Xiaxia’s video account hadn’t changed since university, and many of her classmates knew it. A familiar classmate only needed to ask to find out her account.

He Qingxia: [? What is she trying to do?? Deliberately making you angry? Wait, what is Xuan Yanyu doing? He’s actually posing for photos with her.]

He Qingxia: [From the start, when Xuan Yanyu was protecting Shiyao, I already felt he wasn’t worth loving, yet you insisted he was, and you got engaged to him so quickly. Look at this — how many days has it even been? While you’re still not married, cut your losses while you can.]

He Qingxia: [Ningning? Are you still there??]

Yan Yunning replied with a listless [Here.]

He Qingxia said nothing more and sent Yan Yunning another photo.

Yan Yunning tapped it open and saw that Li Li had posted another selfie on her video account, captioned: [Chatting with little President Xuan, I learned so much. I hope little President Xuan will chat with me more~ “Looking forward to it~”]

[PS: Little President Xuan speaks so gently~]

“Ugh—” Yan Yunning couldn’t suppress the nausea rising in her stomach. She threw down her phone and stumbled over to the wastebasket, vomiting up every bit of the small lunch she had eaten at noon.

She crouched on the floor and took several minutes to recover before pressing her hands against the table and standing back up.

——

The very next morning.

Yan Yunning had no desire to sleep. She rose early but felt no urgency to rush to the office.

She ate breakfast at an unhurried pace, applied a gorgeous, striking layer of makeup, and chose from her suitcase a French-style blue-and-white striped blouse paired with a deep navy pleated skirt that fell below the knee. Her lightly curled long hair was half pinned up.

She hooked a white handbag over her shoulder, then swapped her shoes for a pair of silver sparkle low heels with a three-centimeter heel, and pressed her lips together in front of the mirror to set her lipstick.

Yan Yunning raised her hand and undid two more buttons on her blouse, revealing the round gold necklace of fine gold thread encircling her swan-like neck.

She curved the corner of her mouth slightly in the mirror and gave a satisfied nod.

At half past ten in the morning, Yan Yunning arrived at the office. The branch’s general manager, President Su, who had long since been notified, stepped forward proactively to open the car door for her.

“Miss Yan.”

“Miss Yan.”

“……”

The company’s directors and department managers greeted her one after another.

Yan Yunning gave a small nod and looked toward President Su. “Where is Xuan Yanyu?”

“Little President Xuan did not come to the office today.” Strange as it was, President Su answered honestly.

The Xuan Group had more than one branch company, and Little President Xuan would never stay long at any single one — there was no telling when he might leave. Miss Yan was Little President Xuan’s fiancée, but she wasn’t asking Little President Xuan directly; she was asking him instead, and he genuinely had no idea where Little President Xuan was.

Little President Xuan would never report his schedule to him.

“Take me to his office.”

“Miss Yan, right this way.” President Su smiled and made a welcoming gesture.

Yan Yunning gave a slight nod, and the group entered the company.

Top floor.

President Su proactively pushed open the door to the executive office for Yan Yunning. “Miss Yan, please come in.”

Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow. She looked at Xuan Yanyu lounging lazily in the office chair, then glanced at President Su, who was smiling so broadly his eyes had crinkled into lines, and asked at a leisurely pace, “Look — is that Xuan Yanyu or not?”

“Pardon?” President Su didn’t immediately understand what Yan Yunning meant. He followed her gaze and only then noticed that Xuan Yanyu was reclining with unhurried ease in the office chair, watching the two of them with calm, collected eyes.

“Little President Xuan, when did you arrive at the office?” President Su asked with a beaming smile.

The man twirled the fountain pen in his hand, his eyelids drooping slightly. “About ten minutes ago.”

President Su stole a sidelong glance at Yan Yunning and found himself too awkward for words.

Yan Yunning tilted her head. “You go back to work.”

“Of course, of course — then you and Little President Xuan go ahead and talk.” With that, President Su nimbly retreated from the office, pulling the door shut behind him.

