In the end, Yan Ming didn’t even know how he had pulled Yu Tian along in a mad dash to the parking lot. The two of them tacitly flew into the car quickly, then escaped from the school like fugitives.

Sure enough, as soon as they got in the car, the counselor called both of them repeatedly.

Yan Ming rubbed his forehead and looked at Yu Tian: “You answer.”

Yu Tian bit her finger: “I don’t want to. I won’t answer.”

Yan Ming had no choice but to take a deep breath and answer the phone. Because he forgot to turn off auto-connect, the car’s Bluetooth automatically connected, and the counselor’s confused and puzzled voice rang out in the car—

“Yan Ming, where did you and Yu Tian disappear to? Where did you go?”

“Teacher Zhang, there’s an emergency surgery at the hospital. I don’t have time to explain in detail. Yu Tian also has some urgent matters, so I’m giving her a ride back to the city.”

The counselor didn’t suspect anything and immediately said caringly: “Then be careful on the road, hurry and go. Patients come first.”

Almost as soon as Yan Ming hung up, Yu Tian started laughing. She looked at Yan Ming meaningfully.

Yan Ming frowned at her: “What do you want to say?”

Yu Tian shook her head.

Yan Ming pressed his lips together: “Then where do you want to go?”

Yu Tian answered almost without thinking: “To Bar Street!”

At this answer, Yan Ming couldn’t help raising his voice slightly: “You want to go drinking?”

Bar Street was a very lively commercial district in Rong City. The entire street was filled with various themed boutique bars, a veritable paradise for romantic encounters.

Yu Tian lifted her eyelids: “You won’t go?” After saying this, she made a gesture to pull open the car door and get out, “If you won’t go, then I’ll go by myself or find someone else to accompany me.”

Yan Ming didn’t let her get out. Instead, he directly locked the car doors.

He coughed lightly, his gaze directed at the steering wheel, his voice slightly unnatural: “I’ll go with you then. I don’t have anything else to do anyway, and we’ve already run out this far.”

But Yu Tian took advantage and acted coy: “Huh? Didn’t you say the hospital has an emergency surgery with a patient waiting for you immediately?”

“…”

She muttered, “Some people are good at lying. When they lie, they don’t blush or skip a heartbeat, so composed. It feels like being their girlfriend would be dangerous in the future – even checking up on them wouldn’t reveal the truth. Their skills are too advanced.”

“…”

Yan Ming was almost amused by her anger: “Who did I lie to?”

Yu Tian blinked and stopped talking.

“Little ungrateful wolf.”

“…”

Yan Ming pressed his lips together and added concisely: “The kind that can’t be tamed.”

“…”

Yu Tian showed a fierce expression, glaring at Yan Ming, but she quickly gave up.

“Not glaring at me anymore?” Yan Ming drove while looking straight ahead very naturally and calmly, “You know you were wrong, right?”

“No.” Yu Tian said honestly, “My eyes are just tired. Glaring is exhausting.”

“…”

Yan Ming parked the car in a parking lot one street away from Bar Street, then walked toward Bar Street with Yu Tian, one in front of the other.

But keeping such a short distance from Yu Tian resulted in single men on Bar Street coveting her. Various types of men kept approaching Yu Tian naturally or unnaturally, trying to strike up conversations and accompany her.

Yu Tian had put her stilettos back on. Her figure was tall and slender, with a full bust, narrow waist, and long legs, bright eyes, and white teeth.

Yan Ming had no choice but to walk beside Yu Tian.

The man trying to chat her up showed an awkward expression: “Your boyfriend?”

Yu Tian smiled welcomingly: “No.”

“Then he’s…”

Yan Ming pressed his lips together, his expression not looking good: “I’m her older brother.”

With things said to this extent, normal people should have the sense to leave, but Bar Street was precisely where drunk men with slow thinking were most abundant. This man, trying to chat her up cheerfully, reached up to try to shake Yan Ming’s hand: “Then you’re my brother too! Bro!”

“…”

Yan Ming showed a speechless and disgusted expression. Yu Tian couldn’t help laughing loudly on the side.

But Yu Tian didn’t get to laugh for long, because soon after dismissing the man trying to chat her up, Yan Ming stepped forward and directly grabbed Yu Tian’s hand, holding it as he walked ahead expressionlessly.

His cold, hard aura and intimate gesture quickly made the surrounding men trying to chat her up keep their distance.

Yu Tian wanted to break free, but unfortunately, Yan Ming’s grip was firm and wouldn’t let go. He turned to give Yu Tian a warning look: “Settle down.”

