RMM – Chapter 66 Clear Skies After the Rain

The next day, Xi Yuechen and Su Ruo naturally went to the military district compound again.

As soon as Su Heng saw his sister, he didn’t even glance at his usually most-admired brother-in-law. He called out “Sis,” stepped forward to grab her hand—but paused when he saw the bandages. His eyes reddened slightly.

“It’s all my fault. I didn’t protect you properly.” His voice was filled with guilt, and his expression was full of pain and remorse.

“It’s fine now. Look at you—so big already and still getting teary-eyed. Aren’t you ashamed? I’m fine, aren’t I? Come on, smile for your sister.”

Su Ruo had already informed Su Heng before they arrived. When she got out of the car and saw him rushing toward her, her initial surprise quickly turned into heartache. This brat—he really did care about his sister.

Su Heng still looked a bit upset.

Since her hand wasn’t very mobile, Su Ruo lightly patted his shoulder and smiled. “Alright, alright. Your brother-in-law has been staring at you for a while now—are you going to keep pouting?”

Being called out like that, Su Heng actually got embarrassed. But when it came to Xi Yuechen, he still felt awkward. His sister was already married to him—naturally, it was his job to protect her. And yet, she’d suffered such a major incident. Even if it wasn’t directly his fault, Su Heng still felt uneasy about it.

Xi Yuechen, as always, was sharp at reading people. Just one glance at Su Heng’s expression told him exactly what the kid was thinking—especially given how obvious it was.

Such a temper—just like his sister.

“This won’t happen again,” Xi Yuechen said.

Su Heng understood right away that his brother-in-law was making a promise. He responded with a hum and then scratched his head, a bit embarrassed.

Su Ruo hadn’t quite caught on and thought Xi Yuechen was still brooding over what happened. She frowned and said, “Alright, enough. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Don’t keep bringing it up. Let’s go inside.”

Su Heng let out a long sigh, his expression relaxing. He half-joked, half-serious: “Sis, if brother-in-law isn’t around in the future, I’ll follow you around every day to protect you.”

Su Ruo just chuckled and didn’t take it seriously. As they walked, she asked, “By the way, where are Mom and Dad?” Usually her mom would be the first to come out.

Only then did Su Heng realize something. After a moment’s pause, he gave an awkward laugh. “I forgot to tell them you were coming.”

Su Ruo gave him a speechless glance, huffed, and quickened her pace toward the courtyard.

Xi Yuechen watched the siblings interact in silence, smiling softly. He was in a good mood—such a lively little woman.

Zhang Huaqing was a little surprised to see her daughter and son-in-law show up unannounced.

“Why didn’t you let us know in advance? I didn’t prepare anything,” she said with a faint scolding tone.

Su Ruo smiled and walked up. “Do I need to notify anyone to come home?” She glanced back at Xi Yuechen and added, “You see, we didn’t bring anything either.”

“You always have something clever to say.” Zhang Huaqing couldn’t help but laugh.

Time passed quickly, and before long, evening fell. As usual, Su Feng issued his “eviction order,” telling the young couple to head home early.

In the car, Su Ruo rolled down the window to feel the cool breeze, recalling what her father had said that afternoon.

The incident with Mu You had become widely known—of course the Su family had heard about it.

That afternoon, Su Feng had called Su Ruo into his study to talk about it. As a father, he was naturally proud of what she’d achieved with her business, but now that a potentially major scandal had occurred, he had to intervene.

He was afraid his daughter wouldn’t handle it well and might give someone an excuse to escalate tensions between the Gu and Wāng factions.

Some things had to remain presentable on the surface. Nowadays, even the slightest stir in the Gu faction would be used by the Wāng faction for leverage. In critical times, staying calm was vital.

Xi Yuechen had already told Su Ruo about this the night before: don’t act rashly. Now was not the time to move against the Shí family—but the debt with Shí Hǎi still had to be repaid.

Although Su Ruo had been reborn for some time now, she hadn’t yet grasped every detail of the situation. Still, some things were clear enough—like the recently aggressive Wāng faction, the calm and reserved Gu faction, and the subtle power dynamics between them.

Who would’ve thought that such a seemingly small matter involving Mu You would ripple so deeply? Given that, she figured she might as well keep quietly running her little store. Take some personal revenge on the side. After all, Mu You hadn’t suffered much, and that Director Liú had already resigned. What was there to be bitter about?

As long as no real harm came to her, she couldn’t be bothered to fuss.

Zhang Huaqing understood these intricacies too, and simply told Su Ruo, “As long as you’ve thought it through,” but added, “Don’t let anyone think the Su family is weak.”

And with that, the Mu You incident was all but resolved—except for a few things that had to be handled quietly.

But when it came to Su Ruo being kidnapped, both Su Feng and Zhang Huaqing were visibly shaken. Zhang Huaqing cried the moment she saw her daughter’s hand, and Su Feng’s face turned stormy.

Su Ruo had to console them for quite a while. Zhang Huaqing wouldn’t rest until she saw the wound—but Su Ruo didn’t dare let her and barely managed to deflect her.

When they left, Zhang Huaqing still gave a long string of worried instructions, telling Su Ruo never to go out alone again. Their daughter had been kidnapped, and they hadn’t even known—just thinking about it made their hearts ache.

