Xu Ming was taken aback, then scratched his head somewhat awkwardly and casually asked, "What brings you here? How are you today?"

Xu Jingyan sat down next to Lu Haifeng, a mocking smile playing on her lips. "Dad, didn't you want to know if I still had feelings for Lu Yanting? Why didn't you just ask me directly? Why beat around the bush and ask Lu Haifeng?"

Xu Ming felt embarrassed when his daughter exposed his thoughts in public.

He slammed his hand on the table, feigning anger, and said, "I'd like to ask you, are you willing to tell the truth?"

Xu Jingyan got up and poured tea for Xu Ming. "Dad, I've died once now, so I'm not as naive as before. Lu Yanting and I grew up together, so I actually understand him better than anyone else."

If he doesn't like something, he'll most likely never like it in his life. I've known this for a long time, but I was just unwilling to accept it, which is why I took so many detours.

Hearing this, Xu Ming looked up, his eyes filled with relief: "It's good that you can understand."

Xu Jingyan placed the tea in front of Xu Ming, her eyes fierce. "So Dad, I agree to what you said about Huangtu Village last time! Since Lu Yanting has made me love him but never have him in this lifetime, I will make him taste this bitterness too!"

Xu Ming patted his daughter's shoulder with satisfaction: "That's my daughter!"

On the other side, Lu Yanting learned that Xu Jingyan had safely returned to the Xu family villa that evening and had completed a full physical examination, confirming that she was fine. Only then did his heart finally settle down.

Lu Nian came downstairs and looked at Lu Yanting, who was sitting on the sofa with a furrowed brow. She felt a little sorry for him and went over to sit next to her younger brother.

"Now that it's been confirmed that it wasn't the kidnapping gang from back then, are you and Qiu Mang still not getting back together?"

Lu Yanting lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling. "Sister, so many years have passed, and Lu Haifeng has grown up. He's not necessarily someone easy to deal with now. Qiu Mang is just an ordinary girl. She wants to live a peaceful life. I shouldn't drag her down."

Upon hearing this, Lu Nian poured herself a glass of red wine from the decanter, took a small sip, and then looked out the window. The two of them remained silent.

The next day, in front of an old rental house on the outskirts of Guangcheng.

"Bang bang bang..."

A middle-aged woman with a heavy local accent was banging on the door, her voice booming: "Xiao Ji! Xiao Tian! Are you home? You're a month behind on rent, it's time to pay!"

Ms. Zhang, who had just returned from grocery shopping, greeted the landlord briefly and was about to go inside.

"Hey, wait a minute!" the landlord called out to her, looking puzzled. "Are those two young people home or not? I've come during the day and at night, but there's been no sound from inside. What's going on?"

Sister Zhang glanced at the window subconsciously, and through the crack, she could clearly see Tian Jingjing hiding under the bed, desperately shaking her head at her.

Sister Zhang looked troubled and forced a bitter smile: "I'm not quite sure either. I usually work overtime and get home very late, so I really didn't notice when they were there."

"That's really strange. Could it be that he's trying to skip out on his bill?" The landlord clicked his tongue, his face full of disappointment. "He seemed like a respectable young man, but I never expected him to do something like this. These young people nowadays..."

Once the landlord's figure had completely disappeared at the end of the corridor, Sister Zhang called out into the house, "Tian Jingjing! Come out!"

Tian Jingjing crawled out from under the bed in a disheveled state, her hands trembling as she opened the door.

"What? Didn't you hook up with a rich guy before? You looked down on Xiao Ji because he was poor, and now you can't even pay the rent, so your sugar daddy doesn't care about you anymore?"

Sister Zhang wanted to scold her a few more times, but when she saw the girl's messy hair and sallow, thin face, she swallowed back the words of reproach that were on the tip of her tongue.

She bent down and took two steamed buns from the shopping basket, handing them to him: "Eat up. If you really have nowhere to live, move in and squeeze in with me. My husband works overtime every day and is often not home. But you have to promise me you can't keep living like this. You need to find a job to support yourself, understand?"

Tian Jingjing didn't say anything, but just stared at the big, white, and fragrant steamed bun in Sister Zhang's hand, swallowing hard.

Sister Zhang stuffed the steamed bun into her hand with a hint of pity, "Silly girl, take this and eat it!"

Tian Jingjing still had a bit of pride. How could someone like Sister Zhang, who only knew how to do manual labor and hadn't even graduated from junior high school, be worthy of sponsoring a college student like her?

She gritted her teeth, determined not to accept Sister Zhang's "charity" no matter how down on her luck she was.

So she pushed Zhang Jie's hand away, saying, "No need, you eat it yourself!"

Watching Tian Jingjing's retreating figure, Sister Zhang shook her head helplessly, "That girl, she's quite stubborn..."

Tian Jingjing wandered aimlessly down the street, and suddenly the days she spent with Ji Lun came to mind.

Although life was a bit tough, Ji Lun was really good to her. If she had ten yuan, she would spend nine yuan and ninety cents on her.

Actually, after she broke up with Sun Hewei, she went to the company to look for Ji Lun, but Ji Lun had already resigned and no one knew where he went.

Guangzhou is such a big city. Once contact information is deleted, many people may have already seen each other for the last time without deliberately looking for it.

Tian Jingjing reached out and smoothed her hair, but it was tangled and she couldn't straighten it for a long time. Because she hadn't paid the rent, the water and electricity to the apartment had been cut off, and she hadn't washed her hair or taken a shower for several days.

She stomped her foot in frustration. It was all because of that shrewish wife of Sun Hewei and Han Bing. She was just having some fun with two men, what business was it of theirs? They had to interfere and make her lose so much money.

She didn't have much money to begin with, so she had to borrow money from loan companies. After borrowing the money, she couldn't pay it back and was chased by the loan companies for repayment every day.

Now her family and friends have all received calls from loan companies. When her parents heard that she owed hundreds of thousands of yuan, they completely abandoned her and left her to fend for herself.

She walked along the road like a walking corpse, not knowing where she was going.

Suddenly, she saw an advertisement playing on the mall's large screen. At first, she just glanced at it, then her eyes widened.

Who else could the owner of the "Boxing King BBQ" restaurant advertised be but Ji Lun?

He... wasn't he a workaholic from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day? When did he suddenly become a boss?

Tian Jingjing went to the address on the advertisement.

As soon as I walked onto Chang'an Avenue, I saw a long line of people in front of the Boxing King Barbecue Restaurant.

Inside the shop, several tall, burly men were busy grilling meat skewers in the kitchen, while Ji Lun sat at the cashier to pay. He was still wearing a white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses, always looking gentle and refined.

Suddenly, a slender, petite figure carrying a plate weaved through the crowd.

Tian Jingjing's eyes widened. Wasn't that Han Bing? How could a high-class young lady like her be serving dishes here?