As the voice message was sent, the boastful chatter beside him came to an abrupt halt.
Li Yuyuan tossed the phone back into Qin Ling's arms.
Qin Ling: "…"
Not only did he not mind Li Yuyuan replying to the message on his behalf as if he were the phone's owner, he even wanted to sneer, "I told you to set up a WeChat back then, but you wouldn't. Now you regret it, don't you?"
That is, if he hadn't personally heard Li Yuyuan's utterly heartless reply.
After catching the phone, Qin Ling quickly caught up, defending the absent Fei Chaichai: "Li Yuyuan, are you sick or what? Why do you keep scaring the poor girl for no reason all the time?"
Exiting the elevator, they entered another minimalist space.
The floor, reflecting the daylight, stretched all the way to the glass door at the end of the corridor.
Sensors hidden within the frame detected someone approaching, and the glass door slid smoothly open to both sides.
Li Yuyuan didn't slow his pace, nor did he explain himself. He merely suggested to Qin Ling, "If you can't even tell the difference between scaring and reminding, you might want to go back to elementary school and retake Chinese class."
Qin Ling: "…"
Not scaring?
Was he actually planning to settle scores with the girl?
Though, given his style of leaving no stone unturned, he was indeed capable of doing something that ruthless.
But what were the old scores and new scores?
The more Qin Ling heard, the more confused he became, suspecting that something unknown had happened between the two when Fei Chaichai went to see Li Yuyuan last week.
He caught up again, about to ask for clarification, when the voice of Guanyin Bodhisattva suddenly pressed down from all directions—long, ethereal, and carrying an unspoken authority: "You mischievous monkey, seeing your master here and still not coming out to greet—"
The instant that first syllable rang out unexpectedly, Qin Ling flinched, thinking he'd stayed up too late and had ascended to heaven to meet the Bodhisattva.
But looking again, Li Yuyuan, walking ahead, was completely unaffected, not even pausing for half a second, letting the ear-piercing sound linger. Only then did he realize—someone had tampered with the Identity Authentication System without authorization.
His face darkened so much that if someone shouted "Court is in session!" someone else would immediately echo "All rise!"
Everyone in the company knew that the ninth floor was full of a bunch of kids whose average age didn't exceed twenty.
Of course, being young didn't mean they lacked experience.
On the contrary, the storms they'd weathered probably surpassed those of most employees in the company.
Each one of them, taken individually, was someone who could send firewalls across nations into a night-long frenzy of alarms with a mere flick of their fingers. Yet now, they had become N.Found's sharpest spear and most impenetrable shield.
Except these spears and shields were fiercely loyal to their master—they only listened to one person.
So, before investigating which mischievous monkey had pulled this stunt, Qin Ling first took it up with their leader: "Look, look! When the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams are askew! These brats have even summoned Guanyin Bodhisattva now—aren't you going to rein them in?"
Li Yuyuan, for once, actually acknowledged Qin Ling's request and agreed with him: "It's time to rein them in."
Qin Ling, no longer being ignored, felt much better.
The next second, however, he heard Li Yuyuan speak again, his tone languid, every word picky: "Such a simple system, and the verification speed is still two seconds slow. The Bodhisattva was summoned for nothing."
"…………"
Whether it was the dismissive attitude or the utterly flat emotion, everything about it screamed his indifference—far less engaged than his reaction to that "Chaichai" earlier, which at least had some ripple.
For a moment, Qin Ling was caught between delight and fury.
The fury, of course, was that Li Yuyuan didn't take this prank seriously at all.
As for the delight, that was a long story. He wanted to first pry into the matter of "new scores and old scores" before drawing any conclusions.
Yet, before he knew it, they had already entered the work area.
The clatter of keyboards, which had been rising and falling, abruptly ceased.
Someone blurted out the first "Holy crap, the boss is really here."
That remark was like a drop of water into a sizzling pan of oil—the entire floor instantly erupted.
