Xu Jiayue, caught off guard by Ni Sitian's words, didn't try to hide it. She looked at Ni Sitian with her bright eyes and asked in confusion, "Is there anything wrong with this? In the past ten years, the only man I've ever liked is Gu Chen. Isn't that the standard I like?"

Ni Sitian's smile widened. It turned out that even someone as clever as Jia Yue could have moments of cluelessness.

"Don't you ever think about it? You were only fifteen or sixteen when you fell for Gu Chen. The long unrequited love that followed might have been a habit, but people grow up, and their preferences change." Ni Sitian was quite experienced in this regard, so she told her sister-in-law from her past experience, "I also dated in high school. I liked a boy who was once sunny and carefree, and I thought that was my type. When I married your brother, I was in a pretty bad mood and never thought I would like him. Because he always had a serious expression, and when he scolded me, it was like he was disciplining a daughter. He had nothing to do with being sunny, and he was also awkward and not frank."

When Xu Jiayue heard Ni Sitian say this about Xu Tingchuan, she couldn't help but laugh. It was indeed true. Not to mention Ni Sitian, she sometimes couldn't stand her brother's serious way of lecturing people, like an old scholar. He was much more cheerful than before.

“So, there’s no standard for liking someone. Different people have different standards because no two people can be exactly the same.” Ni Sitian wasn’t sure if Xu Jiayue understood her explanation, so she said, “Liking someone is a feeling, not a metric that can be measured.”

Xu Jiayue seemed thoughtful about Ni Sitian's last words.

“I think I understand now.” She thought for a moment, then looked up at Ni Sitian and said, “You like my brother so much that all your previous standards don’t apply to him, simply because he is who he is, and he is all your standards.”

Ni Sitian was surprised that she had just taught her apprentice how to tease her so much that she blushed slightly and picked up her teacup to drink water.

“I’ve figured it out. Since I don’t have this kind of lingering feeling for Han Shizhao, I’ll talk to him about it when he comes back from this mission, so as not to delay him.” Xu Jiayue felt that Ni Sitian seemed to have a sense of enlightenment after talking to her.

"But I'm afraid my mother-in-law will be disappointed again." Ni Sitian shook her head slightly, thinking of how Jin Rulan had been looking forward to her son-in-law back then.

"There's nothing I can do about it. She always wants me to be happy. If I force myself just to put her mind at ease, she'll definitely be angry if she finds out."

Ni Sitian envied Xu Jiayue for being able to speak so confidently about Jin Rulan's love for her. She didn't even know whether her mother was alive or dead. In fact, she wanted to ask why she was so cruel as to burn her to death. Wasn't she her biological daughter?

"Sitian?" Xu Jiayue waved her hand in front of Ni Sitian.

"Hmm?" Ni Sitian snapped out of her daze and raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked at her.

"You're not missing your brother again, are you? A few hours apart feels like ages." Xu Jiayue kept teasing Ni Sitian, trying to cheer her up.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ni Sitian retorted.

The two chatted for a few more minutes, and Xu Jiayue suddenly brought it up: "Before coming here, I went to Qinghua Mountain to see those two people. Actually, I don't have much of an impression of them. Looking at the photos, they just look familiar yet unfamiliar."