Ruan Qing'an put down the cake in her hand, straightened up, and stared at Li Nan with her leaden gray eyes. As if she had thought of something, her gaze fell on Li Nan's hand, which was a very subtle movement.

Does it mean "walls have ears"...?

She understood something and said, "Okay."

Li Nan stepped forward, her face full of arrogance. She raised her chin and sneered, "Ruan Qing'an, is that right? You're a woman too, you should know what propriety and shame are. What does it mean to live in a man's house all this time?"

"If you have any shame left, Ruan Qing'an, then you should move out of here as soon as possible, and don't make me force you!"

Li Nan exudes an aggressive aura and refuses to yield an inch.

Upon hearing this, Ruan Qing'an half-closed her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she looked sorrowful, as if she were about to cry. She whispered, "Miss Li, you can't say that. I will not leave Mr. Li."

"Hmph, shameless bastard!"

Li Nan snorted coldly, seemingly about to take action, and grabbed Ruan Qing'an by the collar. In an instant, chaos erupted in the kitchen, while the petite girl sobbed and whimpered.

Their intertwined bodies conveniently blocked the prying eyes, and Li Nan took the opportunity of grabbing Ruan Qing'an's collar to step forward. As he got closer, he pretended to raise his hand, as if he wanted to slap her hard across the face.

Li Nan seemed to want to make some kind of hint, but Ruan Qing'an reacted even faster, sweeping her hand off the table.

The items placed on the table fell to the ground with a crash, shattering into pieces.

The sound of glass breaking was particularly crisp and loud.

At the same time, Li Nan, taking advantage of the act of hitting someone, turned his back and quickly whispered, "Li Nan, the head of the anti-drug squad."

"I'm responsible for diverting Lin Qisheng's attention. Young Master Lin is consolidating the Lin family's assets and planting hidden agents. He'll come back and close the net once he's done. I'll find a way to stir up conflict between you and Lin Qisheng, so that he'll shift his attention away from you and ensure your safety. This is the deal between Young Master Lin and Commander Lu."

Ruan Qing'an's expression hardened, and he said in a deep voice, "Understood."

Did this ignite the conflict between her and Lin Qisheng...?

For some unknown reason, the moment Li Nan's hand came up to strike, Ruan Qing'an shoved her away, causing Li Nan to crash into the door. With that thud, she swept the things off the table again, leaving the floor a mess, as if a fight had just taken place.

Immediately afterward, Ruan Qing'an raised his voice: "Don't force me to take action, Miss Li. You can't force me to leave Mr. Li!"

"What?! You bitch, how dare you hit me!"

Li Nan reacted quickly, yelling back and grabbing Ruan Qing'an's arm. As more and more things were knocked down in the kitchen, although no one was injured, the commotion was particularly loud.

The old butler and the servants didn't dare to interfere, and Lin Qisheng, who wanted to hear more about the situation, couldn't sit still any longer. Before Ruan Qing'an and Li Nan were about to "fight," he finally hurriedly went into the kitchen, where the two seemed to be entangled in a fight.

Lin Qisheng frowned and immediately stepped forward to pull them apart: "What's going on with you two? Ruan Qing'an, what are you doing!"

"gentlemen……"

Ruan Qingan looked pitiful, with tears streaming down his face.

Li Nan stepped forward and took Lin Qisheng's arm, saying aggrievedly, "Lin, she bullied me, make her leave!"

Lin Qisheng glanced at Li Nan's face, which bore a striking resemblance to Xia An'an, and then at Ruan Qing'an's tearful expression. Instantly, the status of his "white moonlight" overshadowed his intellectual prowess.

He shielded Li Nan behind him, then turned to Ruan Qing'an: "I left you at the manor not so you could cause trouble."

“An’an will stay at the manor with me from now on. If you can’t get along with her, Ruan Qing’an, even a day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness. I don’t want things to get too ugly!”

Beside her, Li Nan raised her head arrogantly and fanned the flames, saying, "Ah Lin, some women just don't know their place."

