It rained yesterday, and this morning the air in A City was still damp and sticky, clinging to people’s skin in a cold and clammy way—very unpleasant.

Qin Mingyuan went out as usual, wrapping an extra scarf around his neck, which partially covered his sharp jawline, making his face appear much softer.

As the car pulled out of the garage, the sky outside was still overcast, looking like it could rain again at any moment. Qin Mingyuan frowned slightly; he had never been fond of rainy days.

Before leaving, he received a phone call from Zhou Yang. There was some background noise on the other end, and Zhou Yang’s voice sounded weak.

Zhou Yang called to ask for leave. He said there had been a minor car accident on his way to work. While he wasn’t seriously injured, the inertia caused him to hit his head on the car window, possibly resulting in a concussion, and he was feeling very dizzy.

The driver who hit him had it worse. He was speeding and not wearing a seatbelt, ending up with a bleeding head injury and fainting on the spot. An ambulance had just arrived to take him to the hospital.

Qin Mingyuan typed the hospital’s location into his GPS and changed routes according to the navigation. After all, Zhou Yang was his personal assistant, and the accident happened on the way to work—there was no way he could ignore it as the boss.

After parking downstairs at the hospital, he made another call to ask about Zhou Yang’s whereabouts. Zhou Yang was about to undergo a CT scan for his head, and it seemed the situation was fairly serious—he had thrown up twice on the way.

Hanging up the phone and stepping out of the car, Qin Mingyuan called the company to instruct another assistant to handle the day’s tasks.

Unfamiliar with the hospital, he asked the staff in the lobby for directions to the specific floor and took the elevator as instructed.

To his surprise, he ran into someone he knew.

Yun Pei.

The other man was also waiting for the elevator, sitting quietly in a wheelchair with a middle-aged man standing beside him whom Qin Mingyuan didn’t recognize.

Without stopping, Qin Mingyuan approached and stood beside them, glancing at the already-lit button for the upward elevator. He then shifted his gaze back to the young man in the wheelchair.

Sensing his stare, Yun Pei looked up, but his expression remained indifferent when their eyes met.

Qin Mingyuan wasn’t embarrassed about being caught staring. He nodded slightly in greeting, and Yun Pei nodded back, neither of them saying a word.

The silence was broken by the middle-aged man’s phone ringing. He quickly took it out, stepping aside to answer. Whatever the person on the other end said, he responded with several hurried “yes”es.

After hanging up, the man hesitated before looking at Yun Pei, cautiously saying, “Young Master, Madam said her car is in for repairs and asked me to pick her up from the mall. What about you…?”

Hearing this, Yun Pei’s face remained calm, not putting the man in a difficult spot, simply nodding for him to go ahead.

The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief, promising to return as soon as possible before hurriedly leaving with his phone in hand. Qin Mingyuan, who witnessed the whole exchange, found it somewhat amusing. He thought to himself, “The Yun Family may not be an upper-class elite family, but they surely aren’t down to only two cars, right?”

The elevator arrived, and as the doors slid open, he stepped in after the people inside had left. As he turned around, Yun Pei smoothly maneuvered his wheelchair in, skillfully turning it around.

Someone entering after them, noticing his situation, asked what floor he needed and pressed the button for him. Yun Pei quietly thanked them, showing no discomfort or awkwardness in response to their sympathetic glances.

Qin Mingyuan found Yun Pei interesting. Despite his frail appearance, which made it seem like a gust of wind could blow him away, he sat with his back straight in the wheelchair, like a small poplar tree refusing to bend.

Qin Mingyuan’s stop came first. As he stepped past Yun Pei to leave, he impulsively patted the back of his wheelchair, his expression cold and his tone emotionless. “I’m getting off first, Young Master Yun.”

At the moment when Yun Pei looked up, Qin Mingyuan let go and stepped out, the elevator doors slowly closing behind him.

Recalling the inexplicable look in the young man’s eyes just now, Qin Mingyuan’s lips curved slightly before he quickly smoothed out the expression and went on to find his unfortunate assistant.

