143: Yu Heng, please be mindful of boundaries.

"Tsk," Yu Heng clicked his tongue. "What about my mom? Does she know?"

"You're still worried about that?" He Mengyao said with a mocking expression.

"Otherwise?" Yu Heng raised an eyebrow. "Have you never thought about what your parents would do if they knew something happened to you?"

"That's all from a past life," He Mengyao's expression grew serious for a moment, but she quickly added teasingly, "You're so worried, yet it hasn't stopped you from living it up here."

"You heard everything?" Yu Heng asked.

"I heard a bit." He Mengyao shrugged. "The part where you said you don't want to be in a relationship and want many women."

Yu Heng didn't speak; he couldn't quite figure out what He Mengyao meant right now. He hadn't expected her to be reborn as well.

"You really are," He Mengyao let out a laugh, though no emotion could be discerned from it, "completely unchanged."

Yu Heng looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Literally," He Mengyao said. "It was the same in our past life—married to me, yet still pining for someone else."

Yu Heng frowned. "When did I ever pine for someone else?"

"Shen Yueling." He Mengyao spat out the name. "Do you dare say you never pined for her?"

Yu Heng fell silent for a few seconds.

"I did," he admitted bluntly. "But I never intended to do anything about it. I wanted to live a good life with you."

"Yes," He Mengyao nodded. "You wanted to live a good life, but unfortunately, the two of us just couldn't get along."

Yu Heng couldn't find a way to refute those words.

"So now," He Mengyao looked him up and down, "you're playing the field quite a bit."

Yu Heng smiled. "I used to play around too, it's just that you wouldn't cooperate."

He Mengyao glared at him. "You bastard! When did I not go along with you? What did you ask to try that I didn't agree to?"

"Is lying there passively the same as active cooperation?" Yu Heng lit a cigarette. "Last time I said I wanted to do it outdoors, you refused no matter what."

He Mengyao's face turned red, and her voice dropped lower. "I'd never tried it before!"

"You have to try it to know," Yu Heng exhaled a puff of smoke. "Otherwise, how can you call it cooperation?"

He Mengyao gritted her teeth and looked at him. "So you found someone willing to cooperate? Shen Yueling? Or that little girl from just now?"

"Are you jealous?" Yu Heng looked at her.

"Who's jealous?" He Mengyao turned her face away. "Why should I care about you? We have no relationship now. Student Yu Heng, please mind your boundaries."

Yu Heng was amused. After learning that He Mengyao had also been reborn, his interest in her actually grew.

"Then why did you follow me over here?" Yu Heng asked.

"I just wanted to confirm if you were reborn too," He Mengyao said. "After all, we were husband and wife once."

"Confirmed. And then?"

"No 'and then'." He Mengyao turned to leave. "I'm going back."

"Wait," Yu Heng called out to her. "What have you been doing these past few months?"

He Mengyao stopped but didn't look back. "Enjoying my youth and working hard to make money."

"How much have you made?"

"Not much," He Mengyao turned her head, a smug smile on the corner of her lips. "Just a few hundred thousand or so."

Yu Heng raised an eyebrow. "A few hundred thousand? Did you rob a bank?"

"Stocks," He Mengyao took a couple of steps back towards him. "Did you think I just did housework at home? I've learned a lot of things."

Yu Heng clicked his tongue. He had been hustling for two months, and his total profit was only a bit over a hundred thousand.

Seeing his expression, He Mengyao felt a sense of satisfaction.

In their past life, he thought she didn't work or make money. What about now?

"Not bad," Yu Heng said. "So, what do you plan to do next?"

"Keep making money, obviously," He Mengyao said. "If you're ever short on cash, you can come borrow from me. For the sake of our past marriage, if you beg me, I'll lend it to you."

Yu Heng laughed in spite of himself. When she was in a good mood, her tongue would get quite sharp; usually, a good 'lesson' would fix that right up.

Looking at his expression, He Mengyao's sense of triumph surged again.

"What, feeling stung?" She tilted her head. "All those clubs and guilds of yours, all that tossing and turning—it's not as fast as my way of making money, is it?"

Yu Heng crushed his cigarette under his foot. "You seem very happy?"

"Of course," He Mengyao said with a smile. "I'm quite the big shot now!"

Yu Heng said he'd take her down a peg, then suddenly pulled her toward him, intending to kiss her.

He Mengyao struggled, saying, "What are you doing? Stop being a hooligan! I'll scream!"

Yu Heng asked, "Are you sure?"

He Mengyao froze. Every time Yu Heng asked that, he was threatening her.

In the past, if she didn't agree, he would always find other ways to mess with her.

For example, he would give her the cold shoulder on purpose, or withhold himself right when she wanted it most.

But in this situation, how could she agree? People were passing by every now and then!

"I'm sure! Let me go!" He Mengyao said, her voice a bit weaker than before.

Yu Heng said, "If you don't let me kiss you, I'll just go kiss someone else."

"Go ahead then," He Mengyao felt a lump in her chest, but she still raised her chin. "As if I care."

Yu Heng smiled at her words and actually let her go.

"Then I'm off," he said. "Bye-bye."

He Mengyao stood there, gritting her teeth as she watched his retreating back.

That damn man... She had originally come over to wish him a happy birthday.

She stomped her foot and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

—

The party hadn't ended yet, but the night had grown deep.

Yu Heng walked in the middle, with Shen Yueling on his left and Bai Xinran on his right.

The three of them walked toward the residential area in silence.

Bai Xinran occasionally looked up at Yu Heng's profile, only to quickly lower her gaze.

She knew Yu Heng had a date with Shen Yueling tonight. She should have been sensible and gone back to the dormitory, but Yu Heng had asked her to come back with them, so she followed.

Shen Yueling also glanced at Bai Xinran from the corner of her eye. She pursed her lips, and that indefinable emotion churned in her heart again.

Pushing open the Villa door, the three of them changed their shoes and entered.

"A Ling," he said, "go to your room and wait for a bit."

Bai Xinran's hand, which was hanging up her coat, paused for a moment, then she nodded. "Okay."

She didn't even ask why, nor did she look at Shen Yueling; she simply turned and walked toward her room.

Shen Yueling watched Bai Xinran gently close the door before turning to look at Yu Heng.

"Why is she so obedient to you?" Shen Yueling asked.

Yu Heng walked to the sofa and sat down. "Because I will be her master in the future."

Shen Yueling pursed her lips and didn't respond.

She sat down at the other end of the sofa, leaving a person's worth of space between her and Yu Heng, and asked, "Did Yu Tong confess to you?"

Yu Heng turned his head to look at her. "How did you know?"

"Because she didn't come back," Shen Yueling said. "She was rejected by you, wasn't she?"

Yu Heng leaned against the back of the sofa and sighed. "Yeah."

"Did you tell her about those ideas of yours?" Shen Yueling continued to ask. "The part about not wanting to be in a relationship?"

"I did. She didn't accept it, so she left," Yu Heng said.

"You bastard," Shen Yueling cursed under her breath. "Yu Tong is such a good girl. Why on earth does she like you?"