Chapter 174: Clearly Utterly Heartless

"Bang!"

Ye Mingzhe’s expression darkened with anger as he heavily slammed the water cup in his hand onto the desk.

Xu Tian was sitting comfortably on the sofa, thoroughly enjoying a television drama, when the sudden commotion from her husband startled her badly.

"You're practically going to break the cup. Are you suffering from some kind of intermittent explosive disorder?" Xu Tian complained.

Taking a closer look, she noticed her husband's expression didn't look right. Seeing him frowning deeply as he stared at his phone, Xu Tian quickly paused the television, went over, and hugged his arm.

"What's wrong? Who upset you?" she asked in a soft voice.

With an unpleased look, Ye Mingzhe handed his phone over to his wife.

Following his gesture, Xu Tian looked at the screen and subconsciously read aloud what she saw: "Zhan Chen has a new girlfriend. According to reports, the individual in question is the renowned actress known as the 'Nation's Wife' in Country R, Nami Kimura..."

As she read the latter part, Xu Tian choked on her words, and a look of astonishment immediately appeared on her face.

"This..." Xu Tian pressed her lips together and looked at Ye Mingzhe with a complicated expression, temporarily not knowing what to say.

Logically speaking, Zhan Chen and Ye Fangfei had already broken up with no possibility of reconciliation, and since he was currently single, it was his own freedom to choose whoever he wanted as his girlfriend.

However... viewed from Ye Mingzhe's perspective, it was a different matter entirely.

The program arranged by the two families to have Ye Fangfei and Zhan Chen reconcile had not ended all that long ago, and yet Zhan Chen was already dating a top foreign female celebrity. Such behavior would, to some extent or another, offend Ye Mingzhe.

"So, everything has its causes and effects. It's not without reason that this Zhan Chen is always overshadowed by his older and second brothers. He's too emotional and acts a bit without regard for the consequences," Xu Tian remarked.

Ye Mingzhe let out an angry snort and tossed the phone aside.

"Had I known he was this kind of person, we shouldn't have tried to match him and Feifei in the first place. It's simply a laughing stock."

Xu Tian stroked Ye Mingzhe's arm, comforting him, "Who could have anticipated this? Besides, even if this becomes a joke, it's the Zhan family's fault. What kind of good son could Zhan Deyuan possibly teach?"

"I was thinking that even without a marriage alliance, we could at least try to initially integrate our resources, learn from each other's strengths to make up for our weaknesses, and perhaps achieve some level of shallow cooperation between the two families," Ye Mingzhe said with a cold snort. "Now it seems, this cooperation is better left unmentioned."

Xu Tian thought to herself that was true. If Ye Mingzhe, as an older brother, couldn't swallow this kind of insult upon seeing such news, let alone his father, Ye Genghua.

Cooperation??? Who knows, out of anger, her father might even want to trip up the Zhan family...

"I wonder if Feifei knows about this yet. If she does, she'll probably be furious, right?" Xu Tian muttered.

Just then, Ye Fangfei had just dragged her exhausted body home. As soon as she walked through the door, she heard these words, raised an eyebrow, and asked quizzically, "What would make me furious?"

"..." Xu Tian hurriedly looked at Ye Mingzhe. Talk of the devil and he appears.

"Nothing," Ye Mingzhe replied instinctively.

The more he insisted it was nothing, the more bizarre Ye Fangfei felt it was.

She walked closer, her eyes darting back and forth across her older brother and sister-in-law, finally arriving at a conclusion: "Something is definitely going on!"

"Out with it, what is it? I'm curious." Ye Fangfei collapsed onto the sofa.

Finally, under Ye Fangfei's interrogation, Xu Tian confessed everything, detail by detail.

The moment Ye Fangfei heard it was about Zhan Chen's pathetic business, she immediately rolled her eyes heavily.

"Just this??? And here I thought it was some important matter..." Ye Fangfei said, completely speechless. "About this... I've known since this morning."

"You already knew?" Xu Tian widened her eyes, her imagination running wild instantly. "Could it be that he was already with this woman when he was planning to get back together with you?"

Ye Fangfei let out an "Huh?"

