Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Tian Ruan held the golf club while Yu Jingmo adjusted his posture: "Feet shoulder-width apart, weight on your feet, knees slightly bent. There are overlapping, interlocking, and baseball grips—just use the baseball grip for now..."

"Now—try again."

With a *thwack*, the small white ball soared into the distance, arcing through the air before landing and rolling across the grass for a while.

Tian Ruan watched nervously as the ball finally came to a stop on the green but didn’t drop into the hole.

A caddie ran to retrieve the ball.

"Pretty good for your first time," Yu Jingmo said.

Tian Ruan was eager to try again. "Let me try again."

What started as one swing turned into two, three, four, five swings.

Boss Liu chuckled. "It’s normal for a beginner like Mrs. Yu. Just come to the course seven or eight more times, and you’ll get the hang of it."

"No need—I've got the hang of it now," Tian Ruan replied.

*Thwack*—the ball flew high, landed on the grass, and rolled about seven or eight meters before dropping into the hole.

Tian Ruan raised his club in triumph. "Yes!!"

Yu Jingmo smiled. "Congratulations."

Two caddies ran over, and Assistant Xu, quick to catch on, handed each of them a few hundred bucks as tips to celebrate.

Boss Liu laughed along. "Mrs. Yu's a real natural! Getting it so quickly—mind sharing some pointers?"

"It’s easy. You just need to calculate the distance and angle to estimate how far the ball will fly."

"But how do you calculate the distance?"

"That depends on the swing force, the clubface angle, wind direction, and slope..." Tian Ruan explained in detail, though lost everyone completely.

For the first time in his twenty-year business career, Boss Liu felt intellectually outmatched. Mopping his balding head with a tissue, he pretended to understand. "Haha, haha, so that’s how it is."

Nobody called him on it.

A lanky kid in a ball cap glanced at Tian Ruan.

Boss Qian looked impressed. This wasn't some gold-digging seductress as the rumors claimed—just a straightforward college kid.

Tian Ruan didn't hold back, knowing these were future business associates for Yu Jingmo. "Here, Uncle Liu, let me show you."

Boss Liu: "...Sure, thanks."

Well, being called "uncle" by Yu Jingmo’s wife—he'd count that as a win.

Golf was just one of many tools for building business relationships. The casual course setting broke the ice for collaboration.

Boss Liu had read the situation all wrong. He thought Yu Jingmo had invited him here to pitch a deal, but the topic hadn’t even come up—not a single word.

Unable to contain himself, Boss Liu finally said, "President Yu, we’ve played enough. Let’s talk business."

Yu Jingmo replied, "President Liu's mouth runs as wide as the ocean."

Boss Liu mulled over those words—were they calling him a loudmouth??

The atmosphere grew tense until Tian Ruan nailed three more shots in rapid succession with a series of "Swish! Swish! Swish!" "Hell yeah!!"

"..."

Boss Qian chuckled: "Alright, today is all about fun. Let's forget about business and talk another time."

Boss Liu felt awkward but kept a straight face: "Right, no business today—just play."

Tian Ruan loved to have fun and had a blast on the golf course for an hour. When thirsty, he drank some soda and noticed a few WeChat messages on his phone.

Wang Weiqi: I'm screwed. My goddess will never love me again.

Wang Weiqi: Bro, what should I do?

Wang Weiqi: Heard Yu Jingmo picked you up? Must be nice having a rich brother-in-law.

Tian Ruan: /candle

Wang Weiqi: !! What do you mean?

Tian Ruan: Someone else will love her for you.

Wang Weiqi: No way, I only like Nan Mengyao!

Tian Ruan recalled the book's storyline, which had no mention of Nan Mengyao and Wang Weiqi's ending. So he couldn't say much.

Tian Ruan: Hang in there.

Wang Weiqi: Man, you're phoning it in.

Tian Ruan: Go get 'em, give it your all, you got this!

Wang Weiqi: ...

Then came messages from Yu Shang.

Yu Shang: The geological survey is over. When are you returning to school?

Yu Shang: Forget it, stay away.

Yu Shang: Does Lu Qiuyan get carsick on the school bus?

Tian Ruan's warning bells went off—right, Lu Qiuyan gets carsick on the school bus, which is why he always rides his bike. He’d almost forgotten. Just this detail alone offered plenty of shippable moments worth noting.

Like hopping off halfway with Lu Qiuyan to wait for the family car, swinging by a drugstore for motion sickness meds, buying oranges at a fruit stand, and draping his own coat over Lu Qiuyan.

In short, the interactions between the protagonist pair were pure yet full of tension.

They still stubbornly denied having feelings for each other.

So swoon-worthy—Tian Ruan was getting all emotional.

...Unlike him and Yu Jingmo, who had skipped straight to the R-rated stuff.

Tian Ruan pulled himself together and checked Lu Qiuyan’s message.

Lu Qiuyan: Your drawing has such deep meaning /s

The photo was Tian Ruan's canvas, scribbled with yellow caterpillar-like shapes—actually wheat ears.

Tian Ruan: "..." Did my drawing really turn out this bad? How did I not notice it at the time??

