The next day, Bai Ying woke up to the knocking of Jiang Lan. After opening the door and listening to the report, she learned that someone had delivered new jewelry.

She sat lazily on the sofa, looking down at the small safe on the coffee table, which contained a ladies’ watch set with diamonds, the epitome of luxury and brilliance, naturally from the hands of Shen Jin.

Before he made his fortune, he was a poor boy with no family background, relying solely on his abilities to get to where he is now. In his life, there are too many things that take precedence over emotions, hence, his ways of solving problems are extremely limited. Usually, it’s a gift of inestimable value, and that’s all he can give.

Of course, there are many people in the world who prefer this way, and Bai Ying is no exception. However, Shen Jin may not know that the phrase ‘contentment brings happiness’ is precious because so few can achieve it.

He can’t, and naturally, neither can others. He once told her when he was extremely happy, “I didn’t sleep the night I made my first big profit. My dream was to earn a hundred thousand, which was an astronomical figure for me at that time.” After earning a hundred thousand, he wanted five hundred thousand, a million, ten million, a billion. Desire is endless, and longing for more is human nature.

She casually took the watch and put it on her wrist. It wasn’t light, weighing her hand down slightly. She suddenly realized something—Shen Jin didn’t want her to leave him at all. Her heart sank instantly. Perhaps in his heart, she had only changed her identity, but they still had to interact as before.

This man probably had a desire for control that she didn’t understand. She had to test it out; hadn’t he said she could find a better man, have the happiness he couldn’t give her? What if she really went looking…

…

The bodyguards and the driver were having dinner in the annex building, and Jiang Mocheng never joined their idle chatter.

“Who was the person who came today?” someone asked casually, “With that pomp, I thought it was President Shen returning.”

“President Shen won’t be back so early, but it was also him who sent someone to deliver a gift to Miss Bai,” a bodyguard clicked his tongue, “specifically using a car with bulletproof glass, and even packed in a safe.”

“Why didn’t President Shen take Miss Bai with him?” another bodyguard chuckled, “If Miss Bai went with him, maybe we could go too, get to see the world abroad.”

“You don’t know about that,” a driver said mysteriously, “President Shen would never take Miss Bai with him, they don’t even ride in the same car when they go out.”

Jiang Mocheng had never heard of this and looked over with slightly raised eyebrows. “Three years ago, the car President Shen was in was almost tampered with,” the driver said, “So, President Shen and Miss Bai don’t ride in the same car, the situation is stable now, but President Shen can’t be at ease.”

Jiang Mocheng thoughtfully took a sip of water. It seemed that Shen Jin indeed had big plans going abroad this time; otherwise, given the rumors about how much he cared for that woman, how could he leave for so long? He must have had an unavoidable reason.

From their few confrontations, he had also noticed that Shen Jin seemed bold and audacious, but in reality, he was also timid as a mouse. It was laughable that he wouldn’t even ride in the same car as his own woman when going out. If he was so afraid, why have a girlfriend? Little did he know, the more careful and cautious he was, the more important that woman seemed to outsiders.

Now, who in the city doesn’t know she’s his Achilles’ heel? Did he really think that if something happened to him one day, if he closed his eyes, others would let that woman go? It was truly laughable and naive.

Late at night, Bai Ying arrived early at the study to place the “tuition” she had prepared behind a book on the shelf, then picked up a collection of poems to flip through casually. After a few pages, realizing that Jiang Mocheng had not yet arrived, she got up with a belly full of doubts and was about to go check when she heard faint voices outside. She held her breath and listened, realizing there were two voices, and quickly hid behind the bookcase.

Jiang Mocheng hadn’t expected to encounter anyone on his way there. The visitor was the housekeeper’s niece, Xu Siqing, who was still in college and didn’t often come to the Shen residence.

She was only staying for a couple of days because Shen Jin was away and her uncle had a coughing fit. Xu Siqing, accustomed to being a night owl at school, had followed the tall figure she saw from a distance to the study.

When she saw him heading towards the study, she couldn’t help but call out to him, “Hey! Wait a minute!”

Normally, Jiang Mocheng would have noticed someone following him long ago. But today, he was delayed by other matters when leaving the annex building and was worried that Bai Ying might be scared in the study. So he hurried over without paying attention to his surroundings. It wasn’t until Xu Siqing spoke that he stopped and turned around with a frown.

“Are you new here?” Xu Siqing’s smile became more genuine after seeing his face clearly, “Right, I called you to remind you not to walk this way casually.”

She pointed and then froze, “Hey, why is the light on in the study so late?”

Bai Ying, hiding behind the bookcase, also heard the conversation outside, her heart rising to her throat. Jiang Mocheng’s brows furrowed even more. If Shen Jin found out he had been there after returning, he would surely conduct a thorough investigation.

