There was a brief silence. When Lu Wan was a little curious about whether He Jinxing had a different opinion because of his sudden expression, she heard the man mutter, "Ms. Lu, I was actually just a little drunk last night."

Lu Wan looked at him blankly, seemingly not understanding why he suddenly brought up this matter.

He Jinxing looked at Lu Wan and immediately realized that the other party probably didn't know what he was talking about...

That's right, no matter how smart they are, they are just young adults in school. Most of them are in business, and the way of speaking that adults use to understand things quickly but is tactful enough is not suitable for them.

So the mature man showed a fake smile and said something so blunt that he thought it was a bit hard to hear: "In other words, there was nothing wrong with me leaving at that time...but after I left, no one can guarantee what will happen in this room."

If there was any tacit understanding, it was probably that for a moment, everyone in this room lacked the corresponding trust in Gou An's bottom line -

Lu Wan realized belatedly that he was lucky to have survived the disaster.

After seeing Lu Wan's face clearly last night and realizing that she had taken Chinese medicine, He Jinxing immediately thought of the whole story and chose to stay, lest someone really come in and push the situation to a completely uncontrollable level of severity.

This kind of behavior, similar to cleaning up the mess for the younger generation, was a relatively new experience for the new leader of the He family. He did it subconsciously and had no intention of asking anyone for compensation for it.

But now it has.

Looking at the beautiful but somewhat dull face in front of him, He Jinxing raised the corners of his lips and said, "The sofa is still a little hard."

“…”

"So, Miss Lu, please consider my hard work in staying here and sitting here all night..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted. The girl in front of him, who was still wearing last night's evening gown and whose skirt was a little wrinkled from sleeping, immediately blushed and bowed to him quickly: "I know! So, so I really thank Mr. He!"

"..." He Jinxing's expression was calm and his tone was indifferent, "Can you let me finish what I'm saying first?"

Lu Wan's face turned even redder.

"I just want to rashly ask Miss Lu for forgiveness based on what happened last night." The man's hand naturally rested on the armrest of the chair, and his slender fingertips flicked lightly, sounding sincere. "Although Gou An has broken off the engagement with He Ran, the engagement between the Gou family and the He family is still there, so let's count it one day at a time, and she will be considered a junior of my He family."

Lu Wan lost her voice all of a sudden, staring at the man with a smile on his lips sitting on the sofa not far away in disbelief.

"I can't let her go to court."

As if he couldn't believe what he heard, Lu Wan's lips moved, "Mr. He, are you going to... protect her?"

"Hmm? Don't say such harsh words!"

The man smiled and raised his hand to rub the tip of his nose. He looked a little embarrassed. "I just think it would be a bit troublesome if the younger generation of the He family was punished for this kind of thing and published in the newspaper. So if nothing happened, we shouldn't make a fuss about it, right?"

"Making a mountain out of a molehill."

Lu Wan's mind was buzzing. He couldn't understand what these powerful and wealthy people were thinking. They were defying the law or trampling on morality...

The hands hanging by her side tightened silently, and she suddenly felt that the man in front of her was far from the gentle and elegant image in her memory.

For a moment, her heart clenched tightly and almost forgot to beat. The blood on her flushed face quickly faded and turned pale. She looked shaky...

Others who see me feel pity for me.

However, He Jinxing's calm black eyes did not waver at all, he just stared at her darkly -

Invisible pressure loomed from all directions, making Lu Wan almost suffocate.

However, under such a high sense of oppression, she still stood up straight by holding the back of the sofa beside her, sorted out her messy mood, and said in a hoarse voice: "No."

He Jinxing raised his eyelids and his eyelashes trembled slightly.

"No," she repeated firmly, "If you do something wrong, you have to pay the price."

Lu Wan paused, "I am very grateful for Mr. He's protection last night, but let's be honest. You are you and Gou An is Gou An. You can't make up for what she did wrong."

He Jinxing heard this, his eyes swept across the girl's proudly raised chin, and sneered without warning: "How persistent."

"This is not persistence." Lu Wan's face was serious, "This is a matter of principle. Gou An should pay the price for doing such a thing—"

"I heard that Miss Lu is in great need of money. Is there an elder in your family who needs a major surgery? Have you raised the balance?"

He Jinxing seemed to know everything, but Lu Wan was completely shocked by this incident. Looking at the perfunctory courtesy of the man in front of him, he finally saw a hint of displeasure in those dark eyes.

Although he was smiling.

In fact, the smile did not reach his eyes.

