Marriage Seduction Addiction

Chapter 355 New Friends
While Tang Xu and Lu Xingyan were meeting, Yan Shiyu returned to Qiushuitai.

It was still early. According to the driver's report, Ji Yan hadn't gone out since she returned.

However, Yan Shiyu did not see Ji Yan outside.

At this time in the past, when he was still at the company, he would frequently receive various calls from Ji Yan. Today, he came home early for the first time, but she locked herself in her room and didn't make a sound.

Yan Shiyu casually called the chef and learned that Ji Yan hadn't eaten anything since returning.

Yan Shiyu didn't ask any more questions, and still instructed the chef to bring up a few side dishes and put them in the insulated box.

The chef left after finishing his work, and Yan Shiyu sat on the sofa until late at night, but Ji Yan never came out of the room.

When the clock struck twelve, Yan Shiyu finally got up and returned to her room.

Nothing happened all night.

It wasn't until the next morning, when Yan Shiyu returned from swimming at the club, that she finally saw Ji Yan walking out of the room.

She looked dazed and confused, as if she had slept for a long time. Upon closer inspection, one could see dark circles under her eyes—clearly, even if she had slept for a long time, she still hadn't slept well.

The chef was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, while the aunt was helping by organizing the tools. When she saw Yan Shiyu return, she handed him a glass of warm water.

Ji Yan's previously listless expression sharpened upon seeing Yan Shiyu. After glancing at him, she asked, "Where did Mr. Yan go so early in the morning?"

Yan Shiyu put down her cup and casually replied, "I swim downstairs."

"Oh? The clubhouse has swimming pools?"

“There are three,” Yan Shiyu replied. “If you want to go, your aunt can take you.”

After saying that, he went back to his bedroom to take a shower and change his clothes. When he came out again, he saw that breakfast was laid out on the table, but Ji Yan had disappeared again.

As the chef set the bowls and chopsticks on the table, he said with a wry smile, "Miss Ji said she wanted to go swimming first, and she didn't even have time to eat breakfast."

Yan Shiyu listened but did not say anything, only responded lightly, and sat down at the table to eat his breakfast slowly.

……

The three swimming pools at Qiushuitai lived up to their reputation; even though there were hardly any people there early in the morning, the staff were still fully available.

Ji Yan entered the second pool and saw that the pool was empty and sparkling. She went straight to the changing room to change into her swimsuit, put on her swimming cap, and entered the water.

She's not actually a very good swimmer; she's just passable. Swimming on an empty stomach so early in the morning in late autumn is quite a unique experience for her.

Once she entered the water, the chaos and noise outside seemed to disappear. All her attention was focused on her body, thinking only about how to continue swimming and prevent herself from sinking.

However, this concentration only lasted for two minutes.

During a brief moment of respite from the water, Yan Shiyu's perpetually expressionless face suddenly flashed into my mind, followed by Tang Xu's red-rimmed, tear-streaked face, and then Old Master Yan's stern and indifferent countenance...

A jumble of faces began to flood her mind. Suddenly, Ji Yan lost all strength in her legs. No matter how hard she tried to kick, she couldn't move forward. The more she tried, the more powerless she became, and she could only watch helplessly as she sank deeper and deeper...

This suffocating feeling has an inexplicably familiar quality.

This familiarity made her seem to forget her discomfort and pain, and she couldn't help but want to explore and perceive more in order to know where this sense of familiarity came from.

Just as she felt she was getting closer to that familiar feeling, a hand suddenly reached out from underwater, grabbed her waist, and then carried her away.

The moment Ji Yan surfaced, her mind was a blur, even tinged with a nameless panic and loss—

It seems that the underwater area is her comfort zone, rather than the surface.

Before she could even react, she was placed on the edge of the pool, surrounded by several faces.

The man in front of her, soaking wet from head to toe, was clearly the one who had pulled her out of the water. After carefully examining her face and confirming that she was alright, he looked down at her tense left leg.

Immediately afterwards, he placed her leg in his palm and vigorously rubbed the cramped and spasming part of her muscles with his other hand.

The leg that had almost lost all feeling gradually regained sensation, and Ji Yan gradually began to wake up.

She saw the club manager, the pool attendant, and the lifeguards, and heard their questions all at once. She also saw the man holding her leg.

