“Why would she go see you?” The man extended one finger and nudged aside the little one standing before him. His distinguished gaze finally settled on Shiyao.

Ever since he had woken up, he found that simply hearing the name Yan Yunning — for no apparent reason — would send his heart into slight disarray.

He hadn’t deliberately arranged any “chance encounters” with her. He simply wanted to see if this strange condition of his — his heart racing whenever he heard her name — could be cured.

But without having arranged anything, he truly hadn’t run into her once. And the flutter in his chest hadn’t gotten better — if anything, it had grown stronger, which was utterly baffling.

Things he couldn’t figure out, he attributed to side effects from the car accident. It would pass eventually.

Shiyao was scorched by the intensity of Xuan Yanyu’s gaze. Her breath trembled slightly. “She probably felt guilty.”

“What?” The man’s expression stilled slightly.

Shiyao touched her abdomen, her eyes lowered, her lips trembling faintly. “Today the baby nearly came to harm because of her and her friends deliberately making things difficult for Shiyu and me.”

“Heh.” The man let out a low, brief laugh, the curl of his eye corners dismissive. “Ye Jian told me you were the one who made things difficult for two young women, and those two young women, not content to let it go, went and told their guardian.”

He hadn’t paid much attention to Shiyao’s affairs beyond the child in her womb. Ye Jian had told him that Shiyao had harassed two young women and then worked herself up enough to be hospitalized. He hadn’t bothered to learn the details.

Now, with what Shiyao had just said, he finally understood that the young woman she had harassed was Ningning.

Shiyao felt her ears ringing. She faltered. “No, Yanyu, I really… didn’t… didn’t make things difficult for them. I only thought Miss Yan’s dress was pretty and wanted to buy it, but… but she wanted me to pay ten times the price of the dress.”

Before Xuan Yanyu could speak, Xuan Zhaoran lifted her eyelids with a teasing look at Shiyao and said, smiling, “You wanted to buy someone’s dress. Isn’t it up to her how much she wants to sell it for? If the price didn’t suit you, you could have just not bought it. How does that count as deliberately making things difficult for you?”

Shiyao’s expression froze, a flush of embarrassment crossing her face.

Xuan Zhaoran admired her freshly done manicure and continued. “In that young woman’s eyes, you were the one deliberately making things difficult for her. You liked her dress, she paid for it, and then you weren’t satisfied — from her perspective, weren’t you being a bit unreasonable?”

“Ranran, why always go around saying things like that out loud?” Xuan Zhaoyang laughed leisurely.

Xuan Zhaoran covered her mouth with an “Oh!” and said, “Sorry, did I say something that upset Miss Shiyao?”

In the past, when Jiejie first brought Shiyao home, she and Jiejie had been quite warm toward her. But one time, when the topic of how Jiejie would still have her room kept at the Xuan Residence after getting married came up, Shiyao had frowned and told her mother that she didn’t understand why a daughter’s room should be kept after she married. She said her own parents had told her that daughters-in-law would mind that sort of thing.

At the time, her mother had been unhappy but hadn’t shown it.

After she and Jiejie found out, they could never warm to Shiyao again. If Shiyao were to marry her brother, based on that attitude, she and Jiejie might as well be homeless.

An apartment could be nice, a villa could be nice, but nothing compared to the home you had lived in for over twenty years.

After that, her brother had gotten into an accident because of Shiyao, and she and Jiejie had entirely lost their patience with her.

Shiyao bit her lip, a sob catching in her throat.

“Yangyang, Ranran, that’s enough.” Wen Shuyun stepped out from the top of the staircase, brow slightly furrowed. She carried a water glass over to Shiyao, her voice gentle and maternal. “Yaoyao, don’t mind them.”

“Great-grandmother.” The little one pattered over to Wen Shuyun and flung himself into her arms, wheedling in a soft, milky voice. “Great-grandmother, Momo missed you so much.”

Wen Shuyun smiled warmly and scooped the little one up. “Great-grandmother missed Momo too. Why don’t you stay and keep great-grandmother company for a few days?”

