They had never actually spoken. It was only once, when she and Xia Xia had gone to a shop to buy strawberry mini cakes, that they had run into Li Li, who was working a part-time shift there. She and Xia Xia had deliberately gone to Li Li’s register to pay — only for Li Li to pull a long face at them on the spot.

When they returned to campus, Li Li inexplicably began giving both her and Xia Xia cold looks and making cutting, sarcastic remarks. So she and Xia Xia came to dislike Li Li equally.

A mutual disdain — nothing more.

It was only later that she learned: Li Li had assumed she and Xia Xia had come all the way to that shop — which was far from campus — specifically to mock her, and had deliberately chosen to check out at her register.

The two of them had genuinely been wronged.

They had simply been in the area after watching a film — nothing more than a coincidence!

And going to her register to pay had been purely to give Li Li the commission from the sale!!!

Li Li had also spotted Yan Yunning. She gave a disdainful little smirk. She had only been engaged for a few days, and her fiancé was already refusing her calls.

She had been right beside Young Master Xuan just moments ago — when the ringtone went off, Young Master Xuan had only picked up his phone, glanced at it, and switched it to silent.

She had seen the contact label: Ningning, My Baby.

And so what? He was still not answering her calls.

“Xu……” Yan Yunning had barely gotten a single syllable out before Xuan Yanyu, without even glancing in her direction, got into the car.

He couldn’t possibly have not seen her. In the past, no matter how angry he was, he had never done this. And on top of that, Li Li had gotten into the same car as him.

Yan Yunning looked down. She suddenly understood why Xuan Xixi had harbored such hostility toward Wen Zhilu.

Even knowing there was nothing between the two of them, it still felt deeply uncomfortable.

Just like the discomfort she felt now, watching Xuan Xixi sit in the same car as Li Li.

“Miss Yan…… are you alright?” Xiao Wan was also at a loss.

The three of them had been standing right there in plain sight — Young Master Xuan wasn’t blind. How could he possibly have not seen them???

Yan Yunning swallowed down the sting of disappointment and shook her head with a smile. “I’m fine. Let’s head back.”

Qiuci and Xiao Wan nodded. “Alright.”

“Miss Yan, where are you going?” Ye Jian had gotten out of the car again and walked up to Yan Yunning.

Yan Yunning’s eyes flicked with faint surprise. “Why did you get out?”

Ye Jian spoke politely. “Miss Yan, I was going upstairs to retrieve a document for Young Master Xuan — there’s no rush anyway. I’ll take you first.”

He was genuinely baffled. Why, after Young Master Xuan had basically been set up to play devoted stepfather, was he still bothering to show concern for her? What was the point???

“There’s no need — go get his document first.”

Ye Jian glanced at his wristwatch. “There’s no rush, Miss Yan — since you’ve come all this way, let me take you first. Otherwise Director Xuan and Mrs. Xuan would hold me responsible. I’ll drop you off and then go rejoin Young Master Xuan.”

Yan Yunning pressed her lips together, wanting to ask something but unsure how to phrase it.

What she could be certain of was that Ye Jian getting out of the car to take her had definitely been done at Xuan Yanyu’s instruction.

“Miss Yan, wait just a moment — I’ll go get the document and bring the car around.”

Yan Yunning watched the business car disappear into the distance, then turned to Ye Jian and said, “Alright, thank you.”

Ye Jian smiled lightly. “Not at all.”

Five minutes later, Ye Jian brought the car around and cheerfully opened the front passenger door for Yan Yunning. Qiuci and Xiao Wan got into the back.

“Miss Yan, what brings you all the way here? Another trip? How come I don’t see Mr. Wen?”

Three questions in rapid succession, delivered in a measured tone that carried a barely perceptible undercurrent of sardonic dissatisfaction.

Yan Yunning glanced at him from the side. “Why would I bring Lu Lu on a trip?”

Ye Jian cleared his throat. Something was said in the Bluetooth earpiece in his left ear, and he relayed it: “Didn’t you go abroad on a trip a few days ago? And didn’t you bring Mr. Wen with you?”

