late at night
Zhong Yunxi kept his eyes on Bai Yi, occasionally exchanging a few words with Lu Xin and He Cheng.
He asked He Cheng if the termination of the cooperation with Si Jian on the project went smoothly, and what the next steps were.
He Cheng had a lot of opinions about him and was also wary of him secretly plotting against Bai Yi. He asked, "You're not in this line of work, so it's pointless to ask."
Lu Xin then chimed in, "Have you considered collaborating with Runhe?"
He Cheng was unaware of Runhe's relationship with Zhong Yunxi, but he had indeed considered it.
Bai Yi was chatting with Yu Shiyuan and Pei Xin when she overheard Lu Xin's conversation.
Before He Cheng could answer, Bai Yi glanced at Lu Xin and said, "I'm not considering it."
Lu Xin: ...
Zhong Yunxi's eyes never left her as he said gently, "Xiaoyi, I can get Runhe to give you a high enough priority and sufficient funding."
He Cheng then realized, "Xiao Yi has the final say on this project. If she says she won't consider it, then she means she won't consider it."
After saying that, he glared at Lu Xin.
Lu Xin felt betrayed by Zhong Yunxi again. He couldn't believe that this bastard had gotten himself into trouble again, making his junior sister neglect her duties for personal reasons.
He asked Zhong Yunxi, "It's been so long, why is Junior Sister even angrier? You've been running to Xiangcheng every day to coax her, but you haven't achieved anything?"
Zhong Yunxi nodded, took a sip of coffee, and looked at Bai Yi again, saying in a low voice, "Yeah, we haven't settled old scores yet. I angered her again a few days ago and she threw away my ring."
Lu Xin: ...
He also subconsciously glanced at Zhong Yunxi's hand.
I'm impressed.
"Let's break off our friendship." That would be too embarrassing.
Zhong Yunxi said fearlessly, "Think of a way to treat Xiaoyi to dinner tonight. I want to spend more time with her."
Lu Xin laughed in anger, "Do you know what you're doing?"
Zhong Yunxi wasn't curious at all; Lu Xin was a chatterbox with a sharp tongue, and he couldn't say anything nice.
Lu Xin tugged at Yu Shiyuan next to him: "Let's switch seats, I need to say a few words to my junior sister."
Although Yu Shiyuan didn't want to be next to Zhong Yunxi, he couldn't refuse Lu Xin, so he nodded.
As Lu Xin got up to change seats, he said to Zhong Yunxi, "Chasing wolves naked, how audacious and shameless."
He sat down opposite Bai Yi and asked, "Junior Sister, what stupid thing has Zhong Yunxi done lately that's made you so angry?"
Bai Yi didn't want to mention Zhong Yunxi, so she glanced at Lu Xin and picked up her phone to play games.
"Senior brother, if it weren't for the favor I owe you about Runhe, I wouldn't be talking to you today. You always collude with others to lie to me." Bai Yi looked at Lu Xin, complaining.
"No, junior sister, I really didn't know he had offended you again."
Yu Shiyuan chuckled and muttered to Lu Xin, "He's playing consistently well, this divorce is inevitable."
Zhong Yunxi glanced at him and said, "Let me buy you another cup of coffee."
Yu Shiyuan: ?
Zhong Yunxi: "Have a couple more drinks to clear your head, so you don't daydream."
Bai Yi: ...
Zhong Yunxi picked up his phone and texted Lu Xin: "Go out for a moment and make room for me."
Lu Xin: ?
Zhong Yunxi: Next time there's something you want at the poker table, I'll help you win it. I'll win Ning Ye's watch back for you sooner or later.
Lu Xin: Deal.
Lu Xin, holding his phone, said, "I'm going to make a call, it'll only take a minute or two."
As soon as he got up, Zhong Yunxi stood up and sat in his seat, opposite Bai Yi.
Bai Yi: ...
Yu Shiyuan: ?
He leaned forward: "Xiao Yi, what do you want to eat tonight? There's a private chef in Xiangcheng who makes excellent Huaiyang cuisine. The chef is an apprentice of a master chef who makes state banquets. Their crab meat lion's head is really good. Would you like to try it? You really liked Huaiyang cuisine when you were in Yuegang."
Bai Yi's hands didn't stop playing the game, but he got distracted and was quickly eliminated.
