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Li Zhenruo didn’t care much about Zhu Kai’s kiss just now, but what he pondered in his heart was that Zhu Kai said he knew a secret.
What secret? It must be a secret related to the Li family. Otherwise, Zhu Kai wouldn’t feel the need to be so talkative, and other secrets were meaningless to him.
So what’s the secret? Li Zhenruo felt that if he could only guess it by his imagination, there was no way to guess it.
When he looked back to find Zhu Kai again, he found that Zhu Kai had caught a car on the side of the road and run away. If he let Li Zhenran know, and he was determined to find Zhu Kai, it would not be impossible for him to find Zhu Kai. But even if he found him, who could force Zhu Kai to say things he was not willing to say?
Could this secret have something to do with Li Zhenruo’s death?
Li Zhenruo had some speculation in his heart, was Zhu Kai dealing with the people of the Li family to avenge him? It was impossible if he thought about it. Zhu Kai’s feelings for him were not deep enough to this point.
Li Zhenruo felt that he wouldn’t be able to guess, and squatted on the side of the road holding his head in pain. He suddenly remembered something he was thinking about before. When he had a chance, he wanted to go to Aunt Wu, who left the Li family in a hurry, and asked if she had taken the blood-stained tissue from his room at that time and gave the tissue to someone. By now, he felt that he had to wait for that opportunity, which was probably difficult to wait. He was hooked by Zhu Kai’s words, and suddenly had an idea that it was almost time to act.
It was not difficult to find out about Aunt Wu’s hometown, but if he wanted to go now, he had to find a way to deal with Li Zhenran.
How could Li Zhenran allow him to disappear for two or three days without saying anything?
Li Zhenruo felt a little distressed. He thought that Li Zhenran had some speculation about him, but he didn’t know how much he knew. Before this, Li Zhenruo thought to himself that if Li Zhenran really asked about it one day, he would say that he had received some favour from Li Zhenruo before. Although his benefactor had died, he did not give up trying to find the murderer. But he didn’t expect that until now, Li Zhenran didn’t ask a word. What was Li Zhenran thinking about?
Since Li Zhenran refused to ask, wouldn’t it be better for him to take the initiative to give a hint to Li Zhenran?
With this little concern in his mind, Li Zhenruo did not go back to find Li Zhenran that afternoon until he got off work. Later, Li Zhenran called him and asked him where he was. Li Zhenruo replied, “I’m hiding. Come and find me.”
Li Zhenruo still has a positioning collar on his neck, and it was easy for Li Zhenran to find him.
It was just that Li Zhenran seemed a little unhappy when he heard Li Zhenruo’s words, and coldly said one sentence, “Just you wait.”
About an hour after hanging up the phone, Li Zhenran found Li Zhenruo in the woods outside Li’s house. There was a swing hanging on a tree here. Li Zhenruo still remembered that this was when he was young. At that time, Li Zhentai and Li Zhenran had grown a little bit, and they hung it together.
Li Jianglin did not allow them to come here to play, because the surrounding woods were inaccessible and too remote, and he was afraid that children would have accidents. However, Li Zhenruo and the others would still sneak out. It was like an adventure to explore every corner of the forest.
However, when they grew up and had enough freedom, they lost interest in this forest and almost never went in again.
This old swing was still very strong, but the wooden board below was a little rotten, and the forest was so humid that Li Zhenruo felt a little sticky when he touched it with his palm.
Despite this, he sat down on the swing and kicked the ground with his feet a little nervously, causing the swing to sway slightly.
After a while, he heard the crisp sound of dry leaves being smashed, raised his head and looked forward, and saw that Li Zhenran was still wearing a suit and leather shoes, walking slowly in this direction.
Li Zhenran went straight to Li Zhenruo and stopped. He looked up and looked around, and asked him, “How did you find this place?”
Li Zhenruo shook the swing, “This is where you guys played as kids, right?”
“We?” Li Zhenran heard the words and looked at him, “Who are you referring to?”
Li Zhenruo took a deep breath and said to him, “You and Li Zhenruo.”
After he said these three words, Li Zhenran was silent for a while. The surroundings were very quiet, and only the sound of insects in the distance could be heard. The sound was monotonous and more secluded. In this dense grove, the sun couldn’t shine in, and the light was gloomy as if they were isolated from the world.
Li Zhenran clasped his arms around his chest and asked him, “Why Li Zhenruo?”
For some reason, Li Zhenruo suddenly flinched a little. He changed the subject and said, “I saw Zhu Kai today, and he told me something.”
Li Zhenran stretched out his hand towards Li Zhenruo’s head.
“Huh?” Li Zhenruo was frozen for a moment.
Li Zhenran just plucked a leaf off his head and asked him, “What did he say to you?”
Li Zhenruo couldn’t help but raised his hand and touched the top of his head, and said, “Zhu Kai said that he knows a secret of the Li family.”
Li Zhenran still held the dead leaf in his hand and looked at Li Zhenruo, “What secret?”
Li Zhenruo said, “Do you think he will tell me?”
