"Just now, you were saying your wife isn’t bad, right? How’s it feel to get your comeuppance?" Zhu Dexi ran swiftly, carrying a pile of stuff.

"You, a drag on everyone, have no right to talk about me. If it weren’t for making bad friends like you, would I be dragged out by you for a run in the middle of the night?"

Narcissus glanced at the two men following behind the car and reported the situation to Qian.

"I see the two of them are still bickering, so they must still have some energy left."

"Great, let them argue. Sit tight, and let’s speed up~" Qian pressed the accelerator, and the cool night breeze flowed through the open car window, seemingly blowing away a bit of the sound of the two men teasing each other.

Qian adjusted the course back on track and, looking at Narcissus’s profile, spoke sincerely.

"When you first came back, I hesitated about whether to help you sever this relationship completely or let you have the love you desire. The former would force you to grow quickly; you’d experience temporary pain, but as long as you got through it, you’d quickly become the person your father needs."

"Then why did you choose to help me be with Dada?" Narcissus had no doubts about Qian’s words. Whatever Qian said was bound to come true.

"If I were just your psychologist, I would choose to force you to grow."

Just like in a past life, Narcissus unleashed an infinite ability during Mr. Teng’s late-stage cancer. Narcissus was not without ability, but her abilities needed to be pressured before she could unleash them, yet such a Narcissus was too lonely.

Qian couldn’t forget the lonely Narcissus from that past life. Apart from herself, it seemed like she had no special friends. Although she didn’t admit Qian as a friend and only regarded Qian as a doctor, in hindsight, the things past-life Narcissus did for her definitely counted as friendship.

"From an elder sister’s perspective, I’d rather choose to make your life more complete, let you try the kind of love you like, have someone by your side. Perhaps this comfort will make you grow a bit slower, but with Dada, with me, and even Minglang to help you when necessary, you won’t have to be so exhausted."

"Qian’er, what you said makes me want to cry."

"Silly, what are you crying for? Forgot? When you came, I told you, when everyone around you has fallen, when you think there’s no one you can trust, remember you have an older sister, I’m always behind you. Granted, the premise is that Dada, who’s chasing the car, has to be extinguished first."

...

Qian’s tense life suddenly loosened up.

The news came that Song Qingwu had left with Mai, and it seemed they wouldn’t return for a while.

The higher-ups highly praised Qian’s performance in this operation, and even the person who video-called Qian promised that when Qian and Xiaoqiang got married in the summer, he would personally attend to congratulate them.

Qian was secretly holding her breath; after settling Song Qingwu, she felt she deserved some benefits. When she finally met the person, she did indeed get those benefits, but that’s a story for another time.

Narcissus left with Dada, bringing with her the shares the Teng Family gave to Qian and took away an important premarital lesson Qian taught her. This lesson benefited Narcissus for a lifetime.

Liumei and Fugui’s relationship was heating up, chatting for long hours every night. Liumei and Qiuqiu planned to start a martial arts tutoring class. Qian initially wanted to pitch in with suggestions, but with Fugui around, she wasn’t needed. Fugui wanted to transfer his job over; the paperwork would take time, so he’d come over on weekends to help Liumei deal with things.

This again showed that people comparing to others can be maddening. Previously, that Ma Lv didn’t want Liumei to do business, fearing she’d spend the money on that instead of buying a house. In contrast, Fugui’s character was incredibly supportive.

Liumei only realized that Fugui bought that house out of spite for her, feeling mixed emotions. If before Liumei wanted to marry just to find someone to rely on, Fugui’s emergence was like a lavish feast by sea, land, and air; not only meeting needs but providing luxury.

Fugui made it clear that the two were dating with marriage as the premise, and both families had met. With Fugui buying the house, Liumei didn’t need to, allowing her to focus on setting up her class. If Qian hadn’t stopped him, Fugui even wanted to invest, but Qian felt it was great for Liumei and Qiuqiu to start on their own, whether they succeeded or failed, as it’s their first attempt, and it wouldn’t be good if Fugui got involved.

Even so, it didn’t stop Fugui’s enthusiasm. He was eager to cover everything, helping find venues, bargain, and locate renovation teams, sparing Liumei and Qiuqiu much effort. As someone willing to offer suggestions appeared, Qian wouldn’t interfere, focusing instead on preparing her new home.

While she was busy with this, Yu Minglang was occupied and didn’t have time to help. After Mai was taken away by Song Qingwu, his tasks ended.

During the whole week, he only called Qian once, and the rest of the time he was busy with confidential matters.

While he was busy outside, she was busy at home. She went to school when there were classes, and when there weren’t, she supervised the workers’ renovation. In no time, another ten days passed.

Summer wasn’t fully here yet, but the heat was already unbearable.

Qian wished she could stay in an air-conditioned room every day, but reality mandated she still had to go to school.

The holidays were approaching, and the big boss assigned internship work for the holidays to a few apprentices whose families lived in the city, except for Qian.

This naturally led to speculation—had the top favorite, Chen Xiaoqian, fallen out of favor?

Little did they know, the big boss was aware that Qian was getting married in the summer, and didn’t want work to burden her. The boss also noticed how hard Qian worked these past few years, and felt she deserved this holiday to relax.

Neither the big boss nor Qian said anything, so others weren’t aware. Watching the boss take care of everyone but excluding Qian and spicy Miss Hua, the atmosphere indeed felt a bit strange.

"Qian, want to have lunch together?" After school, Aka approached Qian proactively. These days, her mind was in turmoil, and after asking the boss for advice, the boss responded with just two words.

Qian and Yu Minglang had known since the car-chase incident that Aka had been sent to monitor Qian. Aka only realized she was exposed when her boss informed her.

She’d been waiting for Qian and Yu Minglang to reckon with her and had thought through how to apologize to Qian.

Unexpectedly, Qian was so calm and started a psychological battle with her, doing nothing.

Yet it was Qian’s inaction that left Aka restless, so she resorted to asking the boss for help, who advised her with two simple words.

Apologize.

When Aka saw these words, she almost thought the boss must have bought his international psychological expert title with money.