“Young…… Young Master Xuan, there’s something you……” Ye Chen exhaled slowly, unsure how to begin. He simply reached into his pocket and handed the report to Xuan Yanyu.

“Young Master Xuan, Miss Yan is your fiancée — you have the right to know. Miss Yan…… Miss Yan is pregnant. Fourteen weeks along — that is, three…… three and a half months.”

“Miss Yan appears to have only just found out herself. She registered her maternity file at the hospital today. From all appearances, she intends to carry the baby to term. Wen Zhilu was with her during the appointment. The child…… the child is most likely Wen Zhilu’s.”

What a pity for their Young Master Xuan — he was always taking on the role of father to someone else’s child, and now it had actually come true. He was being set up to raise another man’s baby. Miss Yan had even filled in Young Master Xuan’s name in the column for the father on her registration file.

She wasn’t even afraid of Young Master Xuan finding out — she had explicitly authorized the hospital, granting Young Master Xuan access to view all of her prenatal reports.

Good heavens. She was treating their Young Master Xuan as a complete fool.

Snap. A sharp sound — the man’s hand had snapped the black-and-gold steel pen in two.

“That’s impossible. It can’t be Wen Zhilu’s.” Xuan Yanyu’s voice was absolute.

Ye Chen’s brow creased deeply. “Then whose is it?”

Xuan Yanyu’s face had gone an ashen, pale gray. He stared at the name on the report, reading it over and over again to confirm he hadn’t misread, then looked at the conclusion written at the bottom of the report:

[The expectant mother’s physical condition is good. Fetal development is consistent with the gestational age. All indicators are within normal range. No significant health risks detected.]

Three and a half months……

How laughable.

So it was because she had discovered the pregnancy that she had reached out to him again. Right.

She had gone abroad with Wen Zhilu to clear her head, discovered she was pregnant, and only then remembered he existed.

“Would you take it even if the child isn’t yours?”

The words flashed through Xuan Yanyu’s mind — something Yan Yunning had once said. He had thought at the time it was a joke. Apparently…… apparently it had been genuine.

So why, after learning what had happened between him and Shiyao, had she made such a fuss about breaking off the engagement? About separating? She herself had hardly held to a higher standard — and yet she had turned around and demanded he do what she couldn’t.

Xuan Yanyu pressed a hand over his face, his other hand gripping the report with white knuckles. His thoughts were in complete disorder. Letting go — he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not letting go — he couldn’t stomach the ache of it.

Ye Jian quietly exchanged looks with Ye Chen and Ye’an, and the three of them discreetly retreated from the office.

Bang. The man brought his fist crashing down hard against the desk. The skin on the back of his hand tore open, and blood stained one corner of the report red. Xuan Yanyu raised his eyes and looked toward the wedding photo of him and Yan Yunning on the computer.

In the photograph, the young woman wore a silver crown on her head, dressed in a fitted, off-the-shoulder mermaid-style wedding gown, the skirt trailing across the lawn. Her veil was two meters of moonlit gauze. Her slender, fair arms were hooked around Xuan Yanyu’s neck, their lips meeting.

Beside her, Xuan Yanyu — dressed in a matte black suit shot through with a faint shimmer — tilted his head slightly downward, his strong hand resting against her slender waist, his eyes full of tenderness.

The subtle sheen of the man’s suit echoed the soft glimmer of the young woman’s crown — the photographer had a gifted eye; the atmosphere captured in the image was exquisite. The two people in the photograph looked, no matter how one looked at them, extraordinarily well-matched.

Xuan Yanyu gazed at it for a moment, then curved his lips into a sardonic smile.

——

The following day.

After finishing her midday meal, Yan Yunning gathered some gifts and went to the Xuan residence.

Only Wen Shuyun and a few servants were in the living room. Nanny Feng smiled and took the gifts from Yan Yunning’s hands.

“Ningning, this is your home — no need to bring gifts next time.” Wen Shuyun waved a hand, beckoning her to come sit.

“Understood, Auntie.” Yan Yunning smiled cheerfully and sat down beside Wen Shuyun.

“Yanyu said you went on a trip with friends — are you tired?”

“Not at all.” Yan Yunning blinked and wrapped her hands around Wen Shuyun’s arm, her voice soft and sweet. “Auntie, is Xuan Xixi home or at the office?”

