But most people around them would often ask, “Why are you two together again? Why did you even break up in the first place?”

Breaking up and then getting back together seems unnecessary to others.

But in Lin Yan’s eyes, it didn’t seem like there was any confusion.

He didn’t care about the reason for their divorce, nor did he care about why they were together now.

Maybe he truly didn’t care because it had nothing to do with him, but perhaps… he knew something?

Shang Xinglu thought for a moment and felt a headache coming on.

Being part of a wealthy family was really tiring.

It seemed like every move carried deeper meaning, and just saying a few words was exhausting.

Luckily, at that moment, Lin Heng appeared.

Lin Heng called, “Louise.”

Shang Xinglu turned around.

She suddenly sighed in relief and walked toward Lin Heng.

Then, without leaving a trace, she hid half of her body behind Lin Heng, clutching his suit.

Lin Heng casually glanced at Lin Yan, nodded in his direction as a greeting.

Lin Yan smiled and waved.

The two cousins interacted naturally, without any tension or strange undercurrents.

Lin Heng asked, “How long are you staying in the country?”

Lin Yan replied, “I’ve been here recently; there are a few government approvals that aren’t going through. It’s a bit tricky.”

Lin Heng nodded again. “I’ll leave now.”

With that, he walked off with Shang Xinglu.

“You two enjoy your date,” Lin Yan said with a smile.

Before leaving, Shang Xinglu turned back to look at Lin Yan.

Lin Yan answered his phone.

His phone had been vibrating in his pocket for a while, but he hadn’t picked up.

The voice on the other end, in English, asked, “Why are you answering now?”

Lin Yan replied, “I just ran into Edmond and Louise.”

There was a brief silence, then, “Louise? The one who divorced Edmond?”

Lin Yan hummed in acknowledgment.

“Looks like they’re getting along well.”

The voice continued, “They’re divorced. It doesn’t matter how they get back together. Anyway, Edmond is dead, and the inheritance still has the Lin name, it won’t go to anyone else.”

…

Shang Xinglu and Lin Heng had originally planned to go eat.

Assistant Yuan—no, I mean, Assistant Yuan had booked them a cozy, high-end restaurant, one of the must-visit date spots for wealthy people in the city. Not going would imply that you’re not wealthy.

But one of them overslept, and the other had work to do.

In short, they missed their reservation.

Of course, they could still cut in line.

But recently, Shang Xinglu had been dealing with a lot of lab stuff, and suddenly, she declared loudly, “I! Will cook!”

Lin Heng: “…”

Shang Xinglu told the driver, “Please take us to a nearby supermarket!”

The driver hurriedly headed to the supermarket.

Now, Shang Xinglu was dragging Lin Heng around the store…

Lin Heng wasn’t very willing.

But he reluctantly complied.

Before entering the supermarket, he asked, “Do you still remember how to cook?”

He remembered that Louise could cook—he had seen it two years ago—but… well, it had been at least two years since she last stepped into a kitchen.

So Lin Heng had his doubts.

Shang Xinglu thought for a moment and said, “It’s just cooking. There are so many recipes online, just follow them. What’s so hard about it?”

Lin Heng’s heart skipped a beat.

Shang Xinglu hurriedly reassured him, “I can do it, don’t doubt me! I’m… Chinese Master Chef~”

She even started singing.

Because what she said didn’t sound as good as her singing, this was her way of building credibility!

But Lin Heng started sighing.

Would it be too late to buy life insurance now?

…

If you were to ask Shang Xinglu whether she could cook, her answer would definitely be, “Yes! Yes!” accompanied by a nodding motion, as if to reinforce the answer’s credibility.

Honestly, as a standard single person living alone in a dormitory, although there was a canteen with decent meals, you could get tired of eating there. Eating out or cooking at home were just options for a change of taste.

So Shang Xinglu could cook.

What kind of dishes?

Instant noodles with cheese and sausage—perfect for a late-night snack; fried frozen dumplings—another late-night snack essential; fried steak, not exactly great at controlling the heat; pasta with store-bought sauce for a quick fix.

…Sounds pretty simple, huh?

But actually, it tasted okay.

Shang Xinglu always believed that she wasn’t bad at cooking.

She was just lazy, didn’t want to bother.

But if she decided to seriously cook one day, could cooking really be a challenge? She was sure she could make a decent dish!

Of course, this delusion might rank among the three biggest delusions of life… but who cares?

After all, it’s Mr. Lin eating it.

Does Mr. Lin even have taste?

A man who doesn’t care what he eats and often eats the leftovers from his assistant.

Of course not.

So whether she could cook or not didn’t matter, right? The key point wasn’t the food, it was the sweet and loving act of preparing it together.

It was more about performance than substance.

