Chapter 39

Before she could finish speaking, An Yue suddenly raised her arms and hugged Li Ye's neck. Li Ye wanted to take a step back to avoid her, but considering the steps, if she moved aside, An Yue would definitely fall down. However, since her first thought was to avoid her, she also needed to stay still, so she almost lost her balance. She swayed twice and stiffly let An Yue hug her.

Xu Wanyi nearly exploded at the sight. Earlier, upon hearing "President Xiao," she had been wondering which man had taken a liking to Li Ye, only to realize moments later that An Yue was confessing her feelings to Li Ye. Turning around, she saw this girl lunging at her, and what's worse, Li Ye didn't move away. Even though she told herself a thousand times that Li Ye was just her lawyer, she couldn't help but feel her blood rushing to her head.

“Attorney Li, you should also give up on the Le Guang project. Zheng Shengmao and Chen Chunlin’s group are not good people. Le Guang’s legal counsel and boss are definitely not good people either. They must have done something shady. They were afraid you would find out something, so they teamed up to kick you out.”

"Will you come home with me?"

Li Ye was both amused and exasperated. She knew An Yue had a high alcohol tolerance and wouldn't get completely drunk; she was just using alcohol to embolden herself and say what she wanted to say.

"You're drunk, don't move." Li Ye finally managed to create some distance, using one hand to support An Yue to help her maintain her balance, but her arm had to be kept away from An Yue's body, making it very difficult. She quickly took out her phone, about to call Jiang Yu, but An Yue pressed it down.

“Attorney Li, my friend is still at the bar, there’s no need to call anyone else.”

An Yue was indeed not drunk; she was telling the truth. She had indeed arranged to meet her friend at this bar today, but in order not to miss Li Ye, she only drank a little alcohol and left her friend inside, waiting alone in her car for a long time.

"Then call them to come pick you up. I'll wait with you. Go home and rest well when you're drunk, so you can get back to work tomorrow."

An Yue knew this was Li Ye's clear rejection, and felt a pang of sadness, remaining silent for a long time. Li Ye tried to remove her hands from his neck, but the girl was surprisingly stubborn and refused.

"An Yue, that's enough. There's a limit to everything." Her tone was icy.

An Yue felt a chill in her heart, fearing that Li Ye might really be determined to kick her out. But then she remembered that Li Ye had told her to come back to work tomorrow, which meant there was still some room for negotiation. She wasn't going to surrender now; there must be other ways. In this respect, she and Xiao Chenyue were quite similar.

"Okay." She dialed the number, and soon a few girls walked over from across the street. They were clearly spoiled rich girls, reminding Li Ye of Xu Wanyi from years ago. These girls looked at Li Ye and An Yue with knowing, suggestive expressions.

"Why don't you call a car to take her home?"

“Attorney Li, you’re An Yue’s boss, not ours. Besides, we’re all adults. Can’t we go out and have fun at night?” one of the girls said, looking at Li Ye with a half-smile.

“Uh…” Li Ye was a little embarrassed. Indeed, why did he suddenly sound so old-fashioned?

"Hmm, I think you make a good point. I'll leave An Yue to you then."

The girl assumed Li Ye would continue with a long lecture, believing that people over thirty were old enough to be buried. An Yue's boss, at least in her thirties, was definitely an old fogey, and she never expected her to agree so readily. The girl was stunned for a few seconds.

"Alright, since you're so pretty, we'll take An Yue back to rest. Hmm, Miss An's taste is indeed excellent." The group joked with Li Ye, laughing and walking towards the car parked not far away.

An Yue didn't say anything, silently letting them lead her away. Just before getting into the car, she turned and glanced at Li Ye. Li Ye had seen that look before, and Xu Wanyi had seen it before too; it was the look they used to give each other.

Li Ye didn't speak, stood there for a long time, and then suddenly let out a long sigh.

"Wanyi, I know you're here. Come out."

Xu Wanyi slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees. "When did you find me?"

Li Ye stood on the sidewalk, looking up at Xu Wanyi. Under the dim light, the contours of Xu Wanyi's thin face became more pronounced, her high nose cast a shadow on her face, and her large eyes shone with an inscrutable light.

"Not long ago, just now when I almost fell."

Xu Wanyi knew that Li Ye was referring to the moment An Yue hugged her, but the two of them tacitly agreed not to continue the conversation.

"Yes, An Yue is my intern."

"Yes, I know." Xu Wanyi replied expressionlessly.

"We're nothing..."

“Attorney Li, you don’t need to tell me your private matters. These young girls are right about one thing: we are all adults and we know what we are doing.”

“Uh, that’s true.” Li Ye shut his mouth, thinking that the two of them had no relationship now, not even an employer-employee relationship, so there was really no need to explain anything to her.

"Chairman Xu, are you here to see me or Attorney Chen?" Only then did Li Ye realize that Xu Wanyi's appearance downstairs at their office building in the middle of the night meant that something must have happened to the project.

