“Open a bottle?!” Li Li’s eyes went wide with a snap. “That shameless pretty boy has really lost all sense of decency, hasn’t he?! He can’t even open a bottle cap himself? What’s next — does he need you to spoon-feed him too?!”

Su Man: “……”

If she told Li Li that she had actually fed him, would he say something even worse?

Su Man didn’t want to continue this conversation.

She also didn’t want a repeat of last time, being lectured at by Li Li on her own doorstep while the neighbors listened in — that was truly embarrassing.

Su Man turned and got in the car to leave. Li Li came chasing after her from behind, ranting on and on: “How come you weren’t this attentive when I was injured? Why didn’t you open bottles for me? Say something! What — out of sight, out of mind?!”

Su Man’s head was starting to ache from all his noise. When had Li Li become this insufferable?

“Are you two even comparable?” Su Man replied helplessly. “You hurt your leg, he has a fever and no strength in his whole body — the situations are completely different.”

“I’ve got a fractured arm right now too!” Li Li made a valiant effort to lift the arm hanging in its sling against his chest. “Open a bottle for me then! Pour me some water!”

Su Man said, “That’s your left hand. You still have your right hand perfectly fine. He doesn’t have strength in either hand……”

Li Li laughed out of sheer aggravation. “Fine. So every single injury I’ve ever had combined still doesn’t add up to his little fever, is that it?”

Su Man genuinely could not get through to him, and sighed. “I didn’t say your injury isn’t as serious as his, I said you two are in different situations… ugh, why do you insist on comparing yourself to him? Forget it, I’m not talking to you anymore! The more we talk the more tangled it gets!”

She stopped lingering, got into the car in a few steps, set the breakfast on the passenger seat, and started the engine, ignoring Li Li’s feelings entirely.

She didn’t want Lu Yuwen eating breakfast that had gone cold, so getting away from here as quickly as possible was the better choice.

Li Li watched helplessly as Su Man’s car drove further and further away from him. The foulness of his mood was beyond any words.

And on top of that, he had a very bad premonition.

As if something was about to happen… something that would thoroughly displease him.

……

A few days later, Li Li’s premonition came true.

His mother told him that Su Man had started dating someone — not only had they made it official, but the other party was also planning to buy a house in this very villa complex, with Su Ma already helping to look into it. By all appearances, this was headed straight toward marriage.

Of course, Li Li’s mother told him all this with a probing intention — she wanted to know what her son’s true feelings toward Su Man were. If he genuinely liked her and couldn’t let go, they as parents could at least help him think of something.

But Li Li said, “Marriage? Impossible, impossible! Mom, just wait and see. With Su Man’s hot temper, the other person will be fed up with her in a matter of days — they’ll definitely break up! And that guy is just a pretty face. Where’s he getting the money to buy a villa? It’s not happening!”

Li Li simply couldn’t believe it.

He figured that even if Su Man was foolish enough to fall for it, Su Ba and Su Ma would never let a pretty-boy swindler play with their daughter’s feelings.

Buying a house was just a smokescreen. Once it actually came time to pay, all sorts of excuses would emerge — say, the business has a cash flow problem, or a family member suddenly fell gravely ill and he desperately needs the money — and then he’d have an opportunity to ask Su Man for money!

These con men of today all worked from the same playbook, just in different costumes. Su Ba and Su Ma would soon notice something was off, and when that moment came, Su Man would finally wake up and realize that the person who had always truly cared about her was still him, one and only him!

Li Li was supremely confident. He just had to wait for Lu Yuwen to slip up, and then he would expose his true face for everyone to see!

He waited, and waited……

And waited……

What he waited for, in the end, was news that Su Man and Lu Yuwen had gone on a trip together.

—