Chapter 106, Chapter Seven: The Lost Manor
Li Yufei no longer gave Cheng Yuzhou a friendly look.
In her senior year of high school, she was confined to the school. Cheng Yuzhou rarely came to school, leaving her no room to develop her talents. As soon as the college entrance examination ended, the adult Li Yufei immediately devised several plans to break off the engagement.
When she enrolled in college, she registered an account to record her life, posting photos of herself eating, drinking, having fun, and doing beauty makeup. Over the course of three years, she unintentionally accumulated 20,000 to 30,000 followers and got to know some small bloggers in the beauty industry.
Li Yufei invited a few close classmates and online friends, and found a popular bar to hold an adult party.
When Cheng Yuzhou arrived at the bar after receiving Li Yufei's message, the entire private room was in an uproar.
Red and green LED lights, chaotic music, and stylishly dressed, scantily clad young men and women partying wildly.
On the sofa at the far end, a girl who had just turned eighteen had permed and dyed her hair. Her lazy, flaxen-brown waves were swept to one side, and a single sterling silver earring was faintly visible in her hair.
She crossed her legs, while a young man in his early twenties casually put his arm around her shoulder.
The music was so loud that they had to lean close to each other's ears to say each other a few words, as if they were pecking at each other.
Cheng Yuzhou's intrusion caused the atmosphere to pause for a moment.
He was out of place here, yet he was not a grain of sand to be swallowed by the waves; he exuded an aura that could not be ignored from head to toe.
"Who is it?" The woman who opened the door for Cheng Yuzhou turned her head and asked Li Yufei, who was hosting, "Your friend?"
Li Yufei raised her hand, and the handsome young man walked through the bizarrely decorated private room to stand in front of her.
He noticed the wine glasses in front of her and frowned disapprovingly: "Feifei..."
Li Yufei replied with two words: "Pay the bill."
The music was turned down, and the person next to her laughed, "What? Li Yufei, didn't you say you were treating? This is your...brother?"
Li Yufei said, "Neighbor."
"Neighbors?" A subtle gaze fell on Cheng Yuzhou.
He has an outstanding appearance, and even under such mixed lighting, he remains clean.
Sensing the danger, the man who was loosely embracing Li Yufei chuckled and nudged her with his forehead. "Your boyfriend's here, and you're calling the neighbor over to pay the bill? You're looking down on me?"
Li Yufei shrugged. "I feel sorry for you, isn't it good that I'm saving you money?"
Put yourself in her shoes. Let alone a fiancé, even a boyfriend who dares to be all lovey-dovey with his mistress while ordering her to pay the bill—Li Yufei could pull out his entire spine and stuff it back into his dermatitis.
She stared intently at Cheng Yuzhou. He might not actually hurt her, but he'd at least yell at her a couple of times.
Cheng Yuzhou did nothing.
He nodded. "Okay." He turned and left.
He returned with the receipts and reached out his hand to her, "Feifei, it's late, and you've been drinking. I'll take you home."
Li Yufei was dumbfounded.
She slapped his hand away. "What are you talking about? This is my first day as an adult. Of course I want to spend the night with my boyfriend."
"Oh~~" Whistles blew all around, and amidst the meaningful cheers, Li Yufei realized that the words were a bit ambiguous.
The hand that had been hovering over her fell onto her shoulder, and the man moved closer to sit down, his eyes and brows brimming with undisguised joy.
"No!" Cheng Yuzhou's stagnant calm finally broke, and he said sharply, "Feifei, you're not old enough for that!"
“How old are you and me? Don’t start talking about age.” The hand on her shoulder made Li Yufei a little uncomfortable, but Cheng Yuzhou got impatient, and she immediately retorted, “Besides, what is our relationship? Who gives you the right to tell me what to do? Don’t forget who was crying and promising not to interfere with me back then.”
This sentence silenced Cheng Yuzhou.
He stood in the tapestry of light and darkness, lamplight and shadow, for a long time before finally giving in: "...Okay."
