Ning Zhiyuan immediately caught the flaw in his words.
“Why were you at Guomao in the first place?”
Her father lived a simple life, spending most of his time going back and forth between home and the company.
It was rare for him to visit Guomao. How could he just happen to run into Bai Xiaoxiao there and see her handing out flyers?
“I recently had a business collaboration with the Pei family. Pei Jin asked to meet me at a tea restaurant near Guomao…”
“Dad, don’t you think that’s a little too much of a coincidence? Why did you just happen to run into her?”
“How could I not realize it’s a coincidence?” Ning Mingyuan sighed. “Yuanyuan, I’ll be honest with you. Yes, I feel some sympathy for them, but what I’m more afraid of is you regretting things in the future. I know better than anyone how important Bai Cuilan and her daughter have been to you all these years…”
Only then did Ning Zhiyuan remember.
Her father was a veteran businessman who had spent decades navigating the corporate world. How could such a crude trick fool him?
Every time he had softened his heart and compromised over the years, it had all been because of her.
In her previous life, Pei Jin and Bai Xiaoxiao had seized upon exactly that weakness. They had orchestrated everything, swallowed the Ning Corporation, and framed her father, ultimately sending him to prison.
She tightened her grip on her phone.
“I won’t have anything to do with that mother and daughter ever again. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with me. Besides, aren’t they Pei Jin’s godmother and godsister? We shouldn’t interfere in someone else’s family affairs.”
After hanging up, Ning Zhiyuan still couldn’t relax.
Since she hadn’t received a firm answer, she quickly sent another message.
This time, she dragged Shen Li into it.
[Dad, Shen Li doesn’t like the Bai family mother and daughter. Please stop helping them. I don’t want to make him unhappy.]
Only then did Ning Mingyuan relent.
[I understand. You two take care of each other.]
Not long afterward, lunch was ready.
Ning Zhiyuan wanted to help carry the dishes, but Shen Li was afraid she might burn herself. No matter what she said, he refused to let her help.
In the end, she could only sit obediently in her chair and wait.
Watching him move back and forth through the kitchen several times, busily carrying dishes to the table, she felt an indescribable sense of happiness.
When everything was finally set out, Shen Li placed the sweet-and-sour pork directly in front of her and casually served her a bowl of soup as well.
In her previous life, both she and Bai Xiaoxiao loved sweet-and-sour pork.
There had only ever been one plate.
Pei Jin always favored Bai Xiaoxiao. He would place the dish in front of her and serve soup only for her.
He would claim that he was helping Ning Zhiyuan lose weight.
Xiaoxiao was younger, physically weak, and needed more nutrition to grow.
But the truth was that Ning Zhiyuan weighed two pounds less than Bai Xiaoxiao.
Pei Jin’s excuses had been complete nonsense.
Yet with Shen Li, whenever there was something delicious or enjoyable, she was always his first priority.
“Weren’t you hungry? Hurry and try it.”
Ning Zhiyuan took a sip of the cuttlefish soup.
The rich sweetness spread across her taste buds and sank straight into her heart.
So this was what it felt like to be favored.
Without hesitation, she picked up several pieces of sweet-and-sour pork and placed them into Shen Li’s bowl.
Shen Li stared at the small mountain of food piling up in front of him and looked at her uncertainly.
“Why are you giving me your sweet-and-sour pork?”
Ning Zhiyuan loved sweet-and-sour pork.
The kind of love where she could finish several plates by herself.
When they were children, he would deliberately tease her by reaching for the dish.
Little Yuanyuan would immediately snatch up the entire plate like a treasured possession and glare at him angrily.
She wouldn’t even share a drop of the sweet-and-sour sauce.
Such generosity from her now left Shen Li completely overwhelmed.
“You’re too skinny. You need to eat more meat. The reason I brought chicken soup today was because I wanted you to nourish your body and recover properly.”
“For me… to recover?”
The chicken soup wasn’t because she wanted to leave him?
Shen Li’s fingers curled slightly.
He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
How could that be possible?
Ning Zhiyuan quickly added, trying to cover up her true feelings.
“You got hurt because of me. I have a responsibility to take care of your health.”
“But you never cared about me before. You never even came to visit me…”
His voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible.
He genuinely didn’t understand.
Nor did he want to tear away the fragile peace between them.
Everything he treasured now had been casually given to him by Yuanyuan.
She could take it all back whenever she wished.
If he angered her, the only person who would suffer was himself.
Ning Zhiyuan knew exactly what he meant.
There had always been a layer of fog between them.
