After returning home with the child, her ex-husband knelt down and gently coaxed her.

The gate of the Yuhe Duke's Mansion was being pressed urgently incessantly.

The woman outside the door wore a light-colored long dress, her black hair was pulled back, her fair face was flushed with an unusual blush, and she exuded a strong smell of alcohol.

She stood at the front door, stubbornly pressing the doorbell.

Li Quan stood inside the door, looking troubled through the large door. "Miss An, please don't press the button. Mr. Lu isn't home."

An Ning laughed, her steps unsteady, and her voice tinged with alcohol. "I asked the security guards at the park entrance, and they said Lu Xiyan's car came back this afternoon and hasn't left... Hehe, Uncle Quan, you're lying to me..."

"This..." Li Quan saw the naive look in her eyes and saw through the lie that was thinner than a sheet of paper. He sighed helplessly, "Miss An, you should go back. President Lu will not see you."

She had been waiting at the door for twenty minutes, but the young master only said "I won't see you" and gave no further instructions.

Li Quan naturally understood that the young master did not want to see her, and he could not let her in no matter what.

An Ning clasped her hands together, holding a plastic bag containing a takeout box. Her posture and appearance were quite cute. "Please, please, I'll just go in and see him for a moment, bring him some porridge, and then come out."

"Miss An—"

Just as Uncle Quan was about to refuse, he was interrupted by a clear, crisp voice from behind him.

"Is there something you need?"

At some point, Lu Xiyan appeared at the downstairs door, tall and elegant, dressed in a gray loungewear set, exuding both nobility and languor.

An Ning was somewhat stunned.

Even from a distance of several meters and in dim light, she could still clearly see his smooth and delicate features, and his indifferent and aloof gaze was both familiar and strange.

He refused to see her at the company several times in a row, but today he actually went with Cheng Wanwan to order an engagement dress.

Thinking of this, An Ning's nose tingled with emotion. Then, she smiled and held up the takeout box in her hand. "Lu Xiyan, I brought you some late-night snacks."

Her unusual behavior made Lu Xiyan frown slightly. He could not hide the alcohol on her face, and she was clearly drunk.

He strode down the steps and stood before Anning. "Have you been drinking?"

Anning carefully raised a finger, grinned, and said, "Just a little bit."

Then she pointed to the takeout box in her hand, "I bought you chicken congee, but it doesn't have shrimp. You can't eat it, you'll be allergic."

She waved her hand earnestly, her expression very serious.

Seeing that the other person was just staring at her without taking it, she strained through the gap in the closed iron gate, reaching the box in her hand and urging, "Hey, take it now!"

Lu Xiyan's eyes were cold and aloof, and a sneer played on his lips. What kind of trick was he playing now?

"Need not."

He uttered two words in a cold tone and made a move to turn and leave.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Anning anxiously leaned against the door, stood on tiptoe, and shouted, "It's your favorite flavor! It won't taste good when it's cold!"

Lu Xiyan stopped in his tracks, turned to look at An Ning, his eyes indifferent as frost, "I don't like any kind of porridge."

He emphasized the words "please—you—" "Don't come again. I don't want to see you again. Do you understand?"

An Ning, emboldened by the alcohol, ignored what he was saying. Her eyes were slightly red, but she still stubbornly curled her lips into a smile. "You're lying! You used to love eating this, it's that old shop in the south of the city, we used to go there together all the time. You can't eat shrimp, but you always insisted on ordering it with shrimp in it, and I always picked the shrimp out for you..."

"You know..." An Ning's voice was slightly choked, with a hint of grievance, "That store is notoriously difficult to get into."

After leaving Xiaoyu's place, she didn't go straight home. Instead, she took a taxi to the porridge shop and waited in line for almost an hour before she could buy some.

As soon as she received it, she was worried that the chicken porridge would get cold and have a fishy smell, so she quickly took a taxi to deliver it to her.

Lu Xiyan lives far away, and the taxi fare for this trip was quite high, which made her extremely distressed.

He's not even appreciating it now, which makes her even more upset.

Looking at her slightly red eyes, her stubborn refusal to let the tears fall, and her forced, awkward smile, Lu Xiyan felt even more irritated.

To negotiate a collaboration, she actually went to such lengths. Last time, she recklessly charged at his car, and this time she didn't hesitate to bring up past memories to play the emotional card.

When he humbly begged for peace, she remained completely unmoved, but now, because of work, she's making such a fuss.

He really underestimated her.

Lu Xiyan frowned, his eyes full of disdain. "The past is the past, the present is the present."

"I've never liked chicken congee before, let alone now," he sneered. "Besides, people's tastes change, don't you think, Miss An?"

In this ever-changing world, people's hearts can change, let alone their tastes.

An Ning strained to open her large, red-rimmed eyes. "But my taste hasn't changed. I still love chicken and shrimp congee. I don't like any other kind; I only like this one!"

I still like you, Lu Xiyan.

An Ning kept these words in her heart but couldn't say them aloud.

"Oh!"

Lu Xiyan gave a cold laugh, as if he had heard a huge joke.

He took a step forward and smelled the strong odor of alcohol on her.

He looked down at her, his deep eyes covered with a layer of frost.

"It seems Miss An really cares about this job, even more than your ridiculous pride. You're even resorting to these tactics for the sake of Haowei and Ou Teng's cooperation?"

He smiled, "If you knew this would happen, why did you do it in the first place? I'm quite curious to know, how far are you going to go for this cooperation? Next time, will you have to use your body?"

"Unfortunately, though." A slight smile played on his thin lips, but his cold eyes were filled with sarcasm. "I have absolutely no interest in you anymore."

"I've made myself clear enough, Miss An. Do you understand?"

His words were like an ice pick piercing An Ning's heart, chilling her to the bone.

Tears streamed down my face and into my mouth, tasting even more bitter than alcohol.

His chest heaved violently, as if someone was choking him and he couldn't breathe; even the hand holding the plastic bag trembled uncontrollably.

She stared blankly at Lu Xiyan's cold and stern face, unable to utter a single word.

She never imagined that such harsh words would come out of Lu Xiyan's mouth; he used to never say a single harsh word to her.

Anning's face was covered in tears. She carefully placed the chicken porridge in her hand on the stone stool by the door, gripped her bag tightly with her fingers, said nothing, and turned to leave.

Lu Xiyan watched her leave, her steps unsteady, clearly indicating she had drunk quite a bit.

Suppressing the frustration in his chest, he turned and went inside.

"Lu Xiyan!"

Suddenly someone called his name from behind. He turned around and met An Ning's red eyes.

Sometime later, she took a few steps, then turned back, pointed at his nose, and shouted, "You'll regret this!"

She sobbed, "You'll regret this!"

"Ha!" The man scoffed after a brief moment of surprise. "The one who should regret this is you, Anning."