Chapter 38: Her Counterattack

The words left unsaid were like the strike of a venomous snake, piercing precisely into Jiang Yi’s deepest wound.

Xu Yuan felt the hand Jiang Yi held hers with tighten abruptly, the force nearly enough to crush her bones. It was painful, but she did not struggle, nor did she even frown. In that instant, through their locked hands, she clearly felt his trembling—a tremor of rage suppressed beneath an icy surface, teetering on the brink of losing control.

She saw his other hand clench into a fist, veins bulging on the back of his hand. She had no doubt that in the next second, that fist would uncontrollably smash into Wen Ran’s flawless, smiling face.

And that was exactly what Wen Ran wanted.

He wanted Jiang Yi to lose control, to let every reporter see how volatile, irritable, and fragile the former genius had become.

No, she could not let him succeed.

At that moment, Xu Yuan’s heart was cooler than it had ever been. Before the second Jiang Yi’s suppressed fury could erupt, she moved. She did not retreat; instead, she took a small step forward, moving from behind him to his side. She lifted her head to meet Wen Ran’s snake-like eyes, which were filled with a gentle smile, and gave Jiang Yi’s tightly clenched hand a soft squeeze.

It was a silent reassurance.

Jiang Yi’s tense body visibly stiffened, and the raw, surging rage seemed to be forcefully tamped down for a second by that gentle touch. That one second was enough.

"Senior Wen, thank you for your concern."

Xu Yuan spoke. Her voice was not loud, yet it was extraordinarily clear and calm, like a cool spring washing away the thick, suffocating air woven from malice and hypocrisy. A polite smile even lingered on her face.

"However, I think you might have misunderstood."

She shook their joined hands, the gesture as natural as if she were displaying a common accessory.

"I am not here to 'accompany' him. As the project manager of 'Deep Sea Echo,' I am here with him to conduct our first field user survey."

She watched the tiny cracks appear in Wen Ran’s smile for the first time, continuing in a professional, matter-of-fact tone, enunciating every word:

"Jiang Yi is my technical partner, and his state directly impacts the success or failure of our project. Naturally, I must ensure he is in the best condition to work."

"As for what you said about ten years ago..." She paused, her smile unchanging, though a sharp, icy glint flashed in the depths of her eyes. "I believe the law will provide the most impartial verdict."

"We are also preparing to use the entire process of this trial, as well as all the public opinion data it generates, as the first case study report for our project."

"So, I must thank you, Senior Wen. Thank you for providing our report with its first vivid 'off-site user' interaction sample."

...

The world went silent.

The reporters, who had been swarming forward like madmen, seemed to have been hit with a pause button, staring in stunned silence at the young woman in white who had suddenly intervened. Who was she? What had she just said? User survey? Case analysis? Interaction sample? What were these things?

As for Wen Ran, the face that always wore a perfect smile finally froze completely. He looked at Xu Yuan—a girl who seemed so harmless, yet whose words were like venom-tipped blades, dissecting and deconstructing his carefully crafted "gentleness" and "concern," coldly labeling them as an "interaction sample."

In those eyes that always held a smile, a deep, dark shadow finally surfaced, impossible to hide any longer. For the first time, he began to truly look at this girl he had never considered a threat. He realized he had underestimated her.

Jiang Yi was equally stunned. He looked down at the girl standing beside him, who, despite her slight frame, seemed capable of holding up the sky for him. The rage that had been burning wildly in his chest, threatening to destroy him, slowly dissipated after hearing her clear, logical, and subtly mocking words.

His fist, which had been clenched to the point of losing control, slowly relaxed. He felt his heart, which had been silent in a dark abyss for ten years, struck hard by a sudden, warm light. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but a damn good one.

"So that’s how it is." Wen Ran finally spoke again. His smile returned to its perfect form, though the warmth never reached his eyes.

"It seems I was presumptuous."

He glanced at their still-clasped hands, the shadows in his eyes deepening. "Since it is work, I won't disturb you. I wish you a smooth survey."

With that, he turned and walked elegantly and composedly into the courthouse, amidst the still-confused gazes of the reporters. The storm he had ignited with his own hands had been effortlessly defused by Xu Yuan in a way no one could have expected.

Jiang Yi did not look at Wen Ran again. He simply led Xu Yuan through the crowd, which remained in a state of stupor, until they entered the heavy doors that shut out all the noise.

The corridor was empty, so quiet they could hear each other’s heartbeats. The tension and lingering fear that had been forcibly suppressed outside finally washed over them. Xu Yuan felt her legs go weak, and only then did she notice that her back was soaked with cold sweat.

Jiang Yi stopped and let go of her hand. A clear, red imprint of his fingers remained on her wrist.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, his voice rasping with an unreal quality.

Xu Yuan shook her head.

"Just now..." He looked at her, his dark, bottomless eyes churning with turbulent waves she couldn't decipher. "Why did you say that?"

"Because I'm your project manager."

Xu Yuan looked up to meet his gaze and suddenly smiled. It was a bright, clean smile, like the sun emerging after a rain.

"My technical partner was about to lose control on the battlefield; I couldn't just stand by and watch as the commander, could I?"

She gave him a playful wink.

Jiang Yi watched her bright, cunning eyes and the way her lips curled into a smile, and his heart, long accustomed to coldness, skipped a beat once more. He looked away in a fluster, his ears turning red uncontrollably.

"Let's go."

He dropped those two blunt words and turned toward the First Courtroom at the end of the hall. His pace was noticeably faster than before, as if he were fleeing.

Xu Yuan watched his somewhat hurried back, her smile deepening. She followed him, and the two walked one after the other toward the door that would soon decide his fate.

Through the small glass window on the door, Xu Yuan saw that many people were already seated in the public gallery. Among them, a familiar figure made her hold her breath.

It was Jiang Wan.

She was dressed in a simple black suit, her expression haggard but possessing the same stubbornness as Jiang Yi. She seemed to sense something and suddenly turned around. When her gaze passed through the glass and saw Jiang Yi at the door with Xu Yuan, a faint glimmer of hope instantly lit up her worried eyes.