Shen Yanli had learned from the first eighteen years of his life that there was no such thing as a free lunch.
Just like how he wanted President Wang to buy a few more bottles of fine wine so he could make a higher commission, he had to endure that man’s abusive quirks.
In the afternoon at the school gate, the little princess had stood up for him purely out of sympathy.
At that time, she obviously knew Su Nanye and was certain that Su Nanye wouldn’t do anything to her.
Helping someone else without harming one’s own interests was understandable.
Yet, in the evening, she offended President Wang on his behalf, even though she had clearly been terrified at the time.
If it were still just out of sympathy, he would have thought she was a bit foolish.
However, she was genuinely going to spend money to buy the wine now.
Could it still possibly be out of sympathy?
He refused to believe there were such bleeding-heart saints in the world.
He was more inclined to believe that the little princess wanted to get something from him.
Whatever he had, he was willing to give.
That way, his conscience would feel balanced.
The young man standing two steps away stared at her without blinking, his dark pupils resembling soul-stealing obsidian.
He was standing rather close to the roadside streetlamp right now.
His handsome face was half plunged in shadow and half illuminated by the light.
The sharp angles of his features appeared even more distinct, and the bridge of his nose was as straight as a mountain ridge.
Su Ning was hard-controlled by this peak aesthetic for three full seconds before she finally reacted to what he had said.
What did she need him to do?
Of course, she needed him not to exact revenge on her brother in the future.
However, voicing that reason would make her sound like her brain had issues.
The fact that time travel happened was something only immediate family needed to know.
Even so, treating him this well indeed required an excuse.
Su Ning’s long, curled eyelashes fluttered as she smiled and said, “I need you to remember me.”
Remember her kindness, and then return that grace to her brother.
Su Ning kept this last sentence to herself.
Shen Yanli couldn’t possibly guess the deeper meaning behind it either.
Yet, upon hearing her words, his heartbeat inexplicably quickened, and his pale, cold fingertips went rigid for a second.
Remember her?
Was it really that simple?
The little princess severely underestimated her own charm.
With how gorgeous and dazzling she was, anyone who laid eyes on her would probably find it impossible not to remember her.
This request was far too simple, making Shen Yanli somewhat skeptical.
On second thought, though, he was poor, lowly, and possessed absolutely nothing.
What on earth could he possibly offer the little princess?
Her attire, her temperament, and her personality all screamed that she had grown up in an exceptionally privileged environment.
Could he refuse this transaction?
Of course not.
He desperately needed the money; otherwise, he wouldn’t have tolerated being treated that way by President Wang.
Yet now, he was going to get that exact same money without having to sacrifice anything at all.
“Alright.”
In the dim light, the cool-toned young man parted his lips and uttered a single word.
“All the dishes have been served, so why hasn’t Xiaoning come back yet?” Su Jianheng furrowed his brow.
Su Nanye was pondering the same question.
Could his little sister have gotten lost?
Or worse, could she have vanished altogether?
Everything that had happened from this afternoon up until now felt far too unreal.
Su Nanye had been plagued all day by a floating, untethered sensation, as if his feet couldn’t touch the ground.
Realizing that his sister might have disappeared, a boundless panic welled up from the bottom of his heart.
Since she could time-travel here, she could just as easily time-travel back.
If that happened, there was no telling when he would ever see her again.
He immediately stood up. “I’ll go look for her.”
Su Jianheng looked at her. “Your sister went to the women’s restroom, so how are you going to look for her in there? Have a waitress go in and check for you.”
Su Nanye drew in a breath and strode toward the doorway.
To his surprise, he had barely walked a few steps outside when he spotted Su Ning coming up from the first floor.
The hanging boulder in Su Nanye’s chest finally dropped back down. He rushed over and asked, “Why did you take so long?”
Su Ning immediately linked her arm through Su Nanye’s, turned him around, and said with a smile, “I’m a little constipated.”
