Please wait for me a little longer.

Lin Xi defended herself, "No, this time was just an accident."

"I ran into some senior executives from Vane at the dinner table last night. They tried to scheme against me, but they didn't succeed, and I successfully signed a contract into the bargain."

She hadn't intended to mix work into last night's dinner; she was simply going to give Abby some face and share a meal.

Who could have predicted that the Vane executive would harbor inappropriate intentions toward her, clearly trying to take advantage of her while she was drunk.

So, she simply played along with his game, drinking him under the table while simultaneously securing the contract.

If someone wanted to mess with her, they had to pay a price.

The man had been so thoroughly drunk that he directly had someone draw up the contract and deliver it.

He was even more impatient than she was.

She certainly hadn't expected such efficiency.

As for the alcohol, she couldn't entirely blame Vane; she had spent most of her time drinking with Abby.

It was just that the alcohol's delayed punch was much stronger than she had anticipated. She felt completely fine after the first few glasses, only starting to feel unwell later on.

Right before the misery fully set in, she grabbed her senior schoolmate and made a hasty escape.

When she first got back to the hotel, she just wanted to vomit, but for some reason, her stomach kept aching through the second half of the night.

"And you're quite proud of yourself?" Qin Yu stood by the bed, looking her up and down. His expression was stern, his aura intimidating, and his presence overwhelmingly oppressive.

The man wore a look of suppressed restraint. "For the sake of all this, you're willing to throw your body away?"

If it were anyone else, he certainly wouldn't have exercised such restraint, and a barrage of harsh words would have been hurled at them without hesitation.

Lin Xi knew she was in the wrong too. This whole affair had completely deviated from her plan, and an out-of-control scene like this was not what she wanted to see.

"It won't happen again next time." At first, she had been entirely focused on dealing with the Vane people, and even after finishing she still felt light and easy, completely forgetting about Abby.

Her senior was right; Abby was an absolute monster.

At the dinner table yesterday, Abby drank in turns with everyone while keeping her expression completely unchanged.

Compared to Abby, people like them were truly mere mortals.

She considered this a hard-earned lesson.

Her sudden capitulation left Qin Yu—who had been afraid of inadvertently speaking too harshly—even more speechless.

He had anticipated many things Lin Xi might say in response. She was renowned for her unyielding spine; how could she possibly admit fault?

Seeing her like this now, Qin Yu realized he truly had no way of dealing with her.

"I can be discharged today, right?" Lin Xi asked tentatively.

Of course she had heard him telling the doctor earlier about staying another day for observation, but she couldn't afford to waste too much time here.

"I need to keep an eye on the exhibition. If possible, shouldn't I be discharged this afternoon?"

Qin Yu slid one hand into his pocket, lowering his head to meet her gaze.

Even though she was sick, her eyes remained bright, and he could even detect a faint trace of entreaty in their depths.

Under normal circumstances, that single look would have been enough for Qin Yu to abandon his principles.

Not today, however.

"No." The man was utterly merciless, calmly shifting his gaze away and refusing to fall for her appeal to feminine charm.

Lin Xi: "..."

Lin Xi sat up, attempting to struggle a little further.

Before she could even speak, Qin Yu knew what she was going to do and cut her off with a single sentence that sealed her lips:

"Lie down and rest right now. You can be discharged tomorrow morning. Say one more word, and it gets pushed back to the day after tomorrow."

Lin Xi choked instantly.

Her eyes widened, and she thought he was being somewhat absurd. "I..."

Qin Yu turned his head to look at her.

With just a single glance, Lin Xi understood his meaning. She endured it for a moment, and ultimately chose to obediently shut her mouth.

As the saying goes, do not attempt to reason with Qin Yu.

It was not a wise choice.

Instead of wasting energy on this, she might as well sleep.

At this thought, Lin Xi lay back down, turned on her side, pulled the blanket up higher, and said no more.

She had slept from last night all the way until morning. Having slept for only half an hour out of spite toward Qin Yu, she woke up, and though she wanted to continue sleeping, she wasn't the least bit drowsy now; her mind was exceptionally clear.

Hesitantly, she rolled over slightly to look at Qin Yu.

The man was sitting on the chair beside the bed with a laptop on his thighs, working.

He wore a pair of glasses, lowering his gaze to fixate on the screen. With a focused expression, he looked refined and scholarly.

Catching movement from the bed in his peripheral vision, Qin Yu raised his gaze while taking off his glasses to place them on the bedside table. He asked her, "Not sleeping anymore?"

Lin Xi shook her head.

"Mhm," he acknowledged. "If you sleep any longer, you won't be able to sleep tonight."

"What do you want to eat?"

Lin Xi was indeed hungry, but she wasn't quite sure if she was allowed to eat anything.

"Can I eat anything right now?"

Qin Yu came to his senses, looking at her. "I'm sorry, no."

Lin Xi: "..."

"You can only eat tomorrow."

"Isn't that too long?" Although Lin Xi's physique was somewhat delicate, her stomach had always been quite resilient over the years.

She had previously been very particular about her diet, rarely touching anything heavily oily or spicy.

Consequently, her stomach had never given her trouble before; this was the very first time.

"You can have a small amount of liquid food later. I'll have someone prepare it."

"Forget it then." Lin Xi stared at the ceiling and sighed. "Might as well not eat at all."

Qin Yu finished wrapping up his work and commented, "You still aren't hungry enough."

"..."

She was truly, utterly exasperated.

Lin Xi couldn't help sitting up to argue with him. "Do you really have any regrets about these past years?"

If he felt regret, he should cherish the present moment. At the very least, since she was sick now, his attitude should be a little bit better, shouldn't it?

Qin Yu stopped what he was doing. Two seconds later, he closed his laptop and set it aside.

Seeing him take this stance, Lin Xi felt a sudden, inexplicable timidity.

"What I'm questioning is..." She tried to explain.

Yet Qin Yu didn't listen, stubbornly answering her previous question instead: "Regret."

"How could I not regret it."

"I know what you want to say." Qin Yu nodded.

Lin Xi silently closed her mouth.

"Every single day of these past years, I've felt that we shouldn't have reached this point."

"This shouldn't be the ending we have. Especially after knowing that you liked me too."

"Lin Xi, part of the reason I'm persisting like this is because I don't want to leave the same regrets we had back then. I think you feel the same way."

"This time, I'm telling you very clearly: I, Qin Yu, must have you."

"I also hope that your feelings for me can be just a little bit more steadfast. Even if it's only by a tiny fraction."

"Surely we can't hold the exact same winning hand and lose a second time, can we?"

Qin Yu raised his head, telling her bluntly, "I am not resigned to this."

"Cheng Si mentioned before that if we really drift apart in the future, such an ending doesn't seem to do justice to our past twenty-odd years."

"And it would be even more unfair to every single day of that year in Linshi."

"I don't expect you to choose me without reservation every time you face a multiple-choice question in the future, but at the very least, I want to be one of those options."

"No matter what fraction of the whole I am, do you understand what I mean?"

After a long silence, Lin Xi lowered her gaze and replied in a small voice, "I know."

With him putting things to this extent, how could there be anything she didn't understand?

"You... you wait for me a little longer."

It will be good soon.

She was already trying very hard to run forward.