Ling Mianmian’s expression stiffened slightly. Not wanting to look, she lowered her head.

“What are you doing?” Yan Yunning pressed both hands against the man’s chest and gave him a push.

The man looked down at her. A teasing glint flashed through his deep, dark eyes. “Oh, so you do know to push me away.”

Yan Yunning: “?”

Xuan Yanyu lowered his lids, his throat bobbing up and down. The corner of his mouth curved into a mischievous smile. “You slept in my room last night and weren’t afraid of what I might do to you?”

Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t do anything — you even sent me back to my own room.”

The man’s fingertip lifted a strand of the young woman’s hair that fell behind her, twisting it lightly between his fingers. “How did you know I wouldn’t do anything to you?”

Yan Yunning let out a soft laugh. “Because I feel like you’re worth trusting.”

In the novel, isn’t that exactly who he is — before giving her any formal status, he would at most steal a kiss, he would never actually do anything to her.

Xuan Yanyu’s breath hitched, and he asked earnestly, “Yan Yunning, besides me, who else do you trust this much?”

Yan Yunning tilted her head, saying lightly, “Many people.”

The man hooked her waist and drew her closer. “Let me rephrase — aside from being big-hearted enough to sleep in my room, whose room have you ever slept in before?”

Yan Yunning blinked. “Does my sister count?”

Xuan Yanyu’s dark eyes fixed intently on her. Two words slipped from his lips: “A man.”

Yan Yunning shook her head. “Only you.”

Seeing that Yan Yunning was not lying, a smile crept into Xuan Yanyu’s eyes — one he didn’t even notice himself. “Keep it that way going forward.”

Yan Yunning feigned ignorance. “What?”

“Figure it out yourself.” Xuan Yanyu released her and glanced at the time. “Come on, let’s eat.”

Yan Yunning pretended not to understand, but Ling Mianmian couldn’t make sense of that phrase — “keep it that way.”

Did it mean: going forward, the only room she could stay in overnight was his?

Or did it mean: going forward, she could not stay overnight in any other man’s room?

Obviously, both — just the former a little more so.

Xuan Yanyu picked up the bag Yan Yunning had left on the sofa and noticed Ling Mianmian still standing in place, dazed. His brow creased faintly. “Is there something else?”

Ling Mianmian adjusted her expression. “Nothing, Young President Xuan.”

Xuan Yanyu turned his gaze away. He draped his long arm over Yan Yunning’s shoulder and leaned close to her ear, his voice low. “Shiyao will apologize to you in a moment.”

Yan Yunning’s eyes lifted. “A dinner with Qi Qingchen and Shiyao?”

“Mm.”

Yan Yunning furrowed her pretty brows slightly. “You didn’t play Shiyao’s recording for Qi Qingchen?”

“He heard it. Qingchen said it’s all his fault — that Shiyao became this way because of him. He said he used protecting her as an excuse, but never stopped to consider whether Shiyao even wanted to stay by my side.”

“Ha.” Yan Yunning laughed drily, at a complete loss for words.

It’s not as if she didn’t have a mouth of her own, was it? She couldn’t have said something to Qi Qingchen herself?

Xuan Yanyu looked at Yan Yunning with meaningful eyes. “When you love someone, you make excuses for them.”

Meeting the man’s burning gaze, Yan Yunning slowly smiled. “Can I say that Qi Qingchen has a problem?”

That recording made it perfectly clear that Shiyao no longer loved him — she loved money. Why continue to deceive himself?

Xuan Yanyu’s eyes flickered. “He really is ill.”

Realizing she had said something wrong, Yan Yunning pressed her lips together.

Xuan Yanyu patted her head and let out a melancholy sigh. “Shiyao was Qingchen’s first love. He sees her through a filter. On top of that, Qingchen is sick — keeping Shiyao by my side already left him feeling guilty toward her. And then with Shiyao’s three hospitalizations, Qingchen feels even worse.”

“Three hospitalizations — I don’t know the reason for the first one, but weren’t the last two entirely her own doing? Once she got so upset trying to make things difficult for me that she had to be hospitalized herself, and another time she wanted you to think I had ‘harmed’ her baby so you’d drive me away.”

