After the school beauty rejected me, I became her mom's number one fan!

The next morning at 7:10.

Ning Xiuyang got up at Qiao Jinlin's urging, saying that the hotel's buffet breakfast gets crowded at eight o'clock and she should go early.

The two of them finished getting ready and left room 3201.

The corridor was quiet, and the door to room 3202 next door was tightly closed, without any sound.

Qiao Jinlin was wearing the same white dress as yesterday, with her hair loose and draped over her shoulders.

She walked with a slightly unsteady gait, but her face was always smiling, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

There is only one elevator on the 32nd floor.

Ning Xiuyang pressed the down button, and the elevator started climbing from the eighteenth floor.

The numbers jump one layer at a time: 18, 19, 20...

The door opened.

The two went inside, and Ning Xiuyang pressed the button for the first floor.

The elevator went down.

32, 31, 30, 29...

It stopped on the 25th floor.

With a "ding," the door opened.

Qiao Feiyu stood outside, wearing a navy blue suit skirt.

Her hair was neatly styled, she wore light makeup, and a gold brooch was pinned to her chest.

He was carrying a black briefcase in his right hand and holding a mobile phone in his left.

From head to toe, he embodied the image of the number one figure in Zhonghai City.

The three people were facing each other in the elevator.

Qiao Jinlin was stunned for a second.

Then he exclaimed in surprise.

"mom!"

She grabbed Qiao Feiyu's arm and pulled him into the elevator.

"What are you doing here?"

Qiao Feiyu's facial expressions were perfectly controlled.

First came the perfectly timed accident, then the natural smile, and finally the slightly helpless tone.

"I had a reception mission in the city last night, and it ended too late, so I stayed at a nearby hotel."

This was, of course, just an excuse. Ning Xiuyang delayed her for a moment in the room, giving her time to come downstairs.

Qiao Jinlin said "Oh," turned to look at Ning Xiuyang, then at Qiao Feiyu, and suddenly chuckled.

"Mom, guess where I slept last night?"

Qiao Feiyu maintained her smile: "Didn't you say last night you wanted to go see the Bund at night?"

"You didn't go back to school after watching it?" Qiao Jinlin said, linking her arm with her mother's, her tone carrying a hint of a daughter's coquettishness. "I was with my senior."

The air in the elevator seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second.

Qiao Feiyu's smile remained unchanged.

"Mom guessed it."

Ning Xiuyang stood on the other side of the elevator, his hands in his pockets, without saying a word.

The elevator arrived at the first floor and the doors opened.

The three people walked out and headed towards the restaurant through the lobby.

Qiao Jinlin walked in the middle, his left arm linked with his mother's and his right hand holding Ning Xiuyang's, skipping and hopping along.

The lobby manager saw the group from afar, recognized Qiao Feiyu, and immediately bent over thirty degrees.

There was a four-person table by the floor-to-ceiling window in the restaurant. Qiao Jinlin pulled his mother to sit down and went to get the food himself.

She'd only taken a few steps when she ran back: "Mom, what do you want to drink? Americano or latte?"

"latté."

"Where's the senior?"

"American style".

"Okay!"

Qiao Jinlin jogged to the food counter.

Only Ning Xiuyang and Qiao Feiyu remained at the table.

Ning Xiuyang sat opposite him, his hands crossed on the table, his expression relaxed.

Qiao Feiyu sat upright, his briefcase on the empty chair next to him, and his phone face down on the table.

Forty seconds.

The two of them didn't exchange a single word.

Qiao Feiyu picked up a napkin from the table, unfolded it, and laid it on her knees.

The movements were slow, as if the person was using the movement to stabilize something.

Ning Xiuyang spoke in a low voice, his voice barely audible between the two of them.

"I kept the sticky notes from last night."

Qiao Feiyu paused for a moment while spreading out the napkins.

His face turned white within two seconds, and then returned to normal within two seconds.

"Master is wise."

The voice was so soft that the lips barely moved.

Qiao Jinlin returned carrying two cups of coffee and a plate of fruit.

"Here it comes, Mom! Latte, with extra milk foam. You said last time you liked it with extra foam, right?"

"Yes." Qiao Feiyu took the cup. "Thank you, darling."

Qiao Jinlin sat down and excitedly told his mother about what happened last night while peeling an orange.

"Mom, do you know what? My senior chartered a yacht on the Bund to confess his love to me! It was covered in roses! And then all the buildings on both sides of the Bund turned pink! Can you imagine?!"

As she spoke, she took out her phone, pulled out the photos and videos she had taken the night before, and handed them to Qiao Feiyu.

"Look, look, this was taken during the fireworks, and this is a picture of candles on the yacht."

Qiao Feiyu took the phone and looked down at the screen.

Draw them one by one.

The image shows a deck covered in roses. The seven words on the LED screen.

The pink Bund.

Qiao Jinlin's smiling face under the fireworks.

In the last picture, Qiao Jinlin leans on Ning Xiuyang's shoulder, eyes closed, smiling sweetly.

Qiao Feiyu's thumb lingered on that photo for a second.

"It looks great." She handed the phone back and took a sip of her coffee.

When the rim of the cup touched my lips, the fingers holding the cup trembled slightly.

"Mom, what do you think of the senior?" Qiao Jinlin asked, leaning closer.

Qiao Feiyu put down her cup and glanced at Ning Xiuyang.

That glance was very short.

"Mom has good taste."

Qiao Jinlin slapped the table excitedly: "I knew it! You definitely like him!"

Ning Xiuyang sat across from him, holding an Americano, with a harmless, polite, senior-like smile on his face.

Under the table.

His shoe tip lightly touched Qiao Feiyu's calf.

Qiao Feiyu's coffee cup jerked violently.

The light brown liquid sloshed up to the rim of the glass, almost spilling.

Qiao Jinlin turned his head: "Mom, what's wrong?"

"You've been burned."

Qiao Feiyu wiped the inside of the cup with a napkin.

Ning Xiuyang sat opposite him, pulled his feet back, and took a sip of his Americano.

I ate breakfast at 8:30.

Qiao Jinlin went to the restroom to touch up her makeup. Before leaving, she left her phone on the table and told Ning Xiuyang, "Keep an eye on them for me and don't let the waiter take away my oranges."

Her figure disappeared around the corner of the restroom.

There were only two people left at the table.

This silence was shorter than the last one.

Ning Xiuyang put down the coffee cup and tapped his finger lightly on the inside of the cup.

"How are things going with your dad?"

Qiao Feiyu immediately got down to business, lowering his voice and speaking quickly.

"I've already spoken to Father on the phone. He'll have Jinlin take you to the capital. We can set a date later. There will be a simple meal at home, not a formal banquet, so the atmosphere won't be too tense. But you can probably guess Father's temperament; he doesn't judge people by their pomp and circumstance."

"What is he looking at?"

"Look at the details."

Ning Xiuyang nodded.

Qiao Feiyu hesitated for a moment, then added, "My father has an old secretary who has been with him for over thirty years; his surname is Lu. He has a very keen eye for detail, and he will be present. Please be aware of this."

Ning Xiuyang picked up the coffee cup, then put it down again.

"OK."

He stood up and glanced in the direction of the restroom; Qiao Jinlin hadn't come out yet.

Then he leaned down and whispered in Qiao Feiyu's ear, his voice so soft that only the two of them could hear it.

"I'll come to your house after I get back from your dad's."

Qiao Feiyu's hands clenched tightly under the tablecloth.

Ning Xiuyang straightened up, returned to his seat, and put on that gentle and harmless smile again.