Qingbei City Training Base, alley entrance.

Red lanterns hung all over the streets, and white snow was swept away and piled up at the base of the walls.

Jiao Yuyin, dressed in a black overcoat, leaned against the hood of a Panamera Turbo S. The all-black car body couldn't suppress his aura; instead, it made him appear like a tamed beast, bowing low.

The black and white light intertwined, the scarlet firelight flickered, and smoke billowed from his mouth.

"The takeover of the food industry is complete. Things should be easier now," Assistant Qin reported in a low voice, glancing at the cigarette between Jiao Yuyin's lips.

For the past few months, the boss has been working non-stop. Fortunately, he also has the daily task of sleeping with Lu Yu. With Lu Yu around, he has to rest on time, which ensures he gets 6 to 7 hours of sleep.

However, his loss of appetite and increasingly intense smoking habit made Assistant Qin worry.

Jiao Yuyin looked at the training base gate and asked, "My dad asked me to temporarily take over the Tengyue project. Has Jiao Yushen responded yet?"

"Not yet. He just took over a company in the chemical materials industry, so he may be too busy to manage everything."

Jiao Yuyin shook his head. "Are they just going to stand by and watch me gain momentum? He won't. Keep a close eye on the cooperation between Tengyue and Qingbei teams, make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Boss, you... suspect that Jiao Yushen will start his attack from Lu Yu's side?"

"I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this. Jiao Yushen is too calm right now, which isn't a good sign. Is there anything else?"

Jiao Yuyin walked to a nearby trash can and stubbed out his cigarette.

Assistant Qin followed behind him and replied, "There has always been a question when we took over the mining industry."

Jiao Yuyin looked up at Assistant Qin, his expression serious.

Assistant Qin continued, "The companies for which Tao Peng serves as the legal representative are all mining companies. Shifu Mining also has overlapping shareholdings with other mining companies, which is fine, since it's all public knowledge. However, Tao Peng also owned a pharmaceutical factory, which was shut down and deregistered a year ago."

"A pharmaceutical factory? All pharmaceutical factories funded by the Jiao family are under Jiao Yuchen's control. How could Tao Peng have a pharmaceutical factory?" Jiao Yuyin seemed to have found the edge of the truth.

"That was a pharmaceutical factory owned solely by Tao Peng, which was later deregistered. So when we investigated Tao Peng before, we couldn't find anything about it. It wasn't until recently, when we thoroughly investigated Shifu Mining, that we discovered that Shifu Mining and the pharmaceutical factory had financial dealings, and that's when we found the clues."

Before we knew it, it seemed as if there were specks of snow in the air.

Jiao Yuyin reached out to catch it, but the swirling snowflakes vanished the moment they touched his palm.

"Tao Peng, avoiding the Jiao family, managed to ruin a wholly-owned pharmaceutical factory right under my second sister's nose, and not a single member of the Jiao family knew? Ha..."

Jiao Yuyin stood in the snow, deep in thought.

This time, he must seize the fleeting clue...

The approaching laughter and chatter interrupted Jiao Yuyin's thoughts.

Lu Yu finally emerged from the training base on time, arm in arm with someone hanging on his arm.

Jiao Yuyin remembered this person; she and Lu Yuxiang hugged at the end of the competition. If she hadn't been a girl, Jiao Yuyin would have really suspected that the two of them were a couple.

Wait a minute! Why is a girl's eyes lighting up when she looks at a roadside taro...?

"Hey! Third Young Master, are you having a fit of hysteria?" Lu Yu waved his hand in front of Jiao Yuyin's eyes.

"You're not bringing the cat, but bringing people back instead? I knew this day would come." Jiao Yuyin's tone was inexplicably tinged with jealousy, and no one could understand why he was being so unfriendly.

"Um... Assistant Qin, did you offend him?" Lu Yu looked at Assistant Qin and only received an innocent look in return.

Lu Yu was in a great mood and had a good temper today. He explained, "I need to lend my tactics notebook to my teammate. She'll come back with me to get it. Be generous, Third Young Master, okay?" Thinking of the special significance of Pear Blossom Villa, Lu Yu scratched his head and added, "Or perhaps..."

"Get in the car." Jiao Yuyin rolled his eyes at Lu Yu, his voice flat, interrupting Lu Yu's search for other solutions.

Assistant Qin drove, and Jiao Yuyin sat in the passenger seat.

The back row was reserved for two ladies who were having a heated discussion about tactics...

One of the few opportunities to hold hands during the day was thus wasted. Jiao Yuyin remained silent, his face dark.

Halfway through the journey, Lu Yu realized that she hadn't introduced the two parties yet.

"Um, this is my teammate, our small forward Sun Meng. And Jiao Yuyin, my... my husband, you know."

The word "sir" pleased Jiao Yuyin greatly. He turned his head from the passenger seat and nodded slightly. "Hello. We met at the wedding."

The taro has a flat mouth.

"Third Young Master, the clouds have cleared up again," Lu Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

"Teammates? Today you're opponents, right? You two were pretty fierce when you were fighting for the ball." Jiao Yuyin's words stunned Lu Yu and Sun Meng.

"It's a training match, you know?" Lu Yu quickly changed the subject, afraid the situation would become increasingly awkward. "And the person in the driver's seat is my husband's assistant, named Qin..."

Lu Yu stopped speaking. She had always followed Jiao Yuyin's way of addressing him, only calling him Assistant Qin. What kind of name was that? She had never asked.

This Assistant Qin, why doesn't he respond? He could have just introduced himself and that would have been enough.

"Qin Meng. The dream of dreams." Jiao Yuyin came to the rescue in time.

Okay, now Lu Yu knows why Assistant Qin never uses her real name.

"Ah? We're from the same clan!" Sun Meng exclaimed excitedly.