Shang Xinglu had already come to terms with the fact that she was just an acting, love-struck woman!

So she dramatically opened a cooking video from a foreign food influencer, following the recipe, and casually bought some other items. After buying everything, they left the store.

On the way out, Shang Xinglu vaguely heard Lin Heng making a phone call, it sounded like he was asking his assistant to buy some medicine or something…

At that moment, Shang Xinglu was in the store picking out chicken.

One was labeled as “green and environmentally friendly” chicken, and the other was imported chicken.

Shang Xinglu didn’t really understand what made the chicken green, nor which one was better.

She overheard the end of the conversation and tilted her head.

…Is someone sick?

Then she decided to get both.

The former rich lady, now Lin’s assistant, was just that willful.

Actually, Shang Xinglu’s menu for the day was simple—roast chicken, creamy pasta, and avocado bacon salad.

Back at Lin Heng’s apartment, she confidently walked into the kitchen, followed the video to prepare the chicken, and Lin Heng, arms crossed and leaning against the wall, saw that she wasn’t exactly skilled but was doing it decently. He was momentarily relieved.

Shang Xinglu shooed him away. “You go do whatever you need to do.”

Workaholic Mr. Lin really should go do whatever he needed to do.

Shang Xinglu followed the video to prepare the whole chicken, even stuffing a whole lemon into the chicken’s backside, then poured white wine, sprinkled herbs, sealed it with foil, and put it in the oven.

Before putting it in, the video recipe in English had mentioned something vaguely, but Shang Xinglu was busy making the pasta, not paying attention.

The pasta wasn’t hard to make, but the sauce was a little tricky.

Shang Xinglu had planned to make creamy pasta, but she forgot to buy heavy cream. However, she conveniently bought other sauces, so she changed her plan to make tomato meat sauce pasta.

Meat sauce? No meat sauce.

She didn’t even have ground meat, but she had a piece of beef, so she decided to do it herself. She took out a small serrated hammer and began hammering away at the beef.

Surprisingly, it worked quite well—the meat broke up much faster than using a knife.

While hammering, Shang Xinglu said, “Oh! This tool is so useful!”

Lin Heng walked over to check the situation.

His whole body stiffened.

In the open kitchen, Shang Xinglu was smiling while hammering away at a chunk of meat. With a thud, the chopping board echoed. At that moment, some meat splattered onto her face. She looked up and smiled, saying, “Report, Commander, at this rate, it’ll be done soon!”

Lin Heng: “…………”

Why did it feel like they weren’t cooking food, but playing with fate?

Xiao Zai’s “realistic attitude” couldn’t stop Shang Xingyu’s outburst.

Shang Xingyu and Xiao Zai had been close friends since their school days. Their relationship was very strong, otherwise, they wouldn’t have stayed in touch all these years.

Shang Xingyu understood very well that Xiao Zai liked Shang Xinglu. If everything went smoothly, it would be fine. But if it didn’t—whether Xiao Zai successfully pursued her or failed, or even if they got together and later broke up—Shang Xingyu would be the most awkward person caught in between.

Who should he help?

Even before the real problem emerged, Shang Xingyu had been secretly troubled for a long time.

In fact, he was relieved that Xiao Zai hadn’t won her over.

But he was really puzzled—his older sister was nothing but a pretty face with no brains, a terrible temper, and a knack for being difficult. What exactly was so great about her?

Could it be that Xiao Zai just had a thing for married women?

However, despite failing to win her over, the awkward one now was still Shang Xingyu…

Xiao Zai was still willing to help, proving that he wasn’t holding a grudge out of love. But his distant attitude was just too… emmmmm…

Xiao Zai had never seriously pursued anyone, simply because he was not only handsome but also carried a certain charm.

Shang Xingyu, on the other hand, was different. He had a good-looking face, sure, but the moment he opened his mouth, his intelligence was fully exposed. For girls who liked his type, it was fine. But for those who didn’t, they just saw him as an idiot.

So, Shang Xingyu had pursued girls before… and failed.

Miserably.

After carefully analyzing the situation, Shang Xingyu concluded that Xiao Zai was just being too prideful.

So was his sister.

Two people with such high self-esteem—why bother getting together?

And even if they did, nothing good would come of it!

A little disappointment was understandable, but failing to win someone over or getting rejected—these weren’t huge deals. Did they really need to be this tense over it?

Shang Xingyu suddenly erupted, “We’re all adults! Feeling heartbroken or guilty for a day or two, fine! But ten days? Half a month? That’s just too much. Xiao Zai, I just don’t get it—what do you even see in my sister? She’s spoiled, unreasonable, and has a huge temper. And don’t you know she sleeps like she’s mapping the entire bed? She’s been like that since childhood—if she doesn’t kick you off the bed, I’ll consider it my loss!”