Li Yufei opened her eyes, a surge of inexplicable disappointment and anger rising to her head.
OK?
They had been dating for two years, were each other's first love, and were engaged. Now that she wanted to sleep with another man, he just said "okay"?
He'd never even kissed her in their entire life, and now she's going to sleep with a guy she'd been dating for a month! Is he a dead man?!
But Li Yufei neither wanted to marry Cheng Yuzhou nor wanted to be controlled by anyone... Why be angry? She had no reason to be angry!
She's not angry!!!
"Then what are you still standing here for? Watch the live broadcast!"
“I won’t interfere with you, Feifei.” Cheng Yuzhou glanced at the man beside her, “but I have something to say to this man. Could you please come out for a moment?”
"Me?" The man raised an eyebrow. "Fine."
He stood up, but Li Yufei grabbed him and said, "He's my boyfriend. What are you going to say that you have to keep from me?"
Cheng Yuzhou didn't say anything more, just quietly looked at the stylishly dressed young man.
That look made people of the same sex extremely uncomfortable.
“It’s okay, baby, I’m just going for a bit,” he saw through Cheng Yuzhou’s meaning and kissed Li Yufei’s lips provocatively. “When I get back, I’ll tell you what your neighbor brother wants to say.”
Li Yufei's face stiffened, and she suppressed her instinct to slap him.
I almost forgot that was her boyfriend.
You can't kiss your boyfriend on the very first day you meet him in person!
While she was struggling with her decision, the two men had already left, and curious, gossipy eyes flocked to her, holding Li Yufei back.
We walked out of the private room and into the underground parking garage.
The man, hands in his pockets, gave a half-smile. "What do you want to say, neighbor?"
"Zhou Wenfang".
Zhou Wenfang was surprised, "You know my name?"
The boy in the private room, who was usually so good-natured he was practically useless, seemed to have become a different person. He turned slightly to the side and stared at him indifferently: "I know you can't easily give up on Yufei, but I really can't entrust my trust to someone like you."
“I understand the second half, but the first half,” Zhou Wenfang said jokingly, glancing at Cheng Yuzhou’s clothes and shoes, as well as the van next to him, “maybe if you threw five million in my face, I’d be willing to leave her?”
The boy paused, a moment of surprise appearing on his face.
After a while, he asked, almost naively, "You agree?"
"..." It really works?
No, he's definitely playing a trick on him. He won't fall for it. Zhou Wenfang said playfully, "Why don't you give it a try?"
For a moment, Cheng Yuzhou was tempted. "No need. If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else. I can give you five million. I won't interfere with Yufei's life. I just want to ensure her safety."
“Understood,” Zhou Wenfang snapped his fingers. “You want to use the high-end condom you specified, young master? This little favor won’t cost five million, fifty thousand will suffice.”
"I want you to get a tubal ligation."
Zhou Wenfang's expression hardened: "What is that?"
Cheng Yuzhou looked at his phone.
Since leaving the private room, the draft agreement has been delivered to him.
He handed her the phone. "Yufei is only eighteen. For her health and your career, I hope you can agree to my request. After you two separate, I will arrange for a tubal ligation reversal surgery to ensure it doesn't affect your future fertility. Of course, if you get back together after the reversal, you'll need a second tubal ligation."
"This agreement also includes monthly medical checkups and confidentiality clauses. If you have no objections, just sign it."
Zhou Wenfang wanted to curse him as a madman, but that was five million.
He swallowed hard and asked only one question: "Brother, what exactly is your relationship with her?"
Cheng Yuzhou lowered his eyes, a slight smile appearing on his lips: "Does it seem to me that I have anything to do with her?"
"Are you kidding, bro? I'd believe you if you said you were her legal wife."
Cheng Yuzhou thought, this is what he needs.
The creatures on earth could not do anything to the sun. He did not have any extravagant hopes; he only hoped that he could have some connection with Li Yufei.
She only needs to give him a ray of her radiant light, regardless of how that connection is defined.
Having it is enough.
