Engagement Annulled? Now The Husbands Kneel and Beg for Her Favor

”Qingli, why did you bring your baby swimsuit again...”

Inside the changing room, Lin Xiyue pointed speechlessly at the one-piece swimsuit on top of Jiang Qingli’s luggage. ”Wearing it to swim class is one thing, but why are you still wearing this now that we’re on vacation! Which one of your insanely jealous Beast Husbands bought this for you?! So possessive! It’s a complete waste of your amazing figure!”

Jiang Qingli glanced at the white swimsuit, a bit embarrassed. ”...Xie Youchen bought it.”

When he heard she was going to the beach, Xie Youchen, despite his busy schedule, had sent over a pile of swimsuits, all of them extremely conservative.

However, afraid her friends would laugh, Jiang Qingli hadn’t planned on bringing it. She’d bought a few bikinis, but hadn’t realized Yi Nuo had packed the conservative suit along with everything else.

Lin Xiyue fell silent for two seconds. ”Well, for the Marshal to do such a thing, he must have his reasons... He’s probably worried you’ll get a sunburn.”

Ai Li sighed. ”Marshal Xie even buys you clothes? He’s honestly better than an actual brother.”

Hearing this, Jiang Qingli fiddled with her fingers, feeling a little guilty.

She wanted to tell her friends that she and Xie Youchen were together, but she didn’t want to create complications before he finished dealing with the Xie Family, so she said nothing.

Fortunately, Ai Li sighed and changed the subject. ”I’m so jealous. Why is my brother like some uncivilized moron?”

Lin Xiyue asked curiously, ”Why didn’t you bring your brother along? Didn’t you say he’s pretty pathetic, being an old, single male? They’re holding some mixers here soon. Maybe he could find a female master. It’d be better than waiting for the system to assign him to a stranger.”

”I don’t know. He said something about the student council changing leadership and that he needs to secure his position, so he couldn’t come.” Ai Li pouted. ”He also said he’s going to learn management skills from Yuan Shiyao to help out the student council president. I doubt he’ll understand any of it. He can’t even manage the few cats at home...”

The group chatted and laughed about cats for a few moments before Lin Xiyue asked Jiang Qingli, ”By the way, Qingli, how has managing your Beast Husbands been going lately?”

Jiang Qingli fished the mint-colored bikini she’d bought from the depths of her luggage, pulled back a curtain, and stepped into a changing stall. Her voice, mingled with the rustle of clothing, drifted out with a laugh. ”That ’art of equal treatment’ you taught me is super useful. Although it can be a bit... you know... overall, things are going great!”

”Not bad, not bad.” Lin Xiyue was very satisfied with her pupil’s performance. She turned to Ai Li. ”You need to work on it too. Don’t let those guys at your house run wild.”

”I know, I know—”

...

After the three of them changed into their swimsuits, they went out to the beach.

Lin Xiyue had been dying to surf, so she dragged her Beast Husband and ran off. Ai Li, too lazy to move, lay on a nearby beach chair and had her Beast Husband give her a massage.

When Jiang Qingli arrived at their meeting spot, her Beast Husbands were already walking out from the other side, having changed into their own swimwear.

The moment they saw Jiang Qingli, both men visibly froze.

The mint-colored fabric made her skin look as white as snow. Her slender figure was so captivating that just seeing her stand there made it impossible to look away.

Gu Nian stared for only a second before hurriedly shrugging off his own semi-sheer sun jacket and draping it over Jiang Qingli. He said, in a tone of feigned concern, ”Qingli, it’s a bit bright out. How about we wait until we’re in the water to take it off? It’s really, really sunny...”

Though he kept muttering about the sun, his eyes were glued to her face, not daring to wander elsewhere. The tips of his ears were bright red.

Seeing him like this, Jiang Qingli decided not to tease him. She let him put the jacket on her, then smoothed down her hair.

While he did that, Jiang Qingli took the opportunity to check out her Beast Husbands’ attire.

Gu Nian was wearing a loose white tank top and swim trunks, giving him a youthful air. Cunningly, however, he had pulled the waistband down just a bit, revealing a small, tantalizing patch of skin.