Xu Wanyi found it difficult to answer the question immediately, so she could only make up an answer: "Well, I originally planned to find Attorney Chen, but after watching such a show here, it's getting late, so I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Also, regarding our company's other contracts, although the lawyer you introduced, Mr. Gao, is quite good, could you still keep an eye on them for him? I'm worried he might not be very familiar with our company's situation."

“Okay, Chairman Xu,” Li Ye said respectfully.

Since Xu Wanyi had already heard An Yue say that she was a person without principles and could satisfy any request from clients, then she would satisfy Chairman Xu's request.

After reuniting with Xu Wanyi and having interacted with her for so long, Li Ye clearly felt that she was deliberately distancing herself from him. Regardless of whether she still had feelings for Li Ye, it was obvious that she didn't want to be with him anymore, at least for the time being.

On the contrary, it was he himself who couldn't forget it and his thieving heart wouldn't give up.

During this period of leisure, Li Ye thought about many things, especially his feelings for Xu Wanyi and their future relationship.

So much time has passed, and Li Ye's initial extreme anger towards the Xu family has gradually subsided. These past few years of navigating the complexities of society have taught him many lessons. That incident had nothing to do with Xu Wanyi, and upon seeing her again after so many years, Li Ye's initial thought was to win her back.

Xu Wanyi remained elusive, half-closed and half-dark. A glimmer of hope rose in Li Ye's heart, only to be extinguished; a glimmer of hope rose again, only to be extinguished once more. She came to understand that this world was full of helplessness and unfulfilled destinies.

Perfect timing! Let's observe this situation further. If Xu Wanyi doesn't let her go back and just uses her as a one-off deal, then she doesn't need to try anymore. But if the opposite happens, then she should work even harder.

Thinking of this, Li Ye couldn't help but smile.

"Attorney Li, what's so funny?"

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about other clients."

Other clients? I'm standing right in front of you, and you're thinking about other clients? You really are a lawyer who can satisfy every client's request.

"Okay, I'll be going now. See you again sometime."

"Okay, take care."

Xu Wanyi, her face grim, slammed her hand and got into her car. Li Ye also strode to his car, started it without hesitation, and drove off.

After Li Ye left, Xu Wanyi started the car. She had been thinking about what An Yue had said. Was she really not a "good person"? After not seeing each other for many years, even if they were no longer lovers, she shouldn't be used as a pawn, right? From the perspective of someone in the know, it was really cold-blooded to do that.

"But who led me down this path and made me the Xu Wanyi I am today?"

She looked up at the skyscraper in front of her. "It's you, Li Ye. It was you who left without saying goodbye back then, and now you're deliberately walking into my trap. It takes two to tango."

At that moment, a question inadvertently popped into her mind: If Li Ye agreed to be with An Yue tonight, how would she react? Xu Wanyi covered her face, slumped over the steering wheel, and felt a dull ache in her heart. She told herself that she didn't know the answer to this question and didn't want to think about it for the time being.

She steadied herself, slammed on the gas, and the BMW roared away.

However, Xu Wanyi herself may not have realized that this problem had already taken deep root in her heart like a seed.

Another month has passed.

Since being completely kicked out of Leguang's project, Li Ye has been enjoying a lot of free time. He doesn't even go to the office much anymore. The last time he went there, he had a bad day and was confessed to by a junior intern who pretended to be drunk.

Li Ye didn't want to give An Yue a chance to cause trouble, nor could he fire her. After all, the young woman hadn't made any mistakes in her work, and she was brought in by a client. A bad ending would affect her friendly client relationships.

This is not what she wants; it's preventing her from making money.

She continued working from home happily for over a month. Whenever Zhuang Ke invited her out to dinner, she, contrary to her usual behavior, never missed a meal. She even managed to learn everything about the development of Zhuang Ke and her judge sister's relationship.

Zhuang Ke is far more capable than her. In such a short time, she has already successfully gained access to the inner circle—the judge has personally invited her to visit Yuzhou! It seems that university professors have some kind of halo. If Zhuang Ke were a lawyer, before she even spoke, the other party would be wondering, "What are you up to by getting so close to me? Are you after my money or my body?"

When Su Che heard that Xu Wanyi had kicked her out, and understood the whole story, although she felt a little reluctant, she was generally happy. She had had several dealings with Xu Wanyi regarding the Maohua matter, and found that this woman was becoming more and more shrewd as she got older, subtly turning their investment and financing department head into her spokesperson for Tonghua Group.

Li Ye is a top lawyer now, but that's only success in her career. She hasn't made any progress in her love life. For example, she couldn't even handle the old Xu Wanyi, so how could she possibly handle the current Xu Wanyi? It's better to stay far away from her; the sooner the better. This was the first thing she said to Li Ye after hearing that Xu Wanyi had dumped her.

"I made a bad choice of friends. I made a bad choice of friends." Li Ye could only shake his head and sigh as he watched his two friends raise their glasses in celebration.