When Yu Tian heard that Yan Ming was free tonight, although she didn’t want to admit it, she truly felt relieved inside, with a sense of being saved.

Having someone accompany her to deal with this matter was wonderful.

Yu Tian could remain calm and composed when facing her problems, but this involved her mother. She was anxious while also becoming panicked and at a loss, unable to believe this was real, yet finding things suspicious in all the details.

Fortunately, Yan Ming quickly took off his white coat, changed into casual clothes, and took Yu Tian to the parking garage.

Yu Tian quickly input Old Dai’s house address into the navigation. Luckily, the place wasn’t far from the hospital.

Yan Ming drove quietly the whole way while Yu Tian began calling her mother’s phone. As if her anxiety wasn’t enough, Ms. Song Chunxiang’s phone never picked up.

The closer they got to Old Dai’s house, the more nervous and heavy Yu Tian’s mood became.

She still couldn’t reach her mother.

When they rushed to the door and started knocking, discovering there was no response from inside at all, Yu Tian’s heart began to sink.

Because of the loud commotion, no one came to open the door from inside, but they did startle the neighbors—

“Young lady, this family went out. No one’s home.”

Not home—then where could they be?

Yu Tian was truly at her wits’ end now.

Should they just wait here at the door?

But would Old Dai bring her mother back? What had happened to her mother?

Yu Tian felt like someone walking a tightrope who had been steadily walking halfway when suddenly becoming dizzy and uncertain, as if only now realizing she was above a bottomless abyss where one mistake would cost her life.

Was Mom safe? What kind of person was Old Dai? Did Mom truly understand him? Did she understand him?

Yu Tian felt like someone at a cruise party who accidentally fell into the sea—the cruise ship had already left, she looked around helplessly, and even if she called for help, no one would know.

But she hadn’t expected that in her most helpless moment, someone would turn back, like driving a small rescue raft with a lantern through surging waves and night, tirelessly searching for her, throwing her a life ring and hope.

“Do you know where Dai Xin lives? Go find Dai Xin.”

Yan Ming grabbed Yu Tian’s hand, as if pulling her up from deep waters. He gently touched Yu Tian’s cheek to bring her back to awareness, then stared into her eyes, saying word by word: “Don’t panic yet. I’ll help you find your mother.”

His voice was calm, his appearance always handsome and convincing, carrying persuasive power like bright moonlight—not scorching, but gentle and firm. Yu Tian’s panicked heart finally gradually calmed down and began beating at a different frequency.

That’s right—she didn’t know where Old Dai might go, but Dai Xin might know.

Yu Tian finally slowly calmed down: “Dai Xin lives in his studio. I know where it is.”

Yan Ming said nothing, only pulled Yu Tian quickly back to the car and drove toward Dai Xin’s studio location.

Dai Xin was indeed at his studio. Seeing Yu Tian, he was stunned: “Xiao Yu?”

He looked at Yu Tian with surprise, and even more surprisingly at Yan Ming behind her.

Yu Tian was out of breath from running and couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries. She got straight to the point: “Brother Dai Xin, do you know where else your father has houses? My mom isn’t at their place. Do you know where they might have gone?”

Dai Xin was somewhat surprised: “What happened?”

“I can’t reach my mom. She went to the hospital today for ophthalmology—her eyes were severely bloodshot. I’m worried about her health.”

Dai Xin looked down: “Let me call my dad. I don’t know where they are either. I’ve been at the studio these past few days.”

As expected, the call Dai Xin made also went unanswered.

Yu Tian was somewhat disappointed but knew Dai Xin was indeed helpless.

Dai Xin poured tea for Yu Tian and Yan Ming, then apologized: “I’m having a nicotine craving. I’ll go outside for a smoke.”

Yu Tian naturally had no mind for tea and was about to leave when Yan Ming pulled her back. He blocked Dai Xin, who was about to go smoke.

“You know, don’t you?” Yan Ming’s tone was certain. “You know your father has violent tendencies.”

