Ring-a-ling. The privacy screen had barely come down when Yan Yunning’s phone rang.

She pushed the still-reluctant man away, steadied her breathing, gave Xuan Yanyu a “shh” gesture, and only after he nodded did she answer the call.

“Ningning, Second Brother said you didn’t come home — that you’ve settled in at Third Aunt and Third Uncle’s friends’ place. Who is it? I’ve never heard of this before.” Yan Jingjing’s probing voice came from the receiver.

“Big Brother, honestly speaking,” Yan Yunning pushed away the man who had inched close to her ear again, and continued, “I only found out myself just recently.”

Yan Jingjing on the other end took a bite of food and asked again, “Ningning, how did the meeting with Sihang go?”

Xuan Yanyu squeezed Yan Yunning’s fingers and silently threatened her with his eyes to give the right answer.

“Sihang is a very nice person.” Sensing someone’s expression darkening, Yan Yunning smiled and said, “It’s just that we’re not suited for each other.”

“Alright. When your brother gets back, I’ll introduce someone else to you.” Yan Jingjing shoveled down a couple more bites of food. “Ningning, let me hang up for now — been really busy lately. I’ll bring you back a gift.”

“Okay, Big Brother. Don’t forget to eat when you get caught up in work.”

“I know, I know. Bye.”

“Mm.” Yan Yunning ended the call and inadvertently met Xuan Yanyu’s dark, unreadable gaze. She blinked twice.

“You owe me an explanation,” he said, and he meant it.

Yan Yunning broke into a smile. “Open your phone.”

Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow, not understanding — but obediently unlocked it.

Yan Yunning opened the short-video app Xuan Yanyu had just navigated to a moment ago, found the viewing history, tapped the video that had just been playing, and said with perfectly innocent eyes,

“I asked you back then, ‘Are you serious?’ and you said ‘Of course I am,’ so I just did what the person in the video did.”

The man suddenly laughed. “Yan Yunning, are you tricking me again?”

Yan Yunning looked puzzled. “What do you mean ‘again’?”

Xuan Yanyu shot her a cool glance. “First time — you gave me a belt, a tie, and a ‘little umbrella.’ Second time, you took the initiative to kiss me. Am I just supposed to let you kiss me for free?”

Yan Yunning put on her most guileless face. “I told you those were all misunderstandings. Care to believe that?”

The man’s dark eyes held a hint of amusement. “Yan Yunning, if I said I was going to knock you out, would you believe me?”

Yan Yunning blurted out, “No.”

“Naturally, I don’t believe you either.” Xuan Yanyu hooked her by the waist and pulled her into his lap, using his legs as her seat. His deep pupils burned with intensity. “Be with me. Be my girlfriend.”

Yan Yunning draped her arms around his neck and pouted slightly. “What’s good about being your girlfriend? Not even a trace of sincerity.”

The man kissed her soft red lips lightly and said in a low, husky voice, “I understand now.”

Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow and spoke first. “Xuan Yanyu, think it through carefully. My sister and brothers might not be too happy with you. If you get together with me and they give you a hard time, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”

Xuan Yanyu said perceptively, “Because of Shiyao?”

Yan Yunning laughed. “Oh, you’re not so slow after all.”

Xuan Yanyu: “…”

Ye’an was right. In the matter of helping Shiyao, he was the one who had been most wronged.

“But I do have an idea.” Yan Yunning blinked with a sly gleam in her eye.

Xuan Yanyu’s brow lifted slightly. “What idea?”

“We just don’t go public for the time being…”

The man slowly furrowed his brow and cut her off. “Save your breath.”

“…Actually, you could consider it.”

Xuan Yanyu shot her a look.

Yan Yunning: “…”

The car pulled up to the Xuan residence. Ye’an opened the door, and Yan Yunning hopped out, quickly putting some distance between herself and Xuan Yanyu.

“Yan Yunning?” The man called out in displeasure.

