Chapter 15

Lin Yu: You're only asking now? Isn't that a little late?

Jiang Yan'an: Even Jiang Zao knew to send me a puppy sticker, but you didn't say a word.

Lin Yu: All right, I'm home.

Jiang Yan'an: Halfhearted.

Jiang Zao: Jiang Yan'an, stop being so nitpicky!

Jiang Yan'an: None of your business.

The two of them started bickering, with Jiang Zao slipping in a couple of sentences in between: "Has Ming Yu been busy these past two days? She's hardly been online."

Jiang Yan'an: Seems like it. It's the end of the year, so she's probably preparing for exams.

Meanwhile.

A video call came through on Chen Lüli's phone. Water was rushing in the bathroom, and the man inside didn't hear it. When he came out, the video call rang again. He picked up his phone while drying his hair. Xiao Diu ran in and circled his feet, and Chen Lüli rubbed its fur.

He glanced at the call and answered.

Ming Yu spotted Xiao Diu at once. She wasn't particularly fond of cats, but Chen Lüli's was fairly cute. "Has it gotten fat again?" she asked.

Chen Lüli picked up Xiao Diu, carried it over to the cat scale and weighed it. "No."

"It looks fatter to me," Ming Yu said, sounding as though she were making conversation for the sake of it. Chen Lüli gave a soft huff. "It's the pixels."

"Is that so?"

Ming Yu's words were airy.

Chen Lüli put Xiao Diu down and went to pour himself some water. In his gray pajamas, with water dripping from his hair, he had a languid, misty look about him. Ming Yu watched him in profile, thinking of the game that night. Why had he hurriedly gone offline? Did something come up offline? Or was he upset about losing to a rookie like Li Yin?

But... he didn't seem like such a petty person.

The only possibility was that something had come up offline.

Ming Yu blinked. "Have you been in a bad mood lately?"

"No, I've been fine."

Ming Yu raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah." He carried his glass of water back to the sofa and opened his laptop. Xiao Diu jumped onto his lap and settled down while he turned on the computer to work.

Ming Yu was silent for a few seconds.

She watched him work.

He didn't notice that Ming Yu wanted to say something but hesitated.

I'm dying of laughter. I broke down again.

Another 100 red packets for this chapter. See you tomorrow.

Chapter 15

Seeing him working as usual, Ming Yu thought she must have been overthinking it. Resting her cheek in her hand, she said, "Sigh, I still have ten days before I can come back. Are we spending New Year's Eve together this year?"

Chen Lüli: "Let's talk about it when you get back."

"All right."

Jiang Zao and Jiang Yan'an were locked in a fierce war of words in the group chat, and Lin Yu couldn't get a word in. She simply read without replying, and gradually forgot how she had felt while waiting.

Then Ming Yu came online.

Ming Yu: Bicker, bicker, bicker. You two are at it again.

Jiang Zao: He's got too many issues.

Jiang Yan'an: You talk too much.

Ming Yu: Hahaha, you're six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Jiang Zao: You haven't been online lately. What have you been up to?

Ming Yu: I just got off a video call with Chen Lüli. We were talking about plans for New Year's Eve.

Lin Yu read that.

Her fingertip paused, and she tapped out of WeChat again. In the chat with the black profile picture, the last message was still her question: "Why?" Perhaps there was no particular reason. Had he simply been unhappy that Li Yin hadn't attended the gathering tonight too?

The reason suddenly occurred to Lin Yu.

It really could have been a reason.

Next time, she hoped Li Yin would keep his promise.

Because he and Jiang Yan'an were both very good friends, she still hoped to find some balance between her friend and her boyfriend.

Early the next morning

Lin Yu had just arrived at the shop when Li Yin came over. He drove his white sedan up onto the steps outside, hurriedly got out with a breakfast in hand under the gazes of customers going in and out, and put it in Lin Yu's hands. Smiling, he said, "I know I can't park here. I'll leave as soon as I've dropped off breakfast."

Lin Yu held the breakfast, which included a steaming cup of milk. "Have you eaten?" she asked.

Li Yin looked at her and smiled. "Not yet. I bought an extra portion to eat at the office."

Lin Yu smiled. "That's good."

Li Yin gazed at her, unable to get enough no matter how long he looked. "I'm really sorry about last night. Next time I'll definitely be there on time. Even if I have to take time off, I'll be there. I won't put you in a difficult position again."

Lin Yu shook her head gently. "It's okay. Work is important."

She was always so considerate. Li Yin felt somewhat guilty about his job. He raised a hand to smooth her hair, then said, "I'm off to work."

Lin Yu nodded. "Okay. Drive carefully."

Li Yin looked at her for a few more seconds before walking back to his sedan.

The shop employees and the customers who knew Lin Yu all watched her with smiles. Some even exchanged knowing looks as they glanced at the white sedan slowly pulling away.

Lin Yu smiled faintly and pushed open the door to the shop.

The store manager leaned against the counter. "Sister Yu, you're so lucky."

Xiao Li blinked. "He even came to deliver breakfast in person first thing in the morning."

Lin Yu glanced at them. "Get to work."

They laughed.