Li Zhenran didn’t seem to be curious about what secret Zhu Kai said at all. Maybe he didn’t believe that he could hear anything serious from Zhu Kai’s mouth. He held Li Zhenruo’s jaw to make him look up to him, “Why are you so interested in our Li family’s affairs?”
If it were in the past, Li Zhenruo would have said smoothly: Don’t you think it was because of you?
But today, Li Zhenruo was silent for a while and said, “Because I want to know how Li Zhenruo actually died.” After he said this, Li Zhenruo noticed that his heart was beating wildly. He was a little nervous and subconsciously made a gulping action. His eyes were still fixed on Li Zhenran.
Sure enough, Li Zhenran was not surprised. His gaze somehow become sharp and said to Li Zhenruo, “How did Li Zhenruo die, what does it have to do with you?”
Li Zhenruo said, “I have a positioning collar on me. You always know where I went, right?”
Li Zhenran said frankly, “I know sometimes, but I don’t have time to stare at you 24 hours a day.”
Li Zhenruo couldn’t help but say, “Then why don’t you ever ask me?”
Li Zhenran suddenly exhaled a long breath and said to Li Zhenruo, “What do you want me to ask you? What is your relationship with Li Zhenruo? What’s your purpose for sneaking into the Li family? You—why are you approaching me?” The last sentence was whispered by Li Zhenran as he came up to Li Zhenruo’s ear.
Li Zhenruo was stunned when he heard the words, and suddenly stood up, “I’m not…” He stopped halfway after speaking. He originally wanted to say that he didn’t approach him for any reason, but he immediately remembered that he did approach him at first. Originally Li Zhenruo’s purpose was to find out the truth of his murder, not it was for nothing like what he wanted to say now.
Even before he met Zhu Kai today, he didn’t plan to show Li Zhenran that he was investigating Li Zhenruo’s affairs. The choice was not carefully considered and planned at this time. It was more or less a spur of the moment.
He was a little nervous and uneasy. All he thought about was whether Li Zhenran would doubt his identity, and how would he make up a lie to modify his identity to make Li Zhenran believe that he was just a cat demon who wanted to repay Li Zhenruo’s gratitude.
However, he did not expect that Li Zhenran would suddenly ask a question like that.
Li Zhenran looked at him with cold eyes, waiting for his answer.
Li Zhenruo took a deep breath and said, “It was an accident that I came to Li’s house, but I deliberately wanted to stay in Li’s house to try to find out the real cause of the Fourth Young Master’s death, but I didn’t approach you for this.” At this point, he paused a little, “As for me and Li Zhenruo, he once saved my life.”
When he said the last sentence, Li Zhenruo was momentarily wavered, and had the sudden impulse to make him want to confess to Li Zhenran, but at the last moment he still shrink back. For some reason, he was a little afraid to see Li Zhenran’s expression when he learned the truth.
He was a cat. He didn’t know how long he could maintain his human form with the help of external spiritual power. In the past, he always wanted to leave the Li family to find a family to adopt him after revenge and then retire with peace of mind. Today after he heard Xia Hongshen’s words, he thought that he might be able to practice cultivation with Xia Hongshen, and even if he couldn’t become a powerful demon, he could at least live a few more years. However, no matter what the plan was, he never thought about what would happen between him and Li Zhenran in the end.
He used to feel that he was just using Li Zhenran and would not hesitate to sell his body. But now he felt guilty when he heard Li Zhenran’s questioning. Li Zhenruo was very confused and couldn’t sort out and cleared his mind.
Li Zhenran said, “So you approached me to find out who was responsible for the murder of the fourth child?”
Li Zhenruo couldn’t help but retort, “I said it wasn’t for this reason to approach you.”
He looked up at Li Zhenran but felt that Li Zhenran’s expression was cold and hard, and he didn’t seem to believe him at all.
Li Zhenruo felt a little resentful and said, “I—”
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly heard Li Zhenran sigh softly, with some melancholy and despair.
Li Zhenruo was stunned for a moment. He saw Li Zhenran reaching out and touched his face gently, then turned around and stepped on the dead leaves to leave.
How did it get to this point?
Li Zhenruo sat down on the swing, but in the end, he just raised his hand to cover his head in dismay.
By the time he returned to Li’s house, Li Zhenran had already finished eating and gone upstairs.
Li Zhenruo’s clothes were old clothes borrowed from Song Jun. There was no way to bring them back to Li’s house, so he could only take them off and fold them on the swing, and plan to find a way to pick them up tomorrow.
Back at the door of the house, Li Zhenruo rubbed his cat’s paw on the mat at the door, intending to rub off the soil on it, but when Wang Ma saw him, she said, “Why did you come back late at night. Every day you go out and hang out, it’s like you’ve become a wild cat.”
After saying that, she picked him up and took him to the bathroom to wash his feet.
The rice bowl was still full of cat food. He leaned in to eat two mouthfuls, which he felt tasteless and unpalatable. He walked slowly to the stairs and looked towards the third floor, but he couldn’t see anything.
The house was very quiet, the eldest, third child, and Zhu Kai were not around. Wen Chun just glanced at him after dinner and went upstairs in silence.
