To host Chu Xi, who had traveled all the way from Beizhou, Ye Fei chose the famous Dream Restaurant in Jiangcheng.
Although this restaurant had not been open for long, its unique decor had quickly made it a popular spot among young people.
The key to the “dream” theme lay in its fantastical marine elements. Apart from the load-bearing walls in critical areas, the rest of the walls were made of glass.
The restaurant spanned three floors, with a two-story-tall giant glass tank placed in the center. Inside, beautiful fish species typically found only in the deep sea swam freely.
The entire interior featured a unique design, with the surrounding walls divided into individual aquariums housing various fish.
The interplay of shimmering water ripples and the graceful movements of the fish made this restaurant the hottest spot among Jiangcheng’s youth.
In the booth closest to Zone C, Ye Fei rested her chin on her hand, watching the patterned fish and sea turtles swimming behind the glass.
This place really did attract a bustling crowd every day, lively and vibrant.
Sitting across from her was a woman with a lovely face, wearing a lake-blue backless dress that accentuated her graceful figure. The exposed skin on her back was fair and smooth.
No one would ever guess that such a radiant beauty was the renowned xliya on the Intercontinental Hacker Rankings.
Hearing Ye Fei’s words, she paused the hand stirring her coffee cup.
With a playful glint in her eyes, she smiled brightly.
“Darling, are you really that clueless or just pretending?”
Ye Fei glanced at her lazily. “What are you trying to say?”
Chu Xi put down her spoon and leaned closer, the corners of her bright eyes curving upward. “He’s made it so clear. For someone like Ker to reveal his identity in front of you, you should just accept it.”
As one of the top hackers on the rankings, Chu Xi knew exactly what the identity of Ker meant.
Ker had been the top-ranked hacker on the Intercontinental Hacker Rankings for years. Whenever he took action, no system remained unconquered.
More importantly, he had never accepted recruitment from any organization.
Despite being worth billions, no one had ever seen his true face.
Seeing Ye Fei’s unmoved expression, Chu Xi continued, “Still thinking about it? He’s already laid out the conditions. Marry him, and there won’t be a single system in the entire intercontinental region you can’t access or data you can’t obtain.”
His intentions were as clear as day. What more was there to think about?
Ye Fei bit her spoon, her mind involuntarily drifting back to the look in Zhi Huai’s eyes before he left yesterday.
They were both smart people. Some things didn’t need to be spelled out.
“But it doesn’t seem right for the boss to sell herself out just for this,” Jing Chu was the first to protest.
Besides, if word got back to the brothers in “Nanhui” in Nanzhou, where would the boss’s dignity be?
Chu Xi calmly pointed out the key issue. “She made a bet with Wen Qiao back then. If she lost, she’d stay in Jiangcheng for six months. During that time, she couldn’t let anyone know her identity, couldn’t use Nanhui’s connections, and couldn’t even touch the money in her account…”
Hearing these harsh truths, Ye Fei interrupted her.
“Are you really unable to access the system?”
Chu Xi nodded with absolute certainty, showing no hesitation whatsoever. “Although I consider myself quite capable and have never dropped below second place on the leaderboard, to be honest, the gap between me and him, the top-ranked player, is truly on a different level.”
She had once suspected that Ker must have seven or eight brains—otherwise, how could he be so thorough in every aspect?
But in the face of absolute strength, one can only admit defeat.
Ye Fei leaned back in her chair, looking up at the fish swimming across the glass ceiling. “Even you bowed down.”
Did she really have no other choice?
Chu Xi had never seen her back down before and asked gleefully, “So, are you going to break the agreement?”
Just as Ye Fei was watching an octopus swim by, she suddenly straightened up. “If I break the agreement just like that, how will I manage my subordinates in the future?”
Her image of being a woman of her word would be thrown straight into outer space.
This was too embarrassing.
“Stay strong, boss! That’s the spirit!” Jing Chu cheered wildly.
Chu Xi had anticipated this reaction and lifted the other woman’s chin with a finger adorned with black glitter nail polish.
“Tsk tsk… With a face like yours, no wonder Ker is interested. If I were a man, I’d want to marry you and take you home.”
Ye Fei swatted her hand away. “Get lost.”
Jokes aside, Chu Xi had come here with the intention of solving the problem.
“Actually, there’s nothing hard to understand about this. If you want to investigate what happened back then, you’ll need to stay in Jiangcheng. But it’s been fifteen years—even with Nanhui’s connections, a strong dragon can’t suppress a local snake, and you can’t cover everything. Plus, there’s your ironclad bet! So you have to rely on yourself.”
Chu Xi emphasized the words “ironclad bet.”
Ye Fei wasn’t completely unable to understand this. She wasn’t that stubborn—if there was a shortcut to take, she wouldn’t cling to rigid principles.
If marrying into the Zhi family would make it easier to operate in Jiangcheng and uncover the truth of what happened back then, she wasn’t entirely opposed to it.
But there was one thing: she couldn’t possibly believe that the deeply secretive man had genuinely fallen for her.
“Didn’t you know each other as kids?” Chu Xi followed up with another question.
Ye Fei nodded and shared her speculation. “So I’ve been thinking these past two days: where did I offend him back then?”
The conclusion she reached was that their interactions back then had truly been unpleasant.
What if he was holding a grudge and had waited all these years to get back at her?
“Why don’t you just test it out? Take this chance to experience dating too. You should be like any other ordinary girl.”
But before she could get a definite answer, loud conversations from a group of men and women reached their ears from behind.
“Let me tell you, the marriage alliance between the Zhi and Ye families is a done deal. The news of the Zhi family’s second young master dating the Ye family’s eldest daughter, who just returned, has already spread throughout the circle…”
A man’s voice, speaking without restraint, drifted into their ears.
Chu Xi and Jing Chu both turned to look at Ye Fei, who remained silent. They had stumbled upon gossip about themselves.
“Nonsense! Isn’t it supposed to be with Ye Yanqiu?”
“Who in Jiangcheng doesn’t know that Ye Qingyuan is now the head of the Ye family? If the Zhi family wants to arrange a marriage alliance, shouldn’t they choose his daughter? Why pick a cripple confined to a wheelchair?”
Such words had spread like wildfire since Ye Fei returned to Jiangcheng.
Initially, no one paid attention to this crippled daughter who came back confined to a wheelchair—they all understood clearly.
The Ye family was now under Ye Qingyuan’s control; Ye Fei’s return was merely a desperate struggle, living under someone else’s shadow.
Yet unexpectedly, the marriage alliance between the Zhi and Ye families was brought up after Ye Fei’s return.
From various sources of information, it seemed Grandpa Zhi was quite satisfied with the Ye family’s daughter, even specifically requesting that the Zhi family’s second son spend more time with Ye Fei.
It was said that this eldest daughter of the Ye family’s main branch, who had been lost, had encountered Zhi Yuanhong a few times during her childhood.
It was this connection that made Zhi Yuanhong particularly favor Ye Fei.