Dai Xin froze, his eyes beginning to evade: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“People with violent tendencies mainly take it out on family members. Your father hit you, didn’t he? Yu Tian said you moved out very young to live independently. Besides truly being for entrepreneurship, it was also to avoid your father, wasn’t it?”

Dai Xin’s early move and independent entrepreneurship—these were things Yu Tian had mentioned casually, but she hadn’t expected Yan Ming to remember them clearly and be able to analyze them calmly at this moment.

Almost as soon as Yan Ming finished speaking, Dai Xin’s face showed quite unnatural and evasive expressions.

This was most likely what Yan Ming had guessed correctly.

Yu Tian bit her lip and looked at Dai Xin: “Brother Dai Xin, is that true? Was my mother also beaten by your father?”

Faced with their questioning, Dai Xin finally gave in. He ran his hand through his hair and sat down dejectedly to one side.

This posture confirmed Yan Ming’s questioning. Yu Tian’s heart immediately jumped to her throat.

“Where is my mother?!”

“Probably taken by my dad to the old house.” Dai Xin looked at the ground, as if he no longer dared to look Yu Tian in the eye. “I’ll give you the address.”

Getting the address, Yu Tian didn’t linger at all, no time to question Dai Xin further. The urgent priority was to find her mother first and ensure her safety.

Yu Tian almost immediately followed Yan Ming to rush to the new location.

The address Dai Xin gave was in the suburbs—Old Dai’s demolition compensation house. Yu Tian almost immediately after getting out of the car rushed with Yan Ming to the front door.

She calmed her emotions, about to knock, when Yan Ming took the first step.

His voice was steady: “Delivery. Please open the door.”

Sure enough, soon after, Yu Tian heard footsteps, followed by Old Dai’s voice: “Didn’t order anything. Wrong address!”

“The sender is Dai Xin. The address is correct. This is your delivery. Please open the door to sign for it.”

Hearing Dai Xin’s name, Old Dai finally reluctantly opened the door.

At that moment, Yan Ming forcefully pushed open the door, and Yu Tian immediately shouted—

“Mom! Where are you? Come home with me!”

Old Dai hadn’t expected two people to suddenly appear and was somewhat stunned for a moment, allowing Yan Ming and Yu Tian to gain the advantage. By the time he reacted, Yu Tian had already pulled Song Chunxiang by the hand from the study and was walking out aggressively.

Without the cover of sunglasses, a hat, and a scarf, Yu Tian’s mother’s injuries were finally exposed to everyone’s view.

As expected, there were indeed obvious finger marks on her neck and bruises on her arms. Most shocking were Yu Tian’s mother’s eyes.

One right eye was completely red and swollen, unable to open, not just the scleral congestion Yan Ming had described.

After leaving the hospital and bringing Mom here, Old Dai had assaulted Yu Tian’s mother again.

Yu Tian’s heart was full of anger as she glared at Old Dai: “You dared to hit my mother!”

When things came to a head, Old Dai could still shift blame: “You can’t blame me for this. Ask your mother what she did.” He spoke righteously: “I was so good to her, accommodating her in everything, buying this and that for her. I even bought the best wedding jewelry, and we agreed to quickly get married. But your mother changed her mind and said she wouldn’t marry me.”

“Isn’t this a romance scammer? Claiming she’d marry me, taking my money, then trying to run.” Old Dai’s originally honest face was full of pretense. “I just love her too much, so I hit her in a moment of anger. But fundamentally, I just want to marry her too much. In my urgency, I acted this way. If she marries me, I’ll let bygones be bygones and still live well with her.”

“It’s your control obsession that’s too abnormal. Running my online store requires communicating with customers for pre-sales and after-sales, and communicating with suppliers about inventory. But you didn’t distinguish right from wrong—as long as it was a man, you wouldn’t let me contact them. At first, I accommodated you, practically abandoning several years of stable business I’d built up, but you still weren’t satisfied. You wanted me to delete all male contacts from my phone…”

Ms. Song Chunxiang held Yu Tian’s hand, looking at Yan Ming, who stood protectively in front of them, finally feeling less isolated and helpless, gaining more confidence.

