I'm young and gorgeous-I'm more than a match for her!

The men exchanged looks, then burst out laughing without hesitation, as though they had heard some hilarious joke.

The man at the very edge let his gaze linger below her collarbone, his blatant stare looking as though he wanted to devour her alive.

"You're still young, little girl. Once we've filmed you, I don't believe you'll dare call the police. If that video gets posted, do you think life will be easy for you? Hahaha!"

An Qian trembled with anger. These people had no regard for the law. She looked around. The place was full of winding alleys, and the houses, unoccupied for a long time, were covered in layer upon layer of cobwebs.

Despair filled her heart. No matter how loudly she shouted, no one would come to save her.

But she refused to fall into these people's hands. She would rather die!

Just as they forced her back into a corner, someone appeared in the alley. As though clutching at a lifeline, she shouted.

"Help! Help!"

"Shouting won't do you any good, little girl. Nobody around here dares go against us. You'd better cooperate. Don't make us use force."

The shadow behind them disappeared. Tears fell from the corners of An Qian's eyes. She had bitten her lip so hard that the skin had broken and blood was seeping out. As though she had made some sort of decision, she prepared to ram herself straight into the wall.

Everything changed in an instant. The shadow behind them quickly reappeared, and without anyone noticing, a stick had appeared in his hand.

Someone was knocked down. Amid the chaos, a warm hand took An Qian's and pulled her into a headlong run. The men behind them gave close chase.

He shielded her behind him, then knocked a man down with the stick before taking her hand and continuing to run.

"Don't worry. They can't catch us. We'll be fine once we get out."

An Qian trusted him unconditionally. Running toward the light, she saw his resolute profile and clearly defined, sharp jawline.

At the hospital entrance, An Qian finally saw his entire face. It was actually Chu Yannan from S University's Finance Department. She gripped the handle of her insulated food container tightly.

"Thank you for saving me today, Chu Yannan."

Chu Yannan was S University's campus heartthrob, known to everyone. An Qian had heard of him long ago, and as it happened, Chu Yannan had also known of An Qian for a long time.

An Qian was pretty, and she was in the Computer Science Department. The department had far more men than women, and on top of that, An Qian was more capable than most of the male students.

Gradually, An Qian became more and more well-known. Chu Yannan had run into her on campus several times. Today, he had also been planning to take a shortcut to the hospital and hadn't expected to encounter An Qian.

"If you want to thank me, An Qian, could you treat me to a meal?"

Of course An Qian could. After all, he had saved her life. A single meal was nothing.

"Then pick a time, Chu Yannan. I'll treat you. Thank you so much for today."

Chu Yannan smiled. Seeing what she was carrying, he added considerately, "It's all right. Don't you have something to do? Go take care of it first. There's no rush on my end."

She glanced at the insulated food container in her hand and remembered that her mother was still waiting. Urgency appeared on her face. After exchanging contact details with Chu Yannan, she hurried toward the inpatient building.

Chu Yannan watched her run off, then looked at the contact details on his phone, secretly delighted.

Chi Ye remained skeptical about hearing people's thoughts, so he sent Shen Zhiyi away without hesitation, and the world became quiet again.

He firmly believed that everything would be fine after a night's sleep. So, after arranging the next day's work, he slept, then headed straight back to the Old Residence upon waking to settle the score with his grandfather.

As though his grandfather had expected him to come, he had been brewing tea in the courtyard early that morning, waiting. The courtyard was filled with expensive greenery, all thriving and clearly tended with care.

His grandfather stroked the tea table, his eyes full of fondness. But when he remembered that his grandson had rejected her, he grew so angry that he picked up his teacup and took a sip before he could calm down.

"Old man! You went too far last night!"

His voice arrived before he did. Footsteps followed, and Chi Ye strode into the courtyard. The butler jogged behind him, barely managing to catch up.

"Young master, young master, slow down!" the butler kept calling as he hurried to keep up. Chi Ye sat down across from his grandfather without ceremony, snatched the cup he had just filled, and drained it in one gulp.

His grandfather watched his utterly unrefined way of drinking. It was like feeding peonies to a cow-a complete waste of something fine.

"What are you angry about? Didn't you turn her down because you didn't like her? I haven't even gotten angry yet."

Chi Ye slapped the table, ready to argue with his grandfather. Before he could speak, his grandfather picked up the cane beside him and struck the back of his hand, saying angrily,

"Go easy on my table!"

He almost laughed in anger. Instead of first worrying whether his hand hurt from the slap, his grandfather was worrying about his lousy tea table.

"Grandpa, it's my hand that hurts!"

His grandfather glared at him and retorted bluntly, "My tea table hurts more than you do. Are you even human? Slap your own thigh if you want to slap something. Don't slap my tea table."

Chi Ye couldn't understand how this lousy tea table was more precious than his hand. But that wasn't why he had come today. He had come to settle the score.

"Fine, let's leave the tea table aside for now and talk about last night. First, I have no plans to get a girlfriend anytime soon. And I'm very busy with work. I really don't have time to keep repaying your favors for you. Grandpa, please stop putting me through this, okay?"

His grandfather leisurely picked up a cup from the tea table and drank his tea. He didn't like Boss Zhao either, but he was very pleased with Shen Zhiyi.

"Before your parents went traveling, they told me to have a proper talk with you about this. I'm not pressuring you to marry, but I don't want to see you miss out on the suffering of love, either. Your grandmother went back south and won't return until next month. Ah, this old man has nothing to do. I just want to give you trouble."

Chi Ye's expression was indescribable. I knew it! When the old man goes quiet, he's up to no good.

"Grandpa, I'm begging you. Go find Grandma, okay? Stop messing with me. I'm busy with work every day. Why don't you go persuade my cousin instead? He's not married and doesn't have a girlfriend either. Aren't you worried? He's already thirty!"

"Your cousin likes men, and I met him last time. Your cousin is only thirty. You're just three years younger than he is. Do you think you're still a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old?

"Your cousin manages such a huge company and still found someone he likes. He had a harder time of it than you and still succeeded. Shouldn't you be thinking about your own problems now? Ah, I'm old. I just can't stand seeing you live so carefree every day. Miss Shen is good-looking and comes from a respectable background. If you weren't my grandson, I'd say in all fairness that you really aren't good enough for her."

His cousin liked men? His grandfather had dropped that bombshell so casually that Chi Ye was caught completely off guard. But what did his grandfather mean by that last remark?

Chi Ye was so angry that he wanted to slap the table and stand up. His grandfather cast him a look, and he silently withdrew his hand.

"I'm not good enough for her? I'm young and gorgeous, I'm not bad-looking, and I'm not short of money. What breed of toad is she, wanting a noble swan like me? I'm more than a match for her."

His grandfather abruptly sighed, looking at Chi Ye speechlessly.