Before he died, my grandfather forced me to marry the richest man in the capital.

After Su Xue bathed her daughter and put her to sleep, she lay beside her and looked at her sleeping face. The more she looked at her daughter, the more she resembled Lu Jinnan, which annoyed her to no end.

She sat down in bed, leaned against the headboard, grabbed her phone, tapped her best friend's profile picture, and sent a voice message: "Yaoyao, is my godson asleep yet?"

Tang Junyao was watching an autopsy video when she received the message and immediately logged off. "Asleep? What time is it? Is Little Strawberry asleep?"

Upon receiving the message, Su Xue promptly made a video call, asking, "What are you doing?"

Tang Junyao ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing it down and tucking it behind her ear. It had been a long time since she'd cut it; it seemed to have grown quite a bit. Before, her hair was shoulder-length, but now it was almost waist-length. "Watching a video? What's going on? You look like you've been through a lot."

Across from her, Su Xue sighed, "My mom took Little Strawberry out to play today. Guess who she took her to see?"

Tang Junyao was surprised. "It can't be that I'm meeting Lu Jinnan, can it?"

It wasn't that Su Xue was worried about seeing Lu Jinnan; that guy wasn't very bright and wouldn't figure it out so quickly, "his mother."

Tang Junyao's hand tightened around her phone. "..."

A few seconds later, he came to his senses, a little nervous, "Did his mother notice anything?"

From Tang Junyao's perspective, she doesn't want Lu Jinnan to get together with Su Xue only because of the child; she hopes that he is genuinely in love with Su Xue and that's why they're together.

Su Xue thought for a moment and concluded that there probably wasn't any. Her mother had only mentioned that Lu Jinnan's mother liked her daughter very much. "There probably isn't any yet, but my mom said that Lu Jinnan's mother really likes Little Strawberry and even asked my mom to take her out to play more often. However, she told Lu Jinnan's mother that the child is yours, which should reduce any suspicion."

Tang Junyao had to admit the power of blood ties. Su's mother wanted to help take care of Xiaocaozi as soon as she saw her, and now Lu Jinnan's mother also wanted to bring her to see her more often. "I can only say that blood ties are very mysterious. The point is that you and Lu Jinnan don't get along right now. If he really liked you, it would be fine. It's clear that Lu Jinnan's mother isn't a difficult mother-in-law."

Tang Junyao has already thought a bit ahead for her! The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is okay.

"What are you thinking? Do you think I'm blind? No one would even look at him," Su Xue said disdainfully. He's always attracting attention; if she were with him, she'd be constantly leveling up after marriage.

Tang Junyao chuckled, "I know, don't worry. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. And I'm here for you. I'll take the hits for you, won't I?"

Su Xue was in a much better mood and nodded with a smile, saying that her best friend's physique wouldn't last long and she wasn't big enough.

At 10:30, a man on the 25th-floor balcony had a cigarette butt between his fingers. The tiny embers were unusually conspicuous in the dark night. The man's face was not visible in the darkness; one could only see him looking at the room in the next building.

After Tang Junyao's room light went out, the man stepped into the room and closed the balcony door.

He stubbed out the cigarette and threw it into the crystal ashtray.

The sudden ringing of the phone broke the silence of the huge suite. He didn't turn on the room lights, only the dim wall lamp was on. The light from the phone screen shone directly on his face. The call was from Xu Mingkai. He swiped the screen to answer, "Feed."

Xu Mingkai said in a deep voice, "Young Master Ji, Xu Zhong left five minutes ago. He died at home."

Lu Jinnan begged Ji Hancheng one last time, hoping to drive Lu Man out of the capital again after Xu Zhong left. Lu Jinnan and Ji Hancheng usually joked and played around, but they would agree to each other's requests.

Lu Jinnan had said that Xu Zhong's days were numbered, but it had only been a few days since he last saw Lu Man. He hadn't expected it to be so soon. Without a trace of sympathy, he said, "The day of Xu Zhong's funeral will be the day she leaves the capital. I'll watch her go."

Xu Mingkai received the order and replied, "Yes, sir."

The next morning, Tang Junyao received a call from the dean while she was still at home. "Hello, dean."

The hospital director over there smiled obsequiously, "Dr. Tang, I hope I didn't disturb you?"

Tang Junyao inwardly scoffed, thinking how quick she was to change her expression, but outwardly she politely replied, "No, please say so."

