The dating reality show host just wanted to give up, but the rich girl fell for him.

The autumn night wind, carrying a biting chill, relentlessly poured in through the crack in the opened door.

The few remaining withered leaves on the old locust tree in the yard were mercilessly stripped off by the cold wind, swirling in the air.

The steam that had been rising straight up in the room was instantly blown away and scattered.

The orange flame in the makeshift stove suddenly shrank.

In the pitch-black night, the crack in the door was gradually widened.

Accompanied by the dry, scraping sound of the wooden shaft.

A round, dark figure, carrying the biting chill of late autumn, awkwardly squeezed into the drafty room.

The person who arrived was wrapped in a thick, long, black windproof coat.

The neckline was turned up high, and the zipper was pulled all the way up to the chin, almost covering most of the face.

She was also wearing a woolen hat with the brim pulled down low.

From a distance, its silhouette and size make it look exactly like a wild black bear that has just crawled out of its hibernation den to hunt for food.

A rare look of surprise appeared in Lin Mo's usually calm eyes.

For a moment, he even wondered if there were really any large wild animals in this abandoned courtyard.

But the next second, the "black bear" raised its head.

By the dim, flickering firelight, Lin Mo could make out the pair of eyes peeking out from above the collar.

His eyes were bright, with a hint of moisture from his long journey.

Her pert nose tip was frozen red by the cold autumn wind, like a ripe little cherry.

The top of the woolen hat was still crookedly perched with half a withered yellow leaf.

It's Jiang Ruoyun.

This young lady, who is usually aloof and walks with an air of superiority, is now in a complete mess.

She stood motionless by the door, panting heavily.

The two locked eyes.

In the cramped and dilapidated rear room, the air seemed to freeze completely at that moment.

Only the water in the iron pot on the stove continued to boil tirelessly, making a soft gurgling sound.

The wind howled outside the door, but it couldn't dispel the burning heat between their gazes.

Jiang Ruoyun looked at the man standing in the firelight not far away.

He was wearing a thin jacket with the sleeves casually rolled up, revealing a section of his strong and well-proportioned forearm.

He held a handful of thin noodles in his hand, his face calm and his posture upright.

In that instant, Jiang Ruoyun felt that all the cold, the fear, and the anxiety she had endured along the way had been worth it.

In her clever mind, a romantic reunion scene immediately came to mind.

She should have been carrying the chill of late autumn, and without hesitation, rushed into his arms.

Then he would hold her tightly with tenderness, stroking her hair with his warm, fragrant hands.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ruoyun couldn't help but smile wildly.

She took a deep breath, started walking, and prepared to take action.

However, the ideal is full, and the reality is very skinny.

The clothes were so thick and heavy that they severely restricted the range of motion of her legs.

In addition, the threshold of the rear room is a high wooden threshold, typical of old-style courtyard houses.

She was so focused on Lin Mo that she didn't notice her footing at all.

Just as he lifted his right foot halfway up, the tip of his shoe slammed firmly onto the threshold.

"Why?"

Jiang Ruoyun let out a short, startled nasal sound.

Her body instantly lost its balance, and the powerful inertia caused her to fall forward.

She tried to swing her arms to regain her balance, but her arms, which were tightly wrapped, couldn't be swung at all.

And so, in Lin Mo's slightly dilated pupils...

This heiress, worth hundreds of billions, is like a steel plate with no cushioning.

It landed straight down, in a perfect prostration position, and slammed hard onto the dusty ground.

*Smack*

A dull, resounding impact echoed through the empty room.

The wind even shook up a small ripple of dust on the ground, and a few withered grasses were whipped up by the strong wind.

The scene was too beautiful to look at.

Lin Mo's hand movements completely froze.

The freshly pulled, crystal-clear high-gluten noodles fell with a thud onto the wooden board covered in white powder.

He took a deep breath and raised his hand to pinch his throbbing brow.

Without hesitation, he strode across the broken bricks on the ground and walked to the motionless "black bear".

"Are you planning to lie there and sleep?"

Lin Mo's voice rang out in the quiet room.

