Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Her heart began to wrench in misery and she said, “You’re free to date whoever you want and marry her. That’s your freedom.”
Yan Ge hugged her and said, “I don’t want to marry someone else. I want to be with you.”
Fang Erlan wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder, taking a whiff of his unique scent that did not come from any perfume.
She indulged in his scent, which seemed magnetizing, making it difficult for her to bring herself to let go.
“Erlan, let’s be with each other. I’ve also thought through it carefully in the past few days. Although he’s present in your life, I actually have the upper hand. After all, I’m the one you fancy. In that case, why can’t I fight for you?”
“But…”
“You’re not in a relationship with him now anyway. He’s not your boyfriend and you’re not his girlfriend, so what’s wrong with us dating each other? If you’re worried about him finding out, we’ll just keep it from him. Wouldn’t that do?”
“He’ll find out sooner or later,” said Fang Erlan.
“So what if he does? We’re not doing anything wrong. I know what you’re worried about, but life is short. If you can’t even be brave and take the risk for the sake of love and your own happiness, is there really a point? Wouldn’t you be exhausted if you’re constantly worrying about this and that?”
Fang Erlan’s heart melted.
She found his words to have made sense. They indeed loved each other.
However, why do I feel a little guilty?
It feels like I would be letting Xiao Chenyang down if I were to commit to Yan Ge…
Why do I have such a feeling? I hate feeling this way. Xiao Chenyang is clearly the one who popped out of nowhere and interfered with my life…
“Why aren’t you saying anything…?” he said.
“You’re right, I should be brave. I shouldn’t be intimidated by him…” she said softly as her voice began to fade. I shouldn’t be worried about him taking me to Mount Wanyan either.
After hearing her words, Yan Ge interlocked his fingers with hers and said, “We’ll be in a relationship with each other from now on.”
“Yes,” she answered with a nod.
Smiling blissfully from ear to ear, Yan Ge said, “Let’s keep this a secret between us.”
She nodded again and said, “Alright.”
“Why have you become so demure all of a sudden? You weren’t like this in the past.”
“Can’t I be shy?”
“You can,” he answered with a joyful grin.
Fang Erlan left the bar a short while later. However, she did not exit together with Yan Ge for fear that they would be photographed by the paparazzi.
Fang Erlan was filled with anxiety throughout the entire journey from the bar back to the hotel. Her emotions were on a rollercoaster. She lay down in bed, still thinking about the conversation she had with Yan Ge at the bar.
Did we just become a couple?
She was still in disbelief.
She tossed and turned in bed, way too excited and overjoyed to fall asleep.
She finally closed her eyes and dozed off at three o’clock in the morning.
The moment the lights were switched off, a figure was consumed by the darkness.
He stood rooted to the ground while remaining silent. Ever since he had found her, he had never seen her smiling so gleefully before.
He had never seen her so elated before.
Never ever…
—
An Xiaoning woke up at six o’clock in the morning.
After washing up, she sat on the bed and began putting on some makeup meticulously.
She then proceeded to help him to the washroom to freshen up.
“Do you want to wash your hair?”
“How am I supposed to do that when I’m in such a state?”
“I’ll help you.” She moved a chair into the washroom and allowed him to support himself against the chair, after which she filled the basin with some lukewarm water. “Lower your head,” she said.
He obediently did as he was told. An Xiaoning then poured some shampoo into her palm and lathered it before helping him scrub his scalp.
She was extremely gentle when massaging his scalp with her tiny hands, making him feel exceptionally comfortable.
“You’ve got some great skills.”
“Yes. I can ace anything as long as I put my heart into it.”
“You’re not in the least bit modest at all.”
She smiled and continued shampooing his hair.
After she rinsed the shampoo off his scalp, she dried his hair with the hairdryer. When helping him out of the washroom, she said, “We’ll have to film a video of you later.”
“What video?”
“A declaration video.”
He instantly understood what she meant. “No wonder you were so kind as to give me a hair wash. Turns out you had an ulterior motive.”
She did not deny it and took out an eyebrow blade that she then extended toward him. Henry retreated backward and said, “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to trim your eyebrows for you. You don’t need any makeup anyway. Your eyebrows will be neater with a little trim.”
“Don’t cut me…”
She cupped his face with one hand and said, “I won’t cut you. I’ll just slice off some of your flesh.”
“…”
Staring at the flawless face in front of her, An Xiaoning nodded and said, “You’re all set. You deserve to be called my man. You don’t even need any makeup since you already look so handsome.”
“Who’s your man…”
“You.”
Fan Shixin arrived at the hospital with a lunchbox at 6:50 am.
“Is it a small steamed bun again? I don’t want to eat that,” said Henry.
“Be thankful that you get to eat. Why are you still so picky?” said Fan Shixin, who then opened the lunchbox and took out some steamed prawn dumplings and vegetarian buns. He continued, “There’s porridge underneath this. Wait for it to cool before you eat it.”
“I’m not in a hurry to eat. How’s the Weibo saga going?”
“Hu Xin has hired a bunch of keyboard warriors who have been commenting and reposting the video as soon as we delete them. The situation is getting out of hand. I think you guys need to make a clarification to placate things.”
“I thought so too, so…” She then said to Henry, “It’ll depend on what you say.”
Henry picked up the mobile phone and held her in his arms. “Let’s begin.”
“To the culprit who had hired our doppelgangers and added your own sound effects to create this false video, I don’t know what your purpose for doing this is, but I’ll definitely pursue this matter and take legal actions against you. There are all sorts of comments online, but I don’t want this matter to affect the person whom I care for. That’s all I have to say.”
He then kissed An Xiaoning on her forehead and asked, “Do you have anything to say about those empty vessels online?”
“I won’t make any comment. You’ve already answered on my behalf, haven’t you?”
He smiled at her affectionately and said, “What a lazy bum.”
As soon as they stopped filming, the smile on his face vanished and he retracted his arm. “Disseminate this video clip to the media.”
Fan Shixin grabbed Henry’s mobile phone and forwarded the video clip to himself. He then returned the mobile phone to Henry and left without uttering another word.
“Fan Shixin is getting more and more aloof and haughty. Don’t you think so?” Henry asked An Xiaoning.
“Sorry, but I don’t.” She got out of bed and walked toward the chair, where she sat down and began eating.
Noticing that she was eating the prawn dumplings, he quickly said, “Let me have that. You have the buns instead.”
She handed him her half-finished prawn dumpling and said, “There you go.”
“Is this how you treat the person who just helped you filmed the video?”
“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”
“…”
