late at night
Lu Xin had always wanted Bai Yi to return to Yuegang, so he tentatively asked, "I think whether Junior Sister will be willing to stay in Yuegang in two years depends on Zhong Yunxi. If he puts in the effort, you might just stay here if you're happy, right?"
Even if Bai Yi stays in Yuegang, it's not necessarily because of Zhong Yunxi.
She stared blankly at the coffee cup, unwilling to think about her future with Zhong Yunxi. She felt that Zhong Yunxi had successfully conducted a compliance test for her, and the thought of "divorce in two years" made her very agitated.
If initially she was afraid of being let down because she didn't understand Zhong Yunxi, then she took a desperate gamble to buy herself a chance to back out. Now, she still doesn't understand Zhong Yunxi.
She shook her head, then suddenly smiled: "Senior brother, have you ever seen Zhong Yunxin work so hard? I don't think he even realizes it himself."
This question left Lu Xin speechless.
There's nothing that requires Zhong Yunxi's effort.
Yu Shiyuan asked, "How's your work at Runhe? Are you busy?"
"I'm not busy. I only worked two days this week. I had a headache on Wednesday, so Zhong Yunxi helped me get a day off." As she spoke, she couldn't help but cover her eyes and laugh.
Yu Shiyuan chuckled and sighed, "Does Professor Wu know you're working like this in Yuegang?"
Lu Xin interrupted Yu Shiyuan: "Don't say that. If Teacher Wu knew she was sick, she would ask me to cover for her at work. Zhong Yunxi would be very useful at this time, right, junior sister?"
Bai Yi denies being a lazy bum: "I don't only have work at Runhe. Teacher Wu asked me to follow up on the project I'm working on with Sijian Pharmaceuticals. I've been working on it with Ren Xiao recently."
When Lu Xin heard about Sijian Pharmaceuticals, he remarked, "I heard that Sijian is going to make internal adjustments."
Bai Yi had heard Ren Xiao say the same thing: "It seems so, but Ren Xiao said it wouldn't affect our project."
"That's good." Lu Xin nodded.
It started to drizzle outside. Wang Ma brought her a blanket and draped it over her shoulders.
The three people were having afternoon tea, chatting and playing cards.
Lu Xin shuffled the cards and said with a smile, "If my junior sister loses, I'll make Zhong Yunxi drink for me at the next dinner party."
He can't beat Zhong Yunxi, but he can't beat Bai Yi either.
Bai Yi agreed without even asking Zhong Yunxi, "Sure."
Yesterday I advised Zhong Yunxi to drink less, and he used the excuse of trying to conceive to mock me. Well then, I'll just give him a bigger dose of alcohol.
She was already bad at cards, and if Yu Shiyuan didn't secretly feed her cards, Zhong Yunxi would drink until she had a stomach hemorrhage at the next dinner party with her childhood friends.
In the end, he only lost three cups of wine to Zhong Yunxi.
As evening approached, the two left.
The two cars drove out one after the other, narrowly missing the cars that were coming in.
Lu Xin called Zhong Yunxi, but no one answered. He then sent a text message: "Your wife lost three drinks for you. We'll see how you behave at the next dinner party." [Smile]
Zhong Yunxi had just taken off. Too lazy to chat with Lu Xin, he called Bai Yi instead.
Aunt Wang was clearing away the tea and snacks in the living room when she asked her what she wanted for dinner. She said she wouldn't eat there.
Zhong Yunxi said he would be back on Friday, and he would definitely come to pick her up and take her back to Boyuntan.
She answered the phone and asked, "You're back?"
Zhong Yunxi asked first, "Did you lose to Lu Xin this afternoon?"
Bai Yi laughed and said, "Did your senior brother tell you?"
"Okay, let's owe him for now, and you can win it back next time, okay?"
The doorbell rang, but she didn't pay attention. Wang Ma went to the yard to open the door.
"I can't beat him." Bai Yi understood that he didn't want to drink those few glasses of wine.
Zhong Yunxi laughed and said, "I'll help you."
"Cheating?" She had heard her senior say that Zhong Yunxi was very good at playing cards.
Zhong Yunxi only said, "You can't lose to him in anything else but drinking. Didn't you advise me to drink less yesterday?"
He wouldn't allow her to take back the concern he had expressed.
