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

In the corridor, Qiao Jinlin stood at the door of Ning Xiuyang's guest room.

She raised her hand and tapped twice.

The door opened almost immediately.

Ning Xiuyang stood behind the door.

The two people stared at each other for a second at the doorway.

Qiao Jinlin did not sit down after entering.

She stood in the middle of the room, about three steps away from Ning Xiuyang.

The curtains were half-drawn, and the sky outside was transitioning from deep blue to light gray.

Ning Xiuyang did not speak first.

He was waiting for her.

Qiao Jinlin stared at him for several seconds.

Her eyes were terribly red and swollen, and there were dried tear stains on her cheeks, more on the left and less on the right... because she had just rubbed against her mother's shoulder.

But her gaze was clear.

It's the kind of cleanliness you feel after crying.

"Do you know what I just asked my mom?"

Ning Xiuyang shook his head.

I asked her if you were good to her.

Ning Xiuyang did not respond.

She said yes.

When Qiao Jinlin said those two words, his voice was a little unsteady.

It was as if she was repeating a testimony that she herself was still judging as true or false.

Ning Xiuyang looked at her.

"So, do you believe it?"

Qiao Jinlin bit his lip, but not hard.

It's that kind of subconscious biting motion, biting down and then releasing.

"I believe her. She's my mother."

He paused for a moment.

"But I haven't decided whether I believe you or not."

Ning Xiuyang nodded.

He turned around, pulled out the chair in front of the desk, and placed it next to Qiao Jinlin.

"sit."

Qiao Jinlin hesitated for half a second before sitting down.

Ning Xiuyang walked to the bedside and sat down. The two were less than a meter apart.

"Ask whatever you want," he said. "No beating around the bush."

Qiao Jinlin placed his fingers interlaced on his knees.

Her nails still had the milky white manicure she had done the day before yesterday, which looked rather bleak in the gray morning light.

She looked up.

How many women are actually around you?

The first question.

Ning Xiuyang did not mince words.

"Including you, there are more than twenty."

Qiao Jinlin's eyelids twitched. But she held back and didn't make a sound.

He mentioned having many at the Japanese restaurant last time, but the specific number "more than twenty" is more impactful than a vague "many".

"Do they know they exist?"

the second.

"Most people know. Some of them even get along quite well."

Qiao Jinlin took two seconds to process this.

"Would you marry one of them in the future?"

The third.

"Yes," Ning Xiuyang said. "There should be more than one."

This answer was somewhat beyond Qiao Jinlin's expectations.

She had thought he would practice Tai Chi.

But he didn't.

Where do I rank in your heart?

When she asked the fourth question, she herself seemed to think it was a bit childish. She twitched her lips slightly, but still asked it.

"There's no ranking," Ning Xiuyang said. "It's not that you're unimportant. It's just that ranking doesn't apply to my relationships. Everyone occupies a different position, so there's no comparison."

Qiao Jinlin did not immediately ask further questions.

She stared at his face for a few seconds, as if verifying the credibility of his words.

Then I asked the fifth question.

Are you serious about me? Or is it because of my mom?

This is a very important issue.

It was also the answer she feared hearing the most.

Ning Xiuyang leaned forward slightly.

"Do you think it's necessary to book buildings on both sides of the Bund for a light show if someone is only there because of their mother?"

Qiao Jinlin's lips twitched slightly.

It wasn't a smile, it was an "okay" expression.

She recalled that night.

The yacht covered in roses on the Huangpu River, the words on the LED screen, and the entire Bund transformed into a pink skyline.

If it's just a strategy, then the cost of that strategy is far too high.

"The sixth one," Ning Xiuyang counted for her.

"Won't you get tired of us and dump us in the future?"

When Qiao Jinlin asked this question, he used "we" instead of "I".

Ning Xiuyang noticed the change in word choice.

"us"……

She had unconsciously placed herself and her mother on the same side.

"I can't guarantee anything," Ning Xiuyang said.

Qiao Jinlin frowned.

"But let me tell you something. No one around me has ever been someone I actively pushed away. Everyone who's come in so far is still here. You can verify that."

Qiao Jinlin did not immediately assess this statement.

She saved it temporarily, intending to evaluate it later.

the last one.

