A Little Trick, the Scumbag Dad Can't Hold the Knife After Understanding Love-Chapter 312

Under the dim yellow light of the balcony, a young man in work clothes crouched on the wooden floor, seemingly startled by his own movement. He jerked his head up to look at him.

His dark eyes widened, a smudge of dust clinging to the tip of his nose. After a moment of realization, he broke into a foolish grin.

Ji Tingzhou: "……"

His lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to ask, How did you sneak in here? But when his gaze fell on the bandage wrapped around her neck, his expression darkened.

With a bang, he slid the glass door shut and quickly locked it.

Trapped outside, Ji Nian: "……"

This guy—why wasn’t he the least bit happy to see her? Instead, he looked like he’d seen a ghost.

Let me in.

Ji Nian gestured with her hands.

Through the glass, his voice remained sharp and unyielding.

"Go back."

His tone was merciless, his expression cold and intimidating, his eyes a frightening shade of red.

Ji Nian met his gaze and shook her head firmly.

She typed on her phone and held the screen up to him: I need to talk to you. Open the door.

Ji Tingzhou didn’t budge.

Seeing this, Ji Nian typed another message.

I’m not afraid of you choking me.

After showing it to him, she tossed her phone aside and pulled something from her bag, fastening it around her neck.

It was a steel collar, perfectly fitted to her throat, locking into place with a click. The outer rim was lined with sharp, gleaming spikes—anyone who got too close would be impaled.

Ji Tingzhou: "……"

Even after he’d nearly killed her, she still came looking for him.

Was she really not afraid of him at all?

The memory of almost strangling Ji Nian to death, mistaking her for Ji Yanzhen, made his fingers tremble uncontrollably.

"Zhiliao, take her away."

Ji Tingzhou turned his back on her, pressing a button to summon Zhiliao.

When Zhiliao arrived, she didn’t say a word, simply took Ji Nian’s hand and led her out.

As they walked, Ji Nian glanced back at Ji Tingzhou—only then did she notice the sandbags strapped to his limbs, along with chains restricting his movements.

"Those are weights, to minimize the damage he does to himself during an episode."

"The injuries on his face? I did that."

Zhiliao’s voice was flat.

She was furious—both for him hiding his condition and for hurting Ji Nian.

Ji Nian tightened her grip on Zhiliao’s hand.

"The initial suggestion was to strap him to a bed with restraints. I refused, so he settled for this instead."

Sedatives couldn’t be used too often, so Zhiliao had no choice but to knock him out from time to time.

In a short span, his condition had deteriorated at an alarming rate, far beyond what anyone had anticipated.

Even now, his capacity for destruction was staggering.

Yet the only victim was himself.

If this continued, no amount of healing agents could keep up with the rate at which he harmed himself.

Instead of sending Ji Nian away, Zhiliao let her stay.

Seated on the stairs in borrowed pajamas, Ji Nian listened to the agonized cries and violent thuds coming from Ji Tingzhou’s room.

Occasionally, she caught words like "Get out," "Ji Wanting," and "I’ll kill you."

He was trapped in his torment, perhaps reliving the helplessness of his childhood trauma in hallucinations. Yet Ji Nian could do nothing but sit outside and listen.

The ordeal dragged on for too long. Ji Nian handed Zhiliao a vial.

"This toxin is called ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ It keeps the victim conscious but in a deep, unbreakable slumber."

"Administer the antidote every half hour to wake him up."

This was a last resort—something Ji Nian never wanted to use. It offered no benefit to Ji Tingzhou’s body, only a desperate measure when all else failed.

Brief unconsciousness was useless; each time he woke, his condition worsened.

That was the pattern they’d observed.

Cradled in Zhiliao’s arms, Ji Nian drifted in and out of sleep until dawn.

When morning came, she called for someone.

"Wei Yang said Dad sent people to tail Ji Xi. Do you know where he lives?"

Exhaustion clung to Ji Nian’s face, the carefree lightness from before completely gone. The dye in her eyes had faded, revealing their natural dark green hue, now clouded with gloom.

