I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

There were only the two of them in the entire restaurant; all the other seats were empty.

Pei Youyi had clearly booked the entire venue in advance.

Gu Yan sat down by the window.

Pei Youyi sat down opposite him, picked up the menu and exchanged a few words with the waiter in fluent Arabic. Then she closed the menu, placed her hands on the table, and quietly watched him.

She sat upright, her back straight, her skirt spread out on the chair, just as he had seen her countless times in Daxia.

But what she said almost made him knock over the water glass in his hand.

"A bottle of Petrus Estate, please."

She spoke French, with standard and elegant pronunciation, clearly indicating that this wasn't the first time she had ordered this wine.

After the waiter left, Gu Yan couldn't help but speak up.

"Aunt Pei...Ms. Pei, didn't you not drink alcohol before?"

In his memory, Pei Youyi only drank tea on any occasion.

In the main hall of the Pei family in the Great Xia Dynasty, in the VIP section of the martial arts examination, and under the ginkgo tree in the Chen family mansion, she always held a cup of warm Longjing tea in her hand.

Pei Youyi fiddled with the faded red string on her wrist.

The silver bell hanging from the end of the red rope swayed gently with her movements, emitting a very faint, crisp sound.

"I didn't drink it before."

"Yu Ran was frail and sickly when she was little, so I had to stay alert at all times in case she had a fever in the middle of the night and no one noticed."

"Later, as she grew up, her spiritual power became stronger and stronger, but I still didn't drink it, feeling that I shouldn't lose my composure in front of a junior."

"Later, a younger generation member passed away."

She paused here, and something flickered gently in her gentle eyes under the candlelight.

"After he left, I thought about it every day. If I had been more honest with him back then, even if it was just to let him know how I felt, would I not regret it so much?"

"I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about it, so I learned to drink."

"I've been drinking quite a bit these past three years, and Yu Ran knows that too."

"She never tried to persuade me, but sometimes she would come out of her room in the middle of the night, take my wine glass, and replace it with a cup of hot tea."

She picked up the glass of red wine that the waiter had just poured, gently swirled it, and a thin layer of wine residue clung to the glass's surface from the dark red liquid.

"That child is the one I worry about the most among the younger generation I've taken care of since I was a child."

"He was in poor health and always looked pale, but he never told anyone where he was in pain or uncomfortable."

"Every time we meet, he smiles at me, calls me Aunt Pei, and says that Yu Ran has made a lot of progress, and that Aunt Pei looks very nice today."

"He gets along well with everyone and is kind to everyone."

"But he wasn't good to himself at all."

She raised her eyes and looked at Gu Yan.

The candlelight flickered in her deep brown pupils.

"I didn't know that was love before."

"I thought it was an elder's concern for a younger person, a way of taking extra care of a child who wasn't in good health."

"I only understood after he left."

"It's not concern, it's care, it's love."

"But societal norms forbid me from saying it."

"He is a junior, has a fiancée, and is known throughout the world as the 'Imperial Jade.'"

"I am Yu Ran's mother, the matriarch of the Pei family."

"I didn't say anything, and he never found out for the rest of his life."

He was only nineteen when he left.

Gu Yan's fingers trembled slightly on the table.

He gripped the ends of the chopsticks tightly until his knuckles turned white.

But he couldn't control his momentary lapse in concentration.

The chopsticks slipped through his fingers and fell onto the white tablecloth with two very soft thuds.

Before he could recover from his shock, Pei Youyi had already stood up from the chair opposite him and sat down next to him.

The sofa in the private room was wide, but she sat very close, so close that he could smell the very faint fragrance of magnolia blossoms on her.

The fragrance was warm and lingering, like the first wisp of morning mist rising from the body's warmth in the dead of night.

She reached out and gently placed the back of her hand on his forehead.

Her skin was delicate, and the warm touch traveled through her forehead, carrying the gentleness and confidence unique to mature women.

"Sir, what's wrong? Why can't you hold the chopsticks properly? Are you feeling unwell?"

Her voice was very soft and gentle, as if she were coaxing a sick child who refused to take his medicine.

Her face was so close to his that he could see the very fine lines at the corners of her eyes through her makeup.

That was the only mark that time had left on her face, yet it made her concern at this moment seem all the more real and irresistible.

Gu Yan let out a soft breath.

He wasn't completely unaware of it before.

When Pei Youyi helped him block Cecilia and Shen Youwei from confronting each other at the martial arts exam, when she fed him strawberries with her lips at the private restaurant, and when she tied a safety rope for him under the ginkgo tree, her eyes and actions went beyond the concern of an elder for a younger generation.

But he always thought it was just her gentle nature, that she was like that with everyone.

I didn't expect her to be serious.

Pei Youyi looked at his silent expression and put down her wine glass.

"Does the deputy think I'm strange?"

"An old woman saying such things to someone a generation younger than herself."

"Actually, I've never been in a relationship."

"Yu Ran is my adopted daughter. I am her stepmother, not her biological mother."

"When I was young, I was only focused on cultivation and managing the Pei family. Later, I also had to take care of Yu Ran."

"No one has ever taught me how to hide my feelings for someone, or what to do when I can no longer hide them."

She chuckled very softly as she said this.

There was no bitterness in that smile, only a calm and gentle sense of relief.

"So, Mr. Gu, can you accept me?"

Gu Yan's fingers trembled slightly on the tablecloth.

There was no one else around but him; the private room was empty, with only two candles burning quietly on the candlesticks.

She wasn't referring to the deputy, but to Mr. Gu.

She already knew who he was.

Before he could answer, Pei Youyi had already stood up from the chair next to him and sat down beside him.

The sofa chair is very wide.

But she sat very close.

She was so close that her arm was pressed against his arm through the thin fabric of his plain white trench coat.

The fragrance of magnolia blossoms wafted from her collar, cuffs, and hair, warm and lingering, like a sandalwood incense burner warmed by her body heat all night.

She turned slightly to the side, her exquisitely beautiful face gently nestled into his embrace, her forehead resting on his shoulder.

Her hair was very soft.

The jade hairpin had come loose at some point, and a few strands of long, black hair fell down and landed on the back of his hand.

"Can I hug you?"

"Just for a little while."

"For the past three years, I thought you were dead. Every day I sat in the chair you used to sit in, recalling the sound of you calling me Aunt Pei."

"You're right in front of me now. I don't ask for anything, I just want a hug, is that okay?"

Gu Yan's fingers clenched and unclenched at her sides.

He hesitated for a while, but finally raised his arm and very gently wrapped it around her back.

Her body is very soft.

He could feel the heat of her body through that thin trench coat.