Heart Stealer - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Later, Bai Qiaoqiao released a statement announcing her retirement from the entertainment industry and went abroad to study.

A week later, we finally boarded a plane back home.

As soon as the plane touched down, Fu Jing dragged me straight to the hospital.

In the bustling outpatient department, my palms were sweating from nerves.

Fu Jing, however, remained calm, focusing intently on a contract while sitting beside me.

I stole a glance. Oh, he was holding the contract upside down.

He really was something.

“Jiang Qian.”

A nurse called my name. Fu Jing immediately tossed the contract to his secretary and stood up briskly.

After receiving the test results, Fu Jing remained silent for a long time.

I grew even more anxious. “Is there something wrong with the baby?”

The doctor smiled at me. “You aren’t pregnant. There are many reasons for a delayed period, but as far as we can tell, you’re perfectly healthy.”

I was stunned. “But the pregnancy test-”

She chuckled. “Young lady, you shouldn’t trust those off-brand products.”

“Thank you.” Fu Jing led me out of the consultation room with an incredibly composed expression.

The secretary, holding two cans of powdered milk, said in a businesslike tone, “President Fu, should I dispose of the milk powder?”

“No need. We’ll use it sooner or later.”

As he said this, he wore a smile that sent shivers down my spine.

And so, I ran away again.

“What’s wrong? Did you two have a fight?” my best friend asked.

“No, I’m dodging a debt.”

“What kind of debt?”

My face turned beet red, filled with embarrassment.

I remembered those nights in a foreign land when I had happily crawled into his bed, snuggling up to him. “Big brother, are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Fu Jing had groaned, pinning me in his arms as he teased me crossly, “Fine, I see how it is. You’re using the child to secure your status.”

I had giggled, wriggling around under the covers. “I’ll perform an impression of an earthworm for you.”

His smile had stiffened. “Keep it on credit for now. You can pay me back once you’ve ‘delivered the goods.'”

A few days later, I was caught red-handed by Fu Jing right in front of a lingerie shop.

“Help…”

My voice trembled.

He ruthlessly hauled me back home.

With the door locked, he pushed me in front of the mirror. He sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, directing me as I picked out new clothes.

It was just like him; even the ‘appetizers’ had to be meticulously selected.

Eventually, I got annoyed. “Does it even matter which one I wear? They’re all the same…”

“They are not the same.” Fu Jing picked out a set he liked, scooped me up, and tossed me onto the bedroom bed. A dark, predatory look spread through his eyes. “Student Jiang, do you have any unsolvable math problems to ask me tonight?”

Recalling how he used to ignore me back then, I let out an excited shriek before being pulled under the covers.

Because of my frequent provocations, by the time we actually got married, there really was a little one in my belly.

On the wedding day, the corners of Fu Jing’s mouth didn’t drop once. He looked quite pleased with himself, radiating an air of success.

I couldn’t drink, so he had to handle the toasts on my behalf.

That night, when we were a short distance from home, he took my hand and led me out of the car, saying he wanted to walk.

Snow was fluttering down from the sky. I was perched on Fu Jing’s back, wrapped in his wool coat.

Our shadows stretched out under the streetlights.

On the back of one shadow was a large, protruding lump.

I stared at the shadows and suddenly laughed. “Fu Jing, look at our shadow. We look like an old turtle.”

After saying that, I waved my arms and legs like a turtle’s flippers.

My laughter echoed across the snowy ground.

He laughed too, carrying me forward in silence.

I always felt like I had met him a long time ago.

But I couldn’t remember where.

I rested my head softly on his shoulder and hugged his neck. “Tell me, why do you like me?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Husbands and wives shouldn’t have secrets.”

“I just do. There’s no reason.”

I didn’t believe him.

“You probably just wanted my money.”

“That’s right. I’ve got my eye on that magazine of yours that barely makes a cent a year. I’m planning to live off my wife.”

I pressed against his neck; it was warm. Gradually, my eyelids began to droop.

Fu Jing exhaled a puff of white mist, adjusted his hold on me, and hugged me tighter. “Jiang Qian.”

“Hmm?”

“Happy wedding day.”

