Her period didn't come

"What a coincidence."

A soft, even voice rang out.

Nan Xingyu gripped Li Ziyan's sleeve, her back stiffening.

What was he doing here?

What if Xi Kun noticed something?

Just as she was freaking out, she heard someone else say, "I came to eat with my roommates."

At that,

Nan Xingyu raised her eyes.

Xi Jin looked at Jiang Yuexi, a polite smile on his lips. "I know them."

Lin Piaopiao immediately waved. "Hi, great master Xi Jin! We meet again."

Xi Jin gave a slight nod.

His gaze swept briefly over the group, lingering on one person's face for two seconds before he turned back to Jiang Yuexi.

"Have fun."

With that, he was about to turn and leave.

Jiang Yuexi followed him. "I'll go say hello to Uncle Xi."

After the two had walked away,

Lin Piaopiao asked curiously, "Are Jiang Yuexi and Xi Jin close?"

Not far away,

Jiang Yuexi chatted and laughed with Xi Kun, poised and at ease.

Xi Jin stood to one side with his hands in his pockets, occasionally saying something.

The atmosphere seemed harmonious.

Li Ziyan nodded. "They seem to get along well."

Before long, Jiang Yuexi saw Xi Kun off and returned.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

"It's fine, it's fine."

Lin Piaopiao waved it off, then couldn't help asking, "Hey, Yuexi, was that great master Xi Jin's dad?"

"Mm."

Jiang Yuexi nodded. "Yes."

The group headed toward the elevators, and Lin Piaopiao glanced back.

"You're so close to his dad. Could you be the girlfriend he mentioned?"

Li Ziyan cut in. "Isn't his girlfriend from Peking University?"

Lin Piaopiao said, "Yuexi goes to Peking University."

Li Ziyan: "..."

Something didn't seem right.

Jiang Yuexi smiled and said frankly, "I'm not his girlfriend."

Nan Xingyu was walking at the back when she noticed the girl's delicate dangling earrings and remembered.

She was the girl in the background of the photo Xi Jin had sent her.

Could Jiang Yuexi be Xi Jin's arranged marriage partner?

Nan Xingyu's brain suddenly short-circuited.

She failed to notice the steps by the waterside pavilion ahead, tripped, and pitched forward.

"Watch out!"

The next second, a hand suddenly reached out.

Nan Xingyu instinctively grabbed it, keeping herself from falling.

By the time she collected herself, she heard a deep male voice beside her ear.

"Are you all right?"

Nan Xingyu turned to look.

It was a stranger, a refined, gentle-looking man who appeared to be in his thirties.

She hurriedly let go, took two steps back, and lowered her head, her face red. "Thank you. I'm fine."

The people ahead heard the commotion and turned around.

Jiang Yuexi walked back and greeted him with a smile. "Uncle."

She introduced him. "This is my uncle, Song Shuchen."

He greeted them humbly and courteously.

When his gaze fell on Nan Xingyu, he noticed how red her face was.

Just because he'd steadied her a moment ago?

He couldn't help looking at her for another two seconds.

Jiang Yuexi happened to catch the scene.

When the group continued on, she caught hold of Song Shuchen as he was about to leave and leaned close to whisper,

"Uncle, have you taken a fancy to my roommate?"

"..."

Song Shuchen instinctively looked at the slender, delicate figure walking away, then back at her.

"Kid, don't talk nonsense."

Neither of them knew Nan Xingyu's heart was in turmoil.

Her back felt as if needles were pricking it.

Xi Jin must have seen that stranger steady her just now.

Please don't let him go crazy.

While they were waiting for the elevator, several more people arrived.

Xi Jin among them.

Even with several people between them, Nan Xingyu still felt she had nowhere to hide.

The elevator doors opened.

She avoided Xi Jin and went to the other side, standing in the farthest corner of the elevator.

The others crowded in.

Jiang Yuexi stood between the two of them.

She felt Xi Jin looking at her the whole time and turned her head suspiciously. His gaze shifted down a fraction, meeting hers.

She asked bluntly, "Why are you looking at me?"

Xi Jin's gaze was cool. "You're pretty," he said mildly.

"..."

Jiang Yuexi hadn't expected him to say that. Looking into his deep eyes, she was momentarily taken aback.

The elevator doors opened.

Xi Jin walked out first, his face cold and his long legs carrying him ahead.

Nan Xingyu followed the others at the back, looking down at the message she had just received.

[Come to the restroom.]

Nan Xingyu frowned, her fingers flying over the screen.

[I don't want to.]

[Wash your hands.]

[You're sick.]

[30 seconds.]

Nan Xingyu was freaking out inside.

She had no choice but to find an excuse to leave.

Just as she was nearing the restroom, a hand pulled her into the mother-and-baby room beside it.

The faucet came on.

Xi Jin squeezed out some hand soap and rubbed and washed her fingers one by one, with meticulous care.