Everyone at their desks popped up like gophers, craning their necks toward the same direction.
The moment they laid eyes on Li Yuyuan's figure, they all swarmed over in a frenzy, chattering over each other to express their longing for him—
"Boss, boss, come check out my newly built Threat Intelligence Platform!"
"Boss, boss, come check out my just-upgraded Anti-Intrusion System!"
"Boss, boss, come check out my freshly completed Full-Scale Vulnerability Patch Report for all the major banking apps!"
"Fang Cheng, just drop that crappy report of yours, don't waste the boss's time."
The neatly aligned formation of those seeking feedback was broken by this one out-of-place "advice."
Zhuang Yan took a different route and made his own request: "Boss, later you absolutely have to do another round of Red-Blue Teaming with me. Fang Cheng here is way too weak—I hadn't even finished my steamed bun before I cracked his entire Attack Chain. Your attacks are way more thrilling!"
"I pulled it?" Fang Cheng laughed three short laughs at the sky and shot back, "I was worried you'd burned out your brain with that fever last week, so I was deliberately going easy on you, alright!"
The two of them bickered back and forth.
Midway through, a short, plump middle-aged man squeezed his way in.
He held a black folder high above his head, struggling to push through a crowd of guys averaging 1.8 meters tall, shouting as he went: "Make way, kids, make way! Our game department's project is more urgent!"
Qin Ling stood off to the side, looking at the chaotic scene, then at the man at the center of it all.
The commotion had clearly started because of him, yet he was acting like an outsider—not responding to anyone, not showing any intention of cleaning up the mess, just heading toward the office on his own.
Just as the scene was devolving into total chaos, another voice cut through, adding fuel to the fire: "Boss, your flowers—"
The moment those words landed, the man who had been completely detached finally reacted, stopping in his tracks.
The others instinctively cleared a path.
So Yu Fei, like a scout delivering urgent military intelligence in ancient times, charged through unimpeded and presented a miniature potted plant.
Li Yuyuan didn't take it, though. He just lowered his eyes slightly, studying it with a detached gaze.
Beneath the delicate wrapping of cellophane sat a small terracotta pot—rough-hewn, warm, and unassuming, smaller than the palm of a hand.
In the pot, a plant leaned out at an angle. Its roots were gnarled, its trunk craggy, with just two or three sparse clusters of leaves sprouting here and there. It wasn't exactly thriving, but it carried a quiet, wild beauty.
A small card was tucked in beside it.
The signature line bore no name—instead, two pieces of firewood had been drawn there.
This little riddle was entirely in keeping with the giver's style: all her subtle intentions hidden in plain sight, taking a clever shortcut because she hadn't figured out how to answer his question.
Li Yuyuan's brow arched slightly—whether in amusement or mockery was hard to tell—as he plucked the card from the plant.
The others had been waiting to feast on some office romance gossip, but the "leading man" had reacted so flatly that they were deeply disappointed.
Everyone unanimously decided the problem lay with the "scout," blaming him for misreporting the intelligence: "Yu Fei, are you stupid? You can't even tell a potted plant from flowers."
"Hey, I've got to speak up for Yu Fei on this one." The game director was the oldest person in the room.
He could tell at a glance that this little potted plant was something special, and offered his interpretation: "This isn't your ordinary flower or plant—it's Vitex negundo. The meaning behind it is completely different from giving flowers. The giver is presenting this as an apology."
An apology?
Hearing that keyword, Qin Ling immediately connected it to the earlier "settling accounts" incident. She quickly joined the gossip brigade, leaning in and guessing: "Could it be from Chaichai?"
"Chaichai?"
Those two simple words brought the barely-settled commotion roaring back to life.
Everyone repeated the unfamiliar name while asking each other who this Chaichai was—some legendary figure from the distant past—only to discover, to their misfortune, that everyone around them was equally clueless, and no one had any answers to offer.
With no other option, they had to turn to the one who'd started it: "Qin Ling, who's Chaichai?"
