Chapter 448: 472 【The Episode of Experimenting with a Married Woman】 (9K, please subscribe and vote)

A while later, in the parking garage downstairs at Lin Yun'er's Apartment.

The Elevator doors opened slowly, emitting a faint mechanical whir, followed by a man's voice from within, his tone carrying clear reluctance and confusion.

"No, you two can just go yourselves, why do you need me to tag along? Given how things are developing, wouldn't my presence just be adding fuel to the fire?"

As Lin Xiuyuan spoke, he was half-pushed, half-coaxed out of the Elevator by two forces, his pace dragging slightly due to his unwillingness.

He had seen it all: the look Park Hyomin gave him at the sushi restaurant last night, and the lonely tone in her voice when he left.

At such a delicate juncture, he felt the best course of action was to keep some distance, giving Park Hyomin space to process her emotions on her own, rather than charging in front of her the very next noon.

How was this any different from pouring a ladle of oil onto charcoal that hadn't yet gone out?

Watching the man beside her with "I don't want to" written all over his face, Li Juli smiled and hooked her arm through his.

More importantly, she used the curves of her figure, clearly outlined beneath her beige turtleneck sweater, to rub firmly against his arm, emitting a faint rustling sound.

Finally, she said in a coaxing, gentle voice, "We aren't very good at comforting people, which is why we need you, Xiuyuan, to step in."

"You say that, but where am I good at comforting people?"

Though Lin Xiuyuan said this, his body made no move to break away from her holding his arm.

Although the temptation of seduction was indeed great, Lin Xiuyuan felt he was the type of model student who could not be corrupted by riches or moved by poverty, and he couldn't easily bow his head for a few pounds of tender flesh.

Just then, Dalongzai, who was walking on the side, joined the persuasion camp, the corners of her mouth curved into a brilliant arc, her eyes squinting into two pretty crescents.

"That's hard to say; didn't you comfort me just fine? And Krystal, and Taeyeon unnie—everyone on our side has been talked through by your 'mouth-jutsu'."

"Ah, what does this have to do with 'mouth-jutsu'? This is clearly because I'm cheating." Faced with Dalongzai's praise, Lin Xiuyuan still had self-awareness.

He knew clearly in his heart that his ability to comfort those people had little to do with his eloquence; it was more because he possessed a super cheat, and he himself was a super buff.

Because he could do things others couldn't, his words naturally carried more weight than others'.

"The Gate is the Gate, people are people." Dalongzai shook her head, her tone shifting from playful to slightly more serious.

Her footsteps tapped a rhythm on the concrete floor of the parking garage, her stressed syllables landing exactly on the beat, "If you couldn't make us trust you, or if we didn't think highly of you, there wouldn't be any subsequent contact. So don't push it away, Xiuyuan, just go and help us comfort Hyomin unnie."

Watching Dalongzai's smile, Lin Xiuyuan didn't stop his pace; although he had been half-pushed by the two of them from the start, he hadn't actually retreated.

Following their lead, the three walked side by side and soon arrived at the car.

"Are you really not afraid that I'll make a mess of her marriage?"

Lin Xiuyuan stopped in front of the car door, turned around to look at the two of them, and finally voiced his biggest concern, "If that happens, it doesn't seem very good for one's moral compass."

"We're just asking you to comfort her, not to comfort her into bed."

Li Juli's moral compass was quite flexible. She said this in a light, airy tone, as if she were discussing something that wasn't a problem at all.

She then released the arm she was holding, took the car keys from her bag, and pressed the unlock button; the car gave two short beeps, and the lights flashed yellow twice.

She then walked to the driver's side door, turned her head to look at Lin Xiuyuan as she pulled it open, and added, "But if Hyomin decides to 'figure it out' on her own later, that has nothing to do with us, right? As good sisters, we can't just watch her go on like this day after day."

When she said the words "Hyomin figures it out on her own," her tone carried a hint of meaningful ambiguity.

What counted as "figuring it out," she didn't explicitly say, but it didn't need to be said.

"Exactly, exactly."