If it led back to her… She was an insignificant person to Shen Jin, but as that woman’s assistant, Shen Jin probably wouldn’t tolerate any sand in his eyes. Could she bear his anger? That’s why he didn’t want others to know she was so close to him and had interacted with him.

Xu Siqing took a few steps closer, muttering as she was about to open the door, “How could this be, did someone forget to turn off the light?”

Jiang Mocheng’s eyes swept over like blades, he stepped forward and stopped her, facing her surprised and curious gaze, he could only temporarily calm her, “I’ll come and turn it off later, it’s very late now, do you need me to take you back?”

Xu Siqing exclaimed, looking at his sharp jaw, her eyes flustered for a few seconds, “Well, thank you.”

Jiang Mocheng glanced at the tightly closed windows of the study, turned, and walked away quickly. Xu Siqing hurriedly followed.

Bai Ying, hiding behind the bookcase, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was satisfied with the outcome, she still felt a subtle displeasure at Jiang Mocheng’s words.

She could guess that he was deliberately diverting the person, probably worried about being seen meeting her in the study… The logic was correct, but why? He didn’t know who she was, so what was his reason for avoiding her? On one hand, he came to the study “on a date” with her every day, and on the other, he was afraid of being seen.

Jiang Mocheng walked absentmindedly, Xu Siqing behind him almost had to run to keep up with his pace, sweat breaking out on her forehead in the late night. She wanted to ask him to wait, but was too embarrassed, and the thoughts that had risen in the long night due to his attractiveness were completely dissipated by the cold wind.

After all, if her uncle knew she had such thoughts, he would probably lecture her again—the bodyguards of the Shen residence were all tall and strong, and she couldn’t help but be moved after seeing them so often. But her uncle had warned her, if she really got together with someone, Mr. Shen might have something to say about it.

Xu Siqing gathered her thoughts and cheerfully reminded him, “Look at my memory, I wanted to remind you not to go towards the study, I didn’t know before and once passed by at night, I saw the master accompanying Miss Bai reading. But the master has been away on a business trip recently, he’s not here, so you still have to be careful in the future.”

Jiang Mocheng, thinking of Bai Ying in the study, nodded indifferently. After Xu Siqing entered the annex building, he immediately headed towards the study, almost running, and pushed open the door. Bai Ying was sitting at the desk with a cold face looking at him.

Jiang Mocheng’s shoulders relaxed, he closed the door, and before he could say a word to her, he heard her ask calmly, “Are you afraid of being seen with me?”

“Since you think being seen will cause you trouble,” Bai Ying stood up, “then you don’t need to come and accompany me anymore.”

Jiang Mocheng: “It’s not that.”

“Not what?” Bai Ying countered, “Are you not diverting her, but really want to take her back?”

“I am—”

“Don’t say you’re worried about being fired if others find out.”

Even for that reason, she thought he wasn’t manly, “You said not long ago that you would leave next month, do you still care about these few days?”

“I—”

“Don’t say it’s because you’re worried about me, didn’t you want me to resign as soon as possible before?”

Bai Ying gave him no chance to retort. How cowardly! She tried to calm down, knowing she was angry with embarrassment.

This year has been nothing but bad luck, at first she thought Shen Jin was not bad, but he rejected her time and again. Then she just wanted to have fun and took a fancy to the man in front of her, but he wanted to hide her away. She had enough manners, otherwise, she would have wanted to ask, “Which heavenly king or movie star are you?”

Calm down, calm down! She looked at him one last time, ending their brief friendship with a tone of utter disappointment, and didn’t forget to stand on the moral high ground and lash out at him, choking up, “Forget it, I understand, I don’t want to ask anymore, whatever the reason is fine, I won’t blame you, I’ve troubled you during this time, it won’t happen again.”

Jiang Mocheng hadn’t come to his senses when she had already pushed open the door and rushed into the night. He lifted his leg, but reason held back his body, he indeed couldn’t give a reasonable explanation, wasn’t what happened tonight enough to remind him that if it was really for her good, he should stay away from her.

…

Jiang Mocheng was distracted all day. As night fell, when he arrived at the pitch-black study. He realized that he had unconsciously developed a habit, the habit of seeing her every day.

He still went in and turned on the light. The second habit was to take the dictionary from the shelf, but he unexpectedly found a beautifully wrapped gift hidden behind the dictionary, with a card attached, the handwriting graceful—

“Tuition, please accept with a smile.”

He unwrapped the pink wrapping paper, opened the box, and all the surprises of his life combined were not as intense as this moment. He was rooted to the spot. It was her camera that she always wore around her neck, the camera he had been wanting to get his hands on these days, delivered to him in a twist of fate.

Jiang Mocheng turned on the camera, she had taken many photos, of the moon, the frozen lake, and even his photo, which even the perceptive him hadn’t noticed when she took it.

He was helping her arrange the books she couldn’t reach on the top shelf. She captured this moment.