Chapter 37: His Battlefield

Page 1 of 3

The car slowed to a stop by the roadside, a hundred meters from the courthouse entrance.

The driver turned around and looked at the two young people whose atmosphere had been subtly strained ever since they got into the car. A trace of kindly helplessness appeared on his face.

“Neither of you can go any farther up ahead.” He pointed toward the dark mass of people in the distance. “There are too many reporters. They’ve blocked the road.”

He did not need to say it. Xu Yuan had already seen them.

The scene was a hundred times more overwhelming than she had imagined.

Countless reporters, carrying cameras with long lenses, had closed in around the small plaza before the courthouse like sharks that had scented blood, leaving not the slightest gap. Flashes burst like a barrage of white bullets, furiously sweeping across every entrance that anyone attempted to approach.

The tender warmth in the car—the sweetness that had only just begun to ferment from their awkwardness—was utterly shattered by the cold, murderous atmosphere outside the window.

The smile at the corners of Xu Yuan’s lips slowly froze.

Almost instinctively, she turned to look at Jiang Yi beside her.

Every expression had vanished from his face.

His dark eyes gazed calmly at the battlefield outside—the battlefield that belonged to him. There was no anger, no fear, only a bottomless, frigid silence.

It was as though he was not about to enter a trial concerning his father’s innocence and his own future.

It was as though he were walking into a slow execution he had long since grown accustomed to.

Xu Yuan felt as if an invisible hand had seized her heart and clenched it viciously.

It hurt.

More than it had when she herself was burning with fever.

“Jiang Yi…” she began instinctively, wanting to say something.

“Get out.”

He cut her off, his voice cold and utterly devoid of warmth.

He pushed open the door and stepped out first.

Xu Yuan drew a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil within her, then opened the door and followed.

The instant both her feet touched the ground, the clamorous, malicious roar surged toward her like a tsunami.

“Look! It’s Jiang Yi!”

“He’s here! He really came!”

“Jiang Yi! How do you respond to the allegations online that your father is a commercial fraudster?”

“I heard you’re here to apply for the unfreezing of your assets. Is that true?”

“Jiang Yi! Give us a smile! Look at the camera!”

Countless reporters surged toward them like madmen.

Xu Yuan’s vision blurred. In an instant, she was swallowed by a sea of flashing lights and a deafening roar. She instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes from the stabbing white glare, staggered, and nearly fell.

Just then, a cold, bony hand suddenly reached over from the side and seized her wrist.

Page 1 of 3

Tightly.

With a force that brooked no argument.

Xu Yuan froze and looked up, meeting a pair of dark, fathomless eyes.

It was Jiang Yi.

At some point, he had already moved in front of her.

With his none-too-broad frame, he carved out a small pocket of safety for her.

He did not look at her. He did not show even the slightest unnecessary expression.

He simply used the hand gripping her wrist to tug her behind him.

Then, almost dragging her along, he led her forward into the hailstorm of camera flashes and shouted questions, advancing step by difficult step.

His back was lean yet straight, like a drawn sword.

Pulled along behind him, Xu Yuan watched his nape, made pale by the flashing lights, and breathed in the unmistakable scent of soapberry soap that remained clear even amid the chaos. Her heart, pounding violently with tension and anger, suddenly grew calm.

She lowered her head and looked at the hand clasped tightly around her wrist.

His hand was cold, but his palm was dry.

Could it be that he was nervous too?

The thought fell into Xu Yuan’s heart like a tiny spark.

She turned her hand and clasped his in return.

With an equally resolute strength.

Jiang Yi’s body visibly stiffened.

His forward stride faltered for a second.

But he did not turn around, nor did he shake her hand away.

He merely tightened his grip.

And so the two of them walked hand in hand, pursued by countless cameras and surrounded by countless malicious conjectures, like two silent, unyielding reefs, steadily making their way toward the courthouse’s solemn doors.

Just as they were about to cross the most chaotic part of the crowd, a gentle voice, touched with precisely the right amount of concern, suddenly cut through the clamor like a velvet surgical blade.

“Jiang Yi?”

Xu Yuan looked up.

She saw Wen Ran standing on the steps not far away.

He wore a well-tailored light-gray suit. His posture was straight, and his face carried that eternally flawless, gentle smile.

He was like a perfect prince utterly out of place amid the chaos.

Even the sunlight seemed to favor him, gilding him with a soft golden glow.

The moment he appeared, he drew the attention of every reporter.

Page 2 of 3

The flashes began turning toward him in a frenzy.

“It’s Wen Ran! Wen Ran, the pride of the journalism department!”

“What is he doing here? Does he know Jiang Yi?”

“Senior Wen! What is your relationship with Jiang Yi? Are you here to support him?”

Facing all the cameras, the smile on Wen Ran’s face did not change in the slightest.

He answered none of the questions. He merely passed through the crowd and walked straight up to Jiang Yi.

Looking at Jiang Yi, he allowed a perfectly measured trace of concern and heartache to surface in his ever-smiling eyes.

“A-Yi,” he said, his voice as gentle as an April breeze. “How did you end up like this?”

He reached out, seemingly intending to smooth Jiang Yi’s wind-tousled fringe.

Jiang Yi’s body went rigid at once.

He abruptly stepped back, avoiding Wen Ran’s hand.

For the first time, undisguised cold disgust appeared in his dark eyes.

“Don’t touch me.”

The three words were like a blade tempered in ice.

Wen Ran’s outstretched hand stopped awkwardly in midair.

The smile on his face also showed its first, barely perceptible crack.

But he quickly restored his perfect composure.

He withdrew his hand and gave a self-mocking smile, his tone still gentle.

“You’ve never liked me much. But it doesn’t matter.” He glanced at Xu Yuan beside Jiang Yi, at the hand she had held throughout, and a deep yet fleeting shadow passed through his eyes.

Then he turned his gaze back to Jiang Yi and lowered his voice until only the two of them could hear.

“I came today to tell you that no matter what the outcome is, I’ll stand on your side.”

“After all, ten years ago, if it hadn’t been for my family…”

He did not finish.

But the unfinished words struck Jiang Yi’s most painful wound with the precision of a venomous snake.

Xu Yuan felt the hand holding hers suddenly tighten.

The force was so great it almost crushed her bones.

Page 3 of 3