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Xin Ai turned her head away, unable to bear the sight. Hanno, disregarding the injury to his assistant's eyes, happily embraced Elder Brother Li and then they walked hand in hand into his room, leaving Xin Ai locked outside.
Taking a few deep breaths, Xin Ai tried to suppress the overwhelming feelings of frustration. Just as she was about to return to her room, the doorbell rang. Opening the door, a delivery person handed her a beautifully wrapped bouquet of roses. "Sister Yin Xin'ai, your flowers. Please sign here!"
The season of romance had arrived. Not only were Hanno and Elder Brother Li indulging in their affectionate relationship, but Xin Ai also found herself with admirers. Various romantic gestures made her feel both happy and touched, and it seemed she was not far from being won over by classmate Choi Sung-jun.
Finally, it was the day of the Crown Prince's wedding. As Prince Yi Cheng, Hanno naturally sat among the most distinguished guests, with Elder Brother Li by her side. Behind them, Chairman Kim and Esher Li were utterly shocked; they had not expected Elder Brother Li to rise above them and be seated among the top-tier guests, each of whom held a higher status than they did.
"Esher Li, congratulations! You actually managed to connect with someone from the royal family. No wonder you look down on our Jin Tan!" Chairman Kim's expression was grim.
In contrast, Esher Li wore a smug smile. "Oh my, I had no idea Rahe knew Prince Yi Cheng; she never mentioned it to me. I’ll have to give her a piece of my mind when we get back."
Chairman Kim scoffed and turned away, unwilling to look at Esher Li's triumphant face any longer. President Choi Dong-wook was equally pleased, believing that marrying Esher Li was one of his wisest decisions.
Hanno sat in the VIP section and watched as the bride emerged in traditional Korean attire. She turned to Elder Brother Li with a playful grin. "Strictly speaking, today’s bride used to be my fiancée!"
Elder Brother Li chuckled, "Is having a fiancée such a big deal? I almost ended up with a fiancé myself!"
"Right! You were so close to getting engaged to Jin Tan!" Hanno smirked. "In terms of quality, Shin Chae-kyung is several times better than Jin Tan. That Jin Tan... well, let's not even go there!"
"Is Jin Tan really that bad?" Elder Brother Li asked, though he knew little about him despite almost getting engaged.
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Jin Tan is an illegitimate child; his mother is Chairman Kim's mistress living in the Jin household without any official status while the real matriarch, Zheng Chairperson, lives outside. When Jin Tan was sent off to America, he was no better than a delinquent; he often needed Jin Yuan to clean up his messes over there," Hanno scoffed. "The Jins all share a fondness for Cinderella stories. If you hadn’t crossed over as Liu Rahe1 and the real Liu Rahe1 had gotten engaged to Jin Tan... well, that would have been disastrous—getting slapped in the face by Cinderella."
Elder Brother Li shook his head. "A man who has a fiancée yet still pursues other women is utterly irresponsible."
In Hanno's view, engagement was just as important as the outcome itself; it meant that the woman was already considered part of the man's life. For Jin Tan to have a fiancée yet still flirt with other women was akin to seeking out a mistress.
Hanno chuckled lightly, "They claim it's true love!"
Elder Brother Li snorted, "It's an insult to the term 'true love.'"
After the wedding, Choi Sung-jun and Liu Huan came to find Hanno and Xin Ai, inviting them to go to a bar for drinks and fun.
"Why haven't we seen Jiang Renjun?" Xin Ai asked.
"He's gone to comfort a beauty," Liu Huan replied.
"A beauty? Min Hyo-rin?" Hanno inquired.
"You know about Hyo-rin? It must have been Xin who told you," Liu Huan said.
Hanno shook his head. "Not Xin, but as someone from the royal family, I know a bit about the Crown Prince's affairs."
Choi Sung-jun exclaimed, "You know of Min Haolin's existence? Then His Majesty and the Empress..."
Hanno responded, "His Majesty and the Queen naturally know about Min Haolin as well. It's not that I'm speaking ill of anyone; His Majesty and the Queen have eaten more salt than we've eaten rice. There are reasons they didn't choose Min Hyo-rin as the Crown Prince's consort."
Liu Huan asked, "What reasons? Hyo-rin is clearly outstanding."
Hanno replied, "She is outstanding, but she's too ambitious."
Liu Huan protested, "How can Hyo-rin be ambitious? She doesn't even want to be the Crown Princess."
Hanno explained, "Because she is confident that Xin likes her. She still has her dance career. Once her dance career loses its momentum, she'll come back looking for Xin. She's always regarded him as her backup."
"Liu Huan said, 'I don't believe it.'
Hanno replied, 'We can bet on it and see if she comes back for the truth.'
Liu Huan huffed, 'Fine, I’ll take that bet!'