They could never escape this vicious cycle.
“Shen Li, are you upset because I never visited you in the hospital? That’s because…”
“It’s okay, Yuanyuan. I understand. I don’t blame you. It’s really okay. You have your own things to do. Being busy is perfectly normal.”
The words tumbled out of Shen Li’s mouth in a disorderly rush.
He desperately wanted to change the subject.
But after finally gathering enough courage, Ning Zhiyuan didn’t want to retreat at the last moment.
If they didn’t clear up this misunderstanding, there would always be a barrier between them.
She slowly drew a deep breath.
“Because I’m afraid of hospitals.”
She was exposing the deepest wound she had kept hidden for so many years.
Of course, she concealed the truth about her rebirth.
She only explained that after her mother’s difficult childbirth, she had developed a fear of hospitals.
She spoke about how terrified she had been whenever she became sick, about the suffering she experienced during hospital visits, about the vase incident, and about what happened after Shen Li broke his leg…
As she talked, Shen Li’s eyes gradually reddened.
When he had been injured, no matter how much pain he endured, he had never felt it was unbearable.
Yet simply hearing Yuanyuan recount her past left his heart aching beyond measure.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Yuanyuan had always been afraid of hospitals.
And he had known absolutely nothing about it.
He felt angry at his own carelessness.
Pretending to sound relaxed, Ning Zhiyuan tried to steer the conversation elsewhere.
“I asked Bai Xiaoxiao to bring you a gift when she visited you. She came back with that letter cutting ties with me. After that, you stopped talking to me. What exactly happened back then?”
Shen Li tightened his grip on his chopsticks.
Staring down at the sweet-and-sour pork in his bowl, he remained silent.
That night, they lay side by side in bed.
Ning Zhiyuan turned onto her side and looked at Shen Li beside her.
The man quickly closed his eyes.
The tension in his tightly knitted brows betrayed his nervousness.
She placed her hand against his forehead.
Her soft fingers gently smoothed the slight crease between his brows.
Shen Li’s breathing grew lighter.
He waited until her hand finally withdrew.
Just as he was about to open his eyes, a hand quietly slipped beneath the blanket and grasped his.
“Go to sleep. Don’t try to scare me again tonight.”
Only then did Shen Li realize she was referring to the previous night, when she had woken up in the middle of the night and found him staring at her.
The warmth of her hand filled his palm.
For the first time, the restless heart that had never known peace felt completely calm.
Even though he didn’t fully believe everything Yuanyuan had told him.
He could still feel it.
Yuanyuan seemed to care about him, even if only a little.
Even if it was just one ten-millionth.
That alone made him indescribably happy.
Over the following days, Ning Zhiyuan remained consistent.
Every noon without fail, she delivered soup to Shen Li and urged him to take better care of his health.
Several times she ran into Pei Jin at the Shen Corporation, but she avoided him whenever possible and never managed to exchange more than a few words.
After all those days, Shen Li had actually put on a little weight.
He no longer looked so painfully thin.
It even seemed as though he had secretly started working out again, hoping to rebuild the muscle he had lost.
With the help of a psychologist, Ning Zhiyuan gradually became less fearful of hospitals as well.
The doctor suspected that someone had deliberately reinforced and manipulated her fears in the past.
Everything was moving in a positive direction.
Shen Li was no longer as resistant to her as before.
As for their relationship, however, progress remained slow.
Taking advantage of Shen Li’s vacation, Ning Zhiyuan planned to take him on a date to an amusement park.
That morning, she received a message.
[Miss, Cheng Ye has reached a dead end. He’s at the Ning Corporation right now and wants to see you.]
“Yuanyuan, is something important going on?”
Shen Li walked in from outside, concern written all over his face.
Ning Zhiyuan didn’t want to lie to him.
But explaining everything would be troublesome.
Perhaps life had been too peaceful lately.
For the first time, she felt tempted to simply walk away from it all.
Why bother with Pei Jin, Bai Cuilan, and Bai Xiaoxiao?
As long as they didn’t provoke her, why should she waste her precious time dealing with trash like them?
In her previous life, they had succeeded only because they exploited her trust.
In this life, she had seen through them early, driven them away, and drawn a clear boundary.
They could hardly cause any real trouble.
When they eventually destroyed themselves, she could always give them one final push.
Why make everything so complicated?
What did Cheng Ye have to do with her anyway?
“It’s nothing. Let’s go to the amusement park.”
The moment Shen Li turned around, Ning Zhiyuan sent a reply.
[Ignore him.]