Dalongzai took up the thread, pulled open the back door, but didn't sit in immediately; instead, she stood by the door and looked at Lin Xiuyuan with a wry smile.

"Xiuyuan, as a mature man, you should know how to pull away in time at critical moments; you don't not know that, do you?"

To this, Lin Xiuyuan glanced at her and retorted helplessly, his tone carrying a sharp, nitpicking edge regarding theoretical knowledge.

"What if the other party is sitting on top of you? How do you pull away then?"

"Be flexible, change positions." Li Juli chuckled on the side.

By now, she had already sat in the driver's seat and was adjusting the rearview mirror; faced with Lin Xiuyuan's tricky retort, she tossed this line out with the composure of someone who had been there before.

Faced with the statements of these two, Lin Xiuyuan knew he couldn't escape today.

So he shook his head, pulled open the front passenger door, and bent down to climb in.

Seeing this, Dalongzai and Li Juli exchanged a smile.

Yay, goal accomplished.

……

In the afternoon.

The overcast sky over Seoul was slightly brighter than in the morning, but the cloud layer still hung very low, looking as if it might drift down a few snowflakes at any moment but kept holding back.

Park Hyomin, who had spent the morning resting at home, was asked out again.

Because Dalongzai had sent her several messages on Kakao, saying they hadn't had afternoon tea together in a long time, and that she had found a newly opened shop with delicious desserts, "Unnie, let's go together."

At the end of the message, there were several emojis: a coffee cup, a cake, and two little figures holding hands.

Park Hyomin looked at the lively messages and emojis on the screen, her thumb hesitating in the dialogue box for a long while.

Originally, she didn't want to go out, intending to just hole up at home today and see no one.

After all, the lingering effects of last night's hangover hadn't fully faded, and her head was still throbbing faintly, a feeling like someone was constantly, gently tapping her temple with a not-very-sharp rubber eraser.

It didn't hurt, but it was annoying.

But after Li Juli's call came through as well, Park Hyomin, after a moment of hesitation, finally changed her clothes and went out.

She stood in front of the wardrobe, stared blankly at the row of hanging clothes for a while, and finally chose a hoodie and a long wool coat.

She couldn't even be bothered to put on makeup; she just grabbed a lipstick from the vanity, smeared it on twice to make her lips look less pale, went out, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for the destination.

Yeah, that was all.

Arriving at the entrance of the cafe, she pushed open the heavy wooden glass door and was led by a waiter to a private room.

There, she saw Lin Xiuyuan sitting inside, with Dalongzai and Li Juli acting as his left and right guardians, sitting on either side of him.

Dalongzai was looking down at the menu, and Li Juli was slowly sipping a latte; seeing Park Hyomin arrive, she first put down her cup and waved at her, signaling her to sit over.

Seeing this scene, Park Hyomin was somewhat surprised.

After two seconds of silence, she forced a smile, stepped into the room, sat down in the seat opposite Lin Xiuyuan, and looked straight at him.

"What's going on? Couldn't you take down Irene last night? You actually have time to come out and drink coffee with Zhiyan and the others today."

Regarding Park Hyomin's tone, which seemed like teasing but was actually filled with dissatisfaction, Lin Xiuyuan rubbed the space between his eyebrows with a headache. "I'm not as exaggerated as you think. Last night was just a simple meal between friends. You really should change this overthinking personality of yours."

"Then what about that Liu Zhimin from their company?" Park Hyomin added.

At this, Lin Xiuyuan had nothing to say.

"Look at you, silent again when you encounter a difficult question," Park Hyomin sneered again.

After she finished speaking and laughing, she turned her head to look at Li Juli and Dalongzai, probably guessing what the real purpose of this afternoon tea was today.

So her shoulders relaxed a little, and the sneer at the corner of her mouth faded, replaced by a slightly weary tone. "I've already told you all, my affairs have nothing to do with this guy. Why won't you believe me? Calling him over is truly useless."

When she said this, there was no longer the sharpness in Park Hyomin's tone; instead, there was a bit of helplessness and the warmth of being cared for.

