“I don’t want to get married so early. I just want to focus on studying and painting now, and do what I love in the future, living my own life,” Nian Nian said.

This feeling was subtle.

At the time, she had thought that there was no chance for her and Qin Si anymore.

When the Lu family suddenly encountered a major crisis, she had been in a daze, feeling that marrying Zhao Yayuan would end everything, so she had agreed in confusion.

But now, she wasn’t resigned to Qin Si.

She wasn’t willing to marry him as part of a transaction.

She wanted to see his sincerity, for him to take the initiative.

She also wanted an explanation.

What had he been doing all those years, never caring about her?

Instead of being forced into marrying him like this.

In fact, this time she agreed to live with Qin Si was also her cautiously testing the waters, testing his sincerity.

Lu Zhihong frowned. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

The room fell silent for a moment.

In another room nearby, a man stood outside, his eyes lowered.

“Mr. Qin, regarding the patient’s treatment plan…” The attending doctor followed behind him, somewhat hesitant.

“Tell me directly,” he said flatly.

He didn’t enter that room, nor did he disturb them further.

Everything seemed like it hadn’t happened.

“I have plans tonight, so I’ll leave now,” Lu Nian said.

Picking up her bag from the chair, regardless of Lu Zhihong’s words, she calmly closed the door and left.

Regarding the previous engagement, she had been in contact with Zhao Yayuan recently, wanting to have a good talk with him.

She finally got in touch yesterday and arranged to have dinner together tonight.

She owed him an apology, and she had to make things clear no matter what.

They invited Qiao Li, and the three of them agreed to meet at a Western restaurant they often frequented, not far from the school.

So she wouldn’t be going home for dinner today.

Lu Nian thought to herself that she should send a text to Qin Si, telling him not to wait for her.

“Going out for dinner?” he replied.

Lu Nian replied, “Yes.”

“With whom?” A while later, a text came from his end.

Lu Nian bit her lip, but decided to be honest, “Yayuan, and Qiao Li.”

Qin Si had specifically investigated Qiao Li’s background, including the Nanqiao incident more than a decade ago.

As for these years, he had chosen to live with this identity.

He probably didn’t want to reveal his true identity and return to the Lu family.

Qin Si wasn’t particularly interested in what Qiao Li thought.

If Lu Nian didn’t mention it to him, he wouldn’t bring it up either.

But he still wasn’t too keen on letting Zhang Yuyuan get too close to her.

Ultimately, it was jealousy, possessiveness at play.

Having never had parents or family, he had never experienced affection.

His innate jealousy extended to anyone who could get close to her from a young age.

“I’m going to apologize to him, and Qiao Li will accompany me,” Lu Nian said.

For that engagement.

He knew it had been canceled.

Qin Si didn’t object or suggest going together, which relieved her greatly.

Otherwise, it would have been really difficult.

She arrived punctually, and Zhao Yayuan and Qiao Li were already there, waiting for her in the private room.

Zhao Yayuan had lost a lot of weight, and there was a hint of gloom between his beautiful eyebrows.

He had been grounded at home for half a month, and Qiao Li knew, but he hadn’t let him tell Nian Nian.

“You’ve lost a lot of weight,” Lu Nian said worriedly.

Seeing that he didn’t seem too well, she felt concerned and feared that it might be because of her.

“It’s nothing,” Zhao Yayuan shook his head. “I haven’t been resting well these past few days, busy with family matters.”

“It’s not because of you,” he added.

Lu Nian bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”

Zhao Yayuan chuckled and shook his head. “It’s okay, I didn’t come here specifically for your apology.”

He shrugged. “Our engagement was just a verbal agreement, never formally announced. Now both families have backed out, so let’s just pretend it never existed.”

Qiao Li remained silent.

He had always felt that their engagement was rash, but now that it was truly canceled, his emotions were complex.

He also had some understanding of Lu Nian’s recent situation.

If he had to choose a brother-in-law, compared to that man, he naturally leaned more towards Zhao Yayuan.

But there was nothing he could do.

He could only respect Lu Nian’s wishes.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy, and none of them spoke, only the sound of cutlery clinking.

“I was too naive before,” Zhao Yayuan said. “I may not have realized it as clearly as you, but being born into this kind of family, without my own abilities, I would have ended up being manipulated by the family.”

Lu Nian didn’t know what to say.

She hardly knew anything about the internal affairs of the Zhao family.

Her memory of the original plot was already quite thin, and the details were mostly blurry.

But she distinctly remembered that Zhao Yayuan’s ending wasn’t good.

He had talent and skills, and later on, he had greatly expanded the family business.

However, after Su Qingyou married Zhao Tingyuan, the two conspired, and Zhao Yayuan was confined to the ancestral home and stripped of all his power.