Her attitude was very firm: “At first when dating you, you were indeed very good to me, but later I discovered that your kindness to me required reciprocation—requiring me to sacrifice myself, preferably cutting off all outside contact, obeying only you. You even controlled what color clothes I wore. I cannot live with such a person.”

Yu Tian hadn’t expected such huge hidden circumstances behind Old Dai’s apparent accommodation of her mother.

“We’ll return the wedding jewelry. For everything you bought my mother during your relationship and all the money you paid for her, make a list, and I’ll pay it all back. My mother doesn’t care about your petty money and won’t compromise herself to be controlled by you for such small change.”

“But the fact that you hit my mother—I won’t forgive that. We’ll report to police as needed and go through legal procedures.”

“My mother and you aren’t legally married—legally, you’re strangers. Now I’m taking my mother away. Don’t see each other again in the future.”

After these words, Old Dai indeed stopped pretending and immediately became twisted and clamorous: “Song Chunxiang, you wait! You want to run? No way! Don’t forget what I told you—if you don’t obey me properly, when I can’t find you, I’ll find your daughter. Don’t think I don’t know where she rents and lives. You two wait—this isn’t over!”

Fortunately, with Yan Ming as escort—he was tall with long legs, well-proportioned build, exercised regularly, appearing young and powerful—although Old Dai shouted and cursed, he ultimately didn’t dare act rashly or directly confront a young man like Yan Ming. Therefore, Yu Tian finally successfully took her mother away from Old Dai’s house.

Fortunately, Yan Ming was an ophthalmologist. He simply examined Yu Tian’s mother’s injured right eye, asked about symptoms, and immediately took Yu Tian’s mother to the ophthalmology department of his hospital.

“Traumatic iris root disinsertion, severe diplopia. Need iris root suturing. Hospitalize tonight, do surgical preparation, and operate as soon as possible in the next few days.”

Looking at her mother’s red, swollen eye, Yu Tian felt so terrible she almost cried. Actually, from the moment she saw her mother, she had almost been unable to maintain calm action due to pain and self-blame. Fortunately, Yan Ming had been with her throughout, taking her mother for examination, then arranging a hospital room and settling Ms. Song Chunxiang’s admission procedures.

“Yu Tian, it will be alright.”

In the parking lot, Yan Ming grabbed Yu Tian, who was absent-minded and about to cry: “Look into my eyes. It will be alright.”

“I’ll personally perform this surgery.” Under the night sky, Yan Ming’s eyes were focused and serious, carrying convincing power like bright moonlight, not scorching, but gentle and firm. “I guarantee it will be alright.”

It was fine when he didn’t speak, but once he did, all of Yu Tian’s accumulated suppression and distress from tonight burst forth. Her tears rolled down, but she didn’t dare cry freely, feeling embarrassed in front of Yan Ming. She could only keep her head down, randomly wiping tears while trying to divert attention: “Doctors shouldn’t guarantee surgical outcomes to patient families. If you do this with all patients, be careful—when post-surgical results aren’t ideal, they’ll all come make medical trouble.”

Yan Ming said nothing, just directly took Yu Tian to the car.

“Not to other patients.”

Halfway through the journey, when they stopped at a red light, Yan Ming glanced at Yu Tian.

“Only said this to you.”

Yu Tian was stunned for half a second before belatedly reacting. Her face flushed red, but fortunately, the moonlight’s cover allowed her to maintain a calm exterior.

At this moment, Yan Ming’s phone rang in the car.

Due to the earlier emergency, Yu Tian hadn’t paid attention, but she’d noticed Yan Ming’s phone had been ringing constantly tonight, as if someone was urgently trying to reach him about something.

They had just left the hospital, and Yu Tian knew there were no temporary emergencies at the hospital, so it was probably Yan Ming’s matter.

She glanced at Yan Ming’s phone screen and saw that the caller was Yan Ming’s father.

Yan Ming was holding the steering wheel and couldn’t answer conveniently, so he instructed Yu Tian: “Help me hang up.”

