Chapter 20

In his past life, he had missed out on so much.

Above all, he had missed her, the single most important person in his world.

So what if he had nothing to his name right now?

He would lock her down first, bring her home, and keep her safely by his side. He would never let her suffer an ounce of harm again. Neither Fu Xizhou nor Su Ran would ever get another chance to hurt her. He had already lived through the excruciating agony of losing her once, and that soul-crushing despair was something he refused to ever experience again.

Su Niao was completely flabbergasted. She stared blankly at Feng Bai, stunned by his out-of-the-blue proposal.

Wow. Talk about zero warning.

And more importantly, she hadn’t even confessed her feelings to him yet! How had he already skipped straight to proposing?!

Wait a minute, isn’t this script totally out of order?!

Looking at him with a bewildered expression, she parted her lips and stammered, “How about… you wait for me to confess to you first? And then you propose?”

Feng Bai gazed at her with infinite tenderness. Without a word, he gently slid the ring onto her finger.

Su Niao: “!!” You haven’t even answered my question yet!

A soft smile touched Feng Bai’s lips. Standing up, he took her hand in his, his voice smooth and low.

“Niao Niao, proposing first and confessing later works just as well. Now that I’ve proposed and you’ve accepted, it’s your turn to tell me how you feel.”

Su Niao: “Can it really work like that?” Yet somehow, she still felt like she had been played.

Before she could process it, she was pulled tightly into his arms.

He whispered words of love against her ear, devoted, lingering, and brimming with profound emotion.

After a long silence, Su Niao finally buried her face in his chest and whispered back, “I like you too.”

Feng Bai tightened his embrace, pulling her in as close as humanly possible. Finally, in this lifetime, I didn’t miss you.

They held each other for a long while until a flicker of logic resurfaced in Su Niao’s dazed mind. “Feng Bai… if we keep hugging like this, someone’s going to see us.”

“They won’t,” Feng Bai replied, dead serious. “I gave the entire staff the day off. There’s no one else on this floor except us.”

Su Niao: “…”

Nobody else around?

Then… would a little kiss be okay?

Other than that, she strictly had no improper motives whatsoever!

Su Niao tilted her head up and pressed a gentle kiss against Feng Bai’s cheek. The next second, she froze… as she watched his eyes darken into a fathomless, dangerous abyss.

“You’re getting bolder,” Feng Bai noted softly.

Before Su Niao could even react, he had already pinned her against the desk…

That evening.

The two of them didn’t return home for dinner.

Wen Jiu sighed inwardly, realizing their relationship had clearly taken a major step forward. Still, she made a mental note to remind Su Niao that she hadn’t graduated from college yet and couldn’t afford to be reckless.

Su Hang, on the other hand, was practically fuming. His precious daughter had just been snatched away like that?! How long had it even been?! Taken away just like that, without so much as a proper notice!

In his fury, Su Hang was ready to lock the front doors to keep Su Niao and Feng Bai out completely.

Wen Jiu shot him a cool, indifferent glance. “If you don’t let them come home, they might just go rent a hotel room instead.”

Su Hang: “!!!” My blood pressure is going through the roof!

“Tell them to get back here right now!!!”

“I forbid them from booking a hotel room!”

“I absolutely forbid it!”

When Su Niao and Feng Bai finally walked through the front door holding hands, Su Niao’s face was practically radiating the sweet, rosy glow of a girl head-over-heels in love.

Su Hang felt as though visible pink bubbles were floating all around the pair.

Fearing his frail heart couldn’t take the strain, Su Hang retreated straight to his study, leaving Wen Jiu behind to deal with them.

Wen Jiu’s sharp eyes instantly caught the diamond ring glinting on Su Niao’s finger. She let out a soft sigh and looked at her daughter with a weighted, knowing expression. “Just how far have you two progressed?”

Su Niao immediately waved her hand in front of her mother’s face. “See this? He proposed!”

Wen Jiu: “???”

Wait a second. I thought you two had only made it to the confession stage, how on earth did we jump straight to an engagement?!

Even with her incredible composure, Wen Jiu felt a bit lightheaded.

She turned her sharp, surprised gaze onto Feng Bai. “A word in private.”

“Of course,” Feng Bai replied respectfully.

The two turned and walked into the lounge, leaving Su Niao standing alone in the living room, feeling completely lost.

Is Mom unhappy about the proposal? Or does she disapprove? Wasn’t everything fine before?

Su Niao hovered anxiously outside the lounge door, cursing the soundproofing for keeping her from hearing a single word.

About ten minutes later, the door clicked open. Seeing her daughter coiled tight with anxiety, Wen Jiu couldn’t help but tease, “What, do you think I’m going to eat him alive?”

She acts like if he lost a single strand of hair, she’d burst into tears on the spot…

Shaking her head in helpless amusement, Wen Jiu didn’t say another word and turned to head upstairs.

Honestly, her next task was going to be even harder: explaining this to Su Hang.

If Su Hang found out that Feng Bai had proposed and their daughter had said yes, he was going to blow a fuse. She needed to figure out a delicate way to break the news to him.

The moment Wen Jiu was out of sight, Su Niao rushed over to Feng Bai, her eyes filled with worry. “What did Mom say? She didn’t write you a check and tell you to leave me, did she?”

Feng Bai couldn’t help but chuckle at her question. “You’ve been watching way too many soap operas.”

Su Niao countered defensively, “I was making a perfectly reasonable deduction!”

After all, she genuinely believed her mother was capable of doing just that.

Feng Bai pulled her into the lounge, leaning down to whisper against her ear, “Your mother just had a simple chat with me about our future. Don’t worry, she isn’t trying to tear us apart, and she definitely didn’t offer me money to leave you…”

This girl really has an wild imagination.

“Really?” Su Niao still had a sneaking suspicion that her mother had said more than that. But no matter how much she prodded, Feng Bai refused to spill any more details.

Realizing she wasn’t going to get anything else out of him, Su Niao eventually gave up. As long as they could be together, that was all that mattered.

Besides, Wen Jiu was her own mother; she would never make unreasonable demands or go overboard. Su Niao trusted her implicitly.

After chatting with Feng Bai for a little longer, Su Niao finally said goodnight and headed back up to her bedroom.

Feng Bai watched her retreating figure, letting out a long, quiet sigh. Wen Jiu’s condition hadn’t been anything crazy, really. She simply wanted him to exercise some self-control, no crossing lines before Su Niao officially graduated from college.

As for the proposal itself, since Su Niao had already agreed, Wen Jiu didn’t object. She merely reminded Feng Bai to cherish her daughter and treat her with the utmost care.

Feng Bai was more than happy to accept all of her conditions; every single one was for the sake of their shared future, and he understood her maternal concern completely.

It was just…

Feng Bai realized he was going to have to keep a healthy distance from Su Niao from now on. Otherwise, keeping his self-control in check was going to be a monumental challenge.

With a heavy sigh, he turned toward the bathroom to take a freezing cold shower…