The dean maintained his usual smile. "Here's the thing, starting today you'll switch back to your previous schedule: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the outpatient department, and Tuesday and Thursday in the inpatient department."

The hospital director is a shrewd man. During the medical dispute that day, he noticed that Master Ji had feelings for this girl, as his gaze kept wandering over her. Although it's hard to say how long someone like Master Ji can maintain a relationship, as long as he likes her for now, he has to keep her in check until she loses interest.

Upon hearing this, Tang Junyao replied without much emotion, "Okay."

At this moment, what couldn't Tang Junyao understand? Being transferred to the inpatient department during this period was that man's doing. She was transferred back as soon as she was discharged.

Just as she arrived at the entrance of the outpatient building, Su Xue, dressed in a dress and high heels, put her arm around her shoulder from behind. "Oh, so you're back at the outpatient clinic as soon as Young Master Ji is discharged from the hospital? You're really cunning. There's no limit to how far you'll go in pursuing your wife."

As she finished speaking, she noticed that her best friend was wearing a dress and flats today. The light pink dress made her skin look even whiter. "Why are you wearing a dress today? You look better like this. Just like Xixi said, your figure makes even jeans look like you have long legs."

Tang Junyao also remembered what her cousin Lan Yunxi had said, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. "My closet is full of dresses that my aunt and Xixi bought. When I open the closet this morning, I see that two-thirds of it is dresses. I feel embarrassed not to wear them."

Su Xue didn't think her best friend was showing off, because she knew that Shen Muyun and Lan Yunxi always bought a lot of things for Yao Yao when they went shopping. "Wear it, why not wear it? You're not short of a figure, you've got plenty of curves. Look how pretty you look. This fishtail braid looks good on you too, very feminine."

"Alright, that's enough, you're going to get carried away with any more praise." Not often wearing skirts, she felt a little embarrassed being praised by Su Xue.

Su Xue put her arm around her best friend's shoulder, their close bond making many nurses and doctors envious. "I have something to tell you. I heard that Lu Man's father passed away last night, and then Lu Man broke her leg this morning. She's in the hospital now and didn't even have time to go to the funeral. I don't know who punished the wicked, but they were ruthless enough to specifically choose the day of the funeral to take revenge, clearly preventing Lu Man from attending. But there's always a reason why someone is pitiful. Who told her to be so wicked?"

Tang Junyao agreed with this point and didn't express any sympathy. Everyone should pay for their past, and Lu Manyi was no exception.

As for Xu Zhong's departure, there's nothing to sympathize with. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are natural phenomena, and leaving the clutches of illness may be a relief.

I don't know who was so ruthless as to know that Lu Man makes a living by dancing and break her leg. This would undoubtedly destroy her dreams and chances of turning things around for the rest of her life.

"She probably offended someone, otherwise no one would have injured her in the place she cares about most." For a dancer, a leg injury is fatal.

"She's done a lot of bad things and must have made a lot of enemies. Who knows who was the one who killed her? I have no sympathy for her, and you shouldn't be so kind."

Tang Junyao chuckled at her rambling, turned around and pinched her cheek, "Do I look like a kind person to you?"

Su Xue slapped her hand away in disgust, "What are you doing? You're going to ruin my makeup."

"No way, look, I don't have any foundation on my hands. Don't worry, you look beautiful, it won't affect your radiance." After saying that, he stretched his hand out in front of Su Xue's eyes, but Su Xue slapped it away.

Su Xue: "From now on, you should wear light makeup every day, just like me. As your aunt said, wearing makeup is also a way of respecting yourself. For example, your aunt said that wearing skirts and high heels is not only for beauty, but also to be worthy of our women's figures."

"You've been successfully brainwashed by my aunt." Although she said that, she didn't actually refute Shen Muyun's words; many of them made a lot of sense.

Women wear makeup not only for politeness but also to please themselves. This is what Shen Muyun told her. So, during the years she was abroad, her aunt always encouraged her to dress up. Before she knew it, she had developed the habit of applying sunscreen and lip gloss before going out.

Women must dress themselves up. At home, they can wear pajamas, but when they go out, they should change clothes. Dressing fashionably and beautifully is not to please men, but to live a refined life. A good figure should not be hidden. Wear skirts and high heels as you please, making people look unapproachable. Live with confidence. These are the words that Shen Muyun taught her. Her grandfather never talked to her about these topics about women. What her grandfather talked about most was how to be a person and what it means to be a person.