“It’s Uncle Yan’s call. Should you take it…”

But Yan Ming was very calm: “No need. If he can’t reach me after several tries, he’ll stop calling. My dad is used to this—he thinks I have emergency surgery and will understand.”

Yan Ming and Yu Tian used different phone models with different systems. Yu Tian was nervous and, while trying to hang up, accidentally swiped to unlock and answer.

Before she could ask Yan Ming for help, she heard Yan Wenhua’s angry roar from the other end—

“Didn’t you say the hospital had nothing tonight so you could attend the gathering? Why didn’t you come at the last minute! Your Chen Xi sister specially rushed back because she heard you were coming! But you suddenly stood us up, and when I asked your hospital colleagues, they said there was no emergency surgery tonight!”

“…”

Yu Tian looked at Yan Ming.

Yan Ming’s expression was somewhat awkward, but he finally took a deep breath: “Dad, I’m with a woman.”

He knew how to handle Yan Wenhua. Sure enough, hearing this, Yan Wenhua’s anger immediately dissipated: “Is she pretty?”

Yan Ming glanced at Yu Tian and said seriously, “Pretty.”

Yan Wenhua was delighted: “Alright, alright, then Dad won’t disturb you. Have a good date, have a good date.”

Yu Tian bit her lip. After Yan Wenhua hung up, she finally couldn’t help it: “Didn’t you say your dad’s dinner with his new girlfriend was canceled tonight?”

Caught in a lie on the spot, Yan Ming’s tone was quite calm and righteous: “So I should have accompanied my dad to dinner and let you cry alone at your doorstep?”

He lowered his voice: “And you still say you’re not an ungrateful little wolf.”

“…”

Yu Tian was suddenly speechless, not knowing how to counter.

She wanted to say something, but felt quite guilty, since she was indeed the beneficiary of Yan Ming’s broken appointment.

Fortunately, soon Yu Tian’s phone received a long apologetic message from Dai Xin, interrupting this subtly awkward situation.

In this message, Dai Xin explained the whole story’s cause and effect.

Only then did Yu Tian learn that Dai Xin’s mother wasn’t dead at all. Old Dai wasn’t some inspirational widowed single father character—he was just someone with excessively strong, pathological control obsessions. He had overwhelming control desires over family members, and once family members resisted or tried to escape control, he would become violent, escalating to physical conflicts and violent behavior. Dai Xin’s mother couldn’t stand it and divorced and ran away.

After Dai Xin’s mother left, Old Dai’s control and obsession were directed at Dai Xin. From childhood, he controlled Dai Xin’s every move. Dai Xin could only endure until adulthood when he could make money, and then he couldn’t wait to escape his father. But Old Dai’s unvented energy often made him go to Dai Xin’s studio, trying to interfere and control everything.

Under these circumstances, Dai Xin conceived the idea of transferring Old Dai’s control obsession, actively cooperating with his father’s performance in arranging blind dates. He appeared more excited than anyone about Old Dai’s remarriage because once Old Dai transferred his energy, Dai Xin gained unprecedented freedom and relaxation for the first time. He would be the biggest beneficiary of Old Dai’s remarriage.

But Dai Xin deliberately ignored what this relaxation and freedom stemmed from. He stopped caring about his father and Yu Tian’s mother’s subsequent interactions, thinking that by not asking or listening, some things wouldn’t exist, and if he didn’t know, he bore no fault.

“I’m sorry for using your mother. I’ve always felt very apologetic. Under self-deceptive brainwashing, I deliberately ignored some details and didn’t tell you about my father’s situation right away, harboring false hopes that maybe my father had truly reformed this time and would be good to your mother.”

“Because I felt so sorry, I also truly wanted to treat you like a real sister. I know saying this now is useless, but please let me compensate—you can continue using my studio team for free…”

Yu Tian didn’t want to read the rest of the message.

She was trembling with anger. What heavenly-sent affinity: “So Dai Xin being so good to me was all compensatory psychology born from guilt.”

“I blame myself for being stupid, calling him brother for so long for nothing! I want to curse him to death!”

