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“What’s wrong with you? Throwing scalding coffee on someone?” Lin Jie couldn’t hold back her anger.

The girl trembled slightly, saying nothing, tears streaming down her face.

Lin Jie awkwardly scratched her head. She hadn’t even said much, so why was she crying?

Tang Ruan gave her a reassuring glance and was about to tell the girl not to be afraid when the girl finally spoke.

“I-I’m sorry.”

That voice…

In the next instant, someone dashed quickly out of the restroom, shoved Tang Ruan aside, and shouted, “Tang Ruan, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Who gave you the guts to bully Xiaorou!”

Tang Ruan stumbled back, her hand smashing against the sharp edge of the table, sending a piercing pain through her entire body.

Her face instantly went pale.

It hurt.

“Huo Yanchuan, are you crazy?” Lin Jie pushed Huo Yanchuan, but he didn’t budge.

She raised her hand to slap him, but her wrist was grabbed.

Without much effort, Huo Yanchuan threw her to the side.

“Lin Jie, what do you think you are, daring to lay a hand on me?”

“Watch your filthy mouth, or I’ll make sure the Lin family disappears from Nancheng.”

The Huo family intended to ruin the Lin family behind Lin Jie’s back. It was just a matter of a few moves. Besides, the Lin family was already on its last legs; it might fall without Huo Yanchuan lifting a finger.

“Huo Yanchuan, you—”

Tang Ruan stood in front of Lin Jie, her voice cold, “Huo Yanchuan, this is Tang Corporation.”

Huo Yanchuan glanced at Tang Ruan in surprise, then laughed, “Tang Ruan, changing tactics? You don’t think this will make me think highly of you, do you?”

“Let me tell you, I didn’t come here to see you.”

“I know, you came for her.” Tang Ruan tilted her chin toward where Lu Xiaorou stood.

At the words, Lu Xiaorou trembled and, like a frightened rabbit, hid behind Huo Yanchuan.

Tang Ruan’s lips twitched. So that’s the type Huo Yanchuan liked.

Sorry, she would never learn to be like that.

Like a mother hen shielding her chicks, Huo Yanchuan spread his arms, placing Lu Xiaorou behind him. “Tang Ruan, I told you, once the seven years is up, I’ll settle down and marry you. What else do you want?”

“Are you going to make a scene at a time like this?”

“If I hadn’t been here today, would you have bullied Xiaorou to death?”

For the first time, Lin Jie thought Huo Yanchuan wasn’t just blind but also brainless.

Absolutely idiotic.

They bullied Lu Xiaorou?

It was Lu Xiaorou who splashed coffee all over Ruan Ruan and burned her hand like that. Lin Jie had only spoken harshly once, and that was called bullying?

Before knowing Lu Xiaorou’s identity, she had thought it might have been an accident.

But now that she knew who Lu Xiaorou was, she reasonably suspected the coffee was deliberately thrown.

And the goal was probably to ruin Ruan Ruan’s face.

She had seen clearly—the coffee cup was clearly aimed at Ruan Ruan’s face.

If not for Ruan Ruan’s quick reaction to block it with her bag, it would have been her face scalded.

Skin on the face was much more delicate than on the hand. If it got burned—

“Huo Yanchuan, listen to me—go see a neurologist and an ophthalmologist.”

“Lin Jie, you—”

“Jiejie, let’s go.”

Lin Jie accompanied Tang Ruan to the nearest hospital from Tang Corporation.

If it were just a burn, rinsing with cold water and applying burn ointment would suffice. But after Huo Yanchuan pushed her, her hand had slammed on the table’s sharp corner. After the intense pain, her entire arm felt numb.

She wouldn’t feel at ease without a hospital visit.

“The bone in your hand is slightly fractured; you’ll need a cast,” the doctor concluded after examination.

An hour later,

Tang Ruan’s left hand was wrapped in a thick cast. With Lin Jie’s support, she walked out of the hospital.

“Ruan Ruan, shall I take you home?”

“No, I’m going to the office.”

Lin Jie’s gaze shifted from the cast to Tang Ruan’s face. “But your hand is in a cast. Can you work?”

Tang Ruan raised her right hand. “The cast is on my left. My right hand is fine; it won’t affect me.”

Lin Jie gave a thumbs-up, genuinely impressed. “You’re amazing.”

“Jiejie, could I borrow your jacket for a bit?”

Lin Jie was wearing a sun-protective jacket tied around her waist.

“Sure.” Lin Jie took off the jacket, about to drape it over Tang Ruan.

“No, no, I’m not wearing it. Just help me cover the cast.”

Lin Jie: …

She fell silent for a few seconds but obediently complied.

Carefully, she wrapped the jacket around the cast. Though it looked odd, it was a bit more low-key compared to the glaring cast.

At Tang Corporation, Lin Jie escorted Tang Ruan to her office while she went to the business department to sign contracts.

Along the way, the two attracted countless gazes—some curious, some pitying.

Even Tang Ruan’s secretary, Xiao Lian, looked worried when delivering documents and asked, “Miss Tang, are you okay?”

Tang Ruan looked puzzled.

Xiao Lian pulled out her phone and showed it to Tang Ruan.

Tang Ruan glanced at it. It was footage from the café this morning, uploaded online.

High-society gossip was always a magnet, especially since today’s protagonists were the young master of the Huo family and the young lady of the Tang family.

The young master had lost his temper for a hardworking female college student, even hurting his fiancée, Miss Tang.

Tang Ruan casually scrolled through the comments.

[Wow! The rich are really messy—hurting your fiancée for a new flame. Huo young master is ruthless!]

[Honestly, no wonder he likes a female college student. She’s so much younger than Miss Tang. If it were me, I’d like a college girl too.]

[Exactly! Who could resist a delicate, dependent girl like that?!]

[These comments are disgusting, whitewashing a homewrecker. Where’s the moral education? Knowing he has a fiancée yet sticking close—such a green tea and white lotus.]

[I don’t understand why Miss Tang still tolerates this. Has Huo young master ever saved her life?!]

…

The comment section was in an uproar, but Tang Ruan found it utterly tasteless.

So Huo Yanchuan was no different from other men—just as shallow.

Jiejie was right back then: Huo Yanchuan was blind.

And she had been blind to like him.

Tang Ruan pushed Xiao Lian’s phone back. “Notify everyone: there will be a meeting in Conference Room A in half an hour. Bring all TG-related materials.”

“Yes!”

Xiao Lian left, and Tang Ruan leaned back in her chair, exhaling deeply.

One comment was right: Huo Yanchuan did save her life.

But that debt of gratitude wasn’t enough to make her decide to be with him.

There was another reason she chose to be with Huo Yanchuan.

That reason had sustained her through year after year.

She only remembered that day—the breeze was gentle, and the boy’s eyes shone so brightly…

“Ring ring ring—”

The urgent ringing snapped Tang Ruan out of her chaotic thoughts.

She came back to herself, picking up her phone, which was facedown on the desk.

Seeing the caller ID, she hesitated briefly but answered.

“Aunt Zhang.”

“Ruan Ruan, your uncle and I saw what’s online. How’s your hand now? Feeling better?”

Tang Ruan glanced at her cast-covered left hand and replied politely, “Much better, Auntie.”

The other end sighed in relief and quickly reassured her, “Ruan Ruan, don’t worry. Your uncle and I only recognize you as our daughter-in-law. We will never accept any other flashy, shameless woman into the Huo family!”

“Your uncle has already told Yanchuan to cut ties with that woman. This kind of thing won’t happen again.”