Qin Ling, busy thinking: "Ask your boss."
At that, everyone's gaze swiveled to the man who held the right to explain, but no one dared to speak up.
Finally, Zhuang Yan was pushed forward to stick his neck out.
He probed cautiously: "Boss… boss, would you mind telling us who this Chaichai is?"
Li Yuyuan didn't look up. His gaze remained fixed on the card in his hand, his fingertips rubbing lightly over the signature. In a flat voice, he said: "A cunning little bird."
Everyone: "?"
Since when did their boss keep a bird?!
The "little bird" was cunning, sure, but she was also very fond of her life.
After being thoroughly threatened by Li Yuyuan, she'd immediately abandoned her "sacrifice my head and spill my blood" battle strategy, deciding instead to first see how he reacted to receiving the potted plant before figuring out her next move.
But Li Yuyuan hadn't reacted at all—he hadn't even bothered to ask her why she'd sent that Vitex negundo. All her carefully prepared words of repentance had gone to waste.
Fei Chaichai's suspended heart remained suspended, swinging back and forth like a pendulum between "charge" and "don't charge."
She agonized for ages without reaching any concrete decision.
It wasn't until her pre-set alarm went off that she suddenly remembered she'd agreed to meet Qiao Xiaoyu today. With no other choice, she sprang up like a leaping fish, rushed out the door, and hurried to the appointment.
Five o'clock in the afternoon.
No. 102 Zaoshu Street, Haohaohé Café.
The moment Qiao Xiaoyu walked in, she spotted Fei Chaichai by the window. Carrying the souvenirs she'd brought back from abroad, she crept over to surprise her: "Chaichai!"
Fei Chaichai was lying on the table like a fish washed ashore, barely alive, staring out the window.
The instant she heard Qiao Xiaoyu's voice, she shot upright, threw open her arms, and wailed: "Wuwuwu Xiaoyu, you're finally here!"
"What's wrong?"
Any other time, Qiao Xiaoyu would have called Fei Chaichai out for being so clingy.
But since it had been half a month since they last met, she still bent down to give Fei Chaichai a hug and asked with concern, "Don't tell me you were so excited about seeing me that you couldn't sleep all night?"
"Huh?"
Not just last night.
To be precise, ever since Li Yuyuan had inexplicably assigned her a difficult task last week, her reputation for falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow had completely collapsed.
However—
Fei Chaichai let go of her hands and looked at Qiao Xiaoyu with eyes full of admiration, saying worshipfully, "Xiaoyu, it's one thing that you get good grades, but since when did you learn fortune-telling? You even know I didn't sleep well last night!"
Qiao Xiaoyu dispelled the superstition in one sentence: "Your dark circles told me."
"…"
Fei Chaichai stomped her feet, quickly folded her two index fingers to cover her eye area, and apologized politely, "Then let me apologize to you on behalf of my dark circles. Sorry for making you misunderstand. I look like this not because of you."
"Then because of whom?" Qiao Xiaoyu sat down across the coffee table, and remembering that Fei Chaichai had shared the joy of meeting her new crush on WeChat last time, she made a natural guess, "New love or old flame?"
Those four words hit Fei Chaichai right where it hurt.
The energy she had mustered drained away completely. She flopped onto the table with a thud and sighed weakly, "It's new debts and old scores."
This listless appearance struck Qiao Xiaoyu as strangely familiar.
Last time after rescuing No. 71, she had also looked like that—disheartened and world-weary.
Qiao Xiaoyu was just about to ask when she heard Fei Chaichai utter that familiar, long-missed code name: "During the time you were away, I've already fought three hundred rounds with No. 108's younger brother."
"Oh?"
It really was exactly the same as last time.
There weren't many people in this world who could repeatedly reduce Fei Chaichai to such a state, so Qiao Xiaoyu's interest in No. 108's younger brother far exceeded her interest in No. 108 himself. She pressed on, "Then pick a hundred rounds and tell me about them in detail."