She raised her head slightly, frowned, and glanced at Zhong Yunxi. Zhong Yunxi knew that this was her habitual action when she picked a fight with him after losing the game. He just smiled and said, "You keep playing. No rush. Think about it slowly. I'll arrange a place first."
Zhong Yunxi simply rested his chin on his hand and looked at her.
Bai Yi got angry when she saw him and got up to leave the table.
The café is located by the lake, with open views on all sides. Through the glass curtain wall overlooking the lake, the lake surface looks like a mirror shrouded in mist in winter.
The central air conditioning in the room was running at full blast, making one mistakenly believe that the temperature was provided by sunlight streaming in.
Bai Yi went to the hanging chair next to the French windows.
Zhong Yunxi followed her over, and Bai Yi had just sat down when she saw him standing next to her again. She tilted her head slightly and bluntly told him, "Let's set a time to get a divorce before the New Year. New Year, new beginnings, don't leave this year's mess for next year."
Zhong Yunxi shook his head, "I won't leave."
Her eyes were clearly filled with anger as she pointed to the tables and chairs in the distance: "Zhong Yunxi, get out of here. Don't force me to kick you here; it'll make me look rude."
Zhong Yunxi gently rocked her hanging chair, making the two appear very intimate.
"It's okay, kick me all you want, I'm not calling the police, so you're not being rude, and I'll have a chance to hug you." Bai Yi knew better than anyone how persistent he was.
Bai Yi lowered her head, took a deep breath, placed her feet on the crossbar under the chair, rested her elbows on her knees, and looked out the window at the lake. The thin mist on the water still lingered in the sunlight. Her voice and expression softened: "I've already said it, I have a childhood sweetheart, and so do you. Be dignified and let's part amicably."
Zhong Yunxi looked down at her. She was cupping her face in her hands, her rounded pink fingertips dabbing at the corners of her eyes. She had recently gotten pink cat-eye manicures, clear and sparkly. Her aesthetic sense had always been like this: simple and clean.
Zhong Yunxi took a breath: "I don't have a childhood sweetheart, but whether you do or not, I don't mind."
Bai Yi: ...
Are you forcing me to file for divorce?
She didn't want to let him control her emotions; every word she spoke was like a knife, directly severing Zhong Yunxi's roundabout and evasive fantasy of a complete breakup.
Zhong Yunxi's voice softened a bit, and he changed the subject: "Xiaoyi, let's not discuss this issue today, okay? Today we're just having coffee and a meal. We can talk about other things another day."
"Besides divorce, I have nothing to say to you. I don't want to have coffee or meals with you either." Every word Bai Yi uttered was about divorce.
Zhong Yunxi didn't respond to her words, but just said to himself, "Xiaoyi, I've been quite busy lately, so I can only go back to Xiangcheng in the evenings. I'll try to go back on weekends..."
Bai Yi covered her ears, refusing to listen to him.
Zhong Yunxi stopped talking and just stood aside watching her. He was quite content to be able to stay by her side like this occasionally.
When Lu Xin came in, he didn't see the two of them sitting there. He looked around and saw the two of them by the hanging chair, so he roughly knew what had happened after he left.
Yu Shiyuan sat back down and glanced at Lu Xin: "What you're doing is aiding and abetting evil."
Lu Xin sat back down, leaving the two of them in the two furthest diagonal seats they had originally shared. "Have you ever seen Junior Sister joke around with anyone like this before?"
Lu Xin rubbed his forehead and continued, "Although my junior sister has a bad temper, she's selective about who she's with. If you order her a cup of coffee, she'll thank you. She throws gifts that Zhong Yunxi brings back from Hong Kong to Xiangcheng on his private jet every day without batting an eye. Compare that to her, what are you still obsessed with?"
Yu Shiyuan looked at the cold coffee on the table and didn't drink it anymore.
As the party was about to end in the evening, Bai Yi and Pei Xin both said they wanted to eat barbecue, so He Cheng made a reservation for them at a restaurant.
She ignored Zhong Yunxi and simply looked at Lu Xin, calling him "Senior Brother".
Lu Xin immediately channeled his inner master of impartiality. He had already helped Zhong Yunxi once today by letting him sit at the table and drink coffee, and now it was time to help his junior sister.
In the end, Zhong Yunxi didn't get to have a meal with Bai Yi.
He went with Lu Xin to the private Huaiyang cuisine restaurant they had booked, partly as a way of thanking Lu Xin for taking him and Bai Yi for coffee. However, his expectations were a bit too high; Bai Yi didn't come to dinner, and he found the meal rather unappetizing.
