In the novel, Pei Shutong’s second older brother, Pei Shuluo, had a slight limp. She had asked her brother about it, and he told her it was because the second young master of the Pei Group had sprained his ankle.

In the novel, the ending where she hadn’t interfered had Xuan Yanyu marrying Yan Shiyao — that was because Xuan Yanyu and Shiyao were boyfriend and girlfriend.

She really wanted to know who had written that ancient-setting novel!!!

She had asked her brother about Qi Qingchen, and her brother said that Qi Qingchen had been married to Jiang Jin, and they had a daughter together, but had divorced again at the beginning of last year.

As for other matters regarding Qi Qingchen, her brother didn’t know much, because aside from getting along well with Xuan Yanyu, Qi Qingchen had only an ordinary relationship with everyone else.

In that ancient-setting novel, aside from Prince Xuan’s harem — the concubines, the secondary consorts, and the like — there were also some minor, inconsequential characters that the author had invented entirely. The rest of the characters were all based on real people, adapted from their real-life counterparts. She was the only one without a real-life counterpart. So why had the story made her meet Xuan Yanyu — why?!

These past few days, she had desperately suppressed the longing in her heart to see him. She was afraid — afraid that if she saw him, it would cause trouble for Shiyao, who was pregnant. Since he had forgotten, she might as well treat it as though they had never met.

She had no way of accepting the Xuan Yanyu of the present.

“Ningning, what’s wrong?” Gu Jingye looked at her with concern.

“Nothing.” Yan Yunning quietly wiped away the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, and lifted a smile. “Let’s go back.”

“Alright.” Gu Jingye didn’t press further. He walked ahead of Yan Yunning and stepped backward, watching as He Qingxia linked her arm through Yan Yunning’s. With a lazy, unhurried air, he said, “Miss Yanyan, I’ve known you for about the same amount of time as Xiaxia has. She can link arms with you — can I?”

“You?” He Qingxia narrowed her eyes with a smile. “No.”

“Did I ask you?” Gu Jingye curved his lips with languid ease.

“Oh? That tone of yours is meant for me?” He Qingxia blinked, then gave a sweet, coquettish smile. “Ningning, next time we eat together, let’s not invite him.”

“Petty.” Gu Jingye forced those two words out from between his teeth.

“Ningning, next time we go out to play, let’s not invite him either.” He Qingxia smiled with smug satisfaction.

Gu Jingye curved the corner of his mouth and clutched his chest. “In a friendship of three, I feel so unnecessary. My heart aches — your words hurt me.”

“So?” He Qingxia tilted her head to one side.

Gu Jingye also tilted his head to one side. “So if I call you ‘Your Highness, the Princess,’ will you agree?”

“What?” He Qingxia looked puzzled.

Yan Yunning’s eyes filled with a smile. “It’s something like that, I think — someone once said that if a boy calls her ‘Your Highness, the Princess,’ and she agrees…well…”

It would mean she was willing to be his girlfriend.

A large palm, slightly damp with sweat, pressed over her mouth. Yan Yunning rolled her eyes.

“What is it — Gu Xiaoye, let go of Ningning and let her finish!” He Qingxia’s eyes lit up with blazing brightness. She stepped forward and tried to pry Gu Jingye’s hand away.

“Liking someone means calling her…mmph…” Her fingers were pried apart — just as Yan Yunning was about to say a bit more, she felt warmth against her lips again.

Your Highness, the Princess.

Panic seeped through the man’s fingers. He encircled Yan Yunning and stepped back, pressing close to her ear and pleading humbly, “My dear ancestor, please don’t say it.”

Caught in the reflection of Gu Jingye’s anxious, tense pupils, Yan Yunning blinked, then nodded.

In the distance, Shiyao looked at the photo on her phone and gave a self-deprecating smile. The man intimately held the woman in his arms, his head slightly bowed toward her ear. Was this the kind of daughter-in-law that uncle Xuan and his family approved of?

In what way was she better than Shiyao?

Why was it that no one could see her worth?

She put away her phone and turned to leave the amusement park.

“What are you looking at?” Leng Yuxian, who had only just finished her quarrel, gave Ye Chen a pat on the shoulder.

Ye Chen glanced at Yan Yunning and the others, then swept his eyes toward Shiyao, who had taken the photo and was walking away. He scratched his head.

“That one over there.” Ye’an pointed at Shiyao, who was getting into a car. “That’s our young Master Xuan’s girlfriend — in name only.”

