The door closed, and Jiang Chengyi remained standing still, forcing Lu Yan to press against him with nowhere to retreat.

His breath was above her head, soft and warm, making the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“What are you doing, Jiang Chengyi?” This time, it was her turn to ask him.

Her voice was low, her gentle breath seemingly penetrating his clothes to reach his skin.

He stared at her. Fresh from her shower, her cheeks were flushed pink, and her eyes reflected the crystal lamp above like snow, glistening like water.

He struggled to keep his gaze from sliding down her neck: “Your mother still lives in Fenglu Garden?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It’s quite far. Takes an hour by car.”

“Yes.”

“We still need to go there for lunch tomorrow.”

“Right.” What was he getting at?

“Better get some sleep early.”

Oh, that made sense.

Lu Yan nodded compliantly, but before she could speak, he had already taken her hand and pulled her into his room.

The spacious room contained only a bed and two sofas. The white sheets had been changed that afternoon, and under the warm yellow bedside lamp, it looked especially cozy and inviting.

Hearing the door close behind her, she suddenly felt the air become stiflingly hot.

“Jiang Chengyi.”

“Mm?”

“I’m thirsty.”

“There’s water over there.”

She turned her head and saw a glass of lemon water on the bedside table.

She sat on the bed, picked up the glass, and took a sip. Her throat still felt dry, so she couldn’t help but gulp down half the glass.

Just as she was about to drink more, the glass suddenly disappeared from her hand.

He had taken it and finished the remaining half.

“I’m still thirsty,” she protested.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to sit on the sofa: “I’ll get you more in a bit.”

Her head ended up against his chest, but her heart inexplicably tensed.

If she wasn’t mistaken, in his eyes just now, besides desire, there was also clearly discernible restraint—two completely different emotions somehow strangely intertwined.

Her intuition was usually accurate, and sure enough, the next second she heard him say, “I need to talk to you.”

Jiang Chengyi’s voice was low, and when he spoke, clear vibrations came through his chest wall. From years of clinical practice, she could pinpoint his heart apex with her eyes closed, so she placed her ear precisely at that spot, counting the pulses of his life one by one, and softly replied, “Okay.”

“What did my mother talk to you about this afternoon?”

Her eyelashes trembled slightly as she slowly said, “Nothing much, just gave me some things.”

He made a sound of acknowledgment, knowing without asking what precious items they were. No rush—they could use them however they wanted after he finished talking with her.

After waiting a while without him speaking, she glanced up at him: “Well, Auntie also told me about you booking the flights and hotels.”

His expression remained neutral, but he didn’t deny it.

She couldn’t help but smile, her heart as sweet as honey.

Looking at her smile, he knew that no matter how quiet and compliant this woman appeared at the moment, she was still as stubborn as ever at her core. From cooking for herself since middle school to later insisting on studying medicine, she had long been accustomed to relying on herself and making her own decisions about everything.

He remembered before the college entrance exam, after a sports meet, when they sat drinking sodas in the empty stands.

He asked what major she planned to choose, and she said she wanted to study medicine.

An unsurprising answer. He laughed and said, “You could study anything, why force yourself to choose such a difficult major?”

The soda was long finished. She put the can aside, shook her head, and said very seriously, “I’ve done a lot of research. With medicine, the work will be relatively stable and well-paid. My mom has had such a hard life these years, I want to be able to take care of her in the future.”

That was the first time she had voluntarily talked about her family. Before, whenever they chatted, even though the topic came up, she always intentionally downplayed or avoided it.

He felt somewhat dejected—why wasn’t there any place for him in her life plans?

But he also knew they were still too young, with countless variables in life, and many words would seem shallow and empty once spoken, far less meaningful than actions.

His heart felt sour as he pinched her cheek: “Student Lu, where do I fit in your plans?”

She smiled without answering, packed away the towel she had used to wipe his sweat, and pulled him up: “It’s late, let’s go.”

“Lu Yan.” After a long while, he heard himself speak, “When we broke up, I impulsively changed my college application. I had a huge fight with my father over it.”

Lu Yan froze slightly. There was an eight-year gap between their breakup and reunion. Since they got back together, this was the first time Jiang Chengyi had voluntarily mentioned what happened then.

“For the first few years, I never thought about returning to S City. At the time, I wanted to completely cut ties with my past life, didn’t want to touch any corner of the past. Even if I returned to S City one day, it would only be for my parents.”

“But during my time in B City, I couldn’t help thinking about you. I remember in tenth grade, I was obsessed with basketball and never noticed any girls around me. But once when you won the Middle School Science Award, you were wearing your school uniform with a ponytail at the award ceremony. Such ordinary attire, yet you caught everyone’s eye at first glance. That’s when I realized our school had such a beautiful girl.”