His tone carried a hint of helplessness, and a subtle tension.

The dark shape on the ground twitched slightly.

Then, a head wearing a woolen hat struggled to lift itself up.

Jiang Ruoyun bit her lower lip tightly, tears welling up in her eyes.

pain.

It really hurts.

Especially since I hadn't recovered from the fall while climbing over the wall, and now I've landed directly on the hard ground.

She even felt like her internal organs were about to shift.

Even so, her inherent pride prevented her from making a fool of herself.

"I...I was just checking the quality of your floor tiles..."

Her muffled voice came from her high collar.

With a noticeable tremor and an inescapable sob in her voice, she stubbornly refused to admit it.

Lin Mo ignored her illogical sophistry.

He bent down, put his hands under her armpits, and exerted a slight force.

He lifted Jiang Ruoyun off the ground like a radish.

As soon as she regained her footing, Jiang Ruoyun's legs went weak and she slid down.

Lin Mo reacted quickly and grabbed her waist.

He leaned most of his body weight on himself.

"Like a weight," Lin Mo muttered under his breath, but his hands remained steady.

He half-hug, half-carry the heavy "black bear" and dragged it to the makeshift windproof stove.

The warm firelight instantly dispelled most of the chill from Jiang Ruoyun's body.

She instinctively moved closer to the fire, and her body, which had been stiff from the cold, slowly regained feeling.

Lin Mo looked down at her.

As they got closer, her disheveled state became even more apparent.

The pure black fabric was covered with grayish-white dust marks and bits of leaves.

Especially on the front of the stomach, there is a clear scratch from being rubbed against the rough wall.

Not only was it covered in white dust, but even the fabric was frayed at the edges.

Lin Mo's gaze shifted downwards and landed on her hands.

Those hands, originally fair and slender, seemed only suited for holding a wine glass in a fine restaurant.

At this moment, it was slightly shivering.

His palms were bright red, with a few tiny bloodstains from being scratched by sand and gravel along the edges, and specks of dirt stuck in his fingernails.

Those are marks left by climbing rough objects with force.

Lin Mo's eyes instantly darkened.

He knew all too well what the structure of those old walls, which were over two meters high, was like.

It was covered with weathered brick fragments and sharp stones.

How did a pampered young lady who's usually too lazy to even unscrew a bottle cap manage to climb over that wall with just her bare hands?

A sense of irritation and heartache, which he himself was unaware of, spread silently in his chest.

He pulled over a worn-out wooden stool and hooked it behind Jiang Ruoyun with the back of his foot.

"sit down."

His tone wasn't harsh, but it carried an undeniable air of authority.

Jiang Ruoyun originally wanted to complain about the grievances of falling earlier, but when she met Lin Mo's calm yet subtly oppressive gaze, she was immediately moved.

She felt inexplicably guilty and obediently plopped down on the floor.

Lin Mo half-squatted down, kneeling on one knee, so that he was at eye level with her.

He first raised his hand and gently plucked the half-leaf of ridiculous dryness from her head, then casually tossed it into the fire.

"Crackling." The withered leaves were instantly engulfed by the flames and turned to ashes.

Then, he extended his large, warm, and dry hands.

He gently patted the dust off her shoulders and arms.

The firelight cast their shadows onto the mottled wall, where they intertwined intimately.

Lin Mo's movements were very delicate.

After patting his shoulder, his hand moved down his shirt.

It stopped on the obvious grayish-white scratch on her stomach.

Instead of slapping it immediately, he gently rubbed the worn fabric with his fingertips.

His brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

"It's windy and the temperature has dropped, why are you still out?"

Lin Mo finally spoke, his deep voice standing out clearly amidst the crackling of the firewood.

He raised his eyelids, his deep black eyes fixed on Jiang Ruoyun's flushed cheeks.

"Look at your outfit, and the wall dust you've smeared on your stomach."

His gaze swept over her trembling hands hidden in her sleeves, and the warmth in his voice dropped even further.

"They definitely didn't take the usual route, did they?"

