To be honest, at this moment, all of Lu Linshen’s emotions were either written on his face or hidden in his words, and how could Meng Suihuan not feel it? She curled her lips into a small smile. “It’s still quite hot, it should last until morning.”

“Mhm, that’s good. If it cools down, I’ll go change it for you,” he said.

The conversation seemed to falter, and in the dim light, Meng Suihuan could see Lu Linshen’s awkward expression. She then heard him say, “You didn’t eat much tonight, are you hungry? Should I cook you a bowl of porridge?”

Meng Suihuan’s eyes locked on his face, and she walked slowly toward him. Due to her height, she was half a head shorter than Lu Linshen, but she held her own in presence. She gave a small, teasing smile. “Are you trying to wake up the neighbors in the middle of the night by cooking porridge?”

Although Ning City’s houses weren’t like her family’s traditional brick-and-mud houses, the soundproofing in houses from this era wasn’t that great. Besides, the neighborhood where she lived had been renovated, and at night, she could clearly hear children crying or the occasional couple arguing upstairs.

Feeling a bit embarrassed by her words, Lu Linshen lowered his head like an awkward young man. “I didn’t think that much. I saw you have some milk essence in the kitchen. How about I mix a little for you?”

Meng Suihuan raised an eyebrow, amused. “Are you not tired, or are you just uncomfortable being alone with me?”

Before he could answer, she teasingly added, “Besides, it’s not like we’ve never been alone before.”

Her words immediately brought back memories for Lu Linshen. When they got married, they had indeed been alone in a room, spending almost the entire night together, just like tonight. Although he had only wanted to talk to her a little more, he hadn’t felt uncomfortable until she said that. Now, he felt extremely uneasy, especially his ears, which were burning hotter than the warm water he had given her earlier.

“I’m not uncomfortable…” he muttered, but with his current awkward demeanor, it was hard to believe him.

Meng Suihuan had originally planned to tease him further, but just then, the system displayed a string of words showing that her life value had increased significantly again. Seeing that he had taken care of her and contributed to her life value, she decided not to continue teasing him.

“Since you’re not uncomfortable, just get some sleep. If you’re not tired, then maybe you can chat with me for a bit.”

She had slept through the night and felt a bit more energetic now. In this age without phones and limited entertainment, it seemed that chatting was the only form of enjoyment.

Lu Linshen didn’t expect such a twist—she was actually the one to suggest talking more. He was delighted. “Sure.”

Then he remembered what she said about disturbing the neighbors. “If we chat in the middle of the night, won’t we disturb the neighbors?”

Meng Suihuan rolled her eyes at him. “We’re not arguing, just having a normal conversation. What noise could there possibly be?”

“If you don’t want to chat, then just go to sleep. As long as you’re not standing there, I’m fine.”

Hearing that, Lu Linshen immediately became anxious. “I want to talk! I want to talk with you!”

The temperature had dropped suddenly, and Meng Suihuan went back inside to put on a thick jacket, then brought out the hot water bottle she had kept close to her. She sat next to him on the sofa. “What do you want to talk about?”

“…Anything,” he replied.

Meng Suihuan didn’t expect much. After all, his earlier topics had been about whether she had eaten. She had been wondering if she should discuss the future direction of their team, remembering they hadn’t finished a conversation earlier. So, she asked, “You said you wanted to get justice. How do you plan to do that?”

Lu Linshen didn’t hide anything and told her his plans. “Whether Feiyun Group really wants our technology or not, I’ll make this a reality. In this plan, I want to use our chip research technology as bait…”

“Using chip technology as bait?” Meng Suihuan immediately focused on the key words, looking at him with surprise. “Do you know what you’re saying?”

The chip development technology for mobile phones in the country was still in progress, and the chips they had developed were among the most advanced in the country. If they could take the lead, it would bring her immense benefits and life value. If this plan failed, it could result in significant losses for them all.

“I know,” Lu Linshen replied, his tone serious. “If we fail, it could have a major impact on the company. But this issue has been like a thorn in the side of our entire team. I have to prove something to the team, to seek justice.”

“Lu Linshen, I admire your persistence. But as a businessman, I’m more focused on weighing the pros and cons. Xu Yu just went public, and the hype about mobile phone chips has already been created. Why should I cooperate with you?”

Lu Linshen gazed at her deeply, his expression calm, as if her words had no effect on him.

“I know. That’s why what I need you to cooperate with isn’t this.” He smiled gently. “What I need from you is to let us go.”

“Huh? Let go?” Meng Suihuan didn’t immediately understand his meaning. “What do you mean?”

