The Scheming Ex-Husband's Courtship-Chapter 602 - 523: Live in My House

Chapter 602: Chapter 523: Live in My House
"What should I do then?" Jian Si was at her wit’s end, and he was her lifeline.
After a moment of silence, Nan Zhan leisurely answered her, "Move in with me."
"What?" Jian Si blinked, doubting whether she and he were actually talking about the same thing.
"Any doubts?"
Nonsense, how could she not have doubts? Getting rid of suspicion and moving in with him were completely unrelated matters.
"Miss Jian, I think you are in no position to negotiate, you don’t have the grounds to dictate terms with me."
"Mr. Nan." Jian Si suddenly looked at him solemnly, with a relentless resolve: "I would rather go to jail than accept your... your...."
Nan Zhan raised an eyebrow, almost laughing, a sarcastic curve deepening at the corners of his mouth as he sized her up: "Miss Jian, I think, even if I were looking for a woman, I probably wouldn’t choose someone with... a flat figure like Miss Jian."
Jian Si was rendered speechless by his remark and could only glare at him, fuming.
Nan Zhan held the steering wheel, his knuckles rhythmically tapping, "I’m taking you back home now."
"I... I’m not going back." Jian Si hurriedly shrank back. Having found a corpse in her home, even if she were fed the courage of bears and leopards, she wouldn’t dare continue living there. Plus, she didn’t know why the murderer hid a body there or when the body was placed. Who was the deceased? Did they have any connection to her? Moreover, to mask the decaying smell of the corpse, the murderer had soaked it in Formalin, which was painstakingly thoughtful.
"Considering Miss Jian’s current situation, where do you plan to live with Zhengzheng?"
Jian Si had thought about this issue. She originally planned to temporarily live at Jian Hedong’s home with Zhengzheng, but she didn’t have time to shuttle Zhengzheng to and from school, and her uncle’s place was too far from nearby schools.
She had also considered renting a new apartment here, but renting an apartment isn’t something that can be done from one day to the next.
"It just so happens that I have rented an apartment in this complex, it’s spacious enough, and I am Miss Jian’s guarantor. According to regulations, Miss Jian has to be available on call during her bail period." Nan Zhan looked at her gradually reddening face, the smirk curving wider on his lips, "Miss Jian, I’m not as loathsome as you think."
After hearing his explanation, Jian Si felt deeply ashamed of her earlier thoughts. It seemed she had misunderstood him, so she quietly said, "I’m sorry."
"Alright, now tell me, when was that wall last repaired?" Nan Zhan lit a cigarette and began to smoke slowly.
Jian Si remembered this matter very clearly, she didn’t need to recall much: "I rented this house five years ago. The landlord went abroad for study, and I transfer the rent to her account every six months."
"Has she ever come back during these five years?"
"She returned once, but that was already two years ago."
"Hmm, go on."
Jian Si clenched her clothes, lips drying as she spoke: "Half a year ago, I noticed cracks in the wall. I feared the plaster falling might hurt children, so I hired a worker to repair it."
"Where did you find this worker?"
"North of the complex, there’s a market. At the entrance of the market, many casual workers look for jobs, and I found someone from there."
"Do you remember what they looked like?"
"I do."
Nan Zhan slightly frowned: "After half a year, you still remember a worker who fixed your wall?"
"Yes." Jian Si nodded, "I remember clearly."
"Let’s go," Nan Zhan started the car, "to find that worker."
At three o’clock in the afternoon, the hottest time of the day, there weren’t many customers in the market; most vendors were idly eating ice cream and sitting by fans.
At the entrance, many workers as Jian Si described sat, with plaques next to them listing their skills: wallpapering, plastering, flooring, etc.
"Sir, madam, do you need any renovations at home?" On seeing the pair, several workers quickly gathered around, eagerly asking.
Nan Zhan whispered to her, "Find the person."
Jian Si gently nodded, her gaze sweeping over each of their faces, but eventually, she shook her head: "No."
"There’s a high turnover here, the person who fixed your wall might have moved on," Nan Zhan remarked. "Where is there another renovation market nearby?"
"There’s one, three stops away from here."
In one afternoon, Nan Zhan took Jian Si to several renovation markets and related places, seeing countless renovation workers, but none were the person Jian Si was looking for.
"Mr. Nan, I need to pick up Zhengzheng from school." Something like that had happened at her home; she couldn’t let him return there, and moreover, that place as a crime scene had been sealed off by the police.
"Which school is he at?"
Jian Si looked at him incredulously. Was he really going to go with her to pick up Zhengzheng?
