“Serve…”

Why did this word sound so strange coming from his mouth? Especially in this situation.

With the lights off, Lu Nian couldn’t see his face.

She could only feel the sensation of his touch on her skin as he held her face with his fingers, wiping away the sweat with a towel.

She had never been so close to a man before.

Her breath was somewhat hot, contrasting sharply with his cold fingers. Every touch of his fingers sent shivers through her body, and he clearly exerted less force, his movements gentle and meticulous.

Lu Nian felt completely out of sorts.

Her facial sweat was wiped away, and her skin became dry again, but he didn’t stop.

The girl’s long, slender neck, so fair and smooth, connected to her collarbone like a gentle stream, bathed in moonlight.

Because of the fever, a light sweat broke out, and he paused, dampening the towel with warm water again, seemingly intending to wipe away the sweat there too.

“What are you trying to do?” Lu Nian snapped back to her senses, her entire face flushed red as she tightly grabbed her neckline.

“I told you to keep your distance from me,” Lu Nian stuttered. “I only agreed to let you in to deliver the medicine.”

His hand paused, saying nothing, yet not leaving either.

What’s with all this talk about serving? And why did he suddenly turn off the lights without her permission?

With his eyes lowered, he asked softly, “…Did I do something to make you uncomfortable?”

He stood there in silence, tall and slender, his figure shrouded in darkness, his expression unreadable.

A crack opened in the window, letting in the chilly night rain along with the scent of him, like a rain-soaked cedar. It mingled faintly in the air, enveloping her completely.

Lu Nian blushed furiously, scolding him, “You shameless pervert.”

Her mind was in disarray.

She suddenly remembered something. “Did you ask me to stay and live with you just for these kinds of things?”

Qin Si, “…”

He wanted to say no.

He just wanted to see her every day, talk to her, and take care of her.

But upon further thought, he couldn’t deny his dirty thoughts and the dirty things he had done behind her back.

So, he remained silent.

“You perverted scoundrel,” Lu Nian’s face burning red, rattled off the few attacking words stored in her mind, “What indecent thoughts are constantly swirling around in your head?”

Even though she was scolding him, her voice was soft and fragile, lacking any real bite.

He pursed his lips, his ears reddening, a hint of embarrassment showing in his rigid posture.

“You should leave,” Lu Nian picked up a nearby pillow and threw it at him.

He caught the pillow, his fingers strong and steady, then fell silent.

Lu Nian realized that her sleepwear was already loose, and with her earlier forceful gesture, the neckline had slipped down… exposing a large area of her fair skin.

Lu Nian felt like her entire face was on fire, almost burning up.

…

The crisp sound of the door locking.

Lu Nian buried her head back under the covers, her face still red.

She regretted letting him in.

He was just a pervert.

She suddenly remembered a kiss from a long time ago.

Though she had initiated it, later…

Her face flushed.

She turned over and buried herself deeper in the covers.

The covers weren’t as warm as being held by someone, and she had a lot of random thoughts.

Qin Si’s fingers were cold, perhaps related to his childhood experiences, but his embrace was warm, and he smelled good.

Lu Nian couldn’t remember when he had held her before, but she had this inexplicable impression.

Serve… Did that also include being warmly tucked into bed?

She suddenly came to her senses and scolded herself in her mind.

What was she thinking?

It was all his fault for not acting like a decent person, leading her astray.

The next morning, she woke up early to find that her fever had subsided.

So, she quickly grabbed her things and left for school, avoiding any chance of meeting him.

After Qin Si got up, the first thing he saw was the empty room.

The plates were all cleaned, with a note left beside them: “I’m leaving first.”

No mention of where he was going or what he would be doing, nor when he would return.

He picked up the note, his eyes downcast, his expression gloomy.

Qin Si was clearly in low spirits today.

“Why the rare visit to our place this morning?” Huang Mao found it unusual.

He and Xiao Qu jointly owned a breakfast shop nearby.

However, since Qin Si started living with Lu Nian, he hadn’t come by once.

Now, not only did he come, but he came alone.

Judging by his demeanor, he probably got rebuffed by Nian Nian again.

Huang Mao had initially wanted to show off that he had just successfully proposed to his girlfriend, but with a single glance from Qin Si’s clear and sharp phoenix eyes, he quickly withdrew his hand from displaying affection.

Ming Ge also came to eat breakfast here. Seeing Qin Si sitting at the adjacent table, he clicked his tongue.

Qin Si silently finished his breakfast.

When he received a call from Fang Deng, he left directly without saying much.

After seeing him off, Huang Mao expressed sympathy. “He must be feeling miserable.”

As a young man in his early twenties, being close to the girl he had liked for so long, but only being able to look and not touch, it seemed like things weren’t progressing smoothly for him, judging by his current state.

It was really pitiful.

Ming Ge, slurping his tofu, added, “He deserves it.”

Back when Nian Nian was being so proactive, look at how he treated her.

Was that the way to talk to someone?

Regretting it now, huh?

