"marry?"

Su Yan was taken aback by these words, then laughed, "What did I do to make you have such terrible thoughts?"

A terrifying idea?

Yi An was clearly surprised by her answer, and her rhythm faltered a bit.

He tried to pull himself back to reality, saying, "The marriage I'm talking about isn't a real marriage, it's a marriage of convenience."

"Contract marriage".

Su Yan repeated it to herself, then suddenly realized.

"You're trying to use me as a tool, aren't you?"

Yi An shook her finger, correcting, "Not a tool, but a mutually beneficial relationship."

Su Yan leaned back in her chair, watching him with great interest.

"Explain to me how we can mutually benefit each other."

Yi An stared straight at her, unblinking. "He Zimo is your ex-husband, isn't he?"

He caught the fleeting look of panic on Su Yan's face and a smile crept onto his lips.

Su Yan, no longer as relaxed as before, sat up straight.

"You investigated me?"

There was a clear hint of displeasure in his voice.

Yi An completely ignored her question and said directly, "He is my half-brother."

Su Yan frowned, no matter how hard she tried to recall, she couldn't remember that He Ziming had a half-brother.

Seeing her confused look, Yi An explained further: "To put it simply, he is my father's illegitimate son, whom we only acknowledged five years ago."

Su Yan suddenly realized why she didn't know about this brother's existence, and why He Ziming was so successful when she saw him again.

Yi An placed her arms on the table, supporting her body, and deliberately moved closer.

"So, can this condition be mutually beneficial for us?"

Su Yan: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

What Yi An liked most about Su Yan was her intelligence; getting along with her didn't require much effort.

Su Yan smiled and slowly moved closer, looking at him with a smile.

"Since we're allies, you're being very naughty."

Yi An suddenly felt like she was being teased. "What... what happened to me?"

Su Yan stared straight at him. "Your purpose in marrying me is not just this, is it? If it's just to teach He Zimo a lesson, suppressing him at the company is enough. Why go through all this trouble with your marriage?"

Yi'an was like a fox whose tail had been suddenly caught.

He wanted to take back his praise of her earlier; what he hated most was her cleverness!

If any little secrets couldn't be kept under her nose, what use would life be?

Yi An was inwardly panicking, but outwardly she pretended to be calm.

He straightened up and offered a blatant attempt to cover his tracks: "You're right, I was just about to tell you about this."

Having regained control, Su Yan was quite satisfied. She leaned back in her chair leisurely, raised her hand to Yi An, and gestured for him to continue.

Yi An always felt that her current status was inferior to hers.

He cleared his throat and explained, "I'm a staunch advocate of remaining single, but I'm getting older, and my family keeps pressuring me to get married, so I need a shield. Do you think this explanation is acceptable?"

Although Su Yan felt that the problem was definitely more complex than he described, she still nodded in agreement in a very understanding manner.

"Sure, we're like-minded."

Yi An could finally breathe a sigh of relief. He took out the contract he had prepared in advance and handed it to Su Yan.

"Since you have no problems, then sign it."

He smirked and said in a sly smile, "After you sign, you'll be your ex-husband's sister-in-law."

Su Yan wasn't in a hurry. She carefully read through the contents of the contract, and found it to be fairly fair with no unfair terms.

She pointed to the clause "Contractual marriage, no emotional involvement allowed" and nodded in satisfaction.

"I am very satisfied with the contract."

She casually signed her name.

Looking at the contract that had been signed so easily, Yi An felt a little unreal.

Even though I was the one who tricked others, why do I feel like I've been deceived?

He neatly packed up the contract. "Now that we're allies on the same side, let's be frank and open with each other."

He stared intently at Su Yan, almost demanding, "You orchestrated this kidnapping, didn't you?"

Su Yan didn't speak, and he continued on his own: "From the time I got off work, to the cell phone in the underground parking garage, to the phone call that happened to come from Xiaoyu's mother, wasn't it all something you deliberately planned?"

Su Yan didn't answer his questions, but said, "You overestimate me. That's kidnapping. How could I possibly do something like that?"

When Yi'an saw that she was trying to fool her, she immediately saw through her pretense.

"So, you already knew those people had ill intentions towards you, and you turned the tables on them?"

He's already gone this far, what else does Su Yan have to hide?

"You are smarter than I thought."

Could Yi'an interpret this sentence as a compliment to him?

But why is he not happy at all?

So he's been treated like a complete idiot all this time?

Yi An sneered repeatedly, "You're really bold! What if I don't go? What will you do then? Let yourself be slaughtered?"

Su Yan shrugged nonchalantly and said casually, "Didn't the police come too?"

Yi An was so choked by her that she couldn't breathe, and her chest ached.

In order to scheme against him, she had actually considered all the possible scenarios and had already prepared a backup plan.

He couldn't help but beat his chest and stamp his feet in frustration.

The waiter brought the steak.

Su Yan's eyes lit up as she looked at the tempting steak, and she picked up her knife and fork to prepare to taste it.

But Yi'an had no appetite for that; he was now very curious about another question.

"What if I hadn't discovered the kidnapping? What if there hadn't been this dinner, this deal? How would you have treated me?"

Su Yan smiled patiently, picked up the knife, and began to cut into the steak.

"Oh dear, why talk about something so bloody!"

Yi An looked at the beef that had been chopped into small pieces in her hand, still tinged with a glaring red blood, and inexplicably felt a tightness in a certain place.

He subconsciously tightened his grip, then casually picked up his wine glass, chuckling dryly as he agreed, "That's true, talking about this is quite a mood killer."

Su Yan glanced at him with a smile, and inexplicably found him rather cute.

She put down her knife and fork, picked up her wine glass, and clinked it against his in the air.

"I hope we can have a pleasant collaboration in the future."

Yi An watched her drink gracefully and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, finally shifting the victim's identity to He Zimo.

At the Yi family villa, Meng Jie had just stepped down the stairs when she bumped into Yi Ruihua, who was rushing back.

When Yi Ruihua saw her, he froze and stammered, "I came back to get some clothes."

Meng Jie ignored him completely and turned to walk towards the restaurant.

Yi Ruihua watched her departing figure, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly ran upstairs.

He quickly packed two pieces of clothing and prepared to leave.

As he reached the door, he hesitated and stopped, then turned back into the restaurant and whispered to Meng Jie, who was dining elegantly, "I'm leaving."