263: Chapter 263 Xingtian's Eye Mask

It was past midnight by the time they returned to the Westin Hotel, and the corridors were silent.

"Mom..."

Lin Wanxing stopped in her tracks, pulled up the booking information on her phone, and handed it to Zhao Yumei. "I've booked the tickets for 11:30 AM tomorrow. Get some rest early."

Zhao Yumei took the phone and looked at it, her lips twitching, clearly still a bit unwilling.

She had originally planned to stay for a few more days to get closer to this "golden son-in-law," and ideally go shopping; she might have even been able to squeeze out more benefits.

"Sigh, I originally wanted to stay two more days and have Little Jiang take us around properly..."

"Mom, let's talk about that when there's another chance in the future."

Lin Wanxing uncharacteristically interrupted her mother. "Haoxuan just had that incident, so everyone is feeling uneasy. It's better to head back early. Besides, Jiang Ye is... quite busy."

Zhao Yumei glanced at Jiang Ye, who stood nearby with an "I'm super busy" expression. Knowing that staying any longer would only invite more annoyance, she could only nod.

"Fine, fine, we'll do as you say. Wanxing, then you..."

"I'll take good care of myself and get along well with Jiang Ye."

Lin Wanxing preemptively cut off whatever her mother was about to say. "You don't need to worry about me."

Zhao Yumei felt a bit uncomfortable seeing her daughter's attitude turn firm seemingly overnight, but she couldn't say much in front of her son-in-law.

"Sigh, alright... then you... sigh, never mind, we'll talk tomorrow."

The group each returned to their rooms.

Closing the door, Lin Wanxing leaned her back against it, let out a long breath, and lightly clenched her fist.

That night, Sun Na lay in bed looking at Lin Haoxuan, who had fallen asleep immediately and was even snoring; the anger in her heart flared up again.

The more she thought about it, the more unwilling she felt. She pulled out her phone and sent a WeChat message to Jiang Ye:

[Brother-in-law, are you asleep? Lin Haoxuan is out cold, but I still feel so awful. Can you give me some more guidance? Can I come over to see you?]

After the message was sent, she stared nervously at the screen, her heart racing.

She still had some confidence in her charm, especially in this "vulnerable" state tonight, which could easily trigger a man's protective instinct.

But as the minutes passed, the chat box remained silent without any reply.

Sun Na bit her lip and clutched her pillow, her heart in turmoil.

Did brother-in-law fall asleep and not see it? Or did he see it and didn't want to reply?

Or was it inconvenient because Lin Wanxing was staying with him tonight?

She waited another half hour, tempted to go knock on his door directly, but she feared alerting Zhao Yumei next door, who was already suspicious, and making things worse.

In the end, she could only throw her phone aside in frustration, give the sleeping Lin Haoxuan a kick, and toss and turn with a belly full of stifled resentment.

The next day at noon, the group had a simple lunch.

Though Zhao Yumei's tone still wasn't great, she was no longer as domineering as when she first arrived.

Before entering the station, she uncharacteristically took her daughter's hand and whispered instructions:

"Wanxing, the family... sigh, anyway, you stay on good terms with Little Jiang from now on, and be smart! There will surely be no shortage of women around him. If anything happens, tell Mom, and I'll give you advice!"

After last night's "harsh reality check," Lin Haoxuan had withered quite a bit. He even managed a rare, "Sis, we're leaving," to Lin Wanxing.

Sun Na stood quietly to the side, playing the role of a sensible girlfriend who had been wronged but was considering the big picture, though a hint of resentment flickered in her eyes whenever she looked at Jiang Ye.

Sending them off, entering the station, checking tickets.

It wasn't until the three figures disappeared through the ticket gates that Lin Wanxing finally relaxed completely, letting out a heavy sigh of relief.

Even though these three days and two nights had been incredibly surreal, there was no denying that Jiang Ye had indeed done what he said he would.

She clearly felt that the family rope that had been tightly strangling her seemed to have finally loosened.

