Zhang Lian’s words were like a poisonous bee buzzing through her head. Zhou Mi was stunned for a second, then her face quickly flushed red: “Discussing marriage?”

She grinned: “Is that necessary?”

Zhang Lian raised his lips too, but with an entirely different meaning: “For your advisor, who acts as a successor to traditional thinking, this is a dream-come-true misunderstanding.”

Zhou Mi frowned skeptically: “That’s not right. Doesn’t she know we’re not actually in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship? We clearly expressed that position that morning, and she agreed, didn’t she?”

Zhang Lian’s eyes were cold and deep: “That’s because she didn’t have a shortcut at the time.”

Zhou Mi felt unsettled under his stare but tried to keep her face composed, attempting to look like a calm negotiator: “What shortcut?”

Zhang Lian sat down in the chair beside her bed, positioning his line of sight roughly level with Zhou Mi’s: “A shortcut that allows Sun Fengzhi to bypass us and directly contact your parents.”

Zhou Mi suddenly pointed out vigilantly: “Why don’t you call Professor Sun ‘Mom’? Aren’t you her biological son?”

“…My blood relationship with her is beyond question,” Zhang Lian felt like pressing his brow: “Is this the focus of our current conversation?”

Zhou Mi lowered her eyes and squeezed out a “No.”

Then quickly looked up again: “How did you trick my mom? She got along with you so well. I was super worried you’d get beaten.”

Zhang Lian responded blandly: “Worried while you were asleep?”

Hearing this, Zhou Mi scratched her forehead and raised her smile muscles: “I’m sorry. I argued with my mom in the evening and was exhausted. I don’t even know how I fell asleep. But what exactly did you say? I’m curious.”

Zhang Lian didn’t keep her in suspense: “I said we met at a lounge bar last year and have been dating for half a year.”

Zhou Mi raised her eyebrows: “And she believed it?”

“That’s why I had your advisor come to help, to increase credibility and persuasiveness.”

“Professor Sun was willing to act along with you?”

Zhang Lian nodded: “We discussed it in the car on the way here.”

Zhou Mi propped up her chin, falling into thought.

After a moment, she looked back at him: “Can I share my thoughts?”

Zhang Lian sat up slightly, gesturing for her to continue.

Zhou Mi thumped her hand, her gaze intense: “According to what you said, this timeline has a good loophole. Just dating for half a year and already considering marriage would seem too hasty for anyone, right?”

Zhang Lian’s chest vibrated with a low laugh: “Have you considered your current situation and your parents’ view on it? They will firmly believe you’re the victim, requiring my side to promptly display an excellent attitude of taking full responsibility, which perfectly plays into Sun Fengzhi’s hands.”

“Also,” he added unhurriedly, “Today, to stabilize your mother’s emotions, I said many things I didn’t mean.”

Zhou Mi’s eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings: “Such as?”

Zhang Lian’s voice was calm: “At my age, I’m full of anticipation for marriage and children.”

Pfft—Zhou Mi couldn’t hold it back, letting out a trace of schadenfreude.

The man’s expression dropped by ten degrees Celsius: “Is that funny?”

Zhou Mi immediately sealed her lips, maintaining sincerity and apology for two or three seconds before speaking again: “I’m also quite surprised that you don’t consider marriage at all, since you’re over thirty.”

Zhang Lian said, “I’m an anti-marriage advocate.”

“Really?” Zhou Mi was somewhat surprised, “This is my first time meeting an actual anti-marriage person. Why don’t you want to get married?”

“Are we doing a personal interview about me now?” Zhang Lian leaned back against the chair, his expression indifferent.

“…” Zhou Mi was stuck: “Sorry, let’s get back to the previous topic. Please continue.”

But Zhang Lian said, “I’ve already finished.”

Zhou Mi let out an “Ah,” confirming: “That’s it?”

“Yes, I’m in a passive position now,” but his composed and orderly appearance didn’t look like someone at a disadvantage at all, more like a leader giving commands: “You have more initiative than I do. Think about what you can do to turn the situation around.”

Zhou Mi pondered for a moment, touching the side of her neck: “Why don’t we go with what I suggested? If both sets of our parents start discussing marriage, I’ll tell my parents that I’m still young and don’t want to get married so early because I haven’t spent much time with you.”

Zhang Lian extracted the key point: “What if they tell you that you can continue to develop feelings after marriage? They might also use this incident to counter your argument, asking what will happen if something similar occurs again, and whether you’ll be without protection again. Your parents will certainly have their considerations, but Sun Fengzhi will show great sincerity in front of them, offering favorable conditions and pleasant promises, at least making your parents full of expectations about the two families becoming in-laws.”

Zhou Mi gritted her teeth firmly: “Then I’ll maintain my stance against marriage.”