Hanno turned to Choi Sung-jun and said, 'You’re friends with Ginger Root; you should persuade him. Min Hyo-rin is very ambitious and will definitely not accept Ginger Root. In her mind, only the Crown Princess is worthy of her.'
Choi Sung-jun, influenced by his girlfriend, was quite convinced by Hanno's words. 'Alright, I will.'
Elder Brother Li's phone rang. He answered and spoke a few words before hanging up.
'It's Esher Li,' Elder Brother Li informed Hanno. 'She must have seen me with you today and wants to benefit from our connection. She’s invited us to dinner together later; are we going?'
'Let's go!' Hanno said eagerly. 'I really want to meet this powerful woman!'
Choi Sung-jun and Liu Huan took Hanno and the others to a bar they often frequented. This place was very exclusive, favored by high-ranking officials and wealthy patrons, but celebrities from the Ming Dynasty entertainment industry were not allowed entry. The group didn’t stay out too late and returned home before midnight. Xin Ai was escorted by Choi Sung-jun; she had bought her own house and had moved out of Hanno's place—mainly because she was tired of witnessing the affectionate displays between Hanno and Elder Brother Li. To protect her eyes, Xin Ai decided to move out of the Hanno family home. Choi Sung-jun fully supported this decision; although he knew there was nothing romantic between Xin Ai and Hanno, he still felt uneasy about his girlfriend living in another man's house. When he heard she wanted to move out, he immediately offered his villa, but unfortunately for him, Xin Ai was wealthy enough to buy a larger villa than his! It was truly disheartening for a boyfriend.
Speaking of Xin Ai, let me add a note here. After returning to Korea, Xin Ai visited Shunren once but found that the mother-daughter bond they once shared was gone. Now, Shunren was more concerned about her daughter Choi Eun-hee. Nevertheless, Xin Ai left a sum of money as gratitude for Shunren's fourteen years of nurturing—one hundred thousand dollars—which was a significant amount for the Cui family. With this money, Shunren bought a new house and invested some in Choi Hero's business to help him marry, while also sending Choi Eun-hee off to university for further studies. The Cui family's life improved significantly. Shunren was grateful for her foster daughter Xin Ai, but sadly, they would no longer have any connection or chance to meet again.
Hanno drove with enthusiasm; instead of heading home, they took a joyride. Suddenly, a car that was clearly out of control came into view.
Hanno extended his Divine Sense and after a moment said, 'The brakes on that car have been tampered with, and the driver has been drugged. This road sees very few cars at night; if we hadn’t decided to take this route on a whim, the outcome could have been catastrophic—total destruction with no clues left for any murderer.'
Elder Brother Li’s expression turned serious. 'First, we need to save them.'
He opened the car door and leaped out. Fortunately, there were no surveillance cameras in this area; however, just to be cautious, Hanno cast an invisibility spell on Elder Brother Li."
Elder Brother Li flew to the window of the car in front, breaking the glass and pulling the dazed driver out. The driver, still retaining some sense of reason, screamed in fright at the bizarre situation. Elder Brother Li knocked him unconscious with a single blow and tossed him onto the grass by the roadside before rushing forward to physically stop the out-of-control sedan, bringing it to a halt.
Hanno got out and walked over to the unconscious driver, pulling out his phone to call the police and request an ambulance.
After completing these tasks, Hanno and Elder Brother Li, two nameless heroes, left the scene. Later, they saw a news article in the newspaper: the eldest son of the s≈ap;ap; Group, Lee Han-kyung, had been deliberately murdered but was miraculously saved.
"The s≈ap;ap; Group? That name sounds somewhat familiar," Hanno thought for a moment but couldn't recall where he had seen or heard it before.
Having lived in South Korea for over ten years, Elder Brother Li was more familiar with it: "The s; Group is a multinational corporation, not smaller than Rs International. The president of s≈ap;ap; Group has three sons. The one who was attacked yesterday, Lee Han-kyung, is the eldest son. The second son is named Lee Jae-kyung, and the youngest is Li Huijing."
"Lee Jae-kyung? Li Huijing?" Hanno clapped his hands together. "That sounds so familiar! They are Cheon Song-yi's childhood friends and her deranged murderer brother. I wonder if the professor is still a professor now?"
Elder Brother Li raised an eyebrow. "Which drama is that from?"
Hanno replied, "My Love from the Star, a drama about an alien falling in love with a woman on Earth. It's pretty good; my mom loves watching it."
"Is that Professor Do an alien?" Elder Brother Li asked. "Are you interested in him? Want to meet him?"
Hanno immediately sensed Elder Brother Li's jealousy and quickly said, "No need for that; we’re not from the same power system anyway. It wouldn't be useful to meet him."
Satisfied, Elder Brother Li prepared a heartfelt breakfast for his beloved. This was a carefully crafted meal featuring century egg and lean pork congee, steamed dumplings, chicken potstickers, and pea cake... an entirely Chinese breakfast that was more authentic than anything else in Korea.
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