Li Yufei is going crazy.
She tried all the most offensive behaviors, referencing posts from the "Landmine Girl" bot, but to no avail.
The idea of treating people like ATM slaves, demanding cars, houses, and luxury goods, is completely useless to Cheng Yuzhou.
Even the most unforgivable act of infidelity for a normal person, Cheng Yuzhou didn't even blink.
She had called him to deliver condoms and run errands for her boyfriend, buying him cigarettes, alcohol, and breakfast—damn, things are so advanced now, he can just order errands online.
In the end, Li Yufei didn't argue with Cheng Yuzhou, but she scared away her new boyfriend. Also, she couldn't stand the smell of smoke and alcohol on men and broke up with him.
After countless defeats and repeated attempts, Li Yufei finally understood.
Why should she pay attention to him? She can just ignore him.
She went about her business, eating and playing as usual, and simply deleted Cheng Yuzhou from her phone.
Less than ten minutes later, Cheng Yuzhou contacted her using a different number, asking if he had done something wrong.
Li Yufei replied: Get lost. Then she blocked the person.
The world was quiet again, and Cheng Yuzhou never came to see her again. Although they were classmates at University A, he rarely came to class. Even when he did, the two lived on different campuses, and Li Yufei's life had no interaction with his.
For nearly a year, she had almost forgotten about Cheng Yuzhou, until that day when her parents asked her to meet him.
“Your dad’s company has run into some trouble… Honey, your Uncle Cheng isn’t involved in the company’s management anymore. Yuzhou is handling his work now. Could you…”
"No way!" Li Yufei refused outright. "Don't even think about it!"
"Don't be so insensible." Li's mother frowned. "Look at you from head to toe, do you know how much your monthly beauty treatments, tuition fees, and outings cost?"
"I'd rather beg on the streets than have to beg Cheng Yuzhou for money for my family!"
As Li Yufei said this, she actually went begging for food the next day.
Li's parents cut off all her financial support and even locked her room and her closet.
“Everything in this house was bought by your father. If you look down on him and think we’re materialistic, then don’t use our things.” Li’s mother took out a stack of bills. “I’m just reminding you that your personal trainer, swimming lessons, dance lessons, tennis courts, stylist, and all those salons are all on monthly bills, usually settled on the 1st of each month. Today is the 23rd, and these bills alone are already around 70,000 to 80,000 yuan.”
"You have no income, so you can't even open a credit card. Can you find a job that earns 70,000 a week, or would you rather get involved in online loans for something like this?"
It's just seventy or eighty thousand; I'll earn it myself!
Li Yufei took the bill and asked her classmates around her if they had any job recommendations.
"Yufei, if you want to do part-time work, you can be a model."
"Ten thousand a day? That's a bit... If you're lucky, you might get one or two thousand a day, but you can't always get orders every day."
"Why don't you try being a live streamer?"
"You need to be more enthusiastic and interact with the audience. Look, someone gave you a little heart! Quickly thank them!"
"Although it's free and doesn't make money, it can increase your popularity and give you a chance to appear on the homepage."
Li Yufei gave up on the first day.
She remembered that she had received several business invitations on her account, all of which were small orders worth a few hundred or a few thousand yuan, which she had ignored before.
Things are different now, so she quickly added the business contact information.
Too much time has passed, and many collaborations are no longer needed. Only two remain: one offers 200, and the other offers 3,000. The latter requires a month-long process from signing the contract to making the payment.
With the repayment date fast approaching, Li Yufei's perceptions were completely turned upside down in just a few days.
For the first time, she had a clear understanding of money and the concept of "ten thousand".
Her innate pride and backbone made her unwilling to admit defeat, but reality was right in front of her.
She felt incredibly humiliated, but she had no choice but to go to Cheng Yandong's company and meet Cheng Yuzhou.
Stepping into the business unit floor, the surroundings are all in black, white, and gray tones. The people's clothing and the atmosphere here are completely different from those in university. Even girls who are petite than Li Yufei exude the social quality of adults.