She knew her sisters meant well, but she felt they had found the wrong person. Her problems were not caused by Lin Xiuyuan, and finding Lin Xiuyuan wouldn't solve anything.

"Unnie, why don't we order first."

Seeing this, Dalongzai interjected at the right moment, attempting to use food—a seemingly unrelated matter—to ease the gradually heating atmosphere in the private room.

To this, Park Hyomin glanced at the menu Dalongzai pushed over, but she didn't reach out to take it. Instead, she raised her head, her gaze returning to the faces of the three people opposite her, her tone calm but firm.

"Let's talk first. We'll eat after we're done, otherwise I have no appetite."

Her fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop twice, making a soft tapping sound, as if setting a rhythm for this conversation. "Speak. You brought Lin Xiuyuan here; what exactly do you want to talk to me about?"

She really wanted to see what exactly her two sisters wanted to talk to her about, or rather, what they wanted to persuade her of, by bringing out this man.

Seeing Park Hyomin strike this pose and expression, Lin Xiuyuan stopped dawdling. "Then let's do as discussed before. Zhiyan, you two give us some space; I will have a proper talk with her."

Dalongzai and Li Juli looked at each other, exchanged a knowing glance, and then nodded in succession.

They stood up one after the other, walked out of the private room, and then closed The Gate, isolating the two people inside the room.

As the door to the private room was closed, the space inside the room suddenly shrank.

Although the jazz music in the main hall of the cafe outside could be heard faintly, the sound became more distant and muffled after being separated by the wooden screen and the door, like the sound of a trickle flowing from a very distant faucet.

The warm yellow light shone down from the chandelier overhead, illuminating the grain of the wood on the tabletop very clearly.

Between Park Hyomin and the man opposite her, there was only a rectangular wooden table. On the tabletop, besides a few cups of coffee and the menu that no one had looked at yet, there was only silence.

She looked at Lin Xiuyuan, waiting for him to speak first.

It was just a pity that Lin Xiuyuan was even more patient than she was.

So after a few seconds of silence, Park Hyomin spoke first. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Actually, I don't know what to talk about either." The first sentence Lin Xiuyuan said made Park Hyomin's eyebrows twitch.

She clearly hadn't expected that after this man sent the other two away, the first thing he would blurt out was this. What was he trying to do?

But Lin Xiuyuan didn't give her time to mock him, and immediately continued, "After all, I don't know much about your situation, but Zhiyan and the others are very worried about you. So I thought about it and decided to run an experiment for you and tell you a story. Whether you can take it in or listen to it is up to you."

While answering, Lin Xiuyuan bent down and took a bag from the floor by his feet.

It was a very ordinary white paper bag, the opening simply sealed with tape, and the side of the paper bag was printed with the logo of some daily department store.

This was something he had suddenly thought of while waiting at a traffic light on his way here, so he temporarily parked his car on the side of the road and found that shop to buy it.

At the time, Dalongzai asked him in the car what he was going down for, and he only said "buying props" without further explanation.

Run an experiment? Tell a story? Park Hyomin didn't quite understand.

Her brows furrowed slightly, and two shallow lines formed on her forehead due to confusion; she couldn't quite figure out what Lin Xiuyuan was trying to do.

A man in his twenties asking a woman to a cafe private room and saying he wanted to run an experiment and tell her a story—this whole thing sounded very strange.

But it was precisely this curiosity that made her gaze fall with some focus on the things the other person took out of the paper bag.

Lin Xiuyuan took the items out of the bag one by one and placed them on the tabletop.

Two transparent measuring cups, made of glass, with standard milliliter scale lines printed on the walls, brand new and shining brightly under the light.

Next were two small bottles; one contained white powder, and the other contained dark powder. The caps were screwed on very tightly, and there were no labels on the bottles, making it impossible for anyone to guess what was inside.

Finally, there were two bottles of purified water, the most ordinary plastic-bottled water bought from a convenience store. The packaging paper hadn't even been torn off, and the water in the transparent plastic bottles had no impurities under the light.