Lin Yu took the breakfast to a table and sat down. She took out the steaming milk; it felt wonderfully warm in her hands. The manager and Xiao Li came over to tease her some more, saying that he had actually bought breakfast from Fine Point. The shop had recently opened, and there were queues every day, which meant Li Yin must have gone there early to line up for it.

It was much the same for Li Yin. He had just arrived at the underground garage when he ran into colleagues from the advertising company on the third floor. They teased him. "We heard you had a girlfriend."

"We didn't expect her to be the owner of Xiao Yu's Shop."

"Breakfast from Fine Point isn't easy to get, is it? What time did you get up to queue?"

"When are you treating us to wedding wine?"

Still teasing him, the group entered the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close, another hand wearing an expensive watch slipped between them. Jiang Yingshan clicked his tongue twice. "These doors are way too cold."

The people in the elevator looked over. The two men outside both wore black shirts. One had a black suit jacket draped over his arm, while the other wore a gray overcoat. Their watches, suit brands, shoes and even their looks were all top-notch. The man with the suit jacket over his arm in particular had exceptional looks and long, narrow eyes that held a touch of indifference.

The group recognized them at once.

Those who didn't know them personally naturally didn't dare greet them, but Li Yin did. He smiled and said, "President Chen, President Jiang."

After running into them in the elevator last time, Li Yin had looked into Star Rise's other partner and learned that the man he had spoken to that day was surnamed Jiang.

"Oh, you know who I am now?" Jiang Yingshan said with a smile as he entered the elevator.

Li Yin, who had just been surrounded by the others and teased, moved aside to make room for them. Smiling, he said, "I do, President Jiang."

Jiang Yingshan clicked his tongue softly. "You're pretty perceptive."

Li Yin smiled.

As the elevator ascended, Li Yin hesitated, wondering whether he should say a few more words to President Chen. He hadn't gone to the gathering last night, and President Chen had even returned Lin Yu's scarf afterward.

His gaze kept drifting over, and Jiang Yingshan noticed. Each time he looked their way, he seemed to want to speak to Chen Lüli, but wasn't Chen Lüli being a little too indifferent?

It was rather unlike him.

The elevator reached their floor, and in the end Li Yin was too embarrassed to speak. He thought he would talk to President Chen next time, when there weren't so many people around.

Chen Lüli walked out of the elevator. His cufflink wasn't fully fastened, so he reached over and adjusted it.

Jiang Yingshan hurried out and followed at his side. "Something's not right with you."

Chen Lüli gave him a brief glance.

Jiang Yingshan narrowed his eyes. "You're not usually so rude. Whatever else he is, that Team Leader Li from Yousitu is Lin Yu's boyfriend. He greeted you, and you didn't say a word..."

"I remember now. You didn't answer him in the elevator last time, either. That's very unusual."

Hearing this, Chen Lüli looked away, his expression still indifferent. He entered the office, where two assistants were waiting for him, and they hurriedly handed him some documents.

Chen Lüli handed his jacket to one of the assistants and flipped through the documents.

But Jiang Yingshan was hardly the sort of person to give up just because he was met with an indifferent expression.

He came over to the desk and folded his arms. "Is there something wrong with this Team Leader Li? If there is, you'd definitely tell Lin Yu, wouldn't you?"

"Or is he cheating? Or two-timing her? Or... has he been married?!" The more Jiang Yingshan said, the more startled he became, and the more outrageous his guesses grew.

Chen Lüli lifted his eyes and swept his long, narrow gaze toward him.

Jiang Yingshan planted a hand on the desk. "If it's none of those, then why? Someone you won't even respond to must be guilty of some heinous crime, right? If he's that kind of person, hurry up and tell Lin Yu to break up with him."

Chen Lüli's hand paused as he capped his fountain pen.

He recalled the WeChat message he had sent last night.

She had asked, "Why?"

Why?

What other reason could there be?

Because he wanted her to break up with him.

"Chen Lüli?" Jiang Yingshan folded his arms and studied his expression.

Chen Lüli lifted his long, narrow eyes. "Since you have so much time on your hands, the new batch of sensors has arrived. Why don't you go receive it?"

Jiang Yingshan raised an eyebrow. "What? It's here?"

"Wait, no, you're changing the subject."

"President Jiang, the sensors are already at the warehouse entrance!" Chen Lüli's assistant pushed open the door, and Jiang Yingshan abruptly straightened. "Got it. I'm coming."

He looked back at Chen Lüli. "How many arrived this time?"

Chen Lüli pushed the tablet over to him. He took it and was about to open it when he accidentally tapped into the photo album. There was only one picture in the entire album.

The picture showed Chen Lüli's cat wearing a straw hat and lying on a woman's shoulder. It had been taken in the countryside.

Another woman taking a picture was also in the photo, making a V sign, but the cat and the woman carrying it were the most eye-catching. The woman wore a camisole dress. It wasn't revealing, but her figure from behind looked beautiful in the sunlight. Her other hand rested on the kitten, revealing a tiny glimpse of a butterfly dance ring.

Jiang Yingshan recognized the woman as Lin Yu. She had taken the cat out with another woman, though he didn't know whether it was Ming Yu or one of Chen Lüli's other female friends.