Li Yufei felt out of place here.
Five years ago, Cheng Yuzhou, who was only fifteen years old, would probably have felt even more out of place here.
“Miss Li,” Cheng Yandong’s former secretary greeted her warmly when she heard that she had come to see Cheng Yuzhou. “Why are you here? This is the first time you’ve come to the company to see Yuzhou.”
Li Yufei was a little embarrassed. "I... have something to do."
"Mr. Cheng is having a meeting with the marketing department. Please sit in his office for a while. I have some things to take care of, so I'll go and get back to work."
"good."
Li Yufei looked around the office. While she was still clueless about the workplace, Cheng Yuzhou had already been involved in social work for five years.
Having not seen each other for nearly a year, time had faded the intense feelings between them, and she no longer hated him as strongly as she did when she was seventeen or eighteen.
From the beginning, she had no reason to hate him.
What binds her to him are her biological parents.
Li Yufei sat for a while, then got up and walked around. She saw an electronic photo album on Cheng Yuzhou's desk.
The scrolling photos were all of her.
Li Yufei felt a mix of emotions she couldn't quite describe.
She said those words in anger when they broke up, and of course she knew that Cheng Yuzhou couldn't have chosen her because she could be bribed.
Many men loved her, but she had never met anyone like Cheng Yuzhou.
She knew he was different.
Hurried footsteps approached, and Li Yufei turned around to face Cheng Yuzhou, who pushed open the door and entered.
It had been a long time since they last met. The moment Li Yufei saw Cheng Yuzhou, she felt both strange and familiar.
His face had matured a bit, and he had lost weight, but when their eyes met, the smile he gave her was still the same as when they were in elementary school—a restrained joy, an undisguised happiness in his eyes, and a slight blush at the corners of his mouth.
“Feifei.” He smiled, as grateful as if he had seen the light of day again.
Seeing his joy made Li Yufei's scalp tingle when she remembered why she had come there.
She crossed her arms and turned her head away, using coldness and hardness to mask her guilty conscience.
From childhood to adulthood, it was always others who borrowed money from her. It would be fine if she asked her best friend, but it was Cheng Yuzhou. Their relationship was such that even a casual greeting like "Have you eaten?" felt insincere.
After a long pause, she managed to utter two words: "That..."
"I heard about Uncle's situation." Just as she awkwardly turned to leave, Cheng Yuzhou spoke up, "Tell Uncle not to worry, I'm trying to help him find a solution."
He walked past Li Yufei, took out a checkbook from his desk drawer, bent down, signed a string of numbers, tore it off, and handed it to her.
Li Yufei didn't take it, but stared at him warily.
“Uncle’s original business model was too outdated, and his idea of transformation was correct. However, he took too big a step, and now his cash flow has been cut off, and it will be difficult to resume in the short term. To revitalize the company, he needs more than just money; he also needs technical support and a restructuring framework. I am trying to persuade the shareholders to fund Uncle’s company. This money is a small token of my personal support and is intended to help in the emergency.”
Li's father never talked to Li Yufei about company affairs. Her understanding of her family's company was limited to this: when they made money, her father would be very generous and magnanimous; when they lost money, he would come home with a sour face and scold everyone he could find.
She knew nothing about the company, but just by listening to Cheng Yuzhou speak, she could feel his sincerity.
With mixed feelings, she took the check and awkwardly whispered, "Thank you. But don't be too... well, if you help him this time, there will be a next time, and he'll keep hounding you."
Cheng Yuzhou smiled.
After a moment of silence in the office, he tentatively asked, "Would you like to have lunch together?"
“…Hmm.” He went to so much trouble to help her, and the check in her hand alone was worth tens of millions. Li Yufei had no face to refuse. “What do you want to eat? It’s my treat.”
She immediately added after she finished speaking, "Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying that a meal can offset all this money. He owes you, and he's the one who has to pay it back. This meal is just my idea."
“I understand, Feifei.” Cheng Yuzhou smiled. “I’m just happy that we haven’t had a meal together in a long time.”