"If your dad knew that his precious daughter was trying to escape from prison in the middle of the night, he'd probably be so angry he'd call 110 (the police emergency number)."

Lin Mo's tone was clearly reprimanding.

That's the kind of seriousness an adult shows when looking at a child who doesn't know their place and is misbehaving.

He was angry not because she disturbed his peace and quiet.

It was because of this weather that she ran out alone, and if she made even the slightest mistake, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Given Jiang Ruoyun's usual proud nature...

Being criticized like that to her face, even if it was Lin Mo, she would definitely get angry and retort.

But at the moment.

Sitting by a warm fire.

Watching Lin Mo half-squat down in front of her to brush off the dust, the hem of his clothes was covered in dust from the ground.

I could feel the reassuring warmth of his hand through his thick clothing.

Jiang Ruoyun felt a surge of resentment due to fear, cold, and the fall.

I suddenly couldn't hold it in anymore.

Instead of getting angry, she leaned forward a little.

He turned his face, which was stiff from the cold, toward Lin Mo.

"Slurp—"

She sniffed her nose, which was red from the cold, and her eyes started to sting.

She neither refuted his reprimand nor explained the hardships of climbing over the wall.

Her gaze passed over Lin Mo's shoulder and landed on the iron pot on the stove, where water was bubbling and boiling.

The rising heat blurred her vision.

Jiang Ruoyun pursed her dry lips.

Then, she spoke in a tone that was both aggrieved and extremely self-righteous.

"Lin Mo".

Her voice was soft and nasal, completely lacking the commanding aura of a female CEO she usually exuded.

I'm hungry.

Lin Mo paused slightly as he brushed the dust off his hands.

He looked at the woman in front of him, her eyes wet and her face screaming "feed me!", and was speechless for a moment.

"I miss you."

Jiang Ruoyun didn't pause and bluntly uttered those four words.

There was no preamble, and no affectation whatsoever.

It is the most direct and instinctive expression of emotion.

It froze in the cold autumn wind for half a day, and hung on the wall for half a day.

I fell on my backside, and just now I tripped and fell again on the doorstep.

All those embarrassing moments seemed insignificant when those four words were uttered.

Seeing Lin Mo's increasingly frozen expression, Jiang Ruoyun sniffed, her temper flaring up again.

She started acting unreasonably.

"Who told you not to tell me when you were coming?"

"Why didn't you even send your location? I've been searching for you for ages!"

"I'm hurt from the fall..."

The more she spoke, the more confident she became, and in the end she even frowned and glared at him angrily.

"It's all your fault, it's all your fault."

The series of accusations were all fallacies.

But given her current disheveled appearance, resembling a bumbling secret agent, it's impossible to dislike her in the slightest.

Instead, it exudes an irresistible charm that comes from its unexpected cuteness.

Lin Mo watched her skillfully turn the tables on him.

Listening to her illogical yet straightforward and passionate accusations.

The tightness in my chest, which had been caused by worry, was now there.

Like a balloon punctured by a needle, it "poof" and leaks out completely.

He knew full well that trying to reason with this young lady would only lead to him being the one to compromise in the end.

In this drafty, dilapidated house, he faced this young lady who had abandoned all her pride just to come and see him.

Lin Mo simply couldn't continue scolding him with a stern face.

He slowly stood up and looked down at Jiang Ruoyun, who was still sitting on the stool, looking up and waiting for his response.

The firelight illuminated his angular face, clearly revealing the helplessness in his eyes and the deep heartache within.

He shook his head, a helpless smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Jiang Ruoyun".

His voice softened, tinged with a sigh.

"You idiot."

Jiang Ruoyun blinked, a sly glint of triumph flashing in her eyes.

She knew that the man had lost his temper.

As long as he shows this helpless expression, it means the alarm is over.

She was just about to take advantage of the situation and stand up to hug him.

Before his buttocks even left the stool, a strong hand pressed down on his shoulder.

Lin Mo looked at her wet eyes, sighed, and forcibly pressed her down onto a small stool by the stove.

"Don't move, or you won't get a single bite of this bowl of plain noodles."