Nie Yixiao’s gaze was firmly locked on her face, quietly waiting for her answer.

Roses, a diamond ring.

This was the proposal scene she had dreamt of since her girlhood.

But now...

The warning from Lawyer Yang still faintly echoed in her ears, and with a determined heart, she made up her mind.

Perhaps Brother Yixiao would be very disappointed, perhaps she was letting Brother Yixiao down...

But she couldn’t afford to anger Huo Zhenyang and lose Little Baozi.

She stepped back a few steps: "Brother Yixiao... I’m sorry! I’m not ready yet—"

As she spoke, she dared not look into Nie Yixiao’s eyes, turned her head, and ran out towards the pool.

*

Disheng.

Shortly after nightfall, what was a clear sky suddenly turned into a violent downpour.

But such weather was quite common in Yunling, nothing unusual.

The servants of Huo Mansion had already closed the iron gates early.

Just after the gates were closed, as the servants were about to go in, they heard the sharp sound of car wheels scraping on the ground outside the villa.

The strong headlights of an SUV shone into the courtyard of Huo Mansion.

The servants recognized it; it was Mr. Nie’s car, and they hurriedly opened the iron gate again.

The SUV drove into the courtyard, screeched to a halt.

A tall and cold figure opened the car door, disregarding the storm, quickly stepped out of the car, and entered the villa, heading straight to the second floor, into the surveillance room next to Qiao Yongyong’s room.

"Boss, didn’t you take the night off? Why did you come..." In front of the monitor, the bodyguard on duty tonight stood up, surprised, staring at his superior soaked with rainwater and looking gloomier than the weather.

"The matter is dealt with. You can go back now," Nie Yixiao waved his hand.

The subordinate followed his instructions, was just about to leave through the door, and bumped into Qiao Yongyong carrying a glass of milk upstairs. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Oh, why are you leaving?" Qiao Yongyong yawned, asking lazily and casually.

The subordinate, seeing her in a silky nightgown revealing her curves, his face turned red: "Um, Miss Qiao, Mr. Nie has arrived."

Qiao Yongyong’s face brightened: "He has? But didn’t he say he was busy tonight and took leave?"

"Yeah. Maybe he has finished the matter." Seeing her seemingly wanting to go find the Boss, he hurriedly added, "But, the Boss seems to be in a bad mood. Miss Qiao, you better go back to sleep and not bother him."

During this period, it’s well known among the bodyguards that Qiao Yongyong has been pursuing Nie Yixiao.

This bewitchingly beautiful mafia heiress, with her fiery demeanor, would be too much for any normal man to handle.

Unfortunately, Mr. Nie is not an ordinary man; he doesn’t even blink an eye at Ms. Qiao.

Qiao Yongyong, impatiently said: "Yeah, yeah, I know. You can go now."

Left with no choice, the subordinate left.

Seeing the bodyguard gone, Qiao Yongyong playfully smiled, walked to the surveillance room, turned the doorknob, and entered without knocking.

Oh? No one’s in the room?

Sound of water rushing came from the bathroom.

He must be taking a shower.

Qiao Yongyong placed the milk aside, patiently waiting.

Since it was work hours, Nie Yixiao didn’t linger long. He hurried through a shower, changed into a set of clean clothes, and came out after just over ten minutes.

Qiao Yongyong was lying on his bed, playing PopStar on his work iPad. Seeing him come out, she tossed the iPad aside, sat up, and smiled, "All clean now."

Her gaze boldly surveyed his body.

He had no idea that Qiao Yongyong would run into her room in the middle of the night. After drying off, he came out bare-chested, his well-defined and beautifully shaped six-pack muscles brazenly on display.

He looked thin with clothes on, but who could have expected him to be so well-built beneath? Qiao Yongyong fought the urge to drool.

Seeing her run into his room without greeting and even lying on the bed playing games on his iPad, Nie Yixiao’s expression darkened: "Miss Qiao, what do you need?"

Only then did she wipe the corner of her mouth and glance at the milk, "You were caught in the rain, I was afraid you’d catch a cold, so I brought you a cup of hot milk."

"Thanks. Can you leave now?"

Qiao Yongyong stayed on the bed, refusing to leave: "I want to see you finish it before I go~"

Nie Yixiao’s handsome face grew even darker as he lifted her up from the bed in one motion: "Enough!"

As Qiao Yongyong was lifted, their faces less than an inch apart, she could smell the cold fury radiating from him.

If it were just because she wasn’t leaving his room, he definitely wouldn’t be this angry.

She took a deep breath, probing, "Are you upset about something? What is it?"

His expression grew colder, his grip tightening as he pulled her even closer, his voice husky, "I’ll say this once more, my life is none of your business, stop meddling. Get out of my room and go back to yours!"

Normally, even if he disliked her, he wouldn’t show it this blatantly, keeping mostly to an indifferent demeanour.

Qiao Yongyong was now completely certain, he was truly in a bad mood!

She had never seen this usually stoic man this angry!

She had a hunch, if she continued to linger, he might actually throw her out like trash.

She bit her lip, still probing, "Weren’t you off to a date tonight? With whom? What happened?"

Was it a distressful date?

The woman able to affect his mood to such an extent...

Who else could it be?

Perhaps... Miss Chu?

In fact, when she called him earlier, she had guessed that the woman he was dating tonight might be Jiayi.

Now, she was even more certain.

Something must have gone wrong on the date for him to come back to work with a gloomy face, probably to distract himself with work and shift his mood, right?!

This woman really doesn’t know what’s good for her!

Nie Yixiao, seeing her still pestering with questions, didn’t bother with explanations, grabbed Qiao Yongyong’s slender body to throw her out of the room.

She struggled, slipping from his fingers and falling towards the floor, her face losing color: "Brother Yixiao—"

Damn!

Nie Yixiao glanced at the cold, hard marble floor, his face stern as he scooped her up by her waist, harshly coiling her into his arms, preventing her fall.

Qiao Yongyong, still shaken, clung tightly to his neck, panting softly as she touched her petite face, "You scared me to death, what if I had damaged my face..."

"Let go." Nie Yixiao’s expression was grim, motioning for her to remove her arms from his neck.

Qiao Yongyong was not so obedient, her lips pursed in a cute pout, deliberately moving closer to his earlobe, breathing sweetly, "You were clearly very anxious about me falling just now..."

"You are under my protection, I am responsible for your safety."

"Denying the obvious~ You were clearly scared I would get hurt, weren’t you? Your face changed when I called out," Qiao Yongyong playfully breathed into his neck, teasing him, her hands moving sensually down, sliding into his open shirt, caressing his firm, tense muscles.