When Qin Mingyuan found him, Zhou Yang was sitting in a hospital hallway, rubbing his head. He had probably finished his examination, and a young nurse had just handed him a cup of water.

Zhou Yang had just taken a sip when he spotted his boss approaching with long strides. He hurriedly tried to stand up, but his dizziness caused him to sit back down.

“Just stay put,” Qin Mingyuan said as he sat down next to him, glancing at the large bruise on Zhou Yang’s forehead. “What did the doctor say?”

“Not much, just a mild concussion. The doctor said I just need plenty of rest,” Zhou Yang said, touching the bump on his head, embarrassed. “Sorry to trouble President Qin to come all the way here.”

Qin Mingyuan waved it off, not saying much. He then asked about the other driver’s condition.

The other driver was in much worse shape and had been sent to the emergency room. However, the paramedics said his injuries weren’t life-threatening, despite all the blood making them look severe.

The accident was mainly caused by the other driver’s failure to signal while turning and speeding. The traffic police had already determined it was the other driver’s fault, so the follow-up wouldn’t be too complicated.

Still, the man was lying in the hospital, and Zhou Yang was planning to go check on him. Qin Mingyuan decided to accompany him.

The driver’s family had already arrived, likely his wife and parents, judging by the looks of them. When they saw Zhou Yang, their expressions weren’t too friendly.

However, they seemed intimidated by Qin Mingyuan’s imposing presence and didn’t dare make a fuss. They only muttered a few complaints.

Zhou Yang remained calm and professional, addressing the family politely and explaining that the traffic police would handle the situation. He assured them that if they had any concerns, they could bring them up later. Everything was clearly recorded by both street cameras and the dashcam.

Perhaps realizing they were at fault, the family didn’t say much more. Zhou Yang and Qin Mingyuan waited until the driver’s surgery was completed and confirmed that he was in stable condition before leaving.

Zhou Yang was an out-of-towner working hard in A City, renting a place by himself. Since he was still feeling dizzy, it seemed risky to let him go home alone without anyone to check on him.

Qin Mingyuan arranged for him to be admitted to the hospital and gave him a few days off. He instructed him to stay in the hospital for observation and to go home to rest only if there were no issues.

Zhou Yang initially wanted to decline, but after seeing the cold look in his boss’s eyes, he quickly changed his mind and nodded obediently.

After settling him in, Qin Mingyuan glanced at his watch. He realized he had already spent two hours at the hospital, and there was still work waiting for him at the office, including an afternoon meeting. Without lingering, he told Zhou Yang to call the other assistants if anything came up.

When he stepped out of the hospital and into the chilly, damp wind, he realized it had started raining again. The rain wasn’t heavy, just a fine drizzle, but the moisture in the air made him frown.

He regretted not parking in the underground lot earlier. Now, he’d have to walk through the rain to his car, and the thought of getting wet put him in a bad mood.

With a scowl on his face, he was about to head toward his car when he spotted a familiar wheelchair under the eaves outside the hospital. He was surprised to see that Yun Pei hadn’t left yet—was the driver still not back?

After a moment of hesitation, he changed direction and walked toward him.

In fact, Qin Mingyuan had been curious about this character ever since reading about him. Although his role in the story was minimal, and many of his actions were left unresolved by the end, there was almost no insight into his inner thoughts.

Qin Mingyuan still didn’t understand what kind of mindset had led Yun Pei to commit those later mistakes. As the son of a mistress, Yun Yuexian’s existence might be annoying, but ultimately, the issues of the previous generation didn’t directly concern him—certainly not enough to warrant such drastic actions.

His curiosity deepened upon meeting Yun Pei in person. Yun Pei seemed so indifferent, as if nothing around him mattered anymore. It was as if whatever anyone did was no longer relevant to him.

In this state, could Yun Pei really become so unhinged later on?

“Your driver hasn’t come back yet?”

Yun Pei was staring blankly at the misty rain outside when the sound of footsteps stopped beside him. He didn’t pay much attention until the person spoke, prompting him to look up.

