Shengshi Dynasty received an invitation to a jade exhibition in Macau, and Qi Fei took the team there to participate. Guan Yingying went to France with her father to conclude the final wrap-up tasks for the Guan Foreign Trade Company. Gan Lin traveled to Australia with her parents to ride alpacas and hug koalas.

Wang Zhuo had wanted to go to Australia too, but his request was politely declined by Gan’s mother, citing his heavy workload.

Even the incessantly clinging Xiao Siyuan had suddenly gone missing. For some unknown reason, the little girl had become thick as thieves with Bai Lu; they communicated daily, whispering secrets, making Wang Zhuo wonder what schemes they were hatching.

Speaking of which, Wang Zhuo was still perplexed as to why Bai Lu had accepted that Porsche 911 sports car without a fuss. Given her personality, she should have firmly refused. The entire situation felt rather abnormal.

Wang Zhuo didn't believe he could have misjudged her. If Bai Lu were the type to abandon principles for profit, she should have used the refusal of the car as an opportunity to get closer to him. No matter how valuable the sports car was, it was only worth two million. Truly capturing his heart would yield a priceless treasure.

"Siyuan, that little devil, must be causing trouble," Wang Zhuo surmised.

The sudden disappearance of all the women around him left Wang Zhuo profoundly unsettled. At twenty, he was in the prime of his life, when male energy and desire were at their peak. Forget enjoying the company of women daily; he needed to feel a thrill three or four times a day just to feel right. When Qi Fei and Gan Lin left, he hadn't worried much because Guan Yingying was still by his side. But when Guan Shichen suddenly transferred her away, his immediate surroundings plunged into a vacuum.

There was an old saying: "Man is iron, food is steel; miss a meal and you'll feel hungry." Wang Zhuo's situation was much the same; he felt uneasy without a woman around for a single day...

After enduring for two days, that evening, he paced back and forth in his room, staring at the contact number for Ji Qiong on his phone screen, which he had been scrolling through for half an hour. Finally, he didn't dial it, instead slumping back in front of his computer with a deep sigh, opening a folder that every guy had on his desktop.

The tissue box sat right next to the computer. Everything was ready. Instructor Wang looked up to the heavens speechlessly, thinking how sad it was that he had come to relying on 'Miss Five Fingers' again.

Just as he was about to undo his belt, his phone rang. He picked it up to see an unfamiliar long-distance number he had never seen before.

The number's origin showed it was from the capital. He hesitated briefly, then pressed the answer key.

"Wang Zhuo, it's Ruan Mingqing. Do you remember me?"

The voice on the other end was soft and gentle, carrying a hint of familiarity. Immediately, the names of the Zeng father and son, along with Ruan Mingqing’s graceful appearance, flashed through Wang Zhuo’s mind.

Wang Zhuo quickly chuckled, "It must be Sister Ruan. No wonder I didn't recognize the number. You’re back in Beijing, right?"

"Not yet," Ruan Mingqing replied with a wry smile. "Zeng Yan needs constant care; I can't just leave."

Hearing this, Wang Zhuo also felt a pang of sadness. Since that cerebral hemorrhage, Zeng Yan had never woken up, remaining in a persistent vegetative state. It had only been about a month since his initial collapse, so Ruan Mingqing truly couldn't leave him now.

"How is Brother Zeng's condition?" Wang Zhuo asked casually, as a pleasantry. In truth, he knew Zeng Yan’s condition better than any doctor. Doctors could only analyze the condition from X-rays; they couldn't lift the skull for a close look, but Wang Zhuo, using his X-ray vision, had seen the extent of the brain damage and knew there was no chance of him ever waking up.

"Relatively stable, I suppose," Ruan Mingqing sighed. "He's been moved to a regular ward. The next phase is recovery treatment; my husband says it might be very long."

"It must be exhausting to care for him," Wang Zhuo sympathetically pursed his lips. Tending to a vegetable required not only constant feeding and toileting but also frequent repositioning and massage to prevent bedsores, which would make care far more difficult.

"I've gotten used to it," Ruan Mingqing managed a bitter smile, then asked, "Can you come out and sit with me for a while? I don't know anyone in Jiangzhou, and I have no one to talk to. I’m suffocating from boredom."

"Sure." Wang Zhuo was just looking for a way to pass the time anyway, so he agreed readily. "Where are you? I’ll come find you."

...

Forty minutes later, the two met outside a chain supermarket two blocks away from the hospital. Wang Zhuo drove his recently purchased, fire-engine-red Lotus sports car, drawing gasps of admiration from countless young people wherever it went.

The lineage of Porsche is German, and Ferrari is Italian—both originating from fascist aggressor nations in World War II. The Lotus, however, is of British origin and quite rare in China. Many people seeing its emblem assumed it was another domestic knock-off.

But those who saw the car Wang Zhuo was driving wouldn't think that. The vehicle's curves were intensely powerful; its air intakes were large, and the headlights were long, narrow rhomboids. Although it also featured a streamlined body, it conveyed a sense of fierce strength. Its kind was usually only seen in racing-themed films and television shows.

