There was no guarantee she wouldn’t throw knives, even if she promised not to interrupt.

Zhou Cheng maintained a proper attitude, briefly mentioning Jiang Wu’s arrest before focusing on how Jiang Yan got injured and the ridiculous situation when Jiang’s parents tried to shirk responsibility.

“…Even Sister-in-law came to remind me not to do anything to wrong you. How could my stance not be firm?”

Jiang Hong speaking up for her caught Xia Xiaolan by surprise.

However, that wasn’t the main focus right now. Xia Xiaolan put down her cutlery, “I don’t blame you for this. It was Jiang Wu who did evil, and the Jiang family was being unreasonable. But Jiang Yan was seriously injured – what about yourself?”

Jiang Wu had been arrested!

This was excellent news. Having such a psychopath running around had made Xia Xiaolan anxious even when she was in China.

Jiang Yan had been particularly unfortunate lately – breaking her leg while hunting wild boars, and now suffering burns on her back while saving Zhou Cheng. Just hearing Zhou Cheng describe the injuries made Xia Xiaolan wince in sympathy. While scars might be medals of honor for men, they weren’t so friendly to women… especially since this affected Jiang Yan’s career.

Zhou Cheng could now move freely.

It takes a hundred days for injuries to bones and tendons to heal, but being young and in excellent physical condition, his chest bone had healed well in just two months. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been allowed to accompany the inspection team!

“I’m fine! I’m not telling you this to gain your sympathy or to excuse my long silence. I just want you to know everything was coincidental.”

Who could have known the car would explode on the way to Pengcheng?

In that situation, Zhou Cheng had to ignore his injuries and help Pan Bohua get Jiang Yan to the hospital.

Xia Xiaolan felt guilty.

While she had been resenting Zhou Cheng’s silence and absence from her life, she hadn’t known what dangers he was facing.

He had been battling with that psychopath Jiang Wu.

He had nearly been killed by Jiang Wu’s bomb!

“Zhou Cheng, I’m sorry…”

Zhou Cheng also put down his cutlery and held Xia Xiaolan’s hand resting on the table.

“You never need to say those three words to me. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me for making you worry by being with me.”

Xiaolan could find someone who could always be by her side.

Perhaps a businessman or an academic researcher. She was no longer that rural girl from Anqing County with a bad reputation who supported herself by reselling eggs. Today’s Xiaolan was radiant, capable of attracting many excellent men.

If it was truly selfless love, Zhou Cheng should let go… but his love was very selfish. Even knowing how difficult it was for family members, he couldn’t bear to let go of Xia Xiaolan!

Xia Xiaolan didn’t know Zhou Cheng’s thoughts, but she could sense his emotions. She tried to lighten the mood:

“Then let’s not mention it anymore. We’ll both learn from this and try not to make each other anxious again. Now that we’ve cleared things up, shall we shake hands and makeup?”

Their hands were already clasped together, making the handshake unnecessary.

Zhou Cheng couldn’t help but smile at her, and they shook hands firmly as if concluding a successful negotiation.

Xia Xiaolan coughed lightly: “So shall we put the past behind us? I’m not that petty. After all, Jiang Yan helped Brother Pan significantly, and she saved your life. It’s right for you to help her find doctors here in America… Wait, you were right to tell me about this – I might be able to help!”

Praise to Old Mao!

It was fortunate she knew Professor Wen, who happened to have Klaus as a son-in-law.

It didn’t matter if Klaus, the surgeon, couldn’t perform Jiang Yan’s surgery – he would surely know highly skilled specialists.

“I’ll make a call to ask right away. We might need to trouble Connie’s husband again.”

Zhou Cheng looked puzzled, “Again?”

Xia Xiaolan sighed, “The private investigator gave me news about Grandmother Yu’s son’s family. It appears her son Xu Zhongyi might have died early, and his wife and son’s whereabouts are unknown. I wanted to confirm if the body the investigator Jim found was indeed Xu Zhongyi, so I asked Connie’s husband Klaus to help introduce relevant experts for consultation.”

This was quite a lot of information, new to Zhou Cheng as well, so he asked Xia Xiaolan to explain in detail.

What started as a romantic lunch only maintained its romance for the first half, with the latter half being entirely practical… Weren’t these two a match made in heaven to turn a date into such a practical discussion?

…

“That exchange student from China in the architecture program – the one Daniel wanted to date.”

“Yes, yes, the one who made a bet with Jonathan about getting an A+ from Professor McCarthy.”

“Her boyfriend from China is here!”

“Poor Daniel, someone saw Xia kissing her boyfriend in the hallway.”

“They also had lunch together at the restaurant.”

“Why are you all so excited? Hasn’t he been here before? Not very tall, but I heard he’s very wealthy…”

What do they mean by not very tall?

While he might lose in height compared to NBA players, he wasn’t short at all.

“It’s understandable that Daniel lost to him.”

Those who had seen him in person said he was like a walking Apollo, with explosive male hormones.

Nancy vividly relayed the female students’ discussions, making Daniel rub his forehead: “Nancy, that’s not very friendly!”

It was normal for Xia’s boyfriend to visit her at Cornell, but why did everyone have to put him down whenever they mentioned how charming the other man was?

Those girls had probably forgotten how they had screamed themselves hoarse cheering for him during the sailing competition!

It didn’t matter whether he was popular or not.

They just shouldn’t change their hearts so quickly.

Nancy still looked disappointed, “Unfortunately, by the time I rushed to the restaurant after hearing the news, they had already paid and left.”

“Enough…”

Daniel suppressed the urge to spit blood, “I need to meet him!”

Daniel’s desire to meet Zhou Cheng came with mixed feelings.

Being broad-minded was one thing, but as the campus heartthrob, being directly rejected by a Chinese female student made Daniel reluctant to admit his curiosity about Xia Xiaolan’s boyfriend.

Hadn’t Xia mentioned her boyfriend worked for a classified organization in China?

Daniel imagined the image of a burly American-style agent.

…

A classified organization, eh?

Hu Ying secretly peeked into the living room.

Even older people had an aesthetic appreciation.

Earlier, she had thought Little Du was polite and mistakenly assumed he was Xia Xiaolan’s boyfriend.

Now that the real boyfriend was here, Hu Ying could see the difference.

Taller than Little Du.

Better looking than Little Du.

Little Du was somewhat slick, while Zhou Cheng had the bearing of a man tempered by experience. A man’s attractiveness wasn’t about how he dressed, but rather his aura… well, and his face was important too.

Zhou Cheng was in the living room chatting with Professor Wen. Though Zhou Cheng didn’t understand architecture, he wasn’t trying to deliberately please Professor Wen.

When men got together, they could talk about news and international affairs – finding common ground was easy.

In the kitchen, Hu Ying gave Xia Xiaolan a thumbs up, mouthing:

“Good choice.”

Xia Xiaolan smiled helplessly, remembering how Zhou Cheng had attracted attention from sisters-in-law and aunties when he accompanied her to sell eggs and eels at the farmers’ market. Even in America, it was the same. Who said there were differences in aesthetic preferences between countries? They seemed pretty similar!