"—"
This time the story was even longer than last time.
Fei Chaichai first gulped down half a glass of her drink to properly moisten her throat, then began with Xia Jinsai as the starting point, vividly recounting all the hardships she had suffered at Li Yuyuan's hands during this period.
When she got to last week's "tofu incident," she couldn't help feeling sorry for herself and paused to say superstitiously, "Xiaoyu, take another good look at me. Is there any other part of me that tells you I'm seriously incompatible with No. 108's younger brother?"
"Hmm?" Qiao Xiaoyu was still immersed in her dramatic story and didn't pay much attention, only vaguely sensing something off, "That doesn't seem like the main point."
Not the main point?
Then—
Fei Chaichai immediately switched to a different point, slamming the table in indignation: "Tell me, why does he get in an even worse mood after seeing me?!"
"…"
That slam snapped Qiao Xiaoyu fully back to reality, and she corrected her with clear logic: "Chaichai, shouldn't our main point be that you might not be allergic to No. 108's younger brother at all!"
"Ah?" Fei Chaichai scratched her head.
Was that the main point?
She thought it was a point of suspicion.
Qiao Xiaoyu asked again, "Did you run experiments on other people? Could it be that your condition suddenly got better?"
"That's not possible." Fei Chaichai answered without hesitation, while extending an arm to show the red rash marks from a couple of days ago.
Even so, Qiao Xiaoyu was still very happy for her: "Even if you're only not allergic to No. 108's younger brother, that's still a good thing. Why are you still frowning?"
"Because—"
Fei Chaichai stabbed the butt of the little pig cake with her fork and freed a hand to gesture: "He won't let me touch him, fine, but he even bullied me by making me take responsibility for him! Who knows how he'll torment me! I think I'd better back off while I still can and not go looking for trouble."
"Don't say that."
Qiao Xiaoyu understood Fei Chaichai's feelings, but she didn't want her to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so she actively encouraged her: "Think about the positives."
Hearing this, Fei Chaichai widened her eyes, having never heard of such a thing: "There are positives to this?"
"Of course there are!" Qiao Xiaoyu continued to guide her thinking, "Think about it—if you really are immune to him, what does that mean?"
Fei Chaichai thought seriously for a moment: "It means I must have offended the Heavenly Bodhisattva in my past life."
"…It means the possibility between you and No. 108 is even greater!"
Qiao Xiaoyu gave up on guiding and spoke plainly: "If you're immune to No. 108's younger brother, that means you might very well be immune to No. 108 as well. Even if you're not immune, you can carefully study this special case and then apply the research results to countless Mr. Rights. Isn't that a great thing that kills multiple birds with one stone? If you give up now, where will you ever find such a suitable experimental subject again?"
"—Oh?" Fei Chaichai's eyes lit up.
Previously, she had been blinded by personal emotions and had never thought of looking at this matter from other angles.
Now that Qiao Xiaoyu had pointed it out, her perspective suddenly opened up, and her expression brightened. "I get it now!"
Getting close to Li Yuyuan meant getting close to pain.
Staying away from him meant staying away from happiness.
Fei Chaichai suddenly saw the light and made a firm resolution. "From today on, I will resolutely implement the policy of 'don't persist, don't give up, just drag it out.' I swear I won't stop until I've devoured Li Yuyuan completely—"
As she spoke, her last word suddenly went off-key, turning into a "whoosh." She must have seen something, because her amber eyes froze in surprise, unmoving.
Seeing this, Qiao Xiaoyu turned around curiously, following Fei Chaichai's gaze toward the alley outside the café.
She had grown up in this area and knew the surroundings well, so naturally she recognized the famous Zero-Hidden Technology building across the way.
The staggered architectural complex was highly distinctive. A group of people walked out of the main entrance—mostly foreigners with blond hair and blue eyes, all dressed in suits, chatting and laughing with ease. Every gesture exuded the composure and sophistication of seasoned veterans, making it feel for a moment like being on Wall Street.
