Shen Yi had never expected to find Rong Qian here, like this. He had nearly missed her entirely.

Since Ke Wenguang had his back to him, all Shen Yi could see when he approached was a man who appeared to be entangled with a woman. He paid no attention and turned to leave — but just then, he heard it: Rong Qian’s voice, saying, “I want to see Shen Yi…”

Shen Yi’s steps faltered. In a rush of bewildered urgency, he strode forward — propriety forgotten in the impulse of the moment — and shoved Ke Wenguang aside.

When he saw Rong Qian falling toward him, Shen Yi immediately bent down and caught her. The moment he confirmed it was her — the person he had longed for through every morning and every night, through every single day — a joy he couldn’t conceal rose to the surface of his eyes.

She had finally come back to find him…

“Wei Long?” Ke Wenguang, standing to one side, stared in wide-eyed disbelief.

Shen Yi glanced at him briefly, then lifted Rong Qian effortlessly into his arms.

Already asleep, Rong Qian lay settled in his hold, her hands resting against his shoulders in an easy, comfortable position. The corner of her mouth curved upward without her realizing it, as though she were dreaming something pleasant.

“What did you do to her?”

There was no expression on Shen Yi’s face. Without the smile he usually wore, he was always slightly intimidating — Ke Wenguang was no exception.

Realizing he was being misunderstood, Ke Wenguang was quick to explain. “It wasn’t me — nothing to do with me! This woman appeared in my hotel room out of nowhere, and she kept saying she needed to see you. I’m the one who brought her here, actually. I have no idea how she ended up drinking this much.”

There was a faint smell of alcohol on Rong Qian — Shen Yi had already noticed. Thinking back to the other times she had appeared, he found nothing in Ke Wenguang’s account suspicious enough to disbelieve.

However it had come about, this man had brought Rong Qian to him. Shen Yi owed him that much.

So he said to Ke Wenguang, “Thank you. I owe you a favor. If there’s anything you ever need, come find me.”

Ke Wenguang was stunned. Everything this woman had said was true — she had actually delivered on her promise to make the famous Wei Long owe him a favor.

“Ahem.” He cleared his throat, keeping his excitement from showing too obviously. “It was nothing. I thought she was your fan, with all her insisting she had to see you — it never occurred to me she actually knew you.”

Shen Yi said nothing. His gaze rested on Rong Qian’s face. The thought that she’d been so eager to see him the moment she arrived — that she hadn’t wasted a moment — sent a quiet warmth spreading through him.

“On that note, Wei Long — who exactly is she to you?”

Ke Wenguang was half asking what he already suspected. He was simply curious, itching to hear it said aloud by the man himself.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t need the answers to.” That was Shen Yi’s only reply.

Ke Wenguang fell silent automatically, then caught himself — why was he just doing as he was told? He wasn’t the type to be ordered around.

Could the woman named Rong Qian have been right about this too — that somewhere in him, he instinctively deferred to Shen Yi?

“Boss!”

At that moment, Xu Mo came running toward them, calling out as he ran.

When he saw Rong Qian held in Shen Yi’s arms, Xu Mo exhaled with relief. He reached them out of breath and said, “Boss, Miss Rong was with me a moment ago. She took the bottle I’d brought along and drank from it — that’s why she ended up like this.”

“Why did you let her drink?” That, however, was the only thing Shen Yi cared about.

Xu Mo scratched the back of his head, looking guilty. “I said something to reproach her — asked why she’d made you wait six years by showing up so late. And Miss Rong just… didn’t say anything, and started drinking.”

Ke Wenguang, who had been shamelessly eavesdropping the whole time, caught the words “six years” and “waiting,” and his imagination immediately began spinning out an entire drama. His expression became almost indecently gossipy.

“Who told you to reproach her?” The chill that entered Shen Yi’s eyes in an instant was razor-sharp, his tone leaving no room for interpretation.

Xu Mo flinched and shrank back. “Boss, I was wrong.”

“Go bring the car around.” Shen Yi wasn’t about to reprimand him in a place like this. He gave the order, and with Rong Qian still in his arms, he left.

Ke Wenguang watched the two of them disappear into the crowd, chin resting in his hand, a gleam of calculation in his eyes. “Is he just confident,” he murmured to himself, “or does he trust me that much not to say anything?”

“The illustrious Wei Long, pining over a woman for six years — if word of this got out, it would be the biggest headline the entertainment press has seen in years.”

What Ke Wenguang was thinking was of no concern to Shen Yi. His every thought, at this moment, was for Rong Qian alone.

Once they were in the car, Shen Yi held her in his lap and kept her in his arms the entire ride. He made sure she was well-shielded leaving the hotel — though some people had noticed him carrying a woman out, no one had gotten a clear look at her face.

Xu Mo watched Shen Yi through the rearview mirror and couldn’t help asking, after a long moment, “Boss, you don’t seem… surprised at all.”

Shen Yi didn’t look up. “Surprised by what?”

“Miss Rong has been gone for six years, and she’s reappeared out of nowhere with no warning. Doesn’t it seem strange to you? You’re not even a little curious about where she’s been all this time? And I noticed — Miss Rong doesn’t seem to have changed at all.”

Xu Mo had a head full of questions. If Rong Qian hadn’t been asleep, he’d have been chasing her for answers.

Shen Yi gave no reply. He simply stayed quiet the rest of the drive.

Xu Mo was used to him going silent halfway through a conversation. The subject was dropped.

Back at the house, Shen Yi carried Rong Qian to her room.

In the six years she’d been gone, the room had never been rearranged. The household staff dusted and cleaned it every day, and Shen Yi himself came to sit in it often — so it carried no air of having been abandoned.

Shen Yi set Rong Qian down on the bed, and she opened her eyes. But her gaze was unfocused, not quite tracking — clearly, her mind hadn’t surfaced yet.

“Shen Yi?” She called his name in a drowsy murmur.

Shen Yi nodded. “Mm. It’s me.”

“I’ve missed you so much…” Rong Qian broke into a dazed, sleepy smile. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she buried her face against him — though her smile lingered at her lips, tears came spilling silently from her eyes.

Shen Yi felt it. He lifted her chin, tilting her face up to look at him, his voice gentle and coaxing. “Tell me — why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying!” Even half-asleep, Rong Qian’s instinct was to deny it.

Shen Yi wiped the tears from the corner of her eye. “Your eyes are swollen from it. And you say you haven’t been crying?”

“Fine… I was crying. I cried the whole night last night.” Rong Qian lowered her head and admitted it with a sigh.

Shen Yi’s brow furrowed slightly. “Why did you cry last night?”

“Because of you, of course!”

Rong Qian raised her face to look at him, her whole being still hazy and adrift. And then, all at once, she told him everything. “Shen Yi, I’m going to be honest with you. I’m actually not some time-traveler or anything like that. My name is Rong Qian. I’m a criminal investigator with the city police — and I crossed over from a world several decades in the future.”