Lin An spent a lazy afternoon at Luoshui Shui’s home.

He chatted with her in a low voice about amusing things. Lin An wasn’t a cynic. He thought the world was actually pretty nice.

As he’d said, selfish people usually didn’t suffer too much. After all, they only had to care about themselves and the feelings of a small circle around them.

They basked in the sunlight until three in the afternoon. Luoshui Shui had actually fallen asleep in the reclining chair.

Lin An called her name softly, but she didn’t wake up. He stared at her, a little dumbfounded.

This girl… Did she have no sense of caution at all?

She kept saying how dangerous he was, but deep down, she seemed to believe he was an upright person.

Lin An felt he couldn’t betray that trust. Luoshui Shui had been too kind to him, and much of that kindness had no reason behind it.

At the beginning, Lin An had even wronged her. His love for her had been nothing but an act. He’d treated her as a target, as a tool.

Yet Luoshui Shui had still magnanimously forgiven him.

The afternoon sunlight fell across her porcelain-white cheeks. Lin An sat beside the recliner and watched her long, thick eyelashes.

Light and shadow mingled beneath them. She slept so peacefully that Lin An didn’t know what to do.

So he waited there in silence.

Su Yuejin asked what he was doing and whether he wanted to play a game. He politely declined.

He said he had something to take care of, but he didn’t say what.

Su Yuejin could only give up. The clothes she’d bought had arrived, and she’d wanted to put them on for him.

Tomorrow would be October third. She and Lin An had already agreed to attend a comic convention together.

But Lin An had a slight headache because Xu Qinghuan had played a prank on him. She wanted him to wear women’s clothing.

This wasn’t just embarrassing anymore. Lin An really couldn’t accept something like that.

He had no strange hobbies. As for comic conventions… they provided a venue for cross-dressers, and there were plenty of odd-looking participants in women’s clothes.

Lin An simply couldn’t understand the appeal.

He could already imagine Su Yuejin’s delighted expression when she saw him.

His face held a trace of resentment as he quietly waited for Luoshui Shui to wake up.

She slept for two hours. When she opened her eyes, still groggy, Lin An was still sitting in the recliner and basking in the sun.

He hadn’t even looked at his phone. He’d simply sat there in silence.

Luoshui Shui gazed at his profile and softly called his name.

“Lin An.”

“You’re awake?”

“I’m used to taking an afternoon nap. Were you bored waiting for me?”

“Not at all. I looked at my phone and relaxed for a while.”

“Then let’s go inside. I’ll see what I should wear. Where are we eating?”

“Let me check. It’s a private room on the twelfth floor of a hotel.”

“Let me see.”

Luoshui Shui leaned over with her little head and glanced at the restaurant’s name. She searched it, then looked again.

A strange smile curved her lips. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“He really knows how to pick a place.”

“Huh? You’ve been there before?”

The restaurant seemed to be a high-end Chinese establishment. Given Luoshui Shui’s status, it made sense that she’d been there before.

But she fell silent for a second or two. Then she placed one hand on his shoulder.

“You know what I’m about to say, right?”

Lin An froze. His expression instantly became incredibly complicated.

“Don’t tell me… this restaurant is also…”

Luoshui Shui had already nodded.

“…”

Lin An was speechless.

This girl always managed to give him unexpected surprises.

Or perhaps they were unexpected shocks.

She was a hidden little rich girl. She never showed off, yet she was always too lazy to hide it.

She led Lin An to her room. The room next door was used to store clothes.

Row after row of outfits filled the wardrobes. Instead, Luoshui Shui raised her head and softly asked Lin An,

“What do you think would suit me?”

“Just wear something normal. I think anything would look good on you. You look beautiful in everything.”

Luoshui Shui thought for a moment. She looked through the wardrobes for quite a while.

In the end, she picked out a pure-black shirt and a pair of black pencil pants. Then she looked at Lin An.

“Then I’ll really just wear something random?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Then I’ll go change. Wait here.”

“Okay.”

Lin An waited quietly.

After a while, Luoshui Shui walked out of the room. Her hair fell loose down her back.

Two buttons on her black shirt were undone, revealing her delicate, slender collarbones without reserve.

Her figure was already slender. At eighteen, she had the perfectly balanced form of a young girl, her body like a tender willow putting out new branches.

Standing before Lin An in an all-black outfit, she made him feel slightly dazed.

Luoshui Shui usually wore clothes in warmer colors. Seeing her dressed like this so suddenly made Lin An a little unaccustomed to it.

She stood beside him and tilted her head.

“Should I put on some makeup or something?”

“You already look great. Makeup would only add a little extra. It doesn’t really matter. It’s up to you.”

That was Lin An’s honest opinion.

Luoshui Shui’s skin was exceptionally smooth and pale, as tender and white as a freshly peeled lychee.

“Then I won’t wear makeup. Hmph.”

“That’s fine too.”

There were nearly two hours left before seven.

Luoshui Shui and Lin An sat on the living room sofa and watched a horror movie together.

Luoshui Shui was a delicate young girl. She was afraid, too, so she chose to sit beside Lin An.

Whenever she got nervous, she would grab his arm, her little face pale.

“You can hold me. I’m scared.”