"Can you tell me what you did this time? Why is Junior Sister so angry?"
Zhong Yunxi poured half a glass of red wine for Lu Xin. Lu Xin had never seen Zhong Yunxi pour wine for anyone before. He reached for the bottle and asked, "Did you cheat on me?"
"I blurted out, 'I asked her if she lied to me about the two-year marriage agreement because of Yu Shiyuan.'"
Lu Xin: ...
"Last time we were drinking in Vietnam and Hong Kong, you didn't listen to a word I said. Giving you a ring was too good for you."
Zhong Yunxi pinched the bridge of his nose: "Maybe my brain was fried back then."
"You shouldn't bother her for a while. Go back to Yuegang and do what you need to do. Junior Sister probably wants some peace and quiet too." Lu Xin didn't want to see him relentlessly pressuring Bai Yi anymore.
Zhong Yunxi looked up at Lu Xin: "Impossible. If I don't pester her, she'll be able to completely let me go in just a few days."
He showed Lu Xin the surveillance video from the hospital that day, saying, "You've known Xiaoyi for so many years, but you don't understand her as well as I do. She even went to the hospital to see me back then. She didn't just hate me; she really wanted to give up and let go. I won't give her that time to let go of me."
Lu Xin felt heartbroken watching this and slammed his phone face down on the table: "She doesn't hate you, she hates herself. It's even more difficult than hating you. One sentence from you negated all her feelings. If you had said it in front of Yu Shiyuan, he would have set off fireworks to celebrate your rival's self-destruction."
"Yes, today is the first time she has spoken to me this week, and she only mentioned divorce, trying to draw a line between us."
Lu Xin asked, "You haven't seen anyone when you go back to Yuegang every day?"
Zhong Yunxi took another sip of red wine: "Yes, but she knows I'm here."
Lu Xin nodded and smiled helplessly: "Alright, at least my junior sister knows that her worthless husband is hanging around downstairs again. That counts as clocking in. Anyway, I'm never coming to Xiangcheng to be your outside help again. You're too much of a jerk. Good luck to you."
Zhong Yunxi was about to refill his glass when Lu Xin covered the rim with his fingers and said, "No, I really can't afford this wine."
After finishing his meal, Lu Xin got up, picked up his coat, and left the table.
Zhong Yunxi came to the coffee shop again on Sunday. He sat in the same seat as yesterday. When he was working, he was always distracted and stared blankly at the hanging chair not far away.
He knew perfectly well that Bai Yi wouldn't come again. But this was the first time in so many days that the two of them had been so close, even if they hadn't exchanged more than a few words.
The new week began, and Monday was Laba Festival. Zhong Yunxi landed in Xiangcheng before dinner and delivered Laba porridge to the city.
Grandma looked down from the balcony and saw Zhong Yunxi looking travel-worn. She sighed and said to Aunt Sun, "Let him come up. He lives alone in Xiangcheng. It's a holiday, after all. He flew over a thousand kilometers after get off work. In the twelfth lunar month, he'll be home to a cold house."
Upon hearing her grandmother's words, Bai Yi got up from the living room and went back to her bedroom.
"Xiaoyi, come out for dinner later," her grandmother called out to her.
When Zhong Yunxi went upstairs, he asked Aunt Sun, "Is Xiaoyi home?"
"Yes, she likes to eat at home for holidays."
As soon as he entered the door, he didn't see Bai Yi in the living room. Before taking off his coat, he touched his pocket and found two limited-edition brooches that the luxury brand's product selection manager had recommended to him a few days ago. He put them into a small bag on the pegboard by the door.
Grandpa pointed to Bai Yi's room and said with a smile, "She was just watching a documentary in the living room. When I asked you to come up, she went into the bedroom. Look, it's a holiday, and she's upset."
Zhong Yunxi could tell that his grandfather didn't actually want him to come into the family. Compared to his efforts to curry favor, they cared more about Bai Yi's feelings.
Many families sacrifice their children's feelings in front of outsiders for the sake of so-called good manners and appearances, but the grandfather truly loves his granddaughter.
Grandma sighed, "Please sit down and have some water. If Xiaoyi doesn't want to come out to see you during the meal, we can't keep you for dinner."
Zhong Yunxi hummed in agreement. "I'll just come to see her. The hotel has catering services 24 hours a day. I can eat when I get back to the hotel."
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