She really was a biological younger sister; she had zero filter on what she said!
Su Nanye’s mouth twitched slightly. “Fine, the food is about to get cold.”
The two of them walked back together.
A group of people happened to be heading upstairs, and one of them caught sight of the backs of the two figures.
“Hey! Isn’t that Su Nanye from our school?”
With that hairstyle and hair color, not just the school, but the entire city of Haishi couldn’t produce a second person like him.
Everyone’s gazes shifted toward Su Nanye’s direction.
“Yeah, it’s him. Why is there a girl holding his arm?”
“Could it be his girlfriend? I’ve never heard of anything like that!”
“His standards are way too high. A lot of people have confessed to him and gotten rejected. I’m so curious what his girlfriend looks like!”
“Wait a minute, doesn’t Su Nanye always have a crush on the school belle? Why would he date someone else?”
“He probably couldn’t win over the school belle, so he settled for a substitute!”
The group chattered noisily as they made their way to the third floor.
Neither Su Nanye nor Su Ning paid any attention to that group of people.
Upon entering the private dining room, Su Ning sat down and immediately started eating.
She sat right in the middle, with Su Nanye and Su Jianheng flanking her on either side.
Since Su Nanye was at an age where he was still growing, he usually scarfed down his food with ravenous speed.
Tonight, however, he barely ate anything, his left eye silently watching Su Ning the entire time.
He picked up a piece of braised pork belly with his chopsticks, took a single bite, and put it down without eating anymore.
This restaurant’s braised pork probably didn’t suit his sister’s palate.
She had two bites of the steamed sea bass, her eyes narrowing into crescents each time. She loved it.
The vegetable dishes on the table remained virtually untouched; she didn’t like them.
She glanced at the braised prawns several times, looking somewhat tempted, yet she didn’t reach for them.
Su Nanye’s left eye rolled around, and he quickly stretched out his chopsticks to grab a prawn.
Right at that moment, a pair of chopsticks extended toward the plate of prawns right in front of him.
Su Nanye turned his head and saw it was his old man.
Ignoring him, Su Nanye plucked up a prawn and began peeling it.
Once the pristine, tender shrimp meat was exposed, he picked it up and placed it right into Su Ning’s bowl.
Just then, he noticed there were already two pieces of shrimp meat sitting in Su Ning’s bowl.
Su Nanye wrinkled his nose.
Damn it! He’d been beaten to the punch by the old man!
Refusing to accept defeat, Su Nanye hurried to grab and peel several more.
From Su Ning’s expression, Su Jianheng could easily tell that she wanted to eat shrimp but was too lazy to peel the shells, so she simply chose not to eat them.
His wife had been exactly like that.
His son still lacked seasoning if he thought he could compete with him.
He was a veteran at peeling shrimp.
Su Ning indeed didn’t want to deal with shrimp shells, but looking at the mounting pile of shrimp meat accumulating in her bowl, her lips twitched slightly. “Hold on!”
Caught red-handed with eyes glowing red from a peeling contest, the father and son turned their heads simultaneously to look at Su Ning.
Su Ning smiled sweetly as she pushed the pile of shrimp meat away, wrinkling her nose in disdain. “Neither of you wore gloves, so I’m not eating these!”
Su Nanye and Su Jianheng: “…”
The two of them awkwardly split and ate the shrimp meat from Su Ning’s bowl themselves.
At that moment, the waitress walked in. “Sorry for the wait, the restaurant has been a bit busy tonight, so the wine you ordered was just delivered.”
“Wine?” Su Jianheng only drank during business banquets, and he hadn’t ordered any tonight. “We didn’t…”
Su Ning’s eyes curved into smiling crescents. “I ordered it. It’s a welcome gift for Dad, the two best bottles of wine this place has to offer.”
By helping out Shen Yanli while simultaneously making her dad happy, she was practically a little genius!
