The next day at noon, Ye Fan was driven by Zhang Lu to the outside of the villa.

Mengyao, who had received the news, welcomed him out with Du Xueqi accompanying her.

Ye Fan and Mengyao locked eyes; everything was understood without words, no excessive pleasantries.

"Mengyao, I’ve brought your man here safely and handed him over to you without any harm. I’m leaving now." Zhang Lu said with a smile.

"Not coming in for a sit?" Mengyao asked.

"No, I still have a lot of work to handle, I have to leave." Zhang Lu said.

"I won’t see you off, take care." Mengyao waved goodbye.

After Zhang Lu left, Ye Fan and Mengyao entered the villa.

"I knew you were coming home, so I was cooking," Mengyao said while looking at Ye Fan: "It must have been a tiring trip, looking at the exhaustion on your face hasn’t gone away, go take a shower, then we’ll have dinner, I have something to tell you."

"The feeling of coming home is just right, being by your side, all fatigue disappears." Ye Fan said earnestly.

"Oh, haven’t seen you for a few days, your mouth’s gotten sweeter." Mengyao said tenderly as she glanced at Ye Fan and handed him a glass of iced strawberry drink: "Quench your thirst, I prepared this especially for you."

"Alright, thank you." Ye Fan picked up the strawberry drink, drank half of it, placed it on the table, and asked: "What dishes are you cooking?"

"All dishes I love, you’re in for a treat." Mengyao blurted out.

"Didn’t make any dishes I love?" Ye Fan widened his eyes.

"The dishes I love are also the dishes you love, even if you don’t like them, you must love them." Mengyao domineeringly rolled her eyes at Ye Fan.

Ye Fan laughed, "That won’t do, I haven’t eaten properly for half a day, I need some delicious dishes to reward myself."

Saying this, he made a move towards the kitchen.

"Stop right there." Mengyao raised her voice: "First go shower, I’ll handle the kitchen."

"Yes, ma’am!" Ye Fan hurried off to shower.

After showering, changing into fresh clothes, Ye Fan sat in the chair, casually grabbed a piece of meat from the plate and fed it into his mouth, smacking his lips a few times, exclaiming: "Delicious."

"Don’t just sit there, come over and bring the soup." Mengyao’s voice came from the kitchen, clearly seeing Ye Fan’s actions.

"Alright!" Ye Fan quickly stood up.

"Go open a bottle of wine too." Just as Ye Fan placed the soup on the table, Mengyao ordered again.

"Okay!" Ye Fan went off to get the wine.

Four dishes and one soup were placed on the table, Ye Fan and Mengyao sat facing each other.

"Thank you for your hard work." Ye Fan raised the wine glass, swirled the red wine, "Come, let’s toast."

Mengyao took a sip of wine, ate a few bites, then put down her chopsticks and looked at Ye Fan saying: "Can I ask you something?"

"Just say it, why be so polite." Ye Fan replied boldly.

"Grandpa didn’t make things difficult for you, did he?" Mengyao asked out of curiosity: "You went to help this time, definitely to handle big matters again, my grandpa surely likes you, didn’t he try to persuade you to join the organization and do those big things?"

"Likes me?" Ye Fan said with surprise: "Old man Chu, a doddering old fellow, what does he like about me?"

"You can’t talk about grandpa like that, nor can you joke around." Mengyao glared at Ye Fan.

"Alright, alright, I won’t speak ill of the old man." Ye Fan chuckled, then carelessly said: "The old man is great at everything, nothing to criticize; seeing my incredible performance in helping with big tasks, he naturally wasn’t willing to let me leave, wishing I would serve under his wing."

"That’s human nature, with grandpa’s eagerness to cherish talent, naturally he’s eager for you to obediently help the organization with matters; I’ve long expected this, if I hadn’t, then it wouldn’t be him as my grandpa." Mengyao stared at Ye Fan and said: "I won’t say much, already knowing you’ve decisively refused."

"Those tasks that lack freedom, involving fighting and killing, I won’t do them anymore; I’ll try to avoid them, hoping to break free, to avoid being constantly thought of by others." Ye Fan said seriously.

"In that case, mere refusal isn’t enough, you also need to stay rational, try not to interact with people from the organization, that’s the best policy." Mengyao advised: "I’ll not say much about this incident, there are reasons for it, I can’t complain about you, but the deeper you contact with the organization, naturally the deeper the acquaintance, other interest exchanges or promises can’t move you, but when the organization talks about relationships all the time, you won’t have an excuse to refuse."

Mengyao clearly explained the pros and cons, concerning matters of affection or friendships, Ye Fan found himself unable to refuse and had to do certain things; the way to eliminate the chance of forming bonds or friendships is to minimize such interactions.

Ye Fan and Zhang Lu had already established deep friendships among them, that’s a fact.

However, it’s also a result of the intentional actions of Old Fu.

By leveraging one matter after another, the relationship between Ye Fan and Zhang Lu deepened, and this friendship grew stronger.

While this approach has some benefits, the drawbacks are many as well.

Mengyao understands Ye Fan and naturally considers matters that would trouble him; thus, she made things clear upon finding Ye Fan.

"What you’re saying makes sense, repeatedly interacting with the organization unconsciously deepened connections with its members, initially just knowing Zhang Lu, then meeting others, over time I’ve indeed met quite a few in the organization and had many intersections." Ye Fan said seriously: "From here on, I must pay attention, lest Old Man Chu keeps the idea of recruiting me under his wing and never gives up on persuading me to join the organization."

He paused and continued: "However, this time, the major purpose of participating in the action was to avenge Chi Qinyuan, and incidentally helped Old Man Chu; before we even knew each other, I had already owed Chi Qinyuan something, completing this task now gives me some peace of mind."

"As long you know what you’re doing." Mengyao said kindly: "You eat your meal, I’m not that hungry, you eat while I talk to you."

"I even advised you to avoid getting too close to anyone in the organization, and here a soldier brother is about to become your brother-in-law." Mengyao said helplessly with a smile: "An about-to-become-family soldier brother, one that’s bright and promising."

"Brother-in-law?" Ye Fan exclaimed dumbfoundedly, widening his eyes: "Could it be Ye Juanjuan?"

"That’s right." Mengyao nodded, smiling: "Yesterday, Ye Juanjuan came over when you weren’t here; she met a boyfriend online, said to be a soldier, Ye Juanjuan hasn’t detailed what he’s like, they’ve met, and she’s very satisfied; however, Ye Juanjuan hasn’t informed her family yet, wants you and me to check him out before telling her family."

"I see, we need to look into this properly." Ye Fan’s face lit up, saying: "Juanjuan must have her plans; since she’s introduced him to us, she probably has made her decision."

"Who wouldn’t say so?" Mengyao laughed.