"Does Nian Nian hope I was drugged?" Gu Beicheng raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not. Since you’re fine, there’s no need for me to do anything for you," Xia Yinian said in a somber tone.

"What I need is more than that. Aren’t we... already a couple?" Gu Beicheng fluttered his long eyelashes.

"A couple?" Xia Yinian frowned. When did he ever say they were a couple?

Wasn’t it just that night he saved her, and she was willing to be his antidote?

"Do you love me?" She bit her lip and boldly asked.

"Yes." Gu Beicheng answered without thinking.

Xia Yinian thought she was really stupid. People always said never to ask a man if he loves you while in bed.

With his voice already hoarse, how could he say he didn’t love her?

"Oh." Xia Yinian nodded casually, gently sat up, and pushed him away.

"Uncle, I’m not convenient these days, so I said you’d regret it."

Gu Beicheng was a bit confused. Why did his answer seem not to be what she wanted?

Could it be because she was coincidentally on her period, and Nian Nian’s temperament was different?

"How could I regret it?" He turned over, sat beside her, and gently pulled her into his arms.

"At most, it’ll suffer, but I can’t let my wife suffer."

Xia Yinian suddenly felt a little touched. Did Uncle not regret coming such a long way to find her, even though he wouldn’t be satisfied tonight?

She bit her lip and whispered, "I’m not your wife."

"Is Nian Nian always so insincere?" Gu Beicheng turned his head and kissed her lightly on the head.

Although he always had the desire to pin her beneath him, he had to get used to these things.

There would be a few inconvenient days every month in the future, and he could only adjust in advance.

"I’m not." Xia Yinian softly refuted, "Does Uncle think we have a future?"

"You don’t have confidence in me?"

Gu Beicheng’s words stunned Xia Yinian. Was Uncle being serious?

Between them, there was not only Yu Wanqing. If he chose her, he wouldn’t just be against the Yu Family; perhaps even the Gu Family might not accept him.

Xia Yinian took a deep breath and pushed him away.

"No, I don’t have confidence in myself."

She was merely an abandoned orphan, while he was a powerful figure in all of Ye City.

It wasn’t that Xia Yinian lacked self-confidence specifically, but compared to someone standing at the top, she was as insignificant as dust.

When Gu Beicheng wanted to speak, Xia Yinian reached out her small hand to stop his thin lips.

"That day, Senior Feimo gave me two choices: one was to leave you, and the other was to be as strong as you. Uncle, which do you think I should choose?"

She pursed her lips and looked at him with a serious expression.

To be as strong as him? How could that be possible? From the day they were born, their differences were more than just a world apart.

But leaving him wasn’t up to her, even if she could choose, she didn’t want to pick the first option.

"What does Nian Nian herself think?" Gu Beicheng still pulled her back.

Xia Yinian no longer resisted, but she didn’t look at him either; instead, she sat with her back to him.

"I don’t know. I just want to spend my life simply with a man I love who also loves me."

"Perhaps for me, no amount of power or money can compare to a warm home."

Growing up, no matter how poorly the Xia Family treated her, at least she had a home.

But now, she could truly say that she was a pathetic, homeless soul.