"Xiao Yi." Chen Zhaoyang entered the room, soaked from the rain, his eyes filled with exhaustion and despair, exuding a damp and gloomy aura.
Bai Yi turned around and said coldly, "What are you doing here?"
Zhong Yunxi asked over the phone, "What's wrong?"
Bai Yi simply said, "Someone's coming to my house, so I won't tell you."
Before she hung up the phone, Zhong Yunxi said, "I'll come pick you up after I land."
She put away her phone and went upstairs.
Chen Zhaoyang stood at the door, hesitant to speak. He hadn't figured out how to tell Bai Yi, his uncle wasn't home, and Bai Yi never liked to talk to him.
He knew he was useless and had to rely on his uncle for everything, and he always tried to please Bai Yi. But he never expected that Bai Yi would hate him so much, wishing he could go to jail.
He was hit by her with a vase once when he was in college, and he has since become much more restrained.
Bai Yi came downstairs after Bai Yeliang returned.
Chen Zhaoyang stood dejectedly in the living room. He had been sued by Tiansheng for nearly a month, and the trial was about to begin. He was overwhelmed with worry every day. Bai Yeliang had found him the best defense lawyer, who had analyzed the situation with him extensively, but he remained completely lost.
His mother, Bai Xinxia, suffered a vertigo attack from the stress and has been hospitalized for a week. Bai Yeliang arranged for someone to take care of her.
His emotions finally broke down the moment Zhou Qi approached him.
It turned out he was nothing more than a pawn used and discarded by someone else. He had thought it might be Zhou Qi, but it turned out he wasn't discarded by Zhou Qi; it was someone else.
For so many years, before Zhou Qi caught up with Bai Yi, he always felt like he was under a sword of Damocles, waiting for Bai Yi to reject him, at which point he would suffer the consequences.
He had always maintained a close relationship with Zhou Qi, hoping that when Bai Yizhen rejected Zhou Qi, Zhou Qi would show leniency and not target him too much, based on their years of friendship.
But he didn't expect it to be the worst outcome.
Chen Zhaoyang sat on the sofa, elbows propped on his knees, shoulders slumped, head drooping, eyes red. "Uncle, Zhou Qi said that Zhong Yunxi forced Vice Chairman Zhou to mess with me. He's with Xiaoyi. Xiaoyi... Now everyone in Zhou Qi's circle knows it's an internal power struggle within our own family."
Bai Yi was coming downstairs when he heard this. He walked over, grabbed Chen Zhaoyang's shoulder, and pushed him to look up: "Say it again?"
Chen Zhaoyang dared not say anything more.
Bai Yeliang stood up and pulled his daughter down, saying, "Sit down."
She shook off her father's hand and pointed at Chen Zhaoyang: "Even if I did it with Zhong Yunxi, Chen Zhaoyang, shouldn't you go to jail? You should have been sent there ten years ago, back then..."
"Xiao Yi," Bai Yeliang interrupted her.
Chen Zhaoyang also stood up: "I did make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. You didn't send me to jail, but you almost sent me to the ICU."
Bai Yi glared at him, glanced around, saw the vase on the other side of Chen Zhaoyang, pushed him aside, and was about to go and take it.
Chen Zhaoyang reacted almost instantly, grabbing her arm with one hand and taking the vase with the other: "Xiaoyi, why don't you just go to the kitchen and find a knife to kill me?"
Bai Yeliang pulled his daughter over, then turned to Chen Zhaoyang and said, "Go back first and let the lawyer do his best to help you sort out your relationships and fight the lawsuit. What's the point of pursuing these things now?"
Chen Zhaoyang didn't come today just to tell them the whole story; he also hoped to persuade his uncle to help him: "Uncle, Zhong Yunxi is a shareholder of Tiansheng; one word from him..."
Bai Yeliang was also furious: "Embezzlement is a criminal case. Even if he were the King of Heaven, he couldn't get away with it. You deserve to suffer this lawsuit, and you should learn your lesson."
Bai Yi grabbed the sofa back and threw it at Chen Zhaoyang, crying as she said to her father, "Dad, did you hear that? Your nephew is trying to take advantage of Zhong Yunxi."
She told Chen Zhaoyang to get out: "If you ever step into my house again, I'll sue you for trespassing, and you'll be going to jail again."
