I painted an aircraft carrier on the courtyard house for Dongda University.

Lou Tan opened her mouth, but in the end she only sighed heavily, turned her gaze to her daughter, and said nothing more.

Lou Xiao'e looked at her parents' expressions, and her heart pounded like a rabbit's.

She bit her lower lip, finally mustering her courage. Her voice trembled slightly but remained exceptionally clear: "Dad, I want to be with Brother Weiguo. Even if we can't marry officially, even if we don't have a formal title, I still want to be with him—I'm afraid if I don't seize this opportunity now, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

Lou Zhenhua's tense face finally relaxed after listening, and he nodded: "Okay, Dad understands what you're thinking. Your mother and I are going to Hong Kong in a while. If you want to come with us, then you must completely give up any thoughts about Weiguo; if you really can't let go of him, then Dad will entrust you to him. I believe he will definitely be able to take good care of you in the future."

These words made Lou Xiao'e panic instantly. She subconsciously wanted to say "I'll go with you," but Zhou Weiguo's calm, confident, and gentle smile suddenly flashed through her mind, and she swallowed the words back, her eyes full of hesitation.

Lou Zhenhua gave his wife a look and said, "You see, she already knows the answer in her heart. Daughters grow up and leave home; keeping them around only breeds resentment. I'm doing this for our daughter's own good."

Just then, Zhou Weiguo, who had been dawdling in the bathroom for quite a while, finally returned.

He had just sat down in the chair and hadn't even picked up his wine glass when Lou Zhenhua leaned forward, his tone as solemn as if he were discussing a major matter: "For the country, I'll ask you one more time—if I entrust Xiao'e to you, can you guarantee she won't be mistreated? I'm not forcing you to marry her, and I know her background is sensitive, as long as you treat her well."

Just as Zhou Weiguo was about to explain, Lou Zhenhua continued, "Xiao'e has already told us that even without a formal title or status, even if we go to Hong Kong, she wants to stay by your side. So tell me, can you take good care of her and make her happy?"

Looking at Lou Zhenhua's unquestionable gaze, and then glancing at Lou Xiao'e beside him, whose face was full of expectation and whose breathing had become soft, Zhou Weiguo's heart softened instantly—the girl had already put her mind to it, and if he continued to hesitate, he would be too unmanly.

He took a deep breath, put down his wine glass, and looked at Lou Zhenhua with a firm gaze: "Uncle Lou, don't worry, I will definitely take good care of E'zi and won't let her suffer any grievances."

He had barely finished speaking when he suddenly realized something was wrong, scratching his head. "Wait a minute, Uncle Lou, you're just doing business in Hong Kong, you come back to Beijing every year, why is it like you're entrusting your son to someone else?"

Upon hearing this, Lou Xiao'e and Lou Tanshi were both stunned and turned to look at Lou Zhenhua.

Lou Tan's eyebrows furrowed, and she grabbed her husband's arm, yelling, "Lou Zhenhua! What are you up to? If you don't explain yourself today, you'll be sleeping on the sofa tonight!"

Lou Zhenhua winced as the hand was pinched, coughed awkwardly twice, and then explained, "I just saw that Xiao'e was hesitant and wanted to help them settle things! We went to Hong Kong to help the country get supplies, and once things get busy, we won't be able to return to Beijing more than a few times a year. Entrusting Xiao'e to Weiguo in advance will put your mind at ease."

Zhou Weiguo stared at Lou Zhenhua's face, a huge question mark forming in his mind. He knew all too well the profit-driven nature of businessmen—to build a business on the scale of "Lou Half City," Lou Zhenhua would never willingly send his precious daughter away to be a nameless and unrecognized person just because she said she "liked" him.

It couldn't possibly be really just because "he has extraordinary bone structure," could it?

There must be some hidden secret he hasn't figured out.

Seeing that Lou Tanshi seemed hesitant to speak, Zhou Weiguo didn't linger any longer. He stood up, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "Uncle Lou, Aunt Lou, it's getting late, I should go back."

Lou Zhenhua immediately stood up and urged him to stay: "Don't rush, Weiguo. Sit a little longer. I have some details about the Hong Kong business that I'd like to discuss with you."

Lou Xiao'e, her eyes also red, tugged at his sleeve: "Brother Weiguo, sit with me a little longer."

Zhou Weiguo smiled and withdrew his hand: "No, I have things to take care of at home. I'll come see you two another day."

After saying that, he ignored their attempts to stop him and went straight out the door.

After leaving the Lou family's gate, he first went around to a secluded spot on the side of the villa, looked around to make sure no one was watching him, and then quietly activated his invisibility ability.

Immediately afterward, with a thought, he entered the space and, using the ability to "position within a 10-meter range when exiting the space," instantly appeared behind the pomegranate tree in the Lou family courtyard.

As soon as she moved to the living room window, she heard Lou Tanshi's tearful complaint: "Zhenhua, what are you after? Weiguo is an excellent child, but making Xiao'e a concubine is like pushing your daughter into a fire pit!"

Zhou Weiguo peeked through the crack in the window and saw Lou Zhenhua sitting on the sofa, his brows furrowed, his voice as heavy as iron: "What do you know? I'm leaving Xiao'e a way out! You won't let her go to Hong Kong with us, are you really going to marry her off to that servant's son? Don't think I don't know what you two have been whispering about!"

He paused, his voice growing colder: "Look at the world these days. If we leave, Xiao'e, a young woman alone in this empty house, and with her family classified as 'capitalists,' will be devoured until nothing is left! Her personality is as soft as cotton; what will she become but a helpless Lin Daiyu?"

Lou Tanshi, wiping away her tears, retorted, "Then why not just take her to Hong Kong? It's better than her suffering here!"

"Nonsense!" Lou Zhenhua slammed his hand on the coffee table. "She grew up in Beijing. If she goes to Hong Kong, she won't even speak Cantonese. How will she survive? Besides, she's never been close to her brothers. What will you do if she gets bullied there? Furthermore, we're going to Hong Kong to purchase supplies for the country. We haven't even finished the job yet. How can the higher-ups trust us to move the whole family there? Once we achieve something, do you think those privileged kids won't try to steal the credit? If Xiao'e has no one to protect her, and we're not in Beijing, what will you do if Xiao'e gets bullied? Women are all talk and no action!"

Lou Tan was scolded and dared not utter a sound, only wiping away her tears.

Lou Zhenhua's tone softened slightly as he lowered his voice, saying, "You have no idea how terrifying Zhou Weiguo's influence is. I've asked around, and Qin Shuai, Minister Song of the Second Ministry of Machine Building, Minister Wang of the Ministry of Metallurgy, Minister Li of the First Ministry of Machine Building… all these big shots are close to him. All the achievements the steel rolling mill has made in the past six months—improving machine tools, manufacturing guns, building converters, manufacturing motorcycles, and now I hear they're even making tractors—none of them could have been done without him! I even suspect that someone as talented as him is definitely on the big boss's radar!"

"Even the beautiful expert from the Great Goose? Instead of staying in a nice high-end hotel, she insists on living in the same courtyard as him. What do you think it means for a man and a woman to live in the same courtyard? Even such an outstanding foreign expert doesn't want a title. What makes our Xiao'e worthy of Zhou Weiguo's title?"

P.S.: Please urge me to update more and give me good reviews. Thank you!