You're already divorced, why are you so anxious about him becoming a succubus?

The atmosphere inside the carriage was somewhat awkward.

The rain outside gradually subsided.

Neither of them spoke again. Lu Ci leaned back in his chair, looking down at his phone screen, his fingers tapping on it, as if he were sending a message to someone.

Zhang Youning sat stiffly in the passenger seat, clutching her soaked suit jacket in both hands.

Listening to the rain outside gradually subsiding, she opened her mouth several times, wanting to get a definite guarantee from the man beside her.

She wanted to ask him if, after what happened earlier... he would really keep his promise and stop gossiping on the Jiangda campus.

But the last vestiges of her self-respect as a teacher made it impossible for her to utter such humble words.

Just as Zhang Youning was secretly weighing the options and hesitating about how to break the silence.

Lu Ci suddenly turned off his phone screen, turned his head to look at her, and abruptly uttered:

"The rain's lessening, aren't you leaving?"

Zhang Youning: ? ? ?

Zhang Youning was stunned for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, a surge of inexplicable anger rushed to her head, and her fair face flushed with annoyance.

What does that mean?!

You were the one who forcibly locked the car door and coerced me into giving you this so-called "sincerity."

Now that they've taken advantage of her, they won't even give her a straight answer. Instead, they're putting on a disgusted face and kicking her off the bus, making it seem like she's deliberately staying in the bus!

This student is absolutely unreasonable!

Looking at Zhang Youning's eyes, which were slightly wide with anger, and her tightly furrowed brows, Lu Ci smiled slightly.

He stopped teasing the counselor who was on the verge of exploding and reached out to press the unlock button.

All four car doors unlocked.

"Don't worry, I have no interest in spreading your private affairs around, and I'm not the kind of person who talks big." Lu Ci put his hands on the steering wheel.

Hearing this long-awaited guarantee, Zhang Youning's tense nerves finally relaxed.

Although she couldn't be sure whether this audacious student would keep his promise, there was nothing she could do at the moment.

She didn't want to stay in that cramped space for even a second longer.

She hurriedly draped the wet suit jacket over her shoulders, pushed open the car door, and walked quickly towards her apartment building in Xiangyang Community without looking back, her high heels clicking on the floor.

It had a sense of fleeing in disarray.

Lu Ci sat in the car, watching the figure gradually disappear into the night, and chuckled softly.

Lu Ci started the car and drove it to a 4S store in Jiangbei, following the location Chen Feng sent on WeChat.

People usually leave work long ago at this time.

Lu Ci could only park the car in the parking space, explain the situation to the gatekeeper, and leave the car keys at the gatehouse.

By the time he took a taxi back to Shen Nian's rented apartment, it was already past 10 p.m.

Pushing open the door, I saw warm light shining in the living room.

Shen Nian was wearing a fluffy cartoon pajama set, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, holding a tablet computer in her lap and watching an online drama.

Hearing the door open, the little girl immediately looked up, her eyes crinkling into crescents: "Brother Lu's back! I just glanced at your bar's live stream and didn't see you on stage. Didn't you go to work today?"

Lu Ci changed into slippers in the entryway, walked to the sofa and sat down, pouring himself a glass of warm water: "I was in a car accident on the way here, and I went to the police station to deal with a dispute, so I didn't go today."

"A car accident?!"

Shen Nian's heart tightened suddenly, and she threw the tablet in her hand onto the sofa cushion.

She jumped down barefoot and approached Lu Ci, her big eyes nervously scanning him up and down, her hands reaching out to touch his arms and back.

"Don't be nervous, I'm fine." Lu Ci looked at her as if she were facing a major crisis, smiled, and reached out to ruffle her soft hair. "It's just that Chen Feng's car headlight is broken."

Hearing that everyone was alright, Shen Nian finally breathed a long sigh of relief, patted her chest, and sat down next to Lu Ci.

"By the way," Lu Ci took a sip of water and casually asked, "Didn't you say you were going back to the Shen family villa for dinner tonight? Why are you back so early?"