Chen Zhaoyang wiped his face. "Uncle, I know I'm useless. Over the years, I've been trying to change and learn to do things properly."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Bai Yeliang took the towel Li Wan handed him and wiped Bai Yi's face: "Xiao Yi, don't cry."
Bai Yi took a towel and covered her eyes. After what seemed like a long time, she suddenly asked, "Dad, do you remember the night Chen Zhaoyang was removed from the list of Tiansheng? Zhong Yunxi brought me milk tea."
Bai Yeliang paused for a few seconds, then sighed inwardly, "I remember."
She cried again: "That day, I was the one who asked him to come. I deleted him from my friends list, and he couldn't add me back for days. He knew that Chen Zhaoyang had his accident that day, and he was sure I would be afraid that Tiansheng's incident would affect you. He knew everything, didn't he?"
Bai Yeliang patted her back: "Don't cry, it's all in the past."
Bai Yi took a deep breath: "I only found out about the past now. It was on that day that I told him that his marriage proposal was not sincere. He knew that I would accept the marriage proposal he made. He knew everything."
“Zhou Qi, I ran into him in Sunan. I didn’t understand what he was saying back then, but I do now. Dad, how could anyone be as stupid as me?”
Bai Yeliang couldn't stop crying when he heard her no longer mention Chen Zhaoyang and just rambling on about her and Zhong Yunxi. He tried to distract her: "Xiaoyi, are you hungry? I'll have Wang Ma cook you a bowl of vegetarian noodles."
She got up and went upstairs.
Bai Yeliang called Zhong Yunxi and asked, "Are you on a business trip?"
Zhong Yunxi said, "I just arrived at the Vietnam-Hong Kong airport. Dad, what happened?"
Bai Yeliang didn't know how to tell him, so he sighed and said, "Just now, Chen Zhaoyang came to my house and said that he was sued by Tiansheng, and that you asked the Zhou family to do it behind the scenes."
Zhong Yunxi remained silent. He had considered this possibility, but Zhong Yunxi had always had a gambler's mentality and a bandit's style.
When he wanted to marry Bai Yi, he couldn't control his thoughts and actions.
He couldn't wait and resorted to any means to get her first.
"What were you thinking? If you're going to pursue Xiaoyi, then pursue her properly. What kind of thing did you do? I've raised her all these years, and I've never let her cry like this before."
Bai Yeliang believed that Zhong Yunxi was only using his status as a shareholder of Tiansheng to get close to Bai Yi and let her know that he was no less than the Zhou family and that she didn't need to be afraid of Zhou Qi.
But he never expected Zhong Yunxi to do something like this. This wasn't pursuing a girlfriend; it was like catching a bird. With his own daughter being schemed against like this, he could hardly care about Zhong Yunxi's status anymore, and his tone inevitably became a bit harsh.
"Dad, I'm sorry, I'll be back soon. I'll explain to her."
Seeing his daughter's reaction today, Bai Yeliang knew that she had truly fallen for Zhong Yunxi, and the more she cared, the less she could tolerate being deceived.
He said helplessly to Zhong Yunxi, "Xiaoyi and Chen Zhaoyang have always been at odds. She's not angry because you're targeting Chen Zhaoyang. You should think carefully about how to explain this to her."
He could have chosen not to say that, leaving Zhong Yunxi confused about the core of his mistake and helping Chen Zhaoyang along the way while making amends. However, when it came to his daughter's important life event, he could no longer have such selfish motives of protecting his nephew.
Zhong Yunxi was so smart that he understood immediately from that one sentence and simply said, "Thank you, Dad."
"Don't thank me yet. If she doesn't forgive you, I won't let you into the house again." Bai Yeliang hung up the phone after saying that.
Zhong Yunxi immediately dialed Bai Yi's number, but as expected, no one answered.
He returned from a dry city in the north to the rainy autumn port of Yuegang.
Traffic flowed particularly slowly in the rain, like winged insects struggling in the mud with their wings wet, their colorful scales losing their luster and becoming dull in the rain.
On the chair next to her were small gifts he had brought back. Bai Yi liked small ornaments, decorations, and dolls. When he was on business trips, he would habitually buy her anything that looked nice.
He opened the box and put the two candy-sized trinkets into his pocket.
