The room was quiet, with bright moonlight streaming in.

The wind blew the window curtains, and the cool night breeze touched the hot skin inside the room.

In a hoarse voice, he asked, “Where did you get this?”

Lu Nian replied, “I bought it casually from a convenience store.”

She had been thinking that they might reach this point that day.

Judging from Qin Si’s previous attitude, he certainly wouldn’t be prepared, so she had to take care of it.

He was silent, his eyes red and looking exceptionally beautiful.

Lu Nian couldn’t help but lean closer, kissing him repeatedly.

She felt him tense up again, his breathing rapid.

Every reaction from him was incredibly tempting, making her want to cherish him from head to toe.

Since her teenage years, she loved being close to him.

Now, seeing the once cold and proud boy show such tender emotions, she was even more fond of him.

She heard him ask in a low voice, “Do you often… buy these?”

During the years they were apart, when she was still engaged to Zhao Yayuan.

Just thinking about it was enough to make him extremely uncomfortable.

Lu Nian casually replied, “No, why would I buy this often?”

She opened the box, took one out, and curiously examined it in her hand.

Such a small package? It looked a bit like those single-use shower gels she had bought from the supermarket long ago.

“It’s the first time,” she said, “buying it for someone.”

She had no experience and had never used such a thing, but being in her twenties, she naturally had some knowledge from hearsay.

Lu Nian definitely didn’t want to get pregnant, so she prepared in advance.

Last time, when she went to the convenience store, she saw these on the shelf, recognized the brand, and casually bought a box.

“Here,” she said, not knowing how to use it, and handed it to Qin Si.

He should know better.

He looked at the item, his fingers stiffening. He turned his face away and didn’t take it.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Nian didn’t understand why he wouldn’t take it. “Is something wrong with it?”

His face was red, eyes lowered, without explaining.

Lu Nian frowned, “Do you not want to be with me?”

They had come this far; it should have been easy to continue.

She had no experience, but she knew the general process.

“It can’t be used,” he said quickly in a hoarse voice, his ears turning red.

Taking emergency contraception the next day would be bad for her health.

“Why can’t it be used? Everyone buys this brand,” Lu Nian was unhappy. “Are you special?”

Qin Si was silent.

Lu Nian felt quite disheartened.

The atmosphere had been so good; she could feel his response.

Everything seemed natural, but now they were at an impasse.

The room fell silent.

The man pressed his lips together and suddenly asked, “Do you want to marry me?”

Lu Nian was silent.

She was still young and thought maintaining the current situation was good.

It allowed them to understand and get used to each other more.

She couldn’t understand why Qin Si was so fixated on getting married now.

He didn’t need her to gain control of the Lu family business, and she didn’t want to have children.

What benefit would marrying her bring?

She asked, “Are you in a hurry to have kids?”

He seemed surprised, “Do you want to?”

He had no interest in children at all.

“No,” Lu Nian replied.

She said seriously, “My health isn’t good, as you know. If you’re thinking about having an heir, it’s better to find someone else to marry.”

“I don’t want that,” he interrupted her.

“Then why ask?” Lu Nian said. “If you don’t want kids, why get married? If we don’t marry and you get tired of me, you can leave anytime without the hassle of a divorce.”

Qin Si remained silent.

He lowered his eyes and said hoarsely, “I won’t leave again.”

He wouldn’t leave for his whole life unless she wanted him to.

Lu Nian didn’t believe him.

The more she thought about the past few years and tonight, the more upset she became.

He was also distressed, aroused by her with no way to relieve it.

During his long adolescence, he had many ways to deal with such feelings, but now he couldn’t.

They ended up sleeping together.

Lu Nian intentionally tried to torment him, clinging tightly to him.

Their skin was close, and the sweet scent of the girl wafted with each gentle breath, her body delicate.

He was left in an extremely awkward state.

In truth, she had little experience and fewer distracting thoughts, far less sensitive than him.

She found it comfortable to sleep this way, and soon, smelling his skin and hair, her breathing became steady, and she fell asleep soundly.

Even though she was still somewhat unhappy.

Qin Si barely slept that night.

Early the next morning, Lu Nian woke up to find the bed empty beside her.

Qiu Li had already prepared breakfast.