"Well, I wouldn't know about that. I just meant I knew about this this morning. Although Zhan Chen doesn't always use his brain when he does things, surely he wouldn't be outrageous to the extent you're describing, right?"

Ye Mingzhe: "If it really is as your sister-in-law says, if I don't give this brat a good thrashing, my last name isn't Ye."

Ye Fangfei: "..."

"Brother, you seem awfully angry?" Ye Fangfei blinked her eyes and asked.

"No need to 'seem,' I am very angry. I can't tolerate this kind of thing. You can bully anyone else, but bullying my sister is a no-go," Ye Mingzhe said solemnly.

Ye Fangfei raised an eyebrow and smiled. "He bullied me? Not really... What kind of bullying is that? Whoever he's with, I couldn't care less. Seeing news like this doesn't even make my heart rate fluctuate."

Xu Tian couldn't help but chuckle. "Your brother probably just feels that Zhan Chen hooking up with an entertainment circle A-lister is a deliberate move to go head-to-head with you."

Ye Fangfei: "..."

"Brother, your sister isn't that universally adored. All of Zhan Chen's previous enthusiasm towards me was just an act with ulterior motives. The type of girl he likes is Nami Kimura, not someone like me."

"Is it possible that this time he was simply pursuing love without overthinking it, and purely you're overcomplicating things?" Ye Fangfei said.

"Chasing love..." Ye Mingzhe sounded as though he had heard the funniest joke. "Feifei, sometimes your view of men's thinking is far too naive."

Ye Fangfei raised an eyebrow. "And you know better?"

Ye Mingzhe: "Of course I know. I'm a man myself; I understand men better than you do."

Ye Fangfei looked thoughtful. "Is that so? But I'm a woman, yet I don't seem to understand women all that well."

Xu Tian: "..."

Ye Mingzhe: "That's because you're lazy and don't like to ponder."

"Since you say you understand men, I have a question I'm a bit curious about," Ye Fangfei smiled and said, "How do you tell if a man genuinely likes a woman?"

Xu Tian: "???"

Ye Mingzhe frowned and retorted, "Why are you asking this?"

Ye Fangfei shrugged and said, "Just curious, figured I'd ask."

Ye Mingzhe looked at her suspiciously. "If a man genuinely likes a girl, he can't help but actively pursue her, he'll show her attentive favor, and he'll subconsciously want to protect her, make her happy, and fear making her sad..."

As Ye Mingzhe spoke, he trailed off, unsure how to summarize it.

"In short, he'll treat that girl very specially," he concluded hastily.

Hearing this, Ye Fangfei furrowed her brows slightly. "Doesn't what you just described sound exactly like how Zhan Chen used to treat me? Do you think he looked like someone who genuinely liked me???"

Ye Mingzhe: "???"

Ye Fangfei spread her hands and laughed, "Looks like you don't understand men all that much after all."

Ye Mingzhe: "..."

Finding it boring, Ye Fangfei yawned and said, "Sister-in-law, my brother's liver fire might be running a bit too high lately. Have the kitchen brew him some cooling soup."

Ye Mingzhe: "..."

Xu Tian: "..."

Ye Fangfei climbed the stairs to the second floor, thinking with a sense of dejection: Lu Zhou isn't attentive to her at all, nor is he proactive...

***

As the night grew deeper, inside a private luxury villa in Jinghua City.

A session of intimacy had just concluded not long ago.

Feeling a bit thirsty, the woman got up to pour herself a cup of warm water, tilting her head back to gulp it down.

Her long black hair draped loosely down to her waist, making her slender waist appear even whiter.

After finishing the water, the woman looked toward the hazy reflection on the floor-to-ceiling window.

The glass mirrored her pretty features and three-dimensional facial contours. She brushed back the long hair from her forehead and scrutinized herself in the mirror earnestly for a moment.

"Have I gained a little weight lately?" She put down the water cup in her hand and turned back to look at the man on the bed.

The man was leaning back against the headboard, his gaze entirely fixed on his phone screen. Hearing her voice, he replied without even raising his head, "Seems so. Feels a bit better to the touch."