Being stared at like this was unnerving.

The man steadied himself and averted his gaze. "I do."

There was no reason to hide anything from Ji Nian.

After all, aside from forbidding her from seeing him, their boss had granted her the highest level of access.

"We found the location, but…"

There were military personnel stationed there—assigned to protect Ji Xi.

Ji Nian’s lips curled into a cold smirk. She took the address without another word.

"Zhiliao, I’m heading back."

As she spoke, she handed over the watch she’d brought—the one Ji Tingzhou had custom-made for her.

Zhiliao studied her calm yet strangely suppressed demeanor and ruffled her hair.

"The doctors are coming soon. Don’t you want to stay and hear their proposed treatment?"

Ji Nian shook her head.

[Are you okay…?]

Her system had never seen her like this before—like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

[I’m fine.]

If anything, she was terrifyingly composed, even remembering He Xiang’s request to see him before she left.

When He Xiang saw Ji Nian back in her usual attire, his instincts screamed that something was off. Yet for some reason, faced with this version of her, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Instead, he handed her a thermos and murmured, "Pear tea. Good for your throat."

Ji Nian offered him a faint smile, though her eyes remained hollow.

As she walked away, He Xiang’s phone buzzed with a message from his supervisor. He hesitated, then pulled out his phone and tapped on a contact.

...

Ji Nian stepped out of her family’s car midway and hailed a taxi, giving Ji Xi’s address.

Outside, a fine drizzle began to fall. Watching the scenery blur past the window, her gaze was as still as stagnant water.

This was her fault.

Seeing Ji Tingzhou like that had made her realize—

What Ji Xi’s drug was, how dirty it might be—none of that mattered anymore.

All that mattered was that she never wanted to see him suffer like that again.

Her knuckles cracked as she clenched her fists.

Ji Nian stared at her reflection in the glass, wiping away a stray tear without blinking.

...

In his lab, Ji Xi watched a bubbling beaker, an adult hunched beside him, clutching a notebook with feverish admiration.

"Young Master Ji, if this succeeds, it’ll be the perfect counter to that healing agent!"

At first, he’d scoffed at the idea of a 14-year-old prodigy—just hype, he thought. But after witnessing Ji Xi’s experiments, he realized how wrong he’d been.

The world claimed the genius had fallen from grace because of the healing agent. But if he were a fraud, why would the government assign guards to protect him? Did they think everyone was stupid?

Normally, Ji Xi reveled in such praise. Today, he stayed silent.

He knew that even if he managed to produce a finished product, it still couldn’t compare to that restorative potion.

The flawed data they had obtained was only for the most basic version—from what he knew, the 01 formula was far more miraculous.

That mysterious pharmacist from the Ji family was truly exceptional, so much so that even someone like him, who specialized in toxins, couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.

Thinking of the Ji family, Ji Xi inevitably recalled the girl he had glimpsed that day when leaving the resort.

Just the thought of her made his chest inexplicably warm. How strange.

Why was he feeling this way?

Maybe he’d find time to ask Mom about it later.

As he pondered this, someone entered—his head of security.

The man spoke gravely, “There’s a kid named Ji Nian outside asking to see you.”

Hearing that name, Ji Xi whipped his head around.

Ji Nian?

How did she know where he lived? And why was she seeking him out?

His plans had only ever targeted Ji Tingzhou; he hadn’t accounted for Ji Nian. For a moment, he was at a loss.

Should he see her?

The answer surged through his veins, leaving no room for doubt.

“Tell… tell her to wait. I need to change.”

He pulled off his gloves, shrugged out of his coat, and hurried out, barely containing his excitement.

After changing and tidying himself up, Ji Xi stared into the mirror, forcing his expression into one of cool arrogance to mask the thrill bubbling inside.

Finally, he descended the stairs, tilting his chin slightly as he regarded the figure seated below. “What are you doing here?” he called out, voice laced with deliberate haughtiness.

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