No one had any objections. They gathered their things and filed out of the private room one after another.

——

On the busy road where traffic converged, three supercar sedans moved steadily forward. The two flanking cars were understated black, but the one in the middle stood out brilliantly — a gleaming gold-blue that was impossible to miss.

Shiyao sat stiffly in the back seat, afraid to touch anything. She knew that custom-edition supercars like this carried a price tag she could barely imagine.

“A’Yu… I… I want to move out of the Xuan Residence.” Shiyao pinched the hem of her clothes between her fingers, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Mm?” Xuan Yanyu’s typing hand paused. He lifted his gaze from the phone screen and looked at her with a cool, measured expression. “As long as you can keep the child in your womb safe, that’s all that matters.”

Shiyao’s lashes trembled, her vision gradually blurring. She understood what he meant — as long as she could protect the baby, he didn’t care whether she stayed or left. In a way, this was good news for her.

“This child… I… I don’t want it anymore.” Shiyao raised her hand to wipe her tears, her shoulders trembling slightly. “What your Uncle Xuan had Ye Jian say today made me realize I could never truly belong in your world.”

“So you want to run? To hide?” Xuan Yanyu leaned back lazily in his seat, a thin, contemptuous smile on his lips.

“The child’s fate is for you to decide — you don’t need to discuss it with me. Once you’ve made up your mind, I won’t try to stop you. And my father’s words are not something you need to concern yourself with — there’s truly no need.”

“After all, once you’ve given birth, you won’t be staying in the Xuan Residence. You and he will have no relationship whatsoever. What is there for you to worry about when it comes to him?”

“No.” Shiyao shook her head, her eyes still red. “A’Yu, you misunderstood me. What I mean is, the gap between my station and yours is far too great… I… I’m not worthy…”

Xuan Yanyu pressed his lips together and closed his eyes, clearly unwilling to say another word.

“A’Yu.” Shiyao tightened her fist, gathered her courage, and asked, “If you… never mind.”

Not another word was spoken for the rest of the journey. Half an hour later, the three sedans came to a smooth stop in the Xuan Residence’s garage.

Shiyao composed herself, opened the car door, and stepped out. It was not her first time visiting the Xuan Residence, and yet standing before this lavishly decorated mansion, she still felt a wave of awe — and a deep sense of inadequacy.

It was European in style, with little angel figurines scattered throughout the fountains, and flocks of white swans gliding across the lake. Stepping into the main hall, one was immediately drawn in by a massive and remarkably lifelike mural on the wall.

Looking up, there was a stunning crystal chandelier overhead. In the corners of the hall stood wine cabinets — she had heard from the servants that every bottle inside was a famous vintage of considerable value.

Her three-bedroom apartment back home could not compare to the Xuan Residence, and it wouldn’t be fair to even try.

“Yuner, do you feel unwell anywhere?” The moment they entered the main hall, Xuan Yanyu’s father — Xuan Shi’an — came over and looked him up and down, fussing over his well-being.

“No.” Xuan Yanyu walked around his father and went to lie down on the sofa.

“If nothing’s wrong, then why are you so exhausted that you have to lie down the moment you get home?” Xuan Shi’an followed him to the sofa. Noticing that Xuan Yanyu was more attached to his phone than to him, he let out a quiet sigh.

“Ding.” A message notification popped up. Xuan Shi’an snuck a glance — “Yu-ge, don’t worry. Ningning is fine now, her mood has completely lifted.”

“What are you looking at?” The man flipped his phone face-down and shot a languid glance at Xuan Shi’an.

Xuan Shi’an gave a light cough, pointed at the phone now resting on his son’s abdomen, and asked with a cheerful smile, “Who is Ningning? My future daughter-in-law?”

“Dear.” Xuan Yanyu’s mother — Wen Shuyun — had just walked over carrying a fruit plate, and happened to catch that remark. She instinctively glanced at Shiyao.

“Am I wrong? Since when has my son ever cared about a young woman?” Something seemed to cross his mind, and Xuan Shi’an’s face lit up with delight. He turned to Wen Shuyun and said, “Start preparing the betrothal gifts — let’s bring that young lady into the family.”

“Father.”