“You know,” Huang Mao said solemnly, “a normal guy like Qin Ge, being pent up like this all the time, isn’t good for his physical and mental health. It might turn him into a pervert.”

Ming Ge retorted, “Do you think he’s not enough of a pervert already?”

After a moment of thought, Huang Mao agreed, “Then Qin Ge should just continue bottling it up.”

Xiao Qu: …

What nonsense were they talking about?

Could they say these things in front of Qin Si?

“I haven’t seen Nian Nian in a long time,” Huang Mao chuckled. “My wedding is coming up soon. When the time comes, I’ll invite Nian Nian over and see if she’ll grace me with her presence.”

Ming Ge suggested, “Good idea. It’s best to introduce her to a new guy. This useless dog of a man, just toss him aside.”

….

Ning Sheng had a branch in Ancheng, but it hadn’t been open for long, and most of the employees were newly recruited.

Qin Si didn’t go there often, and when he did, most of the staff didn’t know his identity.

In the top-floor meeting room, most of the matters were handled directly by Fang Deng or Qiu Fan.

Today, he was clearly in low spirits.

When Fang Deng hurriedly came to the office, he was looking through documents, his expression far from pleasant.

“Boss, Lu Yang wants to see you. He’s already here,” Fang Deng wiped the sweat off his forehead, “Should I let him in?”

Qiu Fan didn’t want to be the one to deal with Qin Si’s bad luck, so he passed the buck to Fang Deng.

“Let him in,” the young man put down the documents in his hand, his tone cold.

Finally, the trouble was solved.

Fang Deng quickly agreed.

Lu Yang was waiting in the guest lounge outside with Feng Xiaoran, his fingers intertwined.

Due to nervousness, he kept standing up and then sitting back down.

He was so nervous…

Feng Xiaoran, on the other hand, watched coldly from the side, feeling that he was useless.

She had sought him out because she had hoped to rise to prominence through him.

Seeing everything she had hoped for with the Lu’s had come to fruition, and they were even engaged, and then something like this happened.

After the incident at the hospital, Feng Xiaoran had talked to Su Qingyou.

She subtly asked about Qin Si and Lu Nian’s situation.

“They knew each other before,” Su Qingyou said casually. “It’s normal for men to have an unrequited love from their youth that they can’t forget.”

At the time, Feng Xiaoran felt uncomfortable.

Despite her wealthy background and good looks, after losing her power, she couldn’t believe that a man of that caliber would still be waiting for her so devotedly.

“But once you’ve tasted it,” Su Qingyou said indifferently, “you’ll find that they’re all about the same. The unrequited love is just a romanticized memory, and in the end, who knows what will happen.”

Her wedding was approaching, and she rarely went out.

Most of the time, she stayed at the Zhao family’s residence, focusing on nurturing herself.

Now she had moved into the Zhao family’s home, and her treatment was excellent.

Almost everyone worshipped her.

After all, she was carrying the first grandson of the Zhao family’s generation in her belly.

Feng Xiaoran envied her.

She came from an ordinary middle-class family; her father ran a shoe business and made some small fortune in recent years.

However, compared to wealthy families like the Zhao family or the Lu family, her background was far inferior.

Su Qingyou, despite having a similar family background to hers, had a different upbringing.

Feng Xiaoran was quite impressed by her demeanor after getting to know her, secretly admiring her in her heart.

Especially now that she smoothly married into the Zhao family and became pregnant.

Later on, through Su Qingyou’s connections, Feng Xiaoran met Lu Yang.

Although he wasn’t as influential as the Zhao family, Lu Yang’s status in the Lu family had been rising steadily.

He was considered a promising candidate.

Feng Xiaoran was quite satisfied with him.

Until that incident at the hospital.

Su Qingyou naturally told her about Qin Si’s experiences from his youth.

Following Lu Yang into the office, she stole a glance at him.

He was looking at documents, his eyes lowered, his long eyelashes making his features appear even more handsome, noble, and proud.

To think that he had such a miserable experience in his youth, she couldn’t tell at all.

The coldness and arrogance in his eyes were very captivating, arousing a strong desire to conquer in others.

Forget about his current status and power; even with just his appearance, if he wanted, he would have many women willing to be with him.

That’s what Feng Xiaoran thought.

This time, she had begged Lu Yang to bring her along, saying she wanted to apologize again for what happened last time with Lu Nian.

Following Lu Yang into the office, the young man put down the documents in his hand, his narrow and cool eyes looking at them.

Feng Xiaoran opened her mouth but didn’t say anything.

“Get out,” he said indifferently, “I called you in, not her.”

Feng Xiaoran’s face turned pale.

Gritting his teeth, Lu Yang said to her in a low voice, “Ranran, wait outside.”

“Speak, what do you want?” he asked, looking at the man in front of him with indifference.

Lu Yang said, “Stop the person you hired. Can you do that?”

His voice was very humble, and his posture was extremely low.