Yan Yunning lowered her gaze to the ring finger of her left hand. A faint shadow crossed her eyes. “Didn’t you find out that Xia Xia and Jingye were there too? And besides — I wasn’t on a trip. I had something important to take care of.”

Ye Jian quickly followed up. “Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to call off the engagement? To break up? How come you’ve now come to the branch office? Are you here to look for Young Master Xuan?”

Yan Yunning turned her gaze to the car window, her tone flat. “I’ve already come all the way here to find him — do you really think I still intend to call off the wedding and break up with him?”

Ye Jian pressed further. “Why not? Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Is it you who wants to know — or is it Xuan Yanyu who wants to know?”

Ye Jian went silent and didn’t press further.

The car was quiet for a stretch. Then Yan Yunning spoke suddenly. “You haven’t asked me for my address. Where exactly are you taking me?”

“The airport.” Ye Jian’s voice was calm. “Miss Yan, this is what Young Master Xuan wants. It isn’t that you’re threatening to break up and call off the engagement with Young Master Xuan anymore — it’s that Young Master Xuan doesn’t want to see you now.”

Qiuci and Xiao Wan in the back seat suspected they had heard wrong.

How had things gone from perfectly fine to talk of called-off engagements and not wanting to see each other again???

Yan Yunning sat in silence, her eyes growing faintly damp. “Pull over to the side, please.”

Ye Jian’s brow creased. “Miss Yan……”

Yan Yunning closed her eyes briefly. Her voice came out low. “Go back and tell Xuan Yanyu to check the company’s shareholder register. And tell him that tomorrow, I’m coming to the branch office to conduct an inspection.”

She had checked the night before — she and Xuan Yanyu held equal shares.

At the time, she had been even more stunned than Ye Jian was right now. She could confidently say there were very few directors as generous as Uncle Xuan — a wedding hadn’t even been held, no marriage certificate had been obtained, and he had already given his future daughter-in-law a stake in the company, and an equal one at that, matching his own son’s.

Ye Jian’s voice nearly broke. “Wh…… what?”

Yan Yunning paid no heed to his shock and continued. “Don’t use the excuse that I haven’t submitted a formal inspection request to the head office and therefore cannot audit the branch — Director Xuan has already approved it.”

“Now — pull over.”

Yan Yunning saw hesitation flicker across Ye Jian’s face, and said lightly, “Companies are entitled to make reasonable and necessary reassignments for their employees, aren’t they? You……”

Screech. Before she could finish her sentence, the car had already pulled to the side of the road.

“Director Yan, please step out.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

Ye Jian said in all seriousness, “Director Yan, I will absolutely convey your words to Young Master Xuan.”

Yan Yunning: “……”

——

Back at the hotel, Qiuci and Xiao Wan crowded around Yan Yunning, both clearly wanting to say something but holding back.

Yan Yunning knew what they wanted to ask. She sighed quietly and said, “There’s been a misunderstanding. I misread the situation with Xuan Xixi, and it made him this upset.”

She suspected it was because she had told him she didn’t want to see him and wanted to call off the engagement — and then turned around and went abroad with Lu Lu. That was what had made him so angry.

Ding-dong.

Her phone chimed several times. Yan Yunning asked Qiuci and Xiao Wan to go order dinner, and once they had left, she unlocked her phone. What she saw on the screen — a man and a woman raising glasses to each other — made her eyes sting sharply.

He Qingxia: [How did that insufferable Li Li end up sitting with Xuan Yanyu???]

He Qingxia: [What does she mean by posting this on her social feed???]

He Qingxia: [Seriously — how is Xuan Yanyu out drinking with that Li-the-Pest???]

He Qingxia: [Ningning, are you there???]

Yan Yunning gently sniffed. [How do you even have access to her posts?]

He Qingxia replied instantly. [She sent me a video account follow request and liked my stuff, so I clicked into her profile. I didn’t expect to see this — she screenshotted a social media post and uploaded it to her video account, with the caption “Tonight was wonderful.”]

He Qingxia: [Wonderful my foot???]

Yan Yunning let out a cold laugh to herself. [She’s putting on a show for me. She wanted you to send it to me.]