"And it hurt so much when she pushed me..."

Li Nan complained angrily, grabbing Lin Qisheng's hand as if she wanted him to get justice for her. Although he didn't hurt Li Nan, Lin Qisheng was heartbroken.

His gaze towards Ruan Qing'an grew even colder, and he raised his hand high: "Who gave you the audacity to hurt her?!"

Just before Lin Qisheng struck, Ruan Qingan took a half-step back, looking heartbroken as if he were looking at a heartless man: "Sir, you actually—"

Before she could finish speaking, tears streamed down Ruan Qing'an's face. She turned and walked away uncontrollably, perfectly portraying the emotions of being hurt by a scumbag. Her departure seemed to have thoroughly enraged Lin Qisheng.

The man's face darkened completely, and he said sternly, "Go back to your room and don't come out without my permission!"

But Ruan Qingan's figure had already disappeared down the corridor.

Lin Qisheng's face turned ashen. He slammed his hand on the table, burning with rage: "She's completely lost sight of her place!"

"Ah Lin, just ignore her."

Li Nan muttered something, and seeing that Lin Qisheng was about to chase after him, she quickly pulled him back and said irritably, "What, have you been bewitched by that vixen? Aren't you going to stay with me?"

"Okay, okay, it's my fault."

Looking at that face that resembled Xia An'an's, even though Lin Qisheng disliked her personality somewhat, he still agreed to Li Nan's request.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the bedroom.

Back in her room, Ruan Qing'an was no longer sad. She wiped away her tears and sat down leisurely. It was just an act that she and Li Nan had both put on. The only one who was truly immersed in the role was Lin Qisheng, who had lost his mind in front of his white moonlight.

037 was quite taken aback by this reversal of the two extremes.

So, Li Nan is actually in cahoots with you, ancestor?

"No, to be precise, it was Lu Hong and Lin Chen who cooperated; they were in cahoots. Li Nan was Lu Hong's subordinate, and her purpose in coming here was for Lin Qisheng. Lin Chen's reason for agreeing to cooperate was probably that Li Nan had to protect me."

Ruan Qing'an pondered for a moment and said that although she hadn't heard Lin Chen and Lu Hong's conversation, she could roughly guess what it was about.

037 suddenly realized: [So that's how it is! No wonder the male lead didn't return to the manor and didn't tell you anything, ancestor.]

"Li Nan exists to protect me."

Ruan Qing'an paused, a thoughtful look in his eyes: "It's Lin Chen's excessive protectiveness at play. He just wants to eliminate all the dangers for me. He hopes I know nothing about it."

[Then, my ancestor...]

"Then I shall know nothing."

As she spoke, Ruan Qing'an chuckled softly, half-closing her eyes and leaning lazily back in her chair, gazing at the gradually spreading night outside the window: "Lin Chen is not a good person. If he loses the bottom line that restrains him, he will only be more insane than Lin Qisheng."

Just as he would have preferred Lu Hong to die on the ship back then.

She lowered her eyes and said, "So, I can't let anything happen to me."

...

Late at night, Li Nan finally managed to coax Lin Qisheng away. It was almost midnight when she prepared to go back to her room, rubbing her temples as if she had a headache.

But just as she was about to open the door—

"What's this?"

Li Nan was taken aback. She noticed a faint white mark in the crack of the door, like a corner of a piece of paper that hadn't been noticed by the maid. It was probably placed there before she returned.

Her heart sank, and she slipped into the room, carefully taking the white letter that was stuck in the crack of the door.

Upon opening it, one finds delicate handwriting with a hint of sharpness, resembling a woman's. When Li Nan sees the contents, his pupils constrict abruptly; it contains more detailed information and clues about Xia An'an.

And the person who can provide this information is someone in this manor—

Li Nan immediately understood and couldn't help but chuckle: "Young Master Lin probably doesn't know, but the person he's protecting is a smart one."

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