Xuan Yanyu wound Yan Yunning’s hair around his finger, turning it idly as he let out a quiet sigh. “That’s exactly why I said — when you love someone, you’ll find every excuse for them. If you truly love her, how could you bear to blame her?”

Yan Yunning: “…”

The restaurant.

With the arrival of Xuan Yanyu and Yan Yunning, Qi Qingchen and Qi Xingyou were exceptionally warm in their welcome.

Yan Yunning discreetly took in Qi Qingchen’s appearance. He was very thin, with deep-set eyes and a pallid complexion — his lips, too, were colorless.

Xuan Yanyu stood at one-eighty-eight centimeters; standing beside him, Qi Qingchen was only a few centimeters shorter, yet the whole of him looked so frail it seemed a gust of wind could knock him over.

“Ningning, I’m sorry.” Qi Qingchen raised a glass of water in place of alcohol and bent at the waist. “Please accept this as my apology.”

Knowing Qi Qingchen was apologizing on Shiyao’s behalf, Yan Yunning shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize. It has nothing to do with you.”

Qi Qingchen smiled bitterly. “It does.”

Then he raised his glass and looked toward Xuan Yanyu, managing a smile. “Ah Yu, I’ve owed you a proper apology for a long time. I’m sorry.”

He and Yaoyao had been university classmates. He had loved Yaoyao very, very deeply. Back then, his father had pressured him to marry Jiang Jin, dismissing Yaoyao for lacking the right background.

He had obediently married Jiang Jin after graduating from university. Later Youyou was born, and he had planned to spend the rest of his life with Jiang Jin in mutual respect and civility.

But when Youyou was three, Jiang Jin brought up divorce, and naturally he had no objection.

Afterward, he encountered Yaoyao again. Old feelings rekindled; Yaoyao was carrying his child, and the joy he felt surpassed even the elation he’d known when he first learned about Youyou.

He wanted to marry Yaoyao. To his surprise, his father refused — said he simply could not accept Yaoyao’s background, no matter what.

This time, he had wanted to defy his father for once. But then he suddenly fell ill. His father found out, and declared that the child Yaoyao carried would not be born safely.

His father would absolutely never allow a daughter-in-law he disapproved of to give birth to his grandchild.

After falling ill, he was often unconscious and could not look after Shiyao. He went to Ah Yu to beg for help, because outside of Ah Yu, no one could shield Shiyao in front of his father.

As long as Ah Yu let it be known that Shiyao was his “girlfriend,” his father would never dare do anything to Shiyao.

Although they were close brothers, Ah Yu had not agreed at first. It took offering the most profitable project in the Qi Group — letting Ah Yu’s Xuan Group take the lion’s share of the collaboration — before Ah Yu finally consented.

With two companies of their size partnering, it was no small affair. He had ceded ten percent. His father, furious, had been hospitalized from the shock, and revoked the company shares from his hands. He convened the board and had him voted out of the company.

The contract had already been signed; no matter how angry the old man was, he didn’t dare breach the agreement and face the penalty fees.

Of course, Ah Yu may not have cared much about the money itself. He suspected it was because he had cried his heart out while lying ill, and Ah Yu had agreed out of the bond between brothers built over so many years.

What he hadn’t anticipated was that within just one month — one month — Ah Yu had gotten into a car accident because of Yaoyao. But thankfully, thankfully, Ah Yu had woken up.

“That’s all in the past.” Xuan Yanyu clinked his glass with Qi Qingchen’s.

“Uncle, big sister — Youyou is sorry too. Please don’t be angry~” The little girl’s voice was soft and milky, and she had an adorably spirited little face.

“Uncle? Big sister??” Xuan Yanyu tugged lightly at the girl’s little pigtail. “Call us big brother and big sister, or uncle and auntie.”

Yan Yunning scooped the little girl up onto her lap and gave a gentle smile. “Never mind — don’t call me auntie, little Youyou. Just keep calling me big sister.”

Shiyao let out a scornful laugh. “It’s just a title. Youyou can call you whatever she likes.”