His throat tightened. Lu Wan didn't know why the person in front of him suddenly seemed to have completely overturned his past image. "Are you threatening me?"

"Oh, that's true. I'm a law-abiding citizen." He Jinxing said, "I just like to help others...human lives are at stake, Miss Lu. Sometimes being so stubborn is not a good thing."

Lu Wan smoothed down his hair, frowned, and shook his head.

The smile on He Jinxing's face did not change, and at this moment it was even close to pity -

Poor silly girl, she thought that even if she didn't agree, she could still get off the boat smoothly as planned, walk towards justice.

Of course you can't do anything illegal...

But there are countless ways to make people upset.

"Reconsider it?" He Jinxing persuaded. "In order to thank Miss Lu for her kindness, He's is willing to bear the balance of your family's surgery and all subsequent rehabilitation expenses. That's a lot of money... Surgery and postoperative recovery are equally important. Does Miss Lu want to pay a huge surgery fee and give up postoperative recovery halfway? Don't you want your family to live in the best rehabilitation ward?"

He threw out a great temptation.

Sure enough, Lu Wan's originally determined face began to waver.

At the same time, He Jinxing's patience seemed to have reached its limit. He changed his sitting position and sat up a little. "This is the sincerity of the He family. After all, it seems that Miss Lu and our He family are really destined to be together."

He paused, "In addition to this, I, He Jinxing, can also make another promise to Miss Lu to express my gratitude for Miss Lu's understanding today... There is no time limit. If you have made up your mind, you can come to me at any time to fulfill it."

“…”

The hospital calls every day.

Grandma's pension is only enough to pay for the caregiver's wages.

On top of that, every minute and every second spent in the hospital costs money.

In order to raise the down payment for the surgery, Lu Wan, due to her stubbornness, declined the thank you money offered by the He family for saving He Ran.

Later, for money, she went to work in Ye Weiyang and almost put herself in danger. If it weren't for He Ran, she wouldn't know what would have happened that night.

At that time she told herself that she shouldn't be so stubborn.

Sometimes you have to give in to life.

——He Jinxing’s promise, in a place like Jiangcheng, seems like an opportunity sent from heaven, and it is a great temptation for everyone.

Money, job opportunities, prospects, education, and rapid advancement.

Lu Wan took a deep breath and clenched his fists at his sides.

The person in front of her had a relaxed attitude, and was looking at her with smiling eyes, as if he was almost certain that she would agree. A strong sense of shame came over her, and she swallowed her saliva, and it was a long time before she heard her own dry voice.

"Okay, I agree."

There was a gloom in Lu Wan's eyes. She straightened her back, tidied her messy hair, and walked towards the only door of the lounge.

When passing by He Jinxing, she couldn't help but catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, and was not surprised to find that the latter had not moved from beginning to end, looking arrogant.

With his hand on the door of the lounge, Lu Wan suddenly called out, "Mr. He."

The other person's gaze finally fell on him.

"Gou An has always been a person who takes advantage of others and acts recklessly." She said expressionlessly, "You will regret your indulgence today."

The person behind him remained silent and did not comment.

I don’t know if I agree with what she said.

Gou An: “…”

[Jiao Jiao: Is it embarrassing? I found that the male and female protagonists actually know you quite well. 】

[Jiao Jiao: The atmosphere of the vicious female supporting role group pet article is pretty good, what a blessing! ]

Gou An: "What nonsense! Do you want this blessing?"

Now Gou An thought of something else. Once at the coming-of-age ceremony dance, she asked He Jinxing what he would do if she made a mistake.

He said that there would be punishment, and then the elders would punish themselves for not supervising properly.

What did she say at that time?

"Then you keep talking about 'protection'. I thought you would protect me."

In the face of her unreasonableness, He Jinxing's answer was very calm.

"Covering up? Maybe the first time, but I doubt it will just make you dare the next time."

So, what he said was true.

Even as the male protagonist in the original novel, he did it.

Give her protection without hesitation when she made her first mistake.

The next day was the weekend, and He Jinxing specifically told Secretary Liu that he was going to fulfill his promise and take his fresh and hot fiancée to the manor for horseback riding.

A man cannot go back on his word.

When He Jinxing was arranging his itinerary, Secretary Liu had an expression of "lust blinding one's mind" on his face the whole time.

"You make me feel like when I go on my honeymoon, you're going to jump off the ocean in front of the hotel where I stay."

"What, you have plans for a honeymoon?"

