Volume 1, Chapter 166: Pinching her chin, he blocked her lips.

With the New Year approaching, everyone had plenty of leisure time. The gathering offered a rich variety of entertainment; besides drinking, the private box featured karaoke, board games, and card games. The group played all the way into the evening.

Past ten o'clock, some people began to leave.

Only today did Xu Zhi learn that the team Liang Jinmo led consisted of more than a dozen people, all of whom were top-tier computer science talents.

Usually, he was not one for socializing, but in order to expand his team, he would take the initiative to reach out and engage with prospective talent, with Zhou He acting as his assistant, successfully recruiting many outstanding professionals in the industry.

As the time arrived, Liang Jinmo clinked glasses with everyone one last time and sent out a large red envelope in the team group chat.

The group whipped out their phones to snatch the red packets, looking thoroughly satisfied as they bid Liang Jinmo farewell and exchanged New Year blessings.

Xu Zhi sat on the sofa watching the scene unfold when Yang Xue sidled over, nudging her to the side.

This was Yang Xue's habitual way of gaining her attention. Xu Zhi asked her, "What is it this time?"

Yang Xue pouted, looking indignant. "Why is everyone lecturing me today? Cheng Yu gave me a lecture a while back too."

Xu Zhi was curious. "What did he say?"

Yang Xue's face fell as she mimicked Cheng Yu's poker face, repeating his serious tone word for word: "'Yang Xue, grow up. Rejecting you is me being responsible for you, and you should be even more responsible for yourself. Don't throw your life away just because of a setback in romance.'"

Before she even started to speak, Xu Zhi burst into laughter. "You imitate him so accurately."

The corners of Yang Xue's lips drooped. "I've been chasing him for years. That deadpan look of his is carved into my brain."

Fearing that Yang Xue might start feeling miserable again, Xu Zhi quickly dragged the conversation back. "Why did he say you were throwing your life away?"

"Just because he saw me chatting with Chen凛," Yang Xue said angrily. "Why is it that whenever I chat with a handsome guy, everyone has to come and step on me? Zhou He is like that, and so is Cheng Yu. It's so annoying. Is fangirling a crime?"

Xu Zhi asked, "Why did Cheng Yu suddenly care about these things? He never used to pay any attention to you."

Unlike Liang Jinmo's cold detachment, Cheng Yu was wooden—a textbook tech nerd who seemed to have no interest in anything outside of computers.

Yang Xue replied, "I don't know."

Xu Zhi wondered, "Could he be regretting it?"

Yang Xue thought about it for a moment. "Unlikely. He told me he's liked that woman for a long time."

Xu Zhi found it hard to imagine what Cheng Yu would look like when he liked someone.

Yang Xue continued, "However, it's a one-sided crush. That woman has someone she likes too. Sigh, why is mutual affection so difficult..."

Remembering something, she looked at Xu Zhi again. "Speaking of which, are everything and anything going smoothly between you and President Xiao Liang? Is he really no longer holding a grudge about you previously agreeing to get engaged to Liang Muzhi?"

Xu Zhi blinked. "I don't know, but... I'm coaxing him, and I think..."

Thinking back on how the two of them had been getting along these past few days, she said, "It should be having some effect, I suppose."

Liang Jinmo found it very difficult to fully trust anyone, including her. He had once said that perhaps when his hair turned gray and she was still by his side, he would finally believe that she would never leave again.

Yang Xue said, "Didn't you say you were knitting a scarf for him? Is this also part of your method to coax him?"

Xu Zhi nodded. "Coaxing him is equivalent to chasing him all over again. Look, I saw that some people managed to win over their male gods by knitting scarves, so I thought I'd give it a try."

As she spoke, she took out her phone and showed Yang Xue a photo in her album of the scarf, which was one-third finished.

After taking a look, Yang Xue pushed her phone away and shook her head. "I think it's highly unlikely you'll win over your male god with a knitted scarf. It looks so ugly. If I were a man, even if we were already together, seeing this scarf would just make me want to break up with you."

Xu Zhi: "..."

She grew a little anxious. "I don't just know how to knit scarves; I have this mouth too. I can rely on my mouth to coax him."

Liang Jinmo was very susceptible to sweet talk. Recalling it now, she had initially softened his attitude simply by proposing marriage to him. Being with someone who was so poor at expressing himself, she always actively sought out ways to communicate with him. Many things she wouldn't even have dared to imagine saying in the past, she now stated quite straightforwardly.

Because he liked it, she did not stint on her expressions.

Hearing this, Yang Xue stared at her lips with a deeply meaningful look in her eyes. "Relying on your mouth?"

Xu Zhi nodded.

"I couldn't tell, Zhi Zi..." Yang Xue sighed with emotion. "You guys really play wild."

A vague sense told Xu Zhi that something was wrong with this statement.

Yang Xue remarked, "As expected, men are animals driven by their lower halves."