His actions only made Li Yufei more agitated. She grabbed her bag and left, saying, "I'll wait for you in the car. Send me a message when you're done..." But damn it, she had already blocked him.
Cheng Yuzhou immediately picked up his phone. "I'll add you in a bit."
Li Yufei stormed out of the door, so ashamed she wanted to disappear from the face of the earth.
At least the matter was resolved.
She believed that this was the most shameful stain on her life.
However, this is just the beginning.
The second, third, fourth time... Li's father's company was like a gambler at the table, with projects failing one after another and the cash flow breaking down time and time again.
Under pressure and coercion from her parents, Li Yufei had no choice but to meet Cheng Yuzhou again and again.
"I'm not going! I said I'm not going!" she cried, on the verge of collapse. "It's only been a few weeks since I last asked him for money! Mom, am I your daughter or a hostess, someone who tricks Mr. Cheng into spending money?!"
Li's mother grasped her hand, looked up, and choked back tears: "Feifei, Mom is kneeling before you."
"mom!"
"Please, please, daughter." The fine lines of time pressed against Li Yufei's hands, her eyes filled with tears. "Please help your father."
After several such incidents, cutting off her living expenses no longer threatened Li Yufei.
Having learned her lesson about being broke, she gradually stopped unnecessary high-end spending and started working part-time as an online model in her spare time, while also putting more effort into managing her account.
She can now rely on her parents; even if she doesn't have living expenses for a while, she can manage for a period of time.
She changed, and Li's parents also changed their strategy.
They begged her with tears, with their gray hair, with demands for payment from suppliers and banks, with warnings from the labor bureau and threats from employees.
Failure to make timely payments will not only lead to bankruptcy and debt, but the two elderly people, both over fifty years old, will also face the risk of imprisonment.
Li Yufei silently stepped into Cheng Yuzhou's company.
She never cared about what others thought, but every time she came here, she felt like a joke.
She became a malignant tumor growing on Cheng Yuzhou, and even he looked down on himself.
"Feifei." Just as she parked the car and before she even opened the door, Li Yufei saw Cheng Yuzhou running towards her from the elevator.
He always smiled, always with that same expression. Even when she deliberately humiliated him and made him come to pick her and her boyfriend up, he would always smile first when he saw her.
idiot.
"What are you doing here?" She got out of the car, and he reached out to take her bag.
Cheng Yuzhou said, "I just came back from outside and I'm going upstairs too."
They entered Cheng Yuzhou's office, where Li Yufei sat on the sofa, head bowed and silent.
Cheng Yuzhou helped her put down her bag and went straight to get the check.
He wrote it down, tore it off, and stuffed it into her bag with practiced ease, as if he were preparing a Christmas gift for her.
"Cheng Yuzhou," Li Yufei said.
He immediately turned around and said, "I'm here."
"Let's call off the engagement."
Cheng Yuzhou paused, walked towards her, and asked in a flustered tone, "What did I do wrong again, Feifei? Haven't we been doing well these past two years?"
“Very good…” Li Yufei couldn’t help but laugh.
She brushed back her side bangs and sighed sarcastically, "Cheng Yuzhou, what else can I do besides ask you for money?"
“How could you think that! Feifei, I…” Cheng Yuzhou said urgently, but was interrupted by Li Yufei.
“At first, I would keep track of how much money you took, but after only four times, I stopped calculating.”
"Cancel it." She looked at him wearily, her eyes bloodshot from the day before. "Don't tie yourself to our family for life."
Cheng Yuzhou then realized why she was wearing heavy makeup today.
"Is it just because of money?" He knelt down in front of her, looking up to peek at her expression through her falling hair. "...Feifei, are you crying? Did they hit you?"
Li Yufei turned her head awkwardly, "No, not at all."
Cheng Yuzhou breathed a sigh of relief, then lowered his eyes and said bitterly, "So, it's because you don't want to see me?"
