In City G, it was two o’clock in the afternoon.

  Without resting well for a few days in a row, Xu Youning was close to collapsing. That afternoon, she had an hour to have a lunch break and fell asleep within seconds.

  Not long afterward, she woke up abruptly.

  Her fear nerve was as if she had been hit hard, and an unprovoked panic occupied every cell in her body. She put her hand to her heart, suddenly feeling out of breath.

  Her intuition told her that something was wrong, while her sense of reason tried to convince herself that it was just her illusion.

  “The past turned out to be all right; make a decision when the future arrives……”


  The melody came of Xu Youning’s favorite song, An Unexpected Shower. It took her two seconds to realize that it was her cellphone ringing. She grabbed it and answered only to hear a strident male voice saying, “This is Shen Yuechuan. Sijue is injured.”


  In her mind, Shen Yuechuan had always been cynical and sounded flippant. At that moment, however, he gravely told her that Mu Sijue was injured.

  Xu Youning felt like her heart had been clenched. She stood up at once and asked, “How did he get injured? Is it serious?”


  “He was shot in his heart. The doctor said it’s not so good,” Shen Yuechuan said with an unprecedented low voice. “Youning, you’d better come to us.”


  Xu Youning’s mind went blank for two seconds. Without handing over her work or packing, she rushed out of the office and asked Ah Guang to drive her to the airport.

  On the way, she told Ah Guang what to do and booked the next flight to Mexico. Before the security check, she said to him, “Keep it in mind. Don’t tell anyone about Mr. Mu’s injury, so as not to cause internal confusion.”


  Ah Guang nodded and said, “Youning, trust me. Take good care of Mr. Mu. I’ll look after everything here.”


  Xu Youning thought for a while then said, “If there’s any emergency and you can’t get in touch with us, you can call Mr. Lu directly.”


  Ah Guang nodded and said, “Mr. Mu told me that before he left. I know what to do.”


  Then Xu Youning passed the security check at ease and boarded the plane to Mexico.

  Xu Youning needed a transit in Vancouver and called Shen Yuechuan during the stop to ask about Mu Sijue.

  “The surgery isn’t over yet. I don’t know much at the moment.” Shen Yuechuan’s low-spirited voice implied a negative fact. “Tell me your flight number. I’ll arrange for someone to pick you up.”


  Xu Youning told him the flight number and boarded again.

  It was morning in Vancouver, and an air hostess considerately brought her breakfast, which included milk, bread, and a small plate of fruits.

  Xu Youning had no appetite. After taking two bites of the bread and drinking the milk, which was enough to support her, she put on a sleep mask to rest.

  As soon as she lay down, Shen Yuechuan’s voice emerged in her mind. “He was shot in his heart. The doctor said it’s not so good.”


  Mu Sijue, who was like an invincible iron man, had always been energetic. Xu Youning had never imagined how he could get injured, let alone how he looked when he was seriously injured.

  There were many in Mexico that wanted to curry favor with him; those who dared to end his life weren’t born yet. The one who challenged him at that time was probably Kang Ruicheng.

  “But why did Kang Ruicheng challenge Mu Sijue instead of carrying out his work if he won the cooperation?” Xu Youning thought.

  The air hostess saw Xu Youning lying there still, thinking that she was asleep, and motioned for others not to disturb her, while at the moment, she was more clear-headed than ever.

  Five hours later, the plane landed at the airport in Mexico City. Since she had no luggage, Xu Youning walked straight toward the airport exit. From a distance, she saw a young man standing there holding and repeatedly shaking a sign with her name on it.

  She walked over and patted the man. “I’m Xu Youning.”


  “Hello.” The young man gave her a smile and said, “I’m Jie. Yuechuan asked me to pick you up.”


  “Drive me to the hospital.” Xu Youning walked out of the airport at a quick pace while asking, “Is the surgery over yet?”


  “Yes. But I don’t know much.” Jie smiled with an apologetic face and said, “Yuechuan asked me to drive you to the hospital. He didn’t tell me more.”


  Xu Youning nodded and said, “Hurry up, please.”


  The high-performance SUV ran on the road for about an hour and finally stopped in front of a private hospital. It didn’t take long for Xu Youning to reach Mu Sijue’s ward.

  There were five guys about the same age as Jie standing outside the ward. Their casual suits didn’t hide their muscular figures, from which she could tell that they were all good at combat. It was likely that Shen Yuechuan had assigned them there to protect Mu Sijue.

  The man at the head of them opened the door for Xu Youning and said, “Miss Xu, Mr. Shen said that you can go in.”


  Walking through the foyer, Xu Youning saw Mu Sijue lying on the sickbed at once.

  He was in striped hospital attire, closing his eyes tight and slightly frowning, and although he was unconscious, he still looked dignified and frightening.

  Even though he was injured, he looked the same as he normally did.

  Shen Yuechuan calmly watched every minor look on Xu Youning’s face and saw her sincere worries. She looked just like Su Jianan had when she heard about Lu Boyan’s accident.

  In Shen Yuechuan’s eyes, Xu Youning really cared about Mu Sijue. Otherwise, he could only say that she was much better at acting than the erstwhile popular star Han Ruoxi.

  “How is he?” Hearing her own voice, Xu Youning realized that it had cracked. It had something to do with her long flight, during which she hadn’t rested well.