The tall, handsome man gazed down at him, his face half-hidden by the scarf around his neck, softening his otherwise cold demeanor.

They made eye contact for a few seconds before Yun Pei blinked slowly and replied in a low voice, “No.”

Qin Mingyuan glanced at Yun Pei’s thin jacket and then at the pale fingertips resting on the wheelchair armrest. Out of basic human decency, he offered, “I’ll take you home.”

This time, Yun Pei stared at him for a while without speaking. The atmosphere remained silent for a long time before he finally looked away, back at the rain outside. “Yun Yuexian and I don’t get along.”

Qin Mingyuan raised his eyebrows, puzzled. “So?”

Another gust of wind blew, and Yun Pei hunched his shoulders slightly, pulling his collar tighter. “If you want to pursue him, don’t use me to get close. He’ll only hate you more.”

The silence that followed lasted for a while, with no response. Yun Pei didn’t seem to care, his cold fingers rubbing together as he calculated that the man should leave soon.

But instead, he heard a soft chuckle. Yun Pei paused and turned his head to look.

Qin Mingyuan’s normally aloof face now carried a hint of amusement, making his features seem more animated, even gentle.

However, this expression didn’t last long—it was almost fleeting. His expression quickly returned to its usual cold, sculpted look. “You think I’m helping you because of Yun Yuexian?”

Isn’t that obvious? Yun Pei didn’t respond, but the woman had bragged more than once about her son’s charm—how he had managed to melt the heart of the cold President Qin. It wasn’t even a secret that Qin Mingyuan had invested in the Yun Corporation.

Qin Mingyuan seemed to read something in Yun Pei’s eyes. Without explaining further, he nodded, turned around, and walked away.

As Qin Mingyuan’s figure disappeared into the fine rain, Yun Pei withdrew his gaze and checked the time on his phone. Since that woman had found an excuse to send his driver away, it was unlikely he would be back soon.

Should he call for a car? His fingers rubbed the back of his phone, which had warmed slightly in his pocket. The phone was warmer than his fingertips, and he began to zone out.

A honk pulled him back to reality. Looking up, he saw a black Maybach parked at the bottom of the steps.

The car moved forward a little after catching his attention, stopping in front of the wheelchair-accessible ramp. The man who had left just minutes earlier got out of the driver’s seat and walked up to him.

Without even greeting him this time, Qin Mingyuan directly pushed Yun Pei’s wheelchair to the car and opened the passenger door. “Can you manage by yourself?”

As the fine rain fell on his face, Yun Pei seemed to snap out of it. He silently glanced up at the man, pursed his lips, and said nothing. He reached out to brace himself on the passenger seat.

Despite his father Yun Haowei favoring Yun Yuexian more, he was still a man who cared about appearances. He had never deprived Yun Pei of material comforts, and the family had provided him with an accessible car, allowing him to travel easily in his wheelchair.

But this man’s car clearly didn’t have such considerate features. There was a height difference between the wheelchair and the seat, making it difficult to perform the same motions he was used to when getting into bed.

The rain kept falling, dampening his hair and face. The unpleasant sensation was starting to get to him. After trying twice without success, Qin Mingyuan clicked his tongue in impatience, leaned down, and without warning, lifted him up by the back and legs.

The light weight caught Qin Mingyuan off guard. “He’s light as a feather,” he thought, swiftly settling him into the passenger seat.

It only took two or three seconds, but Yun Pei barely had time to react before he found himself seated inside the car’s leather interior. He lowered his eyes slightly and whispered a soft thank you.

Hearing him speak, Qin Mingyuan instinctively tilted his head slightly, and his gaze inevitably swept over Yun Pei’s ear. The originally pale earlobe was now tinged with a subtle blush. Qin Mingyuan glanced at the youth’s face, which seemed like it was trying to appear calm, and without saying a word, adjusted Yun Pei’s position before stepping out of the car.

After closing the door, he squinted slightly, realizing that Yun Pei wasn’t as calm and composed as he seemed—he was just like Qin Mingyuan, skilled at hiding his emotions.