After three years of misplaced affection, Mrs. Yu is no longer willing to pretend to be obedient.

"Hi, Lingling! You're here so early!" Suddenly, Zhu Yan's voice came from behind. Jian Ailing turned around and saw her waving at her with a smile.

Zhu Yan looked all smiles and had a sweet expression on her face.

Jane Ailing immediately had a bad feeling.

"Wait...didn't you break up with Ding Chongwen?" Jian Ailing asked tentatively.

"Uh..." Zhu Yan's expression was somewhat evasive. After a while, she nodded. "I did break up with him at first. But Chongwen said that the woman was his ex-girlfriend, so it wouldn't work here."

She pointed to her temple.

"He was just putting on an act that day, afraid of upsetting his ex-girlfriend and causing her to do something drastic. I heard she even attempted suicide before..."

"And then... he asked you to get back together? And you forgave him again?" Jane Ailing stared at her with wide eyes.

Zhu Yan gave a shy smile, then quickly nodded, "Mmm..."

"Lingling, you know I'm always very serious when I'm in a relationship." Zhu Yan looked at her friend with a serious expression. "This time, I've finally met someone I like so much, and I want to trust him one more time."

"I just want to give him another chance..."

Jane lowered her head and rubbed her nose, actually letting out a long sigh.

Her friend is great in every way, except that her biggest flaw is that she's too much of a romantic.

She gets completely infatuated whenever she falls in love, and then pours her heart out to her partner. Jian Ailing saw her like this quite often when she was in college.

The key issue is that despite being so earnest, she keeps encountering jerks. She's almost always the one who gets hurt and breaks down.

Before graduating from her senior year, Zhu Yan broke up with her ex-boyfriend. At that time, she raised her hand in front of Jian Ailing and vowed that she would never impulsively fall in love again and that she would definitely get rid of her bad habit of being love-struck.

But now... even though she had already reminded Zhu Yan that the man was on a date with another woman, how come she was so easily coaxed back by someone else with just a few words?

"So you brought Ding Chongwen with you tonight?"

"Mm." Zhu Yan nodded again. "Actually, I had arranged to have dinner with him here tonight. But you called me out of the blue, so I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to meet him."

Zhu Yan had always liked to have her meet her boyfriend and then give her her opinion. At first, Jian Ailing would give honest feedback, both good and bad, but later she found that Zhu Yan seemed to only selectively listen to the good things.

Later, she simply shut up, lest Zhu Yan say that she also thought the guy was pretty good back then after they broke up.

If she had known Zhu Yan was on a date with her boyfriend tonight, she wouldn't have come all this way.

"Xiaoyan, I'm here." Ding Chongwen walked to the table between the two of them and sat down next to Zhu Yan naturally.

"Hello." He greeted Jane Ailing first. "Xiaoyan said you're her best friend."

Jane Ailing forced a smile and nodded at him.

This was the first time she had seen Ding Chongwen in person, and he looked much like his photos. He wore frameless glasses, smelled faintly of cologne, and was dressed in a refined and elegant manner—definitely the type Zhu Yan liked.

Although Jian Ailing doesn't have much dating experience, after observing Zhu Yan for so many years, she feels that she can still distinguish between lies told by scumbags and those told by scumbags.

Just like the last time I saw him with his arm around that young girl as they entered Songyuan, it looked like it was consensual.

After ordering, Jian Ailing thought for a moment and decided she couldn't let this opportunity slip by. Since they were already there, and her lovestruck friend was completely immersed in the sweetness of being in love, she might as well help give her friend a little nudge.

"Mr. Ding... As Yan Yan's good friend, I'm here to help my best friend make a choice. I might be a bit direct, I hope you don't mind."

Ding Chongwen glanced at Zhu Yan beside him, but Zhu Yan simply held his hand without making a statement.

"Say what you want to say."

"I heard you're still seeing your ex-girlfriend?"

Ding Chongwen was taken aback by her directness.

"I broke up with my ex-girlfriend a long time ago, but she keeps bothering me. And I heard recently that she seems to be having some mental issues... I was afraid she might do something drastic, so the last time I met with her was just to calm her down."

After saying that, he turned to look at Zhu Yan and said, "Xiao Yan, I promise I've broken up with her completely, and there will never be a next time."

Zhu Yan looked at him and nodded repeatedly.

"Xiaoyan and I were dating with marriage in mind, and I was sincere towards her." As he said this, Ding Chongwen looked at Jian Ailing again.

Jane Ailing gave a soft hum and didn't say anything.

So every time things linger, it's because the other person is pestering you, and it's because you were momentarily soft-hearted and felt pity that you made a mistake. These scumbags even use similar excuses to whitewash themselves.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yan is prone to trusting others and giving her all in relationships, as if she has a thick filter on her romantic partner.

Although this line of reasoning was offensive, Zhu Yan fell for it. Meanwhile, Jian Ailing didn't have any concrete evidence to prove the other party was lying.

"Mr. Ding, I hope you keep your word." Jian Ailing looked into Ding Chongwen's eyes and smiled at him. "I will keep an eye on you. Yan Yan is a good girl, and I don't want her to get hurt."

"Of course." Ding Chongwen looked at her, his eyes narrowing as he smiled.

But Jane noticed that besides the smile, there was also smugness in those eyes.

Perhaps he was very confident that he would not give himself away again.

Warnings like this aren't enough; it seems she has to do something else.

Jian Ailing clenched her fists secretly, then turned her gaze to Zhu Yan, who was smiling sweetly and gently to the side.

Her friend was immersed in a wonderful relationship, and of course she wished her well. But this person seemed so unreliable... Could she really entrust her life to him?

Jane thought about what had happened recently and realized that she had no choice but to go back to the Songyuan Club to get more information about Ding Chongwen.

But she probably wouldn't be able to get into Songyuan on her own, let alone obtain the members' information.

Is she going to use the identity of "Mrs. Yu" again?

It seems I still need to ask that man.