She genuinely adored children — which was why she kept stepping in, out of consideration for Shiyao’s feelings.

Whatever else might be said, the child in Shiyao’s womb was Yanyu’s. It was her grandchild — a granddaughter or grandson — and had to be born safely.

“Okay!” Xu Mochen’s sweet little voice lifted. “Great-grandmother, tomorrow Momo wants sweet and sour pork ribs. Great-grandmother, will you make them for Momo, please?”

Wen Shuyun tapped the tip of his little nose. “All right, great-grandmother will make them for you tomorrow.”

“Great-grandmother is the best — not like Mom, Little Auntie, and Uncle, who can’t do anything at all.” The little one praised Wen Shuyun and, without missing a beat, took a swipe at Xuan Yanyu, Xuan Zhaoran, and Xuan Zhaoyang.

Xuan Zhaoyang rolled her eyes.

Wen Shuyun held the little one and looked at Xuan Yanyu sprawled on the sofa, grinning foolishly at his phone. She reminded him gently. “Yanyu, Shiyao is upset. You should…”

Before she could finish, the man suddenly stood, walked in long strides to the elevator, pressed the floor button, and stepped in without a backward glance.

Xuan Zhaoyang curved her lips into a smile, exchanged a glance with Xuan Zhaoran, and the two of them rose in wordless agreement, guiding Wen Shuyun up the stairs.

In an instant, the vast living room was left with only Shiyao and the servants.

Shiyao dabbed at the corner of her eye, a cold light passing through her gaze. She truly hated them — hated this look they had, looking down on her, indifferent to her.

Xuan Yanyu had gotten what he wanted. Why wouldn’t he take proper care of her? Why wouldn’t he protect her? Why did he always let her suffer?

Just now, when Xuan Zhaoran had spoken to her so sarcastically, Xuan Yanyu had just kept scrolling through his phone, chatting with someone — she didn’t know who, didn’t know what they were saying, but his handsome face had visibly lit up with a smile.

A flicker crossed Shiyao’s eyes. She touched her abdomen, a cold smile creeping to the corner of her mouth. She had come so far to reach this good life, and she had no intention of going back to a hard one.

She would use this child to make Xuan Yanyu feel guilty — to make him unable to shake her off for the rest of his life.

After all, he had already been willing to let the outside world believe they were a couple just for the sake of this child. Guilt would be enough to make Xuan Yanyu take care of her for a lifetime.

Xuan Yanyu probably cared about the child in her womb more than she herself did right now. After the child was born, it would only be Xuan Yanyu who would pay to raise it.

Xuan Shi’an favored Yan Yunning — she intended to make sure he didn’t get his way.

Who told that old man to always give her cold looks? Besides, who was to say Yan Yunning wouldn’t make Xuan Yanyu spend money raising her child?

The best solution was for her to marry Xuan Yanyu.

The business with the dress had been her carelessness. Next time, she would plan things out much more carefully.

——

The master bedroom on the third floor.

Xuan Yanyu reclined sideways in a folding chair, his long legs stretched out at ease. Something on the phone screen caught his eye, and the corners of his eyes tilted up slightly.

His slender fingertips hovered over the screen. He deliberated over his wording before pressing send.

On the other end, Yan Yunning stared at the contact — a nickname consisting of nothing but a single dot, no moments feed — who had sent her a pointless message, and fell into thought. She had accepted the friend request only because the person had added her by phone number.

In her mind, people who added her by phone number were likely someone she knew.

But… Yan Yunning stared at the chat window with a slight frown.

【Yan Yunning.】

By rights, shouldn’t his next message be a self-introduction? But instead, the other party sent back a complete non-answer: 【I know.】

Yan Yunning: 【?】

Other party: 【!】

Yan Yunning: 【…】

Other party: 【?】

Yan Yunning: 【Goodbye!】

She was quite certain — she didn’t know any friend like this.

The other party immediately threw a video call at her, startling Yan Yunning so badly she nearly dropped her phone.