After leaving the school gate, Jiang Linyuan drove the car with Shen Wanyu, heading toward the hospital.

The car window was slightly cracked open. Shen Wanyu, sitting in the passenger seat, turned her face sideways, her long black hair gently swaying in the night breeze.

"Do you want me to roll up the window?"

Jiang Linyuan glanced at his own jacket folded on her lap.

After getting in the car, the Department Head had taken it off.

"Are you cold?"

Shen Wanyu turned her head and looked at Jiang Linyuan.

"If I say yes, can I have my jacket back right now?"

"You still haven't returned my clothes to me."

Shen Wanyu said calmly:

"Of course, if you're already cold to the point of being utterly shameless, I'll temporarily lend you your jacket to keep warm."

Utterly shameless? What kind of adjective is that?

This sentence had way too many issues, to the point that Jiang Linyuan didn't know how to respond for a moment.

With his current physical condition, he wasn't cold at all. Even if he drank water at zero degrees, he could still pee out piss at thirty-seven degrees.

That's the charm of being a walking heater.

"Ah..."

Shen Wanyu let out a long sigh, turned her head away, and stared at the scenery whizzing past outside the window.

Mind Reading with no cooldown was still too terrifying, but the countermeasure ability of [Heart Slave] seemed to have reached an even higher level.

Speaking of which, she wouldn't have read that thought, would she?

Jiang Linyuan glanced at Shen Wanyu out of the corner of his eye but didn't notice anything unusual.

Sigh. Why couldn't he freely allocate the one hour after [Heart Slave] was activated?

Forget it.

Focus on driving. Ignore the Department Head.

The car traveled through the colorful city, completely inconspicuous.

"We're here."

Jiang Linyuan stopped the car.

"Human trafficking?"

Shen Wanyu turned her head and looked at him.

Outside the car wasn't any hospital, but a pedestrian street.

"You have to buy something when visiting a patient, right?"

"You usually do this?"

"Probably?"

"So it seems you haven't brought much stuff before."

As they spoke, the two had already gotten out of the car.

In the windy night, most people out shopping were either holding down their hair or wrapping their clothes tightly around themselves.

Not far away, two mascot dolls stood at the entrance of a restaurant, apparently part of some store event.

Jiang Linyuan led Shen Wanyu into a white flower shop. Music was playing inside, the volume very soft.

There was only one shop assistant girl working there. When she saw the customers walk in, she smiled:

"Hello, what kind of flowers would you like?"

Jiang Linyuan looked at Shen Wanyu:

"Department Head, what flowers do you want?"

Shen Wanyu was momentarily stunned:

"No matter how many times this happens, I'll always be shocked by your sheer audacity."

"To be precise, it's what flowers you want to send Xiao Su."

Jiang Linyuan said.

Shen Wanyu thought for a moment, then asked:

"What flowers do you like?"

"Me? I don't have a particular favorite."

"You have to name one."

"Roses?"

Jiang Linyuan named the flower he had heard most often.

"Very well."

Shen Wanyu nodded and looked at the shop assistant:

"Give me a bouquet of red Chinese roses."

"Department Head, I said roses."

"I know."

The two didn't continue the conversation. They bought a few red Chinese roses, which looked very similar to roses in appearance.

On the way back to the car, Jiang Linyuan looked left and right and spotted a flower bed.

"Department Head, stay right here. Don't move. I'll be right back."

Shen Wanyu hugged the Chinese roses and stared at him coldly.

"What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to pick some flowers."

"Ah..."

Shen Wanyu let out a helpless sigh:

"When humans evolved, did you secretly hide away somewhere? Are you still acting like a caveman, picking flowers from the roadside?"

"I want to send flowers to Xiao Su too."

Jiang Linyuan walked over to the flower bed and secretly broke off a white flower.

Sorry, I have no sense of public morality.

"Mommy, what is that big brother doing?"

A mother-daughter pair stood by the roadside. The young daughter looked at Jiang Linyuan and asked curiously.

"That kind of person didn't study hard when they were little, and now they're so hungry they have to steal flowers from the flower bed to eat."

The mother ruffled her daughter's head and said very gently.

"So you need to study hard. Don't end up like him."

I can fucking hear you! Is this how you motivate someone to study?! What do you mean, steal flowers to eat! Can I get full from eating flowers?!

Jiang Linyuan pretended not to hear and grabbed the flower, ready to make his escape.

"So, if you don't study hard, you can only become a flower thief?"

The daughter asked innocently.

The mother ruffled her head and asked gently:

"Where did you learn the word 'flower thief,' sweetie?"

"From the story Daddy reads me at night!"

The daughter tried hard to remember, then said:

"The white horse prince held the holy sword from the lake, jumped up, and roared: 'I've come specially to amuse you!' As he spoke, he snatched the sleeping beauty's blanket, tore it to shreds, and it rained down like a storm of cotton..."

"The sleeping beauty's cold tears streamed down, her chest full of freezing air reaching the clouds. She opened her eyes and shouted: 'What's all this yelling about! It's just two ounces of cotton!'"

"It turned out the sleeping beauty was actually a black witch disguised by dark magic! But the white horse prince saw through it with one glance!"

"The white horse prince laughed loudly: 'So you're the black hag demon! Now die!' The holy sword flashed with golden light, turned into a long whip, and he lashed it across the black witch's back several times."

"In an instant, the black witch's legs went weak. She crashed to her knees, balled up the cotton on the ground, and screamed like a shrew: 'Don't whip me, don't whip me! I'll be the flower thief! I will!'"

"..."

For a moment, Jiang Linyuan listened, utterly captivated. What a beautiful childhood! Why didn't I have fairy tales like this to accompany me growing up?

East meets West, ethnic conflict, the fusion of history and culture—what a sacred fairy tale!

When the mother heard this, the smile on her face grew even brighter:

"Mommy will tell you stories from now on."

"What about Daddy?"

"Daddy is going to be Mommy's flower thief."

"Oh, oh! Daddy also said the more you whip a flower thief, the more gold coins he drops."

"I'll go back and see how much he can drop."

The mother and daughter gradually walked away, disappearing from Jiang Linyuan's line of sight.

He held the flower he had picked and ran back in front of Shen Wanyu, who was standing there holding the Chinese roses like she was being punished.

"Department Head, I'm back."

Shen Wanyu glanced at the flower in his hand:

"That flower is going to die soon."

"Doesn't matter. I'll send Xiao Su a new one every day anyway."

"As expected from a flower thief."

"Department Head, could you not use that word to describe me anymore? I don't want to get whipped."

"?"

The two of them—one holding the Chinese roses bought from the flower shop, the other holding a wildflower of unknown variety—got into the car and drove off toward Xiao Su's hospital.