I'll give it a try, then

He really lived up to being a villain. He zeroed in on the key points every time.

The questions were driving Li Yi a little crazy. If Qi Feiyu hadn't treated his injured hand and weren't Shi Yan's close friend, he wouldn't have bothered.

Now that he'd helped his friend, this man was questioning him instead.

Anger flared in Li Yi. He shifted his backside and turned to face Shi Yan. "Qi treated my hand, and I remember what he did for me. Isn't it perfectly normal for me to care about him?

"You're the one who's supposed to be his friend, yet you don't even seem as concerned as I am!"

"Kid, you're turning this back on me. Deliberately twisting my words, are you?" Shi Yan glanced sideways, the corners of his mouth lifting. "Since you don't want to tell me, I won't ask."

"I have a name. Stop calling me kid all the time," Li Yi muttered. "You make yourselves sound like you're seventy or eighty."

Shi Yan chuckled and called, "Li Yi."

The man's voice was deep and resonant, sounding even sexier in the enclosed space.

Li Yi's ears felt a little ticklish. He reached up to rub them, shifted back around, and turned his head toward the window.

"Hm?" Shi Yan glanced sideways again. "Why aren't you answering when I call your name?"

"Mm." A soft, muffled reply came from beside him.

Shi Yan smiled silently. Seeing that Li Yi didn't want to talk to him anymore, he tapped the center console and put on a soothing song.

The music dispelled some of the awkwardness in the car. Neither spoke again until Shi Yan pulled up at the Lu family's villa.

"Thanks for driving me home." Li Yi unbuckled his seat belt and thanked him.

"You're welcome. And thank you for helping my friend today. As the racetrack's emergency doctor, he would've been the first to be held accountable if anything had happened to Wen Chi." Shi Yan rested a hand on the steering wheel and turned to look at him. His jet-black eyes were clear of any other shades, and he looked very sincere.

"All right, then we're even." Li Yi's eyes curved. "Good night, Mr. Shi~"

"Good night." Shi Yan chuckled.

As soon as he returned to the villa, the elderly butler came over with a dry towel in his hands and said worriedly, "Young Master Li, dry yourself off and hurry upstairs for a shower. Don't catch a cold."

"Li Yi, was that Mr. Shi from Huanxing Group who just brought you home?" With a sheet mask on her face, Qiao Xinyue gave him a suspicious look. "How do you know him?"

"I booked a Didi ride. He accepted it." Li Yi headed upstairs after that reply.

"Didi? What's that?" Qiao Xinyue looked blankly at the butler.

"Madam, Didi is a ride-hailing app."

"The head of Huanxing Group uses a ride-hailing app too?" Qiao Xinyue muttered to herself before realizing what he'd meant. She stamped her foot and shouted, "Li Yi, you ungrateful son! You fooled me again!"

"Madam, your mask is falling off."

"..."

Qiao Xinyue hurriedly pressed her mask back into place.

After his shower, Li Yi put on some music and lay on the bed with his feet propped up, playing on his phone. With a beep, a WeChat friend request arrived.

[Ten has requested to add you as a friend.]

Reject!

[Ten has requested to add you as a friend.]

Reject.

[Ten has requested to add you as a friend.]

Was this ever going to end?

Note: What do you want?

Note: Didn't you say deleting someone on WeChat was easy, but adding them back was hard? I'm trying.

Note: I'm not adding you. Stop trying!

Note: I'm patient.

Note: Go ahead and try, then!

Note: I'll give it a try, then.

After he rejected the request for the ninety-ninth time.

Note: Dude, it's one thirty in the morning. Aren't you going to sleep?

Note: Still trying.

Note: I give up... You really are the one for the villain role!

Li Yi was so sleepy that he groggily tapped to accept the request.

Looking at the notification that his request had been accepted.

Shi Yan sent his first message in satisfaction.

Ten: Good night. Sweet dreams.

Li Yi woke groggily the next morning to find an unread message.

Then he tossed his phone onto the bed.

Why did I accept his request?!

But on second thought, accepting it didn't matter. He could simply not message him.

He understood now. Shi Yan didn't quite play by the rules, and he was completely outmatched. He might as well find a different partner.

Shi Yan's two friends were pretty good. They had money and decent personalities. Perhaps they'd be willing to work with him when the time came.

Besides, Peng Yuyan was a lawyer. Although he was a lawyer who liked handling divorce cases, the law was interconnected. Having a lawyer he knew could also help him avoid some contractual traps.

After getting ready, Li Yi headed downstairs for breakfast.

The people at the table wore different expressions when they saw him, especially Lu Hongshen and Lu Xingluo.

Ever since that Kopi Luwak incident, Lu Hongshen hadn't dared touch coffee. Even the coffee machine at home had been thrown away.

After Li Yi had drenched Lu Xingluo in cat litter and cat poop last time, she'd started imagining things. She constantly felt that she smelled bad and had little appetite for anything each day.

On top of the incident online, her reputation had plummeted. Whenever she opened Weibo, her private messages were still full of abuse.

In just a few days, the torment had left her looking haggard.

"Good morning, my dear family~!" Li Yi didn't care how they felt. As long as seeing him made them unhappy, he was overjoyed.

"Mmm, today's seafood congee is so fresh, and the red rice noodle rolls are delicious too." Even with his mouth full of red rice noodle rolls, Li Yi didn't forget to address the others. "Why aren't you eating?"

Seeing him reminded the others of that cup of Kopi Luwak. How could they possibly eat?

"Have some more. We're full." Lu Hongshen no longer dared criticize him. With the cat gone, there was no more cat poop, but he was even more afraid Li Yi would produce something else and put it in their food and drinks.

Who could stand that?

There were only a few months left, anyway. They just had to endure it.

"Thanks, Old Lu~ I'll have some more, then." Li Yi brought all the plates in front of himself and ate with genuine delight, popping a piece of red rice noodle roll into his mouth with each bite. The outside was soft and sticky, the inside crisp, with all sorts of fillings at the very center, creating wonderfully rich layers of flavor.

Utterly satisfied, Li Yi looked like a lazy cat that had basked its fill in the sun. He rubbed his belly contentedly and finished the last mouthful of milk before standing.

"All done~ I'm off."

Only after Li Yi finished eating did Lu Xingluo angrily slam down the chopsticks in front of her. "I really can't stand this! Every time I see him, I lose my appetite.

"I've lost weight from going hungry these past two days!"

"Just bear with it a little longer. He's here to torment us. Once we get the shares, we'll throw him out immediately."

Qiao Xinyue picked up her spoon and continued eating the remaining seafood congee. It had cooled a little. After a taste, she tossed down her spoon. "Forget it. I can't eat. Aunt Liu, come clear the table."

"I'm heading to the office." Lu Hongshen simply stood up, then seemed to remember something. "Did Junjia not come home yesterday?"

"Xuanze got hurt racing yesterday. He's keeping him company at the hospital."

"Send him some money. Tell him to take good care of the Zhou family's second young master. People say he isn't favored, but it doesn't look that way to me. Who knows whose hands the Zhou business will end up in?"

"All right, don't worry. They're getting along wonderfully now. Once we kick Li Yi out, no one will be able to stand in their way."