“Be careful at home…” she began.

She didn’t know how to warn him.

After all, Zhao Tingyuan was his real brother, and she was just an outsider.

“Be careful of whom? Su Qingyou and Zhao Tingyuan?” Zhao Yayuan didn’t raise his head, focused on eating his steak, and suddenly said.

Lu Nian, “…”

Perhaps because her expression was too amusing.

He finally smirked, the first smile appearing on his face. “Thanks for the reminder.”

The atmosphere finally eased up a bit.

Qiao Li silently took care of them, occasionally saying a few words to liven up the mood, and finally, there was a hint of the atmosphere they used to have when the three of them were together.

“I heard from Xiaoqiu,” Zhao Yayuan said, lifting his wine glass, “that you’ve been living with that person recently.”

“Are you planning to marry him?” he asked, looking straight into Nian Nian’s eyes.

Lu Nian suddenly felt embarrassed.

She lowered her head. “Not for now.”

“That person is very complicated,” Zhao Yayuan said. “You better be careful.”

Qin Si’s depth of mind and ruthlessness made him stand out among the people Zhao Yayuan had encountered. Given Nian Nian’s position, she couldn’t get any benefits from him.

He had climbed from being an orphan with no parents to his current position. It was clear that he wasn’t a simple character.

During their teenage years, Qin Si had some interaction with him.

At that time, he had never shown any interest in Lu Nian. It seemed like he approached her only to gain entry into the Lu family.

But his thoughts were too deep.

Real and fake intertwined.

Zhao Yayuan wasn’t so confident to believe that everything he had seen at the time was real.

Lu Nian pursed her lips. “Okay.”

Originally, she hadn’t thought Qin Si was very complicated. But now, after experiencing so much, she found that she really couldn’t see through him.

He had hidden himself too deeply, and she couldn’t see into his heart.

“When Lu Zhihong gets better, come back to me,” Qiao Li’s beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I’m really worried about you.”

“It’s okay if you’re not in a hurry to get married,” Qiao Li said. “The two of us can also live well together.”

Support each other, take care of each other.

Lu Nian silently ate her meal and responded with a sound of agreement.

Lu Zhihong’s condition was improving day by day.

She had indeed promised to move out when Lu Zhihong recovered.

It wasn’t like she would stay indefinitely.

The three of them chatted casually as the sky outside gradually darkened.

Zhao Yayuan suggested, “How about going out together tonight? It’s been a long time since we hung out.”

Qioa Li said, “I’m up for it. What about Nian Nian?”

Lu Nian hadn’t answered yet when the waiter suddenly knocked on the door. “Sorry, is Miss Lu in there?”

“I’m here,” Lu Nian said.

“There’s a gentleman here to see you,” the waiter said.

Lu Nian was puzzled.

When the door opened, the room fell silent.

The sudden appearance of the young man, dressed in a neat black coat, with a slender figure, seemed devoid of warmth, and his expression was indifferent.

“I can’t find my keys,” he said, eyes lowered. “I can’t go back home.”

Lu Nian, “…”

Did he actually forget his keys?

The fact that she and Qin Si were living together was emphasized once again in the minds of Qiao Li and Zhao Yayuan.

Qiao Li’s expression immediately soured.

“Maybe I left them in your bed yesterday,” he said.

His tone remained unchanged, cold and indifferent, without any emotional fluctuations between his handsome brows.

After hearing this clearly, Lu Nian’s face flushed.

Qiu Li furrowed his brows. “Nian Nian.”

He was afraid that Nian Nian would suffer from living with him.

Now it seemed that she had been led to bed for several days.

He shielded Nian Nian behind him and said politely, “Mr. Qin, Nian Nian is currently staying at your residence. I hope you can show her some respect and not impose on her or take advantage of her situation.”

With a pair of cold phoenix eyes, he repeated, “Impose on her?”

The atmosphere among the three men was extremely awkward.

Lu Nian was genuinely scared.

She dared not look at their expressions anymore, feeling that she had never been so embarrassed in her life.

Having one’s head be two sizes too big.

Fortunately, the meal was almost finished.

She hurriedly got up, stood between the two of them, and said, “Sorry, I won’t go tonight. I have something to take care of at home. Let’s hang out another day.”

The atmosphere was just too delicate.

Fortunately, Zhao Yayuan and Qiao Li didn’t say anything more.

As she walked out, Qin Si’s car was already parked outside.

The two of them remained silent on the way.

When they reached the door, Lu Nian used her key to open it.

Once inside, with the door closed, only the two of them remained.

All the embarrassment and tension Lu Nian had accumulated just burst out.

“What did you say to them just now?” Nian Nian asked angrily. “What did you make them think?”

