"Why do you call me Demon King Shen?" Shen Zhining asked again.

Life was full of surprises. As for Sheng Jiaoyang"s current situation, it was more appropriate to describe it as "life was full of shocks".

Sheng Jiaoyang buried her face in the blanket and pretended as if she hadn"t heard anything.

Shen Zhining wasn"t in a hurry anyway, so he unhurriedly continued, "In your heart, what does the Demon King represent?"

"A sinister and cunning villain?"

"Perhaps an evildoer who"s wicked at heart?"

"Or a bad guy who"d be satisfied with nothing short of someone"s destruction?"

He stroked her hair with his hand, his movements fairly gentle. However, his tone of voice…

Sheng Jiaoyang was quite sure that if she admitted to any of those descriptions, she"d certainly need to suffer for a while as a consequence.

Feeling the imminent danger in her bones, she immediately responded, "None of those is correct!"

"In my opinion, the Demon King is a very powerful person. Look, all those people who are known as Demon Kings in the world of sports are super amazing players." Sheng Jiaoyang looked up and stared at him with big sparkling eyes. Please look at the sincerity and determination in my eyes!

If it hadn"t been for the fact that he"d seen the cartoon character being whipped, Shen Zhining would"ve believed Sheng Jiaoyang. He gently pinched her chin, looked her straight in the eye, and asked in a languid tone which carried a hint of precariousness, "Really?"

"Of course, it"s true, it couldn"t be truer." Sheng Jiaoyang blinked.

Shen Zhining gradually smiled.

Seeing his smile, Sheng Jiaoyang was about to relax when she suddenly heard him say, word by word, "As expected, you"re a little liar!"

This was the second time she"d heard Shen Zhining call her "little liar". At this instant, a bad feeling suddenly crept up in her heart.

"In your heart, you clearly want to whip me, but you"re praising me out loud. Your acting skills aren"t bad."

"W-why would you say that? Why would I want to whip you? I admire you a lot in my heart. "

"Oh? If that"s the case, then tell me, what do you admire about me?"

Sheng Jiaoyang felt that she"d just dug a hole for herself…she could only follow along and mumbled, "I admire everything about you."

Shen Zhining fixated his gaze on her. Even though he knew that those were just pretty words without an ounce of truth in them, he was still happy to hear her say that. Alright, seeing how good she was with words, he wouldn"t bother about the t.i.tle "Demon King Shen" for the time being.

Sheng Jiaoyang was disgusted by her own words, but she was relieved to see Shen Zhining looking cheerful and seemingly no longer caring about the t.i.tle "Demon King Shen".

"I"m getting out of bed first. Quickly ask Felix to send the clothes over."

When she got up, she noticed that Xiao An, who"d been sleeping on the other side, was already awake and silently staring at the two of them. "Xiao An, you"re awake. Did you sleep well last night?"

Xiao An nodded before turning his head to stare at Shen Zhining lying next to him with a curious look on his face.

Sheng Jiaoyang stood by the bed, watching the two, one big and one small, lying on the bed staring at one another. This scene made her suddenly think of what Shen Zhining had said to her last night: "our family of three"… She coughed and hurriedly cut off her crazy thoughts. After casting another glance at Shen Zhining, she carried Xiao An out of bed and to the bathroom to wash up.

When Sheng Jiaoyang led Xiao An out of the bathroom, Shen Zhining was standing by the bed in the middle of b.u.t.toning his s.h.i.+rt.

"Felix came so quickly?"

Shen Zhining carefully b.u.t.toned the last b.u.t.ton before looking up at her and saying, "Yeah, he got here very early."

Then, why did you stay in bed and not get up earlier?! Sheng Jiaoyang"s mouth twitched as she inwardly complained. Afterwards, she took Xiao An to the cloakroom to change clothes.

When confronted with Grandfather Yang"s scrutinising gaze, Sheng Jiaoyang felt utterly helpless. It was only after Shen Zhining had come downstairs that Grandfather Yang"s expression relaxed.

