Growing Fond of You, Mr Nian

Nian Xi couldn’t keep a straight face and broke into a smile. “Alright, I don’t care about stuff like marrying into my family. What’s so great about finding a guy who will marry into my family anyway? That’s so boring. Why don’t I just marry you? You’ll need to get a palanquin with eight carriers to come and get me.”

“Sure.” A shy smile graced Jiang Yuning’s fair face.

At that moment, Granny Nian came out of the room. She smiled warmly. “Oh, it’s Xiao Jiang. I heard that you’re the one who has been taking care of our Xixi. Oh my, you’ve grown skinny and frail.”

“There’s no such thing. And, it’s my duty to take care of Xixi,” Jiang Yuning said.

Nian Xi couldn’t help but complain, “Granny, why did you send him a message the other day saying that I was in mortal danger? You’re going to scare him to death that way.”

Granny Nian said smilingly, “You were in mortal danger that day. I didn’t lie, and I also wanted to scare him.”

“You scared him to death,” Nian Xi muttered.

“Nian Xi, come with me to the study,” Nian Qingyun said with a frown.

In the study, Nian Xi closed the door and initiated the conversation, “Dad, are you going to talk about the perpetrator dying in jail?”

“Yes,” Nian Qingyun nodded. “I just received news that the cause of death is muscle paralysis caused by a poison that stopped his heart. This poison has never appeared in the country. However, there have been many deaths in Brazil that were caused by this poison. That’s why someone named this poison ‘K1NO2’.”

Nian Xi was surprised, “How did a poison like this make its way to our country? Much less by an average criminal who abducts women.”

“Indeed. This is a slow-release poison, which means that the criminal must have ingested the poison before he was caught. Maybe the person who gave him the gun didn’t want the larger criminal network behind this to be revealed… or maybe… the other party wanted you dead.” Nian Qingyun frowned deeply as he said that.

Nian Xi was shocked. “How can that be? As a policewoman, I have been apprehending criminals left and right, and I may have made some enemies along the way… but why would I be a target of these so-called other parties who shouldn’t be powerful enough to obtain dangerous and obscure poisons from overseas in the first place?”

Nian Qingyun gave her a disconcerted look; he was sincerely concerned for his daughter. “There’s something I’ve been keeping from you and didn’t want to tell you, as it concerns some top-secret information. You must not tell anyone.”

Nian Xi had not seen him this serious in a long time. She grew increasingly anxious.

“Do you know why I have always been against your relationship with Jiang Yuning? It isn’t because I don’t like him,” Nian Qingyun continued in a low voice, “it’s because I discovered that he was part of some secret and dangerous research run by Italy’s SU Group. He came to Xia City after quitting three years ago.”

Nian Xi blinked. “SU Group?”

“It’s a mysterious organization that only dabbles in rare and secretive research projects. The people working there are all rare talents,” Nian Qingyun said. “There are physicists, astronomers, biologists, and all kinds of geniuses from all over the world.”

Nian Xi suddenly recalled how Jiang Yuning needed to go to Rome, which happens to be in Italy, in April.

“Dad, the reason you’re telling me this… you don’t think that someone is seriously targeting Jiang Yuning, and tried to harm me? After all, I am his girlfriend.” Nian Xi said with a smile, “Isn’t that too far-fetched?”

“Far-fetched?” Nian Qingyun frowned. “There are indeed research projects that may benefit the whole of mankind, but there are also those that can be used by criminals for their benefit. Think about it—why did he need protection when he went to Paris?”

“Dad, I don’t think that those two are related.” Nian Xi continued after a moment’s thought, “Even if Jiang Yuning had participated in some dangerous research in the past, some research projects are dangerous in the first place. Even if the results of his research managed to attract the attention of some criminals, I’m not afraid. That’s all the more reason why I can’t leave him—I will continue to protect him.”