He asked coldly, “What’s wrong with what I said?”

“The keys… and saying they might have fallen on your bed…” Lu Nian couldn’t bring herself to repeat it.

He pursed his lips. “Wasn’t it the truth?”

It was something that actually happened, not something he made up.

“I did go to your room last night,” he said, eyes lowered. “And it’s very likely that I left the keys there. I’ve searched everywhere else today, but you wouldn’t let me in.”

Lu Nian was momentarily speechless.

He always spoke with clear logic, systematically and with evidence, so whenever they argued before, she never won.

“You don’t want them to hear?” he looked at her, his voice icy. “You want to leave yourself an escape route?”

Was it embarrassing or shameful to be misunderstood as having some intimate relationship with him?

Was it?

He said lightly, “I know you like him and still can’t forget about him, but unfortunately…”

So, he didn’t want to appear too intimate with him in front of Zhao Yayuan.

So, although she could have agreed to the marriage proposal from the Zhao family at the time, she now didn’t want to have any excessive actions with him.

It started again.

Through the person in front of her, she seemed to see the aloof and cold Qin Si from her youth, whose words could infuriate anyone.

Lu Nian had a headache, so she interrupted him, “Then tell me, what were you doing in bed with me last night?”

He froze.

She directly confronted him, “Or, did you want them to misunderstand something between us?”

“What do you think?” Lu Nian smiled mischievously, her voice sweet and charming, “You were so eloquent just now.”

The girl’s cheeks were snowy white, her black hair contrasting vividly against her fair skin.

Her almond-shaped eyes were particularly clear, making her a true beauty. Due to her upbringing, she still had the innocence and loveliness of a girl, mixed with the subtle charm of a woman in her transitional period.

When she smiled like this, she was simply enchanting, like a little fairy who had descended to earth.

He loved her so much, loved her for so many years.

Fear of losing her.

That’s why he cared so much, feeling as insignificant as a speck of dust, so humble to the extreme.

Even now, using his cunning and power to forcefully bind her to himself.

He had gone to the office today, so he was dressed formally.

Now that he had taken off his coat, his shirt was crisp, a deep, almost blackish blue, setting off his whole person as cool as jade, so cold that he seemed to have no warmth at all.

None of them went inside; they all stood at the entrance, and the space seemed to suddenly become cramped.

He fell silent, eyes lowered, and the coldness and hostility on him gradually dissipated.

Thinking of last night’s events, Lu Nian realized that she had been somewhat unfair.

After all, it was late at night, and he had helped her so much without a single complaint.

Because he knew she was meeting Zhao Yayuan, he had been in a bad mood the whole time, rushing out without even loosening his tie, obviously feeling stifled, and started silently untying his tie.

Lu Nian casually helped him, and he froze completely.

Even the fair skin on his collarbone quickly turned red.

This action was very intimate, not just physically, but more so psychologically.

It was something he had never dared to imagine before, something that only very affectionate husbands and wives would do.

“Sorry,” Lu Nian said sincerely, “I was a bit rude last night, probably because I was confused by the illness.”

Her hands were soft, and due to the height difference, she had to tiptoe to reach.

Then she casually put the tie on the cabinet.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” she said. “Without you, I might have ended up in the hospital today, and it definitely wouldn’t have been so quick to recover.”

Lu Nian had been spoiled since she was a child, with a sweet and straightforward personality.

She always spoke her mind, and was good at both being cute and expressing gratitude.

She had never failed to find opportunities to act cute towards him before, sometimes unintentionally, and he had no defense against it.

The young man stood with his eyes lowered, still in the same position as before, hardly moving at all, and even the tips of his ears were red.

Now, he was behaving.

Lu Nian was quite satisfied.

However, seeing him like this, she found it very amusing.

It seemed that she had vaguely grasped the key.

In this matter, he seemed to be much more inexperienced than she had imagined, rather than the usual cold and proficient demeanor devoid of emotions, which he had mastered since childhood.

“What about all that talk of serving?” she teased with a drawn-out tone, “Can you?”

There was a moment of silence.

Nian Nian watched him with satisfaction in this state, clapping her hands.

She felt like she had successfully nipped a potential argument in the bud when he finally spoke.

“I can,” the young man said with his eyes lowered, the corners of his eyes tinged with a faint redness, his voice hoarse.

As long as she was willing.

The two of them were standing too close, their breaths mingling.

Lu Nian’s heart rang alarm bells; he was a man, a very normal adult man, and she began to regret, regret her complacency.

Her rosy lips were close, her pupils wide, and he could see her panic.

Close to each other, she could almost feel his suppressed hot breath and intense heartbeat, their lips almost touching.

“I can do anything,” he whispered, his voice low and husky, next to her ear.