“I’ve fired Li Wenjun,” Lu Yang said. “I’ll return Lu Yan’s shares to him, and in the future, I’ll apply for a pay cut or transfer to another branch.”

The young man opposite showed no emotion, no hint of any feeling.

The room fell silent for a moment.

“Do you want Nian Nian?” Lu Yang said urgently. “I can help you. I know what she likes, I’m her brother, I can help you with conditions…”

He said coldly, “Do you deserve to be her brother?”

With regards to what happened to Lu Zhihong, he and Zhao Tingyuan had both made at least eighty percent of the effort.

What had Lu Yang done for her before he came back? He hadn’t even visited her once when she was at her lowest.

He smiled faintly, “Do you know what you’ve done? Do you have any idea?”

She was naive and easy to fool, but that didn’t mean he was the same.

He had never been a gentleman; he had always been one to seek revenge for even the smallest slight.

Lu Yang froze for a moment.

He knew he had violated his taboo.

“Move out of her house,” the young man said with lowered eyes. “That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

“Take everything from the Lu Mansion within three days,” he said.

Although he didn’t like that place very much, it was still the ancestral home of the Lu family.

Lu Nian had grown up there and had many memories there.

Lu Zhihong probably wanted to sell the house to cover his debts, and Lu Nian seemed to be kept in the dark about it.

He intercepted it secretly and bought the house back for her.

She could move back whenever she wanted.

It’s just that some trash needed to be cleaned up first.

“Okay, okay,” Lu Yang hurriedly said, a glimmer of hope rising in his heart. “What about my position…”

He raised a cold smirk, looking at him with dark eyes. “Are you negotiating with me? Or do you think I’m Zhao Tingyuan?”

Lu Yang: …

He left Ning Sheng Company in despair.

“How did it go?” Feng Xiaoran hurriedly asked.

Luyang looked straight ahead, murmuring, “He wants my life.”

He was pushed to a dead end.

Lu Yang didn’t know where he had collected all that evidence from.

Every piece of evidence was a death sentence for him.

If it were revealed, he would be finished.

His future would be ruined, and he might even carry a debt for the rest of his life.

Despair filled Lu Yang’s eyes.

“I’m going to find Nian Nian,” he said to Feng Xiaoran, as if murmuring to himself.

Qin Si was ruthless, unyielding.

But Nian Nian was soft-hearted.

Considering their past relationship as siblings, she would be willing to persuade Qin Si to back off.

Nian Nian had classes all day and an appointment in the evening.

She planned to visit Lu Zhihong at the hospital.

This was one of the top cardiac hospitals in Ancheng, with excellent doctors and equipment.

Perhaps because he had been living more comfortably lately, Lu Zhihong seemed to have recovered quite a bit, with some color returning to his face.

After chatting with the doctor, she was informed, “Your father is recovering well. He will need to stay in the hospital for another month.

If there are no changes in his condition, he should be able to be discharged.”

Entering Lu Zhihong’s room, he was wearing glasses and reading a financial newspaper.

She placed the medicinal soup she had brought on his bedside table.

Taking off his glasses, Lu Zhihong asked her, “How have you been getting along with Qin Si recently? He hasn’t come by; have you two had another disagreement?”

Nian Nian froze.

Suddenly, she remembered that Lu Zhihong could stay here now, enjoying ample medical resources and the best conditions, probably all thanks to Qin Si’s influence.

She couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.

Lu Zhihong had been thinking a lot these days.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that letting Nian Nian marry Qin Si was a surefire win.

He only needed to give up some face, but what he could gain was endless benefits.

Now, he was even a bit afraid that Qin Si might change his mind.

“Has he mentioned marriage to you?” Lu Zhihong asked. “Or perhaps you should get engaged first.”

“Otherwise, as a respectable young lady, if you continue living with a man, what will people think of you?” Lu Zhihong continued.

Nian Nian calmly responded, “Nothing has happened between us. Dad, I am your daughter. I won’t ignore you. I will take care of you until you recover, and I will support you in your old age. But that doesn’t mean I have to obey you in everything.”

Putting down the bowl of soup, she stood up. “I’ll leave now. I hope you won’t interfere in my personal relationships in the future.”

Lu Zhihong said, “You speak so nicely. Why did you agree to the marriage contract with the Zhao family then? Did you not like him? Did you think he wasn’t good enough for you?”

“I’ll tell you, you don’t understand what Ning Sheng represents now. He’s still young, with unlimited prospects in the future.”

Even if Qin Si were to go astray after marriage, as long as they were married, Nian Nian would have some security.

Lu’s crisis could also be easily overcome.

Lu Zhihong had been calculating a lot these days and felt more and more that it was appropriate.

Nian Nian clenched her lips tightly, her emotions roiling inside.

Her heart grew colder.

“Dad, you don’t owe him too many favors,” Nian Nian said. “If the company is gone, it’s gone. If the money is gone, I can earn it back in the future.”

She knew, of course, how high Qin Si could rise in the future.

However, that didn’t mean she had to marry him for that reason.