Chapter 166: You Are So Naive

Xu An'an blushed and pulled away, rubbing her itchy ears. "Where are we going? Are we just going to leave Haohao like this?"

"To the haunted house."

"What!"

Giving Xu An'an no chance to resist, Jiang Li dragged her straight into the haunted house.

True to its name, the haunted house was dimly lit and chilling all around. Cold drafts blew past from time to time, and terrifying specters seemed to lurk in the corners, ready to leap out at any moment.

White cloth fluttered everywhere, vaguely resembling shrouds.

Skulls and skeletal decorations were scattered about.

Every so often, an NPC dressed as a ghost would appear.

"I died such a miserable death!"

Suddenly, a "ghost" dressed in white with a face covered in "blood" drifted past right in front of Xu An'an. Screaming in terror, she threw herself into Jiang Li's arms.

A flash of slyness crossed Jiang Li's eyes at this proactive plea for an embrace.

Without hesitation, he scooped Xu An'an up, holding her the way one would carry a child. "Don't worry, with me here, what can these evil spirits possibly do to you?"

Clutching Jiang Li tightly, Xu An'an trembled all over.

Terrifying scenes from her childhood flashed through her mind, because she had genuinely "encountered a ghost" when she was little, an incident that left her running a high fever for days and nights.

Ever since then, she had loathed hearing the word "ghost."

Xu An'an had originally intended to refuse, thinking that after all these years, perhaps she was no longer afraid. But reality proved otherwise!

Noticing that Xu An'an in his arms was shaking uncontrollably, Jiang Li realized something was wrong and quickly led her toward the emergency exit.

Once the warm sunlight hit her outside, Xu An'an felt a little better, but she still buried her face deep in the crook of Jiang Li's neck, holding onto him for dear life.

Jiang Li regretted his actions; he shouldn't have listened to Assistant Wang's advice.

Assistant Wang had sent him numerous messages claiming that a haunted house was the ultimate way to showcase a boyfriend's protective charm, and that a terrified woman would naturally throw herself into his arms.

To escape the lingering crowd outdoors, Jiang Li brought Xu An'an to the amusement park's hotel to get a room.

Once inside, Xu An'an burrowed under the duvet, curling herself into a tiny ball.

Sensing that Xu An'an must have suffered some trauma in the past to react this way, Jiang Li sat down on the edge of the bed and gently patted her through the blanket to soothe her.

"It's okay, it's okay, none of that was real."

"It was!"

Xu An'an peeked out from beneath the covers, her watery eyes glistening with a pitiful vulnerability.

With utmost seriousness, she whispered, "When I was little, I stayed out too late playing at a neighbor's house. On my way back, I saw... I saw..."

***

Flashes of that terrifying scene resurfaced in her mind, causing Xu An'an to dive back under the covers.

Only the duvet could provide her with a sense of security.

Through the blanket, Jiang Li hugged Xu An'an close. "I'm here now. Besides, I'm so fierce that not even ghosts dare to get close to me, right?"

That actually sounded somewhat logical.

After calming down a bit, Xu An'an poked her head out once more. "Maybe it was because I was so little back then. Don't the elders always say that children's eyes are completely pure?"

Though Jiang Li still didn't really believe in such entities, he humored her.

"Then tell me about it in detail."

"You have to face your fears to conquer them."

Shifting closer to Jiang Li and taking a deep breath, Xu An'an recounted her terrifying childhood experience. "I saw a female ghost dressed in white, just drifting and floating right there. She even knew me—she called my name, really!"

This made Jiang Li even more skeptical. Calling Xu An'an's name? This was getting increasingly absurd.

"Did she say anything else?"

"Not really, because my mother came out just then."

Xu An'an couldn't quite remember what happened afterward, but the imagery from that moment was so vivid that she had never been able to erase it from her memory.

Pondering deeply, Jiang Li slipped under the covers as well, pulling Xu An'an into his embrace.

"From now on, I am your protective shield. Any monsters or ghosts that want to hurt you will have to get through me first. How's that? Still scared?"

Xu An'an couldn't help laughing, realizing she didn't feel quite as terrified anymore.

"You're so childish."

"Just tell me if it works or not."

"Hmph, then hold me tighter."

"As you wish."

Standing at nearly six-foot-three, the man wrapped his arms and legs around Xu An'an in a full bear hug, hiding away with her beneath the blanket.

Every breath they took was filled with each other's scent.

It felt as though the entire world had shrunk down to just the two of them.

Having slept poorly the previous night, Xu An'an drifted off to sleep as she lay there. Jiang Li lifted a corner of the blanket to let some fresh air in.

One-handed, he reached for his phone and instructed someone to investigate what had happened to Xu An'an during her childhood.

After all, if she had truly encountered a ghost and run a fever for days, the incident surely would have been the talk of the neighborhood.

Sure enough, Jiang Li received the information shortly.

***

As it turned out, someone had intentionally dressed up as a ghost to scare Xu An'an back then. That person was caught on the spot, but was later diagnosed with a mental illness and remained confined in a psychiatric hospital to this day.

Dark fury flashed in Jiang Li's eyes.

Who did they think they were trying to fool?

If the culprit was genuinely mentally ill, how could they have accurately called out Xu An'an's name?

What kind of vicious monster would deliberately terrify a little child? If Xu An'an hadn't possessed a relatively resilient psyche, she could easily have been frightened out of her wits!

Jiang Li immediately set his sights on Shen Ying.

After all, by that time, Xu Fengnian was already entangled with Shen Ying, though he had not yet divorced Xu's mother. This left Shen Ying and her daughter Xu Wanwan—who was a year younger than Xu An'an—in an illegitimate position.

He ordered a thorough investigation into Shen Ying.

The probe yielded unexpected results: Shen Ying was secretly transferring Xu Fengnian's assets, though she hadn't yet laid her hands on the Xu Corporation itself.

However, Shen Ying had already seduced a senior executive of the Xu Corporation, and the pair were plotting to hollow out the company.

That was completely unacceptable.

Jiang Li immediately sent people to put a stop to it. He was planning to hand the Xu Corporation over to Xu An'an anyway; he wasn't about to let anyone else beat him to the punch.

***

Unable to reach Xu An'an, Jiang Yu felt intensely irritable. Yet, Ning Xiyue's tender and affectionate care still proved impossible for him to resist.

Even so, at every critical moment, Jiang Yu managed to exercise some restraint.

"Great-grandma said we can't share a bed during the first three months."

"It's fine, won't it be okay if you just take it easy? Between you and the baby, I would definitely choose you! Just come in, I want you too."

Seduced by Ning Xiyue's enticements, Jiang Yu gave in.

However, a moment later, the sight of fresh blood terrified them both.

Clutching her lower abdomen with a pale face, Ning Xiyue cried out, "Ayu, my stomach hurts so much!"

Panicked, Jiang Yu rushed Ning Xiyue to the hospital.

He was deeply worried. If Ning Xiyue lost the child, his family would severely punish him. Although they were reluctant to accept premarital scandals, now that a child was on the way, they had chosen to accept it.

And since they had accepted it, they certainly wouldn't tolerate any further twists and turns.

Anxious, Jiang Yu paced back and forth outside the emergency room doors.

He couldn't even tell whether he wanted the child to survive or not, until the doors of the emergency room finally swung open and a doctor walked out.

Hurrying forward, Jiang Yu asked, "Doctor, can the baby be saved?"