"Stop talking about Cheng Yuzhou," Li Yufei bit her lip, her eyes welling up with tears. "Even I didn't intend to clean up my dad's mess, so you have even less reason to. He's a gambling addict now, and no amount of money can save him. Don't throw any more money at him, it's useless, understand?"
“I’ll think of another way to deal with Uncle’s matter.” Cheng Yuzhou tentatively touched her fingertips. “Feifei, don’t worry, I’m aware of all the money I’ve given out.”
“I’m not worried about the money or my dad’s lousy company!” Li Yufei sniffed. “Life is so long, you can always earn the money back, but a bad person is a bad person! He’s a bad person, my mom and my brother aren’t any better, and I… I’m not bad, but I’ve been terrible to you. Can you please just stay out of my family’s business?”
"Don't cry, Feifei." Cheng Yuzhou gently held her fingertips. "It's not good to get eyeliner in your eyes when you cry."
"What? Your makeup's smudged?" Li Yufei looked around but couldn't find a mirror. She sobbed and ordered him, "Quick, get my bag."
"OK."
She pulled a small mirror and makeup remover pads from her bag, blinked to hold back her tears, carefully wiped away the smudged eyeliner, and spoke to the mirror, "Where were we... Oh right, you'll be 22 in five months, so hurry up and call off this engagement. Everyone has seen how I've treated you all these years, so if you call off the engagement, no one will think it's your fault. Do you have any waterproof eyeliner here?"
“Yes.” Cheng Yuzhou took out a complete makeup case from the bookcase, opened it with nine layers inside and out, and found an eyeliner for her.
Li Yufei glanced at him with surprise, "You usually put on makeup in the office?"
He said shyly, "Since you're coming here, I'll leave one here."
Li Yufei's tears, which she had just managed to suppress, started to well up again.
In the past two years, every time she came here, it was to ask Cheng Yuzhou for money.
Because of shame, she would always take the money and leave without lingering, but he prepared this for her.
"You owe me, Cheng Yuzhou?" She pushed Cheng Yuzhou's shoulder, her voice hoarse and choked with sobs. "You're my mother, why do you spoil me like this!"
“You spoiled me first.” He handed her a makeup remover wipe. “Remember when I was little and I had braids? All my classmates would scream and wail if I touched them. Back then, I cried and begged you like that, worried that I would cause you trouble and that you shouldn’t associate with me.”
"I didn't beg you while crying! I was just trying to warn you out of kindness!"
“Yes.” Cheng Yuzhou readily agreed. “You were only seven years old then, and you were able to hold my hand firmly without hesitation.”
“Feifei,” he sighed, “how could I possibly betray you over such a small matter?”
"What did you know when you were little!" Li Yufei finished touching up her makeup, put down the mirror, her eyes still a little red. "Cheng Yuzhou, marriage is not a joke. Do you know what kind of people my parents are? If you marry me, there will be a legal relationship, and they will become even more rampant and suck you dry."
Cheng Yuzhou looked up and promised, "I will protect myself, and I will protect you."
After breaking up with Cheng Yuzhou at the age of seventeen, and after her parents exposed the illusion between them, Li Yufei's world changed.
Her father told her not to be silly and to obediently marry into the Cheng family;
Her mother cried and begged her to help her father;
Her brother watched the spectacle with a cold eye.
She confided in her friends, who told her not to flaunt her relationship.
Only Cheng Yuzhou knelt in front of her and asked if she had cried, promising to protect her.
Li Yufei couldn't hold back her loneliness and grievances from all these years, and she covered her eyes and cried: "Are you sick?! I've treated you like that, and you still won't give up! Cheng Yuzhou, what are you after?! No matter how beautiful I am, you can't be this blind!"
“I am very clear-headed. I was the one who was confused and weak before. It was only after getting engaged to you that I realized what I really wanted.”
Cheng Yuzhou slowly sat down next to her. He reached out to her little by little, and when he touched Li Yufei's shoulder, she buried her face in his chest and broke down in tears.