Wang Ma was sitting on the sofa watching TV and wearing a sweater, while Li Jianglin went out for a walk alone. He had limited mobility and often couldn’t walk far, so he just walked around the house.
Li Zhenruo wanted to go upstairs to find Li Zhenran. He stepped on the stairs and hesitated. He knew why Li Zhenran was angry, but for those few questions, Li Zhenruo still felt that he could not face it openly. Li Zhenran was right, he purposely got close to him, using his identity to do things for himself.
However, shouldn’t Li Zhenran have guessed it long ago? But why was it suddenly mentioned now? Or Li Zhenran has always had a grudge, but never mentioned it, and was just waiting for him to confess?
As he thought of this, Li Zhenruo couldn’t help but regret it, thinking that if he told Li Zhenran earlier, would he not be so angry?
Feeling depressed, Li Zhenruo hesitated to go upstairs, and finally sat down against the wall.
He was really just squatting down, with the two hind legs bent, the back against the wall and the round buttocks sitting on the ground. Unfortunately, his two front legs were not long enough and his body was too round, so there was no way to hug his legs. He couldn’t put his head on his knees despite all of his efforts. Besides, he had no knees.
Even with the melancholy, his posture was very ridiculous, and Li Zhenruo’s mood worsened.
Wang Ma occasionally turned her head to look at him, so she was stunned, looked at him carefully for a while, and called out, “Dumpling?”
Li Zhenruo looked up at her.
Wang Ma was inexplicable, “Why are you in this posture?”
Li Zhenruo couldn’t answer, so he lowered his head again.
After a while, Li Jianglin came back from the outside with his crutch, walked straight to him and stopped, panting slightly.
Li Zhenruo looked up at him.
Li Jianglin felt a little strange, and asked Wang Ma, “What’s the matter?”
Wang Ma said, “I don’t know, it seemed to be in a bad mood.”
Li Zhenruo felt even more depressed when he heard their conversation.
It was inconvenient for Li Jianglin to squat down, so he raised his crutch and touched the top of Li Zhenruo’s head lightly. Li Zhenruo’s eyes were teary. This physiological reaction came very easily, and immediately soaked a bunch of fluff under his eyes.
Li Jianglin seemed to see him as pitiful, and said to Wang Ma, “Tell the second child to carry the cat back.”
Wang Ma responded, got up from the sofa, and walked upstairs.
Li Jianglin went back to his room by himself.
After a while, Li Zhenruo heard a knock on the door on the third floor, and then Li Zhenran opened the door and spoke to Wang Ma. The sound came down from the stairway but was very clear.
Wang Ma told Li Zhenran that there was something wrong with his cat and asked Li Zhenran to take a look. Li Zhenran said, “Let him be.”
After he said that, Li Zhenran closed the door.
When Li Zhenruo heard Wang Ma’s footsteps going downstairs, he felt an unbearable heartache. He got up and ran towards the living room window, then jumped out of the open window.
He didn’t want to go somewhere, but he was in a depressed mood. He didn’t feel much better about Wang Ma’s concern at home. He came out of the window and walked towards the yard with his tail drooping. He saw Zhu Kai’s Erhuang lying motionless in his kennel from a distance.
Erhuang has been very quiet recently, probably because he hadn’t seen its owner for several days, and the whole dog seemed to be depressed. Erhuang also saw Li Zhenruo from a distance, but only slightly flapped its ears and didn’t stand up.
Li Zhenruo suddenly felt a little bit of pity for it and walked slowly towards its kennel until he stopped in front of it.
Even though Erhuang was in a bad mood, it still reluctantly lifted his tail to greet Li Zhenruo.
Li Zhenruo then circled around him, rolled himself into a ball and lay down against it, leaning his head on it. Unexpectedly, Erhuang noticed Li Zhenruo’s movements, so he lay down on his side to show his soft and warm belly for him to lean against.
Li Zhenruo moved his head comfortably and exhaled a deep breath, which sounded like a sigh.
He thought to himself: Even the family dog is more gentle than Li Zhenran, as a pet cat, he had a really miserable life.
After lying down for a while, Li Zhenruo closed his eyes and fell asleep because it was too comfortable.
When he woke up, it was already dark, and the street lamps in front of him were glowing softly. Erhuang kept lying on his side and didn’t move. When he noticed that Li Zhenruo was awake, he turned his head and licked the top of his head.
Li Zhenruo rarely disliked it. He lowered his head and rubbed Erhuang on its neck, then got up and ran towards the swimming pool. From the swimming pool, as soon as he looked up, he could see the window of Li Zhenran’s room. It was not too late, but the lights in the room were already turned off.
Li Zhenruo didn’t know whether he had already slept or gone out, so he couldn’t help being curious, and after a little hesitation, he went over the pipe and climbed to the third floor.
He hadn’t climbed the window for a long time, and his movements were already a little rusty. With difficulty, he climbed to the third floor and found that the window was closed. Just as he put his face on the window and looked in, he suddenly saw Li Zhenran standing in front of the window, raising his hand to push the window.
As soon as the window was opened, Li Zhenruo, who had just climbed up the third floor, was knocked flying and fell to the ground.
His heart was cold, and he said silently: Li Zhenran, you are ruthless!