“We’ll talk about him in a moment — first, your uncle left a document. He said that whenever you came by, you absolutely had to sign it.”

Yan Yunning looked puzzled. “Oh? What document?”

Wen Shuyun tapped the tip of her nose with one finger. “You’ll see in a moment.”

As she said this, she turned her head and instructed Xiao Wan to go to the room she shared with Xuan Shi’an to fetch it.

Two minutes later, Yan Yunning carefully looked through the share transfer contract in front of her, her eyes widening with faint shock. She stammered, “Au…… Auntie, is Uncle certain this isn’t a mistake?”

A thirty-percent stake in a single company typically carried substantial voting rights on major decisions and significant involvement in the company’s operations.

And given where Xuan Group stood in its development today, that thirty-percent share represented a value beyond calculation.

“Of course there’s no mistake. You’re all family now. Won’t the company belong to you and Yanyu sooner or later?” Wen Shuyun took the pen from Xiao Wan’s hands, smiling as she passed it to Yan Yunning. “Sign it.”

“Auntie…… isn’t this far too much?”

Wen Shuyun pressed the pen into her hand. “It’s not too much at all. What’s Yanyu’s is yours.”

Old Master Xuan had been right — people ought to know how to appreciate what they are given.

Under Wen Shuyun’s urging, Yan Yunning signed her name in the end. If she was being truthful, she had never imagined that Uncle Xuan would give her a stake in the company — much less a share this substantial.

Wen Shuyun closed the contract and handed it to Xiao Wan. “Take this to the company and give it to Director Xuan.”

“Yes.”

After Xiao Wan left the living room, Yan Yunning couldn’t help but ask again. “Auntie, Xuan Xixi’s phone isn’t going through — where has he gone?”

“Not going through?” Wen Shuyun glanced at the time, then said, “He might be on a flight — he’s gone on a business trip. Your uncle told him not to go, but he threw reason out the window and insisted.”

Yan Yunning’s heart dropped. She asked uneasily, “When is he coming back?”

“Hmm?” Wen Shuyun’s brow creased slightly. “That I’m not sure about. Yanyu didn’t say.”

“But don’t worry — he certainly won’t let it interfere with the wedding.” Wen Shuyun added with a smile.

Yan Yunning lowered her gaze. A sudden, unsettled feeling took hold in her chest.

She couldn’t wait for him to return — she needed to go find him.

The next morning, Yan Yunning learned the name of the city Xuan Yanyu had gone to from Xuan Shi’an, booked a plane ticket, and headed to the airport. With her went Xiao Wan and Qiuci.

Wen Shuyun had been uneasy and had insisted the two of them accompany Yan Yunning.

Three hours later, the plane landed. Yan Yunning and her party exited the airport terminal and went first to the hotel she had already reserved on her phone.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Yan Yunning closed her eyes and spent a good while forcing down the discomfort in her stomach. The back-to-back flights over the past two days, combined with her anxious state of mind, had made the baby — who had otherwise been quite well-behaved — somewhat fussy.

“Miss Yan, have some water.” Qiuci held out a cup of warm water.

“Thank you.” Yan Yunning took a small sip, then said, “I’m going to rest for a bit — you two rest as well. We’ll head to the company this afternoon.”

“Alright.”

Qiuci and Xiao Wan both nodded.

She slept until two in the afternoon. When Yan Yunning woke, she felt considerably better. She showered and changed into a pretty short dress, had a late lunch with Qiuci and Xiao Wan, and then took a car to the branch office of Xuan Group.

Xuan Yanyu wasn’t taking Yan Yunning’s calls, and with no other way to reach him, she had no choice but to go to the office and hope she might run into him there.

As luck would have it, just as Yan Yunning and the others were getting out of the car, she spotted Xuan Yanyu — along with roughly seven or eight men in black suits trailing behind him — heading out of the company.

And beside Xuan Yanyu, in addition to Ye Chen, Ye Jian, and Ye’an, there walked a young woman in a pink sleeveless puffed-sleeve dress, with delicately done makeup.

Yan Yunning studied the young woman for a moment, and then she knew exactly who she was.

Li Li. A classmate she, Lu Lu, Xia Xia, and Jingye had met in university — though not from the same department, they occasionally crossed paths in elective courses.