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Chapter 378: Declaring War Again

Chapter 378: Chapter 378: Declaring War Again

The man held her waist and body, naturally pressing against her from behind. She was only wearing a thin evening dress. Standing so close to him, the warmth from his body permeated her thin clothing, gradually suffusing her back.

Zhu Qianying felt every cell in her body on high alert, tightly guarding against the man behind her.

The man affectionately rested his chin on her shoulder, watching the elderly couple on stage with envious eyes.

"I really hope, we can grow old like them one day..." He murmured.

In front of so many guests, his actions were affectionate and natural, which seemed normal to others, but Zhu Qianying remained stiff while cooperating with him.

Ever since she had awoken in Yan’s arms on New Year’s Day, Zhu Qianying had deliberately been avoiding any overly affectionate contact with him. He had indeed behaved himself for a while, and Zhu Qianying thought he would continue his gentlemanly manner, until her coldness drove him away.

However, she had clearly underestimated Yan’s patience.

After cooling down for a while, it seemed he was beginning to heat up again.

Or perhaps, it was just because of tonight’s occasion. He wanted to show off his affection for her in front of everyone, demonstrating that they were a loving couple, unlike the contracted husband and wife portrayed in the rumors that had been circulating recently?

That rumor, was quite baffling.

Just now, her younger sister Xiao Yu had abruptly pulled her aside and told her, "Sister, I heard a rumor saying that you and Mr. Yan are only a contracted couple, you’re in it for the money, and he for the heir. They even said that your son is from a surrogate mother and has no connection with you."

Since this rumor had reached R City, it must’ve been widely spread in L City as well. However, she had been too busy lately to pay attention to these rumors.

The man behind her was in the eye of the storm every day, and there was no way he wouldn’t know about it, but he hadn’t mentioned anything to her.

"Mr. Yan..." she began.

"Hmm?" Yan finally withdrew his admiring gaze from the stage to look at her.

"Are there any rumors being spread about us?" she continued.

She didn’t care about what others said about her; she was just concerned about their son getting hurt by the rumors.

She had always told their son that he was the fruit of her love with his father, and that they’d later divorced due to some issues.

She wasn’t able to give her son a complete family in the past, but she hoped she could give him a healthy and optimistic belief. She didn’t want him to lose faith in love or families because of her relationship with Yan.

She herself was the product of her daddy and mommy’s abnormal affection, and she didn’t want her son to tread the same path.

"About what?" The man replied evenly, either feigning ignorance or truly not understanding what she was implying.

"About you and me, about our son." Zhu Qianying stated bluntly.

When it came to their son, she never backed down or fled.

She was his mommy and she would always stand up for him until he had the ability to protect himself.

If she chose to back down or flee, the one who’d get hurt would inevitably be their son.

Yan didn’t immediately answer her, but stood up straight instead, his warmth finally leaving her back.

Before Zhu Qianying could react, he had already led her to the Ji brothers who were nearby.

"Ji Yu, Ji Huan, could you please help us hold the fort? Ying’er is feeling unwell, I’m going to accompany her to rest." He whispered.

In fact, even if he hadn’t explained, the servants of the Yan family, Ke Kai, Qin Xiu, and others he trusted were there, and there was no chance of any mishap.

Though, in Yan’s opinion, today was a big day for his parents, and it wouldn’t hurt to be extra cautious.

The Ji brothers were reliable, they nodded and waved him off, signaling him to take care of Zhu Qianying.

Having taken Zhu Qianying back to the room, Yan looked around to confirm that there were no extra people, then began to explain. "Over the past few days, there have been some rumors spreading around. But you don’t need to worry about it."

Yan seemed to be relatively calm about these rumors.

"I don’t care about myself, I’m just worried about our son," Zhu bluntly stated her concerns.

She wasn’t afraid of being criticized by others. She had long since become immune to such gossip.

However, their son was different. He was still young, and his worldview hadn’t yet fully formed. If he heard such rumors, he might start doubting his own origin and many other things.

Yan paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about a plan. After a while, he gently patted her hand and reassured her, "I’ll handle this matter. Don’t worry."

In fact, Yan’s reaction to the rumors was not as indifferent as Zhu Qianying thought.

When he first heard about the rumors, his reaction was similar to Zhu’s.

Immediately, he had asked Qin Xiu to investigate.

Then, the information that Qin Xiu had relayed back to him pointed to the Wang family in D City.

The Wang family had made their fortune through media. They still controlled most of the print and digital media in the country. The rumors had first appeared on one of the Wang family’s digital media outlets.

Even though Yan had suppressed the rumor quickly, digital media spread fast and wide. The rumor that a newly-registered user had posted only appeared on the media outlet for half an hour, but it quickly spread at an uncontrollable speed.

The new user’s account had been closed and the user was cooperating in an investigation at D City Police Station. Nevertheless, the impact of the rumor was quickly spreading in a way Yan couldn’t anticipate or prevent.

Yan was more concerned about the rumors than Zhu was.

Although Zhu had clearly stated that the rumors couldn’t harm her.

But she wasn’t invincible, how could she truly remain unharmed?

Saying she didn’t care was probably just a move of helplessness. Because in the face of harm, being indifferent was an effective way to lessen it, aside from resistance and defiance.

"Is it the Zhu family? Or the Yi family?" She continued to question.

Even though she wasn’t adept at playing mind games, she knew basic reasoning.

Seeing he couldn’t hide it from her, Yan had to reply honestly, "Probably the Yi family."

Even if she didn’t want to admit it, Yan was fully aware that Yi Wei was a big aggravation on their relationship. That’s why he seldom mentioned Yi Wei in front of her recently.

"The Yi family? And how did they spread it?" she asked.

Zhu understood basic principles.

If it was purely word of mouth, there was no way it could spread so quickly!