After washing up, she sat at the dining table and saw Qin Si coming downstairs, freshly changed, his body still damp from the shower, with wet hair tips.

She pretended not to see him and ate her bread.

The atmosphere was especially strange. Qin Si, being naturally quiet, didn’t speak much, and only occasionally did Qiu Li and Lu Nian exchange a few words.

After breakfast.

“Thank you for your hospitality and care,” Qiao Li said, preparing to leave.

He was, of course, speaking to Qin Si.

“I’ll see you out,” Lu Nian stood up.

“You don’t need to come,” she said flatly to the man behind her.

Qiao Li hesitated, “Nian Nian, did you and Mr. Qin… have a fight last night?”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have told him to sleep on the sofa. Judging by their demeanor today, it seemed the argument hadn’t ended.

“Yes,” Lu Nian replied, her head down, kicking a small pebble at her feet. “Over a small thing, me staying up late.”

But arguments were normal for them; they had been fighting since they were kids and were used to it.

“You shouldn’t stay up late. Your health isn’t good,” Qiu Li said. “Mr. Qin would be worried too.”

Lu Nian was taken aback.

“He doesn’t express it well, but he really cares about you,” Qiao Li said.

This was something he had observed while living with them.

Qin Si’s care for her was subtle and unspoken.

His eyes were always on her, and he paid attention to her every word and reaction, despite his seemingly cold demeanor.

He pressed his lips together and finally said, “When we first met in Nanzhao, I thought he cared about you.”

Lu Nian was stunned.

Of course, she remembered Nanzhao, the shabby little hotel, and the hot summer—it was where they had their first kiss.

That time, it was more like a battle than a kiss, both refusing to yield.

And then… he left.

“Mr. Qin has a complicated background,” Qiao Li said softly. “In some ways, I can understand him.”

Both had been abandoned by their families.

But Qiao Li had Qiao Lan’s unconditional love and care, Zhao Yayuan’s companionship, and now his sister had returned to him.

He had familial and emotional bonds, which made him feel secure.

Qin Si had nothing from a young age.

No parents or family, often hungry and cold, treated like an object, sent from the orphanage to foster homes, and returned when unwanted.

He had no dignity, and no one cared about his feelings.

After coming to the Lu family, he faced scorn and bullying due to his young age and uncertain status.

This shaped his extremely distrustful and guarded nature, with a severe lack of security in relationships.

The more he cared, the more he feared losing, constantly anxious.

“Sister, he must have liked you when he was young,” Qiao Li said.

Lu Nian shook her head. “No, we always fought when we met. There was a time he especially resisted me.”

Things were better now.

Qiao Li smiled slightly. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t like you.”

For someone who could give him love and warmth without hesitation, how could he not like or crave that?

But given his awkward situation, the disparity in status, and the uncertainty of his days, with his proud and sensitive nature, how could a young boy admit that? So, he only tightened his emotions even more.

Qiao Li could fully understand.

Lu Nian fell silent, suddenly recalling many things.

Qin Si rarely showed his emotions or expressed his feelings, possibly due to his childhood experiences or his personality.

Often, he would do ten things for you behind your back, but expressing even one-tenth of that was difficult.

Their relationship had always been like this.

She remembered how, in their youth, he saved her but never mentioned it until she found out later, forcing him to admit it.

Lu Nian suddenly felt a bit soft-hearted.

“He wants to marry me,” she said softly.

Qiao Li asked, “Do you not want to?”

He thought it would be good if Qin Si genuinely wanted to marry Lu Nian.

It would show he was a responsible man, not someone who wanted to play around.

Lu Nian was confused. “I don’t know.”

She was a bit scared.

After over ten years of living like a caged bird, she had finally gained freedom.

Marriage… especially marrying Qin Si.

He still hadn’t explained what happened during those three years.

If they got married and it happened again, what would she do? With his skills, he could disappear completely, and she wouldn’t be able to find him.

Dating was fine, and the intimacy was because they both liked each other. But marriage still made her hesitant.

“It’s your decision,” Qiao Li sighed softly. “No one else can say for sure.”

“Are you going to Ya Yuan’s house?” Lu Nian changed the topic. “Shall I go with you?”

