Liu Siyue held Lin Wanyi in her arms, heartbroken and tearful:
"Elder sister, you must have been so frightened. Don't worry, my elder brother will find out who’s responsible for this and make sure you get justice."
Lin Wanyi nodded:
"Mm, I know. I believe him.
"Yueyue, I'm fine. Don’t worry. It’ll be better in a couple of days.
"It’s just that..."
She looked at Su Jing with guilt:
"Auntie, I might not be able to make it to your birthday banquet."
"Why not?" Su Jing asked.
Lin Wanyi glanced at her bandaged foot:
"It wouldn’t look very nice if I showed up like this."
Su Jing immediately replied:
"You’re Renzhi’s girlfriend—who dares to say anything about you? I’ll personally push you in a wheelchair when the time comes."
Lin Wanyi was almost moved to tears.
In eight years of marriage to Wang Hao, Liu Chunlan had always looked down on her, belittled her, and treated her with disdain.
In Liu Chunlan’s eyes, there was nothing about Lin Wanyi worth affirming or showing off.
She had thought all mothers-in-law were the same, treating daughters-in-law like enemies. She never expected Su Jing to be so protective of her.
Seeing her hesitation, Su Jing came over and took her hand:
"Just focus on recovering in the hospital. Don’t overthink anything. If I have to, I’ll postpone my birthday banquet by a few days for you—it’s no big deal."
"No, that won’t do," Lin Wanyi quickly said. "You can’t postpone it. Auntie, I’ll do my best to recover soon."
Su Jing’s birthday banquet would be attended by prominent and influential figures—how could she delay it because of Lin Wanyi?
In truth, Su Jing didn’t want to postpone it either, because the banquet was specifically being held for Lin Wanyi.
The whole family intended to announce to everyone on that day that Liu Renzhi had a girlfriend—and that girlfriend was Lin Wanyi.
Liu Renzhi had been single for thirty-five years, and now that he finally had a girlfriend, Su Jing couldn’t wait to shout it from the rooftops.
This birthday banquet was the perfect opportunity.
Why would she want to postpone it? In fact, she was annoyed her birthday hadn’t come a few days earlier.
Liu Renzhi opened the lunchbox Su Jing had brought, ladled out a bowl of chicken soup, and sat by Lin Wanyi’s bed:
"Eat something first. You must be starving."
He hadn’t even finished speaking when Lin Wanyi’s stomach growled. She said pitifully:
"I didn’t even have a sip of water yesterday, and last night I was so scared I forgot about being hungry."
She tried to take the bowl, but Liu Renzhi insisted on feeding her:
"Open up, be good."
Lin Wanyi glanced at Su Jing, feeling a bit embarrassed:
"It’s fine. I only injured my foot, not my hand. I can eat by myself."
But Liu Renzhi paid no attention and continued to feed her.
Su Jing smiled and led Liu Siyue away:
"Yueyue, let’s go. We’ll come back later to see Wanyi."
The hospital room was once again left to just Lin Wanyi and Liu Renzhi.
She finished the entire bowl of chicken soup and then ate two delicious steamed buns.
In an instant, she felt her strength return.
Only then did Liu Renzhi ask her:
"What exactly happened yesterday? Why were you left alone over there?"
Mentioning the events of the previous day, Lin Wanyi felt a surge of grievance.
She told him everything honestly:
"I didn’t eat all day. I was starving."
Liu Renzhi’s heart ached as he listened. He gently touched the wound on Lin Wanyi’s forehead, then kissed it.
Finally, he held her close again:
"This will never happen again. Never, I promise. I’ll arrange a driver for you."
Lin Wanyi wanted to refuse, but she knew that refusing would be useless right now. So she didn’t say anything and changed the subject:
"You also used your fists last night, Renzhi. Didn't you used to say Jiajun was too impulsive and liked to throw punches? What came over you yesterday?"
Liu Renzhi thought about it.
In the past, he had always told Lin Jiajun to stay calm when things got tough, to leave everything to the law.
But yesterday, when he saw Lin Wanyi being bullied by those two men, he didn't have a second to think.
Instinct had robbed him of all reason.
He wanted to beat them to death.
Cool-headedness, the law—every bit of it fled his mind. He hadn't even considered the consequences.
Now that Lin Wanyi asked, he gave it real thought, and there was only one answer.
He gazed into her eyes with deep affection:
"Wanyi, I've thought it through. There's no other reason. It's just..."
He paused to kiss her on the cheek before continuing:
"It's just because I love you.
"Seeing you being attacked made me lose all reason.
"Wanyi, I beat those men, and I don't regret it."
What could Lin Wanyi say?
She couldn't utter a single word.
All she could do was bury her face in Liu Renzhi's chest.
As she lay there, she decided that as long as Liu Renzhi never made a serious mistake, she would forgive him for anything—absolutely anything.
Li Suhua had hurried over, leading Wang Keke by the hand, but at the doorway she saw the scene. She immediately turned and led Wang Keke away.
With Liu Renzhi there, she felt completely at ease.
As they walked, she looked down at Wang Keke and asked:
"Keke, if Uncle Liu became your daddy, would you be okay with that?"
The soon-to-be-eight-year-old Wang Keke thought for a moment.
"Grandma, is Mommy going to marry Uncle Liu?" she asked. "Will I still live with you, then?"
"Why do you ask that?"
Li Suhua was taken aback.
"Don't you want to live with your mom?"
Wang Keke looked up at Li Suhua:
"It's just... I'm afraid Grandma Su wouldn't like me. My other grandma never liked me—she always called me a waste of money and said Mommy should never have had me.
"Grandma, I want to keep living with you forever."
Li Suhua's heart ached as if it were bleeding.
She knelt down and wrapped her arms around Wang Keke.
"All right," she whispered. "You can live with whoever you want. Whatever you say, sweetheart."
Liu Renzhi stayed at the hospital with Lin Wanyi the whole day, until she finally shooed him away:
"You've got so much work at your company. Don't let it pile up.
"I've got doctors and nurses here, and Huihui said she'd come by after work.
"Go handle your business."
Liu Renzhi didn't leave. Instead, he had his secretary bring his laptop straight to Lin Wanyi's hospital room.
By afternoon, news spread through the Liu Group offices: the CEO was at the hospital, personally caring for some young woman in every possible way.
Everyone was guessing who she was.
Someone said, "Could it be that the CEO is finally ending his bachelorhood? Does he actually have a girlfriend now?"
Another chimed in, "She must be his girlfriend. Why else would someone of his status be personally taking care of her?"
Someone more insightful connected the dots from the night before: "I bet that's the woman who was left stranded on set yesterday. It looks like she was injured. Oh, that short-film director is in deep trouble."
Those words traveled fast to the short-film company.
The director who had been in charge yesterday was trembling with fear. He immediately called Zhou Chenyu:
"Secretary Zhou, are you trying to ruin me?
"Why didn't you tell me that woman was the CEO's girlfriend? You really set me up!"
Zhou Chenyu, of course, had also heard the rumors.
She was beside herself with rage, consumed by jealousy, but she still had to placate the director:
“A girlfriend? Don’t listen to their nonsense. I’m Mr. Liu’s sister—since when did I not know that?”