Except for one person.
He walked at a leisurely pace, lagging at the back of the group. He was dressed simply—a t-shirt paired with jeans, clean and refreshing.
The people in front were seeing off guests, while he was watching sparrows fighting on the wall.
At first glance, you'd think he was an intern college student.
But he had a face that was anything but ordinary, and a tattoo peeked out from the side of his long neck, which, combined with the aura of keeping everyone at arm's length, shattered that ridiculous illusion.
Just then, three black commercial vehicles drove into the alley one after another, stopping at the bottom of the steps.
Before getting in, the Latino man at the front deliberately walked to the back of the group and extended his hand toward him, as if he wanted to say something more.
But he acted as if he hadn't seen it.
Fortunately, the man walking alongside him reacted quickly and shook the other's hand on his behalf. He said something that made the Latino man burst into laughter.
Qiao Xiaoyu, watching from the sidelines, inexplicably let out a sigh of relief and stopped gawking.
But Fei Chaichai was still staring off into space.
Qiao Xiaoyu quickly snapped her fingers to get her attention. "Chaichai, don't get all fluttery now. This isn't the time to be scouting for No. 109."
No. 109?
Fei Chaichai only heard what she wanted to hear.
She had been surprised by Li Yuyuan's sudden appearance, but after catching the key phrase, she quickly snapped her gaze back, eyes sparkling. "Where? Where? My No. 109."
Qiao Xiaoyu pointed out the window.
Fei Chaichai immediately stood up, rubbing her eyes to get a better look.
It wasn't until she realized Qiao Xiaoyu was referring to Li Yuyuan that the light in her eyes vanished completely. She plopped back down, listless. "Sorry, Xiaoyu, I let you down again. He's not No. 109—he's No. 108's younger brother."
"…What!" Qiao Xiaoyu wasn't disappointed at all.
As the saying goes, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.
The protagonist of the story she'd been curious about was right before her eyes. She quickly seized the opportunity, turned her head, and gave Li Yuyuan a thorough once-over from head to toe, finally letting out a belated "Wow."
Fei Chaichai wasn't surprised by this reaction at all. She even went so far as to praise him, which was rare. "He's good-looking, isn't he."
"Good-looking? He's absolutely stunning." Qiao Xiaoyu glanced again and again, sighing from the bottom of her heart. "How come no talent scout has recruited him to be a celebrity? Even if he can't act, he could at least give us audience members something nice to look at."
For Qiao Xiaoyu, who only ever had eyes for studying, to offer such praise was extremely rare.
Yet Fei Chaichai didn't feel proud at all.
She started poking at her cake with her fork again, grumbling, "Because that face of his was bought with his temper! If he actually entered the entertainment industry, I guarantee—within a month, no, within three days—he'd offend every single investor out there!"
"Mmm… that's true." Qiao Xiaoyu nodded in agreement.
Although she'd never met him in person, the scene just now had left a deep enough impression on her that she immediately understood why Fei Chaichai had thoughts of giving up.
Even if there were a firewood that burned endlessly in this world, it would probably be hard to melt that ancient glacier.
At the same time, she also understood Fei Chaichai's obsession with No. 108.
With that kind of looks, paired with No. 108's gentle and considerate personality—if it were her, she'd also be pining over him until the day she was buried.
Qiao Xiaoyu, rarely being sentimental, took the initiative to hold Fei Chaichai's hand. Her expression was complicated—pity, sympathy, and encouragement all at once—as she said with heartfelt empathy, "Chaichai, you've worked so hard."
Fei Chaichai: "?"
She rarely heard Qiao Xiaoyu say such sappy things, and she felt a bit unaccustomed to it.
She was just hesitating over whether she should shed two tears of gratitude to show respect when Qiao Xiaoyu urged her again, "But since fate has already delivered the goods to your doorstep, don't waste any time—go devour him completely."
