Pei Yanli insisted on breaking off the engagement simply because she thought there were better paths for him—anything would be better than marrying him.

Luo Yunqing just blocked all other paths.

He wanted him to know how biased his parents were, how he—the real young master with a stutter—was walking on thin ice in the Song Family, being framed, and couldn’t even defend himself properly…

After that, he would definitely change his original thoughts. Having spent five years together in the previous life, Luo Yunqing knew him too well.

Pei Yanli had always been soft-hearted. As long as he was as soft-hearted as in the previous life, tonight’s plan would surely succeed.

Sure enough, he bet right.

Marriage… marriage!!

Even though he expected it, his heart couldn’t stop trembling at high speed, and the nerves that had been tense all night jumped to the extreme at this moment.

Then, the world spun.

Luo Yunqing shook his head, pinched his palm hard.

“I… I…”

Why stutter at this moment? No, he had to tell him:

“I do!”

“I…”

“What’s wrong with you? Do you have a fever?”

In such a short time, two abnormal blushes appeared on Luo Yunqing’s face. His breathing was rapid, and it seemed like weights were piling up in his head, getting heavier and heavier.

He quickly supported his knees.

In less than three seconds—thud!—he fell into someone’s arms.

“Luo Yunqing!”

“You’re burning up!”

A big hand landed on his forehead.

Before completely passing out, as if through a hundred meters of deep sea, Luo Yunqing heard someone anxiously calling for a doctor.

…………

There was a descendant of a traditional Chinese medicine family right in the banquet hall. Tang Yajun was invited over.

After checking the wound and taking a detailed pulse, she concluded that Luo Yunqing’s pulse was very chaotic, with excessive worry and a large amount of pent-up energy accumulating in his heart and lungs.

“…The fall into the water led to wound infection, plus he was already somewhat malnourished and had poor resistance. Now we need to lower his temperature first and brew some herbal soup to clear heat and reduce fire.”

Tang Yajun, who had a medical license, immediately wrote a prescription for Madam Song.

She turned her head, hesitated to speak, swallowed her words several times, but couldn’t hold back:

“Second Master, can you let go now?”

Since she was called to see the patient, Pei Yanli had been sitting by the bed, holding his hand, and hadn’t let go until now. This was too…

“It’s not that my boss won’t let go!” Chen Zhao felt the need to clarify, flipping Luo Yunqing’s wrist that was outside the quilt—his thumb and index finger were tightly clutching Pei Yanli’s sleeve, unable to be pulled apart.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t let go. It was just that the other party was holding on too tightly.

“What’s going on?” Tang Yajun pulled him aside, glanced behind him, and asked in a low voice, “He and your boss…”

“Miss Tang will know in a couple of days,” Chen Zhao said mysteriously, pulling back the sleeve she had grabbed, straightening it, and maintaining a serious demeanor.

Tang Yajun’s mouth twitched. “Still keeping secrets from me? How about this—next time’s treatment fee, I’ll give you a 10% discount.”

Tch~ Just a 10% discount and you want him to spill the beans, what do you take Chen Zhao for?

“12% discount.”

“The story starts a week ago…”

Chen Zhao proactively pushed her shoulder out.

*

In the blink of an eye, only Pei Yanli was left in the bedroom.

Unable to free his hand, unable to leave, he simply stayed a while longer, occasionally checking Luo Yunqing’s forehead and cheeks. Even with a cooling patch, it was still hot, and his eyes were red. Even if he didn’t have a fever, when he woke up the next day, his eyes would definitely sting.

It was hard to imagine—if he hadn’t come today, how would this have ended? How much grievance would he have suffered because of it?

“I was wrong.”

He sighed lightly, cupping the person’s burning cheeks and unconsciously rubbing them. Perhaps because of the calluses on his hands, Luo Yunqing frowned uncomfortably.

The next second, before he could withdraw his hand, the dark head tilted over, unguardedly pressing his face into his palm, eyes tightly shut, stuttering:

“Pei, Pei…”

Was he calling him?

Pei Yanli leaned closer. He saw Luo Yunqing’s mouth open and close, but the volume was extremely low. To hear clearly, he leaned in a bit more, almost touching his lips, turning his ear.

“What are you saying? Do you want water?”

“Marry, marry!”

Just two short words seemed to drain all his strength.

Unexpectedly, Pei Yanli misunderstood.

“Don’t want to marry me? It’s okay…”

“No, no!”

Luo Yunqing was so scared he immediately opened his eyes, his head still dizzy, shaking as he crawled into his arms.

“Marry, marry, good.” He nodded as he spoke. “Good, good!”

“I know.”

Pei Yanli quickly pressed him back onto the bed, wrapping him tightly with the quilt.

“You rest well first, we’ll talk after the fever is gone.”

“Marry, marry.”

“Okay, marry.”

Listening carefully to his words, Luo Yunqing let go of the last bit of strength and fell asleep peacefully.

This sleep lasted until dawn.

When he woke up, there was no one in the room. Luo Yunqing sat up, took off the cooling patch on his forehead, and was about to place it on the bedside table when he saw a velvet gift box he had never seen before, with a sticky note underneath.

He recognized it at a glance as Pei Yanli’s handwriting.

“Rest well, remember to use a warm towel on your eyes when you wake up.”

“We’ll talk about the marriage when you’re feeling better, below is my private number, 152XXXX8766.”

“Also, happy birthday, the gift is on the table, hope you like it.”

Luo Yunqing read every word carefully and picked up the red velvet gift box. The magnetic clasp was tight, requiring some effort to open.