~
Zhengzheng clearly didn’t expect to see Nan Zhan again. He truly admired this older brother figure.
When Nan Zhan saw him, his tightly furrowed brow relaxed slightly, his expression becoming complex and difficult to read.
"Sis, why aren’t we going home?" Zhengzheng got into Nan Zhan’s car.
Jian Si asked him to mention a few essentials. She planned to retrieve them from the room, which was the crime scene. Taking anything from there would require inspection and approval. She didn’t understand the procedure, but fortunately, Nan Zhan was there. The police recognized him and naturally gave him face.
Jian Si didn’t intend to hide it from him. In other children’s eyes, this situation was truly bloody and horrifying, but in Zhengzheng’s eyes, there was no fear at all, only an agitated heart.
"A body? In our house?" Zhengzheng raised his voice, "How was it discovered?"
Jian Si hesitated for a moment; she surely couldn’t say it was because Nan Zhan jokingly knocked on the wall and ended up finding a body, could she? If he hadn’t knocked on the wall, would that body have "accompanied" them inside the wall forever?
The thought made Jian Si’s hair stand on end once again, a cold shiver running down her spine and causing her to tightly grasp Zhengzheng’s hand.
"Sis, you don’t need to be afraid. This body appeared just so we could seek justice for her," Zhengzheng comforted her like a little adult, patting her hand.
Nan Zhan looked at him through the rearview mirror and remained silent.
After a series of procedures, Jian Si finally took a bag out of the house. She wore gloves and shoe covers as required by the police, and under several watchful eyes, she quickly grabbed some essentials, then went through another series of checks and photography before they let her go with a few items related to the case.
Jian Si knew that these people were completely giving face to Nan Zhan; otherwise, she could never have taken such a large bag from a crime scene.
She dared not look at the wall section now cordoned off by the police tape. Every glance made her feel as if a pair of eyes were continually staring at her—eyes that had not closed in death.
Several neighbors gathered at the door, all curiously looking this way and that. Seeing her come out, someone asked: "Jian Si, what happened? I heard there was a murder?"
"Jian Si, did you kill someone?"
"Impossible, if it were Jian Si, could she still go in and out so nonchalantly?"
Jian Si smiled at everyone and then followed Nan Zhan down the stairs.
~
Nan Zhan really did rent an apartment here, a three-bedroom layout, a fair distance from Jian Si’s place. It was built later, a small high-rise with an elevator, one of the more luxurious residences in this area. The inside was redecorated, everything brand new.
"This is my room. You two can choose the other two," said Nan Zhan as he pushed open his room door and went to change clothes.
Zhengzheng put down his bag, happily surveying the room: "Sis, big brother’s home is really big."
He ran to the bathroom, pushed the door open and exclaimed, "Wow, the bathroom is so big, and there’s even a washing machine, Sis, you don’t have to hand wash clothes anymore."
"Zhengzheng, don’t run around." Jian Si pulled him back to her side. "We are only staying here temporarily until I find a place to move into."
"Sis, I’ll take this room, and you can have the bigger one." Zhengzheng excitedly walked in, surprised to find a huge bookshelf crammed with books in the room, "I want to ask big brother if I can read these books."
"Go wash your hands first." Jian Si took out his pajamas from the bag. "Change your clothes, don’t get his things dirty."
Zhengzheng obediently changed his clothes and went to wash his hands.
Jian Si stood still, surveying the place. This clearly looked uninhabited, and someone like Nan Zhan wouldn’t choose to live in such an out-of-the-way and backward place. The only possibility was it had something to do with the naked corpse case in the well he was investigating—he rented this place to better understand the crime scene.
Jian Si suddenly had a flash of inspiration in her mind, she couldn’t hold back, turned around, and ran towards Nan Zhan’s room. Perhaps too excited, she barged in without knocking: "Nan Zhan..."
The scene before her left Jian Si completely stunned, the evening light filtering through the gap in the curtains threw a ray into the room,
Nan Zhan, hearing the door open, in contrast to the flustered Jian Si, calmly picked up a home outfit and put it on, "Does it look good?"
Jian Si immediately felt overwhelmingly embarrassed and closed the door with a bang.
"Sis, why is your face red?" Zhengzheng drifted past her and headed to the kitchen, evidently, the little guy’s exploration was not yet complete.
Jian Si touched her face that felt as if it had been cooked, burning hot.
Soon, the door behind her was pulled open, and a casually dressed Nan Zhan in a white T-shirt and sports pants walked out calmly: "What were you trying to tell me just now?"