Walking into the brightly lit, luxurious villa hall, Lin Fei saw several people seated on the leather sofa.
Sitting in the center was an elderly man dressed in dark red, with a Tang suit adorned with the character for luck. He had a benevolent face but exuded a hidden, commanding presence.
This presence came from experience and a life of ups and downs, naturally forming a visible yet concealed aura.
Lin Fei felt that this elder was most likely Li Ruyan's grandfather.
Seated to the left of the elder was a middle-aged couple, dressed elegantly, but their eyes revealed a trace of worry, as if something was on their minds.
Lin Fei guessed they were likely Li Ruyan's parents.
On the elder's right sat a man in a white suit, impeccably dressed, around thirty, and handsome.
Lin Fei noticed that from the moment Li Ruyan entered the hall, this man's gaze never left her, as if she was the only person in his eyes.
Lin Fei's first instinct was that this man in the white suit was likely a suitor of Li Ruyan.
However, Lin Fei noticed that Li Ruyan seemed to pay little attention to this man.
Li Ruyan stepped forward and respectfully called to the elder in the Tang suit seated on the sofa, "Grandfather, your granddaughter is back."
"Ruyan, you're back at last!" The elder in the Tang suit smiled warmly upon seeing his granddaughter's return.
Li Ruyan then addressed the elegantly dressed middle-aged couple, "Mom, Dad."
The middle-aged couple were indeed Ruyan's parents, named Li Shang and Yuan Yu.
The couple nodded to their daughter.
Then, Madam Li glanced at the man in the white suit on the right and said to Li Ruyan, "Daughter, Young Master Zhao heard you were coming back tonight and came to see you. Say hello to Young Master Zhao."
It seemed as if it was only then that Li Ruyan noticed the presence of the man in the white suit, impeccably dressed.
"Ruyan, you're back. It must have been a long journey." The man in the white suit stood up and nodded to Li Ruyan.
Li Ruyan merely nodded slightly, saying, "Mr. Zhao, thank you for coming to see me."
"You're welcome. Ruyan, please have a seat." With that, Mr. Zhao in the white suit graciously offered a seat to Li Ruyan.
Li Ruyan, however, turned her head to Lin Fei and said, "Lin Fei, come sit over here."
Without waiting for Lin Fei to react, Li Ruyan had already taken his hand and was leading him towards the sofa.
Everyone on the sofa— the elder in the Tang suit, Ruyan's parents, Young Master Zhao— was momentarily stunned, unable to believe their eyes.
Mr. Zhao's smile suddenly froze on his face, and a faint shadow that went unnoticed by others flickered in his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.
Li Ruyan acted as if she hadn't noticed everyone's surprise, pulling Lin Fei to sit on the sofa.
Li Ruyan sat close to her grandfather, while Lin Fei sat beside her, which left Mr. Zhao, who originally hoped Li Ruyan would sit next to him, with all his hopes dashed, awkwardly seated at the far end of the sofa.
"Daughter, who is this young friend? Why have we never seen him before?" Ruyan's mother frowned slightly, glanced at Lin Fei, and asked Li Ruyan.
Li Ruyan replied to her mother, "Mom, this is my boyfriend, Lin Fei."
Lin Fei nearly slipped off the sofa to the ground, looking at Li Ruyan in disbelief. What was going on?
Before setting off, Li Ruyan had only mentioned meeting her parents and having dinner, so how…? How did he suddenly become her boyfriend?
Lin Fei was completely confused.
He was about to say he wasn't Li Ruyan's boyfriend, but he caught a glance from her, encouraging him to play along.
Lin Fei sighed inwardly and had no choice but to stand up from the sofa and respectfully bow to Li Ruyan's grandfather and parents, saying, "Lin Fei greets Grandpa, Uncle, and Aunt!"
"What, your boyfriend?" Ruyan's mother looked at Lin Fei, unable to conceal her surprise as she asked Li Ruyan.
Her husband, Li Shang, also looked full of doubt, "Daughter, ever since Zhang Zheng left three years ago, you haven't moved past your grief and rejected all suitors. How has a boyfriend suddenly appeared?"
