For several days in a row, Bai Ying waited in the garden pavilion and realized she couldn’t hold on any longer; she showed signs of catching a cold.

After drinking the ginger soup sent by the kitchen aunt to ward off the cold, she had a new idea. She wrapped herself up tightly and went downstairs, passing through the winding corridor pavilion.

Not far away, there was a small study that almost no one would go to on purpose, except for her occasional walks past it, making it an ideal secret meeting place.

When Bai Ying returned to her bedroom, she unexpectedly received an overseas call from Shen Jin. It had been over a week since he left. Hearing his deep voice, she felt a rare sense of unfamiliarity.

“How have you been?” he asked her from such a distant place.

“Fine,” Bai Ying replied softly, recounting her activities over the past few days, “It’s too cold, I don’t want to go anywhere, I’m too lazy to go out.”

Shen Jin chuckled, and while the atmosphere was still good, he changed the subject to a sensitive issue.

“Bai Ying, I’ve been thinking about it, and I didn’t make it clear that day. Don’t misunderstand, you’re great, but I never intended to involve another person. I’m eight years older than you, it’s not fair to you. I hope one day you’ll find true happiness. The world is bigger than you think, and there’s someone more suitable waiting for you.”

Bai Ying held the phone, her eyelashes drooping, her mood even more unhappy. Shen Jin’s implication was clear; he had no romantic feelings for her

He had never even seen their marriage as a possibility. She believed he wasn’t lying or making excuses.

With his conditions, even if he were as dull as a post, many people would be attracted to him. The reason he remained single was probably that he truly had no intention of living an ordinary life like most people.

She could guess the reason, as her grandmother had once mentioned something that cast a shadow over Shen Jin’s heart.

When he first entered society, he met a highly respected senior who helped him a lot. Then, one day, a sudden calamity struck, and the senior’s wife and daughter were kidnapped. When they were finally found with the whole city’s effort, his wife had already passed away, but his daughter survived under her protection.

Over the years, Shen Jin had made many friends as he rose from poverty, but he also made many enemies. After all, there’s only so much wealth to go around, and taking someone’s money is like killing their parents.

Seeing his senior’s despair, he naturally feared that one day his loved ones would suffer because of him.

Bai Ying covered the phone, and Shen Jin, hearing no noise, thought she was hiding her sobs.

All he could come up with to console her was, “Please, there’s nothing good about me. You haven’t seen my worst side, I’m not worth it.”

Bai Ying thought to herself, let it be, just like this. A man had rejected her time and again, and if it happened once more, she feared she wouldn’t be able to restrain herself from loudly insulting Shen Jin.

Useless thing! A real man should reflect on his pain and strive to become stronger, the strongest. Only when one reaches a level where everyone looks up to them can they protect those around them.

To give up eating for fear of choking is quite something!

In the end, Shen Jin wasn’t afraid of her getting hurt, but rather, he feared getting hurt from losing her one day. So his logic wasn’t “I will try hard, even if it costs my life, to protect you,” but rather “As long as you’re not hurt because of me, that’s enough.”

Bai Ying was finally willful for once and didn’t reply, just hung up the phone. Shen Jin listened to the busy tone, dazed for a long time.

…

Jiang Mocheng wasn’t particularly sensitive to women’s issues, but seeing Bai Ying not as lively as before, even he could make a note of it.

He couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

Bai Ying sneezed and weakly waved her hand, “It’s nothing, can you accompany me to the study now? Miss Bai asked me to organize the books, and it’s so late now, I’m a bit scared to go alone.”

“Are you sick?”

Jiang Mocheng saw her nose rubbed red, and her eyes more misty than usual, “If you’re sick, you should go back and rest early.”

“No, Miss Bai has instructed…”

Jiang Mocheng wanted to curse softly, having never seen such a person.

Although his temper was not too good, he would not deliberately torment others like this.

Over the past few days, he had gained a new understanding of Shen Jin’s woman; everyone praised her for how gentle and kind she was, yet she was so harsh in private.

Not letting people rest even in the early morning, driving them out on such a cold night to take pictures of the moon for her, it was truly eye-opening.

“I’ll help you organize, you go rest.”

Jiang Mocheng’s intention was to get closer to her, then find another reason to make her delete the photo.

Relationships between people are all developed over time, and seeing her like this, he did feel a bit sorry for her, born into such a family and dealing with a boss who loves to torment people, she ended up taking all the blame.

Bai Ying coughed lightly, quickly shaking her head, her fair face also flushed with a touch of red, “It won’t work, if Miss Bai finds out she will be angry.”

“……”

Does Shen Jin actually have eyes? To actually like such a woman?

He followed her with a gloomy face through the corridor pavilion. Seeing her shivering, he couldn’t stand it.

He took off his coat and stepped forward a few steps to drape it over her, saying in a deep voice, “You don’t have money to buy clothes, do you at least have money to buy medicine?”