Qiao Li hesitated for a moment. “It’s just a minor surgery.”

“Does Mr. Qin know you’re going to see Yayuan?” Qiao Li asked.

Lu Nian understood what he meant. “I’ll tell him.”

He even got jealous of Qiao Li, let alone Zhao Ya Yuan.

After saying their goodbyes, Lu Nian returned home.

Qin Si hadn’t left yet.

The house was once again just the two of them.

He turned off his computer and watched her change her shoes in the foyer, quickly averting his gaze before she noticed.

Now that it was just the two of them, the house felt particularly quiet.

Lu Nian told him, “I want to go see Yayuan.”

Qin Si’s expression seemed calm, but after last night’s incident, it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

They both tacitly agreed not to bring up the incident again.

Lu Nian was actually very conflicted.

Zhao Yayuan had been her friend for many years, helping her countless times in difficult situations.

Now that he was ill and in a dangerous situation, it would be too heartless not to visit him.

Honestly, she didn’t feel comfortable letting Qiu Li go alone.

Thinking about Zhao Ya Yuan’s fate made her uneasy, and she hoped to find a way to help him.

Qin Si was now her boyfriend, and she knew he had always been hostile towards Zhao Yayuan.

If she visited Zhao Yayuan without telling him, it would only make things worse.

“I’ll go with Qiao Li,” Lu Nian said. “Just to check on him.”

“Okay.”

“Do you mind?” Lu Nian asked directly.

His eyes lowered, and his tone was so indifferent that it was hard to tell if he minded, “If you want to go, then go.”

“Oh, I’ll go this afternoon then,” Lu Nian said.

She had no classes that afternoon.

Qin Si stayed silent.

He knew it was impossible and unhealthy to prevent her from having any social interactions.

Still, he habitually felt jealous of the time she spent with others who mattered to her.

“When will you be back?” he finally asked, lips tightly pressed.

Her brother had been staying here for a few days, which meant she had less time with him.

Now that Qiao Li was leaving, she was going to see Zhao Yayuan.

If she stayed there for a long time, he couldn’t bear it.

“Do you care?” Lu Nian asked on purpose.

He lowered his eyelashes, his fingers tightening.

Lu Nian sighed internally. “I’ll try to be back early.”

Why was it so hard for him to say, “I want you to come back early”?

This man.

“Just take a shower early and go to bed. I’ll be back to keep you company,” she said, trying to sound cheerful.

She didn’t mean anything else by it.

But his face turned red, and he stood up, “Go ahead.”

Finally, she had taken care of that.

After informing him, Lu Nian went to the central hospital with Qiao Li that afternoon.

“I already told him,” Lu Nian told Qiao Li.

“Did Mr. Qin say anything?”

“Nothing much,” Lu Nian replied. “I told him I’d be back on time and that he should wait for me at home. He agreed.”

She had begun to grasp the key to getting along with Qin Si: as long as she treated him well and showed that she cared about him, he would react positively and be easy to get along with.

He was easy to appease, a typical person who responded better to kindness than to force when it came to her.

Qiao Li was somewhat surprised.

After a moment of silence, he said, “He really likes you.”

Having lived with them for this period, he felt this strongly.

His impression of Qin Si had significantly improved.

“I think during those years he was away, he might have had unavoidable reasons,” Qiu Li said seriously. “If you’re afraid of being abandoned again suddenly, you should talk to him and share your concerns.”

Qiao Li wanted her to be happy.

During his stay with them, he had noticed how much Lu Nian liked Qin Si.

If Qin Si could provide a reasonable explanation, it would be best for everyone to address it early on.

Lu Nian finally nodded. “Yes.”

His personality was such that avoiding communication wasn’t a solution.

She needed a reason, and she was willing to listen if he explained.

Zhao Yayuan was likely still hospitalized at the central hospital.

Qiao Li had called him some time ago, and that’s what he had said.

However, Qiao Li couldn’t reach Zhao Yayuan by phone now.

Fortunately, Lu Nian had been cautious and asked Fang Deng to find out Zhao Yayuan’s room number in advance.

Seeing that the calls weren’t going through, she told Qiao Li, “Let’s just go directly. If he’s asleep, we’ll come back another day.”

They decided to head to the hospital without further delay.