Only the child…

If he remembered correctly, that child was gone…

But he believed what Ningning had told him. The child was his.

He needed to recover his memories before he could make any sense of what had actually happened.

Guo Si…

That was a name he had managed to get out of his father yesterday. It seemed he would need to find time to go see Guo Si tomorrow.

“Not something you can talk about?” Lou Ao grinned with easy arrogance. “Understood.”

Xuan Yanyu cast him an unhurried glance. “What exactly do you understand?”

Lou Ao rubbed his chin and raised his eyebrows in a teasing arc. “The matters between a husband and wife — how would it be appropriate for me to say?”

Xuan Yanyu smiled. “Stop letting your mind wander into nonsense.”

Lou Ao: “……”

“I’m going to the restroom.” Yan Yunning smiled and rose from her seat.

“I’ll go with you.” Xuan Yanyu stood as well, and the two of them walked out of the private room side by side.

Xie Yan shook his head. “Tsk. He even has to accompany her to the restroom.”

“What do you know?” Lou Ao said mildly.

Xie Yan raised both eyebrows. “You know, you know.”

Lou Ao: “……”

——

After washing her hands and coming out of the restroom, Yan Yunning noticed the man who had been waiting at the door turn his gaze toward something in the distance. She tilted her head to look and spotted Xuan Zhaonan and Jiang Xian locked in an embrace.

Xuan Yanyu frowned slightly. “What are they doing?”

Yan Yunning glanced over again several times before saying, “It looks like Ranran has had too much to drink. Can’t you see she can barely stand?”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Why would she be drinking with Jiang Xian?”

Yan Yunning was mildly exasperated. “You’re her brother — you don’t know? How would I know?”

Xuan Yanyu: “……”

Catching sight of A’Ci stepping out of the elevator and hurrying toward Xuan Zhaonan and Jiang Xian, Yan Yunning pulled Xuan Yanyu back a step so the two of them could avoid being noticed.

The man was displeased. “Why are we hiding? Shouldn’t they be the ones hiding from me?”

“Fine, fine, fine. Then you go out there.”

“Forget it.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

“I’m not going with you. Jiang… Jiang Xian, I… I’m going home with you.” In the distance, Xuan Zhaonan swayed while shaking Jiang Xian’s arm, and with one shove pushed A’Ci away from her.

Yan Yunning poked the back of Xuan Yanyu’s hand. “Don’t get upset.”

The man let out a low grunt. “The only person who can truly make me upset is you.”

Yan Yunning blinked. “So what you’re saying is — with so many people in this world, you only ever love to get mad at me?”

“……” Xuan Yanyu turned his hand over and clasped hers, tracing slow circles in her palm with his fingertip, and said with unhurried indifference, “The way you put it is not wrong. You always manage to take hold of my emotions with the greatest of ease.”

Yan Yunning sniffled and leaned closer to him. “Is that fair to me? You don’t get mad at anyone else — you only ever get mad at me?”

Xuan Yanyu looked up and glanced at her, pinched the tip of her nose, and said slowly and deliberately, “Of course it’s fair. No one else makes me as angry as you do.”

“……” Yan Yunning was indignant. “How have I made you angry?”

The man’s voice was low and muffled. “You wanted to call off the engagement. Break up with me. You’ve thrown the ring away twice.”

Yan Yunning stumbled over her words. “I… I… I misunderstood you, didn’t I?”

Xuan Yanyu let out a cold scoff. Speaking of the ring, he reached into his suit pocket, pulled out the ring he had been carrying on his person, and slipped it back onto the young woman’s finger.

“Next time, no matter how angry you are, don’t throw it away again. And don’t ever talk about separating.”

“Mm, mm.” Yan Yunning wrapped her arms around the man’s neck, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him several times on the lips, her voice soft and sweet. “It won’t happen again.”

“Urgh—” The stumbling sound of unsteady footsteps mixed with the sound of retching reached their ears. Yan Yunning let go of Xuan Yanyu and looked over to see Jiang Xian supporting Xuan Zhaonan as they made their way toward the restroom. Caught completely off guard, all four of them locked eyes.