Bai Ying suddenly felt much warmer, and also smelled the faint mint scent on the coat, wrapping her tightly as if being embraced.

She paused, raising her head to meet his hurried gaze with bewilderment and helplessness. She then quietly lowered her eyes, hiding the fine shimmer.

Jiang Mocheng was stunned, he didn’t expect his casual gesture to bring her to tears.

Seeing her moved to tears, he subconsciously stepped back. His cheekbones slightly reddened and he turned his head uncomfortably to look the other way.

Bai Ying seemed to realize her own gaffe, bowed her head gracefully, her ears also quietly reddened, frozen.

She really went all out this time, only hating that the timing was not right, to actually meet such a person in the deep winter.

The two entered the study one after the other, immediately isolating the howling cold wind outside.

Bai Ying wanted to take off the coat, Jiang Mocheng saw it and quietly stopped her, “No need, you wear it first, I’m not cold.”

“Okay.”

Bai Ying nodded lightly, walked to the bookshelf and began to busy herself, she didn’t know how to organize, just do whatever was convenient. 

“By the way, I still don’t know your name?”

Jiang Mocheng hesitated noticeably, looked up to meet her expectant eyes, his Adam’s apple moved, “Xu Yang.”

It was the name of the person he replaced to sneak into here.

Bai Ying praised him fittingly, then lowered her head to flip through the books, improvising a name for herself.

Catching sight of that line of poetry – A lone boat, an old man in a straw raincoat, fishing alone in the cold river snow.

“My name is Jiang Xue.”

She closed the book, tiptoed to put it on the bookcase and turned back with a smile.

“Speaking of which, why is it always you on night patrol recently, are you new here, were you bullied by them?”

Jiang Mocheng didn’t know how she understood the word “bullying,” when clearly, she was the one being bullied.

He shook his head: “No.”

He remembered he still had important things to do, as if casually mentioning, “Why didn’t you bring your camera today?”

“We don’t need to take pictures of the moon today.”

“……”

The two chatted intermittently, approaching one o’clock in the morning, Bai Ying carefully took off the coat and returned it to him.

After he put it on, she whispered, “Wait, your coat is too long, the hem seems to have gotten dusty just now.”

He was very tall, the coat hung down to his knees when he wore it, just now when she took it off and returned it, the hem inevitably got dusty from the floor.

Before he could react, she came behind him, bent down, raised her hand, and gently brushed over his broad back, stroke by stroke. Seeing him subconsciously tense up, she hid behind him, secretly snickering.

“All done!”

She walked back in front of him, telling herself to stop there, otherwise it would be too deliberate. Wouldn’t it be playing the part of a woman chasing a man – better forget it, going to such lengths, was she looking for fun or for trouble!

Jiang Mocheng felt relieved, but the touch seemed to linger on his back, the inexplicable feeling made him very uncomfortable.

“Thank you so much for lending me your coat to wear.”

Before Bai Ying left, she still sincerely and moved thanked him, her eyes focused on him, “No one has ever worried about me getting cold and sick before, you’re the first.”

Jiang Mocheng paused, this time the two walked side by side out of the study through the corridor pavilion. Even if he didn’t notice, in just a few days, he had begun to get used to taking care of her pace.

This stretch of road was walked very slowly, listening to her voice like a gentle stream lingering in his ears, his rugged and stern face also rarely showed a slight change.

“This place is really beautiful.”

Bai Ying stopped, sincerely admiring, smiling at him, “I never noticed before.

Maybe back then I was always alone, scared to death, where would I have the mind to pay attention to the night scenery.”

“Never encountered anyone before?”

“I have.”

Bai Ying muttered, “But I never spoke to them, I was a bit afraid of them, so I always hid, you’re the first.”

Jiang Mocheng looked at her, after a moment of silence, he continued walking as if nothing had happened.

She couldn’t keep up with his pace, and from behind she urgently lowered her voice and called out softly, “Hey, you! Wait for me…”

How annoying! But he still slowed down, a hint of a smile flashing across his brow, waiting for her to catch up.

At the fork in the road, she went right, he went left.

Jiang Mocheng silently returned to his room, he shared it with another bodyguard, listening to the snoring sounds rising and falling, he irritably raised his hand to press his forehead.

He had never suffered such torment in his life, he didn’t need to patrol until one or two o’clock, if not for that photo…

He took off his coat and hung it up and began to deep in thought. While Shen Jin should still be abroad for a while, the steward of this mansion was very shrewd, so how could he avoid others’ eyes and enter Shen Jin’s study?

If it weren’t for Shen Jin’s side being so unscrupulous this time, he wouldn’t even be making this trip. If you want to fight, do it openly. Using these methods is also not respectable.

He didn’t intend to steal any secrets, just wanted to teach Shen Jin a lesson.

He reached into his coat pocket, his shoulders paused, and pulled out a chocolate ball, he stared at it as if he had seen a ghost.

Did she put it in there?