Chapter 2182: The Truth Abroad (14)
The small body in his arms was stiff and icy, still trembling. Duan Xi’s heart ached beyond words. He held her tightly against his chest, trying to pull her back to her senses, to calm her down. "Jiaobao, don’t be like this, we’ll face it together..."
But as soon as the words left his mouth, Ruan Jiaojiao started screaming, pounding crazily on his shoulder, jumping up to cover his mouth. "Don’t say it, don’t say it, Brother Xi, I’m begging you, I’m begging you, don’t say it, okay? Please, okay..."
Yet faced with Ruan Jiaojiao’s pleading, Duan Xi still said those three words, his voice so calm it was almost cruel. "He’s dead."
"Aaahhhh!!!!"
Ruan Jiaojiao’s vision went completely blurry. She collapsed weakly to the floor in front of Duan Xi. The tears that had long filled her eyes but stubbornly refused to fall finally broke through the dam at this moment.
She sat on the ground, both hands covering her eyes, tears rushing out between her fingers one after another.
Ruan Jiaojiao didn’t want to believe it. She hoped Duan Xi was joking with her.
But she knew very well that Duan Xi was not someone who would joke about something like this. What’s more, these past few days she’d sensed Lu Xian’s abnormal state more keenly than anyone else.
It was just that she had never, ever imagined this abnormality in this direction!
Duan Xi slowly crouched down and pulled her trembling, crying little body back into his arms.
Ruan Jiaojiao cried like her heart was being ripped apart.
From outside came a burst of frantic banging on the door. "Darling, darling, what’s wrong?"
"Jiaojiao? Jiaojiao?" Shu Jiao’s voice.
"Jiaojiao, open the door!" Ruan Hao and Ruan Jie’s voices sounded at the same time.
Then the Ruanlin Family who lived downstairs and Old Master Shu also came up. They called through the door, but Ruan Jiaojiao had already buried her head in Duan Xi’s chest, crying so hard she couldn’t hear anything from outside.
Duan Xi lifted her head, one hand cupping her small chin, the other gently wiping away her tears. "Jiaobao, listen to me. For now, we can’t let anyone else know about this, including Uncle and Auntie, do you hear me? Lu Xian needs time. For the moment, he doesn’t want others to know."
And outside, the people had already lost their patience. After shouting twice toward the inside, they directly started kicking the door. After two or three kicks, the doorknob shook loose and the door was kicked open.
As soon as the door opened, everyone saw Duan Xi holding Ruan Jiaojiao, whose whole body was shaking from crying. The veins on Ruan Jianguo’s forehead bulged; the next second he was about to rush in and beat someone up.
But he was stopped by Shu Jiao beside him.
The moment the door opened, Shu Jiao couldn’t help her thoughts going astray either, but she immediately sensed something was wrong. No matter how anxious Duan Xi might be, he would never make her daughter cry like this.
And her daughter was clearly trapped in a state of extreme grief she couldn’t pull herself out of.
After pulling back Ruan Jianguo, who had a dark face and was about to charge forward, Shu Jiao stepped around the pile of gifts and walked over, squatting down by Ruan Jiaojiao’s side.
"Jiaojiao?" she called softly. "What’s wrong?"
Ruan Jiaojiao sobbed, but she had heard what Duan Xi had just said. Even though she absolutely couldn’t steady her emotions at this moment, she still forced herself to hold back her tears and said to Shu Jiao, "Mom, I’m fine. I just had a nightmare, it scared me."
"What nightmare?" the Ruanlin Family immediately asked, eyes full of worry. "Sweetie, did you dream about those things from before again?"
"No, it has nothing to do with that. I just had a nightmare and it scared me. Grandma, Mom, I’m really fine, don’t worry." Ruan Jiaojiao wiped her tears and added.