“What are you two doing?” Wen Zeyu stood at the door of the office expressionlessly.

Rong Ying panicked at once. Getting up subconsciously, she took a step back to keep some distance away from Qin Jinhuan. Then, she showed Wen Zeyu her blistered hands as she explained, “I burned my hands and couldn’t eat the noodles with my chopsticks, so Huan fed me.”

“Is that so?” Wen Zeyu asked impassively while casting a sidelong glance at Qin Jinhuan. Obviously, he doubted Rong Ying’s words.

Qin Jinhuan was surprised to see Wen Zeyu, but he wasn’t as panicky as Rong Ying was. On the contrary, he was surprised by Rong Ying’s panic. After shooting Rong Ying an indifferent glance, he put down the spoon, slowly turned his gaze to Wen Zeyu, and told him with a calm expression that what Rong Ying said was true.

Wen Zeyu closed his eyes slightly and curled his lips at the same time. Then, as his gaze fell on the almost emptied bowl, his lips curled into an obvious sneer.

When she understood the meaning of Wen Zeyu’s sneer, Rong Ying panicked even more. “Zeyu! Don’t misunderstand this!”

Wen Zeyu immediately asked her in return, “What have I misunderstood?”

“Uh, I mean to say that there really is nothing between Huan and I, so don’t… uh… misunderstand our relationship.”

Wen Zeyu paused for a moment before he replied impassively, “I didn’t misunderstand anything; you’re the one who has misunderstood me. You don’t have to explain anything or be surprised. I just went to visit Yu, and I came here to drop in on you.”

Rong Ying—who failed to hide the flicker in her eyes—immediately went along with what Wen Zeyu said and changed the subject. “Are you here to visit Yu at such a late hour? She hasn’t woken up yet, has she?”

“No, not yet.”

“Are her parents keeping her company?”

“Yeah. Wenwen came to take her parents’ place since she was worried that they wouldn’t be able to stay up late.”

“They can’t stay up late? In that case, they can ask the nurses! I’ve arranged—”

“Yu’s parents can’t trust someone else to look after her,” Wen Zeyu interrupted while glancing at Qin Jinhuan.

Upon hearing his words, Qin Jinhuan—who had gotten up in the first place—immediately walked outside.

Wen Zeyu didn’t follow him outside, though. He merely looked at Qin Jinhuan from behind while speaking to Rong Ying. “You don’t seem to be on duty tonight, am I right?”

“No, I’m not on duty. I’m about to go back as well since Qiqi is still staying at my place.”

“How is Feng Rubing right now? I heard that she hurt her foot in a fall.”

“The problem with her foot isn’t serious; the main issue is that she is very weak right now and needs to be nursed back to health for quite some time. Uh, I’m going back. What about you?”

“I’ll go to the ward and take a look.”

Feeling somewhat worried, Rong Ying changed her story. “Qiqi has probably fallen asleep right now, so it doesn’t matter if I go back or not. I can’t sleep anyway, so I might as well go there with you to take a look. Let’s go.”

However, instead of taking a step, Wen Zeyu looked at her with a half-smile. “Are you afraid that I’ll question Huan, or are you worried that I might say something to Yu?”

Rong Ying seemed embarrassed as her thoughts were read, but she covered it up with a forced laugh. “I don’t have to be worried since you didn’t misunderstand Huan and I. Furthermore, there’s nothing between us in the first place.”

“You’re an unmarried woman, whereas he’s a married man. Moreover, both of you are people with status and reputation in An City. There will be bad implications in case you two are seen alone in the same room in the middle of the night by some gossipers, so you’d better observe some proprieties in the future,” said Wen Zeyu seriously. His words seemed earnest, and his care for her was apparent.

His words made Rong Ying feel somewhat uncomfortable, but she still nodded solemnly to express her gratitude.

“It’s already well past midnight. Go back and rest early; staying up late is bad for a woman’s skin,” Wen Zeyu said before giving Rong Ying a long stare. Then, he went outside right away.

Rong Ying followed him to the door and watched him leave without blinking.