Park Hyomin looked at these experimental tools that seemed out of place in the cafe private room, her expression changing from confused to even more confused.

She looked down at the two small bottles containing different colored powders, then looked up at Lin Xiuyuan, completely unable to guess what he was going to do next.

However, she still couldn't help but ask, "What is this for?"

The tone of her voice this time was neither sarcastic nor a sneer; it was pure curiosity and bewilderment.

"Don't talk yet, wait for me a moment."

Lin Xiuyuan didn't look up at her, but focused on preparing the props in front of him.

First, he placed the two measuring cups side by side in front of himself, so that Park Hyomin could also see every step clearly.

Then he unscrewed the small bottle containing the white powder and poured an appropriate amount of white powder into one of the measuring cups.

Next, he unscrewed a bottle of purified water, aimed the bottle mouth at the mouth of the measuring cup, slowly poured in the clear water, and then stirred.

After stirring for about ten or so circles, the liquid in the measuring cup had become completely clear and transparent, indistinguishable from the purified water.

Afterwards, he continued with roughly the same actions, only this time he opened the other small bottle, poured out some dark powder, added clear water, and continued to stir with a spoon.

Only after the stirring was finished, the liquid in the measuring cup turned a very deep color—not pure black, but more like ink diluted with water.

Finally, one clear and one murky, the two measuring cups were placed side by side; the left one was completely transparent and clear, and the right one was a very deep color.

The warm yellow light from the chandelier on the transparent ceiling passed through the two cups, casting two distinct spots of light on the wooden table: one was clear light, and the other was dim, hazy light.

Having finished these preparations, Lin Xiuyuan cleared the other things he had used to the side, emptied the clutter on the tabletop, and left only the two measuring cups side by side in front of him.

Then he wiped his hands, sat up straight, and raised his head to look at the person opposite.

And Park Hyomin, who was opposite, was also waiting for him.

Her gaze had not moved away from the moment he started working until now, from the initial bewilderment and curiosity, to the patient waiting in the middle, and now to the readiness to listen.

She did want to see what kind of tricks this man could come up with to persuade her.

So when Lin Xiuyuan raised his head, the two people's gazes met in the space above the table.

Park Hyomin did not avoid that gaze, even taking the initiative to reveal a smile, "Are you done? Why do I have the feeling of being in class? Should I be calling you Teacher Lin?"

"Call me whatever you like." Lin Xiuyuan was completely indifferent to the matter of titles.

With both elbows resting on the tabletop, he leaned forward slightly, "Actually, regarding your situation, Zhiyan and the others should be able to guess some of it, or rather, even a passerby could see the state of things. Do you believe me?"

Facing this statement from Lin Xiuyuan, Park Hyomin did not deny it; she only nodded lightly, even deciding to lay her cards on the table, not wanting to beat around the bush anymore.

"Of course. It's all out in the open. I reckon many people think I've been swindled out of my assets by a man, and then stepped into a quagmire, and am now frantically running around doing commercial events to earn money to support the family, right?"

When she said this, there was a complex emotion in her tone that was hard to describe.

It was not pure anger, nor was it complete speechlessness, but a kind of weary calm, followed by a self-deprecating remark.

"After all, there aren't many people who, just after getting married, go traveling by themselves and then have even more activities than before marriage."

A newlywed wife going on a trip alone; the so-called honeymoon is not a sweet memory for two, but a lonely journey for one.

The activities taken on after marriage are more than before, not because there has been a new breakthrough in her career, but simply because she is taking every kind of commercial event and running every kind of money-making job.

Under such circumstances, anyone with a discerning eye only needs to take one look at her schedule and another look at her marital status to probably guess seven or eight tenths of the truth.

After all, there are no secrets in the entertainment industry, only so-called tacit understandings.

So much so that after finishing the previous words, Park Hyomin looked at Lin Xiuyuan and asked a question she had likely asked herself countless times in her heart, "So, Xiuyuan, what do you think? Do you think this marriage of mine is driven by interests, or is it that true love is invincible?"

"I don't care about those things." Lin Xiuyuan's answer exceeded her expectations.