Ye Linyuan, on the other hand, wore a rash guard. His upper body was tightly wrapped in solid black fabric that made the lines of his muscles stand out. He was the most covered up, yet somehow more alluring than if he’d been wearing nothing at all.

When Gu Nian saw Jiang Qingli’s gaze linger on Ye Linyuan, he couldn’t help but grind his teeth and curse inwardly, ’Scheming, shameless bastard.’

The white-haired youth shot him a hostile glare, but Ye Linyuan—still satisfied from their make-out session in the car—ignored him. His gaze traveled past Gu Nian to Jiang Qingli. ”What do you want to do?”

’As soon as Ye Linyuan spoke, Gu Nian rolled his eyes. ’Can’t he just talk normally? What’s with that affected tone? He’s so old, can he even pull it off?’’

This beach was technically the Lin Family’s private property, but Xiyue loved a lively atmosphere. Every holiday, she would invite the scions of other prominent families to come and hang out. Because of this, Jiang Qingli spotted several familiar faces from the academy on the sand.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Qingli looked out at the boundless azure sea and gave her order: ”Let’s go for a swim!”

Gu Nian nodded eagerly. ”Okay, okay!”

He had already prepared an inner tube and offered it to Jiang Qingli, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Jiang Qingli glanced at the round, duck-shaped floatie he was hugging and said with a grin, ”That’s okay, I don’t need it. I’m a great swimmer!”

And she really didn’t.

Once in the water, Jiang Qingli moved like a fish, floating with graceful ease.

Gu Nian, on the other hand, was not as skilled.

Swimming wasn’t taught in the Beast Fighting Arena, and it wasn’t a requirement for special-admission students. Furthermore, this particular ’rabbit’ hated getting his hair wet, so he’d hardly ever been swimming. After learning about the beach trip, he had practiced frantically for a few days, but he still couldn’t keep up with Jiang Qingli. Within moments, he was swallowing mouthfuls of seawater.

Finally, unable to watch any longer, Jiang Qingli put the floatie around Gu Nian.

Gu Nian refused, his face flushed. ”I don’t want it.”

’Using something like this... what would be left of his masculine pride?’

Jiang Qingli raised an eyebrow and picked up the floatie.

A wave crashed over him, pushing Gu Nian under. GLUG GLUG. A stream of bubbles rose to the surface.

Jiang Qingli burst out laughing as she slipped the floatie over him and pulled him to the side to rest.

Lying back on a beach chair, Jiang Qingli took a sip of an iced drink and, with nothing better to do, idly scrolled through her terminal.

The first post on her feed was from Old Qin.

Old Qin: ”Off we go! To the beach! Time for a group pic! [Photo]”

Jiang Qingli’s eyes immediately found Yi Nuo in the corner of the picture.

In the photo, Yi Nuo was wearing a plain white T-shirt and sitting in a corner, gazing out at the sea. The sea breeze ruffled his hair, and he looked as if he was thinking of someone.

It was the first time Jiang Qingli had ever seen Yi Nuo in anything other than his servant or butler uniforms.

Compared to his usual formal demeanor, he seemed so much more vibrant and alive now, exuding the youthful energy he should have at his age.

’Come to think of it, Yi Nuo is a year younger than me,’ she mused, ’but he’s so methodical when it comes to taking care of people.’

Jiang Qingli found herself staring, lost in thought.

Gu Nian watched her expression for a few seconds, a bad feeling creeping over him. He leaned closer and whispered, ”Qingli, what are you looking at?”

”Nothing, just Old Qin’s feed,” Jiang Qingli said. ”They came to the beach too. I wonder if they’re anywhere near us...”

She was only halfway through her sentence when a voice suddenly cried out, ”Watch out!”

A round shadow suddenly came flying toward them.

Gu Nian pulled Jiang Qingli into his arms to dodge, but the volleyball didn’t hit them. Instead, it landed right at their feet, as if the angle had been perfectly calculated.

A figure came running over, apologizing profusely.

When the person got closer and saw Jiang Qingli clearly, the young man broke into a surprised grin—

”What a coincidence, Sister-in-law.”