Li Yuntang picked up the teapot and began to pour tea methodically.
It was at that moment he heard Yan Xiaye’s level response, “Younger Uncle, I’m sorry.”
The hand suspended in midair paused slightly.
Li Yuntang lowered his gaze with a smile, and in the blink of an eye, set the teapot down as if nothing had happened.
With a smile of noble elegance in his eyes, he looked at her meaningfully and said, “It might be tough by Beicheng’s side, Xiaye, you should be careful.”
After speaking, Li Yuntang casually withdrew his gaze and checked the time on his watch, “The auction starts in half an hour, Beicheng, you take Xiaye with you.”
Li Beicheng, in high spirits, agreed without a second thought, “Yes, Younger Uncle.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand to down the clear tea in front of him and forcefully dragged the hesitating Yan Xiaye away with him.
Leaving the president’s office, he crossed his arms and looked down at her as if he could see through all her shameful thoughts, “Yan Xiaye, you obviously love me madly, so why do you pretend to be a virtuous and chaste woman in bed?”
The very moment he had heard her make her choice, he felt, inexplicably, a sense of relief.
Yan Xiaye looked at him indifferently and let her gaze drop noncommittally, feeling a faint pain in her heart.
She couldn’t articulate what this feeling was, but she was certain that a rift had formed between her and her Younger Uncle.
This estrangement was nothing like when she deliberately addressed him as President Li.
She knew she had done something wrong and that everything her Younger Uncle did was for her benefit, yet she had refused in front of Li Beicheng.
So, it was understandable that her Younger Uncle was disappointed in her and unwilling to give her a second glance.
However, the thought of becoming Li Beicheng’s assistant and possibly coming across documents related to Huang Qian’s whereabouts…
Even if the chance was one in ten thousand, given another opportunity to choose, she still couldn’t freely utter the word ‘no.’
“I’m talking to you!”
Seeing Yan Xiaye blatantly ignore him, Li Beicheng’s good mood evaporated, and he roughly lifted her chin, “Yan Xiaye, is it fun to give mixed signals?”
In the silent, empty corridor, he restrained her movements without mercy.
The pain was bearable, but other aspects were not.
Recalling how this hand had lingered fondly on Yan Shuirou’s body, Yan Xiaye swatted it away, lips curling in disgust, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t know?” He repeated mockingly, “Alright, let me remind you then, I’ve already asked Yan Er, and he said nothing has happened between you two.”
With that, he stepped closer, pinning Yan Xiaye between himself and the wall, peering at her with a smirk, “Meaning, in the sense that you’ve never been held by a man, you are still a virgin…
I’m not wrong, am I?”
Overshadowed by Li Beicheng’s presence, Yan Xiaye didn’t feel the same flutter of the heart as before when she was extremely close to him before the imprisonment.
In her panic and agitation, she looked away involuntarily, her words cold and distant, “This is a public place.
Aren’t you afraid Yan Shuirou will see and get jealous with you so close to me?”
Every time they ran out of things to say, she would use Yan Shuirou to create distance between them.
It was both mockery and a reminder.
Li Beicheng narrowed his eyes, gradually getting used to her sharp tongue, “Now that it’s just the two of us, you keep bringing up Shuirou.
Does that mean you’re jealous of her?”
“Yan Shuirou, why did you come here?”
She stared at the figure behind him, fury filling her clear and delicate face, her eyes filled with hatred that seemed anything but feigned.
Considering Yan Shuirou’s condition, Li Beicheng couldn’t help but step back and turn around, preparing to explain to her.
Taking advantage of his momentary glance backward, Yan Xiaye bent her knees and wriggled free of his grasp, standing a few meters away with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “Although I’m not interested in the auction, since Younger Uncle mentioned it, send someone to meeting room one to call me before we set off.”
…
As a token of the cooperation with the partners, this jewelry auction was kept confidential, with only a few managers and above from the Li Corporation Group having the privilege to accompany the event.
On the way to the venue, Yan Xiaye habitually kept silent, leaning against the car window, enjoying the afterglow of the setting sun.
In the same car, Yan Shuirou sitting in the front passenger seat had already cast several glances in this direction, but regretfully, considering there were other people in the car, she still didn’t dare to display their affection publicly.
While Li Beicheng was mentally satisfied with Yan Xiaye’s understanding of the situation, the fingers gripping the steering wheel tightened involuntarily.
Feeling the unusually low atmosphere in the car, the legal director sitting next to Yan Xiaye looked around apprehensively, eventually suppressing his bubbling curiosity and moving as far from Yan Xiaye as he could, for fear that any jolt of the car might inadvertently provoke the favored lady of President Li.
Accompanied by a heavy low pressure, the group finally arrived at the venue without incident, dispersing into different private boxes.
Yan Xiaye intended to leave but was caught by Li Beicheng, who, irrespective of Yan Shuirou’s frowning displeasure, insistently pulled her to his side.
…
The ancient-styled decor of the auction hall saw all private boxes arranged in a tiered layout, with partitions made of semi-transparent glass.
The higher the position of a box, the more it demonstrated the distinguished status of its occupants, enabling them to look down on the entire hall from above.
Using Li Beicheng’s status, Yan Xiaye took a seat in a box located in the middle, watching indifferently as Yan Shuirou and Li Beicheng took their place opposite her.
“Xiaye, this is the auction catalogue, see if there is anything you like, and I’ll have Beicheng buy it for you.”
Soft and delicate hands slowly pushed the catalogue towards Yan Xiaye, as Yan Shuirou looked at her tenderly, the corners of her lips carrying the smile of a victor.
Yan Xiaye didn’t even touch the catalogue, sneering in response, “Yan Shuirou, being so generous with my husband’s money, it’s rare to find someone with a skin as thick as yours in this world.”
Yan Shuirou’s smile couldn’t hold on her face, and she pitifully furrowed her brow, weakly shaking her head before Li Beicheng could speak, as if even that slight gesture exhausted all her strength.
Seeing Yan Xiaye bully Shuirou right in front of him made Li Beicheng’s handsome face darken, yet in the end, he remained silent.
He knew he ought to be uncontrollably furious, yet he didn’t understand why amidst the fury, there was also an indescribable pleasure and glee.
Fortunately, the auction was about to start.
On the large background screen, the enlarged gemstone ring in the auctioneer’s hand was the highlight of today’s auction.
“Ladies and gentlemen, what I have here is a masterpiece personally crafted by the mysterious master D.R, and it is the prelude to today’s grand finale auction, with a starting price of thirty-eight million.”
Before the words finished, gasps of astonishment resounded from many boxes.
Even with the high salaries provided by Li Corporation, the price was far beyond the purchasing power of most present for an internal company auction.
Different from other women’s natural love for glittering jewelry, Yan Xiaye propped her chin, admiring the exquisite craftsmanship on the enlarged screen, her eyes misting over, getting momentarily lost in thought.
Had she not dropped out of school, one day, she might have achieved something in jewelry design too…