Chen An came out of the bar and took a gulp of the northwest wind, which choked his throat painfully. It was probably because he’d smoked too many cigarettes that evening—his whole body reeked of smoke. Worried that Cheng Lele would find the smell uncomfortable, he bought throat lozenges at a convenience store and planned to drive home first to take a shower.

While waiting at a red light, he had Chen Xiaomu send him Cheng Lele’s stepfather’s house address and that pervert’s name.

After receiving it, he forwarded it to Tang Xin, then left voice messages:

[First thing tomorrow morning, have that Beijing investigation company that tracked Huang Tiangou before investigate Qin Rui and his father. I’ve already forwarded you the residential address.]

[Also this Wan Shengmu—I don’t know specifically what he does, but he’s friends with Qin Rui. Have them investigate. Make it fast.]

[Arrange a sharp bodyguard for Manager Cheng. Doesn’t need to be close protection, but don’t let her discover it.]

After that, he sent another voice message to the team leader on the acquisition project: [Expedite the matter of investigating the public relations company.]

Chen An worried that Jiang Litao had already investigated Cheng Lele thoroughly. If when the film premiered, Anni Film Industry first hyped up Cheng Lele and Liang Yuchao as a CP, let fans criticize Cheng Lele for a round, then once the heat built up, started hyping Cheng Lele’s tragic backstory—for example, “Martyr’s daughter follows mother into remarriage with drug-using family”—the headline would be very eye-catching. If netizens then dug up Qin Rui’s social group from years ago, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Of course, Jiang Litao was wary of Peace and Joy and might not dare do this. Besides, Peace and Joy wouldn’t let events ferment to the end. But Chen An didn’t want Cheng Lele to take even the slightest risk or suffer the slightest harm in this matter, so buying into a PR company that could restrain Jiang Litao seemed very necessary.

When he returned to Jingping Temple, it was already midnight.

There was still a monk on rotating guard duty at the courtyard entrance. Chen An put his palms together in thanks and told him to go rest first. Pushing open the door, Chen An discovered that Cheng Lele had again fallen asleep on the living room carpet.

She was sleeping lightly. Even though Chen An gently closed the door quietly, Cheng Lele still woke up.

“You’re back?” She yawned and looked up at the clock, then glanced at him. “Why did you change clothes?”

Chen An hesitated slightly for two seconds: “While talking business with someone, someone accidentally spilled a drink on me. I went back to change.”

Cheng Lele deliberately narrowed her eyes: “Really? It’s not that your clothes had a woman’s perfume smell and you were afraid I’d discover it, is it? Where were you talking? What time was the drink spilled? What does the server look like? If I discover you lied to me, you’re done for, Little Ge.”

Chen An was stunned.

But Cheng Lele couldn’t hold it in. Hugging the sofa cushion, she laughed with satisfaction at her successful prank.

It was precisely this kind of clean, pure smile that made him mistakenly think she had always been doing well.

Chen An strode over, walked in front of her, bent down and hugged her. Because it was so sudden and forceful, Cheng Lele fell backward, but her scalp didn’t touch the ground. Chen An’s palm cushioned her head.

The sudden big hug made Cheng Lele freeze for a moment. “Why act like we haven’t seen each other in days?”

Chen An’s hand smoothly slid into her hair, stroking her fine black hair, looking at her face at close range: “I think your smile is very beautiful. I want you to keep smiling forever.”

“Keep smiling forever—wouldn’t that make me a fool?”

Chen An picked her up horizontally and walked toward the room: “I’d like you even as a fool. Sleep on the bed—the floor is too cold. Did you see Du Xing?”

“The children in the mountains go to sleep before eight. I’ll find him tomorrow morning.”

“You should learn from Du Xing and not stay up so late at night.”

“You’re the one who should.”

“You’re the child.”

“…”

In the room, the curtains were tightly drawn. With the lights off, nothing could be seen.

In the darkness, Chen An directly pulled Cheng Lele into his embrace. One arm served as her pillow, while the thumb of his other hand slowly swept across her brow bone, then gently caressed her cheek.

“Can’t sleep in your old age?”

“Mm. An old person recalling past bitterness and present sweetness.”

“What?”

“I’m remembering when you were little. Little Fatty borrowed your favorite eraser, then he transferred schools and didn’t return it. You went on about it like Tang Monk every day, nagging until I had a headache.”

“Did I?” Cheng Lele didn’t quite remember this. “Then you must have helped me get it back.”

“Right. I took three transfers to find Little Fatty and demand the eraser back.”

Cheng Lele groped in the dark and gave Chen An’s cheek a kiss: “You worked hard, Little Ge. Third-grade me thanks you.”

“In eighth grade, that athlete Hua Zi from your class was in your cleaning group. Every time he’d do two perfunctory sweeps and run off. You complained to me about it for a month.”

“I know about this. You started playing soccer because of it and became ball buddies with Hua Zi. Later, under your tyrannical power, Hua Zi worked really seriously.”

“Also, the boy your desk mate had a crush on wrote you a love letter instead. After your desk mate discovered it, she secretly reported to the teacher that you copied homework, getting you punished to stand for a whole class period. You talked to me about it for at least half a year, right?”

Cheng Lele indignantly pointed out the core issue: “Why did I complain for half a year? Because someone, under the pretext of communicating with my desk mate, made her heart flutter wildly, successfully helping her walk out of the pain of heartbreak and fall into another secret crush. My enemy was about to become my sister-in-law—wasn’t it reasonable for me to complain a bit longer?”

“This you remember clearly.”

Cheng Lele burrowed deeper into Chen An’s embrace: “Why bring these up suddenly?”

Chen An lowered his angle slightly to lightly kiss her forehead: “When you were little, you seemed very accustomed to pouring out all your troubles and grievances to me. If I got annoyed and covered my ears, you’d pry my hands open and loudly repeat it in my ear. Very domineering and unreasonable, saying I was annoying you.”

Cheng Lele was getting a bit sleepy. With a nasal voice, she asked: “Really?”

Chen An gently patted her back like coaxing a child to sleep: “Good baby, can you resume this habit in the future?”

“Mm.” Cheng Lele’s voice was light and soft, as if lying on a cloud.

After a long time, wind rose outside. The plum blossom tree swayed. Inside the room, a faint fragrance floated. The person in his arms had already fallen peacefully asleep.

“Thank you for coming back safely. Little Ge will always love you.” Chen An said thus.