Chapter 25

Xu Wanyi went down to the underground parking garage again, feeling somewhat dejected. Hadn't they already agreed not to talk about personal feelings? Why couldn't she help but want to care about Li Ye again!

With a mix of frustration and annoyance, she didn't start the car immediately after getting in, but instead sat in the driver's seat and silently watched Li Ye's car.

The car is large, with a clean and simple design, typical of Li Ye's style.

Why? In the past, she was bold and outspoken, saying whatever she wanted, whether at home or outside. Almost no one would go against her. Of course, Li Ye was an exception.

She used to think she was very smart, even wise, so everyone agreed with her.

After years of navigating the complexities of society, she gradually came to understand that the reason others didn't refute her wasn't because what she said made sense or because they genuinely agreed with her, but rather because of her family's power and wealth.

Nowadays, I am no longer the person who says whatever I want, but I still retain the habits from back then. I don't like to leave problems for the next day, and I must figure out the answers to any questions before I feel like the day is over.

Therefore, Xu Wanyi knew that she wouldn't give up until she figured things out.

Does she still have feelings for Li Ye? Or is it because of the lingering regret in her heart that they can't be together?

Xu Wanyi has always been quite proud of her self-control. She doesn't think she still has the same impulse and enthusiasm for Li Ye as she did back then. People have to grow up, and after experiencing the vicissitudes of life, those youthful passions will naturally fade away.

So, what changes have occurred in Liye?

Xu Wanyi thought back for a moment and realized that Li Ye had indeed changed a lot. She wondered what had happened over the years. She was no longer as sharp and aloof as she used to be. Now, she was more sociable and articulate than most people she had ever met.

That gentle and considerate attitude, and the faint smile that was always on his face, would make anyone feel good about him, not to mention that Li Ye also had that devilishly handsome face.

Xu Wanyi seemed to have reached a conclusion. She dared not say exactly how she felt about Li Ye, but she knew that she still craved his gentleness and thoughtfulness. If Li Ye had been that kind of person back then, perhaps they wouldn't have ended up like this.

Thinking of this, Xu Wanyi suddenly realized that the past was the past, but the pain of that year was still tormenting her, fiercely attacking her when she woke up in the middle of the night.

Things are different now. Li Ye's gentleness, thoughtfulness, and warm attitude are her mask. Even if we don't know what Li Ye went through to obtain this mask, judging from the results, this mask suits her very well.

Since she's wearing a mask, there's no point in clinging to any of her good qualities, because that's not the real Li Ye. Perhaps, she's still as sharp and difficult to get along with as before.

That's definitely true! I paid her legal fees, and she helped me solve the problem, so it's only natural that she, as a lawyer, should handle Zhang Gang's situation for her client.

Xu Wanyi felt she had found the truth and resolved her doubts. She suppressed these thoughts for the moment, started the car, and the BMW's distinctive roar filled the air. She shifted gears, gently pressed the accelerator, and the car, like a deep-sea whale, silently glided into the night.

The next morning, Xu Wanyi got up early; she needed to get back to Beijing that day.

Because of various issues in the new energy industry, coupled with the twists and turns in the lawyer's report, she has been staying in Haixi this week. It's time to go back to Beijing to deal with things, especially since there hasn't been any substantial progress with Tonghua Group recently. She needs to listen to the on-site report and put some pressure on Deng Hui.

The sooner they take down Maohua, the better it will be for her plans.

While Xu Wanyi was incredibly busy, Li Ye was enjoying a leisurely life. When she returned home on Friday, her headache showed no signs of abating, and her stomach began to churn. She knew she was truly ill this time; her stomach was her health compass—if her stomach was upset, she was definitely sick, and seriously so.

She quickly tidied herself up, took off her coat, and went straight to sleep. She didn't know how much time had passed when she woke up and saw that it was still dark. She picked up her phone and saw it showed 8:00 PM.

Damn, I'm just naturally strong like a bull or a horse. What are Jiang Yu and the others compared to me? They're all so sick, and they only slept for a few hours before waking up? Li Ye laughed at himself in his heart.

Wait, something's not right. When she looked at her phone more closely, she noticed a small line of English text above the time: Sunday, June 10.

She sat up abruptly, feeling her brain churning like tofu. She touched her head and muttered to herself, "Forget it, I won't argue with Jiang Yu anymore. Looks like I really am the boss. How did I end up sleeping for a whole day and night?"

She doesn't even consider that from the second half of last year until now, she's been working on one big project after another. Apart from that one night when she stayed up all night to finish a report and then slept for eight hours, she's hardly slept more than six hours a day. And when she has free time, she even goes for a run. She's practically trading her life for money.

Li Ye rubbed her eyes, and after her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized that she hadn't even closed the curtains properly before going to bed yesterday. At this moment, the light from outside shone through the gaps in the curtains, creating a half-light and half-dark scene in the room, which reminded Li Ye of the countless evenings and nights she had spent alone.