After breakfast, Sheng Jiaoyang went to Xiao An and said, "Xiao An, I have to go to work now. Give me a kiss."

Xiao An shyly gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"You"re sweet~" Sheng Jiaoyang ruffled his hair. She then turned around and picked up her coat, ready to go out.

"I"ll give you a lift," Shen Zhining said as he leisurely stood up.

Sheng Jiaoyang glanced at him, but didn"t reject the offer.

When she boarded the car, Shen Zhining proactively asked her about her itinerary, "What do you have planned for today?"

"I have an interview in the morning, and school in the afternoon."

Shen Zhining faintly nodded.

Inside the car, the atmosphere suddenly quieted down, but Sheng Jiaoyang was already used to it. She pondered for a moment before saying, "My mother and Uncle Weiqi"s wedding is taking place in a week. I wonder if my mother is doing alright at the Li Family"s home."

Two days ago, Xu Qing and Li Weiqi had gone back to the Li Family"s home.

"With Grandfather Yang backing her behind the scenes, the Li Family would at least maintain a friendly att.i.tude towards her," Shen Zhining said.

"The members of the Li Family aren"t bad people, it"s just that they didn"t really like my mother in the beginning. Then again, the Li Family"s att.i.tude doesn"t really matter because my mother is going to marry Li Weiqi, not the Li Family. By the way, Zhining, Xiao An seems much more cheerful lately, don"t you think so?"

Watching her babbling non-stop, Shen Zhining smiled. "Indeed, you should keep on encouraging him."

The two chatted about trivial matters all the way to the parking lot of Entertainment International.

"I"m leaving," Sheng Jiaoyang said and proceeded to open the car door.

However, Shen Zhining grabbed her arm and stopped her.

Is there something else? Sheng Jiaoyang turned to look at him, and she inexplicably understood the look on his face. Since she"d already decided to date Shen Zhining seriously, she didn"t feel embarra.s.sed this time and directly leaned over and kissed him before getting out of the car.

Man Jun sat in the driver"s seat with his head lowered, trying his best to stay invisible.

Zeng Huan, who was waiting downstairs, came over and greeted Sheng Jiaoyang, "Good morning, Jiaojiao!"

"Is the interviewer from the magazine already here?"

"Yes, she"s already here. Sis Ping is currently going through the interview script with Journalist Peng."

Sheng Jiaoyang slightly raised an eyebrow. "I remember that the journalist who was supposed to come last time had Liu as their surname."

"Journalist Peng came this time."

Sheng Jiaoyang nodded and walked into the building.

Journalist Peng"s full name was Peng Peng. She was a girl in her early twenties with a seemingly lively personality. Upon seeing Sheng Jiaoyang, her eyes lit up and she repeatedly said that she was a Jiao fan and asked for a hug, a group photo, and an autograph.

Because of Journalist Peng"s energetic behaviour, they quickly grew familiar with one another, and the atmosphere during the interview was also more pleasant. In the end, Peng Peng asked, "Jiaojiao, can I ask one final question that your fans are concerned about?"

Seeing how smoothly they"d cooperated with one another for the interview, Sheng Jiaoyang naturally didn"t refuse Peng Peng.

"Jiao fans are quite worried about your recent love life. There are a lot of conjectures about your relations.h.i.+p on the internet. If I may ask, are you single now?"

"No," Sheng Jiaoyang answered directly.

"Jiaojiao, you"re as frank as always. Nowadays, many stars won"t announce their relations.h.i.+ps when they just started dating. On one hand, they"re afraid of affecting their careers, and on the other hand, they"re not sure whether this will lead to a break-up!" Peng Peng sighed.

"Everyone"s understanding and att.i.tude towards life are different," Sheng Jiaoyang tactfully replied.

Peng Peng winked at Sheng Jiaoyang and curiously asked, "Is your boyfriend Mr Lion Head?"

