Oh no! I've only been a freshman and I've already been targeted by a mean upperclassman.

Ziyun Villa, North District, Linjiang City.

This is a well-known affluent area along the river, where land is incredibly valuable. Inside a Chinese-style villa halfway up the mountain, the air is filled with the fragrance of sandalwood.

Yan Zhen sat in a mahogany armchair, twirling two shiny lion's head walnuts in his hands.

He was dressed in a loose Tang suit, with a buzz cut and gray hair, and a faint scar on his brow bone—a "medal" he had earned in his early years fighting in the underworld.

Although he has now retired from his life of crime and started a legitimate business, his imposing aura still makes the new housekeeper tremble every time she pours tea.

"bite."

My phone, which was placed next to the tea tray, vibrated.

Yan Zhen didn't even lift his eyelids. He slowly picked up the purple clay cup and blew away the foam.

At this time, it's usually only Lao Zhang who sends messages.

Old Zhang was his most trusted brother; he was skilled in martial arts and kept his mouth shut.

Ever since Yan Xi went to university, Yan Zhen has sent Lao Zhang to protect her secretly.

After all, Yan Zhen had many enemies. Although things had been peaceful in recent years, one should always be wary of others.

Yan Zhen took a sip of Da Hong Pao tea, put down the teacup, and then picked up his phone.

Unlock and open WeChat.

It's a photograph.

Because it was taken secretly, the image quality is a bit blurry, and the angle is also awkward.

The background is a pedestrian street in the city center, bustling with people.

In the very center of the photo are a man and a woman.

He knew the woman well; she was Yan Xi, his precious daughter.

He wasn't familiar with the man.

He was a tall, upright young man wearing a black baseball cap, holding a cup of milk tea, and holding the straw to Yan Xi's lips.

Yan Xi, who is usually a germaphobe and even insists on using serving chopsticks when her own father picks up food, actually lowered her head slightly and bit the straw in the boy's hand.

"Click."

Yan Zhen lost his grip on the walnuts and dropped one onto the tea tray, causing the expensive purple clay toad tea pet to tremble.

"Cough cough cough—"

Before he could even swallow a mouthful of Da Hong Pao tea, it went straight into his trachea, and Yan Zhen coughed violently, his face turning red and his neck thick.

Luo Yun, who was arranging flowers nearby, was startled and quickly put down the scissors in her hand to help him catch his breath.

"What's wrong? How could you choke on your tea?"

Luo Yun is very well-preserved. Although she is in her early forties, she has fair skin and a gentle temperament, and you can still vaguely tell that she was a great beauty when she was young.

Yan Xi's devastatingly beautiful face was largely inherited from her.

Yan Zhen waved his hand, not bothering to speak, and grabbed his phone, zooming in on the photo again and again.

Even after zooming in on the kid's face until it was blurred out, they still couldn't recognize who it was.

He took a deep breath and, with trembling fingers, dialed Old Zhang's number.

The call was answered instantly.

"Old Zhang!"

Yan Zhen lowered his voice, making it sound like he was squeezing it out between his teeth, "Are you getting old and blind, or did you take the wrong picture?"

On the other end of the phone, Old Zhang, hiding behind a GG sign on the pedestrian street, said in a low voice, "Boss, I've been with Miss Zhang for three years. I'd recognize her even if she were burned to ashes."

"It can't be wrong."

"Then who is this man?!"

"I don't know, he looks like a student."

"The young lady just bought him a hat, and the two of them... seemed quite close."

Old Zhang hesitated for a moment, then added, "The young lady seemed quite happy with that milk tea just now; she even smiled."

Yan Zhen felt his head buzzing.

You laughed?

How much effort would it take for him to see his daughter smile at home?

This wild kid got it all sorted out with just one cup of milk tea?

"Boss, should I go...?"

Old Zhang's tone turned serious. "Investigate their background? Or give them a warning?"

Yan Zhen fell silent.

He paced back and forth in the living room, crackling as he played with the walnuts in his hands.

If it were before, if anyone dared to get this close to Yan Xi, he would have had their legs broken long ago.

But things are different now. My daughter is all grown up, and besides, Yan Xi's temper...