Mentioning this, Shen Nian pouted, her little face full of displeasure: "Don't even mention it, the atmosphere at home was so oppressive. My uncle and his family came too, and the whole family sat around in the living room interrogating my sister. They even brought up your divorce. I felt uncomfortable listening to that, so I made an excuse and slipped away."

Lu Ci raised an eyebrow, took out his phone, opened a short video app, and scrolled through his account, asking, "Why are you judging her?"

Qin Meng took leave these past few days, and he single-handedly took over the live broadcasts for several nights in a row.

The account has surpassed 250,000 followers.

During that time, he also randomly filmed a few vlogs similar to "a real day in the life of a bar singer".

Although the camera work was completely unskilled, Xiao Wei's post-production work, including adding footage of her singing on stage at the beginning and a few cool photos, resulted in surprisingly good video data.

"What else could it be? It's because of Gu Mingxuan."

Shen Nian pouted, pulled her feet back onto the sofa, hugged her knees, and complained, "Do you remember that overseas business that my sister and Gu Mingxuan invested in a while ago? It turns out that the group's legal department found out today that the background check was not done properly at all. The overseas company that Gu Mingxuan recommended was a complete fraudulent shell company."

"My sister invested ten million yuan in that project, and now it's all gone down the drain."

Shen Nian said helplessly, "Moreover, my family used their connections to find out about Gu Mingxuan's background overseas."

That scumbag didn't do anything worthwhile during the years he was studying abroad. He was involved in everything from gambling and drugs to prostitution, and he racked up a mountain of debt!

The family now strongly suspects that this shell company scheme is a deliberate pig-butchering scam orchestrated by Gu Mingxuan in collusion with others.

Lu Ci remembered that when they divorced, he did remember that they had been working together overseas. On the day of the divorce, he went back to get his clothes and ran into the two of them looking for documents.

"But there's no direct evidence right now," Shen Nian sighed.

"Because the accounts show that Gu Mingxuan himself also invested ten million in that project. He's now insisting that he was also cheated, putting on a victim's act, so even if the Shen family wants to hold him accountable, they can't do anything about it."

Hearing this, Lu Ci couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head: "Gu Mingxuan's ten million was probably just a shady account he used to launder money and pay off debts abroad, just passing it around from one hand to the other."

The ten million yuan of clean funds that your sister invested is what he really has his eye on.

Shen Nian nodded in agreement: "Later, my uncle and the others started to criticize my sister, saying that she couldn't judge people well and that she divorced you because of such a scumbag."

They were gossiping and giving me strange looks every now and then. I felt so uncomfortable there that I decided to escape.

At this point, Shen Nian blinked her clear, large eyes, leaned closer to Lu Ci, and cautiously probed, "Brother Lu... do you want to know how my sister reacted when faced with the whole family's accusations?"

Lu Ci tossed his locked phone onto the coffee table, stood up, and prepared to go back to his room to change his clothes.

"I don't want to know." His tone was indifferent.

Watching Lu Ci's retreating figure, a hint of barely suppressed elation flashed in Shen Nian's eyes.

It seems that Brother Lu has truly let go of everything.

She happily jumped off the sofa and followed Lu Ci like a little tail all the way to the door of the second bedroom.

Lu Ci was facing away from the door and casually took off his casual shirt.

The girl's cheeks flushed instantly at his broad, upright back and the faintly visible muscle lines. She quickly looked away, but her eyes couldn't help but sneak back glances.

"Brother Lu..." Shen Nian leaned against the doorframe, her voice softening slightly, "Next week is exam week at our school. After the exams, I'll officially be on vacation. You promised me before, have you decided where we're going on vacation?"

Lu Ci's hand was already on the belt buckle.

Upon hearing this, he paused in his action of unbuttoning his shirt.

"How about... we go to the north to see the grasslands?" Lu Ci suggested.

"The north is at its most beautiful this time of year, with clear skies and gentle breezes. Have you ever been there?"

Shen Nian's eyes lit up instantly.

"Never been!" She nodded without hesitation, her face beaming. "Then let's go to the grasslands!"