Yan Yunning tossed her handbag onto the sofa, her gaze settling on Xuan Yanyu. “What are you avoiding me for?”

The man smiled faintly. “Has Miss Yan lost her memory? Wasn’t it Miss Yan who said she didn’t want to see me?”

Yan Yunning choked on a retort. At the time, she had had no idea that Shiyao would twist everything upside down and talk such nonsense.

“Miss Yan, take your time inspecting the office.” Xuan Yanyu lifted his suit jacket from the back of the chair and strode toward the door on his long legs.

As he passed by Yan Yunning, his wrist was caught. His expression turned cold. “Let go.”

Yan Yunning shook her head and spoke to him in a gentle, reasonable tone. “It was my misunderstanding. I shouldn’t have said anything about breaking off the engagement, about breaking up, or about me going abroad — Xiaxia and Jingye were both there, and I did not go out alone with Lulu.”

Remembering Guo Si’s advice, Yan Yunning swallowed what she had been about to say and put it more obliquely: “It has always been just the two of us. No one else.”

Xuan Yanyu’s eyes swept briefly to Yan Yunning’s lower abdomen, and a cold smile crossed his lips. “Miss Yan, please don’t say that.”

Yan Yunning frowned. “Xuan Yanyu, what are you still angry about?”

Hadn’t he only been bothered because he thought she had gone abroad with Lulu? She had explained that. So what was he still upset about?

Xuan Yanyu felt a fire smoldering inside him. He suppressed his anger and said calmly, “What you cannot accept, I cannot accept either.”

He had no fondness for raising another man’s child.

Unless she was willing to give up the child she was carrying.

“You don’t believe me?” Yan Yunning gritted her teeth. “Go and check again — check whether it was me and Lulu who went abroad together, or me and Xiaxia and Jingye, all four of us going together…”

“Yan Yunning!” Xuan Yanyu wrenched his wrist free, his voice dropping to a cool edge as he cut her off. “I currently have no plans for a child. If you marry me, we will not have one within the first year. Agree to that, and we proceed with the wedding. If you don’t agree…”

The rest of the words refused to leave his mouth. To ask him to let go of Yan Yunning — he truly could not bring himself to do it.

But if he didn’t let go, he also couldn’t bring himself to raise another man’s child.

“No.” Yan Yunning instinctively pressed her hand to her lower abdomen. It had been three and a half months. Back then, they had looked forward to this baby so eagerly.

There was no way she could give it up.

Xuan Yanyu saw the gesture and let out a derisive sound through his nose. “Think it over carefully.”

He didn’t want to make the decision for her — he was afraid she would come to hate him for it.

If she still hadn’t made her choice before the wedding, he would make it for her.

They would have children in the future.

Yan Yunning’s long lashes trembled. “Why are you suddenly saying no child within a year? Give me one reasonable reason.”

The man’s dark pupils reflected the girl’s beautiful face. He curved his lips into a faint smile. “I just don’t want one. There is no reason.”

Anger crept into the corners of Yan Yunning’s brows. “Xuan Yanyu, you are a bastard!”

Could she just discard this baby on the basis of a single “I don’t want one”?

Xuan Yanyu’s eyes narrowed slightly, and the atmosphere around him turned utterly frigid. “Yan Yunning…”

Knock, knock. A knock at the door cut off whatever he had been about to say.

The man’s gaze cooled. “Come in.”

Ye Jian pushed open the office door, startled for a brief moment when he saw Yan Yunning, then collected himself. “Little President Xuan, there is a lunch invitation.”

“From whom?”

Ye Jian glanced at Yan Yunning. “It’s President Wu. His secretary, Miss Li Li, will most likely be there as well.”

Yan Yunning’s brow furrowed tightly.

“Little President Xuan, you have no other engagements at noon. You might as well accept the invitation — first, to consolidate the partnership, and second, to lay the groundwork for long-term cooperation. President Wu’s entertainment company is developing quite well at the moment. It may not compare to ours, but when it comes to friends, the more the merrier.”