If she finds out that he has sent people to monitor her and interfere in her private life, then the father-daughter relationship will probably plummet to rock bottom.

"Don't move yet."

Yan Zhen gritted his teeth, "Just follow behind, but don't get spotted."

"If that kid dares to lay a hand on me..."

"I understand, dismember the leg."

Old Zhang responded very skillfully.

"What are you talking about?! This is a society governed by the rule of law!"

Yan Zhen glared at him. "If he dares to do anything reckless, you... you just need to come out and cough once! That'll scare him a little!"

After hanging up the phone, Yan Zhen plopped down on the sofa as if he had just fought a tough battle.

Luo Yun had been watching from the side for a long time, and now he finally understood.

She picked up the walnuts that had fallen onto the tea tray, put them back in Yan Zhen's hand, and asked curiously, "What does this mean?"

"Has our cycad blossomed?"

Yan Zhen tossed his phone to her irritably: "Look for yourself! What a disgrace to our family! We've let a wolf into our home!"

Luo Yun picked up her phone.

My eyes lit up after just one glance.

"Hey, this young man is quite good-looking."

Luo Yun zoomed in on the photo. Although he couldn't see the details of the facial features clearly, the outline and figure indicated that he was definitely a handsome man.

"Look at his height, he must be at least 1.85 meters tall, right?"

"She and Xixi look quite good together."

"A perfect match my ass!"

Yan Zhen cursed angrily, "Look at him, wearing a hat to hide himself, he's obviously no good!"

"He might just be a gigolo who swindles money and takes advantage of women!"

That's prejudice.

Luo Yun rolled her eyes at him. "Don't you know what kind of taste our daughter has?"

"Would she even consider someone who's not conventionally attractive?"

"That boy from the Liu family has been pursuing her for two years, but Xixi hasn't even given him a second glance."

Speaking of Liu Xu, Yan Zhen snorted, "That kid is wicked, I don't like him."

"But this kid..."

He pointed at Li Chen on the screen: "His origins are unknown!"

"Alright, alright, stop having this paranoia."

Luo Yun saved the photos on her phone and casually sent them to her WeChat account. "No matter what, it's a good thing that Xi Xi is willing to date."

"I'm afraid she'll go crazy studying that architecture major and end up marrying blueprints."

After saying that, Luo Yun picked up his phone and tapped the screen rapidly with his fingers.

What are you doing?

Yan Zhen looked at her warily.

"Call Xixi!"

Luo Yun looked excited. "Ask where this son-in-law is from, what his family does, and when he's going to bring him home for a meal."

"Don't hit him!"

Yan Zhen reacted quickly and grabbed Luo Yun's hand.

"If you hit him, won't you give yourself away?"

"If Xixi finds out that Lao Zhang is following her, she'll give me the cold shoulder again."

Luo Yun thought about it and agreed.

My daughter has that kind of temper; she responds better to gentle persuasion than force.

"Then what do you suggest we do? Just stand by and watch?"

Luo Yun was somewhat unwilling.

Yan Zhen released his grip, leaned back in his armchair, his brows furrowed, adopting the air of a shrewd and calculating leader.

"If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move."

"Old Zhang is keeping an eye on things; nothing serious will happen."

"Besides..."

Yan Zhen narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "If this kid really has the ability to win Xi Xi's heart, he'll have to get past me first."

"If he can't even detect Old Zhang's two tricks, then he doesn't deserve to enter the Yan family."

Luo Yun looked at her husband speechlessly: "Have you forgotten that Lao Zhang was a retired special reconnaissance soldier?"

"Could a college student have discovered him?"

Yan Zhen choked.

"Anyway, let's not alert them yet."

He waved his hand somewhat irritably, "I need to find an opportunity to ask indirectly."

"How should I ask? Should I ask my daughter if she's been taken advantage of by a pig?"

"Luo Yun!"

Yan Zhen glared, "That's our daughter! What do you mean by 'pig'?!"

"That's what you mean by letting a wolf into the house."

Luo Yun smiled and got up, then went to the kitchen to cut fruit, in a good mood. "Anyway, I'm quite happy."

"As long as Xixi likes it, who cares who he is?"