Nan Xingyu couldn't help grumbling, "Do you think other men are dirty, or are you sick?"

Xi Jin raised his eyes and glanced at her.

His gaze was icy and fierce.

"..."

Nan Xingyu instantly lost her nerve and turned her face away, avoiding his gaze.

Xi Jin lowered his eyes and continued rubbing her fingers.

After rinsing off the lather, he squeezed out more soap and worked it into a foam in his palm before applying it to her hands.

Nan Xingyu endured it helplessly.

It was as if he couldn't erase "the traces of someone else's touch" without washing them three or five times.

"Hello."

Someone knocked at the door and came in. It was a mother pushing a stroller.

She greeted the two of them. "Sorry, I've come in to change my baby's diaper."

Nan Xingyu looked back, her hand still being held down and washed by a certain someone, and hurriedly said,

"It's fine. We're just washing our hands."

The mother picked the baby up from the stroller, pulled a clean changing mat from her backpack, and spread it on the counter.

She murmured to her baby as she worked.

Nan Xingyu looked over.

The baby reached out a little hand for its mother and kicked both feet hard. The woman took hold of its ankles, gently lifted them, and pulled out the dirty diaper.

Xi Jin noticed where she was looking.

She seemed to like children quite a lot.

Xi Jin lowered his eyes. After washing her hands three times, he pulled out some paper and dried them.

The two were about to leave.

Nan Xingyu heard the baby crying.

The woman hurriedly fumbled with the formula.

Xi Jin opened the door and was about to leave, but Nan Xingyu turned back.

She helped soothe the baby.

Seeing this, the mother said, "Thank you."

Xi Jin remained at the door, watching Nan Xingyu play with the baby.

An indescribable emotion surged in his eyes.

Once the woman was done, Nan Xingyu still didn't want to leave. She watched the baby hold its bottle and drink.

She couldn't help saying, "Babies are so cute."

The woman smiled. "You and your husband can have one someday."

She glanced at the handsome man standing at the door. "Your child would definitely be beautiful."

Nan Xingyu didn't answer. She touched the baby's soft little foot with her fingertip.

She thought, One Xi Jin is enough for me to handle. I don't want to have a little Jin too.

A little while later,

The two left the mother-and-baby room and once again acted like people who barely knew each other.

One went left.

The other went right.

Like two people whose paths had never crossed, each returned to their own world.

It was another amorous night.

Nan Xingyu sank into the soft mattress, Xi Jin controlling her every breath.

Sweat dripped from his chin onto her rising and falling chest.

Each time exhaustion overtook her, another round of surrender followed.

It was like being lost deep in a fog, unable to tell whether it was sweet or bitter.

In her hazy state, she suddenly remembered what the mother had said.

If she and Xi Jin had a child,

what would it be like?

Xi Jin seemed to notice her mind wandering. He loosely clasped her throat and kissed her, roughly stealing her breath.

Only when Nan Xingyu was nearly unable to breathe did he let go, staring into her misty eyes.

His voice was hoarse and trembling. "Xiaoyu, say you love me."

The hand Nan Xingyu had resting on the back of his neck slipped slightly to the side, and her fingertips gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I love you."

"Who do you love?"

"Xi Jin."

Xi Jin bent down and wrapped both arms tightly around her trembling body, his hot breath falling on the damp skin of her neck.

"I love you too, Xiaoyu... I'll love you forever."

Before long.

Xi Jin carried her to the bathroom for a bath.

Nan Xingyu leaned on her elbows beside the bathtub, letting Xi Jin wash her hair.

Seeing that little baby today had reminded her of the month when they had first tasted forbidden fruit at eighteen.

Her period hadn't come.

She had thought she was pregnant.

Xi Jin had taken her to the hospital for a checkup.

While they waited for the results, she had been so nervous that her palms broke out in a cold sweat.

Xi Jin, however, had acted as if nothing were wrong. Holding her hand, he had strolled around the hospital with her until they happened upon a newborn care classroom.

He had stopped, and she had stopped with him.

Through the glass, they had watched new fathers and mothers learn from a nurse how to care for their newborns.

Under the soft light, the nurse had demonstrated how to bathe a newborn.

The two of them had watched, engrossed.

The nurse had noticed them outside the glass and invited them in to learn and try it for themselves.

Nan Xingyu had stared directly at the "baby" on the table and whispered to Xi Jin, "Are newborn babies really this tiny?"

Xi Jin had said mildly, "I've never given birth. I don't know."

The nurse was demonstrating how to dress a baby.

Nan Xingyu had barely started when she accidentally knocked the "baby's" head off.

Everyone around them had burst out laughing.

The nurse had laughed too. "This one seems a little broken. It's all right, just snap it back on and keep going."

Nan Xingyu had hurriedly picked up the "head" and, blushing, shoved the prop into Xi Jin's hands.