Yan Yunning gave a sweet smile. “I haven’t agreed to be your girlfriend yet. Keep a little distance — no sense letting people get the wrong idea.”

The main hall.

Yan Yunning and Xuan Yanyu came in one after the other. The sight of it was enough to make Xuan Shi’an’s smile break free from any attempt at restraint.

He’d been worried that his boy had forgotten Ningning and might be standoffish toward her, and had even considered transferring him to a branch office.

But he’d overlooked one thing — even without memories, love can be found again.

If you truly love someone, even without remembering her, you will still find your way to her side.

He should begin preparing for an engagement banquet and a wedding.

“Uncle.” Yan Yunning called out sweetly.

Xuan Shi’an put down the financial report in his hand, his smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth. “Ningning, have you eaten?”

“Not yet.” Having spent these past few days in the company of Xuan Shi’an and Wen Shuyun, Yan Yunning no longer felt the slightest restraint around them. They treated her so warmly that she had naturally come to regard them as elders she could be close to.

“Uncle will have the kitchen make something for you.” Xuan Shi’an set down his glasses and turned to instruct Nanny Feng to prepare dishes according to Yan Yunning’s preferences. Then he looked at Yan Yunning again with a warm smile. “Ningning, do you have enough spending money?”

Yan Yunning’s “plenty” had barely left her lips when her phone let out a ding.

“Go buy yourself something you like.” Xuan Shi’an picked up the financial report and his glasses from the coffee table. “Let Yuyu keep you company for dinner. Uncle still has company matters to attend to — I’ll head upstairs first.”

“Then go ahead, Uncle.”

Watching Xuan Shi’an step into the elevator, Yan Yunning opened her phone and looked at the string of zeros. She walked over to Xuan Yanyu and asked in a teasing tone, “If I don’t end up with you, do I have to return all this?”

The man ignored her and languidly made his way to the sofa, half-reclining against it. He pulled Yan Yunning, who had followed after, into his arms as well, and said in a low, resonant voice, “At least Shiyao, out of love for money, knew to cling to me. Couldn’t you learn even that much from her?”

Yan Yunning looked up at the man’s handsome face with genuine puzzlement. “You want me to be attracted to your money?”

Xuan Yanyu’s brow creased faintly. The large hand that had been resting on her waist shifted to her wrist, and his fingers moved across the deep imperial green jade bracelet at her wrist. He then proceeded, with a completely straight face, to spin an outright fabrication:

“This bracelet my mother put on you was passed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother, and from my grandmother to my mother. Now my mother has given it to you. What you don’t know is that in our family, whoever this heirloom bracelet is passed down to must carry it forward to the next generation.”

“Do you understand?” There was an almost imperceptible tension in the man’s dark eyes.

Yan Yunning broke into a radiant smile. “Xuan Yanyu, by your logic, this bracelet must be at least a hundred years old, right?”

“Mm, more or less.”

The young woman’s eyes shimmered with curiosity. She lifted her arm and held up the hand wearing the bracelet in front of the man. “Look at this bracelet and tell me — you’re saying it’s a hundred years old?”

“What do you know. Properly cared for, it looks exactly like this.”

Xuan Yanyu calmly pressed Yan Yunning’s arm back down.

Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow. “Not a single trace of age on it.”

The man nodded. “Mm.”

Yan Yunning’s smile spread warmly across her face. “I happen to know a little something about this, actually. A hundred-year-old jade bracelet would have a luster that leans toward oily and mellow — rich and weighty. No matter how well it’s preserved, there will still be faint signs of wear. But this one of mine has a bright, clear luster and no visible abrasion.”

“…” Xuan Yanyu let out a low, muffled cough from his throat. “I can’t be bothered to argue with you.”

Yan Yunning reached out a finger and poked him on the cheek, laughter spilling into her voice. “Next time you try to tell a lie with a straight face, do at least a little bit of research first!!!”