“Oh… okay.”

Lin An gently put an arm around her shoulders.

Perhaps the gesture gave her a sense of security. Luoshui Shui’s fear eased considerably.

What remained was the thrill.

People always enjoyed all kinds of ways to chase excitement, using it to briefly forget reason.

The girl’s body was soft and delicate. He only held her gently, making no inappropriate move.

Luoshui Shui leaned slightly closer to him. Whenever something frightening appeared, she would cover her eyes with one hand.

Then she’d peek through the gaps between her fingers.

“I thought you weren’t afraid of things like this.”

“Come on, I’m a girl too, you know?”

“What about you? Aren’t you afraid?” Luoshui Shui asked in return.

“Actually, my hands are shaking too. I just have to pretend I’m not scared.”

Lin An said it jokingly.

In truth, he really was afraid. But when he thought about how someone else was even more frightened and needed a little protection, he suddenly didn’t feel afraid at all.

They watched until six-thirty. It was time to leave.

Luoshui Shui put on a pair of black running shoes and slung a tiny purse over her shoulder.

Then she took the black hair tie from her wrist and slipped it onto Lin An’s wrist.

“I’m leaving it with you. Take good care of it, okay?”

“Okay.”

Luoshui Shui then led Lin An to the garage.

Several luxury cars were parked there. Lin An found them strangely familiar.

When he’d looked up luxury cars before, he was pretty sure he’d seen many of these models.

Well, in the end, she drove an electric car.

Lin An took the passenger seat while Luoshui Shui drove. She pulled down her seat belt.

As the car started, she suddenly said, “Qin Xueming might’ve seen me before.”

“Huh?”

“She’d always wanted to do business with my family. But my father was a hands-off manager, and so was my mother.”

“There were already plenty of people handling the family’s affairs. In the end, I happened to be bored, so I went to negotiate with her.”

“I think our families ended up cooperating a little.”

“That’s impressive.”

“What’s so impressive about it? The impressive ones weren’t me.”

“I just happened to think of it, so I mentioned it. Well then…”

Luoshui Shui gripped the wheel.

“Let’s go.”

She was always a very steady driver.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the restaurant they’d agreed on.

It was six fifty when they walked inside. The attendant at the front desk considerately asked whether they had a reservation.

Lin An replied that they did, under the surname Qin.

The attendant then led Lin An and Luoshui Shui upstairs in the elevator.

They stopped outside a private room. The attendant left, while Lin An stood at the door in silence for a moment.

The attendant had said Qin Xueming was already waiting inside.

Lin An took a deep breath. Luoshui Shui looked up into his eyes.

“You’re nervous?”

“Maybe a little. It’s been a long time since we last met.”

Lin An answered with a bitter smile.

Luoshui Shui raised her two slender, fair arms and placed her hands on his shoulders.

“You still have me. Didn’t you ask me to come because you wanted some emotional support?”

“So don’t be afraid. And you’re not allowed to be afraid.”

“Remember this. For these two hours, you’re my man, Luoshui Shui’s man.”

“My man shouldn’t be afraid of anything.”

“It’d be better if Shui Shui still treated me like a boy.”

Hearing her gentle voice, Lin An relaxed considerably.

Luoshui Shui always seemed to possess the power to heal people’s hearts.

He gently pushed open the door and walked inside with her.

Qin Xueming’s seat faced the entrance.

Just as Lin An had expected, she was dressed in an outfit suited to her age.

She wore a short-sleeved white dress that hugged the long, slender curves of her youthful body.

Her figure was tall and delicate. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and her pitch-black eyes seemed to shimmer with light.

Two years had passed since they last met.

Compared to her younger, more inexperienced self, she looked much more mature now.

Yet she was only nineteen.

Lin An examined her eyes carefully. The trace of youthful confusion she’d once held seemed to have vanished completely.

What remained was clean and sharp, creating an invisible pressure.

Qin Xueming had grown up.

“Long time no see,” she said softly.

“Yeah. Long time no see, Sister Xue.”

Lin An smiled at her.

At that moment, he suddenly let everything go.

There was nothing worth agonizing over. All that hesitation didn’t suit him at all.

He wasn’t that gloomy or twisted.

So what if she was his ex? What was wrong with being honest about it?

Luoshui Shui followed Lin An inside.

There were only three seats around the small round table. Luoshui Shui sat beside Lin An, then openly extended her hand toward Qin Xueming.

“Hi, Qin Xueming.”

“Hello.”

Qin Xueming’s voice was clear and clean.

“My name is Luoshui Shui.”

Luoshui Shui was always gentle and easygoing with everyone.

“Mm.”

Qin Xueming’s expression suddenly froze for a brief moment.

She stared blankly at Luoshui Shui, then turned to glance at Lin An.

Her brows creased slightly. Her lips parted for a second or two, but in the end, she said nothing.

Luoshui Shui… Luoshui Shui…

Qin Xueming seemed to have heard that name somewhere in her memories. Yet she couldn’t recall it at that moment.

Who was she?

“Then shall I order the dishes?” Qin Xueming asked.

She leaned forward slightly and rested both hands on the table.

“Ah, sure.”

Lin An nodded.