She was aware of Wen Zeyu’s feelings for her all along, but she never gave him the slightest opportunity because he was never the person she loved. Even though Qin Jinhuan ended up with Mu Yu later on, the idea of settling for the second-best never occurred to her. This was because she thought she simply didn’t like Wen Zeyu, and there was no making do when it came to relationships.

At this moment, she was a bit fearful. She thought Wen Zeyu would definitely reproach Qin Jinhuan for his intimate behavior toward her even if he didn’t become furious at the sight of the scene just now. Much to her surprise, though, he seemed unusually calm after she explained it to him. Judging from what she knew about him, his calmness right now seemed somewhat strange.

Perhaps he seems so unconcerned because he has thoroughly gotten over his feelings for me. Didn’t I hear him say that he’s here along with Jiang Wenwen, the woman who has always loved him? Perhaps he has transferred his affections to Jiang Wenwen and fallen in love with her instead.

This self-comforting thought calmed Rong Ying down a lot. She turned around and went back into her office, but just when she was about to pick up her handbag and leave, she inadvertently saw the bowls and chopsticks that were still on her desk. After being involuntarily startled for a moment, she walked up to her desk, slowly picked up the spoon, and was lost in thought.

This was the spoon Qin Jinhuan had fed her noodles with. Then, her cheeks blushed wildly once again when the previous intimate scene that almost caused Wen Zeyu’s misunderstanding flashed across her mind.

Of course, she knew that Qin Jinhuan did so with no other intentions. He did so only out of his care for someone he regarded as his younger sister despite not being his biological sister, as well as his gratitude to her for everything she had done for Mu Yu. Rong Ying had warned herself hundreds of times not to fantasize about him, and she even told him face-to-face that she had gotten over her feelings for him. Even so, her heart couldn’t help palpitating at the sight of the scene before her eyes.

Some feelings were so deeply engraved in her soul that she couldn’t get over them inwardly as she said she had. It was so hard for her to hide these feelings that she couldn’t help indulging in them occasionally despite knowing that she shouldn’t do so.

At this moment, she wished she could keep this spoon as a memento. However, after giving a wry laugh, she put the spoon back into the bowl.

She wasn’t a young lady who hadn’t experienced the vicissitudes of life, so she knew very well what to do and what not to. The little indulgence just now was already too much, so she wouldn’t allow herself to keep on being so headstrong. She didn’t want to hurt anyone else, nor did she want to let herself get hurt.

Meanwhile, Wen Zeyu walked along the corridor to the VIP ward where Mu Yu was. When he saw Qin Jinhuan still standing outside, he was somewhat surprised. Then, he walked up to Qin Jinhuan and asked, “Why aren’t you going in?”

“Yu has woken up.”

Wen Zeyu stared at him. “Shouldn’t you go inside now that Yu has woken up?”

Qin Jinhuan merely stared at the ward without answering him.

“Did Yu and you have an argument because of the car accident?” Wen Zeyu asked. When Qin Jinhuan still didn’t answer him, he asked again, “Is this accident Yin Anran’s doing or Dong Wanqing’s?”

Qin Jinhuan finally withdrew his gaze. “You should ask Rong Jian about this. This matter has been handed over to the police.”

“It’s Dong Wanqing’s doing then,” Wen Zeyu said probingly with a smile. “You probably wouldn’t have called the police if it was Yin Anran’s doing.”

Qin Jinhuan had a twitch in the corner of his mouth, but his expression was cold. “Me calling the police has nothing to do with the identity of the perpetrator. I will never let whoever hurt Yu and my child have an easy time.”

“Mm-hmm.” Wen Zeyu chuckled.

Qin Jinhuan knew that Wen Zeyu had doubts in his heart, but he didn’t give any explanation. He didn’t want to explain this matter to anyone, nor did he want to listen to anyone’s opinion.

Since he didn’t say a word, Wen Zeyu stopped pursuing this subject. Instead, he said, “Wenwen’s school term hasn’t begun yet, so it would be better to let her look after Yu temporarily for a few days. You should send Mr. and Mrs. Mu home first so that they can take a rest.”

