"I went to an auction."
An Yan turned around and moved a box from the side to his desk.
"These are the treasures my mom left me! I won them back."
Before leaving, she had been worried that Bai Xiaoyun and An Shimeng would be watching her, so she had purposely come to his place first and, while at it, moved these treasures over as well.
An Yan placed the Chinese Zodiac figurines on Li Tianyao’s large, black desk, one by one.
"What do you think? They’re pretty, aren’t they?"
"Little girl, when you need help, you should come to me," Li Tianyao said.
An Yan looked up in surprise, not understanding what he meant.
Li Tianyao kindly explained, "Does my fiancée need to scrounge entrance tickets from other men?"
An Yan slowly put down the zodiac figurine she was holding. "You don’t trust me?"
"You’re out parading around as another man’s companion, and then you expect me to trust you?"
An Yan was silent for a few seconds, then began to explain, "He’s not just some other man. His name is Ling Xiao; he’s my friend!"
The man’s expression was profound, his heavy gaze fixed on her. "Once you became my fiancée, there won’t be any other women around me. And now that you have me, there shouldn’t be any other men around you either. Got it?"
It wasn’t a discussion; it was a command!
It was at this moment that An Yan truly experienced Li Tianyao’s assertiveness and dominance for the first time.
But she wasn’t the kind of person who liked to be controlled by others.
"I think since we both intend to develop this relationship seriously, we should trust each other!"
The man’s long fingers reached for her chin. "My trust in you is conditional on you being sufficiently docile and obedient! An incident like today, where you went off to be another man’s companion the moment I wasn’t looking, must not happen again!"
Sufficiently docile and obedient? What did he take her for? A canary? He rushed into the operating room to save her, helped her when the Lin Family bullied her, even indulged her misunderstandings about him, bought her bubble tea, and gave her books... All of this, was it just because he saw her as his canary?
An Yan’s expression turned slightly cold. "Li Tianyao, you..."
"Think carefully before you speak!"
The man indifferently toyed with the Buddha beads on his wrist. His eyes, as deep as an abyss, held a chilling glint, and his lips pursed into a cold, cruel smile.
It was as if he were saying, ’If you utter something that displeases me, then be prepared to go to hell!’
Suddenly, Ling Xiao’s words flashed through her mind: "Be his friend, be his friend, be his friend! Even if you find out he’s not your ideal type and want to break up, you must still remain friends with him!!"
An Yan forced a smile. "Alright, I’ll remember what happened today. It won’t happen again."
Li Tianyao’s fingers caressed her chin reassuringly a few times. "Having me should be enough for you. Anything anyone else can do, I can do, and I can do it even better. What do you say, little girl?"
His tone softened significantly, his voice intentionally lowered, carrying a hint of seduction.
Unfortunately, An Yan was completely numb to it now, merely nodding mechanically. "I understand."
But in reality, at that very moment, the thought of leaving Li Tianyao had already crossed her mind! Although he was handsome and capable, she refused to be confined by a man’s possessiveness. Ling Xiao was right; her current strength was far from enough to contend with Li Tianyao. She would have to find a way to make him realize they weren’t suited for each other. That way, couldn’t they remain friends after breaking up? Yes! That’s the plan!
The An Family’s storeroom, a later addition, spanned two floors. The first floor primarily housed large items like vases, screens, and similar objects. The second floor contained smaller collectibles. After An Yan’s mother, Yang Yu, passed away, her belongings were placed here, specifically on the top shelf. Logically, with the items stored so high, nothing should have gone wrong.
But now, several shelves had toppled. Antiques lay smashed on the ground, and the calligraphy and paintings were all water-damaged, their original forms indistinguishable.
"How could this happen?" An Zhongbo was frozen to the spot.
An Yaoluo looked up at the window above. "There were several heavy rainstorms this summer. They must have caused the damage."
Tears welled in An Zhongbo’s eyes. "All these years, why did I never think to have someone check the windows of this house!"
An Yan remained silent. She had anticipated that Bai Xiaoyun wouldn’t remain idle, but she hadn’t expected her to be so thoroughly prepared. However, no matter how meticulously Bai Xiaoyun planned, she likely never imagined that Qin Song, the person she trusted most, would become a problem.
Now, all An Yan had to do was wait. Wait for Qin Song to catch Bai Xiaoyun.
During this waiting period, she planned to first create the Cultivation Pill and the Hair Growth Pill. Additionally, she intended to write a paper on treating myasthenia gravis with traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture, to compete with An Shimeng’s paper. Qin Yaya’s myasthenia gravis had been artificially induced, but her case was highly representative.
Writing the paper required a significant amount of experimental data. So, for the next several days, An Yan didn’t leave the house, constantly searching for related materials on her computer. Whenever she needed to consult literature, she would go to Li Tianyao. Didn’t he say to come to him if she needed anything resolved? For every book she needed, she called him to help her find it.
She had expected Li Tianyao to quickly tire of her requests, but to her surprise, he was truly indefatigable. He even bought many additional books for her. When the study ran out of space, he simply converted an adjacent room to store her books!
Noticing his fondness for poking the bun on her head, she changed her hairstyle. Consequently, his habit of poking her bun transformed into stroking her head!
An Yan was speechless. She couldn’t very well cut off her head, could she? Sigh!
Meanwhile, An Zhongbo also hadn’t left the house for days, spending his time in the storeroom at the back. He did his best to preserve Yang Yu’s old belongings where possible; items beyond saving had to be disposed of as trash. During this process, he noticed some discrepancies.
"Yaoluo, I remember your mother’s favorite piece was the ’Shennong Picking Herbs Scroll.’ Why can’t I find it?"
Although the calligraphy and paintings were water-damaged and their original appearance was no longer distinguishable, their general outlines should still have been visible. An Yaoluo quickly joined him to help search. However, no matter how thoroughly they looked, they couldn’t find anything resembling it.
Could there really be a thief in the house? But Dad kept the storeroom key locked in the study safe; even he couldn’t access it easily, let alone the household staff.
For the first time, An Yaoluo’s suspicions turned towards Bai Xiaoyun. An Zhongbo also suspected her. But without evidence, they could only suppress their doubts.
The father and son’s suspicions somewhat affected the household atmosphere, and An Shimeng grew a bit restless. "Mom, they haven’t found out, have they?"
Bai Xiaoyun scoffed. "What are you afraid of? Even if they suspect, they have no evidence! Both father and son are stubborn fools who can’t think flexibly. Without evidence, no matter how suspicious they are, they won’t dare speak out easily."
"That’s because neither of them wants to cause a huge uproar in the family. Haha."
An Shimeng, lacking Bai Xiaoyun’s psychological fortitude, remained worried. "But what if they do find that person?"