“Of course it’s true, would I lie to you? Your simple, makeup-free look right now is what women like the most. Don’t mess with all that fancy stuff, it’ll only make you look older,” Li Zhou said.

Back then, that mistress had taken advantage of him while he was still pregnant with Gu Jin Yi. When he was giving birth to Gu Jin Yi, his wife-master was who knows where entangled with the mistress. He had to flag down a car himself to go to the hospital. By the time he finished giving birth, his wife-master had hurriedly come to look, saw that Gu Jin Yi was a boy, and left without looking back.

Because no one took care of him during the postpartum period, his body was severely depleted, and his face sagged at that time. His wife-master became even more unwilling to see him, neglecting both father and son, and finally abandoned them and ran away.

Recalling the past, Li Zhou’s eyes welled up with tears, which he forcefully held back.

It was precisely because he had suffered these hardships that he couldn’t let Gu Jin Yi end up in the same situation. For a man, marrying the right woman was a hundred, a thousand times more important than having a good career.

“Then I won’t wear makeup,” Gu Jin Yi pushed the cosmetics in front of him far away. Youth was his only advantage, he couldn’t lose that too.

However, he took out a bottle of perfume from the pile of cosmetics and smelled it. It had a very fresh scent, like a sudden downpour in the scorching midsummer, extinguishing the heat, fresh and simple.

He secretly sprayed some on himself. The fragrance wasn’t very strong, but it was long-lasting. The faint, elusive scent was most capable of capturing one’s heart, seeming to tug at one’s curiosity, not resting until the source of the scent was found.

Gu Jin Yi clutched the perfume bottle tightly. This was his little trick.

He had heard that women are very sensitive to scents. A woman might forget a man’s appearance if she hasn’t seen him for a long time, but she can remember his scent.

He also hoped that Fan Xia would think of him first when she smelled this scent.

Moreover, because he was young before and didn’t use perfume, now that he had started using it, he was silently telling Fan Xia that he had grown up and could become a man.

After work, Fan Xia sent a message to Rong Xiu saying she’d be back late, and found a well-secured community according to the rental address Gu Jin Yi had sent her.

This community was in the city center, very convenient for both transportation and daily life. The security within the community was complete, and the spacing between buildings was wide and not at all crowded. Gu Jin Yi’s rented house was on the 23rd floor. Finding 2303, Fan Xia knocked on the door.

“Coming,” Gu Jin Yi was like a little person in a clock, immediately darting out as soon as he heard the long-awaited knock.

“Sister Fan!” Gu Jin Yi smiled. The floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room let in the winter sunlight, making Gu Jin Yi appear even more youthful and vibrant.

“You didn’t go to training today?” Fan Xia asked in surprise.

“Jin Yi knew you were coming, so he specially asked for leave, saying you rarely come,” Li Zhou said, bringing out a plate of braised fish, inconspicuously giving Gu Jin Yi a look.

Gu Jin Yi immediately understood and said somewhat embarrassedly, “I haven’t seen Sister Fan for a long time… I missed you, so I asked the coach for leave.”

Fan Xia smiled and said, “That’s good too. You train hard usually, it’s not bad to rest a bit. By the way, how are things in the team?”

“I’m doing well in the team. The coach thinks highly of me, and my teammates are very nice to me,” Gu Jin Yi pulled Fan Xia to sit down. The soft sofa sank into a small dip, bringing the distance between the two closer.

“Is that so? That’s good then. I was worried you wouldn’t adapt,” Fan Xia sat on the sofa, silently withdrawing her hand.

Feeling the emptiness in his palm, Gu Jin Yi forced a smile and said, “Sister Fan, you haven’t seen me play in a match yet, have you?”

As he said this, Fan Xia realized that indeed, she hadn’t.

When he joined the team, it was right when she entered the Shan Hai Group, when she was extremely busy, not only dealing with company affairs but also busy with Wen Lan Sheng’s family.

“Sister Fan, I have a match next week, can you come and watch?” Gu Jin Yi asked nervously, his bright, round eyes like those of a little puppy, looking at her watery-eyed.

For this brother she had watched grow up, Fan Xia naturally wouldn’t refuse: “Sure.”

“That’s great,” Gu Jin Yi said happily.

“What’s great?” Li Zhou came out carrying dishes.

Gu Jin Yi said, “Dad, Sister Fan said she’s coming to watch my match next week.”

Li Zhou smiled and said, “That’s wonderful. Xiao Xia, you don’t know, Jin Yi often talks about you, saying that all these years it’s been thanks to your care. Now that he’s finally in the team, he definitely can’t let you down. Since he joined the team, he hasn’t lost a single match.”

“That’s amazing. I’m really looking forward to your match day then,” Fan Xia smiled and ruffled Gu Jin Yi’s soft short hair.

Gu Jin Yi smiled shyly. Because of frequent exercise, his skin tone wasn’t sickly pale like Rong Xiu’s, but showed a healthy complexion. When he smiled, the corners of his mouth turned up, and his clear eyes held a pure, untainted smile, making people feel especially amiable and lovable: “Don’t worry, Sister Fan. If you come to watch my match, I definitely won’t lose.”

The three of them had a lively dinner together. On the other side, Yun Shui Bay was cold and quiet. The servant brought up a steaming bowl of pork hock soup and saw Rong Xiu sitting in the living room, the desolate moonlight enveloping his cold profile, his whole being seeming to have a few hints of coldness.

“Young master, the lady probably won’t be back tonight. You should eat dinner first,” the servant said.

Rong Xiu slowly got up, but walked towards the second floor: “No appetite, I won’t eat.”

The servant looked at the freshly made milky white pork hock soup and sighed softly. What a good soup, he had simmered it for so long, it was most nourishing. But with the lady not here, no matter how good the soup was, it wouldn’t catch the young master’s eye. This villa returned to its usual cold and quiet state, as chilling as ice.

When Fan Xia returned home, the servant immediately had a relieved expression. Fan Xia saw the untouched dishes on the dining table and couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t Rong Xiu eat?”

The servant nodded: “The young master said he had no appetite today.”

“I’ll go check on him,” Fan Xia went upstairs and saw a soft bulge in the blanket. She sat beside him, her gentle hand caressing his cheek: “Are you not feeling well today? Why didn’t you eat?”

“It’s nothing,” Rong Xiu nuzzled from the pillow to her leg, his fingers curling around her hanging hair strands, his tone very soft.

Probably due to pregnancy, Rong Xiu felt that he was now much more sensitive than usual, and his temper was even more difficult to fathom than before. When Fan Xia didn’t come home for dinner, he would involuntarily think all sorts of things. Did she have someone outside? Was she having dinner with another man?

But as soon as Fan Xia returned, all the bitterness in his heart disappeared instantly, replaced only by a warm sense of belonging.

However, when his face rested on Fan Xia’s leg and he smelled an unfamiliar scent coming from her coat, his heart suddenly stopped for a moment.

That wasn’t Fan Xia’s scent, it was clearly a men’s perfume.

Rong Xiu’s heart felt as if it had been pricked. He knew this feeling all too well. Once, he had used this method, deliberately leaving his scent on Fan Xia to provoke Wen Lan Sheng.

Now karma had come back to him!