Chapter 15: Here for Her Alone

Lin Xi stood frozen in place. Even when Qin Yu’s assistant returned with her luggage, she still hadn’t quite understood what Qin Yu had just said.

Perhaps the confusion on her face was too obvious, for Qin Yu suddenly let out a brief laugh.

He withdrew his gaze from her and strode forward. As he passed by, he reached out to gently ruffle her hair. “Let’s go.”

Snapping back to herself, Lin Xi looked after him. From behind, the man’s suit was impeccably tailored, his waist perfectly proportioned. One hand was tucked in his pocket, and though his pace was unhurried, it was clear he was waiting for her to catch up.

She frowned slightly and jogged to his side. “Are you going to Boston on business?”

“Hm?” He didn’t answer, so Lin Xi pressed on, unwilling to let it go.

“You’re a PhD, after all. So smart—figure it out for yourself.”

A sudden sense of having her intelligence insulted washed over her.

Lin Xi actually already had an answer in mind. She just didn’t dare say it for fear of being misunderstood.

In truth, her instincts had always been right.

Qin Yu had come here for her, and her alone.

—

There were still more than three hundred kilometers between New York and Boston.

In the car, Lin Xi adjusted her seat and lay back to rest.

Beside her, Qin Yu hadn’t spoken since they got in; he was busy with work. She stole a glance at his laptop screen—document after document awaited his attention.

It felt as though they’d slipped back into their old routines.

During breaks from school, he would sometimes come visit her. In her grandmother’s study, she sat on one side doing homework while he worked across from her. Other than the scratch of her pen or the tapping of his keyboard, there was no other noise.

By nature, he was a man of few words. For as long as she could remember, Qin Yu had never liked talking, always concise and to the point. His innate detachment gave people a sense of coldness.

He was a stark contrast to Cheng Si; that was why, as a child, she’d preferred playing with Cheng Si and always felt a bit apprehensive around Qin Yu.

The time she was ill was when she’d seen the gentlest side of Qin Yu—so gentle, in fact, it had almost felt unreal. That was when she realized he wasn’t as fierce as she’d imagined.

So even if the two of them shared a space in silence, not disturbing each other, she still loved the feeling of being with him.

—

They got out of the car at her uncle’s house. Lin Xi watched as the driver helped unload her luggage and glanced at the back seat of the car ahead.

Qin Yu didn’t get out.

“Miss Lin, shall I carry your luggage inside for you?”

“Yes, thank you,” Lin Xi nodded. “Just leave it with the maid at the door.”

She walked ahead and tapped on the car window.

After a couple of seconds, the window slowly rolled down and Qin Yu turned to look at her.

He was still in a video conference.

Lin Xi swallowed her words and simply pointed behind her to indicate she was heading in.

“Mm.” The man nodded, watching her leave.

—

Inside the villa, her uncle stood with arms crossed, still watching the security footage.

Lin Xi had already finished eating a peach and was puzzled to see him unmoving. “Uncle, what are you watching?”

Without turning his head, her uncle kept rewinding the footage. “Whose car did you get out of?”

Yesterday, she’d called to say she’d be coming by car and told him not to pick her up at the airport. That was nothing out of the ordinary, but the point was: two cars had dropped Lin Xi off.

When he’d gone out to greet her, he’d seen Lin Xi bending over, talking to someone in the backseat. The window was only halfway down, so he hadn’t seen clearly who it was. Just as he was about to take a closer look, Lin Xi had already bid the person goodbye and dashed into the yard, pulling him along in the process.

That was clearly not some random driver or car she’d hailed.

“Who gave you a ride?” Her uncle turned to scrutinize her from head to toe. “Don’t tell me you’ve met some questionable man. Things are chaotic here, and any man who sets eyes on you won’t have pure intentions.”

“I’ve told you so many times—especially here, you have to be wary of foreign men.”

Back when his job transfer brought him here, Lin Xi had suddenly insisted on going abroad with him. She’d suffered several emotional breakdowns, and the doctors here had gotten in touch, saying there was a chance her hearing could be restored. So on impulse, he’d agreed.

Compared to leaving her with the elders in Lin City, she could be better cared for here. A change of environment is always for the best—that’s what he’d thought when they moved Lin Xi from Beijing to Lin City in the first place.

When they first moved, he knew the security here was just average. He wasn’t afraid of being robbed—losing a bit of property was nothing. What worried him was Lin Xi being harassed.

So whether she was going to school or out shopping, he’d pick her up himself if he could, or send a housemaid if he couldn’t.

Seeing her get out of a stranger’s car now, it was only natural he’d be concerned.

To him, Lin Xi—even at twenty-four—was still just a child, innocent to the ways of the world.

With her parents gone, he, as her uncle, had to shoulder the responsibility.

Thinking of his late sister and brother-in-law, guilt gnawed at him. “Did he try anything inappropriate? Did you get the license plate? Or at least, can you describe what he looked like?”

Lin Xi had no doubt that if she claimed the man had impure intentions, her uncle would hunt him down that very night and beat him up.

She hurried to explain, “You’re overthinking it. It was Qin Yu—he gave me a ride.”

When he first heard the name, her uncle found it familiar but couldn’t immediately place it.

Lin Xi prompted, “From the Qin family in Beijing.”

“Oh,” her uncle suddenly understood. “You mean Qin San’er.”

Lin Xi: “…”

Her uncle was curious. “You’ve only been back a short while—have you already made up with him?”

Back then, Lin Xi and Qin Yu had been very close. He’d seen Qin Yu travel from Beijing to Lin City more than once just to see Lin Xi.

He’d thought Qin Yu was a loyal sort, genuinely helping Lin Chen look after Lin Xi. Even if Beijing and Lin City were only a hundred or so kilometers apart, few people had the patience to make that trip so frequently.

Especially since Qin Yu had just returned from abroad and was at the busiest stage of building his company. That he still found time to visit spoke volumes about his sincerity.

He’d tried talking to Qin Yu about it, but the latter insisted on fetching Lin Xi himself.

Lin Xi, back then, had also been reluctant to communicate with the family—which was why her uncle only found out much later that, as a transfer student with a solitary nature, she’d been ostracized by her classmates.

They’d even mocked her for her inability to speak.

Once, while she was walking home from school, a boy on a bike had deliberately snatched her hearing aid…

For a while, he’d even wondered if those two children might end up together. Childhood friends with deep roots were always the best—if Lin Xi had someone to rely on, the elders could rest easy.

He just hadn’t expected things to end so badly.

He could still remember the resounding slap Lin Xi had given Qin Yu back then.

With Qin Yu’s temperament, even if he’d once cared for Lin Xi, after a slap like that, he’d never look back…