Just as Lin Zhi had scolded — Lu Rangchen was born with the disposition to invite torment.

When Yunque had been whimpering under him last night, he’d been more than satisfied. But hearing her use this urgent, lively tone to reproach him, he only felt more satisfied still.

It was as if, with his own hands, he had torn away the mask she used to conceal herself.

She only showed her true self in front of him.

Exclusively his. One of a kind.

What surprised Lu Rangchen, though, was that Yunque actually didn’t hang up on him directly.

Her face flushed, her heart a little wild, and with the office still mostly empty, her voice came out bashful and stiff as she said, “If you keep talking nonsense, I’m hanging up right now.”

Those soft, cool words should have carried a warning, but they sounded just like pouting — entirely without any deterrent force.

As luck would have it, Lu Rangchen consumed exactly this sort of thing.

The man laughed low and husky, his tone provocatively unhurried, murmuring, “It’s rare that you can actually pick up a call. Why hang up? Let’s talk a little longer.”

A trace of command in his voice.

Yet there was, unusually, something almost childish about it.

Yunque’s lips held the faint crease of a smile. She snapped two pills apart and swallowed them down with warm water — and in the very next second, she heard Lu Rangchen say, “If things get swollen down there, put some more ointment on it.”

Perhaps because she’d already heard the most shamelessly brazen things from his mouth, Yunque was surprisingly calm this time around. She couldn’t resist judging him in a roundabout way: “……You’re well-informed about this.”

Lu Rangchen truly did know her.

Knew her well enough that even if she voiced only a single syllable, he could tell exactly what she was thinking.

Too lazy to play guessing games with her, he made a neutral sound and said quite openly, “I just called Lin Zhi. She told me.”

“……”

That was like tossing a lit match into dry brush.

The composure Yunque had just recovered was unsettled by him all over again. With rare exception, she laughed out of indignation: “Why do you tell Lin Zhi everything?”

Lu Rangchen’s tone was languid and unbothered. “What’s there to worry about? We’re all adults.”

Yunque’s ears were burning. She pressed her lips together and genuinely did not want to talk to him anymore.

One hand prying open the lid of her lunch box, she said flatly, “Lu Rangchen, I’m hanging up.”

On the other end of the line, Lu Rangchen — lounging loosely in his office chair — raised one brow and said, “Fine, go eat.” Then, as if recalling something, he finally brought the conversation around to the real matter.

He said, “I forgot to mention — I’m heading out this afternoon. Going abroad for a while, to take the team to a tournament.”

His tone was perfectly casual, as though he were simply stepping out for a meal.

Yunque was taken aback for a moment.

Her mood, for reasons she couldn’t quite explain, suddenly grew quietly low.

Lu Rangchen seemed to have anticipated exactly what she was thinking. His deep voice softened, turning teasing and coaxing: “About ten days, give or take — it won’t be long. Can you manage?”

Yunque pursed her lips and said, “Who exactly is it that’s supposed to ‘manage’?”

That genuinely made Lu Rangchen laugh.

He chuckled lazily, conceding defeat. “Fine. I’m the one managing.”

Having already put his cards on the table, he saw no point in being roundabout. He simply said what he meant: “Can you reach out to me more often while I’m gone?”

Genuinely — it was a rather offhand tone, yet the earnestness behind the request was unmistakable.

Yunque’s breath caught slightly.

She hadn’t expected Lu Rangchen to say something like this to her.

This was the kind of thing said by the sort of girl who had only just started dating someone and was still anxiously uncertain — hovering between hope and fear.

Yunque lost focus for two seconds, wondering involuntarily — was Lu Rangchen truly that insecure when it came to her?

But before she could arrive at an answer, Lu Rangchen had already called her back to her senses. He made a dismissive sound and said, “Does this really warrant hesitation, Yunque?”

“……”

Of course it didn’t.

Yunque said at once, “Of course I’ll reach out to you more.”

She paused, then added, “I’m your girlfriend now, after all.”

As she said this, Zhang Leyao had just come back carrying tissues. She caught the slightly bashful lilt at the end of Yunque’s words, and a surge of vinegary sourness shot straight up to her head. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Yunque noticed, and pretended not to.

She only heard Lu Rangchen give what sounded like a rather satisfied laugh, his voice warm and beguiling as he said, “Not my girlfriend — my future wife.”

Yunque’s heartbeat suddenly quickened again.

She didn’t know how many times that had happened today. And this was different from the feeling she’d had when they first fell in love all those years ago.

Back then, she had been uncertain and anxious, facing the future with confusion and a lack of confidence.

But now, both of them had grown into reasonably capable adults who could take responsibility for each other’s future — to the extent that the phrase “future wife,” when she heard it, Yunque took genuinely to heart.

Perhaps falling in love simply changes a person.

In the days that followed, Yunque’s mood was so good it was almost excessive — even her expressions grew more frequent, and the air around her was no longer that of deathly stillness or numbness. Light returned to her eyes, and with it, a living spark.

