Sweetie, don't look at him, kiss me.

Lin Qingmian found it somewhat amusing to hear Lin Qingqing's matter-of-fact tone on the other end of the phone.

She didn't answer the first part of Lin Qingqing's question, but instead spoke, her voice calm yet tinged with a hint of probing: "Lin Qingqing, have you liked Ji Xingye for a long time?"

"Is that why you're in such a hurry?"

There was silence for a few seconds on the other end of the phone.

Then, Lin Qingqing's voice rang out again, carrying a sharp, undisguised emotion that Lin Qingmian had never heard before: "So what if it is?"

"Lin Qingmian, do you really think that Ji Xingye spent those twenty years with you because he truly loved you?"

"He just pities you."

"I told you long ago, you're not good enough for him."

The voice coming from the phone was like a needle, piercing precisely into Lin Qingmian's heart.

She gripped her phone tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"Then I wish you good luck."

Her voice was very soft, so soft it seemed to drift from a great distance: "I hope you can make him like you as much as he likes me."

After saying that, she hung up the phone.

The phone screen went dark, revealing her pale but calm face.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Qingmian stared at the darkened screen for a long time.

Lin Qingqing's words, "He just pities you," are like a tiny fishbone stuck in my throat, neither swallowing nor spitting out.

She's long past the age where she'd be hurt by such words.

But the fact that those words came from Lin Qingqing's mouth, carrying the sharp and sarcastic malice accumulated over more than twenty years, still made her feel somewhat stifled.

She flipped her phone face down on the table and glanced down at the mostly uneaten food.

It's already getting a bit chilly.

She had no desire to touch her chopsticks anymore.

She got up and took the dishes into the kitchen. She turned on the tap and clumsily rinsed the dishes with her left hand. With her right arm in a cast, it was indeed inconvenient to do these things with only one hand. The dishes slipped from her hands several times and almost fell into the sink.

She looked at her right arm, which was slinged across her chest, in the mirror and suddenly found it somewhat comical.

At this time yesterday, she was still in school, discussing with Yao Yingyu whether to go shopping together on the weekend, and thinking about how to hide her identity as "Miss No Sleep" from Ji Linzhou.

In just one day, her world was turned upside down.

Car accident, hospitalization, Ji Xingye's return, Lin Qingqing's confession...

There's also Ji Linzhou.

She remembered the way he closed the door when he left, the food he left on the dining table, the silhouette of him in the sunlight as he sat by the window working, and the serious expression on his face when he said, "If you mind, I might as well take you there to supervise."

My heart started beating faster than usual again.

She took a deep breath, put the washed dishes back on the dish rack, wiped her hands, and returned to the living room.

The night outside the window was deep, and the city lights in the distance looked like scattered diamonds on black velvet.

She sat on the sofa in a daze for a while, then pulled out her drawing board and pencils.

Since I can't sleep, I might as well do something productive.

She turned on the desk lamp, placed the drawing board on her lap, and, holding a pencil in her left hand, began sketching a new design. Drawing with only her left hand wasn't very smooth; the lines were crooked, but the general outline was still discernible.

She painted a dress from the Dawn & Dusk line's next season's haute couture collection.

The inspiration came from a sunset she saw on her balcony one evening—pink, orange, and purple intertwined, like a watercolor painting blurred by water. She wanted to incorporate that flowing, soft sense of color into the design of the skirt, so that the wearer would feel as if they were draped in the glow of twilight.

She was so engrossed in her painting that she forgot about time.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the banquet hall of the Ji family's old mansion was not as harmonious as Ji Xingqing's posts on social media.

Ji Linzhou sat in the middle of the table, his slender fingers holding a wine glass, his fingertips gently rubbing the glass, but he didn't drink.

His gaze swept lightly over everyone at the table, finally settling on Ji Xingye sitting opposite him.

Ji Xingye didn't look well. Although he had changed into a well-tailored dark blue suit and his hair was meticulously styled, the fatigue and absent-mindedness in his eyes were still undeniable. He mechanically responded to the questions that Old Madam Ji brought up, occasionally giving a reply, but mostly keeping his head down and fiddling with the food on his plate.

"Hoshino, you're not leaving this time you're back in Japan, are you?" Old Madam Ji smiled kindly. "I've had your room reserved for you, and I even had it renovated. You can stay here tonight."

Ji Xingye forced a smile, revealing a perfunctory one: "Thank you, Grandma."

"What are you thanking me for? This is my own home." Madam Ji paused, glancing at Su Tingwan intentionally or unintentionally. "Your uncle is getting married soon, it's time for you to settle things down too."

Ji Xingye paused for a moment as he fiddled with the food.

He looked up at Madam Ji: "Marriage? Uncle?"

"That's right." Old Madam Ji smiled and patted Su Tingwan's hand: "Once Tingwan and Linzhou's marriage is settled in the near future, you will be the next great joy in the Ji family."

Ji Xingye shifted his gaze from Old Madam Ji to Ji Linzhou, who was not far away.

The latter was holding a glass of red wine, sitting calmly in his chair, as if the conversation had nothing to do with him.

Su Tingwan sat beside him, one hand affectionately resting on his arm, her head slightly leaning against his shoulder, their posture intimate and natural.

Ji Xingye's brows furrowed involuntarily.

He recalled the scene he witnessed at the hospital today—Ji Linzhou pulling Lin Qingmian away from his embrace and shielding her behind him, along with those cold, sharp eyes.

The Ji Linzhou he knew was never the type to meddle in other people's business.

But his reaction today clearly crossed the line of "a younger brother taking care of a younger generation".

"Uncle."

Ji Xingye spoke, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for everyone at the table to hear: "Did you go see Mianmian today?"

The air at the dining table fell silent for a moment.

Ji Linzhou's fingers, which were holding the wine glass, paused slightly before he resumed his normal expression: "Hmm."

"How is she?" Ji Xingye pressed, his gaze fixed on Ji Linzhou's face.

"A fractured arm, requires rest." Ji Linzhou put down his wine glass, his voice calm: "It's nothing serious."

"That's good." Ji Xingye lowered his head, it was unclear whether he was answering or talking to himself.

Su Tingwan sat next to Ji Linzhou and heard the conversation between the uncle and nephew clearly.

Her eyes darkened, and the fingers holding Ji Linzhou's arm unconsciously tightened.

"Lin Zhou, you seem to care quite a bit about Miss Lin." She said with a smile, her voice perfectly gentle: "She was in a car accident, and you stayed with her at the hospital and personally drove her home."

These words created an awkward atmosphere at the dinner table.