Chi Rui said that Song Yansheng got drunk at noon today, and when he came back to the company in the afternoon he was sent to the lounge, and still hasn’t woken up.

Knowing that the person Song Yansheng worries about the most is Shi Nuan, Chi Rui called her to let her know.

Shi Nuan suddenly understood; no wonder Song Yansheng called her around noon and said those things—it turned out he was drunk.

They say people speak the truth when they’re drunk, but others say drunk talk is all nonsense; Shi Nuan didn’t know which to believe.

Shi Nuan told Chi Rui to take good care of Song Yansheng, and didn’t say much else; Chi Rui carefully agreed to everything one by one.

Just before hanging up, Chi Rui hesitated for a moment and said, "Lady, do you... like Mr. Song?"

Shi Nuan froze for a second. She hadn’t expected Chi Rui to suddenly ask that question. Of course she had an answer, but saying it out loud would make her somewhat shy.

She bit her lip and gave a soft "mm."

Chi Rui sounded like he let out a sigh of relief, then said to Shi Nuan, very solemnly, "Thank you!"

Shi Nuan was very puzzled. "Thank you" is a very common word, but ever since she got together with Song Yansheng, there had been three people’s "thank you" that she couldn’t quite make sense of.

The first was Yu Yao, the second was Old Zhang, and the third was Chi Rui.

Song Yansheng was indeed good to her, treating her with all his heart; she was human, not stone—she could feel it.

If she could feel it, naturally the people around them could see it too.

Was she acting too distant, to the point that everyone around her kept reminding her one by one, afraid she might hurt Song Yansheng!

Isn’t that strange?

Chi Rui didn’t say much more and directly hung up the phone.

Shi Nuan sat in her seat, pondered for a moment, and then went back to the work at hand.

In just a few minutes, it would be time to get off work.

...

This time, Song Yansheng was truly drunk. The alcohol had hit him hard, and he fell asleep as soon as he came back to the company in the afternoon.

When he woke up, the sky was already turning dark.

He glanced at the time and was startled to find it was already around seven-thirty.

He frowned in some annoyance, picked up his phone and looked at it. There was one missed call and one unread text message.

The missed call was from Yu Yao; as for the text, it was from Shi Nuan.

The text was very simple: Second Uncle, I’ve gone back to the Shi Family. Don’t worry about me, I’ll take good care of myself!

Such simple words still warmed Song Yansheng’s heart.

He also believed that his little girl wasn’t someone just anyone could push around and bully; she would take good care of herself and wouldn’t be bullied by anyone.

After that, he got up and, as he walked toward the balcony, returned Yu Yao’s call.

After hearing his explanation, Yu Yao sighed and said, "Chi Rui called me, said you were drunk. Now that you’re awake, does your head hurt? You haven’t eaten dinner yet, right? I had Aunt Tong leave some food for you. How long until you come back?"

Looking out at the night beyond the window, Song Yansheng pressed his lips together and said, "Mom, your son is very happy right now. In the last fifteen years, these four months have been the happiest time of my life. Do you know that?"

Yu Yao was taken aback, a tug of pain in her chest. She wanted to say something, but in the end she didn’t.

What Song Yansheng said made it obvious—he was still protecting that girl, still protecting her.

But she really didn’t want the nightmare from fifteen years ago to play out again. Her husband had already had an accident; if something happened to her son too, how was she supposed to live the rest of her life...

"A Yu, I’m not trying to destroy your happiness. I’m just afraid..."

"Mom, you don’t have to be afraid. Father trusted Song Zhongming too much back then and let his guard down, so he got set up by him. I’m different, and compared to my father, I’m stronger. Forget one Song Zhongming—even with ten Song Zhongmings, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to me..."

Yu Yao sighed and said, "A Yu, it’s not Song Zhongming I’m afraid of. I’m afraid you’ll fall too deep and in the end won’t be able to pull yourself out and end up hurting yourself. You know what I mean..."

Song Yansheng’s eyes flickered slightly. After a while he said, "Mom, do you know that when I was abroad, I had depression for several years?"

Yu Yao was stunned. "Depression? How could that be..."

"If you don’t believe me, you can ask Yu Zuo. He was my therapist at the time. Uncle Qu knows about this too..."

Yu Yao was instantly at a loss for words. After a long while, she finally caught her breath and said softly, "You’re... better now, right?"

Song Yansheng gave a faint smile. "Yeah, I’m better. But do you know what gave me the motivation to pull myself out of depression? Because I wanted to stand in front of her in the sunlight, healthy. I couldn’t let a sick version of myself corrode her life... I want to give her warmth and strength, not drag her into the same darkness I was in..."