The moment their eyes met, Ji Yan was stunned for a second. The other person seemed to only then recognize her face and asked, "It's you?" Before Ji Yan could answer, he helped her move her muscles a bit more before asking, "How are you feeling? Have you regained feeling in your legs?"

Ji Yan answered him directly by pulling her leg back and sitting up.

Staff members had already draped thick bath towels over her, but Ji Yan wrapped them tightly around herself, still looking at the man in front of her with wary eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Lu Xingyan did not answer for a moment. Seeing this, the club manager next to her quickly explained, "Mr. Lu is also a resident of Qiushuitai. He just happened to be visiting the club today. He didn't expect to see Miss Ji drowning, so he jumped in and saved you."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yan glanced at Lu Xingyan again, but instead of thanking her, she asked the club manager, "Are your lifeguards just for show?"

The words left the people around speechless. The club manager could only chuckle awkwardly and say, "Miss Ji, you just happened to swim close to Mr. Lu. He reacted quickly and jumped in instantly... In fact, we should thank Mr. Lu."

Lu Xingyan didn't say anything, took the towel handed to her from the side, and then dried herself off.

However, his trousers and shirt were already soaked, so wiping them like that obviously wouldn't help at all. Seeing this, the club manager quickly said, "Mr. Lu, why don't you go to the bathroom and take a shower? I'll have someone prepare some clothes and bring them over for you."

Lu Xingyan responded with a single word, glanced at Ji Yan sitting on the ground, and then got up and left with the staff.

Ji Yan remained seated, her mind preoccupied with the events of the past two days. It took her a while before she finally got up with the help of a staff member and headed towards the bathroom.

As she waited for herself to finish showering and changing, she unexpectedly ran into Lu Xingyan, who was just coming out of the bathroom across the street.

He was wearing clothes provided by the club, which seemed a little ill-fitting compared to his own clothes, but only in some details, such as the trouser legs being slightly too short and too loose...

This unexpected second encounter made both of them stop in their tracks. After her gaze lingered on him for a moment, Ji Yan finally spoke up: "Thank you for earlier."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xingyan seemed to pause for a moment before raising an eyebrow and smiling, replying, "It was nothing."

As the two walked out of the club together, Ji Yan spoke again: "So you live here too. I should have asked you to give me a ride back yesterday."

Lu Xingyan paused for a moment before saying, "If it were yesterday, it wouldn't have been so convenient."

Ji Yan turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"Because I just officially moved here today," Lu Xingyan replied. "That's why I happened to see you swimming when I was touring the clubhouse, and I just happened to rescue you."

Ji Yan paused for two seconds before saying, "That's quite a coincidence."

Lu Xingyan stopped and turned to extend his hand to her, "Lu Xingyan."

Ji Yan stared at his outstretched hand, hesitated for a moment, and finally reached out her hand as well, her expression calm, "Ji Yan."

“Ji Yan…” Lu Xingyan murmured these two words slowly before smiling slightly and extending her hand to the person in front of her. “You are the first person I met in this community. It’s nice to meet you.”

Facing this man who had appeared before her for two consecutive days and, coincidentally, also lived at Qiushuitai, Ji Yan remained highly wary. Yet, at the same time, she also felt something different—

She had no memory of the past, and was even more lost after arriving in this completely unfamiliar city. Everyone around her was a stranger, including Grandpa Yan and Yan Shiyu.

To her, they were more like people who had forcibly bound themselves to her.

She felt no psychological closeness to Yan Shiyu, and she felt no physical or psychological closeness to Old Master Yan.

Even though the information skills she now possesses were all taught by Grandpa Yan, this person is still a stranger to her.

But the man in front of me was different.

He was also a stranger, but he was the first stranger in this city to try to be friends with her.

Ji Yan's resolve was not unwavering.

If she intends to live in this city from now on and tries to make some new friends, does that mean she can discard that blank past and start a completely new life?

Even though she thought this way, Ji Yan still hesitated when faced with Lu Xingyan's outstretched hand and did not reach out to shake it.

A moment later, she merely gave a slight smile and said, almost in agreement, "It's nice to meet you."

Lu Xingyan showed no embarrassment. After smiling, she calmly withdrew her hand.

Just then, his phone rang.

Seeing him answer the phone, Ji Yan gestured for herself to leave first. However, the next moment, Lu Xingyan put the phone away and asked her, "My friend is here. Are you interested in going to pick him up? He's very cute, and I'm sure you'll like him."