He neither chose answer A nor answer B, nor did he give an ambiguous, evasive response.

He simply waved his hand, as if to sweep the words "interests" and "true love" off the table, "I just think that sometimes, people might be blinded by being in the thick of it."

The tone of this sentence was very flat, and the wording was very restrained; there was no judgmental expression, just a very objective evaluation.

It was a very neutral statement of a universal state that everyone might fall into.

Everyone, when facing their own affairs, might have moments where they cannot see the forest for the trees.

So, upon hearing the answer, Park Hyomin was silent for a while, looking at Lin Xiuyuan's calm face.

One has to admit, this man is indeed very good at speaking.

It is not the kind of glib, flowery speech, but a way of speaking that knows how to gauge the situation and does not make people feel offended.

This feeling is very rare for a married female star who has had enough of all kinds of speculation, gossip, and finger-pointing.

"Then how do you intend to convince me, or perhaps comfort me?" At this moment, Park Hyomin's tone softened quite a bit compared to just before; it was no longer thorny, but instead carried a little bit of genuine curiosity and expectation.

This time, she really wanted to see what kind of different things the man in front of her, who had set up such a grand display, could actually produce.

Facing Park Hyomin's candid inquiry, Lin Xiuyuan extended his right hand and used a few fingers to pick up the cup of dark, turbid water on the table.

He shook it gently, and the liquid rotated slowly along the wall of the measuring cup, looking like a drop of thick ink diffusing in water.

Then he spoke, "Actually, whether it is interests or true love, for everyone, as long as they haven't given up, they will go forward without hesitation. Just like the situation here, frantically using oneself to cater to the other party, to mend everything about the other party."

When speaking that last sentence, Lin Xiuyuan began to slowly pour the cup of turbid water into the cup of clear water.

The dark liquid flowed out from the mouth of the turbid measuring cup, forming a thin, steady stream that fell into the clear, transparent measuring cup below.

When the dark liquid first touched the clear water, it stirred up dense ripples at the point of impact; the clear water around the liquid column was temporarily pushed aside, forming a small, transparent buffer zone.

However, what surprised Park Hyomin was that the addition of the turbid water did not make the clear water turbid.

The dark liquid poured in, drop after drop, dissipated into nothingness soon after touching the clear water, as if neutralized by something, changing from dark to colorless.

Looking from the side of the measuring cup, the clear water remained clean and very transparent. The addition of the turbid water only caused the clear water level at the bottom to rise slowly, from the fifty-milliliter mark gradually rising to seventy milliliters, then to eighty, and continuing to climb upward.

At the same time, while Lin Xiuyuan was pouring the water, his voice did not stop; he continued to speak steadily.

Unhurriedly, matching the speed of the water flow, it was as if he were providing a narration for the scene.

"But, even if one side gives everything to the other, the other party remains indifferent, without any reaction at all. Then, if it were you, Xiaomin, what do you think you would do?"

At this point, Lin Xiuyuan raised his head and, through his hands that were pouring the water and the transparent measuring cup, looked straight at Park Hyomin opposite him.

At the same time, the movement of his hands came to an abrupt halt; he stopped pouring, and the thin stream of dark liquid broke in mid-air.

The clear water on the table remained clear, and the cup of turbid water in his hand remained turbid; the dark liquid swayed slightly in the measuring cup, with no sign of the color fading at all.

Park Hyomin, whose gaze was intently watching this scene, was quiet for a good while, her eyes moving back and forth between the two measuring cups several times, looking at the clear one on the left, then the turbid one on the right.

Then she looked at the face of the man who was waiting for her reaction, biting the inside of her lower lip lightly.

She was not stupid, or rather, she was actually very smart, so of course she understood what Lin Xiuyuan wanted to say.

That cup of clear water, which was continuously poured into but showed no change, represented someone's devotion.

Even if you pour all your heart, time, feelings, and energy into it, the other person's cup of water remains clear, not stained by any of your colors, and undergoing no changes belonging to you.

Your so-called devotion only increased the total volume in their cup, while they themselves remained unmoved.

