Chapter 58

Ruan Tang saw that he wasn't replying, and guessed that he had probably reached his limit. If he pushed any further, he really might stop talking to him, so he decided to quit while he was ahead.

Withdrawing his previous flirtatious attitude, he sent another message to Auston: 'Sir, do you still want to hear a bedtime story tonight? How about I tell you a story?'

Auston seemed to have vanished and didn't reply a single word to him.

Ruan Tang, however, nonchalantly opened *One Thousand and One Nights*, turned on voice recording mode, and began telling stories to Auston through the communicator as if he were right there.

After getting into the habit of telling stories every day to coax Auston, a grown child, to sleep, Ruan Tang himself felt uncomfortable if he didn't tell him a story for one day.

But this evening, even after Ruan Tang finished the story, Auston didn't reply a single word to him.

Ruan Tang saw that it was getting late, so he closed the book and said softly into the communicator: 'Goodnight.'

Then he turned off the light and went to sleep.

On the other end of the communicator, Auston quietly finished listening to Ruan Tang's story, but inexplicably felt his cheeks slightly warm in the darkness.

After that, although Auston wasn't prompt in replying to every message from Ruan Tang, he did change his habit of disappearing without a trace. When Ruan Tang contacted him frequently, he would occasionally reply with a few words.

Although Ruan Tang was busy with work and couldn't see Auston, he would always find time to say something to him, even if he had to squeeze it in.

'Sir, look, this is my work lunch today.'

'What are you doing right now?'

'Today I saw a flower blooming in our office garden. It's very beautiful. I'm sharing it with you.'

...

Messages like these—because he knew Auston would definitely read them—Ruan Tang sent happily, even if he was just performing a monologue without receiving a response.

Seeing this annoying and clingy Omega, whose presence was still so strong even when they couldn't meet, and so fond of clinging, Auston replied irritably: 'Doesn't your Omega Protection Association have any work? You're so idle that you have time to send so much trivial stuff during work hours?'

'Even if I'm busy, I always have time to think of you.' Ruan Tang, seeing that Auston had indeed read his messages, immediately threw another straightforward flirt at him.

Auston immediately bristled: 'What the hell are you talking about?'

This time, Ruan Tang might have been busy with something, and it was his turn not to reply to Auston's message.

Auston stared at his personal terminal for a long time, and when he saw that Ruan Tang still hadn't replied to his message, he got agitated and complained to Vincent with some grievance: 'Tell me, are Omegas nowadays so delicate and clingy, especially shameless and fond of saying all sorts of nonsense? Is this still an Omega?'

'...' To this, Vincent didn't offer any opinion.

After acting as Auston's emotional counselor several times and listening to him complain about his relationship dynamics with Ruan Tang, no matter what Auston said to him now, Vincent took it all as him showing off his love life in a way that tortures single dogs.

Anyway, both husbands were crazy and didn't seem normal. If they wanted to mess around and loved to mess around, let them.

...

After learning that his mother had been poisoned and reduced to her current state, Ruan Tang had been using all kinds of information to investigate who had harmed her back then.

No matter who the culprit was, Ruan Tang was determined to find them and make them pay for what they had done.

After receiving a call from the person Auston had assigned to him to investigate this matter, Ruan Tang immediately had a premonition: 'Found out?'

'Madam, based on the time of Lady Tang Yun's poisoning, I worked backwards and screened everyone including your father and his many lovers, as well as many people with interests related to the couple... I found that the most suspicious person is your father's current wife, Lady Xia Ruzhi.' The investigator directly sent a series of compiled data to Ruan Tang's personal terminal: 'After several investigations, I discovered that Lady Xia Ruzhi had a maidservant who had been dismissed, and that maidservant had a younger brother who had once visited the planet that produces that toxin and purchased a certain dose of it. Coincidentally, during that period, Lady Xia was studying health preservation with a doctor and came into contact with various medicines every day... Moreover, at that time, she was also very close to a chef in your mother's household who specialized in the cuisine of your mother's home planet.'

Ruan Tang's gaze immediately darkened.

Moreover, the subordinates Auston lent to Ruan Tang were extremely meticulous in their work, and the investigation yielded much more than this. He took a deep breath and continued: 'Furthermore, I discovered that Major General Ruan Yang's accident back then was also most likely man-made and not an accident. The Xia family had a distant relative in Major General Ruan Yang's military unit, responsible for mecha maintenance... According to my investigation, the restored data shows that this person, together with another mecha data technician, maintained Major General Ruan Yang's mecha back then...'

'Although mecha maintenance doesn't necessarily indicate a problem, and there's no evidence to prove it, I think Major General Ruan Yang's accident is the best evidence...'

While uncovering these things, the investigator could only lament again and again in his heart how vicious and destructive Xia Ruzhi's intentions were.

Ruan Tang's family must have done something terrible in their past lives to end up with a father like Ruan Ming and attract a villain like Xia Ruzhi, who was so deliberate in seeking their deaths.

'Good, very good, excellent.' Ruan Tang's anger reached its peak, but instead he laughed out loud: 'Xia Ruzhi, Madam Ruan... I really underestimated her. What else has she done that I don't know about?'

