TSFLIP Chapter 457

Fengguang shyly shook her head. “I’m not strong. I’m scared of pain too… I just never let you all see me cry, that’s all.”

Fu Yang smiled. “Then that still makes you pretty amazing, Fengguang.”

“But Fu-gege, you’re the one who scared off those two bad guys and saved me. That makes you way more amazing than me.”

He teased, “So Fengguang’s trying to trade compliments with me now?”

“No, no! I’m just telling the truth. Everyone around me is better than I am—my dad, my mom, Xiaoyou, my brother… and you too, Fu-gege. All of you are so much stronger than me.” She frowned slightly. “I can’t do business, and I’m not good at school either. If my parents weren’t supporting me, I wouldn’t even be able to survive on my own.”

She didn’t ask for much in life, but she still had a little bit of pride.

Fu Yang couldn’t help but smile when he saw her troubled expression. “One day, you’ll marry a good man. Fengguang is so adorable—he’d probably give up everything just to take care of you.”

“That would just make me a burden…” she muttered under her breath.

Fu Yang finally burst out laughing. “Sometimes I wonder what kind of things are going on inside your head.”

“Probably… the same things that go on in everyone else’s?”

Fu Yang let out another laugh. “You don’t have to take every question so seriously, you know.”

“Oh…”

“Mr. Fu,” a third voice suddenly called out from within the room.

Fu Yang paused for a moment, then turned around to find a man standing there, who had appeared without him noticing. He greeted him calmly and politely, “Ah, Mr. Ji.”

Fengguang lit up with joy. “Brother! You’re back!”

“Yeah. I’m back.” Ji Mian walked past Fu Yang and sat down beside Fengguang, naturally taking her hand in his.

Fengguang didn’t think anything of it. She’d always liked holding his hand like this. “Brother, why did you leave just now?”

“I just needed to step out… to clear my head.”

“Did you figure things out?”

“I did.” Ji Mian smiled—a gentle, handsome smile, though his eyes held a trace of something darker and harder to define.

Fu Yang glanced at Fengguang, then at Ji Mian. He seemed to notice something… but he just smiled silently, saying nothing.

Fengguang assumed Ji Mian had been thinking about something related to his experiments, so she happily said, “Then I’m glad you’ve figured it out.”

“Yeah,” Ji Mian echoed with a faint smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. It’s good I figured it out, he thought. Though if she knew what I figured out… she’d probably run far away.

But when that time came—if it ever did—she wouldn’t have a chance to run.

Whenever he spoke to her, Ji Mian would gently pat her head or lightly stroke her cheek. His every little gesture was perfectly calculated—to keep her attention fixed on him, to keep her from noticing that there was still another man standing quietly nearby.

Fengguang didn’t notice.

But Fu Yang did.

He realized then—he was the outsider. With Ji Mian’s return, he was just someone who couldn’t quite fit into the conversation anymore. So he stepped forward and said, “Since Fengguang has someone here with her now, I’ll take my leave.”

“Huh?” Fengguang finally realized there was a third person still in the room. A flicker of guilt crossed her face—she had completely forgotten about Fu Yang. “You’re already leaving, Fu-gege?”

“I just came to check on how you’re doing. You look a lot better, so I can go back with peace of mind.” He paused for a moment, then added with a faint smile, “Maybe… Mr. Ji, could you walk me out?”