“Which bar do you want to enter?” Yan Ming looked very unaccustomed to Bar Street’s noisy background music and various sounds. “How long do you want to stay here?”

Although he disliked the environment here, Yan Ming held Yu Tian’s hand tightly with no intention of leaving, occasionally giving warning looks to a few men who were eager to try approaching Yu Tian.

Yu Tian’s heartbeat quickened a bit: “Any bar is fine. I’m just buying alcohol.” She also wanted to quickly leave Bar Street now – this place made her nervous and abnormal too, and Yan Ming still wouldn’t let go of her hand.

In the end, due to Yan Ming’s interference, Yu Tian only managed to buy one fruit-flavored cocktail and several cans of limited low-alcohol beer.

She smiled and leaned close to Yan Ming’s ear: “I’ll take you to my secret base.”

After saying this, Yu Tian decided not to make things difficult for Yan Ming anymore. She took his hand and led him into the small alley behind Bar Street, then navigated the twists and turns with practiced ease, finally arriving at a wide lake.

Yan Ming didn’t know that the end of this small alley connected to a lake. At this moment, tree shadows swayed, and moonlight was like water.

Although Bar Street was bustling and lively, with noise that could be here, it was all just background sound. Apart from this background noise, there were no other sounds by the lake, only occasional water birds flying past.

Yu Tian became happy again. She kicked off her high heels, opened a can of beer, and spun in a circle on the lawn by the lake, making her formal dress skirt swirl completely open like a flower blooming in the night.

She looked at Yan Ming with bright eyes: “How is it? This place is nice, right?”

“Mm.”

Yan Ming rarely didn’t objected. He sat down and refused the beer Yu Tian offered him: “I have to drive.”

“You could call a designated driver.” Yu Tian muttered, then started drinking by herself.

Perhaps it was the night that made people’s hearts fragile, or maybe alcohol made people numb and easier to approach, or more likely, it was this atmosphere that made people want to confide.

Yu Tian silently finished one can of beer. Looking at her injured hand, she couldn’t help feeling sad again: “I discovered this place after I was discharged from the hospital with my hand injury.”

She turned to look at Yan Ming: “Even if you screamed here, no one would hear you, because Bar Street is not far away. This small alley is about to be demolished, and all the residents have moved away.”

Yu Tian took a deep breath: “When I was first injured, I really couldn’t accept it at all. My dream had always been to become a successful surgical expert, but suddenly that dream was shattered. Even picking up chopsticks to eat became very difficult.”

Yan Ming pressed his lips together, as if he didn’t know what to comfort her with: “You’re very strong.”

“Not at all.” Yu Tian smiled. Alcohol made her bold and direct, no longer understanding the need to hide emotions as required by social safety, “I came here alone to cry every day back then.”

“Actually, by then it wasn’t the pain of not being able to perform complex, delicate surgeries anymore, but fear – fear that for the rest of my life, my hand wouldn’t recover and I would truly become a disabled person.”

Yu Tian opened another beer and started drinking: “Back then, I really couldn’t even eat freely. The wound wasn’t healing well, it was painful and itchy, and I cried terribly.”

“The most miserable time was when my left hand also got injured accidentally. When I was crying and instinctively wanted to wipe my tears with my right hand out of habit, I realized I couldn’t because it was still injured. I couldn’t wipe away my tears. Neither hand could wipe tears, so I could only let tears and snot mess up my face, then went home like that.”

Although it was all in the past, and Yu Tian even felt she could recall it calmly, talking about these things still made her heart feel like someone was choking her neck and covering her mouth and nose.

This was her secret base after all. No one else knew about it, and no one else had been here. Even if she cried here until she was gasping for breath, no matter how embarrassing it was, only she would know anyway.

Because Yan Ming was sitting not far from her was too quiet, and her thinking became sluggish after drinking, Yu Tian directly forgot about Yan Ming’s presence.

Thinking of sad things, she couldn’t help crying again.

It started as quiet sobbing, but later Yu Tian lost emotional control and broke into loud wailing.

The composure she had shown in front of Chen Ming was just bravado – Yu Tian wasn’t as accepting of her hand injury as she appeared.

The disability of her hand brought her not only many inconveniences in daily life and changes in her career trajectory, but also self-consciousness and sensitivity.

She cried without restraint for a while. Just as she was about to wipe her face with her hand, another hand reached toward her face first, fingers long with distinct joints, carrying dry warmth, fingertips gently brushing away the tears that had accumulated and were rolling down from under her eyes.

