"There’s one more thing." As Ye Jiuliang talked about what was to come, a shade of gloom flashed across her face.

Li Mochan raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

"I have to go back to Country Y." Ye Jiuliang turned over and buried herself in his embrace, her voice muffled.

The bedroom fell silent.

The smile at the corners of Li Mochan’s lips vanished without a trace, and a storm surged in his eyes, as deep as the sea.

He lifted the person in his arms slightly, suppressing complex emotions, "Have you changed your mind?"

"Hmm?"

Catching the fleeting look of hurt and anger in his eyes, Ye Jiuliang was first taken aback, then she laughed.

She raised her hand to his face and playfully kneaded it, amusedly saying, "Li Mochan, what are you thinking about?"

Did he think she was going to return to Country Y and then change her mind about being with him? What a dummy.

Li Mochan remained silent, his gaze heavy as he stared at her.

Little did he know, this kind of look was something Ye Jiuliang couldn’t stand; it made her feel like she was bullying him.

"I’ll only be gone for a few days, and I’ll be back soon." Ye Jiuliang took the initiative to wrap her arms around his neck, looking him face to face with a serene smile blooming in her eyes and brows.

"Don’t worry, I can’t bear to let anyone covet my Li the fifth."

At her words, the oppressive atmosphere around them loosened a bit.

The coldness in the man’s eyes slowly melted away, "Just a few days?"

After some thought, she said, "Probably four or five days."

Li Mochan frowned, "That many days?"

"It’s not even a week, is that a lot?" Ye Jiuliang couldn’t help but chuckle.

Li Mochan suddenly remembered her other identity, the "masked youth."

"What are you going to do in Country Y?"

After a moment of silence, she said softly, "To pay respects to someone."

Li Mochan looked down at her, "Are you going alone?"

Ye Jiuliang let out a dry laugh, "No, Ji Mingqian will be there too."

Before she had finished speaking, the face of a certain gentleman darkened visibly.

The hand on her waist tightened, "Just the two of you?"

Smelling the faint scent of jealousy, Ye Jiuliang quickly smoothed things over, "No, there will be two others."

"Men?"

"One man, one woman." As she spoke, she added, "It’s the ’big wife’ from my WeChat notes."

Hearing this, Li Mochan snorted lightly, still not pleased.

"Oh, and there’s another thing I should tell you, the signal in the place I’m going to is really bad, so I might not be able to receive any calls or texts, but you don’t have to worry."

Not being able to see her was bad enough, but now not even being able to call her, Li Mochan was all the more icy.

He held the person in his arms tightly, nuzzling her nose, "Little scamp, are you really willing to leave me behind like this?"

"I’ll take you there next time." Ye Jiuliang leaned in to kiss the corner of his lips.

She still had to visit headquarters on this trip.

Seizing the moment, Li Mochan continued, "Shall we go to Country M after you come back?"

Ye Jiuliang’s lips curled into a mischievous smile, "What, are you going to take me to meet your parents?"

"I’m taking you to collect red envelopes." Li Mochan gently scraped her nose, having found that his little wolf pup really liked collecting red envelopes.

Ye Jiuliang pouted, "Stop trying to smooth-talk me."

Circling back to the matter at hand, he asked, "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

Li Mochan frowned and flipped over to pin her beneath him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ye Jiuliang had a bad feeling.

"You owe me some interest before you go." His low, mellow tone lifted slightly, carrying a hint of unique sensuality.

"Li Mochan, I advise you to be kind, stop messing around..."

**

Country Y

The sun blazed overhead, and in the sparsely populated outskirts,

the hot sunlight struck the dark glass, spreading spotty halos of light.

"Damn, how is there no hot water," a low curse came from the bathroom.

The next second, the bathroom door swung open, and the woman’s delicate figure was wrapped in a bath towel; her hair was still covered in shampoo that hadn’t been rinsed off, which she then haphazardly wrapped in a towel.

She padded barefoot on the carpet and made a beeline downstairs.

After checking, she discovered that the water heater was broken.

She held the towel to her head with a troubled look, thinking this was going to be complicated; she had no clue how to fix it.

Having returned dusty and travel-worn, she had hoped to soak in a hot bath, but this was just her luck.

Now, she could only take a cold shower.

At the door, the "beep beep" sound of a password being entered was heard—someone had come back.

Xinuo Gu frowned; could it be Achen had returned?

She lowered her gaze to her attire and her expression changed. She turned and darted upstairs.

However, it was one step too late.

Chu Chen hadn’t expected that his last-minute decision to return early would present him with this scene. He was taken aback for a moment as the woman’s porcelain-white skin caught his eye, causing his deep, ink-like pupils to darken further.

"Uh, why did you come back so early? Weren’t you supposed to be back tonight?" Xinuo Gu’s eyes darted away, her face showing embarrassment.

"The matters at headquarters were settled earlier. Today, Ajiu and the others are coming back, and I bought hot pot ingredients," Chu Chen put down the shopping bags and looked deeply at her. "Why are you wrapped up like that?"

"The water heater is broken," Xinuo Gu uttered with a dry chuckle.

He glanced at the bubbles still in her hair and calmly averted his gaze, "Go back upstairs and wait; I’ll fix the water heater now. Don’t take a cold shower."

Her constitution was cold; taking a cold shower could easily make her catch a cold.

Xinuo Gu acknowledged and scurried upstairs.

This was utterly embarrassing.

Chu Chen’s lips curved with a light laugh as he rolled up his sleeves to look for the toolbox.

He and Mingqian Ji were the ones who usually fixed things around the house. With years of experience, he was well-practiced at repairing water heaters.

Before long, Chu Chen packed up the toolbox and called upstairs, "Anuo, the water heater is fixed." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Got it," Xinuo Gu responded.

A short while later, Xinuo Gu came downstairs, where Chu Chen was working on the sofa.

"What time is Ajiu’s flight arriving?" Xinuo Gu sat down next to him and picked up an orange, weighing it in her hand.

The faint scent of shower gel drifted to his nose, causing Chu Chen’s dark eyes to pause briefly, "Probably around nine o’clock tonight."

Xinuo Gu peeled the orange, popped a segment into her mouth, and asked, "We’re returning to the island tomorrow, is everything arranged at headquarters?"

The signal on the island was poor, so things at headquarters needed to be sorted in advance to avoid any issues.

"Mhm," Chu Chen closed his laptop, reached out to take an orange segment from her hand, and naturally put it in his mouth.

Xinuo Gu’s eyes widened, "You’re stealing my orange, do you have no shame?"

"I bought them," Chu Chen reminded her.

Xinuo Gu, "..."

"Don’t come downstairs wearing only a bath towel in the future," Chu Chen’s gaze remained on the computer screen as he spoke in a calm, deep voice.

"Cough, cough."

Xinuo Gu choked on the orange, her ears quietly turning red.

"Chu Chen, what just happened was an accident, can’t you pretend you didn’t see it?"

"I’d like to pretend I didn’t see it, but it was too clear to forget easily," Chu Chen replied while answering emails.

Too clear?

Xinuo Gu was petrified.

A hint of redness flitted across her eyes as she raised her fist and swung it toward him.

"Go to hell."