Chapter 29

"Hmm, not yet." Li Ye looked down at his watch. It was almost midnight, and he really should go get some food.

"What a coincidence, I haven't eaten either. Why don't you come upstairs with me to eat?"

Feng Jing was startled. The boss had invited Lawyer Li up for dinner again? And they were going to eat together? What was going on?

Feng Jing was very sensitive to Xu Wanyi's state. The boss had been cold and distant from the moment he met Lawyer Li, so who would have thought he would invite Lawyer Li to dinner?

Li Ye herself was also surprised. What did this mean? She could feel that Xu Wanyi was deliberately keeping her distance, deliberately downplaying their past, and even deliberately denying that they had known each other before in front of others.

So inviting her to dinner definitely wasn't about feelings; it must be that she had some questions about the report and wanted to talk to her privately.

If she's not afraid, why should I be?

"Great, thank you for the invitation, Mr. Xu. It's much more convenient to have dinner without leaving the building."

After saying that, the three of them went to the private elevator. The elevator happened to be on the first floor, and Xu Wanyi, Li Ye and Feng Jing entered the elevator one after another.

After Li Ye and Xu Wanyi went inside, they tacitly each took a corner, keeping a good distance apart. Feng Jing, dragging her suitcase, was too close to anyone else, so she had to stand in the middle of the elevator. Luckily, no one else was getting on or off in the elevator, otherwise, they would have been quite startled by the sight.

After the elevator started to ascend, no one spoke, and the atmosphere instantly became somewhat stiff. Feng Jing stood straight, feeling a chill run down his spine, wondering what the two powerful figures behind him were thinking.

But she couldn't deliberately twist her neck to start a conversation just to ease the atmosphere, could she? The short elevator ride left Feng Jing drenched in sweat.

After reaching the 50th floor, Xu Wanyi took Li Ye directly to the restaurant. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and quickly went down to the 49th floor to put her things away and send an email about the 4 o'clock meeting.

Why is the atmosphere between the chairman and Attorney Li so strange? Did something happen between them that I don't know about?

Feng Jing didn't know about the two's past, and could only guess that something had happened between them recently, but she couldn't recall any event that could have caused such a strange atmosphere.

Xu Wanyi led Li Ye to her usual dining table. Li Ye looked at it and thought, "Isn't this the table I chose last time?"

This table is by the window, away from the kitchen, offering a wide view. You can see people coming in at a glance, but you won't be immediately seen by them. It's a perfect place to eat.

Sitting here and looking out, you can see the shimmering river flowing slowly eastward, and the tall buildings on the opposite bank shining brightly in the sunlight.

As soon as they sat down, someone came over and asked Xu Wanyi what she wanted to eat. Xu Wanyi replied that a regular lunch would be fine. These rich young masters and ladies could actually order à la carte for a weekday lunch.

Before, when she was with Xu Wanyi, Li Ye had never enjoyed such treatment. Rather, it was more that Xu Wanyi was accommodating her, and they had always lived the life that Li Ye was familiar with.

Back then, Li Ye didn't understand and took everything for granted. Later, after meeting many wealthy people and reflecting on her and Xu Wanyi's past, she finally understood the reason behind it all. She never imagined that the difference between their lives would be so vast.

"Attorney Li, I heard you're sick?"

"Well, I had a slight fever a few days ago, probably from catching a cold, but I'm all better now. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Xu."

How could she catch a cold in this sweltering heat? Xu Wanyi didn't even need to think about it; it must have been from staying up all night. Li Ye often sent emails and replied to messages in the early hours of the morning; he really didn't take his health seriously.

"Don't worry, Ms. Xu, I'll definitely finish this project in no time." Li Ye didn't want to embarrass Xu Wanyi and didn't want her to continue on this topic. If she did, it would become that she was concerned about her, and she was sensitive enough to think that this was a topic Xu Wanyi didn't want to talk about.

"Hmm." Xu Wanyi looked at the river outside the window, and she really didn't know how to continue the conversation.

The two, who had once been so close, sat at the same table again, but the feeling that welled up in their hearts was mostly bitter. She had a real sense of being in a different world. She instinctively wanted to care about Li Ye, but the words caught in her throat and she didn't know how to say them. In the end, it turned into a faint, almost inaudible sigh.

After a while, she finally spoke, but what she said was: "How's the report? Any new developments? What's the discrepancy you mentioned downstairs?"

To avoid embarrassment, Li Ye deliberately avoided looking at Xu Wanyi and kept his eyes fixed on the first draft of the report on the table.

Hearing her ask this, I replied, "There are basically no major problems, just a few data points that need to be checked. I just discovered that the property certificate number for one company is incorrect, so I found the original draft and compared it."

"Why not just read the electronic version? Why bring a paper version?" Xu Wanyi found it strange. In this day and age, who would still carry a paper version around? It's so inconvenient.

"Well, this draft is quite special. I manually revised it a lot after I typed it out, and Mr. Zhang also made annotations on it, so there is only one copy."

"Zhang Gang?"

"Yes, Zhang Gang."

