Do you have anything to ask me?

Bai Jinyan declined the servant's invitation to enter and stood quietly outside the Gao family's villa, waiting. Finally, the front door opened again, and that familiar, tall figure slowly walked out.

When he saw Chen Ruowen wearing a pair of pajamas he had never seen before, Bai Jinyan's pupils constricted sharply.

"Let's go."

The two stood facing each other for a long while before Chen Ruowen finally spoke first.

Bai Jinyan nodded stiffly, turned around, and led Chen Ruowen to the Land Rover he had driven.

The Gao family's villa was not located in Clear Water Waterside, nor was it the one on the edge of the Second Ring Road, but rather in another villa cluster in the city center, only a ten-minute drive from the World Tower.

Bai Jinyan drove Chen Ruowen toward Crape Myrtle Garden, and neither of them spoke the entire way.

Bai Jinyan was afraid that the moment he opened his mouth, he would ask some question he shouldn't, or hear an answer he didn't want to hear. Meanwhile, Chen Ruowen was thinking about what Gao Tang had said to her, waiting with complex emotions for Bai Jinyan's reaction.

However, Bai Jinyan had no reaction.

The car soon arrived at Crape Myrtle Garden. Bai Jinyan released the brake, but did not unfasten his seatbelt.

"You go on up by yourself, I won't walk you in," Bai Jinyan said, staring at the steering wheel in front of him.

Chen Ruowen didn't move.

Bai Jinyan didn't urge her further, either, just staring fixedly at the steering wheel. The atmosphere inside the car was eerily quiet.

Finally, Chen Ruowen lost her patience. She turned her head to look at the expressionless Bai Jinyan.

"Don't you have anything you want to ask me?"

Bai Jinyan tightened his grip on the steering wheel and nodded stiffly.

"Are you still feeling uncomfortable anywhere? Do you need to ask for leave from tomorrow's military training?"

"Is that all you want to ask me?"

"What else am I supposed to ask?"

Bai Jinyan struggled hard to control his emotions.

The two had agreed to have dinner together, but when the time came, he couldn't find Chen Ruowen anywhere, and his phone calls to her went unanswered...

Just as he was starting to panic, he received a call from Gao Tang.

And that call had actually been answered by Chen Ruowen.

Yet what was he supposed to ask? Ask her what she had done during those few missing hours? Ask her why she went to the Gao family and came out wearing a pair of pajamas he had never seen before? Or ask her what the ambiguous remark Gao Tang made at the end of the call really meant?

He cared far too much about the answer.

Or rather, ever since the day Gao Tang appeared, he had been incapable of not caring about this person.

However, if... if Chen Ruowen answered that something had happened between her and Gao Tang—even if nothing had happened, and it was simply because of this instance of playing the hero saving the damsel in distress that her feelings toward Gao Tang had undergone some unfathomable change...

Bai Jinyan felt that he could not bear any of those answers.

If that was the case, it was better to just pretend as if nothing had happened.

"I'll ask you again, do you have anything to ask me?"

"...No."

Chen Ruowen hesitated no longer. She unfastened her seatbelt, pushed the car door open without looking back, and left.

Watching Chen Ruowen walk upstairs, Bai Jinyan expressionlessly slammed his foot down hard on the accelerator and sped toward the outskirts. The sky-high speed along the way drew sideways glances from countless people.

...

Chen Ruowen walked out of the elevator listlessly. It wasn't until she was about to punch in the password to open the door that she noticed a faint, unassuming figure standing outside. The person was hugging her handbag, carrying a large bag, and looking at her pitifully—there was no telling how long they had been waiting.

"Ruowen, you're back? Are you still feeling uncomfortable? Did Gao Tang help you find a doctor?"

"Why are you standing outside?" Chen Ruowen opened the door and shooed Guo Jingyuan inside.

Aside from her family members, Bai Jinyan and Guo Jingyuan were the only two people she had told about moving to Crape Myrtle Garden.

This wasn't just limited to the address, but included the door lock's password as well. Chen Ruowen had specifically told Guo Jingyuan that if she had anything to come to her for, she could just open the door and go inside by herself.

Guo Jingyuan placed Chen Ruowen's handbag on the table, then walked over to the sofa and felt her forehead.

"Are you still feeling unwell? I bought you some porridge, do you want to drink some?"

"Leave it there, I have no appetite."

Chen Ruowen sighed. They had agreed to have dinner together tonight, yet Bai Jinyan hadn't even brought it up.

"No appetite? Are you still feeling sick? Should we call Dr. He over?" Guo Jingyuan asked worriedly.

Chen Ruowen shook her head listlessly.

"Then... then do you want to rest early?"

Chen Ruowen still shook her head. "Help me bring over two bottles of red wine. They're in the wine cabinet in the living room, just grab any two bottles."

"You want to drink alcohol?" Guo Jingyuan asked perplexedly, her little face tightening. "No, patients aren't allowed to drink."

Chen Ruowen: "..."

"Shall I feed you some porridge?" Guo Jingyuan looked sincerely at Chen Ruowen, opened a takeout bag beside her, and scooped out a bowl of still-warm porridge. "I cooked it myself in the dorm using an alcohol stove, and I put all your favorite things in it."

Looking at the pure and expectant gaze of the girl before her, Chen Ruowen opened her mouth and swallowed the spoonful of porridge Guo Jingyuan fed her.

Guo Jingyuan's eyes immediately curved into shallow crescents.

She stayed until Chen Ruowen finished the entire bowl of porridge, helped her tidy up the messy room, and then sat back down in front of the sofa.

"I've already asked Teacher Qin for leave, so you can skip the next few days of military training. But Teacher Qin said he doesn't have the authority to excuse all of it; if you miss military training for the entire month, you have to hand in a sick leave note, otherwise you won't be able to get the credits for it."

Chen Ruowen let out an "en."

Guo Jingyuan leaned in close to her again, her large eyes filled with a hint of worry.

"Are you uncomfortable? Or are you in a bad mood?"

Guo Jingyuan felt as though she might have been talking a bit too much. If it were anyone else, she wouldn't dare ask a second time after not receiving a response the first time. But when it came to Chen Ruowen, Guo Jingyuan always seemed to summon a bit more courage.

After this second round of questioning, Chen Ruowen finally nodded gloomily.

"In a bad mood."

"Is it... did Gao Tang make you angry?"

"Why would I ever get angry because of that person?"

"Then it must be Bai Jinyan." Guo Jingyuan nodded knowingly.

Chen Ruowen didn't make a sound. Guo Jingyuan asked a few more times before Chen Ruowen reluctantly began telling her what had happened that afternoon, piece by little piece.

"So... you're angry because Bai Jinyan wasn't angry?"

Guo Jingyuan found it a bit difficult to sort out this logical relationship.

How could anyone possibly get angry because someone else didn't get angry at them? This was a bit convoluted... and far too strange.

Besides... had Bai Jinyan really not been angry?

"But if he wasn't angry, how could Bai Jinyan have gone the whole way without speaking to you?"

Chen Ruowen froze for a moment.

Guo Jingyuan continued, "When my mother was still alive, she never once quarreled with my dad. Every time they had a conflict, my mom would stop talking, and then go back to her room to secretly shed tears. Thinking back on it now, she probably didn't dare quarrel with my dad at all."

Not talking, and then going back to her room to secretly shed tears?

Chen Ruowen looked uncertainly out the window.

Bai Jinyan secretly shedding tears by himself? Was such a thing even possible?

No way!