I thought I was protecting her, but I never imagined we would be separated forever.

The next morning, after Song Yunxi got up, she whispered something abrupt to Mu Chen, who was making breakfast in the kitchen: "That person is my father."

"Okay. Let's eat."

After Mu Chen finished speaking, he placed the warmed milk on the table, then took Song Yunxi's hand and led her to the table.

He wasn't surprised that the man she was struggling with at the hotel entrance was her father, because he had gone back to the hotel to see him after she fell asleep the previous night.

At that moment, Mu Chen politely greeted the man who had been sitting in the lobby of the Platinum Hotel for four hours, saying, "Hello, Mr. Rui Huaisen."

Rui Huaisen seemed surprised that Mu Chen knew him.

"I'm sorry, I had someone investigate you." Mu Chen introduced himself as he sat on the sofa opposite Rui Huaisen: "My name is Mu Chen, and I'm your daughter's boyfriend."

Mu Chen first had someone investigate Rui Yan and her family on the day he went abroad on a business trip. His driver was taking him to the airport, and he saw Rui Yan in the taxi that passed him.

But they were traveling in different directions, and he couldn't get the driver to stop and intercept her. He had no choice but to ask Pan Zhe to hire an investigation company to help locate Rui Yan and her family. Wherever she returns from, she'll surely be reunited with her family, right?

On the day of the Yanzhen Group's new perfume launch, he arranged to meet with people from an investigation company at the hotel. Although they couldn't find any information about Rui Yan, they did manage to locate Rui Yan's father, Rui Huaisen.

Six years ago, Rui Huaisen was a well-known tea distributor in the industry, with over a hundred chain tea shops. But just before planning to go public, his partner absconded with the money.

In an effort to expand their business, the two had mortgaged their personal and company assets. After the partner absconded with the funds, the company was barely able to survive. Even after selling his personal assets, Rui Huaisen was still unable to cover the losses, and the chain of tea shops was reduced to just a few stores.

Over the years, Rui Huaisen has worked hard to bring the company back to life.

Originally, Mu Chen had given up on forcing any connection between Rui Yan and Song Yunxi. But at the tea industry exchange meeting in Hangzhou that day, Song Yunxi saw Rui Huaisen and then said she was feeling unwell and left in a hurry. Today, she got into a fight with Rui Huaisen at the hotel entrance and cried so bitterly.

Mu Chen then realized that the girl in front of him was the same person as the girl in his memory.

But if she doesn't say it, he won't ask. If one day she wants to tell him, she will take the initiative to do so.

Mu Chen said, "I might like to hear Mr. Rui's story."

Rui Huaisen hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Six years ago, my business failed, and almost all of my family's assets were seized by the bank and creditors. So, I filed for divorce from my wife."

"You did this to protect them?"

Because the property allocated to the woman in the divorce settlement does not need to be used to repay his debts.

"Yes. I don't know if the company can survive. The only property we own is registered in my wife's name, and I don't want them to be homeless because of me."

I didn't tell them about the business failure; I only said that after the divorce, besides that one property, my wife wouldn't be allocated any other assets. To my surprise, she agreed immediately.

We went through with the divorce the next day, and afterwards I moved into the company office, living and eating there. Two years later, business gradually improved, and when I went home to find them, I learned that they had already sold the property and disappeared.

"Have you not tried to contact them all these years?"

"We've searched. We've searched Ruiyan's school and my wife's hometown in Korea. But the school is closed, and my wife's family has all moved. It's like they've vanished into thin air; we can't find them anymore."

I recognized Ruiyan that day in Hangzhou, but I thought I'd miss her again in the vast crowd. Unexpectedly, I saw a video of her wearing Hanfu online. The video kept promoting the "Miss Chi Afternoon Tea" brand, and I found the Platinum Hotel by following that brand.

The story was largely the same as the one Mu Chen knew. However, it carried an added layer of sorrow when told by those involved.

"Mr. Rui, I regret to inform you that your wife has passed away, and your daughter may not want to see you. I hope you can respect that."

Rui Huaisen's voice trembled. "Passed away?"

"Yes. Lymphoma. He passed away six months ago."

After a two-second pause, Rui Huaisen suddenly covered his face with his hands and burst into tears.

How cruel is fate, how unfortunate is life? I thought I was protecting her, but I never imagined that we would be separated forever.

*

When Mu Chen returned home, Song Yunxi was still fast asleep. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her breathing was soft. She was still the same little girl from back then who, despite not being a heavy drinker, never forgot to compliment his good looks.

One evening at Lan University, Mu Chen was playing basketball with his classmates when he saw Rui Yan and Dai Shuo supporting each other and staggering to the edge of the basketball court.

He heard Rui Yan turn to Dai Shuo and say, "There are so many handsome men in the world, why only like one person?"

Mu Chen glanced at them, then took the pass from his classmate, dribbled past his opponent, and shot—all in one smooth motion.

He threw the ball into the basket, and Rui Yan, who was standing on the sidelines, jumped up. She waved and shouted at the court, "You're so handsome, little brother who shot the ball!" Then she grabbed Dai Shuo's arm and announced, "I've decided that I'll like him from now on."