“His team, the money he advanced for me—I don’t want any of it. I’ll return everything to him.”

Yan Ming didn’t seem surprised by Dai Xin’s behavioral logic. His voice was chilly: “I told you early on—where are there so many kind-hearted people in the world? Being good to you always has ulterior motives, especially after knowing each other for such a short time. Do you believe it now?”

That was true, but…

“Then you’re also quite good to me. What are you after…”

Yan Ming paused, pressed his lips together, looked away, and said unnaturally: “Who’s been good to you?”

“Didn’t you deliberately cancel your date with that Chen Xi sister to come help me find my mother?”

“No.” Yan Ming calmly denied it outright. “Your mother is my patient who left before finishing treatment. As a doctor, I can’t turn a blind eye to patient safety. I’m only acting based on my professional ethics—I couldn’t possibly stand by and do nothing.”

Yan Ming glanced at Yu Tian: “Besides, she’s not my sister.”

He added: “My dad hasn’t married her mother yet. How could I be like some people, eagerly acknowledging sisters?” Yan Ming glanced at Yu Tian. “Proper people don’t do such things.”

“…”

Yu Tian stopped talking. She thought to herself that Yan Ming held grudges, but her mood improved.

However, soon, due to Yan Ming’s next question, Yu Tian’s mood worsened again.

“Where should I drop you off at a hotel? Would the Hyatt work? It’s closer to your studio.”

To start her business, Yu Tian had already rented out the house she and her mother previously lived in. She couldn’t break faith and immediately evict the tenant family of three. The studio’s address was also known to Old Dai, and when leaving, that guy had threatened to make trouble at Yu Tian’s studio, telling her to be careful…

Although Yu Tian had already called the police, with her mother currently hospitalized, statements would have to be taken later, so the police station procedures couldn’t possibly respond so quickly to intervene in Old Dai’s behavior.

With such a pathologically violent control freak, who knew if those threats were real?

But knowing the risks, Yu Tian shouldn’t take chances.

So at least recently, she absolutely couldn’t stay at the studio.

Although she’d made some money from traffic sharing from educational programs, these savings had already been spent in the early startup phase. Moreover, she still had to repay the money Old Dai supposedly spent on her mother and settle accounts with Dai Xin for his free team loan, owing him not a penny or favor, cutting ties cleanly.

Calculating this way, finances would inevitably be tight.

Fortunately, Mom was already hospitalized, waiting for surgery. Yu Tian only needed to solve her temporary accommodation for the next few days.

Her university classmates were mostly still in graduate school, dormitories had strict management recently with no spare beds for her to crash, and several relatives in Rong City weren’t close enough to impose on.

Qi Sihao was working night shifts these days, his mother was traveling, leaving only his father at home—not suitable for staying over.

After thinking it through, Yu Tian planned to find a hotel near her studio for a few days and asked Yan Ming to drop her off near the studio.

But Yan Ming misunderstood the hotel class. Based on Yu Tian’s current finances, she obviously couldn’t afford five-star hotels like the Hyatt…

But Yan Ming had already stopped the car at the Hyatt entrance.

Yu Tian was too embarrassed to explain. She was a proud person and somewhat stubbornly didn’t want to lose face in front of Yan Ming, especially since tonight’s events had already made her feel ashamed and embarrassed enough.

She remembered her mother’s recent abnormal behavior, which she’d completely failed to notice due to being busy with entrepreneurship. She hadn’t seen the problems in the details, hadn’t noticed Old Dai’s unusual control obsessions from subtle signs, and hadn’t realized that after Mom moved in with him, her phone and external communications had gradually come under his control, slowly losing freedom.

Yet Mom had been thinking of protecting her as always. Yu Tian now learned that precisely because Old Dai threatened Yu Tian’s safety, Mom hadn’t dared act rashly or seek help from Yan Ming or the outside world, allowing Old Dai to keep manipulating her.

If not for Yan Ming’s warning, she might still be in the dark…

If not for Yan Ming taking her to rescue Mom overnight, who knows what Mom would have suffered next…

Yu Tian fell into deep regret, blaming herself for incompetence and insensitivity, feeling both distressed and frustrated.

