At that moment, the brows of the young man standing nearby furrowed deeper. He finally tossed the cigarette he hadn’t finished to the ground and crushed it underfoot before preparing to walk toward Huo Yunzhi.
But someone appeared even faster than him.
Bang! Bang! Those thugs were caught off guard and suddenly kicked down from behind. One of them, who had reached out to grab Huo Yunzhi, had his arm grabbed and twisted hard.
Crack! The sound of bone snapping echoed.
Then came waves of screams.
Before Huo Yunzhi could even react, the thugs around her had all collapsed. She lifted her head and, completely unprepared, saw Shen Yan standing in front of her, patting imaginary dust off his clothes.
Shen Yan noticed that Huo Yunzhi’s clothes had been torn a bit during the scuffle, so he draped his jacket over her shoulders.
“Shen Yan, you… why are you here?” Huo Yunzhi’s beautiful eyes widened in surprise.
“You should be glad it was me who came,” Shen Yan replied indifferently.
The thugs scrambled to their feet, glaring furiously at Shen Yan and ready to curse him, but then saw the tall, muscular bodyguards stepping up behind him.
They swallowed their vulgar curses on the spot.
They weren’t idiots—anyone could see that Shen Yan was someone they couldn’t afford to offend.
“Get lost,” Shen Yan said coldly.
He was staying alert for the protagonist Lin Yu, who should be nearby. He didn’t want the situation to escalate.
Seeing the thugs flee in a panic, Lin Yu, who stood not far away, nearly broke down inside.
Damn it! What’s wrong with this guy!?
Every time I try to save the beauty, why does this guy show up!?
Such a stunning woman! Another chance gone! How could I miss out again!?
It was the same yesterday—and now again today! Lin Yu fell into an endless spiral of regret.
Shen Yan, meanwhile, felt lucky that he had arrived in time.
He glanced at Huo Yunzhi, frowning at the strong smell of alcohol on her. “A young woman drinking this much alone—do you have any idea how dangerous that is? I’ll take you home.” This story is hosted at novelping(.)com.
After saying that, he turned and began walking toward the parked car.
But behind him, Huo Yunzhi suddenly seemed to think of something. Her beautiful face turned icy cold, and she looked at Shen Yan with suspicion. “What a coincidence, huh?”
Shen Yan stopped in his tracks and turned, narrowing his eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
Disgust flickered in Huo Yunzhi’s eyes. She said coldly, “Don’t pretend. You didn’t arrange those guys, did you? You think a little act of heroism will make me see you differently?”
On any other day, well-bred Huo Yunzhi probably wouldn’t have said something like this. But the alcohol dulled her thinking and magnified her suspicion and dislike, and in a moment of impulse, the words spilled out.
Shen Yan’s reaction was even stronger.
His face darkened. “Miss Huo, are you drunk out of your mind, overly self-absorbed, or is your intelligence just decorative?”
“If it’s the first, I can excuse you. But if it’s either of the other two, then I must cancel this engagement.”
“If you think I staged all of this, feel free to investigate. With your Huo Family’s influence, it shouldn’t be hard.”
“And another thing—I’ll remind you. If I hadn’t shown up, in a few more minutes, you’d have been on the ground under those thugs, contorted in all kinds of positions.”
He didn’t use a single curse word, but the meaning behind his words made Huo Yunzhi’s eyes widen in shock.
“You!” For a moment, she couldn’t even respond. She stared at Shen Yan in disbelief.
This was the same Shen Yan who used to stutter just trying to talk to her? The same Shen Yan who only knew how to fawn over her? His words were now so sharp?
She was so furious, she almost coughed up blood.
Seeing her pale with anger, speechless, made Shen Yan feel incredibly refreshed—like drinking a whole bottle of ice-cold soda on a sweltering summer day, the chill spreading from his spine to his scalp.
Just then, Huo Yunzhi, flushed with wine, shouted, “You think I want to be engaged to you?! I never even liked you!”
“Oh? Since you don’t like me, then forget the engagement.”
Huo Yunzhi thought she misheard. “You… what did you say?”
Shen Yan said flatly, “If you don’t want to be engaged, then don’t force yourself.”
In the original novel, when Lin Yu saved her, he won her heart. When he saved her, he got accused of staging the whole thing.
In truth, after that moment of being dazzled by her looks, Shen Yan no longer had a good impression of Huo Yunzhi.
Because in the original novel, Shen Yan’s tragic fate was entirely due to this woman.
Later, countless cannon fodder characters threw themselves at Lin Yu just for Huo Yunzhi’s sake, all ending up as stepping stones to glorify the protagonist.
To Shen Yan, she was basically a walking disaster.
If some broke guy chased after her, maybe that would be understandable.
But the Shen Yan in the novel? A textbook example of a rich, handsome elite, surrounded by countless beautiful women. Why die clinging to just one tree like Huo Yunzhi? What was the point?
Honestly, Shen Yan would rather she stayed as far from him as possible.
“Are you serious?” Huo Yunzhi sobered up slightly, still unable to believe what she just heard.
“Do I look like I’m joking?” Shen Yan said calmly.
Huo Yunzhi was momentarily speechless.
Was he serious? Wasn’t it always his idea to be engaged to her?
She recalled how just yesterday, Shen Yan told her to go home and bring up breaking off the engagement herself. Was this all part of some mind game?
Shen Yan shrugged. “Alright, Miss Huo, don’t overthink it. In the past, I was immature and didn’t consider your feelings. But now I’ve figured it out—forcing something only leads to misery. Instead of having you hate me, I’d rather let go and give you your freedom.”
“…Fine,” Huo Yunzhi replied, still half-doubting.
She pursed her lips and said, “In that case, please inform our families and have the engagement canceled.” Her once cold tone had now softened into indifference.
“If you want to call it off, then bring it up when we get home,” Shen Yan said.
Huo Yunzhi immediately retorted, “If I’m the only one who mentions canceling the engagement, my family will just think I’m being childish. They’ll never agree.”
Seeing Shen Yan’s indifferent expression, she frowned and said, “So you really don’t want to break off the engagement. You’re just playing hard to get.”
Shen Yan raised a brow, his eyes turning a bit cold. “Playing hard to get?”