So, after a moment of silence, she responded softly to Lin Xiuyuan, "An experiment with Vitamin C and potassium permanganate? That's quite interesting."

Her gaze moved slowly from the two measuring cups to Lin Xiuyuan's face, the corners of her mouth curving slightly, carrying a sense of appreciation and reflection, "But Xiuyuan, you should also know that the reason this cup of Vitamin C hasn't reacted yet is because not enough potassium permanganate has been added. If the amount is large enough, it can still change."

As a university graduate, she was not one of those new generations who didn't even have a junior high school diploma.

The principle of the reducing property of Vitamin C and the oxidizing reaction of potassium permanganate from high school chemistry lab classes were unearthed from the depths of her memory.

The critical point where quantitative change leads to qualitative change is right there; it just hasn't been reached yet.

"Bingo, that's right. As long as you give enough, there will definitely be a change, but..."

Lin Xiuyuan looked at Park Hyomin with appreciation, then held up his free hand, pointed his index finger at the cup of clear water on the table, and a meaningful smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Keep watching."

Then, the cup of dark potassium permanganate solution in his other hand began to pour into the cup of Vitamin C solution once again.

However, this time the speed at which he poured was a bit faster than before; the dark thin stream turned into a thicker column of water, splashing more obvious small droplets when it fell into the clear liquid below.

Consequently, the water level inside the measuring cup began to rise rapidly, the liquid surface continuing to climb upward from the position near the mouth of the cup, forming an arc slightly bulging due to the liquid's surface tension, like the surface of a soap bubble that had been blown up and could burst at any moment.

At the same time, the color of the water finally began to react.

Some tiny dark particles began to emerge in the solution; those particles were very small, initially just a few scattered dark dots drifting in the transparent liquid, like a few grains of fine sand sprinkled into a cup of clear water.

But as he continued to pour, those dark dots became more numerous and denser, beginning to form small clusters of dark clouds diffusing irregularly in the liquid, like ink drops falling into water filmed in slow motion.

But just as Park Hyomin's gaze was completely focused on the changing colors within the water glass, seeing those subtle shifts that seemed to finally await a reward, her entire attention was firmly gripped by the chemical reaction taking place inside the cup.

She wanted to see more clearly, to see when the quantitative change in this glass of water would trigger a qualitative change.

Then, without any warning, Lin Xiuyuan's voice rang out beside her ear, and he simply said something entirely ordinary.

Yet it caused Park Hyomin's pupils to suddenly constrict.

"Xiaomin, where are you looking? The water is overflowing; didn't you notice?"

This sentence was like a needle, extremely thin and sharp, piercing Park Hyomin's long-held focus without the slightest deviation.

Her entire gaze seemed to be forcibly pushed to turn in a different direction, shifting abruptly from the dark purple-black clouds diffusing inside the cup to the rim of the measuring cup.

Only then did she see that the water level in the measuring cup had long since exceeded the line at the rim; the liquid was overflowing in circles, flowing down the outer side of the cup wall and dragging dark tear stains along the transparent glass surface.

The overflowing liquid had even pooled into a small puddle of dark water on the tabletop around the base of the cup, the area still constantly expanding, and a thin stream of liquid had even begun to flow slowly toward the edge of the table along its slight slope.

This was a situation she had not noticed at all before.

Previously, her attention had been fixed inside the cup, watching when those colors would change, watching when those efforts would have a response, and watching when that critical point would arrive.

So much so that she was blind to the more obvious things happening outside the cup.

At this moment, Lin Xiuyuan's voice appeared again.

By now, he had stopped pouring water into the cup and had placed the turbid water measuring cup back onto the table.

"Do you see? When a person is focused on whether something is changing, when they are giving their all without looking back, is it possible that before the situation changes or the effort is rewarded, that person is already gone?"

This segment, similar to a narrator's commentary, fell directly into Park Hyomin's ears and then sank further, sinking to a place in her chest she herself was unwilling to touch.

Lin Xiuyuan paused for a beat, as if giving her a moment to digest it, and then continued.