The car was parked outside. Without waiting for the driver to get out and open the umbrella, he pushed open the door himself, got out, and rang the doorbell. Wang Ma came out with an umbrella and opened the door. He thanked her and strode inside.
As soon as he entered the living room, Bai Yi came downstairs, rushed up to him, and pushed him out, saying, "Get out."
He didn't use any force, but followed her momentum and retreated step by step.
Bai Yi pushed him out of the house to the porch, then pushed him down the steps to the front door.
Wang Ma hurriedly grabbed an umbrella and followed. Zhong Yunxi took it and held it up to shield Bai Yi from the rain, but Bai Yi snatched the umbrella from him and threw it away.
The rain wasn't heavy, but it gradually soaked through my warm autumn clothes, and the fine, damp, and cold wind was unbearable.
Her indoor slippers were wet with rain. As she turned to go back, Zhong Yunxi put his arm around her shoulder and said, "Go inside and change your shoes. Be careful, the floor is slippery."
"It's none of your business." Bai Yi pushed him away.
In just those two seconds of holding her, Zhong Yunxi felt Bai Yi trembling all over, unsure whether it was from the cold or from anger.
She came in, picked up the roses he had given her that morning from the living room, and threw them out one bunch at a time.
Throwing it down the porch steps wasn't enough; she grabbed it and threw it out the door, along with the bags, clothes, and jewelry he had bought for her.
She threw them all out.
The second time she went out carrying her things, Zhong Yunxi took off his suit jacket to shield her from the rain. He followed her from the porch to the front door to throw the things away.
On her third trip, just as she stepped out of the hall, Zhong Yunxi stopped her: "It's cold outside. You stand here, I'll go throw it away."
Bai Yi pushed him over and walked towards the door.
On the fourth trip, Zhong Yunxi, still wearing his suit, escorted her to the door. Her slippers were soaked, so she kicked them off and went back barefoot.
At this moment, Zhong Yunxi's patience ran out. He threw off his coat, picked her up, and carried her into the house.
Bai Yi placed her hands on his chest, pushed him away, and cried and cursed, "Put me down! You're not allowed in my house. Zhong Yunxi, you bastard, I'll make sure you get out!"
Zhong Yunxi took her to the second-floor bathroom, wrapped her in a blanket, and filled the bathtub with hot water.
"Okay, take a shower first."
Before he went on his business trip, she had a headache and fever in the middle of the night, and she was taking her medicine only sporadically.
Even though he had been using his suit to shield her from the rain, her not-so-thick dress didn't offer much warmth.
He was afraid she would catch a cold and get sick again.
Before she could push him, Zhong Yunxi turned around and went out, standing at the door of her bedroom.
Bai Yeliang knew things would escalate, but he didn't expect it to get this bad.
He went upstairs and saw that Zhong Yunxi was soaking wet. He said, "I'll have Wang Ma take care of her. You can go back now."
Zhong Yunxi was definitely not going to leave, so he asked, "Dad, is there a guest room on the second floor? I just got back from a business trip, and I have some clothes in the car. I'll have the driver bring them up."
Bai Yeliang: ...
"On the first floor."
He pointed to the room next to Bai Yi's bedroom: "Is this Xiao Yi's study?"
Bai Yeliang didn't understand what he meant and said, "Sunroom, music room."
Zhong Yunxi nodded: "I'll go downstairs to the guest bathroom to take a shower, and then stay here tonight."
Bai Yeliang felt it was best for him not to stay on the second floor, as Bai Yi would definitely throw a tantrum if he knew.
“There’s a door between this room and Xiaoyi’s bedroom balcony, which she usually doesn’t lock. She wants to see you in the sunroom…”
Zhong Yunxi replied, "That's perfect."
Bai Yeliang: ...
He didn't say anything more. What else was there to say?
Zhong Yunxi went downstairs, picked up the things Bai Yi had thrown out one by one, put them in the trunk, and instructed the driver: "Send them back to Boyuntan and have the housekeeper and auntie clean them up, exactly as they were, and buy a new set of everything."
He took a shower, and Wang Ma told him to go to the dining room to eat. He asked, "Has Xiao Yi eaten anything?"
Wang Ma said, "It's been taken to the bedroom."
He nodded, drank a bowl of porridge, and went up to the second floor.
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