Standing at the window, she took in the bustling street scene below.

Ye Jiuliang raised her eyebrows, thinking of the damn wealthy and powerful.

She strolled to the CEO’s office, which was closed and locked, requiring a password to enter.

Ye Jiuliang touched her stomach, feeling a bit hungry.

She muttered to herself, "Little one, are you hungry? Your daddy is in a meeting, so let’s not disturb him, mommy will take you downstairs to the supermarket."

After her little chat, Ye Jiuliang turned around and headed back the way she came.

There was a large department store opposite the company, and Ye Jiuliang, not having driven there, walked leisurely across.

As soon as she entered the mall, Ye Jiuliang made a beeline for food.

After eating a small cake to fill her stomach, Ye Jiuliang finally had time to browse the mall.

As she wandered, she had intended to buy snacks but became glued to the spot at a toy store.

When Li Mochan found her, he saw his little wolf cub crouched in front of a toy car, warmth spreading through the depths of his eyes as he smiled.

Quickening his steps, he reached her in just two or three.

"What are you looking at?"

His deep voice rang in her ear as his solid arm hooked around her waist.

Ye Jiuliang turned to him with a smile, her eyes curving, "This looks good, I want this one."

Her soft, adorable smile left Li Mochan nearly defenseless.

He reached out to touch her head, distractedly glancing at the toy car she wanted to buy.

Seeing the shape of the toy car, Li Mochan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Are you sure you want this one?"

"It’s nice, a toy car shaped like a turtle, the little one will definitely like it," Ye Jiuliang said with certainty.

A turtle-shaped toy car, who would like that?

Clearly, it was her own peculiar taste, yet she blamed it on the baby.

Li Mochan smiled helplessly, "Just this one?"

After thinking it over, Ye Jiuliang said excitedly, "I passed by a shop selling goldfish earlier, and I saw many little turtles, can I buy one to keep?"

Li Mochan was stunned.

Buying a toy car shaped like a turtle wasn’t enough; now she wanted a live turtle to keep?

He lowered his head, resting his chin on her shoulder, amused, "Little wolf cub, turtles are not for eating."

Previously, at least the big white goose they kept could be eaten; no one eats turtles.

"Who told you I was going to eat the turtle?" Ye Jiuliang gave him a sidelong glance, exasperated.

"I said I wanted to keep it."

"Why did you suddenly want to keep a turtle?" he asked.

"After we roasted the last big white goose, I saw that Erbao looked bored all the time. Keeping a turtle could keep it company," Ye Jiuliang explained.

"Erbao doesn’t like turtles," Li Mochan said, trying to let her down gently.

Ye Jiuliang turned to face him, "Why not?"

"When Erbao was just born, Asheng left it by the lake to bask in the sun, and it was accidentally nudged into the lake by my grandfather’s big turtle. Since then, whenever it sees a turtle, it goes after it trying to bite," Li Mochan shared a tale from the past.

Upon hearing this, Ye Jiuliang paused, then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha."

Having been pushed into the lake by a turtle made Erbao hilariously funny.

"Well, never mind then, I won’t buy it," she said, unable to stop her laughter.

"Let’s buy oranges instead."

Li Mochan reached for the toy car, paid for it, and then they left.

**

In the country of F.

Dusk waned, a blackness like thick ink swept in, as if it wanted to devour all the colors of the world.

The luxurious old castle exuded a sense of desolation and gloom from every corner.

After dinner, Mo Yu returned to her bedroom, greeted by the same cold, lonely silence.

She slumped on the sofa, her eyes unable to hide the desolation.

The person she had schemed so hard to obtain, and yet she still had to sleep alone in an empty room—it was truly laughable.

At that thought, her eyes reddened.

"Knock, knock—"

"Madam, it’s me."

Mo Yu raised her hand to wipe away the tears at the corner of her eyes and composed herself, "Come in."

As she spoke, Aqiao pushed the door open and entered, closing it behind her.

"Madam, Ye Jiuliang and the others have had a fallout," she said in a low voice.

Mo Yu looked up at her, "Make yourself clear."

"The ’Heart of the Sea’ has been taken away by Ji Mingqian, Ye Jiuliang injured Chu Chen, and the four of them have split. Chu Chen let Mo Lingling go, but I heard Ye Jiuliang and the others did not agree, so a fight ensued," Aqiao explained.

Mo Yu pondered for a moment, then asked, "Where is Mo Lingling now?"

Aqiao emphasized the important information, "Maybe out of respect for Grandfather Mo, Chu Chen gave her a sum of money to leave, but halfway through, she was caught by Ye Jiuliang, got beaten up, and is now lying in the hospital."

"What did my father say?"

"The old master said to hold off for now, to send someone to watch from the shadows for a while, fearing Ye Jiuliang and the others might be playing tricks behind the scenes."

Mo Yu nodded; she indeed thought the same way. Ye Jiuliang was full of sneaky tricks and had to be guarded against.

"Where has Mo Yuan been recently?"

"The company has been busy recently, and the family head just left for the United States yesterday."

"Have someone keep an eye on him; don’t let him have the chance to meet Ye Jiuliang," Mo Yu said coldly.

Aqiao nodded, "Understood."

...

After dinner, it naturally fell to Ji Mingqian to take Jiang Yisheng home.

The atmosphere in the car was somewhat cold.

Ji Mingqian turned his face, glanced at the wristwatch on his hand, and casually found a topic to start the conversation, "Nice watch."

He liked to buy wristwatches from this brand

Jiang Yisheng played with his wristwatch, "Yi gave it to me, I was going to buy one before."

On hearing this, Ji Mingqian’s smile at the corner of his lips stiffened, "What’s he doing giving you a watch?"

"It was my birthday a while back; it was his gift," Jiang Yisheng said.

Suddenly remembering the necklace in his suitcase, Ji Mingqian turned the steering wheel, veering off course.

Noticing that this was not the way home, Jiang Yisheng looked at him with puzzled eyes, "Where are we going?"

"It’s still early. Let’s go play games at my place," Ji Mingqian said nonchalantly.

Jiang Yisheng blurted out skeptically, "To your place?"

"What’s with that expression? Are you afraid I’ll sell you or something?" Ji Mingqian saw his expression through the rearview mirror and said with irritation.

"That’s not certain, you’re so cunning, you might sell me and I’ll have to count the money for you," Jiang Yisheng retorted in a light voice.

Ji Mingqian laughed, "Then you’d be worth no more than five cents."

"And you’d be worth two cents," Jiang Yisheng shot back without giving in.

"One cent for you."

"Half a cent for you."

The two bickered back and forth, each retort more childish than the last.

Moments later, the car stopped in front of a white cottage.

Ji Mingqian entered, threw his keys on the shoe cabinet in the entryway, and turned on all the lights in the living room.

"There’s a new pair of slippers in the shoe cabinet, help yourself."

Upon hearing that, Jiang Yisheng opened the shoe cabinet to find a pair of slippers, still wrapped.

He put them on, finding they were a bit too big.