Besides, it was more worthwhile than having dinner with Miss Yan, who would be saddling Little President Xuan with someone else’s child.

“Mm.”

Hearing Xuan Yanyu agree, Ye Jian nodded. “Then I’ll go let Miss Li know.”

Yan Yunning was not so unreasonable as to object to Xuan Yanyu attending the lunch simply because Li Li would be there.

“Do you want to come along?” The man relented awkwardly.

“You go by yourself.” She was not in a good state right now — it wasn’t suitable for her to make appearances.

Xuan Yanyu ground his teeth. “Fine!”

After watching Ye Jian and Xuan Yanyu leave the office one after the other, Yan Yunning sank down onto the sofa, her mind in a muddle, Xuan Yanyu’s words from a moment ago flashing through her head again and again.

If she refused, he meant that the wedding would be called off — was that it?

That was what he meant, wasn’t it?

There really were a lot of twists and turns between the two of them before even getting married. First there was her sudden return home, then her misunderstanding of him because of Shiyao, and now that she knew the truth and the misunderstanding was resolved, he was suddenly saying he didn’t want a child.

Yan Yunning felt somewhat at a loss. In all the time she had known Xuan Yanyu, not even when he was angry had he ever acted this way — pretending not to see her, and today he was being inexplicably unreasonable all over again.

“Miss Yan.” Ye Jian, who had just left, came back into the office.

Yan Yunning was mildly surprised. “Why did you come back?”

Ye Jian repeated almost the same words as yesterday: “I’ll take you back.”

“No need, I can—” The last syllable had barely left her lips when her phone chimed a few times.

Yan Yunning said, “Sorry,” picked up her phone, and saw a message from Shiyao: [Ningning, come to Jue Ye. I have something very important, very important to tell you.]

Yan Yunning’s eyes flickered. Jue Ye?

The Jue Ye — the one with the restaurant and the full entertainment complex??

She had heard that the minimum you’d spend there in a single visit was six figures. Why would Shiyao be asking her to meet there???

Did Shiyao have that kind of money???

“Miss Yan? Miss Yan?” Seeing that Yan Yunning had fallen into deep thought after reading her phone, Ye Jian frowned and called out twice.

Yan Yunning looked up at Ye Jian and said seriously, “Help me contact a security firm and get a few bodyguards.”

She did want to find out how Shiyao had come to know about her and Xuan Yanyu’s affairs — but she wasn’t foolish enough to go see Shiyao alone.

Besides, she had already pieced together a fairly good guess.

Ye Jian’s mouth twitched. “Miss Yan, what are you planning to do?”

Yan Yunning grabbed the handbag she had tossed onto the sofa and said in brief, “Go to Jue Ye. I’m scared.”

Ye Jian: “……”

Little President Xuan was having lunch at Jue Ye right now — what was the point of finding bodyguards? Just go find Little President Xuan. Who would dare not show Little President Xuan face?

——

Jue Ye.

Following the message Shiyao had sent, Yan Yunning located the private room and was about to raise her hand to push open the door when Ye Jian frowned slightly. “Miss Yan, allow me.”

Yan Yunning raised an eyebrow and stepped back two paces.

Ye Jian twisted the door handle, and without warning, someone yanked his arm into an embrace. He reacted on instinct and snapped out a kick.

“Ow — ow!” A man clutched his chest and clambered up from the floor, bowing and scraping toward Ye Jian. “Mr. Ye, what brings you here?”

He wasn’t blind enough to fail to recognize the people around Little President Xuan.

Yan Yunning peeked around from behind Ye Jian into the room.

Dim and shadowy, lights crossing in the private room, men and women mingling. She spotted a man holding a wine glass with an air of superiority, clinking it with Shiyao. Shiyao smiled sweetly and drank the cup with him.

Ye Jian’s brow tightened. He pressed the switch for the main lights in the private room. President Xu, who had been draping himself over Shiyao, let out a startled bang as his wine glass smashed to the floor. “Who the hell— who’s so thoughtful as to turn on the lights?”

Ye Jian leaned against the doorframe and curved his lips into a cold smile.

Yan Yunning twirled a strand of hair around her fingertip. No wonder Ye Jian had said one person was enough.

He really was enough.

