Ji Mohan felt as if struck by lightning.
He thought he must have misheard. Rubbing his ears, he asked blankly, "What... what did you just say?"
Lu Jiaojiao felt a slight pang of humiliation.
She and Ji Mohan had entered university in the same year, but she was admitted through the regular process, while Ji Mohan had been guaranteed admission since his first year of high school. She was a full two years older than him.
Later, at the Materials Research Institute, her rank was higher, his lower.
When facing Ji Mohan, she had always been the one in the superior position... Yet now, she had to lower her head and ask Ji Mohan to marry her.
It was truly ridiculous.
But if she didn't do this, the Lu family would treat her like a commodity and marry her off to some disgusting older man.
The Ji family of Haicheng was powerful enough to make the Lu family compromise...
She took a deep breath and said, "For saving a life, one should offer oneself in return. Mohan, I want you to propose to the Lu family as soon as possible and take me as your wife."
"Are you... are you out of your mind?"
Ji Mohan quickly took a step back, putting distance between himself and Lu Jiaojiao.
He only felt gratitude for her saving his life; he had no romantic feelings for her whatsoever. How could he possibly propose to the Lu family?
"Tsk."
A mocking laugh made Lu Jiaojiao's humiliation complete.
She turned to look at Rong Yu, who was laughing, and said angrily, "What does this have to do with you? What are you laughing at!"
"What era is this, still talking about 'offering oneself in return'?" Rong Yu genuinely found it amusing. "You think you can bind another person for a lifetime with just a life-saving favor? Do you really think that's possible? Besides, whether it was even you who saved A-Mo is still up for debate. Do you have any proof?"
Lu Jiaojiao opened her handbag, took out a pendant from the inner compartment. It was a gold-and-jade style piece, a very old item. But the moment she produced it, Ji Mohan's expression changed.
Rong Yu frowned.
So it was this trinket that made A-Mo believe Lu Jiaojiao was his savior?
This was far too childish.
Lu Jiaojiao pursed her lips and said, "Mohan, my current situation is very difficult. If you don't marry me, my family will make me marry some forty or fifty-year-old man to be a stepmother. That shouldn't be my fate. For the sake of saving your life, please help me, okay?"
She took a step forward, her gaze pleading.
"If you find it hard to develop romantic feelings for me, I won't force you. We can have a marriage of convenience first. Once the Lu family lets me go, we can get a divorce later..."
Lu Jiaojiao spoke with heartfelt emotion.
Suddenly.
"Click!"
Rong Yu took out her phone and snapped a photo of the gold-and-jade pendant.
Lu Jiaojiao's voice cut off abruptly. "Rong Yu, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Rong Yu curved her lips into a smile. "I want to buy the same style."
She looked at Ji Mohan, her smile vanishing. "The Ji family won't interfere with your marriage, but if you marry someone with no academic integrity, then you might as well stop using the Ji surname."
She pulled open the car door, got in, and slammed it shut with a bang.
Ji Mohan's face paled dramatically.
Oh no.
Great-grandma is angry.
He always seemed to be angering Great-grandma. If the old master found out, he really might not be considered a Ji family member anymore.
Without even glancing at Lu Jiaojiao, he hurried to the driver's side, got in, closed the door, and said quickly, "Great-grandma, please don't worry. I'm not that confused. I would never mix up a life-saving favor with marriage. Please don't tell the old master, okay?"
Rong Yu couldn't be bothered with him.
She found Ji Zhiyuan's contact and sent the photo of the pendant over: "A-Yuan, investigate this item's purchase records. It would be even better if you can find the buyer."
Ji Zhiyuan: "Understood, Great-grandma."
The drive back to the luxury apartment took about twenty minutes. They had just sat down on the sofa when Ji Zhiyuan's reply came through.
"Great-grandma, it's been found. This is a counterfeit product from a factory in Jiangcheng over a decade ago. The gold and jade are both plastic. This batch produced 500,000 pieces, with a wholesale price of 0.6 yuan and a market price of three to five yuan. They were sold to over thirty provinces nationwide, with a small portion exported. Due to the time elapsed and the huge volume, it's impossible to trace the specific buyer."
Rong Yu immediately laughed.
In other words, this cheap accessory could have been owned by anyone.
She looked up. "A-Mo, you should really think back carefully. Was the person who saved you that day really Lu Jiaojiao?"
Seeing the "500,000 pieces," Ji Mohan was also stunned.
He knew Lu Jiaojiao had been ceremoniously welcomed back into the Lu family during her middle school years.
Although the Lu family couldn't compare to the great aristocratic families, they were still among the top-tier wealthy. How could a young lady like Lu Jiaojiao possibly carry a cheap accessory worth a few yuan?
Lu Jiaojiao might not be decked head-to-toe in luxury brands, but she would absolutely never buy low-end goods.
"A-Mo, the person who saved you shouldn't have such character." Rong Yu patted his shoulder. "Think it through yourself."
Ji Mohan sat on the sofa thinking for a long time, perhaps an hour or more. He sent a WeChat message to Lu Jiaojiao: "Do you remember, it was raining heavily the day you saved me?"
After a while, Lu Jiaojiao replied: "I think so."
Ji Mohan: "The day you saved me, you were wearing a white polka-dot ankle-length dress. I never saw you wear it again after that."
Lu Jiaojiao: "I stopped liking it."
Ji Mohan stared at his phone screen, his eyes filled with disbelief.
That day, it hadn't rained. The sun was blazing, which was why he was sitting under a tree by the lake reading and then fell into the water.
The person who saved him that day was wearing a black T-shirt and long pants. That's why he could clearly see the gold-and-jade pendant but didn't see the face.
Now, he vaguely remembered... it seemed to be the face of a girl with chubby cheeks... The specific outline was already blurry, but it seemed... she had dimples.
Did Lu Jiaojiao have dimples?
Ji Mohan's memories became momentarily chaotic.
Another message from Lu Jiaojiao arrived: "Mohan, if I hadn't jumped into the lake to save you that day, there would be no you as you are now. I'm only asking you to marry me. Is that so difficult?"
A bitter smile escaped Ji Mohan's lips.
Yes, he should have seen it clearly long ago. The person who risked their life to save him must have had an inherently kind nature, definitely not a vampire like Lu Jiaojiao.
She had been leeching off him for so many years, stepping on him to become a senior researcher.
And now, after everything collapsed, she still wanted to keep leeching.
How could a person be so greedy?
He dialed her number.
Lu Jiaojiao quickly answered, a hint of joy on her face. "Mohan, have you come around?"
"I remember now," Ji Mohan said, word by word. "The person who saved me that day wasn't you at all, was it?"
"Wh-what are you saying?" Lu Jiaojiao shuddered, then angrily retorted, "Are you starting to twist the facts just to shake off your savior?"
Ji Mohan laughed. "Then can you describe every single detail of that day when you saved me?"