"Huh?" Fei Chaichai was completely confused.
Before she could react, she was already pulled up from her chair by Qiao Xiaoyu and pushed outside.
Fei Chaichai: "…"
This is the one downside of being friends with a top student—their execution is just too strong.
And they know her personality weaknesses all too well.
She had been feeling a bit like backing out, but after that pep talk, she was instantly fired up. She finished off the pig-shaped cake, licking the plate clean, then clenched both fists and declared with the resolve of someone facing certain death: "I'm off!"
As the commercial vehicle gradually drove away from the alley, Qin Ling withdrew the proper smile from his face and the impeccable courtesy from his demeanor, shooting a sideways glare at the man standing by the wall.
Over the years, whether it was negotiating deals or handling external social engagements, it had always been Qin Ling who took the lead, while Li Yuyuan only dealt with matters related to the projects—like turning the boasts Qin Ling made out there into tangible results.
So when he saw Li Yuyuan in the elevator earlier, he actually thought this ancestor had finally changed his ways and was going to learn how to handle social niceties.
Little did he expect that the clown was himself.
Qin Ling walked over, circled around Li Yuyuan several times, and couldn't figure anything out, so he went straight to the accusation: "You weren't planning to see off the client anyway, so why did you come downstairs?"
The sparrows fighting on the wall had scattered.
The view, now devoid of its target, lingered empty for a second before a figure in vibrant colors burst into the frame.
An apple-green sun hat, a light blue sun-protection jacket, and a pale yellow mask wrapped her up completely, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed—no longer their usual lively sparkle, but solemn as if she were about to charge into battle at any moment.
The hint of boredom in Li Yuyuan's expression faded slightly, and he replied lazily, "Here to pick someone up."
"…???"
Which guest had such clout that it could make this great Buddha condescend to come pick them up in person?!
Qin Ling didn't believe such a person existed in reality. Suspecting that Li Yuyuan was just giving a random answer again, he immediately aligned his gaze with him.
What first caught his eye was the café at the corner of the street, its front garden lush with greenery.
Then, out of nowhere, a young girl popped up. Her face was hidden, and her loose jacket puffed up in the wind like a peony parrot as she came running over with a jingling sound, greeting him with a beaming smile: "Hello, President Qin!"
The moment he heard that voice, all the pieces fell into place for Qin Ling.
He hastily extinguished the anger burning inside him, smiling even more brightly than Fei Chaichai herself, and responded warmly: "Oh my, isn't this Chaichai? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
"Hey, President Qin, you've got the wrong person—I'm not Chaichai." Fei Chaichai said with a perfectly sincere face, spouting nonsense.
With that, she clasped her hands together in a salute and reintroduced herself: "My name is Caicai—like the 'cai' in 'may you get rich.'"
"…Huh?" Qin Ling wanted to play along, but he couldn't make heads or tails of what act she was putting on.
Li Yuyuan, who could only see the back of her head, curled his lips in a faint, amused smile.
Compared to those flashy tricks, the girl's logic was simple—she thought that by changing her name, switching her identity, and pretending she wasn't "Fei Chaichai," she could escape the problems that "Fei Chaichai" was supposed to face.
Same tactic as this morning.
A vivid demonstration of the saying: "The higher-ups have policies, and the lower-ups have countermeasures."
In reality, Fei Chaichai's heart was racing with panic.
Even without turning around, she could clearly feel a gaze resting on her from behind—not heavy, but intense enough that it couldn't be ignored.
She quickly spun around, putting on a look of just now noticing Li Yuyuan's presence, and extended her hand toward him, flattering: "You must be President Li, right? I've heard so much about you. Truly an honor."
A fair, slender hand hovered in midair.
Li Yuyuan stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. He neither reached out his hand nor lifted his eyes, only glancing at the colorful glass bead on her bracelet as he said flatly: "I wouldn't dare claim the title of President Li."