“Dear, have you… lost your mind?” Wen Shuyun took Shiyao’s hand and gave it a reassuring pat, afraid that Xuan Shi’an would say something else to embarrass her. She set down the fruit plate and drew Shiyao away from the main hall.

“Father nothing! Are you unwilling? Young women these days are very sought after, especially one as beautiful and talented as my future daughter-in-law. Hesitate for even a moment, and she might end up with someone else.”

Xuan Shi’an glanced at Shiyao’s retreating figure from the corner of his eye and lowered his voice. “Resolve that meddlesome mess of yours. I won’t have my future daughter-in-law be the one to suffer.”

Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow. “Meddlesome? Who told you that?”

Xuan Shi’an gritted his teeth. “I investigated it myself.”

“Impossible. What could you have found? Hotel records? You’re bluffing me.” Xuan Yanyu turned over on the sofa, picked up a peach, and bit into it.

“You… is the child in Shiyao’s womb even yours? And you’re going to just play father?” Xuan Shi’an eyed him.

Xuan Yanyu clicked his tongue. “Why wouldn’t it be? Whether it’s my son or my daughter, stop finding fault with Shiyao all the time.”

“Fine, keep spinning your tall tales.” Xuan Shi’an stood up, smoothed the front of his crisp, wrinkle-free dress shirt, then cast a glance at Shiyao standing stiffly in the distance — his disdain fully unconcealed.

In the beginning, he had simply found Shiyao lacking in composure. At the time, not knowing the truth, he had assumed the child she carried was Yuner’s, and had thought to himself that it was manageable — she just needed some guidance.

But she had actually — on a day of heavy rain when even taxis refused to take passengers — asked Yuner to accompany her to a prenatal check-up. Did it absolutely have to be that specific day?

What was she playing at?

And besides, what did her prenatal check-up have to do with Yuner in the first place?

The child she was carrying wasn’t Yuner’s.

That he had not held her accountable for Yuner’s accident was already a great mercy on his part.

He couldn’t understand why Yuner had chosen to claim Shiyao’s child as his own. There were details beyond that he couldn’t investigate — Yuner had covered them all. After Yuner’s accident, he had treated the child in Shiyao’s womb as precious, reviewing every prenatal report and the timing of the pregnancy.

From the very start of her pregnancy, all of Shiyao’s check-up records showed she had been in Chaxi City. He had looked further into it and found that after graduating from university, Shiyao had never left Chaxi City — and yet for nearly half a year around the time she conceived, Yuner had not been in Chaxi City at all.

The timing didn’t line up with her pregnancy. He was confident the child she carried had nothing to do with Yuner.

Others could be fooled because they didn’t know Yuner’s schedule — but he knew it clearly. For that entire half year, Yuner hadn’t returned to Chaxi City even once.

He had posted Yuner to a branch company during those months.

The only explanation he could come up with was that Yuner was secretly in love with Shiyao, and that was why he was willing to be a father to her child. He had never witnessed what Yuner looked like when he was in love, and during Yuner’s coma, this had been his running theory.

But then, when he had wired money to Guo Si, he had heard Guo Si tearfully recount what went on between Yuner and Ningning — and it was nothing like that at all.

It was only when Shiyao begged Yuner for help that Yuner would lend a hand — worlds apart from the Yuner Guo Si had described.

The other characters in the story were fictional, invented by Guo Si, purely made up — but Yuner and Ningning were real people who had transmigrated into this world through the transmigration device.

After the two of them had transmigrated into the book, the characters they corresponded to were no longer the cold, flat words Guo Si had written. Their meeting, their falling in love — none of that had been written by Guo Si.

Guo Si’s manuscript only covered the background of events before their transmigration, so hearing what Guo Si had to say, he was quite certain that Yuner did not love Shiyao.

He simply didn’t understand why Yuner was helping her.

“There’s nothing to spin.” Xuan Yanyu looked at Xuan Shi’an with complete seriousness. “Dad, this is my son or daughter.”

“Ha.” Xuan Shi’an snatched the apple he had taken a bite of and threw it into the trash bin, seething, “Thrown away rather than let you eat it.”

Xuan Yanyu: “……”

Xuan Shi’an shot him a glare. “If you can’t clean up your own mess, and you drive my wonderful future daughter-in-law away, you’ll be the one crying in regret.”