The streetlights shone through the car window, casting the two people inside the car in shadows.
Tan Linyuan had a strikingly handsome face, his eyes filled with gloom and profundity. "You care a lot about my relationship with Qu Jiaran, don't you?"
Nan Yu's heart sank instantly.
How should she answer this question?
Once this layer of pretense was broken, she would lose all her dignity and pride in front of Tan Linyuan.
Even more terrifying was that after she answered this question, his next question would definitely be—
"Why do you care so much about my relationship with Qu Jiaran?"
He was the one in control. He truly knew how to manipulate the overall situation, leaving nothing to chance and keeping everything under his control.
But what about her?
Maybe Tan Linyuan thought she was a player in the game of love. In fact, taking the first step to get in touch with Tan Linyuan was already a rare milestone in her life.
She was not a player at all. She was clumsy. Once she made a wrong move, it would surely mean a complete defeat.
She summoned all her acting skills and answered nonchalantly, "I don't mind Uncle Tan getting engaged to Qu Jiaran."
She tried to keep her tone as calm as possible. "I just don't like it when Uncle Tan uses me as a shield casually."
She quickly found an excuse to fob him off. "Moreover, you never inform me in advance before making any decisions. This makes me feel very passive."
Tan Linyuan's gaze on her remained unchanged.
A few seconds later, he nodded seriously as if he believed her. "If that's the reason, I'll inform you in advance next time before I use you."
He sounded so serious that Nan Yu couldn't tell whether he was being sincere or just joking.
When she met his half - smiling eyes, she realized he was teasing her.
She was both angry and annoyed. Her earlobes turned pink, and her cheeks burned.
The more she said, the more mistakes she might make. So she simply kept silent.
Nan Yu didn't realize that she had been like a dry log all night.
Her socializing at the Qu family and those seemingly easy - going polite conversations were all just empty posturing.
A discerning person could see through them at a glance.
Now that she was shy and angry, she finally had some real vitality.
She was like a shy jasmine at night, with the fresh fragrance of dew, making people want to kiss her.
There was also a faint fragrance in the enclosed car compartment, a touch of elegant whiteness.
All night, Tan Linyuan had been beating around the bush with Qu Gaolin, his mind highly tense.
One careless move, and he might fall into Qu Gaolin's verbal trap.
But now, looking at the lively Nan Yu and sensing her not - so - hard - to - detect emotional changes, he finally felt comfortable and relaxed.
He raised his hand and rubbed his temples, not planning to waste any more time on insignificant issues.
Tan Linyuan pulled on the handbrake and drove the car back onto the road.
It was quiet in the car for a while.
Nan Yu looked at the street view outside the car window. The shops in the neighborhood had all closed, and only the streetlights were still on.
In this quiet environment, Nan Yu began to reflect.
She seemed to have fallen into a strange circle.
She clearly knew that the reason he did all this was not only to consolidate his position in the chamber of commerce but also to bring down Shen Suhai and help her find the truth one day.
So in a sense, his act of socializing at the Qu family was also partly for her.
She understood all the reasons clearly. Then why did she still doubt him when her emotions got the better of her?
She couldn't help but think remorsefully that if she and Tan Linyuan were on a team for a game, she would definitely be a useless teammate.
The kind that not only couldn't help but also held others back.
The car stopped in front of a 24 - hour convenience store.
Nan Yu looked at the illuminated signboard, feeling quite confused.
Even if that restaurant had closed, it wasn't that all the restaurants in Jiangcheng were closed.
At worst, they could go home and order takeout.
She couldn't help but ask, "Uncle Tan, are you taking me here for a late - night snack?"
"Wait in the car."
After the car stopped steadily, Tan Linyuan unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the car door, and got out.
Watching that solitary and handsome figure enter the convenience store, Nan Yu blinked.
Could he be buying condoms?
But there were still some left at home.
She couldn't guess what Tan Linyuan was up to, so she had no choice but to sit in the car and wait.
A few minutes later, Tan Linyuan came back.
He opened the car door. A unique coldness of the night surrounded him. He handed the things in his hand to Nan Yu.
There were two sandwiches and two bottles of milk in the bag.
Nan Yu rummaged through the bag and found only these things. She looked up at Tan Linyuan in confusion and found him looking at her mockingly.
"What else did you think there would be?" The meaning in his words was self - evident.
"..."
Nan Yu was too embarrassed to say what she had just thought, so she simply ignored him.
Tan Linyuan laughed and restarted the car, turning the steering wheel.
It wasn't the way back to the villa.
There were fewer and fewer cars on the road, and the environment gradually became more open.
Nan Yu judged from the surrounding environment that they were driving along a mountain road.
"Going into the mountains at night?" Nan Yu asked doubtfully. "Uncle Tan, are you going to sell me?"
"Yeah." Tan Linyuan glanced at her and replied cheerfully. "Killing and disposing of the body in the middle of the night is the most concealed way."
Nan Yu laughed too. "Then Uncle Tan is in trouble."
"Why?"
"Uncle Tan has not only broken the vow of celibacy but is about to break the vow of not killing." Nan Yu looked up at him and grinned.
As she was laughing, she saw his meaningful look. Her smile gradually froze, and her expression became inexplicably stiff. "You haven't already..."
"Shh." Tan Linyuan made a gesture and lowered his voice. "Be quiet. Don't let the Buddha hear you."
Nan Yu: ...
She immediately sat up straight, no longer in the mood to joke. She started to speculate about the probability of Tan Linyuan selling her.
Seeing her serious face, Tan Linyuan couldn't help but let out a low laugh, a smile curving his lips.
Because of his laugh, Nan Yu guessed that he was joking again. She said angrily, "You're lying to me again."
"I didn't say anything." Tan Linyuan held the steering wheel nonchalantly. "It's all your own wild imagination since just now."
From just now until now.
He had done nothing, but she had almost bared her heart.
She had almost revealed all her cards.
"If Yu Yu is so easy to figure out, what will you do without me in the future?"
His tone was indulgent. Nan Yu was stunned, and her lively expression suddenly faded.
What would she do without him in the future?
Nan Yu had never thought about it.
It wasn't that she hadn't thought about it; it was that she didn't dare to.
Tan Linyuan didn't expect an answer from her. He just drove the car to a place where it couldn't go any further and parked it.
"Get out of the car."
Nan Yu opened the car door. As soon as her toes touched the ground, her right hand was held by Tan Linyuan.
The car was parked by the roadside. The night wind in the mountains was fresh, brushing against their cheeks with the smell of grass and trees.
"I'll take you to a place."