The woman's face inexplicably grew hot, while she momentarily didn't know whether to be happy or unhappy.

She was happy because he seemed to like her a bit fuller; she was unhappy because she was a celebrity living under the camera's lens, and gaining weight could very easily affect her aesthetic appeal.

Yes, the woman was a celebrity—a top-tier popular celebrity, at that.

The face reflected in the mirror belonged precisely to Nan Qiao's features.

She walked over, crawled back onto the bed, and initiative curled up into the man's embrace.

Yet the man's attention still did not shift to her.

Feeling slightly aggrieved, the woman slightly pouted, and in a spoiled tone called out, "Ting'an, what are you looking at? You're so engrossed."

Indeed, the man sitting on the bed at this moment was Gao Ting'an.

"Looking at some gossip from your entertainment circle."

With his right hand, Gao Ting'an played idly with her long hair in an uneven rhythm.

"The entertainment circle?" Nan Qiao curiously leaned over to peek at his phone screen. Catching sight of the keywords, she smiled with a sudden expression of realization, "Oh, you mean this."

"This really counts as today's biggest entertainment news."

Adjusting into a comfortable sitting posture, she began chatting about the topic with Gao Ting'an with keen interest.

"Everyone in the circle is gossiping that Zhan Chen is either deliberately provoking Ye Fangfei, or he's trying to prove something in the entertainment circle. He's attempting to prove there's nothing wrong with his charm; it definitely has that vibe..."

As she spoke, finding it amusing, Nan Qiao imitated a man's rough voice and said:

"You look down on me? That must be because your taste is flawed; top-tier stars in both domestic and international entertainment circles are easy catches for me."

Gao Ting'an's hand maintained its fixed rhythm playing with her hair, a half-smile lingering at the corners of his lips, while the depths of his eyes concealed his true feelings.

"Top-tier stars in the entertainment circle are easy catches..." Gao Ting'an savored the phrase playfully, his bottomless dark eyes locking onto Nan Qiao's face as he asked in a tone that revealed neither joy nor anger, "Does that include you too?"

Nan Qiao froze abruptly, then burst into a chuckle as she clenched her fist and lightly punched his chest.

"Am I a top-tier star?" she asked with a sparkling, smiling expression.

"Aren't you?" Gao Ting'an raised an eyebrow.

Satisfied, Nan Qiao rested her head against his chest and smiled, "I'm only an easy catch for you. I don't care for anyone else."

Gao Ting'an pressed his lips into a smile and dropped his gaze back to the phone screen.

Despite her sweet talk, Gao Ting'an still showed no particular reaction. Nan Qiao puffed out her cheeks and steered the conversation back to the previous gossip topic.

"Everyone's guessing what kind of thoughts Ye Fangfei will have after seeing today's news," she said.

Gao Ting'an looked straight ahead and said, "What's your guess?"

Nan Qiao weighed his expression, smiled, and said, "Me? I didn't guess. Ye Fangfei has a very strong personality; I think she probably doesn't care about these things at all."

Seeing Gao Ting'an still reading the news feed, Nan Qiao found it rather magical. It was rare to see him take such a keen interest in entertainment gossip.

"Why are you suddenly paying attention to this? Do you know Zhan Chen?" she asked, voicing the doubt in her heart.

"I do," Gao Ting'an replied briefly.

Nan Qiao suddenly began weaving a web of connections in her mind: Gao Ting'an knew Zhan Chen; Zhan Chen and Ye Fangfei were ex-boyfriend and girlfriend; did that mean Gao Ting'an and Ye Fangfei knew each other as well?

Thinking of this, Nan Qiao suddenly realized that discussing the gossip of these two people right in front of him might be inappropriate.

She lifted her head to look at Gao Ting'an and asked in a joking tone, "You guys aren't good friends, are you?"

In reality, their age gap was quite significant, and their personalities, hobbies, and career ambitions were vastly different, making it feel unlikely they would be good friends. Still, Nan Qiao wanted to confirm it.

Hearing this, Gao Ting'an glanced at her without directly answering her question.

"What do you want to know?" he asked calmly in return.

Nan Qiao was slightly stunned, then immediately offered a radiant smile. "Nothing, just asking casually. If you mind, just pretend I never said anything."