“Yu… Yu-ge, Sister-in-law.” Jiang Xian called out, his voice tense.

“Huh?” Xuan Zhaonan grabbed Jiang Xian’s sleeve and wiped her mouth on it, then shoved him away just as she had shoved A’Ci aside, and lurched unsteadily toward Xuan Yanyu. She latched onto his arm, grinning merrily. “You… you look exactly like my brother.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

Jiang Xian: “……”

Seeing Xuan Yanyu frown at her, Xuan Zhaonan suddenly pouted. “You… you don’t believe me? I… I… I would… I’d never… never lie to you.”

“I have… a photo.” Xuan Zhaonan pursed her lips and dug out her phone, unlocked it with unfocused eyes, then fumbled through her photo album for a long time before finally finding the family portrait.

She pointed at the image of a six-year-old Xuan Yanyu in the photo and held her head up triumphantly. “Don’t you look exactly like him?”

Yan Yunning leaned over to take a look. “Mm. What a coincidence — he looks just like Xuan Yanyu. Practically identical.”

Xuan Yanyu looked at Yan Yunning, feeling both exasperated and amused.

“Ah…” Xuan Zhaonan blinked in disbelief, staring hard at Xuan Yanyu. “You… you couldn’t possibly… also be one of my father’s children, could you?”

Xuan Yanyu pried her hand off, smoothed out his sleeve, and said, “What do you think, Xuan Zhaonan?”

“You… you think you’re too good for me… you illegitimate son… you think you’re too good for me?”

Yan Yunning: “……”

Jiang Xian: “……”

Xuan Yanyu said with undisguised impatience, “Xuan Zhaonan, what nonsense are you talking about? Take a good look at who I am.”

Xuan Zhaonan creased her brow and studied Xuan Yanyu for a good long while, then broke into a bright smile. “You’re my brother. I… I… that…”

Xuan Yanyu looked at her with an expression that was somewhere between a smile and a smirk. “That what?”

The cool gaze fixed on her made Xuan Zhaonan shiver, and she sobered up considerably. “I that… I want to go home.”

Xuan Yanyu’s long lashes dropped slightly. His gaze passed over Xuan Zhaonan and fell on A’Ci standing in the distance. His voice was low and deep. “Go home? Xuan Zhaonan, in the state you’re in, you still want to go home?”

“Hm?” Xuan Zhaonan swayed on her feet and muttered, “I can’t go home? Then I’ll go to Jiang Xian’s place.”

“Xuan Zhaonan!”

Hearing the displeasure in Xuan Yanyu’s voice, Xuan Zhaonan suddenly burst into tears. “You’re yelling at me? You… you’re yelling at me?”

Xuan Yanyu pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, called Ye Jian and Ye’an over, and had Xuan Zhaonan sent back to the Xuan residence.

“Yu-ge.” Jiang Xian stood rigidly in place, uncertain whether he should leave or stay.

Xuan Yanyu gave a nod and said plainly, “Come have dinner with us.”

“Alright.”

Yan Yunning glanced over toward A’Ci and gave a subtle tilt of her chin. A’Ci noticed Yan Yunning’s gaze as well. She nodded in her direction, then turned and walked into the elevator.

——

The following day.

Xuan Yanyu had business abroad. Yan Yunning only knew that he had something to attend to — she did not know the specifics of what it was.

Not until two days later, in the early evening, did Ye Jian call Yan Yunning. He told her that they had just returned to the country and were on their way back to the Xuan residence when someone had rear-ended their car.

He, Ye’an, and Ye Chen had all sustained only minor injuries. Xuan Yanyu had merely knocked the back of his head — the injury itself was nothing serious — but he had fallen into a coma.

Yan Yunning’s breath caught in her throat, and her voice trembled so badly that she could not get a single word out.

It had all happened so suddenly. Ye Jian had not dared to tell Xuan Shi’an or Wen Shuyun. He had told only Yan Yunning.

What he had not anticipated was that even after three or four hours, there was still no sign of Xuan Yanyu waking up.

“Miss Yan, please eat something.” Ye Jian set out the food he had bought on the round table.