"Pfft!"
Why was he being so self-deprecating?
Fei Chaichai couldn't stand people putting themselves down. She waved her hand, about to offer some words of comfort, when she suddenly collided with those black eyes that had lifted without warning. For a moment, she was dazed, and then she heard him add: "I'd only dare claim the title of trash."
"…………"
What was coming had come.
Fei Chaichai had grievances she couldn't voice. She turned her head and shot a pleading look back at Qin Ling.
But Qin Ling was frantically signaling her with his eyes, mouthing the words: "Trash is leaving!"
Fei Chaichai saw it, and without bothering to vent to Qin Ling, she slung her canvas bag over her shoulder and chased after him.
Li Yuyuan wasn't walking fast.
But the jingling sound behind him didn't last long before it came to a halt at a fixed distance behind him, not taking another step forward.
As if she were deliberately keeping her distance from him.
Li Yuyuan stopped.
The girl trailing behind him hadn't expected it.
She hastily slammed on the brakes, but couldn't resist the pull of inertia, her arms flailing back and forth in the air.
Just as she managed to steady her wobbling body and find her footing, a hand suddenly appeared in her field of vision—cold and pale, with tattoos winding around the wrist—picking up the hat that had fallen to the ground and handing it to her.
Fei Chaichai was still shaken, and it took her a beat longer to remember to say "thank you" before reaching out to take it.
But when she pinched the brim of the hat and tried to pull it back, the force pressing on the other end didn't let go. Instead, without any warning, it pulled inward.
She had no defense.
By the time she realized what was happening, the distance between her and Li Yuyuan had shrunk to just enough for a draft to pass through.
The next second, a cold-toned breath wrapped around his words as they pressed down on her—no longer forceful in action, but casually reminding her: "You should know, that's not what I want to hear."
Fei Chaichai's eyelids twitched.
She didn't have time to think. Instinctively, she let go, dropped the hat, and stumbled back several steps.
Only when the chill lingering at the tip of her nose dissipated did she calm down slightly. Lowering her head, she apologized earnestly: "I'm sorry, okay? I admit it was wrong of me to call you trash, but you have to take half the blame for this too. If you hadn't said my text was trash first, I wouldn't have lashed out and cursed at you… don't you think? Of course, I'm not saying this to shirk responsibility, mainly because…"
Before she could finish, her vision suddenly went dark.
Li Yuyuan walked over and placed the hat back on her head.
The force wasn't heavy.
Lighter than the words that had crashed down on her, his tone was slow as he suggested: "I think you'd better think it over again."
"…"
That wasn't what he wanted to hear either?
Then there was only one angle left.
In broad daylight, under the clear sky, Li Yuyuan probably wouldn't make any overly excessive demands of her, right?
Fei Chaichai took a deep breath, set aside her fear of difficulty, mustered the courage to face the ultimate problem head-on, and said with bold responsibility: "Fine, fine. Go ahead and say it—how do you want me to take responsibility for you?"
The spacious hall was bright and still.
The lowered brim of the hat blocked her view. She could only see the withered mountains and still waters in the distance, and wanted to adjust the hat.
But just as her hand rose, a pair of beautiful, sharp brows and eyes barged into her field of vision without explanation.
The stirred air brushed the loose strands of hair by her ears.
Li Yuyuan suddenly bent down, stopping right in front of her, generously offering her a close-up view of that face she thought about day and night.
Fei Chaichai's lashes trembled slightly. Her fingers froze on the hat brim, and she unconsciously held her breath.
By now, the daylight had faded.
The vast twilight poured down from the enormous glass dome like a waterfall, splashing countless fine droplets that landed on the corners of Li Yuyuan's eyes and brows.
In the ambiguous light and shadow, his expression remained indifferent, but if you looked closely at those pitch-black eyes, there was a strange fervor in them. He stared at her without blinking, his voice low and slow as he stated his condition: "Sleep with me once, and all previous accounts are settled."