He seemed to be suddenly immobilized, as if acupoints had been pressed, and miraculously fell silent. 

After a while, as if he had realized something, he lightly moved his fingertips across her cheek and found that her entire face was wet. 

His whole body trembled suddenly, and he grabbed her arm, flipping her over so that she faced him. 

In the dim light by the bedside, he could clearly see the tears on her face. Her wet eyelashes trembled incessantly, and her red-rimmed eyes were filled with teardrops that kept swirling, almost flowing down several times, but she struggled to hold them back. 

Seeing her like this, it pricked his eyes, and his heart ached uncontrollably. 

He didn’t understand what was happening to him, and he felt a little panicked for no reason. This was an emotion he had never experienced before. 

He stared at her in a daze for a long while, then moved his lips slightly, “You…” 

With just one word, she snapped out of her daze. She opened her wet eyes, glanced at him, and then quickly broke free from his grip. She picked up her clothes, wrapped them around herself, grabbed her pillow, and walked out of the room without saying a word. 

She had taken just a few steps when he grabbed her wrist again. 

Thinking back to the scene just now, her body couldn’t help but shudder, and she instinctively pulled back her hand. 

He felt her avoidance and froze for a moment, then lowered his head to look at the pillow she was clutching tightly. After a while, he raised his gaze again and stared at the top of her head. He stared at her fixedly for a while before finally moving his lips, “I’ll go sleep in the guest bedroom.” 

With that, he released her wrist, quickly adjusted his pajamas, and left the bedroom. 

Closing the bedroom door behind him, Han Jingnian stood by the door, staring at the palm of his hand that had covered her mouth for a while before shaking himself out of his trance and heading to the guest bedroom. 

Lying in bed, as soon as he closed his eyes, the image of her tear-stained face filled his mind. He furrowed his brow and couldn’t help but turn over. The image in his mind lingered for a long time, and unable to fall asleep, he decided to open his eyes and stare out of the window. As he continued to stare, her teary eyes flashed before him once again… 

He tightened his lips slightly, sat up, and turned on the TV. 

It was the financial channel he usually watched, reporting on business developments that were of interest to him. However, he had only been watching for a short while when his thoughts drifted far away. 

It was already almost three in the morning. Was she still crying at this hour? 

The more Han Jingnian thought about it, the less he could stay in bed. He tossed and turned, then couldn’t resist opening the door and walking out. 

He stared at the tightly closed door of the master bedroom, raised his hand several times, but each time he stopped short of touching the door and withdrew his hand. 

He hesitated like this for a while, then went to the dining room. He took a bottle of Yakult from the refrigerator and walked back to the door of the master bedroom. He gently pushed open the door and entered. 

The master bedroom was very quiet, and she occupied only a small corner of the large bed. 

He walked up to her and handed her the Yakult, saying, “Do you want to drink…” 

But before he could finish his sentence, he closed his mouth because she had already fallen asleep. 

She must have fallen asleep not long ago, as her eyelashes were still damp, and a teardrop hung from the corner of her eye. 

After he left, she must have cried again. Her eyes were slightly swollen, and the tip of her nose was red. 

Seeing this scene, Han Jingnian’s fingertips involuntarily clenched the bottle of Yakult he was holding. It felt as if something had seized his heart, causing a sharp, painful sensation. 

Han Jingnian maintained his posture of offering her the Yakult, standing by the bed and watching Xia Wan’an for a while. Then, he gently bent down, pulled the blanket up to cover her exposed shoulder, and tucked her in. 

When he stood up, his gaze once again landed on her sleeping face. Despite her recent tears, her features were still exquisite and alluring. He stared at her for a moment, and when he returned to his senses, his fingertips had somehow gently wiped away the tears from the corner of her eye. 

The slightly cool and moist feeling on his fingertips seemed to carry a scorching temperature, transmitting all the way to his chest, causing a faint ache in his heart. 

He pursed his lips and swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then placed the Yakult bottle gently on her pillow. He prepared to leave. 

Before he could turn around, he caught a sudden glimmer of light in the corner of his eye. He turned to see her phone, which she had been charging on the bedside table, flashing with a new message. 

He didn’t intend to pry into her messages, but with just a quick glance, he noticed his name on the screen: “Jingnian gege…” 

He furrowed his brow slightly, reached out, and tapped the phone screen to carefully read the message. 

“Only nine hours left until noon. Have you made up your mind? Will you voluntarily leave Brother Jingnian, or should I go find him tomorrow?” 

After reading the message, Han Jingnian’s brow furrowed even deeper. 

An annoyance and anger that he hadn’t even noticed himself began to fill his eyes. 

He glanced at the phone number; it was unfamiliar, but he still ran the eleven-digit number through his mind and memorized it. 

As he finished reading the message, Han Jingnian was about to withdraw his gaze when another message appeared on the screen, again from the same number: “I don’t know if you’re really asleep or pretending, but I hope you don’t test my patience. Brother Jingnian can only belong to me. He will only be mine!” 

Han Jingnian: “…” 

After a while, he picked up Xia Wan’an’s phone, pressed a few keys, accessed the phone’s backend, and quickly bypassed the lock screen. He then opened the message. 

As soon as he entered the message thread with the phone number, he saw three photos. 

Opening them one by one, he saw images of Xia Wan’an with a stranger watching a movie, seemingly kissing, and leaving the cinema… 

There wasn’t much expression on his face, and he lightly touched the screen with his fingertip, enlarging the photos. In less than a second, he noticed something off about the pictures. 

Aren’t these all edited photos? 

The Photoshop skills were a bit more advanced, enough to deceive ordinary people, but for someone with his level of expertise, they were useless.