"Secretary Liu, let me tell you a shocking secret." He Jinxing said helplessly, "I am also a human being, absolutely true."

He Jinxing is so busy every day that he has no time to rest.

This big shot who sits in the top-floor office always jokes that his daily tasks, apart from tirelessly stamping documents, are to judge endless cases - watching departments fighting to the death, and then judging the winner or loser for them.

The weekend is finally here and I can't help but complain about these things like an old man.

"Sometimes I really want to just throw everything away and walk away. Anyway, as long as I don't gamble or do anything outrageous, I may not be able to spend all the money I earn in three lifetimes."

Leading the horse, the man joked half-seriously.

"It seems like you really want to see Secretary Liu perform a jump off a building for you."

Gou An reached out and touched the tip of the big black horse's ears under her butt. Seeing the furry ears shaking unconsciously and quickly due to the itch of her touch, she touched it again with joy.

She now knew that the horse was called Carrot. It was so outrageous that the moment she found out, she laughed so hard that she bent over in joy at the helpless atmosphere exuded by He Jinxing.

"It's just talk. The He Group is expanding rapidly this year, just like a building is in the critical foundation period. If I leave, no one will be able to take over." He Jinxing said lazily, "None of those brats are of much use."

“Is this something I can listen to?”

"There's nothing you can't listen to."

He Jinxing led the horse to the open space for horse racing, looked at the open area, thought for a while, and suddenly asked Gou An, "You will soon get bored of sitting on the horse and strolling around. Do you want to run?"

Gou An subconsciously asked back: "Okay?"

"I'll be fine if I'm here."

He Jinxing rubbed Carrot's face with the reins in his hand, but the big black horse shook his head away impatiently, with a look of refusal to cooperate.

Hearing Gou An's silence, He Jinxing used the same pronunciation as the snake in the Garden of Eden to continue to coax her: "Run, your bodyguard is staring at you all the time, it's so annoying."

This gave Gou An some resonance, and they both turned their heads to look at the bodyguard who was following closely to the fence at the edge of the racecourse.

Ye Lang: “?”

Gou An turned his head back and did not object. He Jin acted quickly and immediately jumped onto the horse. The mature masculine scent approached him from behind, and Gou An immediately leaned forward with a little discomfort.

"You'll fall if you do this." A deep male voice came from behind, "You can lean on me, it's okay, don't worry about me doing something shameful."

Gou An looked back at him and found a faint smile on the corner of the man's lips. "Although it's definitely not that I have no interest, it's just that once I think about the long time to come, I can become very patient."

He openly revealed his ill intentions, but his hands were very well behaved, just lightly resting on her waist.

With a gentle push on the horse's belly, the black horse immediately accelerated steadily.

The wind blew in her face, and the girl's long hair fluttered. A strand of hair accidentally brushed past He Jinxing's lips. He lowered his head to look at her profile, which was so close. Her snow-white skin was so delicate that there was not a single flaw to be seen...

When the man was slightly distracted, she leaned back into his arms.

Totally trusted.

It seems that she listened to the outrageous nonsense he said and really believed his nonsense.

——It’s a troublesome thing that people are too easy to deceive.

He Jinxing didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The black horse ran faster and faster, its hooves skimming over the grass still covered with morning dew. The big hand that was holding the little girl's slender waist used some strength, and out of his own selfish desire, he pulled the person who was already leaning in his arms closer to him.

His warm breath was just on her earlobe, and she could see her ears turning red.

Carrot carried the two people and stopped by the lake.

As soon as the horse stopped, He Jinxing was knocked off the horse. After a while, the person on the horse also stretched out his hand to ask to dismount.

When Gou An was being pinched by the waist and came down, he heard He Jinxing asking in his ear: "So why did you suddenly want to find He Ran yesterday?"

"To discuss the school anniversary, the student union asked our department to prepare a dessert table... We only know how to make fish feed, how can we possibly prepare a dessert table? I suspect He Ran is deliberately making things difficult for us."

Gou An curled his lips, "That lunatic."

Mr. He, who is always busy with his work, now has to come up with ideas for the university's anniversary celebration and the dessert table.

“Just buy it ready-made.”

"They want me to make butterfly cakes, but there are so many people in a school! One butterfly cake costs 168! Although the cost is certainly not worth that much, the labor cost and other things are also costs. Are they taking advantage of me?"

"Then I'll take charge."

"What do you think you are? What do you think you are—what?"

The little girl who was squatting by the lake, hugging her knees and splashing water with her hands in distress turned her head away with a confused look on her face.

