blind grief, Tong Zhenzhen noticed Liming's attentiveness and felt a pang of envy watching him bustle around Julie. Liming was someone who wore his emotions on his sleeve; interacting with him was effortless, unlike Jun Lengche, who buried his true thoughts deep within his heart. To her dismay, she found herself sighing over this realization once again.

After dinner, the four of them sat on the sofa watching television. A program happened to be introducing the Populus euphratica forests. Beneath a brilliant azure sky, the golden populus trees were dazzling and untamed, breathtakingly beautiful.

"We should go there!" Julie pointed at the populus trees on the screen.

"But the best season for them has already passed," Tong Zhenzhen said with regret.

Julie sprang to her feet and retorted, "Spring has flowers, summer has the moon; autumn has cool breezes, winter has snow. It's rare for me to visit the country—action is better than mere desire. Let's go!"

Liming was the first to vote in favor.

In truth, Tong Zhenzhen was also tempted. She wanted to witness the populus trees that lived a thousand years without dying, stood a thousand years without falling, and rotted a thousand years without decaying. Thus, she agreed as well.

Knowing that Julie was trying to create an opportunity for him and Tong Zhenzhen to spend time together, and thinking that perhaps a change of environment could change everything, Jun Lengche readily agreed.

After discussing the travel itinerary at length, Liming reluctantly took his leave.

"It's getting late, you two should go to sleep," Julie said, pushing Tong Zhenzhen and Jun Lengche into the master bedroom, thoughtfully closing the door behind them. Standing outside, she called out, "I'm going to browse the web for a bit longer in the living room, don't mind me!"

Tong Zhenzhen raised her eyes and gazed at Jun Lengche, who was staring fixedly at her. Suddenly, she felt a trace of nervousness.

Did this mean she had to share a bed with him?

With her back against the bedroom door, Tong Zhenzhen stood stiffly in place.

She wanted to leave, but Julie was holding court in the living room, the guest room was occupied by Julie, and the other nursery only contained a cradle.

Facing Jun Lengche alone was both a torture and an embarrassment for her.

Standing rigidly for a moment, she headed to the bathroom first.

With a somewhat chaotic mind, she undressed and stepped into the shower stall.

Under the cascade of warm water, she began to ponder the miscarriage.

Who could have wanted to harm her child?

She reasoned it must be someone close to her and Jun Lengche. The scene of the Jun family members coming to visit immediately floated into her mind.

Wen Xin?

Qin Zhixue?

Then, she also thought of Mo Chuchu.

After mulling it over and over, she felt these three women were the most likely suspects.

But through what method?

Sigh—she let out a long sigh. Wanting to investigate the truth clearly took time, which meant she would still have to live under the same roof as Jun Lengche.

Yet, how were they supposed to get along?

Ignore him?

Despise him?

The rushing sound of water drowned out the turning of the door handle.

Jun Lengche walked in.

Seeing Tong Zhenzhen with her delicate brows tightly furrowed, head held high, eyes closed, letting the showerhead spray over her in a tangled expression of distress, a sharp pain pierced his heart.

Was being with him truly that agonizing?

Without a second thought, he pushed open the glass door of the shower stall and stepped in behind her.

He opened his arms and embraced her tightly from behind.

Clearly possessing a heart of exquisite intelligence, why couldn't she see through his heart?

"Little girl, what am I going to do with you?" He rested his head lightly atop hers, muttering the words.

Lost deep in her thoughts, Tong Zhenzhen was caught completely off-guard when Jun Lengche hugged her. Her first reflex was to struggle free.

"Don't move!" Jun Lengche turned her around, pressing her against the wall as they both stood beneath the cascading water.

The stream of water seemed to isolate the two of them from the mortal world, leaving no one else, only each other.

Tong Zhenzhen couldn't even open her mouth to argue, nor could she open her eyes because the water kept pouring down.

The ceaseless sound of water in her ears, listened to for long enough, seemed to block out all other noises.

Suddenly, the flow of water grew lighter.

Feeling a slight coolness on her forehead, she opened her eyes and met Jun Lengche's deep, fathomless gaze.

It turned out he had bent down, pressing his forehead against hers, their nose tips touching.

His breath, carrying warm moisture, brushed against her lips.

His eyes, usually bottomless, now resembled gemstones soaked in water, radiating not the chilling, keep-away-from-me glare, but a lustrous warmth that longed to be discovered.

He could actually be this gentle.

Her heart skipped a beat, then another, slowing its rhythm.

"Little girl—" he murmured softly, laden with helplessness.

Was this a dream?

How could the cold, arrogant, and domineering Jun Lengche wear such a flustered expression and speak in such a fragile voice?

Every single word he uttered floated and echoed in her heart, like repetitive echoes bouncing through a mountain valley.

"You?" she breathed a single syllable, her eyes sinking into his dark pupils, seeing only that most sincere gaze.

She was in his eyes, and he was in hers.

Staring at her without blinking a single time, he said, "I love you. I have always only loved you."

These words were the most bewitching magic spell in the world, causing her to tremble involuntarily. For a moment, she seemed to forget that she was supposed to hate him.

He kissed her eyelashes, and she closed her eyes in bewilderment.

His kiss fell upon her closed eyelids, and with the tyranny of a child, he commanded, "You love me too!"

Love him?! This statement jolted her awake. How could she possibly love him?! Between him and her, there was only hatred!

She snapped her eyes open, shoved him away with all her might, and fled in panic.

Leaving him behind, drenched by the shower, trying to cool his blazing heart.

She still hated him!

Her rejection plunged his heart into the abyss. But he would never let go just like that!

Right, weren't they planning to visit the Populus euphratica forests? In a different setting, perhaps her guard would lessen.

And he would exhaust every ounce of his sincerity to win her heart back!

With this thought, he stood up, stripped off the wet clothes clinging to his skin, let the water wash away the pent-up frustration in his heart, and began plotting a surprise for her along the trip.

When he finished bathing and walked back into the room, she was already fast asleep.

Curled into a ball, she clutched that glass bead tightly in her palm, her brow furrowed. Even in her sleep, she was troubled.

He lay down opposite her, gazing at the person before him, tracing her brows with his eyes.

Finally, he gathered her into his arms.