After a minute of silence, Qin Siting’s call came. She quickly picked it up.

  “Where are you eating?”


  Shi Niange raised her head and looked at the logo of the hotel on the corner of the mirror above the bathroom. She said the name of the hotel and asked, “This is your family’s hotel, right?”


  Qin Siting did not answer and said, “Wait, I’ll go over.”


  He had hung up the phone. Shi Niange stood in the bathroom and was stunned for a moment. She lowered her head to look at her phone, which had already dimmed. Her heart suddenly began to beat wildly.

  When she returned to the private room, her father gave her an unhappy look because she had dawdled in the bathroom for too long. Shi Niange pretended not to see it and walked over to sit by his side.

  “Hello, Nian Nian. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? You’ve grown into a big girl. You used to be very cute, but now you’re even more beautiful.” Father Tang sat across the table and looked at her with a smile as though he was looking at his future daughter-in-law. “I remember that you’re one year younger than our Tang Shao, right? Nineteen? You’ve really grown up. Sigh, our generation is all old.”


  Seeing that Shi Niange had no intention of answering, Father Tang changed the topic to Father Shi.

  Father Shi smiled. “That’s right. We’re all old, unlike when we were young. Back when Nian Nian was only a child, although we didn’t cooperate much in the business world, we had quite a lot of interactions. At that time, Tang Shao’s mother even held Nian Nian’s hand and brought her out to buy good food.”


  “Yes, yes, yes, I remember. At that time, Nian Nian refused to let go of my wife’s leg and said that she wanted to return to the Tang family with her. She even said that she wanted to come to the Tang family as a daughter. She wanted to have an auntie and a brother to accompany her every day.” Father Tang smiled brightly. Then he looked at Shi Niange. “Nian Nian, it’s all Tang Shao’s fault. I don’t know how he made you angry last year. Otherwise, when you ]==

  marry into the Tang family, your auntie will be your mother, and Tang Shao’s brother will be you……”


  “Uncle Tang, how can you take my words seriously when I was young? When I was young, I often hugged Grandfather’s neck and said that I wanted to be with Grandfather for the rest of my life. But I’ve grown up, and Grandfather is already old. I was too naive when I was a child. I feel a little embarrassed thinking about it now,” Shi Niange said with a smile.

  Father Tang paused and then smiled. “Indeed, but you’ve known Tang Shao for so long. You’ve met him a few times when you were young. When you grew up, you also studied in the same school. Such a deep affinity. It’s really not worth it if you separate because of some unnecessary misunderstanding. Besides, Tang Shao is no longer like he was before. He doesn’t even have a girl by his side. They’re all brothers who love playing basketball. He’s really devoted to you, Nian Nian.”


  “Uncle, Tang Shao and I were only friends in the past. It doesn’t matter to me if he has any girls by his side.” Shi Niange tried her best to maintain a polite smile. At the same time, she glanced at the time and said, “It’s almost twelve o’clock. I have to return to school at one o’clock. I might have to leave after eating a little. If there’s anything wrong with my hospitality, Uncle Tang, please forgive me. But with my father here to accompany me, I don’t think it’ll be too dampening of the mood.”


  Tang Shao sat there and didn’t say anything. He just sat there quietly, but his gaze remained on her.

  Shi Niange’s words carried a layer of isolation, preventing anyone from mentioning anything about her and Tang Shao.

  Although Father Tang was slightly unhappy, he turned to see that his son was only silently looking at Shi Niange. He did not know what he was thinking and did not speak. He could only continue with other topics to smooth things over.

  The food in the hotel was served very quickly. Shi Niange did not eat much. It had been more than ten minutes since Qin Siting said he would come. The school was not far from here. He should be arriving soon.

  After drinking two mouthfuls of soup, she stood up and walked out.

  “Why are you going out again? Why are you so busy with a meal?” Father Shi saw that she was leaving again and frowned at her.

  “My stomach doesn’t feel well. I’ll go to the bathroom.” Shi Niange didn’t care if the explanation was reliable or not. Anyway, she was in a bad mood today and didn’t have the mood to care too much, especially when she was facing Tang Shao and his father.

  However, as soon as she walked out and looked out of the hotel, she suddenly felt someone approaching from behind.

  She turned back to see that Tang Shao had also come out.

  Thinking that he was going to use this side of the road to go to the bathroom, Shi Niange avoided him. However, he did not walk past her but walked to her side.

  “Nian Nian, is there a need to be so distant with me?” Tang Shao was much taller than her. He lowered his eyes to look at him. “If you’re very disgusted by what my father said, I’ll apologize to you on his behalf. To our parents, perhaps they just exchanged their children for business interests and didn’t consider our feelings. But I know what kind of character you have, and I know you don’t like it, so I didn’t say anything just now.”


  Shi Niange listened for a while and did not say anything, but she felt that Tang Shao seemed to have matured a lot in the past year.

  “I’m still the same as before. I like you a lot. I just feel that because of what happened back then, you’ve been brooding over it. In fact, I don’t feel good. I feel like I’ve been wronged. That female classmate and I really……”


  “Tang Shao, on account of the relationship between the two families, there’s indeed no need for us to be in a deadlock. It’s not that I’m holding a grudge. It’s just that we don’t have any feelings for each other. Since they set us up back then, we casually dated for a while. However, after that, we found that we weren’t suitable for each other. I stopped the wrong relationship in time. There’s no other reason. I think you should let it go.” Shi Niange seemed to have not said anything to him since she broke up with him. Since he wanted to talk now, she felt that there was a need to make things clear.

  Tang Shao looked at her. “You don’t like me at all?”


  “I don’t hate you. If your father hadn’t interfered in the middle, perhaps we could have been simple friends. We could have been brothers or something. But it’s so awkward for your father to matchmake us like this. So I think it’s better to keep my distance.” Shi Niange looked at him seriously. “Love was not what we shared. At least, I’ve finally experienced deep feelings of love.”


  Tang Shao’s originally calm gaze was surprised by her words. His brows suddenly moved. “Deep love?”


  These words were equivalent to asking her who she liked. Shi Niange was considering what to say when her phone suddenly rang in her pocket. She quickly picked it up and saw that it was a call from Qin Siting. She picked it up.

  Qin Siting: “Come here.”