Zhang Lian said, “Pure rejection and resistance might make your parents start to doubt the authenticity of our relationship.”

Zhou Mi’s eyebrows drooped at the ends, and she worriedly flipped her bangs a few times: “Then what should we do? Do we have to give in?”

“You’re giving up so easily? Is your brain capacity this limited?” Zhang Lian crossed his fingers and placed them on his leg: “How did you have the quick wit to say I was your boyfriend in that critical moment this afternoon?”

“I’ve already admitted I was wrong, okay? It’s my fault for getting you into this. How was I supposed to know that a casual lie would be so hard to clean up?” Zhou Mi wailed, almost ready to raise her hand in surrender.

But the next moment, a flash of inspiration struck her mind. Her eyes widened, looking at Zhang Lian with sparkling eyes: “Wait! Hold on, I think I have an idea.”

“Oh?” Zhang Lian leaned forward with interest.

Zhou Mi cleared her throat twice: “We agree.”

Zhang Lian’s brow furrowed, as if he couldn’t understand: “What?”

“If they insist on forcing us to marry, we might as well agree, but not to an actual marriage. You should know that nowadays, many young people go through a cohabitation trial period before officially getting married. If it works out, they tie the knot; if not, they go their separate ways. We can use this method to get by. This way, we can temporarily reassure both sets of parents and make my previous pretense more convincing,” as if all her meridians had opened up, Zhou Mi’s thoughts flowed smoothly and clearly:

“Since we’ve already lied, let’s go all the way. There will be a way when we reach the mountain. We continue to keep up the pretense, and finally end it naturally using reasons like ‘after living together, we discovered many aspects about each other that were different from what we imagined’… or something similar to completely end it. As long as our attitude is proper, even if the final result isn’t satisfactory, parents can understand and won’t blame us too much.”

Zhang Lian fell silent, as if weighing this proposal.

After a moment, he opened his lips to ask: “How long is a typical trial marriage period?”

“Usually half a year or a year, but we can shorten it appropriately. Three months is also possible,” all the deadlocks were resolved in an instant. Zhou Mi pressed her palms together: “Since it’s not a marriage in name, there are too many unknowns. The elders, considering face, won’t talk about it everywhere. If we don’t say anything and they don’t say anything, no more people will know. After getting past our parents, we continue with our own lives, treating each other like roommates in daily life. Isn’t that good?”

Zhang Lian nodded slightly, his expression relaxing somewhat: “Who should propose this method, me or you?”

“Me, of course! It would be more convincing coming from me,” Zhou Mi said valiantly, taking on this great task: “You helped me once today instead of leaving me to die, so consider it making amends.”

Zhang Lian curved his lips into a smile, his gaze profound: “Good, then it’s settled.”

—

The next morning, around eight o’clock, after Zhang Lian had completed the discharge procedures and returned to the hospital room, there were already two more people inside.

A man and a woman, both standing by Zhou Mi’s bed, with their backs to him.

One was Zhou Mi’s mother, and the man in the yellow and black outdoor jacket with a crew cut must be her father.

Zhou Mi spotted him from between the two of them and immediately displayed a warm, bright smile, like a sunflower welcoming the sun, waving at him enthusiastically.

Zhang Lian was momentarily dazzled by her exaggeration, pausing with a smile, feigning sincerity.

Both elders turned around simultaneously.

Compared to the night before, Tang Peili’s attitude had undergone a complete 180-degree turn, with her form of address several times more affectionate: “Xiao Zhang, you’re here.”

Meanwhile, Zhou Mi’s father showed no pleasant expression, giving him a cold glance before turning back to talk to his daughter.

But Zhang Lian still walked over, politely greeting them: “Auntie Zhou, Uncle Zhou, you’ve come.”

Tang Peili responded: “Yes, we’ve come to pick up Mimi.”

Zhang Lian smiled: “I could have taken her home. No need for you to make the trip.”

Zhou’s father snorted: “Is there a problem with me coming to pick up my daughter?”

Zhang Lian’s expression remained unchanged: “I was concerned it might interfere with your work since today isn’t a holiday. If it’s convenient for you, that’s even better. Zhou Mi would certainly prefer to go home with you.”

Zhou’s father didn’t respond further, still not looking directly at him.

The air was filled with the father’s one-sided tension. Zhou Mi quickly played peacemaker: “Alright, let’s go home.”

Zhang Lian looked down at her.

He noticed that Zhou Mi’s eyes were identical to her father’s, clear black and white, somewhat round, with deep double eyelid creases.

He had intended to make a show of helping her up, but her father had already quickly taken his place, wanting to assist his daughter out of bed.

Zhou Mi hurriedly blocked him and put on her shoes herself: “I’m not disabled. You’re all being too dramatic.”