“Mr. Ye, you’re here — come in and sit down!” President Xu immediately dropped Shiyao and stood up, wiping down his own seat with his sleeve in fawning eagerness. “Mr. Ye, please, sit right here.”

Ye Jian clicked his tongue a couple of times. “Explain. What was that just now?”

President Xu gave a few dry laughs and kicked the man who had grabbed Ye Jian, saying with undisguised irritation, “What were you doing? Get over here and apologize to Mr. Ye.”

The man immediately lowered his voice to a tone of abject apology. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Mr. Ye. Shiyao said she was introducing me to a girlfriend, and I… I thought the one coming in was the girlfriend Shiyao was setting me up with.”

“Mr. Ye, I truly had no idea it would be you.”

“Shiyao set you up with me as your girlfriend?” Yan Yunning said with an amused expression, pointing at herself.

The man looked up at Yan Yunning, a flash of admiration crossing his eyes. “I didn’t know.”

“Ningning, of course it wasn’t you — this is all a misunderstanding.” Shiyao, who had been shoved to the floor by President Xu, bit down on her lip and pushed herself up, suppressing the pain as she walked to Yan Yunning’s side and forced a smile. “Ningning, it’s a misunderstanding.”

President Xu chimed in in agreement. “Exactly, exactly — it’s all a misunderstanding. Mr. Ye’s girlfriend — how could Shiyao introduce her to someone else?”

“Are you blind?” Ye Jian’s gaze swept toward President Xu, cold enough to make anyone flinch.

President Xu tensed, not knowing how to respond.

“Sister Yaoyao.” A girl in a light green dress appeared timidly at the door to the private room and gave a gentle knock.

A smile lit up Shiyao’s face. “This is the one I actually wanted to introduce—”

Seeing that it had all been a mix-up, Ye Jian cut Shiyao off with impatient bluntness. “All right. You said you had something to tell Miss Yan — everyone else, get out.”

Shiyao bit her lip.

“Out, out — Mr. Ye, we’re going right now.” President Xu flashed an ingratiating grin and ushered the others out of the room.

Thirty seconds later, the entire private room went quiet. Shiyao looked at Ye Jian with a troubled expression.

Yan Yunning glanced at Shiyao with cool indifference. “He doesn’t need to leave.”

Shiyao drew a deep breath. “Ningning, I am Yan Shiyao. I am your A’Jie. You…”

“You are not her.” Yan Yunning cut her off with certainty.

What a joke. The lie she was spinning wasn’t even remotely convincing.

Ye Jian stood there thoroughly baffled. A’Jie? Yan Shiyao??

Shiyao gave a soft laugh and sighed. “Ningning, I know this is very hard to believe, but it is the truth. I really am.”

Yan Yunning’s smile was paper-thin. “The scheming in your eyes — she doesn’t have that.”

Shiyao was taken aback. In the next instant, she smiled. “People change. As long as someone is human, their character is never fixed forever. What you’re describing — that was the old me.”

Yan Yunning smiled with a slow, bewitching grace. “You’re right. People truly can’t stay locked into one fixed character forever. But I am very certain that you are not her.”

Shiyao shook her head with what appeared to be disappointment. “Ningning, you’re unwilling to acknowledge me, so you’re saying this — aren’t you?”

“Shiyao, it seems you’ve not quite grasped the situation. Regardless of whether you are Yan Shiyao or just Shiyao, neither has anything to do with me. My sister — my sister by blood — is Yan Yuran, and Yan Yuran alone.”

Shiyao gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I was presumptuous.”

Yan Yunning took two steps forward and leaned close to Shiyao’s ear, speaking in a voice low enough for only the two of them to hear: “Shiyao, you went to see Guo Si, didn’t you? Everything you know was told to you by Guo Si, wasn’t it?”

“You wanted to impersonate me, to win Xuan Yanyu’s love — and for that, you even broke up with Qi Qingchen. But unfortunately, Xuan Yanyu, afraid of me finding out, accelerated things and got engaged to me, and set a date for the wedding. When you learned that Xuan Yanyu and I were engaged, you also found out that Qi Qingchen had reclaimed his seat as President of the Qi Group.”

“You panicked. If I’m not mistaken, you must have gone to find Qi Qingchen first — and unfortunately for you, he was completely done with you. So you went looking for Xuan Yanyu again, only to have the phone picked up by me instead.”