Su Jianheng was momentarily stunned.
The next second, his typically cold and detached face broke into a smile that bloomed like a chrysanthemum.
His daughter was so sensible; the aging father was deeply moved. “Good, good, thank you, Daughter!”
“Should I open them now?” the waitress asked.
This was an extravagant purchase.
At 8,999 yuan per bottle, Hongyan Restaurant couldn’t even sell a few bottles of this liquor in an entire month.
It would take several months of her salary just to afford one bottle.
Yet this little girl ordered two bottles without blinking.
Of course, the sales commission wouldn’t go to her; it belonged to little Shen.
Since little Shen had accompanied her to purchase it at the front desk, the waitress didn’t feel any sense of unfairness.
The little girl probably only bought it because she thought little Shen was handsome, anyway.
“No need to open them, just hand them to me.”
Su Jianheng smiled as he took the bottles.
This was the first gift his daughter had ever given him.
Who would ever bear to drink this? It had to be taken home and put on display in a collection!
Watching his old man grinning with a face full of wrinkles, Su Nanye curled his lip in silent judgment.
Su Jianheng shot him a sideways glance. “I won’t even bother scolding you. You haven’t gifted me a single damn thing all these years.”
Su Nanye flipped his bangs. “I can gift you a fart right now, do you want it?”
Su Jianheng: “…”
Raising a son was worse than raising a slab of barbecued pork!
The waitress spoke up again, “There are also two bottles of orange soda, I’ll leave them here.”
Su Nanye’s eyes lit up instantly as he looked at Su Ning. “Is the orange soda for me?”
Su Ning nodded. “Yes.”
Her older brother had always loved orange-flavored things.
Though the price tag was drastically lower, Su Nanye’s level of happiness matched Su Jianheng’s completely.
Su Nanye cracked open a bottle and handed it to Su Ning, then popped open another one, chugged half of it down in a gulp, and announced, “Waitress, bring me a pair of disposable gloves!”
“Bring two pairs!” Su Jianheng chimed in.
This time around, Su Ning happily ate the shrimp peeled by both her brother and her dad.
The entire plate of prawns was polished clean.
Feeling full, Su Ning remembered something and turned to look at Su Jianheng. “Dad, I was originally a high school senior, but since I traveled back in time, I want to continue my studies. Can you arrange that for me?”
A profound sense of gratification washed over Su Jianheng.
Look at that, this was a daughter: not only cute and sensible, but fond of studying to boot.
That brat Su Nanye only knew how to slack off all day long.
“No problem at all. I’ll arrange for you to be in the same class as your brother.”
After dinner, Su Jianheng paid the bill.
Looking at the total of over twenty thousand yuan for a single meal, Su Jianheng didn’t blink an eye.
A daughter’s thoughtful gesture was priceless!
The three of them headed to Haishi’s largest department store for a shopping spree.
Su Ning had arrived in this era all by herself, carrying absolutely nothing.
The list of items she needed was extensive.
Su Nanye and Su Jianheng transformed into coolie porters, carrying bags in their hands and hanging even more from their necks.
They arrived back at the family villa.
At Su Jianheng’s prior telephone notification, the domestic staff had already cleaned and prepared a bedroom for Su Ning.
This wasn’t the villa she was familiar with from her memories.
This particular area would later undergo redevelopment to build commercial housing blocks.
Even so, wherever her brother was, that place was her home.
Su Ning liked it here just fine.
Enrolling in school required household registration documents, and Su Jianheng still needed to treat people to meals to arrange her transfer.
Transferring schools also entailed getting various paperwork processed.
Even though Su Jianheng told her it wasn’t necessary, Su Ning still insisted on taking a paternity test.
While Su Jianheng had been certain all along, seeing the actual results brought tears dangerously close to his eyes.
A few days flashed by in the blink of an eye.
On Monday of the new week, Su Ning reported to Class Four at Haishi Xinghui Middle School.