Qin Jinhuan immediately declined the offer, though. “I’ll have someone send them back, but it’s not necessary to trouble Miss Jiang to take care of Yu. I can take care of her myself.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll take Wenwen home first, okay? There are still tons of things to be done in the office tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Qin Jinhuan then walked toward the ward.

Wen Zeyu didn’t move, though. Instead, he merely looked at Qin Jinhuan from behind with a very complicated look in his eyes.

Ever since he thought of taking over Hui Ming Group, he had a feeling that he and Qin Jinhuan were growing further and further apart from each other.

The previous workers’ strike in South City had forced the company to pay Jiang Tao Industry and Wu’s Enterprise a huge sum of breach-of-contract damages. He planned to talk to Ding Jiangtao and Wu Zhimin to protect the company’s interests, but Qin Jinhuan stopped him. This warmed his heart back then, for he thought that Qin Jinhuan did so because the latter feared that he might get brushed off and didn’t want him to lose face. Because of that, he spent the night sleeplessly thinking of a better way to help the company resolve this matter. To his surprise, though, Jiang Tao Industry and Wu’s Enterprise sent a message early the next morning, telling him that they agreed to let them postpone the delivery of the goods. When he inquired about it, he learned that Yin Anran had gone to them that very night. Knowing that Yin Anran obeyed Qin Jinhuan’s orders the most, he was instantly disappointed with Qin Jinhuan, for he thought that Qin Jinhuan didn’t trust him and feared that he might take Qing Tian Group’s old clients away before joining Hui Ming Group. Even so, he didn’t show his disappointment, though he kept an eye out for Qin Jinhuan from then on. Since then, he became increasingly convinced that Qin Jinhuan was on guard against him. He no longer entrusted Wen Zeyu with everything as he used to, and he was often secretive and unfathomable as he did on this day.

Hmph. Wen Zeyu laughed in disdain. Wouldn’t it be as easy as ABC for me to take away some of the company’s customers with my firm footing in Qing Tian Group?

Of course, what bothered him the most wasn’t the matter about the company, but the fact that Qin Jinhuan never did anything to bring him and Rong Ying together despite knowing that he loved her deeply. Qin Jinhuan knew that he didn’t love Jiang Wenwen, yet he made him drunk and let Jiang Wenwen go to bed with him.

If Qin Jinhuan meant what he said by saying that he let Jiang Wenwen go to bed with Wen Zeyu to help him prove to Yao Chenhua he was a normal man, why couldn’t he let Rong Ying prove that instead? Did Qin Jinhuan have feelings for Rong Ying now? Was that why he used Jiang Wenwen to dismiss him and kept Rong Ying for his own use instead? Otherwise, why would they be so intimate in the office just now? Whatever the reason was, Wen Zeyu thought that Qin Jinhuan shouldn’t be so intimate with Rong Ying. After all, Rong Ying’s love for Qin Jinhuan was written all over her face, and doing so could easily cause her love for him to spiral out of control.

Sometimes, he really couldn’t figure out why women could be so cheap. The more someone loved them and treated them nicely, the more they did not care about them. Instead, these women liked to follow those who didn’t care about them at all and allowed themselves to be beckoned over and abandoned as they pleased.

How painful and humble it was to fall in love with someone! Only those being loved were the happiest. Instead of letting other people trample on his affection, he would better get over Rong Ying as soon as possible, turn around, and enjoy the happiness of being loved. As for this false picture of brotherhood…

“It’s late, and you have to go to work early tomorrow morning. Let’s go back.” Jiang Wenwen’s soft and tender voice interrupted Wen Zeyu’s thoughts, and he looked up to see the caring expression on her face.

He habitually smiled in return. He had received a lot of smiles and care over the many years since his mother’s death, but he knew very well that only the woman before his eyes—who was willing to change for him—was smiling from the bottom of her heart.

It was already past 3.00AM when he sent Jiang Wenwen back and returned to his home, but he wasn’t sleepy at all. After pulling over to the side of the road, he dialed a familiar number. “Please look into something for me.”