Su Yan looked at her in shock, laughing in disbelief as he asked, "I've only just come back, and you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?"
"What's wrong with that? This is your honor, you know," Nie Qingyao said with an aggrieved pout.
Su Yan shrugged. In the three years they had been apart, Nie Qingyao had become even more lively, her personality far more cheerful than before.
Nie Qingyao looked at him and smiled slightly. "The main thing is, I wouldn't trust anyone else. You're my brother, and I trust you!"
Su Yan froze slightly. Today, having just been released from prison, he had truly witnessed the selfishness of women.
He had not expected that Nie Qingyao would still be willing to acknowledge him as her brother, and even more, to trust him.
He gazed deeply into Nie Qingyao's eyes. "Don't you mind that I've been to prison?"
"What's there to mind?"
"Others might not know why you went to prison, but don't I know?"
Nie Qingyao shot him a fierce glare and let out a soft huff.
"Going to prison for a woman—how could there be a man as foolish as you in this world?"
Su Yan was moved by her words, and his wandering, rootless heart found a home once again.
The people of the Nie family had always been this kind.
When his parents passed away, their family property was seized, and he had nowhere to go, it was the Nie family who took him in without a moment's hesitation.
Because of the Nie family, he had been spared from ending up in an orphanage and was able to grow up in a warm home.
Even when he went to prison, the Nie family never gave up on him.
Worried that he would have a hard time inside, they frequently used their connections to send him clothes and food.
He had thought only Nie's parents valued affection so deeply, but he hadn't expected Nie Qingyao to be the same.
"You're right to scold me, little sister. Such a foolish mistake won't happen again," Su Yan said with a smile.
"That's more like it." Nie Qingyao smiled slightly, then looked down at the puppy in his arms with a puzzled expression. "Where did that come from?"
"A friend gave it to me. Its name is Duoduo." Su Yan gently stroked the puppy's back, speaking in a soft voice.
He glanced around and happened to notice a pet shop not far away.
"It's too noisy in the bar, so I'll leave it there in foster care. Wait for me for a moment."
"Go ahead, I'll wait here." Nie Qingyao patted Duoduo's head and nodded with a smile.
Just as Su Yan walked toward the pet shop, a car pulled up beside Nie Qingyao and stopped.
The front passenger door opened, and a pretty, glamorous woman stepped out.
"Yaoyao, why are you still standing here? Young Master Lin and the others arrived ages ago, why aren't you going inside?"
The woman was Nie Qingyao's close friend Du Jieya; the two had once attended the same school.
Nie Qingyao had good grades and got into a medical university, while Du Jieya pursued the arts and was currently studying at an arts academy.
"I'm waiting for someone." Nie Qingyao looked across the street and saw Su Yan walking toward them.
Du Jieya followed her gaze, her first reaction being, "So handsome! Who is he?"
"My brother... boyfriend!" Nie Qingyao said with a smile.
"What?" Du Jieya looked at her in surprise. "You've never had a boyfriend before—when did you suddenly get one?"
Nie Qingyao smiled and retorted, "Not having a boyfriend doesn't mean I don't have someone I like. He's the person I've always liked, and today he agreed to be my boyfriend."
Du Jieya's face darkened as she asked with dissatisfaction, "What does he do? How much does his family own? Can he possibly compare to Young Master Lin?"
Nie Qingyao pouted in reply, "I don't even like Young Master Lin. He's the one constantly pestering me—what can I do?"
"You... you really don't know what's good for you!"
Du Jieya was frantic with anger. "Young Master Lin is from the Yunhai Lin family, backed by the Four Great Families' Jiang family. For him to like you is a blessing you must have spent lifetimes cultivating."
"If this blessing is so great, why don't you go fight for it yourself?" Nie Qingyao countered.
"You think... if Young Master Lin liked me, I'd definitely be willing! The problem is he only has feelings for you."
Du Jieya was consumed by burning envy and jealousy.
It wasn't as if she hadn't tried to seduce Lin Tianlei; she had even successfully climbed into Lin Tianlei's bed.
She had thought she would soar to greatness from then on, only to find out the next day that Lin Tianlei had simply dismissed her with a sum of money.
He had also warned her that if she dared to speak nonsense outside, he would make it impossible for her to survive in Yunhai.
At the same time, he told her to introduce Nie Qingyao to him, promising unimaginable benefits if it succeeded.
The status she had longed and prayed for, Nie Qingyao could have simply by nodding her head—yet she was refusing it?
Su Yan reached them and looked at Du Jieya standing to the side. "And this is?"
"She's my high school classmate, Du Jieya."
Nie Qingyao proactively stepped close to Su Yan. "He's my boyfriend, Su Yan."
Du Jieya roughly guessed Nie Qingyao's intention: finding some random man to play the boyfriend just to reject Lin Tianlei's pursuit.
Anyway, she didn't want Nie Qingyao to latch onto such a towering tree as Young Master Lin either; whatever happened in the end was their own business.
"It's getting late, Young Master Lin must be getting impatient. Let's go inside first."
Du Jieya crossed her arms and walked in the lead, bringing the two of them into the bar.
In the corner of the bar sat a group of men and women, numbering around a dozen.
Sitting right in the middle was a young man of twenty-four or twenty-five—tonight's central figure, Lin Tianlei.
The people surrounding him spoke with unmistakable flattery and ingratiation.
"Miss Nie has arrived."
"Yaoyao is here."
Someone called out, instantly drawing all eyes toward Nie Qingyao.
Lin Tianlei stood up with a wild, unrestrained smile on his face. "Yaoyao, you really kept us waiting."
"Yaoyao, you're the only one who could make Young Master Lin willing to wait like this."
"Since you're so late, shouldn't you punish yourself with three drinks?"
Lin Tianlei shot a glare at the person who spoke, then smiled. "Yaoyao doesn't drink, I'll drink in her place."
"No need."
Nie Qingyao spoke up to stop him, linking her arm through Su Yan's as she approached them with a smile.
"Everyone, let me introduce him. His name is Su Yan, and he's my boyfriend."
The smiles on everyone's faces froze instantly, the lively and joyful atmosphere instantly solidifying.
They stared in unison at Su Yan standing beside Nie Qingyao, realizing he genuinely looked more handsome than Lin Tianlei.
But what good was just being handsome?
A good-for-nothing without any real ability dared to dream of getting a pretty woman?
He actually had the nerve to become Nie Qingyao's boyfriend and brazenly come right in front of them to make it public?
What was the meaning of this?
Was this some kind of provocation toward Young Master Lin?
"Yaoyao, a joke like that isn't funny at all."
Suppressing the fury in his chest, Lin Tianlei gave a cold, sinister look. "Is he some gigolo you paid for? Are you trying to piss me off on purpose?"
Nie Qingyao pressed her hand against Su Yan's arm, the soft touch making Su Yan raise his gaze to look at the girl beside him.
In just three short years, this little girl had developed so fast—were those balloons?
"How could that be? Have you ever seen me get this close to any other man?"
Bang!
Nie Qingyao's words completely enraged Lin Tianlei, who violently smashed his glass onto the floor.
He pointed a finger straight at Su Yan. "Listen here, pal, I don't care where you crawled out from—get lost as far away from here as you can right now!"