Ruan Mingqing stood alone on the street corner. The warm summer breeze caressed her skin, yet she felt no heat at all. Her husband’s major incident had left her spirits heavy, filled with melancholy.

She was only wearing a pale, elegant light-blue suit that day. Her hair hadn't been properly attended to in a long time; she simply kept it clean daily and tied it up casually. Her face only held a moisturizing cream; she hadn't used any other cosmetics for ages.

Yet, this understated beauty, burdened with heavy thoughts, stood silently on the street corner in the evening and still drew countless gazes. People felt a shared pity in their hearts—who could be so careless as to make this beautiful woman unhappy?

The fiery red sports car pulled up to the curb in front of the supermarket. The handsome driver pushed up his sunglasses, swept his gaze over the scene, and smiled, waving toward the subdued beauty.

Once the beauty was in the car, the sports car silently sped away. The taxi drivers waiting nearby for fares all sighed, thinking that beautiful women were indeed destined to be coupled with the wealthy.

"You look so cool wearing sunglasses," Ruan Mingqing observed Wang Zhuo, speaking sincerely.

"Actually, I don't like wearing them," Wang Zhuo explained with a smile, "but I have to, because people always try to snap photos of this car."

"Oh, I see," Ruan Mingqing nodded. She completely understood Wang Zhuo’s point. In fact, during the dozen minutes she waited for him, she had noticed several people secretly taking pictures of her with their phones, though she was long accustomed to such things and pretended not to notice.

"Shall we find a bar to sit in?" Wang Zhuo suggested.

He chose a bar over a quiet place like a café because Ruan Mingqing was in low spirits, and a livelier bar atmosphere might help ease her mood.

"Let’s go to a bar, I’ll listen to you," Ruan Mingqing replied with a faint smile.

"I’ve actually never been to a bar. Let’s drive along the Bund and go into whichever one looks good," Wang Zhuo said, pulling out a pair of sunglasses and handing them to her. Then, he pressed a button and lowered the car's soft top.

In seconds, the sports car transformed into a convertible. Ruan Mingqing put on the glasses; it was her first time experiencing the sensation of wearing sunglasses in an open-top sports car, and her mood was momentarily lifted by the novelty.

The two didn't speak much. Before long, the sports car reached the Bund. Wang Zhuo spotted a luxurious, two-story bar called "Chong Meng Bar." He felt its industrial-era décor style suited his taste, so he pointed and asked for Ruan Mingqing’s opinion.

Ruan Mingqing nodded. "It looks quite nice; let’s go there."

Many luxury cars were parked outside the bar, but none were quite in the same league as Wang Zhuo’s Lotus. Two young men chatting near the entrance immediately let out two loud whistles when they saw the fire-red convertible pull into a parking space.

Ruan Mingqing momentarily felt transported back to her student days—that free-spirited, unrestrained era. Unfortunately, time was irreversible, and all she could face now were life’s relentless challenges.

It was an open-plan bar. The ground floor hall had large tables loosely arranged. On the stage, a young student singer was passionately playing and singing My Deskmate. There weren't many patrons, mostly young men around twenty, each one handsomer than the last.

Wang Zhuo wasn't there to look at handsome guys, and Ruan Mingqing had long developed the skill of keeping her gaze straight ahead when under scrutiny. The pair found a table that was neither too secluded nor central, seating themselves as if they were the only ones present. When a waiter approached, Wang Zhuo ordered an iced drink, and Ruan Mingqing requested coffee.

The waiter subtly glanced at Wang Zhuo before politely addressing Ruan Mingqing, "Ma’am, our minimum charge per table is five hundred yuan. Would you like to...?"

Wang Zhuo and Ruan Mingqing both froze for a second. Ruan Mingqing smoothly retrieved five large bills from her clutch, placed them on the table, and pushed them toward the waiter, smiling, "Just bring some assorted fruit plates for the rest."

The waiter took the money and left. Wang Zhuo gave a bitter smile. "How can we let the lady pay? I should be the one covering this."

Ruan Mingqing smiled and shook her head. "I asked you out, so naturally, I should pay for the bill."

Since it was only five hundred yuan, and neither of them was short on money, they let it go with a laugh, not dwelling on the topic.

The coffee, iced drink, and fruit platter arrived quickly. Ruan Mingqing took a small sip of coffee and nodded in satisfaction, indicating that she knew something about coffee.

Wang Zhuo sipped his iced drink while observing the mature woman. She was slightly above average height, held herself with natural uprightness, and her figure remained as it was when he first met her: slender where it should be, with a delicately held waist, and very full where it needed to be, her ** rising high. However, her face looked somewhat thin, and faint dark shadows were vaguely visible under her unadorned lower eyelids; her cheeks had also sunken slightly.

He surmised her days must have been quite miserable lately... Wang Zhuo’s gaze showed a trace of sympathy, lamenting the life pressures this elegant ** had to bear.

Ruan Mingqing set down her coffee cup and unexpectedly met Wang Zhuo’s gaze. After a moment of surprise, she shook her head and chuckled softly. "I'm not as pitiful as you imagine. Zeng Yan has three rotating caregivers looking after him twenty-four hours a day; I don't have to do any of the heavy lifting."