“If you can’t wipe them yourself, can’t you ask someone else to help you wipe them?”

Yan Ming’s voice was very light, as if it would scatter with a blow from the night wind. His movements were somewhat clumsy but very careful. His gaze only swept across Yu Tian’s face for a moment before moving away, his voice somewhat unnatural: “Stop crying. It’s not that terrible. There are plenty of people willing to help you wipe your tears.”

Yu Tian followed the sound and looked over, finally realizing that Yan Ming was still there.

But Yan Ming didn’t look at her, only staring at the lake: “And your hand has recovered quite well now. Daily life isn’t greatly affected anymore, right?”

That may be true, but…

“But my hand has become so ugly, the scar is so long and big and prominent…”

“It’s fine if your hand is ugly.” Yan Ming cleared his throat, “Men don’t look at hands.”

Yu Tian’s head was getting a bit dizzy from the alcohol. She realized Yan Ming was trying to comfort her, but instinctively felt his way of comforting seemed a bit off…

Sure enough, this man coughed again and said, enlighteningly: “Men look at faces.”

“As long as you’re pretty, that’s enough.”

Yu Tian stared wide-eyed: “…”

Yan Ming seemed a bit irritated by her stare: “Stop staring at me.” He turned to look at Yu Tian, then quickly looked away toward the lake, “I mean you’re quite pretty, so you don’t need to worry too much about other things.”

Drunk people like to be unreasonable, and Yu Tian was no exception. After being stunned for a moment, she pouted: “You’re just trying to placate me. You’re so good at lying.”

“…” Yan Ming rubbed his forehead, not planning to continue tangling with a drunk person.

But when he didn’t speak or respond, Yu Tian immediately got angry: “See! You were just brushing me off! As soon as I point out that you’re lying, you won’t even refute it!”

“I wasn’t lying. You’re pretty.” Yan Ming had never been cornered like this, even when facing difficult major surgeries. He could only refute according to Yu Tian’s demands, “I wasn’t placating you. Why would I placate you? Are you my wife?”

This time, Yu Tian finally seemed to settle down. She stayed quiet without speaking, and her expression seemed to calm down, too.

Yan Ming breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Yu Tian had sobered up a bit. She looked like her emotions had calmed down.

Bar Street was still lively, but the night wind had already carried a hint of coolness, and the grass was covered with night dew.

It was getting late.

Yan Ming stood up and extended his hand toward Yu Tian, who was still sitting by the lake in a daze: “Let’s go. I’ll take you home.”

Actually, after extending his hand, Yan Ming felt somewhat regretful.

It seemed too intimate.

He had already gotten too close to Yu Tian tonight, but they didn’t even have any relationship anymore.

This would be the last time.

She was drunk, and he had an obligation to safely take her home – this was what any normal man should do.

Yan Ming looked away, not looking at his hand or Yu Tian’s face, warning himself internally – pull her up, then take her to the car, send her to her front door, and then it would be over.

But after waiting a moment, no other hand grasped his extended hand.

Yan Ming frowned slightly and looked down, only to discover Yu Tian was looking up at him. When she caught Yan Ming’s gaze, she raised her head even higher, completely exposing her fragile, fair neck to Yan Ming’s view, like a deer so innocent it wasn’t afraid to show its throat to a tiger.

It was also then that Yan Ming realized Yu Tian’s face was flushed from drinking.

At this moment, her snow-white cheeks had been steamed by alcohol into many shades of red. When mixed with her skin tone, it became an ambiguous pink, like cherry blossom petals. Her eyes had become like a little deer’s – wet, pure, and as if she had never seen humans before and didn’t know to fear them, so she could boldly and directly look into someone’s eyes.

But Yu Tian was drunk, while Yan Ming was not.

She had become fearless, brave, unconcerned about consequences, and had forgotten safe social distance and etiquette, but Yan Ming couldn’t. Under Yu Tian’s gaze, his eyes became evasive, and he almost immediately looked away in defeat.

Unfortunately, Yu Tian had no self-awareness at all.

She just sat on the grass acting spoiled, completely ignoring Yan Ming’s hand, only staring at him with a helpless yet stubborn expression.

“I can’t stand up anymore.”

She faced Yan Ming fearlessly and muttered, “I’m dizzy and have no strength.”

Yan Ming rubbed his forehead: “Yu Tian, it’s very late. Do you want to stay here alone?”

Unfortunately, drunk people have no reason, and Yan Ming’s attempt to persuade her was completely ineffective.

