She went to make coffee; the brewing time and ingredients were just right.

Wan Donglin held the coffee cup and, even before taking a sip, praised her lavishly, "Xixi, the coffee and tea you make always taste better than anything from outside. I truly don’t know why."

She smiled sweetly. "Well, it’s because I’m pretty."

He burst out laughing and pulled her into a tight hug.

In that moment, a quiet stillness fell between them. He liked this tone of hers, this attitude. It was as if he was slowly finding his way back to those tender, coquettish, and enchanting times.

His breathing grew heavy. She clearly knew what that meant and said softly, "I’ll go take a shower first."

"I’ll join you."

She pressed a hand against him. "Be good and wait for me here."

Laughing, he let her go.

The sound of rushing water came from the bathroom. Wan Donglin sat on the balcony. He had saved quite a few new jokes on his phone and was about to forward them to her, but he couldn’t find her name in his Moments.

That little minx, did she actually block me?

He tried adding her again, then snatched her phone. "Heh, so you blocked me? I’ll just add myself back."

Holding her phone, an idea struck him. Why not take this chance to delete all the men from her messaging app?

He froze. Forget Moments, there was no messaging app on her phone at all! It turned out she had completely uninstalled it.

She no longer used the messaging app.

He still remembered her last message to him crystal clear: "Dirty Man, please come out... I promise I’ll never drag you down again. I promise I’ll do everything by myself... Are you upset that I always relied on you? It won’t happen anymore, absolutely not. Just come back quickly, and I swear I’ll never act spoiled or make unreasonable demands on you again..."

She had vowed that for the rest of her life, she would rely only on herself.

The messaging app had once been the bond connecting them.

He had even thought many times, if it weren’t for ’the Dirty Man,’ perhaps they would never have reconciled in this lifetime, let alone loved each other again.

This was the greatest puzzle to outsiders, and it was their biggest secret.

Huang Xiaojue and Liu Daqing couldn’t understand why this pair of feuding lovers had suddenly fallen so deeply in love. Actually, there was nothing ’sudden’ about it. The existence of ’the Dirty Man’ was an inevitable part of it.

When she fell in love with him, in essence, she had always loved ’the Dirty Man.’

But today, she had uninstalled this very bond.

He didn’t quite know what to make of it.

A short while later, Yan Xixi emerged. He looked up and saw her in a plain nightdress. Her hair was fluffy and tousled from the shower. Her freshly bathed face was fair with a rosy blush, like a lotus flower. His gaze drifted down to her pale, slender legs.

Suddenly, his heart rippled. He crooked his little finger. "Little darling, come here."

She walked over and sat cross-legged beside him. They sat side by side.

They were clearly still intimate, yet he felt a subtle sense of disappointment. No, this wasn’t right. In the past, she would have run over, thrown her arms around his neck, snuggled into his embrace, and cooed in every conceivable way, "Dirty Man, look! See how clean I’ve made myself?"

"And what did you get all clean for?"

"To await Your Majesty’s pleasure, of course..."

TSK, TSK. Look at this little vision, such snow-white skin... Little stunner, serve your king well, and you shall be handsomely rewarded...

"Your Majesty, what reward will you bestow upon your humble servant?"

At moments like these, his soul would tremble, filled with boundless passion.

But today, she merely sat beside him, prim and proper, quiet and demure.