Chapter 54

“Mm, go ahead.”

Yan Ning felt Lu Fengfeng’s serious attitude and sat up slightly. This situation seemed to have occurred once before, but because her thoughts were still a bit sluggish, she couldn’t quite remember when it had been.

Lu Fengfeng felt a little awkward. He had originally planned to wait a little longer, to give her time to adjust, and then, at the right moment and in the right place, confess his feelings to her properly.

But sometimes, taking just one or two steps too late can lead to regret.

He already regretted not standing by her side sooner.

Lu Fengfeng looked directly into her eyes without any obstruction. “I’m a man with a lot of faults, and you might have heard some things about me. You’ve even witnessed two incidents yourself, and I’m sure they didn’t leave a good impression. This may sound cunning, but the truth is, this is the first time I’ve ever followed my heart and expressed my feelings to someone.”

Yan Ning nodded slightly. Since she saw the red rose mark on his chest, she had been able to understand most of the rumors about him.

His calm expression made him smile, and then, pursing his lips, he finally said the words that had been on the tip of his tongue many times but never came out: “Ningning, I like you, and I want to protect you.”

Yan Ning tilted her head slightly, her gaze falling on his face as if she didn’t fully understand what he meant.

After a moment, she leaned slightly closer to him and softly asked, “Didn’t the Divine God’s Bone Fruit work last time?”

Lu Fengfeng’s fingers tightened, and he lowered his head slightly, pausing for a moment before speaking again: “Look into my eyes.”

Yan Ning obediently gazed directly into his eyes.

He slightly bent his gaze and spoke to her plainly: “I like you, and it has nothing to do with the Divine Bone Fruit, the mission, or any other messy things. I want to stay by your side, to protect you. I don’t want you to experience something like today ever again. No matter what your past was like, from now on, as long as I’m here, I won’t let you suffer even the slightest injustice. Do you understand?”

Yan Ning stared blankly and nodded slowly.

Her gaze stayed fixed on him for a long while, and she didn’t snap out of it immediately.

Her mind worked slowly for a minute before she began to understand what he meant.

“So, you mean, like during the competition?” she asked.

Lu Fengfeng almost laughed in frustration, but he held it back and nodded affirmatively at her: “Yes, just like during the competition. But this time, it has nothing to do with requests, tasks, or anything else. I just want to be with you.”

Yan Ning stood still, not moving. Lu Fengfeng felt a little anxious inside.

Her gaze shifted slightly, and she noticed the nervousness in his eyes. She gave a small smile, reached out, and took his hand, which was resting on the table. Her voice was steady: “Okay.”

There were no flowery words, no coy rejection, she simply said one word.

Lu Fengfeng knew this was the best response—this was just the kind of person she was.

And this was the version of her that he liked.

The waiter, holding two bowls of noodles, stood by and waited for two full minutes before finding an opportunity to speak: “Here are your noodles.”

Yan Ning turned to him, gave a slight smile, and graciously said, “Thank you.”

Lu Fengfeng lowered his head, realizing he hadn’t noticed someone standing next to them just now.

Oh my god!

At this moment, he just wanted to find a hole to crawl into, anything to escape for a few minutes.

Yan Ning handed one bowl of noodles to Lu Fengfeng and then gave him chopsticks: “Eat first. We can talk after you’re done.”

“…Okay.”

—

Upstairs in the hospital, Tang Minrou and Tang Chengtian were still at odds.

Yan An, who had been in her hospital room, suddenly appeared. The frail girl pushed the IV stand by herself out of the room and into Doctor An’s office.

“Mom, Yan An doesn’t want Ningning’s heart. Please don’t do these heartless things anymore.” Her eyes were on Tang Minrou as she spoke, her voice weak but firm.

Tang Minrou was startled when she saw her and quickly approached, crouching down in front of Yan An: “An’an, what are you talking about? Go back to your room. Mommy will find a way to cure you.”

Yan An stood still, her small hospital gown hanging loose on her frail frame. Her fingers, pale and blue, gripped the IV stand tightly to steady herself: “Mom, the reason I became like this is because of Yan Wan. If you have to take someone else’s heart, then take Yan Wan’s.”

Yan An’s words left Tang Minrou momentarily stunned, but she quickly dismissed it as something her younger daughter said out of frustration, and didn’t take it seriously: “An’an, be good. Mommy will take you back to your room.”

Yan An wanted to push Tang Minrou away, but her body was so weak that even the slightest effort made her struggle to breathe.

Tang Minrou picked Yan An up, glanced at Doctor An, her eyes full of impatience: “Why are you just standing there? Come check on An’an’s condition.”

Doctor An immediately followed.

Tang Chengtian stood at the door for a while, watching as Doctor An called for a nurse to conduct an examination on Yan An.

She had just been carried back into the room when she fell into a coma. The situation didn’t look good.

After watching for a while, Tang Chengtian felt helpless, so he sent a message to Yan Ning.

A short while later, after receiving a reply, Tang Chengtian immediately went downstairs.

Yan Ning and Lu Fengfeng had already left the noodle shop and were waiting for him at the hospital entrance.

After eating, the weakness and dizziness Yan Ning had been feeling disappeared.

Tang Chengtian went downstairs and led them to his car. The three of them spoke in the car.

