Just as Yun Manman was hesitating whether to send a message to tell Yuan Qing she was leaving first, the hospital room door suddenly opened.
Standing at the doorway, Yun Manman was startled and almost collided with the person coming out.
She hurriedly stepped back two paces, and as she looked up, she was stunned by the handsome man before her.
He wore an impeccably tailored dark suit paired with a simple white shirt, buttoned up to the very top, just at his Adam's apple, giving off an inexplicably ascetic air.
Broad shoulders, narrow waist, and legs so long they seemed to stretch beyond the screen.
His handsome face bore a cool expression, with a straight nose bridge and gold-rimmed glasses, exuding an air of both abstinence and nobility.
And he had brown fluffy cat ears and a golden-brown striped tail!
Sometimes Yun Manman felt it was quite lonely appreciating handsome men alone in this strange world, with no one to share her excitement!
Yuan Ci lowered his gaze slightly to look at the girl before him, her cat eyes wide with shock, and tugged at the corner of his mouth with interest.
He stepped aside to make room, tilting his chin to gesture for Yun Manman and the other person to enter.
"Go on in, Yuan Qing is waiting for you."
Yun Manman was momentarily stunned.
Yuan Qing, inside the hospital room, couldn't stand her brother's showy behavior and called out, "Manman, come in quickly!"
"Oh!" Yun Manman nodded awkwardly at Yuan Ci and quickly walked into the hospital room.
She swiftly moved to the bedside and placed the cosmos flowers she had brought into the vase.
Seeing that Yuan Qing seemed to be in good spirits, she smiled, her eyes crinkling with happiness.
"Sister Qing, you look like you're recovering well."
Yuan Qing eagerly opened the box of cream puffs Yun Manman had brought: "Yes, I'll be discharged in a couple of days."
"My spiritual power purity has also stabilized at 36%."
Every time she ate the desserts Yun Manman made, she felt particularly refreshed, even alleviating much of the irritation from being hospitalized.
Yuan Qing looked forward to Yun Manman's visits more than anything else each day.
Hearing this, Yun Manman's tail began to wag happily behind her: "That's wonderful."
She knew Yuan Qing had been injured because of her, even though Yuan Qing always said it wasn't her fault and she shouldn't worry about it.
But Yun Manman's guilt and concern hadn't lessened because of this.
Now that Yuan Qing was improving, Yun Manman's heavy heart also began to lighten.
Yuan Qing took a big bite of a cream puff, and some cream squeezed out from the side. As she was hurriedly trying to deal with it, a tissue was handed to her from the side.
"Thank you!" She quickly took it and wiped the cream that had fallen on her hand, only to realize it was Yin Qian who had given it to her.
Yuan Qing smiled, her upturned cat eyes showing a hint of pleasant surprise: "Well, what a rare guest."
"Little Yin Qian has come too."
Yuan Qing didn't realize there was still a bit of cream on her face, particularly noticeable against her wheat-colored skin, giving the usually mature and sharp woman a touch of cuteness.
Yin Qian handed her the pudding he was holding, his face expressionless: "Get well soon."
Then he added in an extremely serious tone: "I'm already an adult."
Yuan Qing found this oddly funny and laughed heartily: "Mm-hmm, you're an adult now, you're a big friend, not a little friend anymore."
Seeing her so spirited and full of energy, Yin Qian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet her words also caused a hint of helplessness and annoyance to color his pitch-black eyes.
What she said was correct, so why did it feel so wrong?
Yun Manman took a tissue and wiped away the cream at the corner of Yuan Qing's mouth as she laughed uncontrollably.
She had noticed Yin Qian making pudding earlier but hadn't seen him eat it, so that's where it went – he had packed it up to give to Yuan Qing.
Hmm, clearly the little chubby bird was starting to care.
But the "big friend" in front of her still didn't realize it.
Yun Manman decided not to point it out, after all, her good friend had just recovered from heartbreak.
Plus, what was the relationship between this handsome guy and Sister Qing?
She sneaked a glance at Yuan Ci leaning against the window, but was caught red-handed.
Yuan Ci winked at her, as if asking what was wrong.
Yun Manman quickly averted her gaze, feeling her face grow hot.
Being caught peeking was somewhat embarrassing.
Yuan Ci smiled slightly, his voice clear: "Yuan Qing, aren't you going to introduce us?"
Yuan Qing: ...
She had just introduced him to Yun Manman before she arrived, and now he was pretending again.
She mentally rolled her eyes, but decided to go along with it and introduce him to Manman.
Yuan Qing introduced reluctantly: "Manman, Yin Qian, this is my brother, Yuan Ci."
Yuan Ci walked over and extended his hand with well-defined knuckles towards Yun Manman. His eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses held a slight smile, reflecting the girl's image.