“I plan to break our contract. I’ll transfer the penalty fee to you in a few days.” Lu Linshen paused. “As for the core chip technology, I won’t take it with me. I’ll prepare a fake data set to mislead them…”

“Lu Linshen!” Meng Suihuan interrupted him sharply, “I won’t accept your penalty fee, and I won’t let you leave. I don’t agree with this.”

Lu Linshen hadn’t expected her to react so strongly. “Suihuan, lower your voice, you’ll disturb the neighbors.”

“Let them be disturbed. You’re not leaving.” She was clearly reluctant to let him go, which made Lu Linshen happy, but he knew the seriousness of the situation.

“Suihuan, you should know that as long as I pay the penalty fee, whether you agree or not, our contract will be over.”

Meng Suihuan couldn’t argue with him because what he said was true. So, she resorted to acting spoiled. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear it. Lu Linshen, as the leader of the team, you should know that separating from the team now will cause more harm than good. Besides, an investor like me, once missed, you won’t find another.”

“I know.” Lu Linshen smiled gently. “But Suihuan, we’re different from you. Lao Qin, Xie Zhixin, Xu Xuanyi, and the rest of us came together not just because of profit, but because we share common interests, pursuits, and ideals. So, whether the pros outweigh the cons or the cons outweigh the pros, we will eventually make this choice. It’s just a matter of timing.”

“So, they all know about this decision?”

“Got it.”

“You’re lying to me.” Meng Suihuan teased him, “This afternoon, Qin Yu’s expression clearly showed he didn’t know about this.”

“He knows about the team’s departure. He just doesn’t know the exact timing or what I plan to do next.” Meng Suihuan fell silent for a moment. “…No turning back?”

“No.” Lu Linshen was the kind of person who, once he made up his mind, could not be persuaded otherwise. Meng Suihuan knew him well enough to understand that if he had openly shared this with her, he had already thought everything through. There was no point in saying more. She took a deep breath. “Lu Linshen, I can agree to your team leaving Xuyu, but I have one condition.”

“No matter what the condition is, I agree.”

Meng Suihuan rolled her eyes at him and calmly stated her condition: “I want to invest in your company. Just give me 5% of the shares. Of course, I won’t interfere with any of your decisions or the company’s future direction. As for why I’m doing this, the reason is simple: I recognize the idea you had at the exchange meeting. I believe your idea will succeed in the future and make a lot of money. I don’t want to let go of this cash cow.”

Meng Suihuan said this half-seriously, half-jokingly. After all, she had a golden finger, and she certainly wasn’t going to let Lu Linshen slip away so easily.

“We had already agreed on the shares earlier. If you invest now, there are a lot of complications, and it’s not convenient,” Lu Linshen replied.

Meng Suihuan immediately became angry. When she was angry, her stomach would hurt a bit. She let out a soft hiss. “Lu Linshen, you just said you’d agree to anything!”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t agree.” Lu Linshen sighed, stood up, and handed her a cup of warm water. “I just said it’s inconvenient for you to invest directly.”

Meng Suihuan took the cup and took a sip, then stubbornly retorted, “Isn’t ‘inconvenient’ the same as ‘won’t agree’?”

“It’s not the same.”

“Inconvenient means it’s not easy for you to invest directly, but I can transfer part of the shares under my name to you.”

“Really!” Meng Suihuan’s eyes lit up, and she eagerly threw herself toward him, shaking his shoulders with excitement. “You’re not lying to me, right?”

Lu Linshen was shaken by her enthusiasm and stumbled a bit. “…When have I ever lied to you?”

After thinking about it carefully, from the first meeting until now, Lu Linshen really hadn’t lied to her. On the contrary, she had always had ulterior motives for him… cough cough. This thought crossed her mind, and Meng Suihuan quickly tried to justify herself in her heart. No, the things she did weren’t lies. She had just used her foresight and golden finger to reasonably tap into his potential. Just like with the chip manufacturing—if it weren’t for her pushing and guiding him, how could he have developed this at this stage? Without this research, how much more time would he have wasted trying to seek justice?

Thinking about all the overtime she had pushed for recently, Meng Suihuan felt a little guilty.

“Looks like I should treat him better from now on.”

“Huh? What did you just say?” Hearing Lu Linshen’s voice, she snapped out of her thoughts, realizing that she had almost let her true feelings slip.

“I said, it’s probably for the best.”

“If you dare lie to me, you’re done for!” Lu Linshen chuckled. “Alright, I’ll never lie to you for the rest of my life.”