Old Liu picked up on the subtle shift in atmosphere and asked about the situation between the two of them, also mentioning that Lu Rangchen had once asked her for Yunque’s phone number.

Since they were all acquainted, Yunque didn’t hide anything and straightforwardly told her that the two of them had reconciled.

Old Liu was overjoyed at the news, like a parent watching their own daughter find a partner — she congratulated Yunque effusively and asked when the two of them would make it official.

Yunque was genuinely caught between tears and laughter at being pushed like this, and could only tell her that the two of them had only just reconciled, that she hadn’t thought that far ahead.

But speaking honestly.

If Lu Rangchen truly did propose moving forward to the next step, Yunque felt that she wouldn’t refuse.

After all, it had been a moment of fierce determination that led her to make the decision to return from the capital.

And as it turned out, her choice had been the right one.

Looking back later, Yunque only remembered that during that period, Lu Rangchen was almost nonstop in his busyness.

The overseas tournament was important, and the athletes he’d brought were all highly capable — each of them straining with everything they had to compete for prize money. Lu Rangchen naturally put in no small amount of effort on their behalf.

During that time, he also met with the foreign head coach, and the two of them had a very congenial conversation. The coach signaled his interest, and once the tournament wrapped up, they would sign the contract.

The days were kept busy like that.

It was only in the evenings that he finally had real time to find Yunque.

That feeling was genuinely quite something.

Yunque would be up late correcting assignments with a straw stuck in a yogurt pouch, and Lu Rangchen would keep her company via video call — the two of them exchanging idle small talk, with Lu Rangchen occasionally slipping in one of his suggestive remarks.

It was as if her nights no longer belonged only to herself, and were no longer lonely.

When it truly came time to sleep, Lu Rangchen couldn’t help but call her again — cigarette in hand.

His girl was usually freshly bathed by then, lying in her soft, fluffy covers in a little slip dress, running the air conditioning.

Perhaps because her mood had been so good, Yunque took a couple of selfies and sent them to him — a rare gesture.

She was the sort of girl who didn’t try hard to look pretty in photos. Even with a face perfectly capable of charming any man without effort, she still came across as unpolished and unguardedly pure when she photographed herself.

Lu Rangchen received the photos and couldn’t hold back a grin. He set one as his phone wallpaper on the spot, then deliberately teased Yunque, saying he had material for the night now.

Yunque asked, “What material?”

Lu Rangchen laughed with a sly playfulness and countered: “What do you think?”

The answer was, of course, self-evident.

Yunque was no naive innocent — she was embarrassed for a moment, then adopted his approach and turned it around on him, saying, “Well, remember: I want to be on top.”

She had no idea that those few words kept Lu Rangchen restless for an entire night.

The few hours he’d managed to set aside for sleep were half-consumed by trips to the bathroom to deal with himself — his mind filled with nothing but how she had looked on top of him. Lu Rangchen was genuinely exasperated with himself.

Fortunately, he wouldn’t have to endure this kind of torment much longer before he was headed home.

The exact date of his return wasn’t set, so he didn’t tell Yunque in advance — he thought it would be a pleasant surprise to turn up without warning.

But as luck would have it.

That day happened to be a weekend.

Yunque woke up to a call from Zhu Ping’an, saying that Zhu Yuxuan’s surgery was finished and had gone very well, and asking if Yunque could come by to see him.

To be frank, ever since Deng Jiali had gone behind her back to ask Xie Han for help, Yunque had no desire to maintain contact with them any further.

But Zhu Ping’an, showing no awareness of what was appropriate, called and asked her to invite Xie Han over to the house for dinner.

Perhaps her reconciliation with Lu Rangchen had helped her reach the decision faster — in any case, Yunque didn’t want this standoff to drag on any longer.

So that midday, she neatly gathered her things and headed out, stopping at an ATM to withdraw one hundred thousand yuan in cash.

Those one hundred thousand yuan were nearly the last savings she could scrape together — yet she didn’t hesitate for even a moment, bringing the money straight to Zhu Ping’an and Deng Jiali.

By that point, Zhu Yuxuan had already fallen asleep.

Not wanting to disturb anyone, Yunque called the two of them out to the fire escape stairwell.

When Deng Jiali saw her push that thick stack of money into her hands, she was completely stunned. Zhu Ping’an was equally thrown off, and said, “Yunque, what are you doing?”

Yunque still wore that same cool, composed expression.

Her bearing had a quality of detachment from worldly things.

As if she regarded everything with great lightness, she lowered her gaze and said simply, “I know you spent a lot of money on Xuanxuan’s surgery. Keep this.”

Deng Jiali looked as though she’d been moved to tears, eyes glistening. “Yunque, how are you such a — such a sensible child——”

Before she could finish, Zhu Ping’an cut in.

While he had no particular wealth of his own, he did know luxury brands.

He noticed the iconic bag Yunque was carrying from a certain label, and couldn’t help but ask, “Yunque, have you been making more money lately? Or have you gotten together with Xie Han?”