Shang Xinglu: “???”

Shang Xingyu, you wanna say that again?!

And today, Shang Xingyu actually had the guts.

He continued listing all of his sister’s bad habits and kept “educating” Xiao Zai.

“You’re already willing to help, which means you’ve moved on in your heart. So why keep up this act? Do you think you’re some delicate little flower that needs to be cherished? If so, why not go and change your personality first?”

Xiao Zai coughed a few times, listening to him rant.

Then, out of nowhere, Xiao Zai seriously said, “Mm, I am a delicate little flower.”

Shang Xingyu: “…”

Bro, could you give me some face today?

At that moment, Xiao Zai finally couldn’t help but laugh. “…I was just messing with you. You actually took that seriously?”

Shang Xingyu: “…………”

“Let’s go. Xiangzi and the others are waiting.” Xiao Zai reminded him.

“Oh, right!” Shang Xingyu quickly got into the car. “Sister, I’m heading out. Come home for dinner sometime—everyone’s been talking about you.”

Shang Xinglu nodded.

At this moment, Xiao Zai stood on the other side of the red sports car, smiling slightly, his eyes curving like crescent moons.

“Sister, I’m leaving too.”

Shang Xinglu nodded again.

Xiao Zai glanced at her one more time before getting into the car, which soon sped away.

---

Shang Xinglu waited in Lin Heng’s lounge for him to finish work.

From inside, she could see him working seriously. She watched him tirelessly… for about ten minutes.

Then she got bored.

It was like a cat sniffing catnip.

It felt good for a while, but not if you kept sniffing forever—because your brain would fry.

She had to pace herself!

Shang Xinglu dozed off for a while—she had too much to learn lately. Ever since she started reading two books every two days and frequently shadowed Ye Jiaping in the lab for discussions, she had noticed that Ye Jiaping’s gaze towards her… had changed.

It was almost like one of those street fortune tellers who suddenly grabs a passerby and says, “Young man, I see great potential in you! Come, I have two secret manuals…”

At first, she had just thought, Since I’m already in this field, learning more can only be beneficial.

But recently, she realized—this wasn’t going to work.

How could she, a proud astronomy student, betray her field and switch to chemistry?!

In simpler terms—she was severely sleep-deprived.

She slept for two hours. When she woke up, Lin Heng was still working.

Shang Xinglu yawned and asked, “Want some coffee?”

Lin Heng hummed in agreement, his expression focused. Thinking it was just his assistant, he didn’t even look up.

Shang Xinglu wanted a cup too. This would be her third coffee of the day, but she was too sleepy to function without it. She walked to the break room to pour two cups.

There, by the snack counter, she saw Lin Yan again.

The tall man was eating small biscuits—one after another—with a steaming cup of tea in his hand. The rich aroma filled the air, and the look of sheer satisfaction on his face made it clear he was thoroughly enjoying the treats.

Shang Xinglu watched him for a while.

Gulp.

…Damn it, just watching him made her hungry.

Lin Yan noticed her and waved, smiling. “Louise, we meet again.”

Shang Xinglu: “Mr. Lin, hello.”

Lin Yan walked over and said, “No need to be so formal. Just call me ‘big brother’.”

Shang Xinglu: “……”

Excuse me?! Don’t just casually claim a title like that!!!

Lin Yan glanced at the two cups in her hands. “For Lin Heng?”

Shang Xinglu nodded.

“You two have such a great relationship,” Lin Yan remarked.

Shang Xinglu nodded again.

Honestly, even though Lin Yan was another “Lin CEO,” he was very easygoing. But Shang Xinglu wasn’t quite sure how to handle him.

Saying “your relationship is great” to a divorced couple with a straight face—what was this man up to?

At that moment, Lin Yan handed her a box of biscuits.

Shang Xinglu accepted it and started eating.

…Watching him eat had made her crave them too.

Lin Yan seized the opportunity to start chatting with her.

“Oh, by the way,” Lin Yan said, “Lin Heng is so reserved—he probably didn’t tell you. So I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

“What is it?”

“Auntie went back to the U.S., taking Emma with her. Emma wasn’t happy, of course. Lin Heng has always been at the top of her ‘ideal husband’ list. But she had no choice. I think Lin Heng was the one who asked them to leave.”

He spoke in a roundabout way, but the message was clear—Lin Heng had been so upset about that forced matchmaking incident that he’d personally sent his mother and Meng Huaqing back to the U.S.

And the underlying implication?

Lin Heng had been that upset… because of her.

Regardless of who he was really angry for, Shang Xinglu thought one thing was certain—Lin Yan was truly a strange man.

Even though she and Lin Heng were together again, their divorce was still an undeniable fact.

Divorced couples getting back together wasn’t uncommon, but…