From childhood, even without evidence and after several fruitless investigations, Ruan Tang had always had a vague suspicion and premonition that his mother, brother, and sister's misfortunes might not be accidents.

Now that the mastermind had been found, Ruan Tang wasn't really that surprised.

He was just a little surprised that the mastermind was actually Xia Ruzhi, who usually appeared foolish and cowardly, obedient to Ruan Ming... Just for the status of being Ruan Ming's wife, she had reduced his family to such a state.

Hearing Ruan Tang's cold voice, the investigator still continued: 'And also Miss Ruan the eldest. When Major General Ruan Yang had his accident and Miss Ruan's child died, Marshal Ruan Ming had previously ordered that these be kept secret from Miss Ruan... Later, one day, some subordinate leaked the information, and Miss Ruan found out, which suddenly stimulated her already poor mental state...'

'And the subordinate who leaked the information had private contact and financial dealings with Lady Xia... Although these traces were later erased, I still found clues.'

Ruan Tang listened calmly, but the hatred in his heart for Xia Ruzhi, Ruan Ming, and Ruan Xi reached a peak.

He should have guessed long ago—with a son as vicious as Ruan Xi, how could Xia Ruzhi be a good person?

He had been fooled by Xia Ruzhi's submissive and timid demeanor in front of Ruan Ming.

'Lady Xia was very cautious and meticulous. After she became Madam Ruan, many traces of those events were erased, leaving only a few clues. The evidence may not be conclusive enough. If Madam needs, I can go and investigate again more carefully.' The person in charge of this investigation said dutifully.

Ruan Tang coldly looked through the compiled evidence that proved Xia Ruzhi had harmed them, then politely said to the investigator: 'Alright, thank you. I appreciate your hard work.'

After cutting off the communication, his face suddenly darkened, and his hands clenched into fists...

He had said that once he found out who had harmed his mother, brother, and sister, he would make them pay with blood.

'...Sir, can you lend me a few men? Preferably members of your personal guard.' Ruan Tang gritted his teeth and sent a message to Auston immediately.

Auston received the investigation results almost simultaneously with Ruan Tang. After Ruan Tang sent him a request for help, he didn't even reply to Ruan Tang, didn't ask what his plans were or what he intended to do, and directly assigned the men to him without hesitation.

...

'Mozhi, look, I was fooled by Ruan Tang before. Look at him now, he's the chairman of the Omega Protection Association, so impressive. I can see he was clearly premeditated and aimed for this position. I trusted him so much before, but I was deceived by him...' At this moment in the Ruan family home, after recovering from his illness, Ruan Xi saw that Ruan Tang was doing well and had become the chairman of the Omega Protection Association, and he was so hateful that he ground his teeth to pieces.

His mental state was very poor. After several consecutive blows, he looked as if he had aged more than ten years: 'I was so stupid. I didn't see that he was such a sinister person, willing to sell out even his own marriage for that position. And I thought I wanted to save him.'

Ruan Tang's rise and gradual acquisition of power seemed to him to be evidence that Ruan Tang was a sinister black-hearted lotus.

He was eager to label Ruan Tang with this tag, thereby whitewashing himself and shaping an image of himself as a victim.

Before shaping this image, the first thing he urgently wanted was the approval of his fiancé, Shen Mozhi...

'Why do you care so much about Ruan Tang?' But after hearing Ruan Xi's words, Shen Mozhi didn't show any sign of agreement, nor any sympathy for Ruan Xi being wrongfully framed, nor hatred for the black-hearted lotus Ruan Tang who had caused it. Instead, he was perfectly indifferent.

Unlike Ruan Xi, who had just recovered from a serious illness, Shen Mozhi had already heard about Ruan Tang starting to gain power and flourishing in that circle.

When he first learned and understood this, he felt emotional and surprised—

But not in the way Ruan Xi wanted, thinking that Ruan Tang was a black-hearted lotus and that everything he had done before was to pave the way for this moment of glory.

He couldn't help but think that Ruan Tang didn't used to be like this, nor was he so willing to engage in scheming. But now, everything had changed and things were no longer what they used to be...

It seemed that Ruan Tang taking this path had been forced and shaped by them all, invisibly.

Looking at Ruan Tang now and recalling his original self, Shen Mozhi felt an inexplicable, thread-like pain and regret in his heart.

And seeing Ruan Xi's anxiousness to pin blame on Ruan Tang now that he was doing well, he deeply disapproved.

Ruan Xi looked at Shen Mozhi in disbelief, never expecting such a reaction: 'Mozhi—'

Ruan Tang's current state completely proved that he was no white lotus nor a pushover; he was a black-hearted lotus who schemed relentlessly and would stop at nothing to climb up with sinister intent. But why was no one believing him, sympathizing with him, and condemning Ruan Tang like before?

Ruan Xi was extremely puzzled.

Shen Mozhi was silent for a moment, then said: 'He is already married. You two no longer live together. Whatever he does or doesn't do can't affect you anymore; it has nothing to do with you. The past events are already over. Why do you still cling to him?'

He actually also couldn't understand why Ruan Xi was so fixated on pinning blame on Ruan Tang and proving he was a black-hearted lotus.