***

**Extra: The Green Years**

The morning exercise break at No. 3 High School lasted a full forty minutes.

The Dean was ill and had taken two weeks off, so No. 3 High was like a sheep pen with the gate left open. When the bell rang, very few people actually went to the track. Instead, the bleachers at the A University basketball court were packed with people.

On this day, the Math Class Representative dragged Jiang Qian out from the bleachers and questioned her fiercely, “Where’s your homework?”

Jiang Qian shrunk her neck back pitifully. “I left it at home. Can I turn it in tomorrow?”

The representative kept a straight face. “You didn’t write it at all.”

Jiang Qian got anxious. “I really did! I just didn’t bring it. I’ll definitely turn it in tomorrow.”

In truth, the teacher didn’t necessarily check; who turned it in and who didn’t depended entirely on the list kept by the representative.

“Forget it. All the bad students use that excuse. I’m telling the math teacher directly.” The representative turned away with an air of impartial justice, looking as if Jiang Qian were beyond saving.

Jiang Qian grabbed her. “We can talk this out.”

“Don’t try to bribe me.”

Jiang Qian was sweating with anxiety. She looked around, and suddenly her eyes lit up. “I’ll get you his autograph!”

Not far away, a youth stood like the bright sun, dazzling and magnificent. He leaped lightly, revealing a glimpse of a toned physique beneath his shirt, making all the girls in the stands scream.

“You?” The representative was dismissive.

Admittedly, she liked that senior too, but getting an autograph? She had to be joking.

“Just you wait!”

Jiang Qian was terrified of her parents being called to school. Compared to that, how hard could asking for an autograph be?

She didn’t catch him in the morning, so she continued to wait after school. Finally, at dusk, she cornered him at the entrance of the basketball court.

“Fu Jing, you coming?”

Roommates passing by started to jeer at the scene.

Fu Jing ignored them, instead sizing up the young girl who had suddenly appeared before him.

She had clever, spirited eyes like a fawn, yet she carried a quiet, scholarly aura.

Pretty and obedient.

She didn’t look like the type of girl who would confess her feelings in public.

Fu Jing asked distantly, “Can I help you?”
Jiang Qian pulled out a notebook and shoved something into his hand. “I’m buying an autograph from you.”

Fu Jing opened his palm to find a crumpled five-yuan bill. He let out a scoff. “Are we that close?”

Jiang Qian’s face turned bright red, and she said pitifully, “Please, I’m begging you.”

“What do you want my signature for?”

Jiang Qian didn’t say.

Fu Jing wasn’t about to give it to her anyway. Who was stupid enough to sign their name on a blank sheet of paper?

That day, Jiang Qian followed him the whole way like a little shadow.

As long as Fu Jing walked, she followed.

As they passed a small convenience store, the Math Class Representative called out to her from a distance. “Jiang Qian, where’s my signature? If I don’t get it, I’m telling the teacher you didn’t hand in your homework.”

Jiang Qian instinctively ducked behind Fu Jing and stammered, “I… I’m getting it right now.”

Fu Jing’s attention was drawn back to her. He gave the class representative a cold glance before asking Jiang Qian, “Is she bullying you?”

Jiang Qian remained silent.

Fu Jing grabbed her and spun her around. With a sharp *zip*, he pulled open her backpack, fished out her notebook, and snatched a pen. He scribbled a few times. “There.”

Jiang Qian clutched the notebook he tossed back, staring blankly at the “chicken scratch” before breaking into a grin. “Thank you, Gege.”

Fu Jing’s eyelid twitched. He curled his lip slightly-she was so stupid, so easy to fool.

That evening, when Fu Jing went home for dinner, the sound of a young couple arguing drifted over from the window next door.

Following the noise, he saw the girl he had dealt with during the day huddled by the window. Her head was bowed like a little hedgehog as she shielded her workbook in her arms, writing furiously.

The couple stood right beside her, arguing to her face.

The woman, provoked by something her husband said, rushed to the desk. She violently snatched several workbooks and threw them at the man’s face. “Did you hire a tutor to have an affair, or to help her with her homework? If she were actually focused, would Jiang Qian’s grades be this pathetic?”