Just as he was about to fall into bad thoughts and feel uneasy, Li Ye ignored his dizziness and quickly got out of bed. As soon as his feet touched the ground, his legs went weak and he sat down on the floor.

She wasn't very fleshy, so the impact still hurt her buttocks. All her emotions and feelings were thrown aside.

Li Ye rubbed her butt, realizing she had overestimated herself. She had been smugly boasting that she was a natural-born professional, and that her body hadn't reacted at all after more than half a year of continuous high-intensity work.

It seems that everything has its retribution; it's not that retribution won't come, it's just that the time hasn't arrived yet!

In the midst of all that commotion, her phone fell to the floor. She sat barefoot on the floor, enjoying the warmth of the underfloor heating, picked up her phone, unlocked it, and, unsurprisingly, found the screen filled with text messages and call logs.

That's it? You want to rest? No way!

She tried to process a few work messages and found that her mind was indeed not clear, so she just clicked on each message to take a look, skipping over those that weren't urgent.

Fortunately, nothing too urgent happened. Jiang Yu didn't contact her, Zhang Gang didn't contact her, Feng Jing didn't contact her, and even Xiao Chenyue, unusually, didn't send her any messages.

Li Ye's habit of reading messages is to start from the very beginning, that is, to scroll down to the bottom and then read them one by one. After reading nearly a hundred messages at the bottom, Li Ye suddenly saw Zhuang Ke's name. Finally, it wasn't work anymore, and she sighed with relief.

Upon opening the message, my brow furrowed again. Good heavens, what's wrong with Zhuang Ke? A dozen or so messages filled the phone screen.

"Li Ye, are you there? Can I ask you something?"

"Are you there? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Given Zhuang Ke's personality, he would automatically disappear after sending the first message if he didn't receive a reply. What's going on today? He's sent so many in a row; it's practically a bombardment.

"Damn it, where the hell have you gone? If you don't reply to my message, I'll come looking for you at your house."

"Oh, never mind, you're probably busy. I'll tell you first. You know, our school recently had a friendly exchange activity with the political and legal system of Yuzhou, right?"

Li Ye thought to himself, "How would I know? Your universities are having friendly exchanges with local communities, how would a small lawyer like me know that..."

"Never mind, I won't tell you anyway. I just want to ask you, what did it feel like when you fell for Xu Wanyi back then?"

Upon seeing the name Xu Wanyi, Li Ye immediately became alert as if by reflex.

Why bring up Xu Wanyi out of the blue? Wait, no, the focus of this message isn't on Xu Wanyi, but on "how it feels".

It seems that Zhuang Ke, who is as emotionally oblivious as a block of wood, has finally experienced the first stirrings of love. But isn't it a bit too late? She's already in her thirties, and she's still asking me "what do you feel?"

Thinking about how he felt when he liked Xu Wanyi, Li Ye felt a warmth in his heart, followed by a pain. He had many feelings—passion, emotion, warmth, and pain—it was hard to describe in a single word or sentence.

Before Li Ye could continue reading, the doorbell rang suddenly, shattering the perfect balance of the dark space.

Perhaps seeing that no one answered the door, the doorbell rang and the knocking turned into urgent and loud knocking.

Li Ye was worried that if he didn't open the door soon, the person outside would try to break it open. He managed to stand up by supporting himself on the edge of the bed and limped toward the door.

She opened the peephole, and Zhuang Ke's delicate face filled the entire peephole as she looked inside with a puzzled expression. She probably didn't see anything or hear anything. When Li Ye saw her suddenly raise her right hand, about to smash the door again, he quickly opened the door.

"Miss Zhuang, the door is made of steel plates, is your hand one of them?"

Li Ye said irritably. After the door opened, Li Ye saw several large bags of things outside the door, which should have been brought by Zhuang Ke.

"Who told you to stay silent and even disappear? We'll skin you alive!"

Back then, Li Ye suddenly disappeared and only contacted them a few months later, saying that he had dropped out of school and gone abroad, which infuriated Su Che and Zhuang Ke.

How can this person be so easy to control? They just leave when told to, showing no backbone whatsoever when it comes to dating.

After saying that, Zhuang Ke ignored what Li Ye was thinking, put a bag in each hand, and went into the house, saying as she went:

"Hey, there are two more bags outside, bring them in for a second. Damn, what are you doing in the house? Why aren't the lights on?"

Li Ye knew that Zhuang Ke would buy her a lot of things every time she came, from daily necessities to fruits and vegetables. She knew that Li Ye didn't eat takeout and was afraid that Li Ye would starve to death.

I live in the heart of Haixi! I can buy anything here.

“But you basically never go out except for work, don’t think I don’t know that.” That’s what Zhuang Ke replied to Li Ye at the time.

The two entered the living room one after the other. When Zhuang Ke turned on all the lights in the room, she noticed that Li Ye had an afro and a pale face, looking like he had been indulging in excessive sexual activity. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought something had happened.

However, Zhuang Ke belonged to the group that knew about it.