Chapter 2

In the past, Meng Mingxuan had indeed been very good at handling Yan Mojiu.
But now, the Meng Mingxuan standing here was the one who hadn’t seen Yan Mojiu for three years in her previous life.
She no longer knew how to handle Yan Mojiu.
The only thing she was certain of was that as long as Yan Mojiu personally promised her something, he would always keep his word.

So when Yan Mojiu personally said, “I won’t abandon you,” her heart finally settled.

“Brother Jiu, my hand hurts… I want to go home…”

A flash of ruthlessness passed through Yan Mojiu’s eyes.
Who had caused her hand to hurt?
But looking at the girl’s tear-filled eyes, red like a rabbit’s, Yan Mojiu finally sighed and said,
“I’ll take you to the hospital to get it bandaged.”

“No, I want to go home. After we get home, Brother Jiu can bandage it for me,” Meng Mingxuan immediately tightened her arms around his waist.

She wanted to go home.
The home she had been away from for three years in her past life.
She no longer wanted to be obsessed with love.
From now on, she would listen to Brother Jiu and stay in the home where he was, for the rest of her life.

Yan Mojiu stiffened under her hug, a tingling sensation spreading from his waist.
If it weren’t for the last shred of reason reminding him that her wrist was injured, he would have immediately pried her hands off and kept his distance from her.

Because… he was afraid of scaring her.
Afraid of seeing that shocked and disgusted look in her eyes, afraid that she would think he was… disgusting.

Before his body could fully react, Yan Mojiu decisively reached out and picked Meng Mingxuan up in his arms.
This way, she wouldn’t notice anything.

“There are glass shards in your wound. It has to be treated at the hospital,” Yan Mojiu said, then carried her out of the private room with large strides.

Leaving behind his three good friends who had been called out to drink, staring at each other.

“…We thought they would completely fall out, and Brother Jiu would finally give up,” Tang Jun said, wearing an expression of “Brother Jiu is beyond saving,” shaking his head in pity.
If it weren’t for Meng Mingxuan, Brother Jiu would have returned to the Yan family in the capital three years ago. He wouldn’t still be stuck here in Lincheng.

“Don’t you guys think Meng Mingxuan seems… a little strange?” Feng Yilin frowned slightly, staring at the now-empty doorway.

Tang Jun took a sip of his drink and smiled lightly,
“You mean, her attitude completely changed before and after she slit her wrist?”

“Exactly. When she first entered the room, her eyes were so cold it sent chills down my spine. I even felt bad for Brother Jiu,” Nie Ziyang said, rubbing his chin with a confused look.
“But once Brother Jiu actually agreed to let her marry Yin Ting, she suddenly became like a different person… It’s kind of creepy.”

Like she was possessed.
And it definitely wasn’t that she had been pretending earlier —
They were all from Lincheng’s elite families and had seen plenty of people wearing masks.
She had definitely not been acting when she first came in.
On the contrary, just now when she cried in Brother Jiu’s arms… it almost felt like acting.

Nie Ziyang’s words made Tang Jun and Feng Yilin’s hearts jolt at the same time. They exchanged a glance.
It looked like they needed to start keeping a closer watch on Meng Mingxuan for Brother Jiu’s sake.

After all, Meng Mingxuan had always been a hopeless romantic.
She could easily be used by Yin Ting to deal with Brother Jiu.

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At the hospital.

Meng Mingxuan gasped in pain as the doctor treated her wound.
In her past life, she hadn’t gone to the hospital after Yan Mojiu agreed to her marriage request.
She had left the private room immediately to find Yin Ting.

Yin Ting had only done a simple treatment on her wrist, which had later left a scar — and from time to time, it would still hurt.
Now, seeing how the doctor was carefully cleaning the wound, Meng Mingxuan finally realized that Yan Mojiu had been right — there were indeed tiny pieces of glass still lodged in her wrist.

The reason her scar had continued to hurt even after healing in her past life must have been because Yin Ting hadn’t properly cleaned out the glass shards.

Seeing Meng Mingxuan, eyes red from pain but stubbornly holding back her tears, Yan Mojiu pressed his lips tightly together, his body radiating a chilling aura.

After carefully treating her wound, the doctor wiped his cold sweat and said respectfully,
“Rest assured, Master Jiu. The young lady’s wound isn’t deep. She should avoid using force and contact with water in the next few days. Spray iodine twice a day, and it will fully heal within a week.”

Master Jiu of Lincheng — a man who ruled both the underworld and the legal world, with unmatched power, supporting the entire economy of Lincheng.
Everyone knew about him.

And everyone also knew that Master Jiu had someone he treasured above all else —
Her name was Meng Mingxuan.

If she scraped even a bit of skin, they would dig three feet into the ground to find the cause.
The doctor honestly couldn’t imagine whether the person who had hurt the young lady this badly was even still alive.

“Mm,” Yan Mojiu responded, stepping forward to sit beside Meng Mingxuan’s hospital bed.

Seeing this, the doctor and the nurse tactfully withdrew from the room.

Yan Mojiu silently stared at Meng Mingxuan’s tear-streaked little face for a moment.
Then he pulled a few tissues and gently began wiping away her tears.

Meng Mingxuan didn’t resist, and that small act gave Yan Mojiu’s heart — which tonight felt torn open — a sliver of comfort.

“Brother Jiu, I want to go home,” Meng Mingxuan said pitifully, tugging at his sleeve and giving it a slight shake.

After finishing wiping her tears, Yan Mojiu didn’t move his hand away from her face.
Instead, he softly brushed his fingertips over her delicate skin, his deep gaze holding an emotion she couldn’t quite understand.

“After tonight, I won’t agree to you marrying Yin Ting anymore. Are you sure you want to give it up?”
Yan Mojiu asked in a low, heavy voice.

Meng Mingxuan’s household registration booklet was in his hands.
When he said the word “agree,” he had already made up his mind to leave for the capital alone.

But now, she was suddenly clinging to him again, just like she used to long ago.

So—
After tonight, if she dared to push to marry Yin Ting again, he wouldn’t let go anymore.
Even if he had to lock her by his side, even if she ended up hating him, he would never let her leave again.

Hearing his words, Meng Mingxuan immediately grabbed his wrist tightly,
“Brother Jiu, I won’t marry Yin Ting anymore. I’ll stay with you forever.”

In her past life, it was right around this time that Yan Mojiu disappeared.
And she had had no idea where he went.

Later, when her wedding date with Yin Ting was set, Yin Ting had told her to contact Yan Mojiu — after all, he was her only family, and he ought to attend her wedding to give her his blessing.

Only then did she realize she could no longer reach Yan Mojiu at all.

She was a little scared now — afraid that everything happening right now was just a fantasy after her death.
Afraid that Yan Mojiu would still disappear from her world.

Stay with him forever…

Looking at her tear-filled red eyes, Yan Mojiu smiled faintly.

“Mingxuan said that before too.”

But once Yin Ting appeared, she broke her promise.
Not only did she move out of their home and into the school dormitory, she even stopped coming home on weekends.
The way she looked at him had gradually grown colder.

She had even come to hate him — just because he hadn’t agreed to her relationship with Yin Ting.

Tang Jun’s old warning — “Keep a close watch, or the childhood friend will lose to the newcomer” — had come true.

“This time, it’s real,”
Meng Mingxuan said softly.

She couldn’t explain why she had gone back on her word before; to her, it felt like something from a very distant past.
It belonged to a previous lifetime.

“Let’s not bring up old grievances,”
She tugged gently at the man’s sleeve, her voice carrying a trace of unfamiliar coquettish pleading.