He asked out of some degree of genuine concern.

Perhaps with the instinct of a birth father — he had a sense that Yunque was about to say something.

And sure enough, Yunque raised her eyes with composure, and her very first words were: “I’ve reconciled with Lu Rangchen.”

At the sound of that name, both Zhu Ping’an and Deng Jiali froze at once, then exchanged a look of utter disbelief.

It was Deng Jiali who spoke first.

The woman’s expression shifted with startling speed, and she was blunt about it. She said, “Yunque, have you lost your mind? Do you know how hard your father has worked to hold on to his job? How could you go back to him after everything? If you stir up trouble with the Cheng Family again, your father could lose his iron rice bowl. What happens to Xuanxuan then? What do we live on? Are you planning to support all of us?”

The tone was righteously indignant — all the warmth and apparent emotion of moments ago had vanished entirely.

She changed her face without a flicker.

Yunque had no reason left to spare her any face either.

She picked up almost exactly where Deng Jiali left off, her expression blank: “Haven’t I been the one supporting Xuanxuan all these years?”

That cut Deng Jiali off so sharply she choked.

Giving neither of them a chance to respond — and without a glance at how pained their expressions were — Yunque said in a cool, measured voice, “A fixed fifty thousand yuan sent to you every year. An extra ten thousand at the New Year. Not counting what I’ve spent on miscellaneous things for you over time. Four years in total. Two hundred and forty thousand yuan. You ask any other parent in Nan City whether that two hundred and forty thousand is enough to raise a child to adulthood.”

“Even if it’s not enough, this is what I have — every yuan squeezed out of my own frugal living — and it’s the most I can give.”

“Now, with this extra one hundred thousand, that brings the total to three hundred and forty thousand yuan. This money,” Yunque turned her gaze to Zhu Ping’an, her eyes carrying not a trace of emotion, “should more than cover whatever you spent on me over the years, wouldn’t you say?”

It seemed to be only now that the gravity of the situation was truly registering.

Zhu Ping’an’s expression flickered, and he said, “Yunque, you’ve misunderstood — Dad never meant to ask you for money. It was Xuanxuan who said he wanted to see you, and I’ve been worried about you too, so I thought——”

“If you’ve been worried about me, why didn’t you even ask me before you let her go seek help from Xie Han?”

Yunque cut him off, curling her lips in a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Seeking his help is one thing — but why try to push me together with him? You knew I didn’t want to owe him anything. You knew who I had in my heart.”

Zhu Ping’an opened his mouth, searching for words — and that’s when Deng Jiali grew frantic, saying, “Yunque, how can you speak like this? Setting aside the question of money — in all these years, have your father and I been short on love and care for you? And then there’s Ye Tian. He treated you like a real older sister. Back then, he stood up for your mother so fiercely, even got himself taken to the police station over a fight for her sake — have you forgotten all of that? And your father — wasn’t it because of you that he came under pressure and nearly got fired? Now all that trouble has passed, and you turn around and decide you’re the aggrieved party — but even if you are aggrieved, you can’t lay that blame on us! You should go ask your mother, why she was capable of doing something so humiliating, so humiliating that her feud with the Cheng Family came back to wreck us all!!!”

The words fell. It was presumably expected to make Yunque crumple with guilt.

Instead, Zhu Ping’an brought his palm across Deng Jiali’s face — a sharp, resounding slap.

And with it came a roar of complete emotional collapse: “Shut your goddamn mouth! Did anyone ask you to speak?!”

That single shout made the air in the corridor tremble.

Curious heads turned toward the fire escape stairwell.

It was at precisely this moment — while Deng Jiali stood there clutching her reddened face, disbelieving and not daring to make a sound, while Yunque stood with her fists clenched tight, emotions churning and restrained beneath her eyes, just before she could get a word out — that a deep, measured, deliberate male voice rose from behind her, carrying the faintest edge of a chill.

“When did all of this happen?”

“……”

Yunque turned.

Standing right in front of her, having appeared at the hospital without her knowing, was Lu Rangchen.

The same handsome face and figure — only now shadowed with undeniable exhaustion and the dust of a long journey.

She barely had time to react before, in the next second, Lu Rangchen stepped forward and seized her wrist, pulling her behind him to stand between her and Deng Jiali.

His tall, lean silhouette was like a wall with no gaps — untamed and audacious, and yet — shielding Yunque from the wind and rain.

Yunque’s heart lurched unexpectedly.

She wanted to pull him away and leave.

But Lu Rangchen refused to budge.

He stood firm, gripping Yunque’s wrist with an iron hold. He first cast one glance at Deng Jiali, and then his dark, deep eyes shifted — with an unreadable emotion — toward Zhu Ping’an.

Two seconds of silence.

Then, his lips barely parting, his gaze pressing down with a thin undercurrent of menace, he said word by deliberate word:

“When, exactly, did the Cheng Family retaliate against you?”