At first, he didn’t want to share the family’s dirty secrets with an outsider like Lu Fengfeng, but seeing Yan Ning holding his hand, he thought about it and didn’t ask him to leave.

Yan Ning sat in the front passenger seat, subtly extending her mental power to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

Tang Chengtian sat behind the wheel, hands resting on the steering wheel, deep in thought, clearly struggling with something.

Yan Ning didn’t have time to wait for him to work through his thoughts, so she directly asked, “Uncle, what do you want to tell me?”

“Hmm, I overheard something upstairs just now. Yan An said that she became like this because of Yan Wan. She doesn’t want your heart, but Tang Minrou isn’t listening to her.”

“Yan Wan? Isn’t Yan An’s condition congenital?” Yan Ning had always thought that Yan An had been like this since she was a child.

Tang Chengtian thought for a moment. While he had a certain affection for the younger generation, because of Tang Minrou, they hadn’t been in close contact.

But he clearly remembered that Yan An hadn’t always been like this.

When he saw Yan An outside the hospital room just now, he was also startled. After all these years, the girl hadn’t grown at all. She was still as small as she had been years ago, even more frail now.

She looked so thin it was almost disturbing, like an old person with all their energy spent, not a child at all.

“Yan An’s health started deteriorating about three or four years ago, but I didn’t expect it to have gotten this bad.” Tang Chengtian spoke quietly.

“Three or four years ago? Then why say it has something to do with Yan Wan?” Yan Ning was confused.

“I’m not sure myself,” Tang Chengtian rubbed his forehead.

“Then why do you hate Yan Wan?” Yan Ning thought this might be her chance to pry some answers from him.

Tang Chengtian gripped the steering wheel tightly, his brow furrowed, clearly distressed: “Can we not talk about this?”

It seemed he really didn’t want to say anything, but at least he had provided a very useful clue.

Yan Ning remembered the system that was attached to Yan Wan, something like a 007 system.

If, as Yan An said, her condition wasn’t congenital but rather artificially induced, then Yan Wan’s involvement was highly suspicious.

“What about her?”

Yan Ning didn’t ask about Tang Chengtian anymore and instead shifted her focus to Tang Minrou. She was no longer willing to call her “mother.”

“Yan An’s condition isn’t good, and she might not be able to come down for a while. What do you plan to do next?”

Tang Chengtian’s head also ached. He was worried about leaving Yan Ning at the Yan family house, afraid that Tang Minrou might take action against her again.

If it were anyone else, keeping her close would be fine, but Tang Minrou was Yan Ning’s biological mother, and no matter what he said, his authority couldn’t compare.

“I’m going home to ask Yan Wan about Yan An’s condition.”

“What’s the use of asking her? She won’t tell the truth. Besides, even if it’s related to her, Yan An’s condition is already like this, and there’s nothing we can do for now,” Tang Chengtian disagreed.

“I have a way to make her tell the truth. Uncle, please take me there,” Yan Ning said after thinking it through, without a moment’s hesitation.

Tang Chengtian had no choice but to drive her there.

Lu Fengfeng chose not to accompany Yan Ning. He knew he wouldn’t be able to resolve anything on that side either.

When he heard Yan Ning say she had a way to make Yan Wan speak, he immediately understood what she was likely planning to do.

He knew Yan Ning’s abilities better than anyone and trusted her completely.

He got out of the car at the hospital entrance, intending to handle another matter.

—

Yan Ning got out of the car at the Yan residence and said goodbye to Tang Chengtian.

As she turned to enter the house, the sky suddenly darkened, as if a storm was approaching.

While she was changing her shoes at the entrance, Aunt Wu was in the kitchen picking vegetables. Upon hearing the sound, she put down the seedlings in her hands, washed them, and walked over.

Seeing that only Yan Ning had returned, she was surprised. “Miss Yan Ning, are you the only one who came back?”

“Yes, Yan An’s health isn’t well, so Madam is staying at the hospital to look after her,” Yan Ning casually replied.

Aunt Wu had heard from Uncle Zheng that Miss An and Young Master Yu were twins, and that Miss An had been in poor health and had been hospitalized for a long time.

Hearing Yan Ning’s words, Aunt Wu didn’t suspect anything.

Yan Ning changed her shoes and went straight upstairs, while Aunt Wu returned to the kitchen.

When she reached Yan Wan’s door, she gently knocked.

There was no response from inside, so she patiently knocked twice more and called out, “Yan Wan, open the door.”

Yan Wan was sitting on the bed. When she saw Tang Minrou send Yan Ning to the hospital in the morning, she had a rough idea of what was going on.

She secretly hoped that Tang Minrou would make sure Yan Ning died on the operating table, so she wouldn’t have to put in any more effort.

But after more than half a day had passed and Tang Minrou hadn’t returned, yet Yan Ning came back instead, a bad feeling began to rise in her heart.

The suppressor on Yan Ning’s right hand trembled slightly, signaling that her patience was running out.

With a soft click, without any visible effort, Yan Ning casually turned the door handle, and Yan Wan’s door was pushed open from the outside.

Yan Ning walked in, closed the door behind her, and then turned to face Yan Wan, her eyes, sharp and cold like a cat’s, full of frost. Her voice was equally icy: “Yan Wan, I have a question for you. If you don’t want to suffer, be honest.”

Yan Wan’s eyes filled with terror. “How did you get in? I clearly locked the door.”