"When a vessel is full, it overflows. Giving everything without reservation might indeed allow one to reach the end. Although it cannot be said that one is left with nothing, what one gains is merely the reaction that the glass of water—after satisfying its own needs—doesn't want, can casually let overflow to the ground, and holds in disdain."

When saying the word "disdain," Lin Xiuyuan's tone did not intensify at all; it was as flat as if he were describing a law of physics.

"But look, this glass of water here is gone."

Lin Xiuyuan, reaching out his hand once more, picked up the measuring cup containing the dark liquid and turned it completely upside down, the mouth facing downward, suspended directly above the vitamin C solution that was overflowing.

The last few drops of the dark potassium permanganate solution in the cup slid slowly from the bottom of the cup wall under the force of gravity and then fell onto the liquid surface below.

One drop, a two-second interval, another drop, then another.

Each drop stirred a tiny ripple upon landing on the water surface, but that ripple was quickly swallowed by the continuous overflow of water, making it impossible to see clearly.

Until finally, not a single drop of liquid could fall from the turbid water measuring cup that was now suspended upside down.

With this resolute posture, he had squeezed dry even the last bit of residue in the turbid water measuring cup.

The cup remained suspended upside down in the air, like a person who had exhausted their last bit of strength and finally let their arm hang down.

And Park Hyomin's gaze followed the fall of that last drop of potassium permanganate, staring intently at the mouth of the vitamin C solution cup below.

Watching the dark droplets fall in and be rapidly diluted, watching the convex liquid surface at the rim—bulging due to surface tension—finally unable to bear the weight, watching them overflow the rim, and watching them form a thin, dark stream of water at the edge of the table that slid down to the floor.

Then it seeped silently into the carpet of the private room, unable to form even a decent water stain, as if it had never existed at all.

At this time, Lin Xiuyuan continued his output, "Actually, what you said earlier, Xiaomin, was also correct; in the end, it was just that the amount of potassium permanganate wasn't enough."

His tone remained very calm, carrying an objective sense of discussing the matter as it was, "But you should have seen just now that the water in both measuring cups was about the same; this is the most normal situation, isn't it? Or do you think your measuring cup would be larger?"

When he said this, Lin Xiuyuan's expression was very serious; there was no teasing in his eyes, but he was truly waiting for her answer.

His right hand rested beside the turbid water measuring cup that had been squeezed dry of its last drop, and he tapped the glass side wall of the measuring cup lightly with his index finger, producing a very light, crisp sound.

Park Hyomin remained silent, her expression even quieter than before.

Her eyes were fixed on the mess on the table, looking at the dark water stain that was still slowly spreading, looking at the transparent measuring cup with residual liquid still slowly dripping from its rim, and at that empty turbid water measuring cup that had been squeezed dry of its last drop.

In this state, Lin Xiuyuan, sitting across from her, delivered the final blow.

"However, no matter how much the amount is, pouring it in is nothing more than letting it flow to the ground. Of course, there will be some benefits, which is that it can mix a bit more with that glass of water. As for those that overflow, if the owner doesn't care, then it doesn't matter."

The last few words were spoken by him with exceptional clarity, one by one.

"Anyway, it's not my water."

These words were as light as a draft, passing through the warm yellow light in the private room and the faint scent of coffee in the air, blowing straight into Park Hyomin's heart.

A plain, unadorned statement, but it was precisely perhaps the most honest thing he had said all night.

It was not his water, so it was not in his water glass.

Someone else's effort, someone else's giving of everything, someone else pouring out the water from their entire measuring cup...

But as long as that receiving cup did not belong to him.

Then whether the owner of that glass of water accepts it, whether it leaves a mark, whether they look at it, or whether they feel heartache when it flows to the ground, are all the other person's problems.

These have nothing to do with him.

He does not care, because he is not the owner of that glass of water.

This sentence thoroughly made Park Hyomin feel uncomfortable, so she raised her beautiful eyes and glared fiercely at Lin Xiuyuan.

And the man across from her also looked at her.

No words were spoken, and there was no need to speak anymore.