Yu Tian nodded vigorously and slowly at Yan Ming: “Mm. It’s cool here, and I’m so sleepy.”

As if she were very sleepy, while saying this, her eyelids started to close, showing every intention of actually sleeping on the grass. She even casually waved at Yan Ming: “Goodbye, good night, I’m going to sleep.”

Looking at Yu Tian’s gesture of trying to dismiss him, Yan Ming was almost amused to anger.

“You can’t sleep here. Get up, I’ll take you home.”

Yan Ming had to bend down, pull one of Yu Tian’s hands, and wrap his arm around her waist, trying to help her walk together. Unfortunately, Yu Tian seemed extremely lazy. Even though she could walk with assistance, she was too lazy to even try, just leaning all her body weight on Yan Ming.

When Yan Ming glared at her, she just looked back at him innocently. Her rose-colored lips parted slightly, her voice soft, carrying unconscious charm and roguishness: “Can’t walk.”

Yan Ming had no choice at all.

In just this short time, Yu Tian had automatically slid down from Yan Ming’s body again, then was about to lie back down on the grass.

She completely gave up and started acting spoiled: “I’m not walking. Either you carry me on your back.”

Yan Ming refused without thinking: “No.”

Just as he was about to encourage Yu Tian to walk by herself, he heard Yu Tian staring at him say: “Oh, sorry, I forgot – you’re older than me, after all you’re getting old, maybe your back isn’t too good and you can’t carry me.”

“…”

Yan Ming stared at her for a moment, finally took a deep breath, and could only squat down.

“Get on.”

He turned back and pulled Yu Tian’s hand once, “I’m plenty young, I’ll carry you. I can carry you. The ground is cold.”

Although the process took some time, in the end, Yan Ming successfully got Yu Tian on his back.

What comforted him slightly was that Yu Tian was very light, so walking wasn’t strenuous for him. It was just that the parking lot was somewhat far from here – they had to cross several streets.

After getting on his back, Yu Tian had become drowsy and fallen asleep, no longer making trouble, so Yan Ming could only resignly carry her forward.

But Yan Ming didn’t expect that when they reached the busy commercial district, Yu Tian, who had been quiet and well-behaved on his back, suddenly woke up.

But she had just woken up, not sobered up.

Her thinking was still completely soaked and controlled by alcohol. Her movement to lift her head was very slow, and her hanging hair kept falling into Yan Ming’s neck, accompanied by Yu Tian’s drowsy movements that seemed like she was playing pranks on Yan Ming.

Yan Ming couldn’t help warning: “Yu Tian, don’t move around.”

Yu Tian indeed stopped moving. Her face became even redder, her eyes clearly showing drunkenness. She buried her face in Yan Ming’s shoulder, her lips so close to Yan Ming’s profile that he could even feel the subtle vibrations in the air when she spoke.

Her voice became soft and innocent: “Why so slow?”

After Yu Tian muttered several times, Yan Ming finally clearly heard what she was complaining about—

“Didn’t you say you’d drive me home?” She hummed and whined, “Your driving skills aren’t very good. Why are you driving so slowly?”

While talking, she also randomly pointed at bicycles passing by them on the street: “Slower than bicycles. Can you do it or not, Yan Ming?”

After getting drunk, she was too lazy to hide anything. Gone was the usual calculated “Big Brother Yan Ming” – only the direct address “Yan Ming” remained.

Yan Ming pressed his lips together, not arguing with a drunk person, just simply explaining: “Yu Tian, we haven’t reached the parking lot yet. I’m carrying you on my back.”

Unfortunately, Yu Tian seemed to completely ignore Yan Ming’s words, still complaining on her own about Yan Ming’s poor driving skills and slow speed.

“But when I rode in your car before, I never saw you drive this badly.” Although drunk, Yu Tian seemed to retain some rational thinking ability in certain areas. She seemed to analyze with great effort: “Oh! I know! Did you change cars? This car doesn’t work!”

Probably to verify her idea, she even patted Yan Ming’s “car.”

“It’s quite comfortable to sit in, though. The seat is soft, and it even has seat heating. Why does it drive so slowly?”

Yan Ming was completely at a loss. He tried to explain, but Yu Tian was drunk with her logic. She started urging—

“Yan Ming, drive faster, step on the gas pedal. Look, there are no cars in front of you…”

Yu Tian started chattering away on Yan Ming’s shoulder, “directing” him, showing every intention of not stopping until Yan Ming followed her suggestions.