"Hello, I'm Yuan Ci. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Thank you very much for helping my sister before."
Yuan Qing was actually the very pampered youngest daughter in her family.
Her family actually knew about her relationship with Han Chao, and they didn't approve of them dating.
They felt this cat was too ambitious and good at putting on a facade, so they didn't like him.
Yuan Qing had never brought Han Chao home either.
That's why Han Chao and Bai Cha didn't know Yuan Qing was from the Yuan family.
The Yuan family had tried to persuade her, but at the time, Yuan Qing was deep in her "love brain" state and wouldn't listen, even having serious conflicts with her family at one point.
So when she almost turned to the dark side before, she didn't dare go home and only tried to solve it quietly by herself.
It was Yuan Ci who, out of concern, looked into his sister's recent situation and discovered that Yuan Qing wasn't doing well.
They had even almost lost her.
Otherwise, why would the case of Han Chao's tax evasion progress so quickly?
It was the enraged Yuan Ci who gave him a push.
The Yuan family was a prominent family in Siduo City, with their main business in the food and beverage industry, wielding considerable influence.
Doing some things under the table was as easy as pie for them.
After Yuan Qing returned to the Yuan family, she mentioned Yun Manman many times, saying how much she had helped her.
She also brought back desserts made by Yun Manman, and these delicious sweets immediately won over the taste buds of the Yuan family, naturally making them very fond of Yun Manman.
Yuan Ci had even thought about inviting Yun Manman to join Songyard, so these desserts would become Songyard's exclusive delicacies, which would surely attract a large number of customers.
Now that he had met Yun Manman, he had another idea in mind.
Such a sweet and adorable young lady, if she could become his partner and build a food empire together, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?
Yuan Ci had even thought about how many kittens they would have in the future, but on the surface, he maintained his cultured smile, not showing any hint of his thoughts.
Yun Manman looked at the tall cat-eared man in front of her who was smiling strangely, tilted her head in confusion, and honestly extended her hand to shake his gently.
"Hello, I'm Yun Manman. There's no need to thank me, Sister Qing is my good friend."
So this handsome guy was Sister Qing's brother. She had seen their intimate gesture earlier and thought they might be a couple.
It's good that they weren't, she had thought the little chubby bird might not have a chance otherwise.
In fact, the intimate gesture Yun Manman had seen earlier was just Yuan Ci bending down to pick up the water kettle by the bed, which looked particularly intimate due to the angle.
Standing behind her, Yin Qian's tense shoulders slowly relaxed, and the faint tension in his eyes dissipated.
Just as their hands were about to part, Yun Manman felt Yuan Ci's finger lightly trace across her palm.
Yun Manman froze.
She hadn't imagined it, had she? What was that suggestive gesture about?
While she was still puzzled, Yuan Ci had already casually asked, "I heard you wanted a batch of fragrant fruits?"
His serious tone made Yun Manman wonder if she had overthought things.
When she heard the words "fragrant fruits," her emerald cat eyes lit up with excitement, and she said expectantly, "Yes!"
"Can I order a batch from you?"
Yuan Ci naturally agreed, and took out his communicator, saying, "Of course. Let's add each other as friends, and we can discuss the details later."
"I have some matters to attend to soon, so I won't be able to discuss the details with you now. I'm truly sorry about that."
Contact information: obtained.
"That's fine! No problem at all, I'm the one troubling you."
Yun Manman didn't suspect anything and quickly took out her communicator to add him as a friend.
She understood. The big boss was very busy, and it was already very kind of him to spare some time to help her order fragrant fruits.
What Yun Manman didn't anticipate was that later, the big boss would have so much free time that it would drive her crazy.
Yuan Ci really did have something to attend to, and after adding Yun Manman's contact information, he hurriedly left.
Before leaving, he warned Yuan Qing not to eat junk food.
Caught red-handed eating spicy fried fish jerky, Yuan Qing pouted and immediately exposed her brother:
"Manman, don't be fooled by my brother's proper appearance. He's actually quite a show-off."
"You don't even know, his wardrobe is the biggest in the house, and every time he goes out, he spends twenty minutes looking at himself in the mirror..."
She counted on her fingers as she revealed Yuan Ci's secrets to Yun Manman.
Yun Manman: That's quite unexpected. I never thought you were this kind of boss, boss.
Outside the window, the sky had completely darkened. It seemed that the rainy season was approaching, and the clouds in the sky had increased, making it difficult to see stars or the moon.
Only when the wind blew did a few seconds of moonlight leak through, revealing the silhouettes of bats hanging upside down in the trees.
A bat yawned and stretched its wings.
Hungry, time to go get something to eat.
Sigh, Kashida really doesn't have anything good to eat, it's all meat, meat, meat.
I'm craving a blood-flavored drink.
The bat spread its wings and flew off into the distance, quickly disappearing from sight.