The girl reached out cautiously to retrieve them. The next second-*smash*-a glass bottle shattered against the edge of the desk, shards flying everywhere.

She flinched in fear, shrinking back into her corner, remaining silent and saying nothing.

As if possessed, the woman tore the homework into pieces in a few quick motions.

The scraps scattered through the air, drifting down like snowflakes.

A few pieces fluttered and landed near Fu Jing’s hand.

It was an unfinished section on the Law of Cosines.

He suddenly remembered the other girl’s threat to Jiang Qian: “If you don’t hand in your homework, I’m telling the teacher.”

Sure enough, the following evening, she blocked him in the alley again with a flushed face. She handed him ten yuan and a greeting card. “Could you write ‘Happy Birthday’?”

This time, Fu Jing didn’t say anything; he wrote it readily.

From beginning to end, she never cared about his name, nor did she look seriously at his face. She only wanted to fight her battle with her homework in peace.

Fu Jing, who usually lived at school, changed his habits that semester and began heading home frequently.

Through the curtains fluttering in the breeze, he would lean by the window and read his professional books.

Jiang Qian would be slumped over her desk, fighting through the night under her lamp.

The houses in the alley were close together back then.

Fu Jing could see tiny beads of sweat rolling down the tip of her nose, and the cowlick on her head swaying back and forth in the draft of the fan.

She worked very hard.

But Fu Jing had asked around; her math grades were poor-absurdly poor.

He figured it had something to do with her parents’ constant fighting.

If she didn’t finish her homework, she would be scolded, causing her to fall behind intermittently.

In high school, once you fall behind even a little, catching up is harder than climbing to heaven.

That summer, he watched the young girl try her best to catch up, yet she could never quite make it.

One day, he received a friend request on his QQ account. The avatar was a generic 90s style, and the gender was set to male.

The note read: “I have a few questions for you. I bet you can’t solve them.”

His hand, which was about to hit decline, paused. This clumsy reverse psychology and tone reminded him of someone for some reason. Possessed by a strange whim, he clicked accept.

Using her reverse psychology, Jiang Qian grabbed onto her lifeline. Every few days, she would send over problems from her textbooks.

They started as simple, almost moronic questions and gradually progressed to advanced challenge problems.

The dense mathematical symbols were stained with sweat and tears.

From then on, during those summer nights in the quiet alley, two people kept watch over the silent darkness.

Jiang Qian felt as though she had a guardian angel.

During the summer break of Jiang Qian’s sophomore year of high school, the neighbor across the way moved out. Holding her final math exam paper, she stopped downstairs and excitedly sent him a photo of her score.

“Thank you! I made it into the top 10 of the class for this final. Can I treat you to a meal?”

Sitting on the second floor, Fu Jing glanced at the little girl below and replied: “No need. I’m going abroad. I wish you the best for the future.”

The cowlick on the girl’s head, bathed in the glow of dusk, looked strangely wilted.

That was the last time their paths crossed during their student days.

Later, the Jiang Family’s business grew larger, and they gradually began collaborating with the Fu Family.

At their first dinner together, Jiang Qian walked in behind her father and addressed him: “Mr. Fu.”

Fu Jing’s gaze swept over her face as he replied calmly, “Hello.”

She didn’t recognize him.

The parents on both sides were intentionally or unintentionally trying to arrange a business marriage.

She kept her head down and ate, showing no reaction.

Fu Jing felt as if he were seeing her from many years ago-when her parents were fighting, and she would shut out the world, desperately trying to finish her homework.

She had never resisted. To be precise, she knew she was powerless to resist, yet she was like a resilient blade of grass, swaying and finding joy wherever she could.

Fu Jing thought: *Then I will give her a sky of freedom and see what she becomes when she grows as she pleases.*

They were engaged for seven years.

Outside of work, he watched her silently.

The little blade of grass was happy.

He waited patiently for the seedling to mature.

Finally, in the seventh year, she climbed onto his lap and asked, “Gege, shall we get married?”

The little lover of beauty had fallen into the trap he had woven, and from then on, she could never escape.

(The End)