***

Gao Ting'an didn't say whether he minded or not, but having been with him for so long, Nan Qiao could still discern what his tone and phrasing signified regarding his current mood.

His personality could be very eccentric at times; that had always been Nan Qiao's perception of him.

"Zhan Chen..." Gao Ting'an suddenly spoke up, "is a simple-minded person."

Nan Qiao blinked her eyelashes, offering no response to this conclusion he had given. After all, she had never interacted with Zhan Chen and didn't know what kind of person he was.

Yet she couldn't help wondering: in Gao Ting'an's eyes, what kind of person would be considered *not* simple-minded? She was rather curious.

Finally looking away from his phone, Gao Ting'an stood up to use the restroom.

When he returned, he had put on his loungewear. Seeing Nan Qiao still lying on the bed, he said, "Put on some clothes and keep me company for a little drink."

Nan Qiao complied.

"You seem to be in a pretty good mood right now?" Nan Qiao asked while they were drinking.

"Indeed. With a beauty by my side and fine wine before me, my mood is quite good," Gao Ting'an replied, taking a graceful sip of his drink with a smile.

Nan Qiao knew for a fact that wasn't the reason.

Yet she didn't know what the reason was.

His mood was always so inscrutable.

"Any wishes you want to come true? Speak up, and I'll grant them for you."

Clearly in a good mood, Gao Ting'an suddenly offered her a reward.

"Really?"

Nan Qiao opened her bright eyes, which were brimming with joyful anticipation.

She loved moments like this because he was always generous every time.

It was harvest time—who wouldn't love that?

Gao Ting'an: "Really."

Taking advantage of his good mood, Nan Qiao said recklessly, "Then what if I say... my wish is to marry you? Can you grant that too?"

Those words made Gao Ting'an's drinking motion pause for a fraction of a second.

He swirled the wine in his glass and turned his gaze to her.

"That's a rather big wish," he said.

Although Nan Qiao had guessed the answer long ago, a sense of disappointment still involuntarily welled up in her heart.

She tugged at the corner of her lips, trying to keep her smile looking natural, and feigned a carefree demeanor. "Alright... Then I suppose I can't think of any other wishes right now."

Gao Ting'an's expression flickered slightly. "Is that the only pursuit you have in life?"

Nan Qiao gave a bitter laugh, leaning back against the sofa cushion. "Ting'an, I'm thirty years old."

Gao Ting'an nodded. "True, it's time to settle down."

"You should settle down too," Nan Qiao looked at him with a serious expression. "You're thirty-five."

"Are you implying I'm getting old?" Gao Ting'an took a sip of his wine and bantered.

"How could I think you're old? Thirty-five is the prime of a man's life." Nan Qiao twitched the corner of her lips, swallowing back the words that had reached the tip of her tongue: *I'm afraid that when I get old, you won't want me anymore.*

"I'm just curious what your true pursuit in life is. You never seem to harbor any thoughts of settling down," Nan Qiao said.

Gao Ting'an smiled. "Until the grand ambition is accomplished, how can one speak of romantic affections."

Nan Qiao's heart felt as though it had been carved by a blade.

So, to him, there was no affection between them—only demands.

Nan Qiao wanted to ask him what grand ambition he needed to accomplish, but her heart had turned cold, and she didn't ask again.

Naturally, she knew that even if she asked, he wouldn't tell her.

In truth, while they appeared intimate on the surface, she actually knew very little about him.

Perhaps sensing her shift in mood, a large hand reached out and ruffled her hair.

"Tell me another wish," he said.

After pondering for a moment, Nan Qiao said, "I want to win the Best Female Singer award. Can I?"

Gao Ting'an: "Domestically?"

"As if I could possibly win an international one," Nan Qiao laughed.

Did he even listen to her songs or not? She felt a sudden, mild irritation.

Gao Ting'an finished the rest of his wine in one gulp. "Release your songs properly, and I'll give you a big surprise award when the time comes."

Unexpectedly, he actually agreed, and Nan Qiao's mood instantly soared.

Fine. What use was love anyway? She could do without it.