Lihua was bored seeing Ruru solve Math problems, so she said, "Let's stop with the studies! Oof, my head is spinning seeing all these difficult equations. How can anybody like studying?" She pouted.

  Ruru obediently raised his head and furrowed his brows.

  "What? Do you like studying?"

  He nodded.

  She gasped. "How can anybody like studying?"

  Ruru stared at her and then coughed. Lihua felt hurt. "Hey! Who likes to memorize things? I always hated studying. I was always sure that I would score passing marks only. Anything more than that was a waste of my precious brain power."

  Ruru laughed.

  Lihua beamed, seeing him happy.

  Yay, he is finally liking me~

  "Hm. Forget about Math. Let's do something fun!"

  Qingqing nudged her head slightly towards her.

  Don't you dare include me in that fun, human.

  "Let's do some origami and play with Qingqing!"

  "……" Qingqing hissed at her.

  "See? Qingqing is excited too!" She laughed.

  Somebody give this human a cat translator!

  Lihua quickly found some colorful craft paper and pulled Ruru to her side.

  "Hmm, let's start by making a boat! I will tell you how to make the folds, and then you can try it."

  Ruru seemed to hesitate. He had never done anything else than studying. This activity was new to him.

  Lihua made a paper boat and then a flower out of two craft papers. "Hehe, now you try. It's okay if you don't get it within the first try. Origami takes time to master. It took me a lot of tries to be perfect hehe~"

  Ruru took a craft paper and started folding it. In just a few seconds, the boat was ready. Then he took another craft paper and made a flower out of it.

  Ruru's boat and flower was even neater and more perfect than Lihua's.

  Lihua - "……"

  How did this happen?

  "Have you done origami before?"

  He shook his head.

  !!!

  "Then how did you learn it so fast?"

  Ruru blinked his eyes. "……It's easy."

  Lihua pouted. "It took a lot of time for me to memorize the folds…"

  Ruru hugged his teddy bear. "Eat almonds."

  "For?"

  "To increase your memory," he seriously nodded.

  "……"

  He-he just reminded me of Bobo…


  She lacked tears to shed.

  They heard a chuckle and immediately straightened up. Jiang Zhen was leaning on the wall, who finally showed his face.

  Qingqing hissed at him, while Lihua straightened up. Ruru jolted and took a step back.

  Jiang Zhen came inside. "You seem to be getting comfortable with somebody else's son. Is this a sign you accept to be my woman?"

  Lihua scowled. "Getting along with Ruru has got nothing to do with you! Don't get too arrogant. No matter how much of a scum you are, your son is innocent. He deserves to live with normal people. Just look at his room. He is just a child. His room should be filled with warm colors, toys and games. But this place is so cold and devoid of any fun. Is this how you take care of your son!?"

  He raised his brow. He glanced at Ruru and narrowed his eyes. "And doing origami is a way of having fun?"

  She sneered. "Somebody who has only taken lives and made it hell would not understand these little things."

  He smiled. "That's why I think it's time to show you my exciting world to make you understand how 'fun' that is. How about I give you a tour of my Underworld?"

  "No thanks. I am not interested in going anywhere with you."

  "You don't have an option, dear."

  She gritted her teeth.

  Ruru clutched onto Lihua's hand and lowered his head.

  Jiang Zhen narrowed his eyes. "What? Don't tell me you want to come too?"

  He stiffened but slowly nodded.

  Lihua widened her eyes. "No way! Ruru shouldn't go to a place like that. It's filled with bad people and bad things."

  "Heh. That's a good idea. Anyway, he is old enough to get involved into these matters."

  "He is just five!"

  He chuckled. "Jiang Wei was pushed in when he was only three. I don't want Ruru to become a wimp like my father. He needs to start getting used to blood. Let's go."

  "You!"

  But Ruru pressed her hand and pursed his lips. "Go…together…"

  Lihua was extremely anxious. But she swore to herself that she would protect Ruru's innocence at any cost.

  "Alright. But you stay by my side, okay? Don't go to him!"

  Jiang Zhen didn't bother.

  —


  "Ughh!!"

  The strong stench of blood in the air hit Lihua's nostrils, and she shut her eyes in disgust. Ruru brought the teddy bear near his face and covered his nose with its hand. He covered the bear's nose with his palm as if wanting to protect his friend from the smell too.

  They walked in the base further and soon enough, Lihua heard the shrills of some people in pain.

  She stiffened. She pulled Ruru to her side and covered his ears.

  Lihua glared at Jiang Zhen. "What is happening here?"

  He smirked. "I will show you. What's the fun in telling?"

  A gulp passed down her throat. As they reached nearer, Lihua saw a group of men getting tortured by his guards. That was a gruesome sight.

  "Close your eyes Ruru!"

  Ruru immediately did as told.

  "Hey if he shuts his eyes, how will he get used to it?"

  "He doesn't need to get used to these things! And why are you torturing this people?"

  "Hm?" He sighed. "They tried to run away from the gang because the drugs were too much to handle."

  She froze.

  "These are drug addicts. But then they said that they wanted to come out of this addiction and live a normal life. So I am punishing them for thinking about such useless things. Ever heard of Fentanyl and Oxycodone? Pretty good drugs for pain and anxiety relief. I don't understand why they would want to give up on it."

  "Because it's taking their life!" Lihua exclaimed. "It's destroying them from within. Nobody wants to live such a life where you are at the mercy of some chemicals! What is so difficult about understanding this?"