Li Shang and his wife knew their daughter too well. Due to the difficulty of forgetting her husband who died in a car accident, Li Ruyan had almost rejected all suitors over the past three years, and these suitors were not lacking in influential figures from Huadu's business and political circles.
Now, suddenly announcing a boyfriend, and looking at a thin, rustic, and young boy who seemed like a student, how could the couple believe it?
Li Ruyan, however, was calm and composed, saying to her parents, "That's right, I couldn't move past the pain of losing Zhang Zheng.
But this time, when I went to Sichuan Province and almost lost my life in the Kunlun Mountain, it was Lin Fei who saved me without regard for his own safety, rekindling love in my heart."
"Ruyan, what are you saying, you encountered life-threatening danger in Kunlun Mountain? What happened?" Ruyan's grandfather immediately looked concerned and asked Li Ruyan.
Both Li Shang and Yuan Yu looked shocked, clearly not expecting such a thing to have happened.
"Grandfather, I'm fine." Li Ruyan then recounted how the four bodyguards betrayed her, attempting to kill her in Kunlun Mountain, and how Lin Fei saved her.
Of course, to highlight Lin Fei's bravery, she embellished his role, describing how he fought with the four bodyguards, got lost in the mountains and carried her, exhausted and hungry, out of the deep forest.
The story was vivid and moving.
In any case, Lin Fei couldn't listen anymore.
However, her father seemed a bit puzzled, "Daughter, why did you go to Kunlun Mountain?"
Li Ruyan glanced at her grandfather and said, "Because grandfather told me to visit a highly skilled old doctor in Kunlun Mountain during my trip to Tianfu City. Grandfather said this old doctor once saved his life, so I went to Kunlun Mountain."
"Father, it's all on you. That old doctor saved you twenty years ago. Now, after so much time has passed, who knows if he's still in Kunlun Mountain? Asking Ruyan to go deep into Kunlun Mountain was too dangerous." Li Shang complained somewhat towards the elder in the Tang suit.
The elder also felt deeply guilty and said to Li Ruyan, "Ruyan, it was all my fault, almost causing you harm."
Li Ruyan comforted her grandfather, "Grandfather, don't blame yourself. I'm perfectly fine, and I even found my destined person. It's a blessing in disguise."
"Ruyan, you must've been injured in Kunlun Mountain, right? Why don't you come to my family hospital tomorrow so I can examine you?" At this point, Mr. Zhao, seated at the end of the sofa, spoke with concerned affection.
Madam Li quickly concurred, "Yes, yes, daughter, you must have gotten hurt in Kunlun Mountain. Wenxuan's family hospital is the best private hospital in the city. Go with Wenxuan to get checked up tomorrow."
Lin Fei noticed that Li Ruyan's mother seemed to have been intentionally or unintentionally trying to matchmake Li Ruyan with Young Master Zhao.
Moreover, from her mother's words, it was clear that Young Master Zhao's family owned a hospital, suggesting they were quite influential.
Lin Fei suddenly had some understanding of why Li Ruyan insisted on telling her mother he was her boyfriend.
She didn't want any development with Mr. Zhao.
"Mom, Mr. Zhao, there's no need. Lin Fei has already healed my injuries." Li Ruyan firmly rejected both Young Master Zhao and her mother.
This left both Madam Li and Young Master Zhao looking at Lin Fei with ambiguous expressions.
The atmosphere grew inexplicably awkward.
"Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is ready. Please move to the dining room for the meal." At this moment, Uncle Zhong entered the hall and respectfully addressed Ruyan's grandfather and parents.
"Yes, yes, let's eat first, eat and chat." The old man stood up from the sofa with a smile.
The awkward atmosphere between everyone was finally eased somewhat.
Li Ruyan helped her grandfather, and with her prompt, Lin Fei assisted her grandfather's other arm, heading towards the villa's dining room, with Li Shang and his wife, and Young Master Zhao, following behind with complex expressions.
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PS: Cheng Long's new book, "The Strongest Master of the Iceberg School Beauty," is already online. Please support, readers!