Lu Qiuyan: He Lansi got a mosquito bite on his cheek, so he told everyone to head back early.

Lu Qiuyan: We’re at the golf course now. Which course are you on?

Tian Ruan: ??? Why are you here?

Lu Qiuyan: Spotted you.

Tian Ruan glanced around and indeed spotted a sightseeing car lumbering toward them, carrying He Lansi, Lu Qiuyan, and some student council members.

One could say, everyone who should be here had arrived.

Lu Qiuyan looked slightly pale, listless, lagging a few steps behind the others, his usual protagonist glow faded a bit.

He Lansi, wearing sunglasses, waved. "Hey~"

Tian Ruan ignored him and asked Lu Qiuyan, "Carsick again?"

"Yeah." Lu Qiuyan replied somewhat sheepishly. "When you leave later, can I catch a ride with you?"

"Of course." Tian Ruan handed him a glass of just-served orange juice. "Will this help you feel better?"

Lu Qiuyan took a sip. "It helps."

Tian Ruan sighed in relief and threw Yu Shang a glare. "Did you get carsickness pills?"

Yu Shang first exchanged a few words with Yu Jingmo, then greeted President Liu and President Qian with perfect politeness. Hearing Tian Ruan, he said, "There’s no pharmacy nearby, so we came here to check."

Though the facilities here were comprehensive, there was no pharmacy. Who in their right mind comes to play and then seeks medical treatment?

Yu Jingmo said, "There’s a medication dispenser in the lobby."

Yu Shang nodded. "Got it," and turned to head back. Seeing this, Lu Qiuyan said, "I’m fine, no need to go back and forth. Don’t worry about it."

"Don’t worry about it." Yu Shang boarded the sightseeing car directly. "Stay put."

"..."

The student council members watched with amusement, especially Xie Tangyan, whose gossipy excitement was practically sparkling in her eyes as she winked at Xi Qin. "Our president is rarely this considerate, huh?"

Xi Qin adjusted his glasses. "Heh."

"Just admit you’re jealous, haha. You’ve got zero shot."

"I’ll return those exact words to you."

Xie Tangyan clenched her fists. "Wanna go?"

Xi Qin smiled faintly. "Since Mr. Yu is here, why not pre-book your daughter-in-law status first?"

Xie Tangyan actually took a swing, but Xi Qin, being a trained fighter, easily dodged. The other student council members scrambled to intervene, turning it into chaos.

Only Qian Lailai approached President Qian and greeted, "Auntie."

President Qian smiled. "Your classmates are a lively bunch."

Qian Lailai smiled somewhat awkwardly. "Yeah."

Thankfully, their banter distracted everyone; otherwise, the romantic tension between the protagonist pair would have been exposed. Tian Ruan let out a relieved sigh and led Lu Qiuyan to one of the few available seats to sit.

The other side had been taken up by He Lansi—even Yu Jingmo had to stand.

The golf course manager quickly sent staff to bring more chairs and sunshades, with caddies helping to arrange them. Yu Jingmo said thanks and added, "Please bring one more chair. My wife will be joining us too."

A tall youth nodded and carried another chair to Yu Jingmo’s side.

Tian Ruan went over to sit down, then suddenly found the tall youth looked familiar. He turned to Yu Jingmo and said, "Doesn’t he look a bit like Yu Ti?"

Yu Jingmo glanced over. "He does, a little."

Though Yu Ti’s features were more graceful, this young man had a cold and rebellious edge to him.

His demeanor also bore a faint resemblance to Lu Qiuyan.

As the tall youth was working, Tian Ruan casually glanced at the ID badge hanging from his chest. The first thing that caught his eye was the name in bold, enlarged print: Hai Chao.

Tian Ruan froze: "…………"

If his memory served him right, in the original novel, Yu Fada’s illegitimate son was named Hai Chao.

"What’s wrong?" Yu Jingmo noticed the change in Tian Ruan’s expression.

Tian Ruan sometimes hated how easily his emotions showed on his face—there was no hiding anything from Yu Jingmo. He put on a calm front. "It’s nothing."

"Is that person suspicious?" Yu Jingmo asked. "An assassin?"

"...No."

"Then what’s with that expression?"

"What expression?" Tian Ruan looked at him with feigned innocence.

Yu Jingmo lowered his gaze, studying the young man right in front of him. "That person is definitely suspicious. I’ll send someone to investigate."

"Don’t," Tian Ruan gave in instantly. "There’s no need to investigate anything."

"An old friend of yours?"

"No."

"A junior you secretly pined for years but could never have?"

"Definitely not!"

"Then a stranger you met by chance, fell in love with at first sight, but passed by?"

Tian Ruan stared at Yu Jingmo speechlessly. However he looked at it, there was an unmistakable strong scent of jealousy in those words. "No."

Yu Jingmo stopped guessing. After eliminating all possible answers, the remaining ones didn’t matter. "You tell me."

It suddenly dawned on Tian Ruan as he gazed at Yu Jingmo’s unmatched handsome features yet stoic face. "Are you… jealous?"

"..."

Jealousy had never been part of Yu Jingmo’s life.

So he didn’t know what jealousy was.

But his earlier words had indeed left things unclear.