Yan Zhen was the only one left in the living room.

He stared at his phone screen for a long time, and the more he looked, the more he felt that the kid in the photo was an eyesore.

It's like you've painstakingly cultivated a top-quality orchid for twenty years, and you even have to control the water temperature when watering it. Then one day, some random kid suddenly appears out of nowhere, carrying a broken watering can and tries to water it.

The crucial point is that the orchid didn't even try to dodge!

"Oh shit."

The once powerful and influential Yan could only stare at his phone screen and mutter a frustrated curse.

……

Downtown, a high-end Western restaurant.

Li Chen sneezed.

"Achoo!"

The sound wasn't loud, but it came quite suddenly.

Yan Xi, who was cutting steak across from him, looked up when she heard this and glanced at him.

"Have you caught a cold?"

"without."

Li Chen rubbed his nose, somewhat puzzled. "I guess someone is cursing at me."

"Or maybe your three sons are thinking about the late-night snack you brought back."

Yan Xi forked a piece of cut steak, but instead of putting it in her own mouth, she naturally handed it to Li Chen's plate.

"Eat more meat to boost your immunity."

Li Chen looked at the extra beef on the plate, then at Yan Xi's indifferent face.

This feeling of being fed is damn sweet.

"Senior."

"Um?"

"you say……"

Li Chen leaned back, his gaze casually sweeping over a telephone pole on the street corner outside the window. "If your dad found out that some poor kid is kidnapping his daughter, would he try to kill me with a knife?"

Yan Xi paused for a moment while cutting the meat.

She looked up, a sly smile flashing in her cat-like eyes.

"My dad?"

"Um."

"He might have actually killed people in the past."

Yan Xi spoke calmly, as if she were saying that the weather was nice today, "But now that I'm older, I'm focused on self-cultivation and probably won't be having surgery."

Li Chen breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."

"At most, I'll throw you into the river."

Li Chen: "..."

Seeing Li Chen's stiff expression, Yan Xi finally couldn't help but chuckle.

That smile was like ice and snow melting away, leaving the diners at the surrounding tables stunned.

Just kidding.

Yan Xi put down her knife and fork, picked up her wine glass, and swirled it.

"He wouldn't dare touch anything I chose."

Domineering.

Protecting one's own.

Looking at her, Li Chen's displeasure at being followed vanished instantly.

Who cares who sent him, who cares if he's Old Zhang or Old Li.

As long as the person in front of him cares about him, he would dare to offer them a cigarette even if the King of Heaven himself came.

"Eat quickly."

Yan Xi urged, "Let's go buy some clothes after we finish eating."

"Still want to buy?"

Li Chen glanced at the bags at his feet. "Isn't that enough?"

"Those are autumn clothes."

Yan Xi said matter-of-factly, "It's getting cold soon, I'll buy you two coats."

"No need, I have..."

"It's your business if you have it, and it's my business if I want to buy it."

Yan Xi interrupted him, took out the black card and slammed it on the table, "Be good."

Li Chen looked at the black card, then at Yan Xi's "no arguments allowed" expression.

Fine.

Being able to live off a woman is also a skill.

Outside the window, behind the utility pole.

Old Zhang hunched his shoulders, holding a half-eaten jianbing guozi in one hand and binoculars in the other.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?"

The henchman beside her exclaimed excitedly, "Miss slammed her black card on the table! She's going to be a sugar daddy!"

Old Zhang sighed and took a big bite of the pancake.

"It's over."

"This time, the boss is truly heartbroken."

"Write it down. At what time did the young lady pay the bill for the target?"

"While you're at it, find out where that men's clothing store is. The owner probably wants to take it over."

Why?

"Just to see if that kid's outfit looks good!"

Old Zhang rolled his eyes. "Our boss is a total doting father. As long as his daughter is happy, he'll buy her clothes, or even the whole mall for her. He might grumble a bit, but he'll still have to pay for it in the end."

The younger brother looked at him with admiration: "Boss is so generous."

Looking at the perfect couple in the restaurant, Old Zhang silently lit a candle for Yan Zhen in his heart.

Boss, it looks like we won't be able to keep this cabbage.