“What do you mean, ‘in name only’?” Leng Yuxian’s brow furrowed slightly. “So what you’re saying is your boss doesn’t have a girlfriend? That’s what I thought — why did your boss not bring his own girlfriend to the hospital? Ye Chen, you carried her, didn’t you?”

If that girl had been Ye Chen’s boss’s girlfriend, Ye Chen certainly wouldn’t have overstepped. But since she wasn’t his boss’s girlfriend, it sounded as though there was more to the story.

So Ye Chen, in his urgency to take her to the hospital, wouldn’t have held back.

Ye Chen covered his mouth with a pat, his expression shifting to one of alarm. “Work. Work, sweetheart. Keep your voice down. This absolutely cannot be traced back to me — you remember that. Don’t tell anyone, not a single person. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, young Master Xuan won’t let me off the hook.”

“It’s that serious?” Leng Yuxian muttered.

“Deadly serious.” Ye Chen lowered his voice. “Think about it — young Master Xuan even sacrificed his reputation. How could it not be serious?”

“Why?” Leng Yuxian asked curiously.

Ye Chen shook his head, his voice dropping even lower. “That, we don’t know. Only young Master Xuan himself probably knows. All I know is that privately, young Master Xuan has no relationship with Miss Shiyao.”

“Then what about the Shiyao that the outside world keeps talking about?” Leng Yuxian patted her own abdomen and widened her eyes. “The baby isn’t your boss’s?”

“I don’t know. Only young Master Xuan and Miss Shi know that for certain.” Ye Chen placed his index finger against Leng Yuxian’s lips, flashing a bright grin. “Enough about them — weren’t we going to ride the Ferris wheel? Let’s go.”

“Next time you’re not allowed to carry any other woman — not even for work!!” Leng Yuxian huffed.

Ye Chen laughed and draped his arm over Leng Yuxian’s shoulder, pulling her close. “Got it. Noted.”

“Next time I find out you did, I’ll beat you up.” Leng Yuxian shook her fist.

“Alright, alright, alright.” Ye Chen laughed with indulgent warmth.

West City Villa.

The moment Yan Yunning got back, she started packing her luggage — clothes, bags, jewelry, skincare products, shoes — stuffing everything haphazardly into a suitcase.

“What are you doing?” Yan Jinzhi held a cup of coffee and leaned lazily against the doorframe, giving a slight lift of his chin.

“Going home!” Yan Yunning grabbed another suitcase and said to Yan Jinzhi, “Brother, help me zip up the suitcase.”

Yan Jinzhi looked at the clothes and bags piled up and spilling over the top, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Your useless brother can’t manage it. You’d better take some clothes out first, and then your useless brother will help you zip it up.”

Yan Yunning pursed her lips. “Then what’s the point of asking you to help? I’ll just do it myself.”

“Your aunt and uncle will be back in two months — why not stay in Chaxi City for those two months before going back to Yuanjin City?” Yan Jinzhi set down his coffee cup and crouched down in front of the suitcase.

“No, I can just video call them. I want to go home and see Mom and Dad and my brother, then visit Uncle’s house and see my older brother, and then go see my sister…”

“Hold on — Yan Yunning, our family only has so many people. What do you mean by going to see every single one of them?”

“I’m going abroad.” Yan Yunning closed a drawer and pulled out another suitcase from under the bed.

“Why? Has Yuzhao County become too small for you?” Yan Jinzhi took the clothes Yan Yunning had haphazardly thrown into the suitcase back out again.

Yan Yunning’s hands paused in their packing. Her gaze drifted to the window, and she said vaguely, “I keep seeing videos I don’t want to see. It’s making me uncomfortable.”

“?” Yan Jinzhi narrowed his eyes. “Come clean — did you fall for some celebrity or blogger or someone like that, and they rejected you, so now you can’t bear to see their videos anymore? Am I right?”

“No.” Yan Yunning glanced up at him, and it was only then that she noticed the clothes she had painstakingly loaded into the suitcase had been taken back out by Yan Jinzhi and piled onto the bed.

She couldn’t help a small flare of temper. “Yan Jinzhi, what are you doing?”

“You little brat — your tone is nothing like this when you’re asking me to buy you bags. And as for going abroad — you’re the youngest child in our family. Who would ever agree to let you go abroad? Living alone in a foreign country?”