Snap!

With a crisp sound, a diamond brooch in the shape of a flower stamen appeared. The center was a yellow gemstone close to gold. The morning light through the curtain gap refracted into a rainbow.

This gemstone seemed to be the Desert Star from the last Queen auction.

So Pei Yanli went for this.

Luo Yunqing picked up the brooch, looking at it in the sunlight.

So beautiful.

It was the color he liked.

…………

Near noon, Pei Yanli’s phone received a verification message. The avatar was an oil-painted butterfly.

After accepting, [AAA Luo Luo] sent a photo directly facing the gift box:

Love the gift~ The brooch is beautiful~ (puppy spinning)

[It’s Pei not Pay]: As long as you like it (happy)

[It’s Pei not Pay]: Feeling better?

[AAA Luo Luo]: Much better!

The other party is typing…

[AAA Luo Luo]: When are we getting married!

Pei Yanli was stunned. Just about to reply “No rush,” Chen Zhao knocked twice and came in, saying:

“The main building sent word, the old master invites you over for a meal.”

Eating is true. Discussing the wedding date is also true.

Since receiving the news last night that he wasn’t breaking off the engagement but just changing people, the old master was so happy he almost didn’t sleep all night. He’d sent people to Nanyan Temple to find a fortune teller, donated a box of oil money, and calculated all the auspicious days for marriage in the second half of the year.

“Get it done early, so when I meet your mom down there, I can have an explanation.”

“How about September 29th?”

“Less than a month, it’s tight, but not a problem. With some effort, maybe you can have a big fat boy before the year ends.”

Pei Yanli: Who? Who’s having a baby?

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen what my daughter-in-law looks like yet?” the old master asked Chen Zhao.

Chen Zhao nodded truthfully. “Beautiful, very beautiful! Looks like a fairy, much prettier than the fake young master of the Song Family.”

He took out his phone to browse the news, suddenly pointing at Pei Yanli.

“I remember the boss saved a picture.”

Pei Yanli: “…”

“Boss, hurry up, the old master is waiting to see the daughter-in-law.”

This is outrageous!

Pei Yanli secretly glanced at him, opened the private album, and found a few photos saved from the news.

The old master put on reading glasses, squinting to look.

“Oh! This child, really not bad, has the charm of his mother back then. The children born in the future will definitely be good-looking!”

“Dad!” Pei Yanli couldn’t hold back this time. “He’s also a man.”

How can a man and a man have a child? Mutation?

“Hahaha… just kidding, why take it seriously? Do you really think your dad is so old and dim-sighted, can’t tell a boy from a girl?”

The old master laughed twice, took off his glasses, and got back to business.

“Since the person is decided, set the wedding date early. September 29th—it’s the most auspicious day.”

…………

Still a bit of a low fever. After taking medicine and not getting a reply, Luo Yunqing fell asleep again.

Until he woke up around two in the afternoon, opening his eyes, his vision not fully focused, he first noticed a shadow standing by the bed.

Pei Yanli?

Just as he wanted to see clearly, a phone was thrown at him. It was playing a not very clear, but enough-to-see-the-whole-picture, video—footage of last night by the pool with Song Xuechen and him.

“…Xiao Qing, this necklace is really important to me. If you want it, I can lend it to you later, but can you return it to me today?”

A soft, slightly crying voice flowed out. After Song Xuechen finished speaking, a few young masters immediately chimed in.

“As expected, growing up in a welfare institute, hands are just not clean.”

“Yeah, he’s never seen such good stuff.”

“But you can’t just snatch it.”

“Warning you, if you know what’s good for you, hand it over yourself, don’t force us to act, it won’t look good then!”

…Begging, warning, threatening, taking turns. Luo Yunqing remained silent.

As time ticked by, when the top left corner jumped to 19:52:38, the video showed him clearly looking to the right past the people around him. Then, he took a step back.

Splash!

He fell into the pool, creating a huge splash.

Not long after, Pei Yanli and his group arrived. Chen Zhao took off his coat and jumped into the pool…

The video ended there.

“What great acting, you fooled everyone.”

Song Moyan looked down coldly, squinting his eyes. “Didn’t expect, there’s surveillance by the pool, clearly capturing all of you!”

The hand pressing on the quilt shrank back.

Song Moyan grabbed his neck, forcing him to look up.

“Xiao Xue and his friends never touched you from start to finish, you jumped in yourself!”

“Heh…”

Still not fully recovered, even laughing was weak for Luo Yunqing. Lazily glancing at the hand gripping his neck, he looked sideways at him.

“Big brother is really going all out for him.”

“That’s because I trust Xiao Xue!”

“Trust? Trust what? Trust that it wasn’t him framing me for stealing the necklace?”

Luo Yunqing tilted his head, asking again:

“Since big brother found the surveillance, you must have seen the first part too.”

Song Xuechen took off the necklace himself, using the conversation to slip it into his pocket. If he was still wearing those ill-fitting pants from before, maybe the plan would have succeeded, but that pair of pants was just prepared by Lin Wenting, fitting perfectly, unlike Song Xuechen’s loose ones from yesterday.

Suddenly having something slipped in—how could he not know?

“It’s just using his own way against him.” He blinked innocently, smiling. “Can’t play, can’t play?”

Song Moyan suddenly let go, a trace of ferocity in his eyes.

“I really underestimated you! But don’t get too cocky, when I hand this surveillance to father…”

“Father?”

Luo Yunqing picked up his phone, checking the latest message from Pei Yanli, his smile deepening, without fear.

“Go ahead.”