“Later, I understood you more and more each day. I knew you studied hard, valued relationships, were good to your friends, always ranked in the top three of our grade, had high standards for yourself, and methodically did everything to the best of your ability. During the time without you, whenever I thought of you, thought of how serious you were, I unconsciously poured all my energy into work and study too. You’re stubborn, but I’m even more stubborn. I thought I would eventually meet someone better than you and completely forget you, but three years ago, I met Tang Jie in B City and heard about how you were doing. I was so weak-willed that I thought about transferring back to S City that very night.”

Lu Yan remained motionless in his arms, but suddenly felt a tightness in her nose.

“My father is very eccentric and domineering. Back then, he strongly opposed my studying criminal investigation. If he knew I wanted to transfer back, not only would he not support it, but he would secretly create obstacles. So I could only keep the transfer from my parents. Three years later, I finally transferred to the Anshan District Bureau. Before knowing your feelings, I made an impulsive decision. At that unclear stage when everything was uncertain, I told myself I wasn’t doing it for you, I was doing it for myself.”

Her smile grew more bitter.

Jiang Chengyi’s face showed some discomfort. Out of pride, he had originally planned to keep this matter to himself forever, but since he decided to have an honest conversation with her, there was no need to hide anything.

“Anyway, after all these twists and turns over the years, we still ended up together. When we broke up years ago, there were too many factors involved. Neither of us was calm or wise enough. But eight years is enough time to completely reshape a person inside and out. After growing through these years, I’m more mature in every way than before. Now I just want to ask you—”

He paused.

She held her breath, listening.

His voice dropped lower: “I’m ready to love you better than I did eight years ago. I hope… you can also love me better than you did eight years ago.”

He spoke the last sentence word by word.

She looked at him, tears rolling down one by one.

Silently, she nodded vigorously.

His throat tightened slightly as he leaned in to kiss her tears. His hot breath intertwined with her soft breathing. As they kissed, desire suddenly blazed like a fierce fire. His lips pressed harder as his hands sought to undo her nightgown.

After pulling her top down to her waist, he saw a dazzling sight that made him pause. His arms tightened as he lifted her and they tumbled onto the bed.

He lingered over her chest, breathing heavily: “Did my mother give you this?”

This was going to be the death of him.

Was there more?

She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately as she unbuttoned his shirt one by one, making a vague sound of agreement.

Taking advantage of his daze, she pushed him away and reversed their positions, pinning him down.

At six-thirty the next morning, Lu Yan woke up.

Lying in bed, she had a strange feeling. She hadn’t noticed how big the bed was last night, but now lying under the covers, it felt like being buried in snow.

Jiang Chengyi’s arm lay across her chest, his skin burning hot. He was sleeping deeply, half his face buried in the snow-white pillow, his breathing light and steady.

From her angle, she could only see his clean skin and black hair.

She watched him with curved lips for a while, then leaned in and softly kissed his cheek before quietly lifting the covers and getting out of bed.

After washing up, she went to the dining room to prepare breakfast. The kitchen was well-equipped with a juicer and fresh fruit, and rice and red beans were readily available. She washed the fruit, rinsed the rice and red beans, and planned to cut some pumpkin and purple sweet potato to make congee.

While she was busy, she heard footsteps and turned to see Jiang Chengyi approaching.

Still drowsy, with hair falling over his forehead, wearing only long pajama pants, his broad shoulders and firm abs fully visible.

“Why are you up so early?” he walked straight into the kitchen.

She put the rice and red beans into the slow cooker: “Making you breakfast.”

“Your cooking is terrible.” He looked disgusted. “Go back to sleep for a while, I’ll cook.”

She put down the bowl and tried to push him out: “This time I’ll do better than you.”

Unable to push him away, she looked at him with a half-smile: “What exactly do you want?”

He guided her hand to grip his sensitive area, saying seriously: “Come back to bed with me for a while.”

She secretly applied pressure: “Oh, why is it as naughty as you?” She withdrew her hand just as seriously, kicked off her shoes, deliberately stepped on his feet with both of hers and wrapped her arms around his waist.

He smiled at her, patiently holding her as they stepped back to the end of the hallway, fumbling to open the door behind him and drawing her inside.

By the time they finished getting ready and came out, it was already nine-thirty.

Since they were meeting elders, Jiang Chengyi dressed more formally in a well-fitted dark blue suit starting with Z, wearing a tie she had chosen for him. At a glance, he looked incredibly handsome and spirited.

As soon as they got in the car, he became busy answering calls.

Lu Yan kept herself occupied too, reading some saved articles on her phone. Remembering that a professor’s lecture at last month’s annual conference was somewhat related to her research topic, and recalling that she had taken photos then, she opened her album to look for the October pictures.