Mr Lion Head… Realisation dawned on Sheng Jiaoyang. She"d previously lost the game when she"d partic.i.p.ated in the variety show. Due to that, she was asked to confess her love to someone of the opposite s.e.x that she"d taken a recent photo of. Back then, she"d placed a lion head sticker on Shen Zhining"s face and had confessed to him on Weibo.

"Journalist Peng, you"ve already asked the last question," Xu Ping reminded.

Peng Peng sighed regretfully.

Sheng Jiaoyang broke into laughter and winked at Peng Peng.

Peng Peng was stunned for a moment, but her eyes lit up soon after and she smiled back understandingly.

After the photoshoot, Peng Peng and the photographer went back to their publis.h.i.+ng company.

On the way, the two chatted and shared what they thought of Jiaojiao.

The photographer sighed with delight and said, "Xu Jiaojiao doesn"t put on airs at all."

"Yeah, I"d initially thought that she was an arrogant person because she already has so many good resources. But, after the interview, I found out that she actually wasn"t aware of her current achievements and how much fame she"s attained."

"Maybe she still lacks confidence because the movie and drama she starred in haven"t been released yet?"

Peng Peng shook her head and said, "It"s precisely because she"s confident that she doesn"t care about all that."

"Peng Peng, are you really a Jiao fan? I didn"t notice that at all!" The photographer looked at Peng Peng inquisitively.

"I wasn"t her fan before this, but I"ll be one starting today." Peng Peng recalled how Jiaojiao had playfully winked at her at the end of the interview to silently answer her last question. She"d thought that it was very cute. Jiaojiao"s cute act was different from how other girls deliberately put on a cute front, and it was particularly sweet.

"But, I can see from today"s interview that you know her very well. I"m afraid that even a true Jiao fan wouldn"t necessarily know her better than you do."

"After Sis Nini asked me to do the interview on her behalf, I began to do my homework. During the past few days, I collected all the information I could find about Xu Jiaojiao, from her debut to present."

"I wonder whether Nini has managed to interview Qu Wen yet."

Peng Peng shrugged. "She gave up this interview for that opportunity, so she"ll certainly try her best to get it done. She"s not one to suffer a loss."

By the time they arrived back to the company, it was already 5 PM and their colleagues were getting ready to head home.

"Hey, you"re back."

"Yup," Peng Peng replied with a smile.

"That was the first interview you"ve done on your own, how was it? They didn"t make things difficult for you, did they?" asked the girl sitting next to Peng Peng.

"Everything went smoothly. Xu Jiaojiao didn"t put on airs at all."

"You"re quite lucky then."

Peng Peng nodded with a smile and said, "I also think so. If Sis Nini hadn"t gotten the opportunity to interview Qu Wen, giving me the chance to interview Xu Jiaojiao, I don"t know how much longer I"d have to wait before I could interview famous people on my own."

"Now that you"ve completed your interview smoothly, I"m sure that the chief editor will a.s.sign more work to you in the future. Haha, let me congratulate you in advance. Hurry and go report to the chief editor. Oh, wait! You better go in a bit later. Nini is still in the chief editor"s office."

"Sis Nini is back?" Peng Peng cast a curious look at the chief editor"s office with its closed door.

"Mhmm, she came back a few minutes before you. I heard that her interview also went well."

Peng Peng nodded.

Meanwhile, Sheng Jiaoyang had just finished her cla.s.ses and was leaving the school building. She was about to board the car to go home when she heard someone shout, "Xu Jiaojiao, a handsome guy is looking for you!"

She looked in the direction the person was pointing and saw a group of girls standing under the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in front of the school building. She also got a clear view of the person surrounded by them thanks to her height.

It"s Lin Yan!

What"s he doing here? Sheng Jiaoyang raised an eyebrow in puzzlement.

The girls surrounding Lin Yan asked him if he was a star and wanted to take a group photo with him. When Lin Yan vaguely heard the name "Xu Jiaojiao", he looked over and saw Sheng Jiaoyang standing next to a car, staring back at him.