Chapter 202

Zhou Yinhe lifted his face, his narrow, long eyes holding a thin sheen of moisture.

"Just now you said it was fine, a little disinfectant would do, so why are you crying so pitifully now?"

Zhou Yinhe seemed a bit embarrassed, burying his face again, he muttered: "Who knew he would make it hurt so much."

The doctor, still cleaning up his tools and unable to leave in time, heard this and his hand paused.

Wen Ling lifted her eyes, just happening to see the doctor's hand frozen in place, she gave a small smile: "Sorry, doctor, he's rather delicate."

What could the doctor say? Since the family explained it like that, he could only smile and shake his head: "It's fine, everyone's pain tolerance differs."

Wen Ling lightly patted Zhou Yinhe's back of the head, signaling him to stop feigning reluctance, otherwise continuing would really be embarrassing.

After coaxing Zhou Yinhe, the two walked out of the hospital together; the rain was still falling and showed a tendency to gradually increase.

Zhou Yinhe lifted his gaze to the dark, heavy sky, a hint of worry crossing his face.

"Worried about the venue?"

Zhou Yinhe didn't hide it from her, tugging at the corner of his mouth, he said helplessly: "This heavy rain really came at a bad time."

"It's fine, we'll just stay a bit longer, don't rush." Wen Ling stood on tiptoe, straining to raise her arm and patted his head.

Zhou Yinhe lowered his eyes to look at hers, seeing a flicker of smile in her gaze, because her action really resembled patting a puppy's head.

He hissed, then raised his hand to lock Wen Ling's waist.

"Are you teasing a puppy?"

Wen Ling's eyes smiled: "Yeah, you really are a puppy, aren't you?"

Zhou Yinhe frowned, dissatisfied: "I'm not the dog, you are."

Their conversation resembled that of elementary schoolers arguing; at that moment, other people also waiting for the vehicle heard it and all burst out laughing, inwardly marveling: This good‑looking little couple gets along so childishly.

Zhou Yinhe heard the passersby's laughter, restrained himself a bit, but still kept Wen Ling in his embrace.

The driver's car stopped at the entrance; he came with an umbrella to pick them up, but while getting them in, he too got a thin mist of rain on himself.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Wen Ling saw that it was nearly noon, so she called Qin Lao and Wen Lao, inviting them to eat at the restaurant.

The two first returned to their room to change into comfortable casual clothes; as they walked together to the restaurant, Zhou Yinhe was behind, on the phone with his subordinate, while Wen Ling walked ahead alone and unexpectedly bumped into someone.

Wen Ling furrowed her brows, and upon seeing the other's face clearly, she froze for a moment.

"Shen... Yusheng, senior?"

The other person probably hadn't expected to meet Wen Ling here either; a flash of surprise crossed his face, then turned into some delight.

"Wen junior, what a coincidence—we haven't seen each other in ages, and yet we run into each other here."

Wen Ling smiled, recalling how this senior seemed gentle before but was actually wavering, like a fence‑sitter, and she had no intention of continuing the conversation.

"Indeed quite a coincidence, senior—I'll head off first, so I won't disturb you." Wen Ling said politely.

But Shen Yusheng seemed unable to read the slight annoyance in Wen Ling's tone, followed her a few steps, and exclaimed excitedly: "I'm just here on a business trip, trapped by the heavy rain and unable to leave—are you in the same situation, junior?"

Wen Ling frowned, about to reply, when Zhou Yinhe, who had been on the phone behind her, came up; the call was still unhang, resting on his ear, but his expression was very displeased and his face had darkened.

He said coldly: "Shen Yusheng, what are you doing?"

Shen Yusheng blinked, watching Zhou Yinhe raise his arm to pull Wen Ling into his embrace, and murmured: "You two...?"

"We've already reconciled, Shen Yusheng—did you study abroad and turn stupid? You don't even know about the Sijiucheng affair, yet you come to flirt with my fiancée." He spoke without courtesy, retorting until Shen Yusheng blushed embarrassedly.

"Fiancée?" Shen Yusheng realized, "How come I didn't know you two got engaged?"

He (Zhou Yinhe) angrily exposed that he (Shen Yusheng) actually already knew they had reconciled; Zhou Yinhe snorted, shifted his body to the side, blocking his gaze at Wen Ling, and said word by word: "Shen Yusheng, stop just studying your useless knowledge; with this time you might as well check your brain."

After his words fell, he turned and, with Wen Ling in his arms, continued toward the restaurant; behind him, Shen Yusheng's eyes flashed a hint of malice as he loudly asked: "Junior, are you just going to watch him humiliate me like this?"

Wen Ling was somewhat surprised; the two stood where they were, she turned back and asked doubtfully: "Senior, what do you mean by that?"

Shen Yusheng stepped forward two paces, repeating the question: "He's humiliating me like this—are you just going to watch, junior?"

"What else?" Wen Ling tilted her head.

"Junior, a man with no decorum at all—are you really going to be with him?"

Wen Ling seemed to just realize it, nodding in sudden understanding, she raised her hand and pinched Zhou Yinhe's palm to keep him from lashing out.

She answered with a chuckle: "Senior, compared to a brainless man, lacking manners isn't a big deal—oh, I'm not saying you have no brain, I just gave an example offhand."

The chill on Zhou Yinhe's face dissipated at her words, and he let out a puff of laughter he couldn't hold back.

He no longer let Wen Ling continue talking with Shen Yusheng, and said lightly: "Shen Yusheng, don't go looking for boredom; my fiancée isn't someone you can casually stir up—she's not like you, a fence‑sitter."

After saying that, the two walked together to the restaurant and sat by the floor‑to‑ceiling window; Wen Ling felt a bit curious.

"I've noticed you seemed to dislike Shen Yusheng before—wasn't he someone you grew up with, along with Jiang Jibai and the others?"

Zhou Yinhe pursed his lips, glanced sideways at the misty view outside the window, and explained: "When he was little, he was just a fence‑sitter; we took him to skip class, and when caught he claimed we forced him; he liked things the Shen family wouldn't let him buy, so he bought them secretly, and when his family found out he blamed us for instigating."

Wen Ling was utterly stunned; even Zhou Yinhe was left speechless, and he continued: "Every time it was like this, every time he apologized, we forgave him, yet the next time he'd do the same, so we simply stopped hanging out with him; later Shen Lao passed away, he rarely came to the grand estate, and our ties grew even more distant."

"So he was like that even as a kid? I thought it was acquired later." Wen Ling speechlessly shook her head, propped her chin on her hand, gazed at Zhou Yinhe, blinked her eyes, and exaggeratedly said: "Besides, our Xiao Wu is the best—pure and upright from childhood to adulthood, nothing like them."

"..." If Zhou Yinhe didn't know that Wen Ling had already learned about his childhood from his mother and sister, he would surely have believed it.

"Don't lay it on thick." He rolled his eyes.

Wen Ling couldn't stop laughing; when Wen Lao and Qin Lao arrived, her face still retained its undisispersed smile.

"What are you talking about, you're so happy." Wen Lao asked curiously.

Wen Ling shook her head; Qin Lao looked toward Zhou Yinhe and asked: "Did you just run into that Shen family kid?"