Thinking this way, she especially didn’t want Yan Ming to see an even more pathetic version of herself.

She thanked Yan Ming and planned to pretend to go into the Hyatt lobby for a walk, then, after Yan Ming left, leave to find a cheap hourly room or small inn nearby to manage for a few days while quickly looking for suitable housing.

But unexpectedly, after Yu Tian wandered around the Hyatt lobby and came out planning to turn onto the side street to find a small inn, she was caught red-handed by Yan Ming—he hadn’t left, leisurely driving and following behind Yu Tian.

The car window rolled down, revealing Yan Ming’s handsome, cold face. He glanced at Yu Tian: “Why didn’t you stay at the Hyatt? Don’t you like it?”

Before Yu Tian could answer, he cleared his throat first, explaining somewhat unnaturally: “I wasn’t specifically staying to ensure your safe check-in. I just received a phone call, then saw you come out of the hotel lobby again.”

After speaking, Yan Ming looked toward the small street Yu Tian had been heading toward: “That street is a dead end with no hotels, only some hourly rooms…”

He paused here, looking up at Yu Tian: “You’re planning to stay in such hourly rooms?”

Yu Tian bit her lip, starting to blame whoever called Yan Ming at this time, preventing him from leaving.

Her silence confirmed Yan Ming’s guess.

Yan Ming’s face darkened: “Why stay in such hourly rooms? The clientele is very mixed—it’s not safe for you as a woman.”

Yu Tian already knew Yan Ming’s family was very wealthy, but his daily work and life had never been excessively ostentatious, so she’d never felt the reality of it.

But now she understood very clearly.

Looking at Yan Ming’s questioning gaze, Yu Tian considered her wording and said tactfully: “Well… I naturally know the Hyatt is better than hourly rooms, and I want to stay at the Hyatt, but… there’s a man who won’t let me stay. Can you understand?”

Yan Ming naturally didn’t understand. He looked even more displeased: “Who won’t let you stay?”

This man pressed his lips together, like a wife catching adultery: “Yu Tian, have you been dating someone recently?”

This was getting more and more ridiculous.

“Have you considered that it might be a great man loved by all, printed on pink paper?”

Yan Ming finally understood this time. He stared at Yu Tian as if choking on something, completely speechless.

After this silent staring contest for a moment, he finally spoke again—

“Get in the car.”

Yu Tian was stunned, suspecting Yan Ming still didn’t understand. She smiled embarrassedly: “Well… I’m out of money… even if you take me to other hotels, I probably…”

“Not going to a hotel.”

After Yu Tian got in the car, Yan Ming completed his half-sentence—

“Going to my house.”

Yu Tian was extremely shocked, almost jumping out of the passenger seat: “What?!”

“Aren’t you out of money for hotels?”

“But still can’t…”

“I live alone and have a spare guest room. You can lock the door.” Yan Ming’s voice was steady, snorting coldly: “Do you think I’m like Dai Xin with ulterior motives? Why are you looking at me with such suspicious eyes?”

“Of course not!” Yu Tian waved her hands repeatedly. “It’s mainly that tonight I already owe you such a big favor, and just this favor alone—I don’t know how to repay it…”

“Then owe another favor.” Yan Ming glanced at Yu Tian. “Ungrateful little wolves generally do this—after owing favors, they look at you suspiciously like you’re a pervert.”

“…”

Help! She’d only glanced instinctively—how could this man be so vindictive!

Yu Tian was internally complaining when she heard Yan Ming continue calmly—

“Didn’t you call me brother for a while? Can’t let you call me that for nothing and have reason to curse me behind my back in the future.”

“…”

She’d already cursed him behind his back…

Yan Ming didn’t know Yu Tian had confirmed her ungrateful little wolf status by already cursing him. He glanced at Yu Tian.

After a moment, Yu Tian heard his voice, as steady as his driving—

“Old clothes are not as good as new, but old friends are better than new. Now you know which is better—the new brother or the old brother.”