After hesitating for a while, Zhu Qianying ultimately did not step forward.

After careful consideration, she tried to communicate with him verbally. "Young Master Yan, please speak frankly about what's on your mind."

Yan Shao, however, did not give her any special treatment.

"Come here." Again, just those two simple words.

Yan Shao stared at her intently, refusing to believe that he could lose this confrontation.

She desperately wanted money, but there weren't many people willing to give her such a large sum.

As for him, all he needed was a woman to marry to appease his mother's pressure to get married.

The number of eligible women who want to marry Young Master Yan could stretch from L City all the way to Beijing, to exaggerate a bit.

Once this relationship is clearly defined, the superiority or inferiority of the two individuals becomes immediately apparent.

He doesn't need her, but she needs him!

Yan Shao understood this vast difference in their superiority and inferiority, so how could Zhu Qianying not understand it?

After realizing that verbal communication was ineffective, and after struggling and weighing the options, all she could do was give in.

After all, apart from Young Master Yan, no one else is so generous as to offer such a large dowry to the Zhu family. And what's most remarkable is that her father agreed to give her half of the dowry.

Zhu Qianying gritted her teeth, lifted her foot, and walked to Yan Shao's side.

Yan Shao raised an eyebrow with satisfaction, his gaze, which held an ambiguous meaning, falling on her eyebrows and the corners of her eyes. When she stood still beside him, he raised his hand and placed it on her waist.

Zhu Qianying visibly trembled and subconsciously shrank back, but Yan Shao's strong hand held her tightly and pulled her into his arms. Caught off guard, Zhu Qianying lost her balance and fell heavily onto his lap.

"Young Master Yan..." Zhu Qianying panicked a little!

This panic stemmed from her body's instinctive fear of Yan Shao as a person.

"Afraid?"

He found her panic quite amusing.

It turns out that the armor she always wore, and even the thorns all over her body, were not indestructible.

He had always thought she could handle everything with a calm and collected demeanor. But it turned out that when she encountered him, she could stir up a turbulent pond.

"Of course I'm afraid. Who isn't afraid of Young Master Yan of L City?" Zhu Qianying, whose appearance had already calmed down, still stubbornly insisted, her tone full of self-deprecation and sarcasm.

Yan Shao's hand was still on her waist, but he didn't make any further moves.

He was just wondering whether her fear was more about him as a person, or about her ultimately not being able to get the dowry.

It's not difficult to find out the details about the Zhu family.

Therefore, he knew that Zhu Zhizhou had promised Zhu Qianying that half of the dowry would belong to her.

What does she need such a large sum of money for? For spending money?

It doesn't seem like it. Someone who can't even afford a phone costing a few thousand yuan, having 100 million yuan in pocket money? That's too extravagant.

If it's not pocket money, then is she planning to use it for investment? Does she want to break away from the Zhu family and start her own business?

That's possible.

After all, someone as intelligent as her naturally understood that the Zhu family was not a place to stay for long.

With such outstanding looks as her and her sister, if they weren't smart enough, sooner or later they would only end up being used as bargaining chips by Zhu Zhizhou to exchange for more benefits or power for the Zhu family.

For many wealthy heiresses, this is both a destiny and an unchangeable fate.

She probably realized this as well, and even if she was to be used as a bargaining chip, she did her best to fight for the maximum amount of autonomy.

In a sense, her participation in this selection competition also represents her choosing the best option within the range of choices available to her.

And he was undoubtedly the best one she had chosen.

"I have something to ask you!"

After a long silence, Yan Shao suddenly spoke in Zhu Qianying's ear.

Zhu Qianying was startled again, but she quickly recovered.

Yan Shao was very well-behaved, only holding her waist and letting her sit on his lap. He didn't make any other moves, which made her feel a little more at ease.

"Um……"

It was rare to see her so well-behaved, and a faint smile unconsciously appeared on Yan Shao's lips.

"You don't want to stay at the Zhu family's place for even a moment longer?" Qin Xiu told him that he found her at a chain hotel, not at the Zhu family's place.

Yan Shao's question was too direct and too sudden, and Zhu Qianying, who was caught off guard, froze.

Yan Shao, unusually patient, simply waited quietly for her reply.

A few seconds later, Zhu Qianying let out a long sigh of relief, "Thank goodness..."

He paused for a moment, then added, "I don't want to see anyone with the surname Zhu, except for Xiaoyu."

She and Xiaoyu, despite having the surname Zhu, did not take pride in it, and no one in the Zhu family ever considered them members of the Zhu family.

What about me?

Yan Shao was actually a little bothered. After she left for a month, the first thing she did upon returning was not to inform him, her fiancé, but to find a small hotel and sleep soundly.

However, he didn't consider himself a child, so he was too embarrassed to say anything about this.

"You?" Zhu Qianying was taken aback.

"Yes, it's me!" Yan Shao emphasized.

Although he and she had no feelings for each other, they would eventually be living under the same roof in a little over a month. If she held onto the same feelings she had for the Zhu family, would she also disappear for ten days or half a month at a time, just like she does now?

Zhu Qianying pondered for a while before cautiously answering.

"Young Master Yan, rest assured, after we get married, I will do everything that needs to be done and abided by. If you are not at ease, we can make a detailed list of rules, specifying what we should abide by and what we should not interfere with, so as not to accidentally cross each other's bottom line."

It's not hard to tell from her words that she guessed most of Yan Shao's thoughts correctly.

Seeing that Yan Shao still didn't speak, Zhu Qianying added.

"As for Mr. and Mrs. Yan, I will treat them as my own parents with the same filial piety. They have been very good to me, and I will not let them down. As for other things, think about them slowly and list them out clearly, so that I won't be tactless and accidentally cross the line in the future."

Zhu Qianying had been pondering these words on her way from the hotel.

Actually, these things should have been said outright a long time ago.

However, ever since the selection ended, she and Yan Shao have been constantly encountering problems, and it is rare for them to be able to calm down and talk like this.

After a long silence, Yan Shao leaned forward and tilted his head to examine her delicate profile.

"Aren't you afraid I'll cross the line?" The smile on his lips had long since disappeared, and his eyes were filled with layers of mockery.

Yan Shao behind her had already changed his face, but Zhu Qianying was completely unaware.

Staring blankly at his toes, he said, "You wouldn't! Besides, I'll protect my own boundaries!"

Yan Shao chuckled. Should he say that this woman looked down on him too much, or that she overestimated herself?

Hearing the laughter, Zhu Qianying turned to look at him curiously. After thinking for a moment, she assumed he was laughing at her for overestimating herself.

"Young Master Yan, don't worry, I will take good care of myself." She solemnly assured him.