Realizing her meaning, Xu Zhi flushed crimson all over. "Not *that* kind of mouth! What on earth is inside your brain... I mean talking, talking!"

Yang Xue's train of thought was practically driving her to a nervous breakdown.

Amused, Yang Xue burst out laughing.

At that moment, Chen Lin walked over holding a beer and asked, "What are you two chatting about so happily?"

Upon seeing the handsome man, Yang Xue immediately reined in her wild laughter and said, "Oh, just chatting about random things."

Liang Jinmo and Zhou He had finished seeing people out to the corridor. With fewer people left in the private box, it had grown much quieter. Chen Lin sat down on the sofa as well and asked them, "I heard you're seniors at C University?"

Yang Xue nodded, looking thoroughly ladylike.

Chen Lin inquired, "Do you know Ruan Shuyi?"

Both Xu Zhi and Yang Xue were momentarily stunned.

They certainly did know this person.

Ruan Shuyi was a senior three years ahead of them. When Yang Xue was in the literary department of the departmental student union, Ruan Shuyi had been the vice president of the student union.

Ruan Shuyi had enjoyed a certain reputation on campus; she was an acknowledged great beauty who had once been hailed as the campus belle on the university forum. Xu Zhi had heard of her too, and later, when she went to the student union to find Yang Xue and saw the woman in person, she truly felt the description was out of this world.

Yang Xue said, "She's our senior. You know her too?"

Chen Lin tightened his grip on the aluminum can, a trace of a smile still lingering at the corners of his eyes, exuding a devil-may-care, romantic air. Instead of answering Yang Xue, he asked, "Do you two keep in touch with her?"

Yang Xue replied, "We do keep in touch, but not very often. She's considered a minor internet influencer now, sort of..."

She paused, her tone turning somewhat regretful. "It's just heaven being jealous of a beauty. She contracted leukemia... The last time we went to visit her, we heard that if she couldn't wait for a bone marrow match, she wouldn't have many days left. This matter... did you know about it?"

Chen Lin took a sip of beer, the bitterness sliding down his throat. The smile in the depths of his eyes vanished, and he answered flatly, "I knew."

"It's so tragic. The main thing is, she's still raising a child all by herself," Yang Xue recalled. "The kid isn't even three years old yet. What will they do without a mother..."

Before Yang Xue could finish her sentence, a crisp "crack" echoed through the room.

Xu Zhi looked over at the sound.

The can of beer in Chen Lin's hand had already lost its shape, crushed into a crumpled lump, and the liquid inside was overflowing, trickling down his hand.

He seemed completely oblivious to it. The smile he had worn moments ago was entirely gone. Although the corners of his lips were still turned upward, they were stiff. When he spoke, his voice carried a hint of mockery: "Oh? She has a child?"

Yang Xue and Xu Zhi had no idea what was going on, but it was abundantly clear that Chen Lin's emotional state was deeply abnormal.

The aura around him had turned ice-cold in an instant.

Glancing again at the beer can in his hand, Xu Zhi couldn't help but remind him, "Um, your hand is bleeding..."

The aluminum can had actually been crushed to the point of tearing, piercing his finger, and blood mixed with beer was meandering across the back of his hand.

He looked down at it, stood up, and tossed the can into the trash bin beside the coffee table, then pulled out some tissues to wipe his hand.

Yang Xue asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Chen Lin said lightly. "Couldn't be better."

Xu Zhi and Yang Xue exchanged glances, neither daring to speak further. Chen Lin's actions were somewhat frightening.

Fortunately, Liang Jinmo and Zhou He had finished seeing everyone off and returned to the private box at that moment, so the group stood up to leave the club.

Aside from Xu Zhi, everyone else had been drinking and could only call for designated drivers.

Yang Xue was sent back by Zhou He, Chen Lin found a hotel nearby to stay in, and Liang Jinmo took Xu Zhi back to their hotel as well.

Lying in bed that night, Xu Zhi couldn't help bringing up the matter of Chen Lin to Liang Jinmo. "He suddenly became so terrifying back there. Do you know what's going on between him and Senior Ruan?"

Liang Jinmo had just pulled the quilt over himself and gotten into bed, remaining entirely silent.

Xu Zhi glanced at him. "He never mentioned it to you?"

Liang Jinmo still said nothing.

She continued, "I feel like there's a story between them. Didn't Zhou He say he came back to look for a woman? Could the woman he's looking for be the senior..."

Without a word of warning, Liang Jinmo switched off the bedside lamp, leaned down over her, and pinched her chin, sealing her lips.

The kiss came rather abruptly. Xu Zhi let out a couple of muffled sounds of surprise before instantly obediently settling down.

He launched a deep assault, and she was kissed until her whole body grew weak and her breathing turned ragged.

The man kneaded the soft flesh at her waist, pressed against her lips, and panted, "Stop sticking your nose into other people's business."

With that, he kissed her down once more.