  Shen Yuechuan said, “The surgery didn’t go well. Luckily, he survived. He’s out of danger now. But it will take a long time for his recovery.”


  Xu Youning’s overhanging heart finally returned to where it used to be, and she felt great relief.

  She thought, “As long as Mu Sijue is alive. Whatever.”


  Shen Yuechuan asked her with a teasing and curious look on his face. “Youning, you’re so worried about Mr. Mu, are you?”


  Xu Youning deliberately avoided eye contact with Shen Yuechuan and said, “Exactly. If he dies before he tells me what to do with my work, I’ll be in big trouble.”


  Shen Yuechuan laughed and said, “Don’t worry too much. He won’t be struck down easily.”


  Xu Youning didn’t get the implied meaning from Shen Yuechuan’s words, she just thought that Shen Yuechuan’s certainty was reasonable—the one who was lying on the sickbed was Mu Sijue, who was the honored Mu Qi in City G. “How could he be easily struck down?” Xu Youning thought.

  With that, Xu Youning stroked Mu Sijue’s forehead between his eyebrows, with the intention to smooth out the wrinkles there.

  “He has looked like that for many years.” Shen Yuechuan said, “Even if he’s sleeping, he looks like he’s thinking. He has always been frowning. Aunt Zhou says that he looked like an old man at a young age.”


  “But……” Xu Youning bit her lips.

  What she had seen was totally different.

  The other morning when she woke up in Mu Sijue’s apartment, she found that he had put his limbs on her like a rogue, and he looked relaxed without his habitual sternness or cold face.

  Xu Youning thought, “Could he be relaxed only when he rests in his apartment?”


  “But what?” Shen Yuechuan continued asking Xu Youning.

  Xu Youning couldn’t tell the truth, so she asked, “Why?”


  “He began to take over the family business at an early age.” Shen Yuechuan said, “Ever since he was a kid, he has experienced countless attempted murders and kidnappings like what happened last night. He’s in danger all the time, and he has to be alert to those around him. He can’t be off his guard until his life ends.”


  “.……” Xu Youning was silent because she was the one that Mu Sijue had to take note of. Maybe because of that self-knowledge, she didn’t get the implied meaning in Shen Yuechuan’s words.

  Shen Yuechuan stretched and said, “Now that you are here, I will leave. I was up all night. I’m sleepy to death now.”


  Then he left, without worrying what Xu Youning would do to Mu Sijue. He was sure that she wouldn’t do any harm to him.

  Xu Youning pulled up a stool beside the sickbed. Then she took out her cellphone from the bag and turned it on. There was an unread text message from Kang Ruicheng.

  —Mu Sijue offered less than 110,000. We lost a chance again.

  Xu Youning was shocked. She thought, “It’s impossible! Mu Sijue told me that he was going to offer 120,000. How come it turned out to be less than 110,000?

  “What on earth happened?

  “Did Mu Sijue temporarily change his mind, or…… intentionally tell me a lie?”


  “If it was a lie…… ” Xu Youning didn’t dare to think about it anymore.

  While Xu Youning was puzzled, Mu Sijue opened his eyes.

  He felt as if he had slept for a long time and wandered to the gate of hell. “Finally, I survived. Otherwise, how could I see Xu Youning?” he thought.

  In the obscurity, Mu Sijue couldn’t tell if it was his own illusion because he saw a confused and anxious look on Xu Youning’s face.

  He thought, “Is she worrying about me?”


  When Mu Sijue could see clearly, Xu Youning found him awake and felt happy inside. As she was about to ring the nurse’s bell, Mu Sijue grabbed her hand.

  “Release me.” At that moment, Xu Youning stopped thinking about why Mu Sijue had temporarily changed his mind. She only wanted to make sure that he was all right, so she said, “I’m calling the doctor to give you a check-up.”


  Mu Sijue frowned and said, “If you want to see how I kick him out, go ahead.”


  Xu Youning: “.……” It was the first time she had seen such a self-important patient.

  However, she believed that Mu Sijue would do as he said, so she withdrew her hand. Even if she didn’t call the doctor in, he would be found awake during the nurse’s rounds.

  Mu Sijue gave her a softer look and said, “Bring me water.”


  Xu Youning took a glass of warm water to Mu Sijue’s lips. As Mu Sijue slightly lowered his head to drink, Xu Youning suddenly put the glass in Mu Sijue’s hand and said, “You didn’t hurt your hands. Hold it yourself!”


  “Xu Youning,” Mu Sijue slowly looked up and stared at her with a stony face, “maybe I need to teach you a lesson, right?”


  “Is that important?” Xu Youning deliberately stressed each word. “Anyway, you can do nothing to me now!” Well, she dared to be arrogant only when Mu Sijue was injured.

  Unexpectedly, Mu Sijue wasn’t angry.

  He jokingly asked Xu Youning, “How long have you worked for me?”


  Xu Youning thought for a while and said, “Nearly a year.”


  “After such a long time, you still know little about your boss.” Mu Sijue slowly said, “Xu Youning, I think you’ll suffer in the future.”


  “In the future……” she thought.

  At that time, what frightened Xu Youning the most was talking about the future.

  She tried to sidetrack him and asked, “Mr. Mu, don’t you want to know why I’m here?”


  After hearing Mu Sijue’s words, Xu Youning wished that she could go back to half a minute ago, when she would rather bite her tongue than ask that question.