Ye Qingcheng paid no mind to how terrible Shen Xizhou's expression was; all he cared about was An Nuan's mood and how she looked.
He felt the woman beside him trembling and tightly gripped her hand, saying with utmost sincerity, "Nuan Nuan, don't be afraid. I'm here. No one can hurt you."
"An Nuan, don't you believe I can protect you? That I can keep you from getting hurt?"
Ye Qingcheng's face was filled with a desolate sorrow as he spoke, "So, I'm that untrustworthy. My life truly is a joke."
At this moment, Ye Qingcheng seemed utterly defeated, as if he could never stand up again, enveloped in a shroud of tragic desolation.
An Nuan could bear it no longer. Her heart ached with guilt. She lightly patted his shoulder, gazed at Ye Qingcheng, and said with great earnestness, "I believe you. You are the most trustworthy person in the world."
Hearing An Nuan's words, Ye Qingcheng's face, which had been etched with despair, instantly bloomed with a smile.
Ye Qingcheng realized that An Nuan's heart was too soft.
He had merely said it casually, yet with his clumsy acting, she had actually believed him.
Indeed, too kind.
Ye Qingcheng smiled as he looked at An Nuan and chuckled lightly, "An Nuan, you're so good."
An Nuan was stunned. She had never expected the usually steady Ye Qingcheng to have such a side to him. For a moment, she was at a loss for words.
Ye Qianyi, standing nearby, couldn't watch anymore. She thought, "Isn't my foolish brother afraid of scaring her away like this?"
"Ye Qingcheng, that's enough. Aren't you afraid of scaring Nuan Nuan away?"
"If you scare her away, where will I find another good Nuan Nuan to replace her for me?"
Ye Qingcheng's parents also stepped forward to speak, but they sided with Ye Qianyi.
Ye Qianyi felt that it was truly a rare feat for her younger brother to find a partner.
Ye Qingcheng's smiling face vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden tension. He said anxiously, "No way, Nuan Nuan, you're not angry because of something like this, are you?"
He was truly flustered now, quickly adding, "I really didn't mean to. I... I..."
Seeing Ye Qingcheng so flustered and anxious, An Nuan let out a soft chuckle.
"I don't mean to blame you. I just feel that you don't need to 'try so hard' to please me. It's not worth it."
Ye Qingcheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as An Nuan was about to say something else, Shen Xizhou said grimly, "Heh, you have some self-awareness after all."
Ye Qingcheng looked at Shen Xizhou. What if this man beat him up?
If he beat up Shen Xizhou, would An Nuan be sad?
Ye Qingcheng hesitated, worried that An Nuan would be upset. But Ye Qianyi, with her fiery temper, could no longer hold back.
She slammed the table and glared fiercely at Shen Xizhou, "What are you doing? If you want to throw a tantrum, go find your fiancée. What are you throwing a tantrum here for? Did you take the wrong medicine?"
Ye Mama also stood up, looking displeased at Shen Xizhou. Normally, she found Shen Xizhou acceptable, but what was wrong with him today?
Besides, her son had finally brought back a future daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law hadn't even agreed to marry her son yet. If Shen Xizhou was acting like this, and the daughter-in-law thought their family was always like this, wouldn't her son be single forever?
No, she absolutely would not allow that to happen.
Even if Shen Xizhou was the son of a prominent family, she would not indulge him.
"Xizhou, you already have a fiancée. But Qingcheng doesn't. Qingcheng still needs to work hard."
"Xizhou, if you really have something to deal with, then perhaps you should leave."
Ye Mama, at this moment, wished she could throw Shen Xizhou out.
Shen Xizhou withdrew his gaze from An Nuan and said to Ye Mama, "Auntie, I'm worried that Qingcheng is being deceived."
"This An Nuan is not as simple as she appears."
"My family was all killed by her."
"Also, she knows Qingcheng is my friend, so she approached Qingcheng. Everything I'm doing is for Qingcheng's own good."
Ye Qianyi looked at Shen Xizhou and said coldly, "Heh, what a thing to say."
"My brother has eyes and ears. He can see and hear. Can you say fewer words like that?"
"Besides, this is our Ye family's business. What does it have to do with you? At most, you're just good friends with my brother."
Ye Qianyi said reluctantly, "At most, you have a connection with our families through your prominent backgrounds. After that, there's no more connection."
"So, aren't your hands stretching a bit too far?"
"Xizhou, this is our Ye family's business." Ye Papa, who had been silent, finally spoke.
Actually, it was really not his fault for being so angry; Shen Xizhou had gone too far.
Ye Papa looked at his angry wife and said appeasingly, "Wife, it's okay. Don't be angry, don't be angry anymore, alright?"
Only then did Ye Mama stop talking.
After all, she had been a bit impulsive just now, and what she said was indeed a bit rash.
But she didn't believe she had done anything wrong or said anything wrong.
However, in the Ye family, some things still shouldn't be said out loud.
An Nuan looked at the interaction between Ye Papa and Ye Mama, and she truly envied them.
Her gaze, rarely, fell upon Shen Xizhou.
Shen Xizhou, in the past, you treated me like this too. Incredibly gentle.
You were always protecting me so carefully.
But now you've changed, you've become completely different.
Just then, the doorbell of the Ye family rang again.
Ye Qianyi looked at Ye Qingcheng. Ye Qingcheng said directly, "What are you looking at me for? I don't know anything."
Ye Qianyi resigned herself to opening the door. Her expression grew even uglier when she saw Xu Ruowei.
She had seen Xu Ruowei before; Shen Xizhou had brought her. But she instinctively disliked Xu Ruowei, hating her from the bottom of her heart.
She had heard Ye Qingcheng say that Shen Xizhou had divorced the wife who had endured hardships with him for Xu Ruowei.
Therefore, she had a very poor opinion of Shen Xizhou.
A man like that was truly not worth it.
And the wife who had suffered with him was truly too pitiful.
On the way to the Ye family, Xu Ruowei had thought she shouldn't have come.
But she was unwilling. The people she had sent had sent back photos, and An Nuan was also at the Ye family's house.
She instantly understood why Shen Xizhou had abandoned her at the restaurant and left, saying he had something important to attend to. It was all for An Nuan.
The moment Xu Ruowei saw An Nuan, she wished she could rush forward and slap her.
She had been left behind by Shen Xizhou at the restaurant; it was such a humiliating experience.
But the person responsible for all of this was An Nuan.
She was Shen Xizhou's fiancée, and Shen Xizhou should care about her.
But ever since she got engaged to Shen Xizhou, he had rarely seen her. Going to the restaurant that evening was only after she had pestered him for a long time. She had also bribed reporters, wanting to take photos to show everyone, to let them all know how important she was to Shen Xizhou.
However, Shen Xizhou had left, and the intense shame and humiliation.
And the reporters she had prepared – it was all An Nuan's fault. If it weren't for her, none of this would have happened.