Pei Yang held Xu Jiayue tightly, his brows furrowed.

Xu Jiayue clenched her teeth until they ached and gave way, then finally let go, nestled in Pei Yang's arms, and broke down in tears, blaming herself.

This time, Pei Yang didn't comfort her. He echoed, "Yes, it's your fault. You killed Ni Sitian. Shouldn't you atone for your sins? The child was so young, without a mother. Shouldn't you give him more care? Shouldn't you fulfill your responsibilities as an aunt? How long are you going to be so depressed that you need others to take care of you? Shouldn't you think more about the child?"

Xu Jiayue cried even harder when she thought of her child, and almost cried herself to death in Pei Yang's arms.

"If you make one mistake, are you going to make another? Tingchuan is just a father after all. A child needs a mother's love. How can you take good care of Sitian like this?" Pei Yang continued to scold her. He couldn't bear to see her continue like this.

Xu Jiayue cried until her heart ached. She didn't know how long she cried, but when she ran out of tears, she slowly came to her senses and saw that Pei Yang's chest was soaked.

She cried until her head ached, but the scolding made her more clear-headed. These days, everyone else was afraid that she would feel guilty and blame herself and do something foolish, so they all tried to comfort her gently. Only Pei Yang scolded her loudly, every word of which was scathing.

She seemed to have taken some of it in, sniffling, her voice hoarse: "I understand."

"If you understand, then eat. Take good care of yourself. The child is waiting for you, his aunt, to hold him." Pei Yang helped Xu Jiayue sit down and handed her chopsticks.

Xu Jiayue's right hand fracture has healed much better than her leg fracture, but her thumb is still in a splint, which is still somewhat inconvenient. When she eats, some of the flakes get on her chest.

"Eat slowly, why are you eating like a child?" Pei Yang naturally reached out and picked the rice grains off her plate.

Xu Jiayue was stunned for a moment, then dodged backward.

Pei Yang's hand froze in mid-air. He glanced at her chest and awkwardly withdrew it. "I didn't mean to. I didn't think much of it. I still thought of you as that matchstick girl who followed Tingchuan around."

Xu Jiayue's cheeks flushed slightly. She did indeed develop later than her peers. In her first year of high school, while other girls were already showing off their good figures, she was still flat-chested. This led Pei Yang to always laugh at her, saying that Gu Chen would never like a "matchstick girl".

It was only after a period of rapid progress in my senior year of high school that I achieved the scale I have today, which is quite substantial.

"You're the one who's a stick figure!" Xu Jiayue couldn't help but retort when the past was brought up.

But she didn't realize what a matchstick meant to a man. Pei Yang's face turned green instantly, and he wanted to show the girl the size difference between a yam stick and a matchstick.

He clenched his fist, slowly calming his agitated heart, and changed the subject, asking her what her plans were for the wedding.

"Let's postpone it. I'm not in the mood right now." Xu Jiayue wanted to take care of the child for Ni Sitian first.

"Have you spoken with Han Shizhao?" Pei Yang had been reminded by Su Yan to have someone investigate Han Shizhao, but Han Shizhao's counter-surveillance capabilities were excellent, and his people couldn't find anything at all.

Moreover, Han Shizhao had spent most of the past two months either in the military or visiting his hospitalized retired subordinate at the city hospital. There was nothing particularly unusual about it, and he thought perhaps Su Yan's feelings were wrong.

"Not yet. Mom said Dad contacted Uncle Han, so it should be fine." Xu Jiayue didn't want to talk about it right now.

Pei Yang frowned. "I really don't understand whether it's you marrying him or your family marrying his family. The parties involved don't mention it and just let their families handle it."

Xu Jiayue remained silent, head down, continuing to eat.

Pei Yang knew he shouldn't say anything more, lest he cross the line.