She had decided to forget the grievances of the past six years. Now, she was asking him to donate a kidney to Xiao Cheng; he was exchanging his own health for it, yet she seemed only to inflict deeper and deeper wounds upon him… “……” Ou Chen froze entirely, rigid as a stone statue!

The tenderness in his expression vanished into a desolate emptiness, his eyes slowly darkening like the night. He managed a desolate smile and slowly lowered the hand he had held suspended in mid-air.

“Xiao Cheng needs to get back to the hospital…” Yin Xia Mo dared not look at him, instead focusing on the carpet, though her peripheral vision caught the lonely clenching of his hand. Her heart ached again, and her tone softened involuntarily.

“……Wait for me to change; we’ll go out together then.” We…… From behind the deep crimson curtain came the soft sound of her changing clothes, yet the echo of her use of the word “we” still rang in Ou Chen’s ears. After an indeterminate time, while he was still lost in a stunned daze, she had already changed and walked to his side.

“Let’s go.” She serenely linked her arm through his and walked toward the living room entrance. Ou Chen’s arm stiffened slightly; he seemed unable to believe this first intimacy after so many years.

He turned his head to gaze at her; her face was serene, her eyes still and quiet as the sea surface under the afternoon sun. Looking at her, his heart suddenly felt as if brushed by a warm sea breeze, carrying the golden, rippling scent of warmth… Yin Xia Mo linked arms with Ou Chen and walked out of the living room.

She looked up quietly. The man beside her, bathed in the afternoon sunlight, would be her husband in six days.

*In the small lounge area. Hearing the door open, Yin Cheng, who had been watching television on a single armchair, turned his head.

He watched his sister and Ou Chen enter through the doorway, framed by sunlight, and saw his sister calmly linked arm-in-arm with Ou Chen. A faint smile touched his pale, sickly face.

Suddenly remembering the news report he had just seen on TV, Yin Cheng quickly exclaimed with excitement, “Sister, look at the TV!” Yin Xia Mo turned, confused, and on the screen was undeniably Liu Bao’s face. However, unlike the arrogant venom he displayed yesterday afternoon at the bridal shop, his face was bruised purple and blue, and every single tooth had been knocked out.

He looked pathetic and ridiculous, like a comical clown. Facing the camera, Liu Bao seemed furious and tried to shout something, but his toothless mouth and swollen cheeks made his voice sound muffled and indistinct, a grumble.

The camera cut away—a reporter held up a microphone and said: “…Regarding the incident where Reporter Liu of Explosion Weekly was besieged and beaten by a group of delinquents on the street last night around seven o’clock, the police are investigating. Preliminary clues suggest it is related to the news report Reporter Liu published a year ago that led to an artist’s suicide.

The artist’s friends and family had publicly threatened to hire thugs to teach Reporter Liu a lesson, so Reporter Liu has been constantly changing addresses to evade them. It is rumored that they suddenly learned the specific location where Reporter Liu appeared last night…” “Although I shouldn’t gloat, I am genuinely happy!” Yin Cheng laughed childishly.

“And it seems he hurt others with his false reports before; a lesson like this is perhaps just what a reporter like him deserves!” Could such a coincidence truly exist? Only hours after she slapped Liu Bao, just as Liu Bao was about to turn the slapping incident into widespread gossip, this event suddenly occurred, resulting in Liu Bao receiving such a harsh beating… Yin Xia Mo looked toward Ou Chen.

“Thank you.” She murmured softly. Ou Chen frowned slightly, shifting his gaze from the television screen.

He said, “It wasn’t me. I merely asked the media outlets not to publicize the incident of slapping the reporter.

Even if this reporter disclosed it himself in Explosion Weekly, I asked the reporters present to deliver the truth to the public. As for him being beaten up, I am completely unaware of it.” Summer of Bubbles III