Yan Ming pressed his lips together, gave up explaining to Yu Tian, and just calmly went along with her words: “This road has a speed limit.”

After being arrogant for so long, Yu Tian immediately became obedient after hearing this. She quickly accepted this explanation: “Okay then.”

At times like this, indeed, only magic could defeat magic.

But just as Yan Ming had barely relaxed, Yu Tian, on his back, raised her head again: “I know why you can’t drive fast now. Look at that car in front of you – why does it keep blocking our way?”

Yan Ming followed Yu Tian’s gaze forward. What car was this? It was just a couple walking while embracing and kissing affectionately.

“Change lanes!”

This time Yan Ming was much calmer. He explained expressionlessly: “This is a solid line. Can’t change lanes.”

Yu Tian indeed settled down for a few seconds, but soon she came up with new mischief: “Then honk your horn! The car in front is too slow, really inconsiderate. At this rate, the main road will get jammed!”

Although Yu Tian was somewhat drunk, her voice wasn’t small. After several back-and-forths like this, several couples of passersby walking beside Yan Ming had already looked over at him.

Under various inquiring and curious gazes, Yan Ming looked straight ahead, maintaining his calm tone: “The car horn is broken.”

“Ah…” Yu Tian made a disappointed sound, then quickly became proactive: “Then I’ll help you shout!”

After saying this, she made every gesture of opening her throat: “Let…”

Yan Ming quickly stopped her with quick eyes and hands: “Don’t shout. If they get startled, it could easily cause an accident.”

Yu Tian obediently settled down, but still muttered discontentedly, “How did it break? Are you kidding me, Yan Ming? Even the car horn is broken – what kind of junker is this? Where’s your original car?”

Yan Ming no longer felt any psychological burden and could even answer fluently without changing expression. He said concisely: “Sold it.”

Unfortunately, drunk Yu Tian became relentless: “Then why did you sell your previous car and switch to this current junker?”

“Ran out of money.”

Yan Ming just answered casually, but unexpectedly, after this response, Yu Tian, who had been somewhat chatty, suddenly stopped talking.

She lay quietly and obediently on Yan Ming’s shoulder. Just when Yan Ming thought she had fallen asleep again from drunkenness, he heard her voice again—

“I’m sorry.”

Yu Tian’s voice was tearful: “I didn’t realize that to pay that hundred thousand for charity donation, you even sold your car…”

Yan Ming felt some indescribable emotions welling up in his heart. Just as he was about to comfort Yu Tian, telling her that one hundred thousand wouldn’t affect his quality of life, he heard Yu Tian continue—

“It’s okay if you sold your car. Driving a junker is fine, too. But Yan Ming, you must promise me – you can sell your car, but you can’t sell yourself, understand?”

“I know you’re very handsome, but you still need to hold onto your principles…”

“…”

Yan Ming decided he shouldn’t be moved so easily.

Not worth it.

But just as he was about to set aside the small stirring in his heart, he heard Yu Tian continue—

“If you don’t have enough money, you can come to me. I’ll give you money…”

She was seriously drunk, completely forgetting that although Yan Ming’s main job wasn’t in a high-earning industry, he came from a wealthy family and had already won at the starting line. From birth, he had already had trust funds and didn’t care whether a doctor’s work paid well or not – people at his level of wealth no longer considered income when choosing careers, only their preferences and sense of life value.

Yan Ming finally couldn’t help but curve his lips: “You’ll give me money? How much money can you give me? Can you even support yourself now? And you want to support me too?”

“I don’t eat much. If you also eat a little less, I think I can still support us!”

Unexpectedly, Yu Tian seriously argued back. Though confused while lying on Yan Ming’s back, she seemed very shrewd when calculating accounts.

Yan Ming listened to her explain how much vegetables cost per bundle now, how much various beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and fish cost per pound, when markets and supermarkets had discounts, and where fruits were both fresh and cheap.

Such mundane topics could easily become vulgar if spoken by someone else, but Yu Tian was different. When she talked about these things, her tone was full of pride and satisfaction. Yan Ming could see her bright, sparkling eyes reflected in the glass windows along the street.

Like a little dog that would show off its ability to chase its tail.

A bit silly, but also a bit cute.

The night wind brought evening coolness, moonlight was hazy, and everything was soft and gentle. The streets of the busy commercial district were bright with neon lights, and groups of young people had eager, passionate desires on their faces.

There were sounds of car horns, cicadas in trees, and noisy human voices.

And the sound of Yan Ming’s suddenly loud and fast heartbeat.