C6 You Stopped Her

He paused what he was doing as Mrs. Wang continued, "Earlier, ma'am was tidying up in the closet, and it seemed like... she was planning to leave—"

Bai Chongyuan's expression darkened as if he was about to get up, but Mrs. Wang quickly added, "Sir, don't worry, she hasn't left. She just went downstairs for some fresh air."

"Did you stop her?"

"No. After she packed her things, she suddenly started laughing and crying for some reason, then handed me her suitcase and asked me to put it away."

Bai Chongyuan was lost in thought for a moment before asking, "Has she eaten anything?"

She hadn't eaten in three days.

"No," Mrs. Wang replied, noticing his displeasure. "Dinner isn't ready yet, and she said she didn't want any plain porridge..."

"Got it. You can go now."

After Mrs. Wang left, he made a call. "Bring Qin Shuangning over."

"Where is she?" Bai Chongyuan asked as he came downstairs, not seeing Lin Ci.

"She's in the garden," Mrs. Wang said, wiping her hands. "Dinner is almost ready. I'll go get her—"

Before she could finish, Lin Ci walked through the door. Bai Chongyuan watched her but didn't move forward. Lin Ci paused, their eyes meeting briefly. Without any expression, she glanced at him, walked past, and sat in her usual spot from her past life, asking no one in particular, "Is dinner ready?"

Bai Chongyuan sat across from Lin Ci and simply said, "Let's eat."

At his words, the kitchen staff promptly and efficiently set everything up. The dishes on the table were divided into two sections: the ones near Lin Ci were all spicy, while those in front of Bai Chongyuan were mild.

Lin Ci loved spicy food, and these dishes were right up her alley. She swallowed a bit and eagerly dug in.

Mrs. Wang noticed Lin Ci's hearty appetite and smiled with relief. She glanced at Bai Chongyuan, who also seemed more at ease, and he began to eat slowly. After a moment, he frowned and said, "Take it easy."

Mrs. Wang noticed too—Lin Ci was eating with a roughness she hadn't shown before, almost like she hadn't had a decent meal in years.

Lin Ci didn't even glance at him, focusing solely on her food. They had no idea that the soul inside her now had spent five years in prison. There, just getting enough to eat was a luxury. As for taste or preference, those were luxuries she couldn't afford to think about behind bars.

The spicy dishes in front of her were both flavorful and delicious. She was eating like she wanted to swallow her tongue, just wanting to enjoy a good meal. Everything else was irrelevant to her.

Eating too quickly, she ended up choking, tears streaming down her face. Bai Chongyuan was quicker than Mrs. Wang, moving over with a calm expression. He wrapped an arm around her and bent down to offer his water bottle to her lips.

Leaning against him, she drank deeply from the bottle he held.

Mrs. Wang chuckled, observing how the couple seemed to have rekindled their affection for each other.

After finishing the water, Lin Ci felt a bit better and realized how close they were. She frowned, trying to create some distance, but when she looked up, she was caught by his strikingly handsome face that seemed to draw her in.

Right. It was ten years ago, and he must have been around 27 or 28 years old. Before she went to prison, he was 33, the age when a man is most charming. Seeing him now, younger and more vibrant, was a different kind of experience.

With her mental age at 30, looking at him gave her the amusing feeling of an older woman teasing a younger man.

The thought made her laugh. "Your face is really something else, so youthful."