As the saying goes, alcohol emboldens the timid, and that's probably true. Although Rui Yan is usually a bit mischievous, she wouldn't dare to flirt with handsome guys so openly when she's sober.

Mu Chen turned to look at her and smiled as well.

However, he didn't know at the time that she couldn't see him clearly.

A week later, the art troupe performed a play in the small auditorium. There were quite a few students there that day, and Ruiyan sat not far from the door.

Just then, Mu Chen came over and sat down in the seat next to her, asking, "What do you think?"

Rui Yan said, "It's great. I'd really like to act in it too."

"Then why didn't you audition for our arts troupe? Didn't you go to the audition the other day?"

“I went with Dai Shuo. I don’t have any special talents, and I didn’t have anything to perform during the audition, so I definitely won’t pass.” She thought for a moment and said, “I’m just the most ordinary girl in the world.”

Actually, when she was auditioning for the art troupe, she was thinking: why didn't I learn one or two talents when I was little? I could have learned to sing or dance. That way, I could have gone on stage and performed for Mu Chen.

"Everyone is unique. You don't have to be able to sing, dance, or play an instrument to be outstanding. You also have strengths that others don't have. For example, your poetry is very good."

"How did you know I could write poetry?"

"Wasn't the poem 'Dedicated to Lanzhou University' on the school's official WeChat account a while ago written by you? Under the bright sun of late summer and early autumn, I gently walked into your embrace, carrying my heavy baggage, with my naivety and pride..."

Rui Yan nodded shyly, "Yes, I wrote it."

Not long after the start of the semester, she submitted a poem to the school's official WeChat account, which was later published. She thought she had written it quite well, so she often narcissistically told Dai Shuo and the others that she was a "talented woman."

"Senior, do you know everything?"

Mu Chen laughed, "I don't know everything, I just know a few musical instruments."

"Wow, that's amazing! I can't play any of them, and I sing off-key. I've heard that learning musical instruments is very hard, so it must be exhausting for you to learn several."

"Fortunately, I only went to school when I was little to keep my younger sister company. She didn't find it hard, so I didn't find it hard either."

"Your sister must be a very talented woman, and she must be exceptionally beautiful, right?"

Mu Chen is so handsome, his sister must be just as good-looking.

“She’s very pretty.” Mu Chen nodded. “She sometimes comes to our school, I’ll introduce you then. You two seem quite alike, you should be able to become friends.”

Rui Yan asked with a smile, "Do I look like her?"

"Yes, she loves to laugh, is very lively and cute, and innocent and kind." Actually, Mu Chen wanted to say: My sister is just like you, she can be very crazy when she's being silly, but she's also very well-behaved when she's quiet. "By the way, my sister also has a very low alcohol tolerance."

"Huh?" Rui Yan didn't quite understand what he meant and turned to look at him with a puzzled expression.

Mu Chen smiled at her, "You really don't remember? Last time you were drunk, you shouted 'I'm so handsome' next to the basketball court, and I ended up carrying you back to the dorm."

She also said that she would like him from then on.

Rui Yan stared at him in surprise, speechless, only able to stare at him. She wondered if he was joking or teasing her. But he didn't seem to be making things up. She really didn't remember anything about it; she only knew that she woke up with a terrible headache the day after drinking.

Rui Yan quickly explained, "Actually, Dai Shuo broke up with her boyfriend, so I went drinking with her."

Although she felt bad for Dai Shuo, she had no choice but to betray her friend at this point. Besides, she wasn't exactly lying, was she? Because Dai Shuo did indeed like Gu Peng, the class monitor of the freshman class that Mu Chen was teaching, and later they saw Gu Peng walking hand in hand with his girlfriend on the street.

Dai Shuo was heartbroken. She hugged Rui Yan and sighed, "What kind of fate do we have? Why do the people we like all have girlfriends?"

I found out Mu Chen had a girlfriend a while ago, and now I've found out Gu Peng has a girlfriend too.

Li Qin, his roommate, suggested in a cocky manner, "We're all heartbroken, how about we grab a drink?"

The suggestion was met with a positive response, so the three girls went to a barbecue restaurant near the school, drank a lot of alcohol, talked a lot, and cried for a long time.

At first, Rui Yan didn't cry, but Li Qin, who should have been the least upset, started crying as she drank. When Rui Yan saw her crying, she cried too.

She couldn't remember what happened after that, or how she got back to her dorm.

Rui Yan was still thinking about how to ease the awkward atmosphere when Jiang Hailang arrived and sat down next to Mu Chen to talk.

Rui Yan quickly stood up. "Senior, I'm leaving now." Then she fled the small auditorium as if she were escaping.

She went back and asked Dai Shuo why he hadn't told her about Mu Chen carrying her back to the dorm. Dai Shuo looked innocent and said, "I thought you knew."

For the next two weeks, Rui Yan didn't dare to see Mu Chen again, and would avoid him whenever she saw him from afar on the street.

*

The sound of Song Yunxi gently turning over brought Mu Chen back to reality from his memories.

Half-asleep, she called his name: "Mu Chen..."

"Um?"

"Don't leave," Song Yunxi said, resting her head on the hand that was stroking her cheek.

Mu Chen lay down on the bed fully clothed and pulled her into his arms. "Okay."