Lu Zhengting reached out and pressed down on her hand, glancing at Ning Xi. Seeing this, Ning Xi let out a faint sigh. But just as he was about to take off his clothes, Zhan Meng suddenly stepped in front of Ning Xi and stared straight at Lu Zhengting.
"What are you doing? Why are you making Ning Xi take off his clothes to give to her?"
At the sudden sight of this unfamiliar woman shouting at him, Lu Zhengting shot a look at Ning Xi, as if asking whether this was the woman who had answered his phone.
Ning Xi neither nodded nor shook his head. Instead, he took Zhan Meng's hand and pulled her behind him. After all, in the eyes of the man standing before her now, no other woman mattered except Xia Yan. And given Lu Zhengting's tendency to hold grudges, the phone call incident could be blown out of proportion. For Zhan Meng's sake, Ning Xi decisively moved her behind him.
"Huh?"
Zhan Meng poked her head out and yelled at Ning Xi, "Are you crazy? Why are you pulling me behind you?"
"Little ancestor."
"Who's your little ancestor!" Zhan Meng's shout seemed to echo through the entire street. She glared at Ning Xi, walked up to him, and continued to confront Lu Zhengting. "It's freezing cold out here, and you want Ning Xi to take off his clothes and give them to that woman? Won't he be cold?"
"..."
Xia Yan held Lin Xujia, noticing her unfocused eyes. Hearing Zhan Meng's words, he felt a flash of irritation, but on second thought, she wasn't wrong.
Ning Xi tugged at Zhan Meng's clothes. Zhan Meng shot him another glare, yawned, and said, "I don't know that woman on the ground. Ning Xi, do you? Looks like you definitely do. In that case, Little Ning, can we go home and go back to sleep now?"
Sleep...
When Ning Xi caught the teasing look in Lu Zhengting's eyes, he felt utterly mortified.
Lu Zhengting had brought enough people to handle the situation, but Xia Yan was too worried to stay behind, so he had come along.
After Ning Xi left with Zhan Meng, Xia Yan took Lin Xujia back to her place, leaving the others to clean up.
Ye Yunchen stood on the upstairs balcony, watching everything unfold below. He narrowed his eyes. Lin Xujia was incredibly lucky—he hadn't expected her to escape like this. He looked away, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and turned back into the living room.
At the Lin residence, when Xia Yan brought Lin Xujia back, everyone was already asleep, so no one noticed. Lin Xujia sat on the bed with vacant eyes, staring fixedly at a certain spot. Xia Yan waved his hand in front of her face several times, but she showed no reaction.
Suddenly, Lin Xujia turned her head and stared at Xia Yan. "This wasn't an accident."
"Xiaojia, let's talk about this later. Don't you want to change your clothes first?"
"Xia Yan, I said this wasn't an accident! Do you understand? Someone set me up!"
"Xiaojia, I know you—"
"Xia Yan, believe me, this is definitely not an accident. Someone did this on purpose."
"Xiaojia..."
"Yes, someone must have done it on purpose! Definitely!" Lin Xujia stared at her own fingers, stubbornly repeating the same sentence, occasionally glancing at Xia Yan before shifting her gaze away.
It took a lot of persuasion for Xia Yan to convince Lin Xujia to change her clothes.
After Lu Zhengting finished handling things on his end, he came to pick Xia Yan up from Lin Xujia's place. When Lin Xujia saw Lu Zhengting coming for Xia