Su Feng hadn’t expected such a thing either. After confirming with Xi Yuechen that the Shí family and the Wāng faction weren’t involved, his expression grew even colder.

“Have you dealt with it?” he asked, his voice like ice.

Xi Yuechen assured him it would be taken care of. Only then did Su Feng relax a bit. He’d watched Yuèchén grow up and trusted his ability. His daughter had been pampered since birth—how could he not be furious that someone had dared to kidnap her?

“You really care about our daughter? Something like this happened and you still won’t let her stay the night? You chased them out right on time,” Zhang Huaqing complained after the couple left.

“What nonsense! Just because I sent her home doesn’t mean I don’t care. She belongs in her own home at night!” Su Feng glared. “You think your daughter isn’t my daughter too?”

“You blockhead, you don’t know how to show affection! And what’s this about ‘old’? Are you saying I’m old now? Who was it begging to marry me back then, huh?”

Being scolded like that actually eased the sadness in Zhang Huaqing’s heart. She raised her brows and launched a new round of criticism.

“Not arguing with a woman,” Su Feng grunted and turned to go inside. That was all in the past—why bring it up again?

“Hey, come back! What’s that supposed to mean? You calling me unreasonable?” Her focus had completely shifted as she chased after him.

“Don’t make me punish you with standing in the corner!” Su Feng barked. He’d never won a war of words with his wife—never once in all these years. So he had to resort to his tried-and-true tactic.

Back in the day, the young Zhang Huaqing would immediately behave at the mention of being made to stand. But those days were long gone.

“You just love playing the leader, don’t you? Always ordering people to stand. Do you think I’m still that naïve girl from before? Not a chance!” she snapped. She’d been punished like that so many times when she was young.

Meanwhile, Su Heng looked on helplessly as his parents started bickering again, face full of dark lines. The stern, aloof General Su and elegant, composed Madam Su were once again putting on their regular home performance…

Back in the car, Su Ruo let the breeze brush her cheeks until Xi Yuechen said, “Enough, close the window. Don’t catch a cold.”

She obediently shut it and turned to him. “My dad asked about the Mu You incident today. He’s worried I’ll seek revenge in anger.”

“I’m not that stupid. Besides, you already warned me. I’m not wasting time or energy on revenge. Just help me deal with Shí Hǎi. I’ll stick to running my shop and making money.” She rambled on without waiting for his reply.

What she really wanted to know was how that bastard Hong Shirong was doing. Even after a few days, just thinking about him made her grit her teeth. She wished she could cut him into pieces.

“Chief… that Hong Shirong—what’s going on with him now?” she finally asked, hesitantly.

Xi Yuechen had been thinking about how to respond to her earlier comment when she suddenly brought this up. After a moment of silence, he said:

“No rush. He won’t have a good ending.”

He’d already received an email from Gù Jiāwèi last night. He had only skimmed it, but clearly the Hóng family wasn’t anything major. Crumbling them instantly would be too easy—and boring. Especially that Hong Shirong—some punishments were best served slowly to leave a lasting sting.

Xi Yuechen was a reserved and indifferent man, not one to bear grudges easily. But if someone truly crossed him, he would strike cold and hard, with no mercy.

Hearing that, Su Ruo didn’t ask further. As long as the scumbag didn’t get off easy, she didn’t care what kind of ending he met.

She knew that if Xi Yuechen said so, he already had a plan. She was happy to let him handle it.

“Don’t worry about the Mu You thing anymore either. There are many ways for the SI Division to resolve it,” he said again. He liked her full-of-life personality. There was no need for her to get involved in shady business—staying simple was good enough.

By now, he understood her character well—lazy, and unwilling to waste effort on schemes. She was happy to leave big decisions to others, and had never once complained about his handling of anything.

Admittedly, her temperament was a major lubricant in their relationship. Xi Yuechen, who had always been dominant, probably wouldn’t have lasted two days with a strong-willed woman.

Sure enough, Su Ruo just gave a soft “mm” and didn’t say anything more—fully in agreement.

After returning home, they went through their usual nighttime routine and got ready for bed.

Except, this routine had some changes—like brushing teeth.

Su Ruo flatly refused to accept that she couldn’t brush her teeth. No matter what, she insisted on doing it. Xi Yuechen had no choice but to rewrap her wound as simply as possible. Thankfully, her fingers weren’t too injured, so she could just barely manage. The wound was also beginning to scab, so constant bandaging wasn’t necessary.

Though brushing took much longer, it was better than not brushing—or, worse, letting Xi Yuechen do it for her.

That thought alone was enough to reassure her.

Other things, though, had to be done by Xi Yuechen—like her nightly bath.

That was entirely handled by him. Su Ruo had to keep her arms up the whole time and not move.

Each time, she was too embarrassed to meet his eyes. This situation was just too much—they were both suffering. She was stiff and uncomfortable from his touch, and he was probably tortured by the proximity.

Afterwards, Xi Yuechen wrapped her in a large towel and sent her out first.

With a sly smile and only a towel on, she left the bathroom, giggling to herself at the sound of water. Watching Xi Yuechen flustered was really satisfying.

He took a cold shower, stayed in the bathroom to calm down a bit, and only came out once he felt composed again.

By then, Su Ruo was already fast asleep. Hearing her soft, peaceful breathing, he shook his head with a hint of helplessness and lay down beside her, wrapping an arm around her as he closed his eyes.