Zhang Lian withdrew his hand, silently amused.

The two of them quickly exchanged glances.

Zhou Mi pressed her lips together and walked over to Zhang Lian: “I’m going home with my parents. You should go to work.”

Zhang Lian glanced at his watch, composed and calm: “It’s still early.”

“…” Zhou Mi clenched her fist, playing the role of a caring girlfriend, giving him another chance to escape the battlefield: “You’ve been accompanying me all this time, you must have missed a lot of work. You should hurry back to the company. I’m fine now.”

Zhang Lian raised his eyebrows slightly: “Alright.”

“Yes,” Tang Peili agreed, “Managing such a big company all alone, you should get back quickly. Mimi has her father and me here.”

Zhang Lian smiled back at them: “Uncle, Auntie, where is your car parked? I’ll see you there before heading to the office.”

Just as the four were about to set off, a young male doctor in a white coat suddenly appeared at the doorway, peeping in and out, hesitant to enter.

When Zhang Lian noticed him, he finally broke into a brilliant white smile: “Quite lively in here.”

“Why did you come over?” Zhang Lian introduced him to the other three: “My friend, Cheng Xi.”

Cheng Xi nodded in greeting to them, then put his hands in his pockets: “I wanted to come see you the first day you were admitted, but you said you were afraid of disturbance…”

He glanced at Zhou Mi: “You said your Miss Zhou needed rest and told me not to come. Now, thinking you’re about to be discharged, I hurried over to see you off.”

Zhou Mi was stunned for a moment and didn’t say anything.

Zhang Lian laughed once: “How thoughtful of you.”

“Of course, for something you asked me to do, how could I not take it seriously?” Cheng Xi looked toward Zhou Mi: “How are you feeling, both physically and emotionally?”

Zhou Mi curved her eyes: “Everything’s recovered.”

“Good,” Cheng Xi nodded and advised, “You should still rest well after going home. Don’t overexert yourself, and if there’s anything, just ask me on WeChat. I have a surgery soon, so I’m leaving first.”

Zhou Mi made an “mm” sound and also said goodbye.

As soon as Cheng Xi left, Zhang Lian turned around to find all three members of the Zhou family staring straight at him. He raised his eyebrows slightly: “What’s wrong?”

Zhou’s father was the first to look away, letting out a neither light nor heavy snort.

…

After watching Zhang Lian leave the parking lot, Zhou Xingcai, who had maintained a black face throughout, clicked his tongue: “Whippersnapper.”

But Tang Peili clicked her tongue twice: “What whippersnapper? Everything I told you last night went in one ear and out the other. Setting aside family background and appearance, just look at how he handles himself, how meticulous and considerate he is, so much better than your sullen face. Our Mimi should learn more from him.”

Zhou Mi looked up from her phone in the back seat, rubbing her ear, incredulous: “Mom, you’re not praising him, are you?”

“You just noticed? Your mom has been like someone drugged since she came back yesterday,” Zhou Xing raised his voice, sounding extremely displeased: “She kept talking about it before bed, it was so annoying.”

Tang Peili leaned back against the seat: “What did I say?”

Zhou Xing mimicked her tone and words: “‘Although what they did was wrong, I think that young man Zhang Lian doesn’t seem like someone without a sense of responsibility…'”

Tang Peili interrupted him: “What’s wrong with what I said? He showed the right attitude and did what needed to be done. Isn’t this much better than that Xiao Lu before? Xiao Lu was like a silly goose, dull-witted. I still remember clearly how he looked the first time he came to our house, just knowing how to smile stupidly.”

Zhou Mi held her forehead: “Can you stop bringing up Lu Ming? What’s the point of always mentioning him?”

“Then tell me more about Zhang Lian.” Tang Peili turned her head back, her eyes flashing with excitement: “Hiding him from us for so long, how did you manage to keep it in?”

Zhou Mi tilted her head and immediately closed her eyes, pretending to faint: “I’m tired.”

“Look at you—” Tang Peili turned her head back in disgust and began browsing text messages on her phone, sighing: “Last night, as soon as I got home, I received a message from him asking if Auntie had arrived home safely. Your father doesn’t even care about me that much.”

Father and daughter both pretended to be air.

A moment later, the phone in Zhou Mi’s hand also vibrated.

She opened it to see a WeChat message from Zhang Lian: Let me know when you get home.

Zhou Mi rolled her eyes, sneering: Is it necessary to act so thoroughly?

Zhang Lian: Yes, delete the previous message immediately, then reply to me again.

Zhou Mi held back repeatedly, forcing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes: Okay, muah~

Zhang Lian: What is “muah”?

Zhou Mi: It means a kiss.

Zhang Lian: Delete these three messages, including this one.

Zhang Lian: [Kiss]