——————

After returning the Mercedes S480 that served as an important prop, Jiang Ye drove his own zeekr x, carrying Lin Wanxing back to Jindi Shangfeng.

As the car entered the residential area's underground parking lot, both of them felt a sense of being in another world.

That tranquility was shattered the moment they pushed open the door to Unit 1601.

The living room looked like it had just been robbed, with a chaotic mess of things piled everywhere.

Su Ning was bent over, struggling in front of a giant suitcase, trying to stuff a 5-pound bag of vacuum-sealed chicken carcasses into the already overflowing luggage.

"Oh, you're back?"

Su Ning heard the door open and looked up, her face flushed. "Sister Wanxing, is your family gone?"

Lin Wanxing nodded wearily, only wanting to quickly take a hot shower to wash away the bad luck of the past few days.

"Yeah, they're gone. I'm going to take a shower first."

With that, she went straight to her room.

"Here, Little Su, your appearance fee."

Jiang Ye casually tossed the shopping bag in his hand over. "Good acting. I'll look for you again next time there's work."

Su Ning instinctively caught the bag. Looking down at the "LV" logo on it, she was instantly stunned.

"Bi... Big Bro? This... this is for me?"

In her impression, although her big brother struck hard and was incredibly generous on TikTok, offline—whether it was eating, buying fruit, ordering milk tea, or going out shopping—he had never spent a single cent on her.

It wasn't an exaggeration; he really hadn't spent a single penny.

Is the sun rising from the west today? She actually saw some return on her investment?

"If it's not for you, is it for a ghost?"

Seeing her overwhelmed look, Jiang Ye rolled his eyes in annoyance, walked around her, and circled the pile of "spoils of war" on the floor.

Bu Lao Lin candies, vacuum-sealed chicken carcasses, Kelagusi sausages, Lao Xue beer, Lao Long Kou liquor...

He picked up a bag of Bu Lao Lin candies with some bewilderment, then pointed at the stack of beer.

"Little Su, taking the chicken carcasses and sausages is one thing. But for the Bu Lao Lin and Lao Xue, couldn't you just buy them on JD.com once you get home? Do you really have to lug them back yourself? Isn't it heavy?"

Su Ning was currently hugging the LV bag with delight, studying it lovingly, and waved him off with a smile.

"How can that be the same! JD.com sends a delivery, but what I carry back personally is my sentiment!"

"..."

Jiang Ye curled his lip speechlessly and scanned the living room. "Where's Ye Cheng? Is she in her room?"

"No, she went out."

Su Ning finally managed to tear her gaze away from the new bag. "She said she had a few interviews today and probably won't be back until evening."

Jiang Ye gave an "oh," threw himself onto the sofa, closed his eyes, and stretched out comfortably, his bones popping and cracking.

Just as he finished stretching, his nose twitched slightly as he suddenly caught a faint, ethereal fragrance.

The scent was very special, with a hint of enticing milky fragrance mixed with a faint, indescribable sweetness, and...

It felt vaguely familiar.

He froze for a moment, instinctively tilting his head and rubbing his face against the sofa cushion.

Wait, the texture was wrong.

It was softer and silkier.

He reached under his head to feel around and pulled it out to look—it was a beige, pure cotton... piece of women's underwear.

Specifically, the kind with a simple design that Xingtian would use as a blindfold when sleeping during the day.

Jiang Ye held the faintly scented little thing, momentarily dazed.

No wonder the scent felt familiar—the size and style were similar to the one "Yaoyao" had given him before.

The difference was that the previous one had been sprayed with perfume, while the one in his hand... was a pure, post-body-heat, most primal scent.

"Hey! Big Bro! You, you, you... what are you doing?!"

Su Ning looked up just in time to see Jiang Ye holding her underwear up to his nose with a look of pure intoxication.

Her face turned red, and she rushed over to snatch the underwear back, glaring at him with shame and anger.

"You... how could you steal someone's underwear? Pervert!"

With his hands now empty, Jiang Ye finally snapped out of it, and his face couldn't help but flush. "Steal my ass! You're the one who left it lying around, okay?"