The tall man stood behind her, staring at her calmly. When their eyes met, he smiled and said, "Let me be the scapegoat, shall I?"

“…”

Gou An never thought that she would be impressed by the money of any male creature one day, including the original novel. She sneered at most of the domineering literature that conquered everything with money.

When He Jinxing gave her the necklace, her only thought about the money was that it was "too expensive and my mother wouldn't allow it."

But now she seemed a little shaken. After a pause, she seriously calculated the account for Mr. He's boss: "You may have studied abroad for a long time and your mind is a little unclear. You think that ordinary universities are like aristocratic schools. The total number of stray cats in the school is no more than five figures. Our school has more than 40,000 people. Do you know how much money that is?"

"Hmm? Over six million dollars isn't enough to warrant a personal attack, right?"

“…”

"Isn't the money I earned from listening to those trivial nonsense every day meant to be used?" He Jinxing thought for a moment, "The moment this money is transferred into Gou Yu's account, I don't know if it can bring him a few days of smiles?"

“…”

Gou An blinked, "Why do you care about him?"

He Jinxing made a confused "hmm" sound through his nose.

Gou An threw a stone into the lake and pouted: "Keep the receipt and let my mother put it into the dowry without missing a penny."

This time, the man lost his voice. After a long while, he laughed dumbly, stepped forward and picked up the little girl squatting at his feet.

She was caught off guard and hung on his arm and struggled continuously. During the struggle, her back hit the man's arms.

"An An is really good at sweet talk."

An embrace full of cherishment enveloped her, and the man's voice was filled with a sigh. He lowered his head and kissed the top of her hair without crossing the line.

"As an old man, I probably haven't heard many nice words in my life, but now I'm so happy. Isn't that a bit useless?"

"It's useless - no, let me go first."

"Hold me for a while longer."

"Who just said there's a long way to go? Be patient!"

"Well, that's a lesson."

"?"

"Don't believe anything a man says."

"????"

When Ye Lang walked to the lake on his own two legs, he saw two people entangled together by the lake from afar.

After Miss Gou panicked, she turned around and laughed and scolded the people behind her. Although they were far away, one could still clearly see her raised eyebrows.

There was no emotion on the bodyguard's face, but he paused and did not move any closer.

There was indifference on his face, except for his pair of black eyes which darkened slightly. After a few seconds, the tall figure disappeared into the shade of the trees.

As one of the three lower districts of Jiangcheng, Zhaipu District is always bustling with life in the evening.

Lu Wan threw the blanched ribs into the stew pot and was chopping radishes with a kitchen knife when suddenly someone knocked on the door from outside.

She threw the knife away, wiped her hands on her apron, said "coming" loudly, kicked off her slippers and went to open the door, and unexpectedly saw Ye Lang standing outside the door.

"Alan?"

The girl inside the door widened her eyes slightly in surprise. Ever since Ye Lang came to the Gou family as a bodyguard, she seemed to have never seen him appear in the tube building in the evening again.

"Are you on vacation today? Why are you at home?" Lu Wan stepped aside to let Ye Lang in. "Have you eaten? I'm making carrot soup and will send it to grandma at the hospital later. If you haven't eaten, do you want to--"

Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by a red paper bag that was suddenly held in front of her. She blinked blankly, and the paper bag moved even closer to her.

"for you."

The hoarse voice carried an ambiguous emotion, but it sounded irresistible.

Lu Wan was puzzled, but the man in front of him had a gloomy expression on his face and his hand holding out the paper bag was stretched straight out, as if he was trying to hand out something he hated.

After hesitating for a while, she reached out to take it, opened it and took a look. She was surprised to find that it seemed to be the most famous butterfly pastry in Jiangcheng. Of course, she had never been willing to buy it and did not have the spare money to buy it. She just found out about it by chance when chatting with classmates on social software.

"Alang, don't you dislike sweets? Why—"

"Apologize."

"ah?"

"Last time you came to my house to see me, your attitude was a bit bad." Ye Lang said calmly, "I apologize to you."

Oh, I see.

Last time, she happened to see news about Gou An and He Jinxing on her mobile phone. It seemed very strange that she came to their house to share gossip, so although Ye Lang’s attitude was not very good at the time, she didn’t take it seriously.

Lu Wan knew very well that it would be impolite not to keep asking questions after receiving a gift, so she opened the package of the butterfly biscuit in front of Ye Lang and took a bite.

His eyes lit up.

"Okay, I forgive you. This is really delicious. Thank you, Alang."

(End of this chapter)