He trembled as he placed his hand on the back of her head, but before his fingers could touch her hair, Li Yufei, crying, pulled them off and placed them on her back.
"Don't touch the back of my head—" she cried on his chest, "Waaah... I haven't washed my hair for two days, it's a bit flat, and there's a hair clip hidden there, waaaah... Don't touch it!"
"Okay, okay." Following her instructions, Cheng Yuzhou carefully patted her back, avoiding the back of her head.
"Why do you like me so much, Cheng Yuzhou?" Her wet, nasal voice echoed in his heart.
Cheng Yuzhou opened his mouth, but didn't know where to begin.
"Never mind, it's not important. I probably already know." Li Yufei sniffled. "Take off your coat and get out."
"Um?"
"hurry up."
Cheng Yuzhou took off his coat in confusion, but Li Yufei's face remained pressed against his lapel.
He immediately understood why she wanted his coat.
Once he had completely taken his coat off, Li Yufei grabbed his coat and covered her head with it, her voice damp and muffled, "Go out, close the door, and come back in when I call you."
This shape looks like a cartoon ghost.
Cheng Yuzhou couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Okay, I'm going out. There's a sink in the cubicle behind the desk, and makeup remover behind the mirror."
"Mmm." Her head was burning under his suit jacket, and her breath was filled with the salty tears and the cool rose scent that Cheng Yuzhou was used to.
He's such a spoiled brat; even his shampoo and shower gel have to be custom-made with a rose scent.
When Cheng Yuzhou was called in, Li Yufei had already removed her makeup.
She didn't bother to fix it anymore; her eyes were swollen like peach blossoms, so she simply appeared in front of Cheng Yuzhou without makeup.
"I'll take your coat to the dry cleaners." She carried the bag, her expression even more awkward than before. "There's still some time, Cheng Yuzhou, think it over carefully. I advise you not to be too love-struck."
Cheng Yuzhou smiled and said, "Okay."
"I'm serious, don't take it to heart." Li Yufei frowned, glancing at his desk out of the corner of her eye. "You should read less of those brainless novels. What kind of things do you keep in your office, you're a general manager?"
Cheng Yuzhou held his breath and followed her gaze to the seat.
Li Yufei had already walked past him. "I'm leaving. Don't bother seeing me off."
She walked toward the elevator, through the corridor, and ran into the secretary who was holding documents.
The two greeted each other, and Cheng Yuzhou watched Li Yufei enter the elevator.
The secretary entered the office and handed him the documents. "Miss Li is here? She doesn't look too well."
"Hmm." Cheng Yuzhou returned to his desk with the documents and said softly, "They made her sad."
The secretary sighed, "How many times this has happened this month? They'll be forcing her to come over again on the 16th."
Neither of these two children has satisfactory parents.
Cheng Yuzhou put down the documents and looked at the novel on the table.
The dark book cover looked a bit old; before Li Yufei arrived, several copies of the novel's planning documents had been shelved.
I don't know how she stumbled upon it, but half of the book cover with the title was visible.
He picked it up; on the dark blue back cover were three dark red words—"The Caged Bird."
This is a book that Li Yufei bought in junior high school. Judging from her expression, she seems to have forgotten it.
"The 16th, seventeen days..." Cheng Yuzhou stroked the book, lost in longing, "But I've already started missing her."
The secretary looked complicated and said tactfully, "You'll have to give me some time."
"I know, I will be patient." The young man locked the book in his hand into the drawer, his eyes softening. "Don't worry, I won't become like my father."
He is different from Cheng Yandong, and Li Yufei is different from Fang Yuzhou.
This book is merely a private dream of Cheng Yuzhou; it cannot be realized, but it is not something to be ashamed of.
He will treat her very well, very well.
-----------------------
Author's Note: The next chapter will return to the present!
I originally planned to write a shorter story for the last one, but it turned out to be the longest one because of the amount of content.
Just these four and a half chapters serving as the foreground and background, taken out and written as a contemporary romance novel, could easily amount to 200,000 words. [emoji]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