Xu Wanyi then turned her gaze to Li Ye's face, trying to discern her opinion of Zhang Gang, given their past disagreements.

Unfortunately, Li Ye didn't give her that chance. She remained calm and composed, as if nothing had happened, showing neither hatred nor love. Instead, she sensed that Xu Wanyi was observing her, and with a determined heart, she simply looked up and met her gaze!

Unfortunately, before her gaze could find Xu Wanyi's eyes, the young lady had already turned her head to look out the window. Li Ye only saw a stunning profile, and the familiar outline instantly transported her back to the past.

"What did Zhang Gang say?" These words brought Li Ye back to reality from his daze.

"He didn't say anything, just suggested that I elaborate on some things. I looked at the annotations, and they were indeed quite good."

"Oh, that's good. By the way, I'll have Feng Jing send you some contracts and bidding documents related to this project later tonight. I know that the scope of legal services we agreed on before didn't include reviewing these documents. I'll pay you the market rate for legal fees, and you can review them for me again, okay?"

Li Ye was suspicious. What was this young lady up to now? Was she afraid he would starve to death? Or did she think he wasn't working hard enough? But turning down money wasn't in this lawyer's style!

"Hmm, no problem. Is there anything I should be careful about?"

"Let's verify it, check it, and compare it with similar content on the market."

Li Ye frowned. These words were quite profound and worth studying. He would have to think about them carefully once he saw the contract documents.

At this moment, the waiter brought out the lunch. Li Ye glanced at Xu Wanyi, but Chairman Xu had already focused his attention on the food in front of him.

"Chairman Xu, then I won't stand on ceremony?"

Hearing this, Xu Wanyi slightly raised her eyes and gestured for him to continue. Seeing that she still ignored him, Li Ye thought, "Never mind, haste makes waste. Let's just eat." So he buried his head in his food and stopped talking to her.

While Li Ye was focused on eating, Xu Wanyi finally had the freedom to observe him without restraint. She was really annoyed by Li Ye's constant staring at her. In her memory, Li Ye was very shy and passive in this regard, which was why she had approved his selection as her lawyer. But now he seemed like a completely different person. It was like she had shot herself in the foot.

But since things have come to this, and considering that she is indeed quite professional and capable, we'll just have to bear with it for now.

Xu Wanyi noticed that when it came to eating, Li Ye was still the same as before. Once he started eating, he would be completely silent, chewing his food in large bites without making a sound. It made you wonder how someone could eat so crudely yet elegantly. Xu Wanyi herself, on the other hand, had always eaten very slowly since she was a child, occasionally taking a bite and then a sip of water, which was completely different from Li Ye's eating style.

As she watched, Xu Wanyi had a strange feeling of going back to the past. Because of their similar eating habits, whenever they went out to eat with friends in the past, she was always the one taking care of Li Ye's food, peeling shrimp, picking out vegetables, and so on.

Thinking of this, Xu Wanyi's lips involuntarily curled up. If only time could always stay like this! Of course, fate wouldn't let things always go so smoothly, which led to so many twists and turns later on. "All that peeling shrimp for you was for nothing!"

When Li Ye finished eating, he realized that Xu Wanyi had barely touched her food.

"Why are you still not eating properly?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Li Ye regretted them. Now was not the time to say such things, and she did not want to deliberately bring up their past. "Uh, what I mean is, you are very busy with work these days, and you can't keep up if you don't eat more."

Xu Wanyi naturally understood. But since no one wanted to bring up the past, she naturally wouldn't hold onto the topic. "Yes, thank you for your concern, Attorney Li. I didn't eat much; I'm already full. Have you finished eating?"

Li Ye swallowed the last mouthful of rice, took a sip of water, and then said, "I'm done eating."

"Let's go downstairs after we finish eating. We'll have a meeting at four o'clock this afternoon in the conference room next to my office to go over this report. Give me three hours to review it again." After saying that, he got up and walked out.

Is she really that cold? Li Ye thought that since Xu Wanyi had invited him to dinner, perhaps she had softened her stance a little? After finishing the meal, she finally understood: it really was just a money relationship after all, and I had really been overthinking it! Seeing that Xu Wanyi was about to leave the restaurant, Li Ye quickly wiped his mouth and jogged out.

The two returned to their office and went about their own business.

At 3:30 PM, Jiang Yu dragged a cup of milk tea, her clothes damp with sweat, into the office. This was her designated afternoon tea time; only very sweet milk tea could sustain her through her heavy workload each day—the tea had to be packed with sugar!

As usual, she ordered a milk tea at two o'clock. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating. It was scorching hot when she ordered the delivery, but when she went downstairs to pick up the milk tea, a strong wind started to blow.

What infuriated Jiang Yu the most was that the security guards here didn't allow delivery drivers into the building, so she had to go outside to pick up her orders every time. Just as the two were handing over their orders, a sudden downpour of large raindrops caught them off guard, soaking them to the bone.

The moment she ran back into the building, panting, with her milk tea in her hand, the rain stopped—literally, in that instant. How infuriating! Jiang Yu almost cursed.

What a tragically fated cup of milk tea!