This was the question she had prepared for the longest time tonight.

"Have you ever considered," her voice slowed, each word carrying weight, "that if this relationship were exposed, my mother's career would be over?"

Quiet.

This issue is on a completely different level from the previous six.

The first part was about relationships; this part is about practical matters.

If the secret relationship between a vice-ministerial-level official and a young entrepreneur were to be exposed, the consequences would not be "embarrassment" or "being talked about," but rather the end of his political career.

Ning Xiuyang did not answer immediately.

He let the question linger in the air for a few seconds before speaking.

"So I've been doing one thing since day one."

"What?"

"Protect their safety and secrets."

"It's not just your mother. It's everyone around me. Some have sensitive backgrounds, some have complicated pasts. If any of them gets involved in a scandal, it's not just her who suffers, it's everyone's suffering. So you can question my character and feelings, but when it comes to security..."

He looked into Qiao Jinlin's eyes.

"This is the last thing I can be ambiguous about."

Qiao Jinlin did not respond.

She went through the answers to the seven questions in her mind from beginning to end.

There was no satisfactory answer... but there was also no unacceptable answer.

This person is very slippery.

It's not the kind of underhanded slickness; it's the kind of slickness where "I lay all my cards on the table, but you still can't completely see through me."

The sky outside the window was already beginning to brighten.

Outside the Qiao Family Courtyard stands a row of poplar trees, their leaves rustling in the morning breeze.

The room remained quiet for a long time.

Qiao Jinlin stood up.

She walked up to Ning Xiuyang. The distance between them shrank to less than half a meter.

"Ning Xiuyang".

For the first time, she called him by his full name. Not "senior."

Ning Xiuyang looked up at her.

The person sitting on the edge of the bed becomes the one who needs to be looked up to.

"I didn't stay because of my mother."

Her voice no longer trembled. It was still hoarse, but steady.

"I did it because of myself."

After saying that, she bent down.

He placed a kiss on Ning Xiuyang's forehead.

It's very light.

The lips touched the skin, then left.

Just like that.

It's like stamping something... not a stamp of forgiveness, nor a stamp of compromise.

It's more like a chapter that says, "I choose to keep going."

She straightened up and raised her hand to wipe away the last bit of moisture from the corner of her eyes.

Then he turned and walked out.

As she reached the door, she turned back.

"If I ever see you doing that with my mom again..."

She paused for a moment.

"At least lock the door."

After saying that, he opened the door and left.

The footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor.

It was straightforward and decisive.

Ning Xiuyang sat on the bed, looked at the closed door, and let out a sigh.

In that one breath, he released all the tension he had felt that night.

Then he stood up and walked to the window.

Pull back a corner of the curtains a little and look down.

The morning light was just beginning to spread.

In the courtyard of the Qiao Family Compound, the stone-paved path, pomegranate trees, jujube trees, and grand master chairs are all gilded with a layer of light gold.

Qiao Jingtang had already come out at some point.

An elderly man in his eighties, wearing a gray-blue cotton-padded jacket, sat on a rattan chair in the courtyard.

A chess set was laid out on the stone table in front of me, but the pieces were not yet arranged; only a few were scattered on the board.

The old man was holding a cup of tea, it was unclear how many infusions it had been.

The steam has become very faint.

Qiao Jinlin walked out from the moon gate.

She wasn't heading towards the courtyard... she was supposed to be going back to her room.

But when she saw her grandfather sitting there, she paused.

Qiao Jingtang turned his head and glanced at his granddaughter.

The old man didn't say anything.

They didn't ask, "Why are you up so early?" or "Why are your eyes so swollen?"

He simply patted the stone bench next to him.

Qiao Jinlin walked over and sat down.

The grandfather and grandson sat in the morning light.

Qiao Jingtang pushed the teacup in front of her.

Qiao Jinlin took it and took a sip.

It was cold, but she didn't care.

A few chess pieces scattered on the board were blown askew by the wind.

Qiao Jingtang reached out and straightened it.

The old man and the young man didn't say a word.

But there was something in that silence.

It wasn't awkward, it wasn't a standoff.

It's a tacit understanding that comes naturally from blood ties and doesn't need words to fill the void.