"Hahahaha. That's not how it's used in the family." Assistant Qin's voice was a mixture of joy and sorrow.

Lu Yu also explained with a smile: "Only people with the same surname can be said to be from the same family; those with the same given name do not count."

"Besides, it seems like having the same name... I'm not happy about that." Assistant Qin blurted out, immediately realizing his mistake. Before he could even try to smooth things over, Sun Meng cut him off with a single sentence.

"If you don't like Qin Meng, you can change your name to Sun Meng. I quite like my name."

"Pfft! Hehe."

Hahahahahahahahaha!

The suppressed laughter from the passenger seat and the unrestrained laughter from the back seat came at the same time, mingling together.

Sun Meng is simple-minded and rarely speaks. She's only ever had basketball as her companion, even more detached from worldly affairs than Lu Yu. She only wanted to extend kindness, but her words, though surprising, seem to have had a less than ideal effect.

"It's not that I'm unhappy because I have 'Dream' as my name like you, it's just that the name sounds too girly. And you even changed my surname!" Assistant Qin couldn't help but laugh as she spoke.

Sun Meng was the only one in the car. She awkwardly pursed her lips, forcing a smile at the corners of her mouth.

The vehicle slowly drove into Pear Blossom Villa.

A courtyard full of pear trees, covered in white snow.

Lu Yu and Sun Meng were in the living room, going through the tactics notebook that Lu Yu had prepared earlier, page by page, discussing it non-stop.

"When the opposing point guard gets hot and scores repeatedly, the pressure on our defense will be too great. If we use two-on-one defense, it will be easy for the opponent to exploit open spaces in the paint." Lu Yu circled the tactical diagram with a pencil.

“Yes. But if the three-point line is breached, even the tightest interior defense won’t help,” Sun Meng replied.

"So we need you to guard us one-on-one. Small forwards have a height advantage over shooting guards, so the defensive pressure is less. In particular, the pressure from the height difference makes the opposing player worry about being blocked, which also affects their shooting percentage."

“Me?” Sun Meng pointed to herself.

Lu Yu drew lines on the tactics book at lightning speed. "Yes, it's you. Your defense has always been very good, and your steal ability is also good. This is the running route you took several times today when you tried to play as a swingman. You see, you don't actually need to pass the ball to Wang Jie after you steal the ball. You can quickly dribble the ball across half-court and organize a fast break beyond the three-point line with Lu Xuping."

Lu Yu was very patient and demonstrated the different running routes one by one.

The discussion lasted for more than half an hour before it finally ended.

Lu Yu handed the entire tactics book to Sun Meng, saying, "Take your time to look at it at the training base these next couple of days. You can contact me if you have any questions."

Assistant Qin escorted Sun Meng back to the Qingbei training base.

Lu Yu scrambled her legs a couple of times on the living room sofa, feeling a little embarrassed that she hadn't greeted Jiao Yuyin before bringing her teammates to Lixiang Villa.

She got up, heated a glass of milk, and knocked on the study door.

"Please come in."

When the door opened, Jiao Yuyin was sitting at his desk, facing the computer, his brows furrowed, looking as if his work was not going well.

Lu Yu, holding a glass of milk, sat down opposite Jiao Yuyin. With a gentle push of her fingers, the milk glass moved closer to Jiao Yuyin's hand.

"I'm sorry about today. Because of time constraints, it would take me a long time to go back to find Sun Meng with the tactics manual. My mind went blank for a moment..."

The soft, sweet voice rang out, making one's heart itch with desire.

Jiao Yuyin rarely saw Lu Yu like this, so he deliberately kept a straight face, thinking he would listen to her for a while longer.

Lu Yu continued, "Next time, I won't bring anyone back without your permission. I promise, I'll definitely ask you for permission in advance."

As Lu Yu spoke, she sensed that the person opposite her seemed to be getting darker and darker.

Jiao Yuyin gulped down half a glass of milk to suppress the anger surging within him.

He didn't need Lu Yu and him to be so clearly separated.

Her gentle, warm words, which had just been like a spring breeze, now turned into a silent knife, reminding him that their marriage was now a contract.

Sometimes he couldn't help but feel the urge to confess his feelings, but all his attempts to get her to give up were in vain. Where did he get the confidence to confront Lu Yu directly?

Jiao Yuyin probably didn't drink the milk properly, and coughed twice before saying in a low voice, "Lu Yu, I don't need you to be so careful. You can invite your friends over, but the premise is that they have to be friends."

"Aren't teammates friends?"

“Yes, but does Sun Meng consider you a friend?” Jiao Yuyin asked with a tight smile.

"Of course! She didn't intentionally embarrass Assistant Qin today. She grew up in an orphanage and isn't very good at interpersonal relationships. Some of her common sense and perceptions differ from the general public's. For example, she can only spend the New Year at the training base, which is very pitiful." Lu Yu spoke eloquently in defense of Sun Meng.

"You make friends by being pitiful?"

“We understand each other very well. She is very kind, and I can hear what she is thinking.”

"There are so many kind people, are you bringing them all home?"

What's going on? Lu Yu was furious after being confronted. She tried to coax him gently, but Jiao Yuyin's words were full of barbs. He was forcing her to use her verbal skills.

"First of all, my friend doesn't need your judgment. Secondly, it was wrong of me to bring him here. If possible, I'll go back to Grapevine Courtyard and not cause you any trouble here."

Jiao Yuyin came to his senses.

He's ridiculous, getting jealous over a girl? He must be crazy...

"It was my fault. You can invite whomever you want; you don't need to ask me." Jiao Yuyin finished his milk and asked, "Why did Sun Meng look at you like that?"

What is it...?

Looking at the starlight on the horizon, Lu Yu felt that even the stars were easier to understand than Jiao Yuyin...