Chapter 42 Soft hands cupped his face, Li…
Soft hands cupped his face, Li Li's fingers traced his lips, and she tilted her head on the white pillow, saying, "I was just joking, Brother Tan Su."
The way he was addressed stung him inexplicably. Tan Su grabbed his waist, pulled him up, and pressed him down into his lap, biting his ear angrily as he asked, "Who are you thinking about at a time like this? Hmm?"
Around 7 a.m., Li Li finished fooling around with Tan Su in the bathroom and was carried out of the bathroom by him in high spirits. There were casual clothes that Chen Ya had sent on the sofa outside.
She thought, "This secretary is really competent."
After quickly getting dressed, Tan Su went downstairs to take her to eat. Li Li was starving and, seeing a tea restaurant by the roadside, said, "Let's just eat here, I can't walk anymore."
After ordering, the food was served. Li Li had been hungry all night, and the French toast with its thick layer of peanut sauce whetted her appetite. The flavor, which she used to find greasy, tasted incredibly delicious today.
She then saw the dessert shop across the street and said imperiously, "Tan Su, I want to drink sago pudding, mango."
Tan Su knew she had many eating problems, so he left without saying a word.
Li Li was eating when she turned on her phone, and countless new messages popped up the moment she connected to the internet.
She looked around for a while, then took the toast in her hand and went out the door. She checked the sign in front of the door and sent out her location.
The sun was shining brightly today, and Li Li squinted slightly. The breeze was refreshing, and above her head was a clear blue sky with irregular patterns cut out by the surrounding square buildings.
In this city, which boasts some of the world's highest housing prices, the living space for ordinary people is extremely cramped, surrounded by a constant flow of people.
Everyone has so much to do for today's meals and tomorrow's shelter.
Looking at it this way, I have a lot of freedom now, so I must be very lucky to have been born into such a good family!
Tan Su took out his takeout drink and saw Li Li looking around on the other side of the road. She was wearing high-waisted jeans and a pure white shirt with the top two buttons undone. She wore the simple outfit in a refreshing and beautiful way.
He waited at the traffic light, crossed the road, inserted a straw into his cold drink, and held it to Li Li's lips as she ate toast. She put it in her mouth.
During her time working at Yanqi, Li Li would often experiment with strange and unusual makeup looks when she was bored. Now, she was standing in front of me with a bare face, and the girl in her early twenties looked pure and beautiful without any artificial makeup.
Tan Su was pleased and lowered his head, wanting to ask her for a kiss.
Li Li took a half step back without changing her expression, avoiding the situation.
She said, "My brother lives not far from here and could come over at any time."
Tan Su's heart sank. In the morning, when they were washing up in the bathroom, they could still hug each other and play and kiss on the sink, but once they stepped out of that door, Li Li seemed to automatically clear everything away.
Sure enough, she swallowed the last bite, patted the crumbs off her palm, and said with a very nonchalant yet earnest tone, "I am very grateful to you for helping me yesterday, Brother Tan Su."
“You’re a little better than I thought,” she said.
"But I have never had any romantic feelings for you. And please, please don't think that just because you're so much older than me, you have to take responsibility for me or anything like that."
Li Li blinked: "It's only a one-night thing."
Tan Su looked at her. He had no experience in handling intimate relationships, let alone how to hold onto a slippery little mudfish that would take advantage of him and then leave.
He asked, "So none of it counts?"
Li Li said slyly, "Then I didn't take your nonsense promises seriously either."
Tan Su said, "If you really want to see me..."
Before he could finish speaking, Li Li was already distracted. She suddenly raised her hand and waved it high onto the road a few times. A car quickly broke away from the group, drove over, and stopped on the side of the road.
As Li Li backed away, she said goodbye to him, "Tan Su, could you please get some of the millet's vaccines and documents for me? Then please help me with the paperwork to take them back to the mainland and deliver them to my home. Thank you!"
She didn't look at Tan Su, who was still holding the cold drink, and turned around and ran away. She went to the car, opened the door, and left without looking back.
Li Zhoudu sat in the back seat of the car. He hadn't slept all night, his eyes were bloodshot, and stubble was growing on his chin.
Yesterday, Li Li ran away, and his family was terrified. While calming himself down, he called Wenxi to tell his family to keep it from his grandmother and quickly sent people to block the train and bus stations. At the same time, he arranged for people here to knock on doors in Jixi.
After finally finding her on the surveillance footage, they saw Li Li get into a stranger's van in a daze. When her aunt, who was the last to see Li Li at home, saw this, her legs went weak and she almost fell over, but the policewoman hurriedly helped her up.
The police quickly located Wang Zhuokang through his license plate number. When a large group of cars arrived at his home, they discovered that he had just returned.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Wang Zhuokang took several solid punches from Li Zhoudu and was repeatedly interrogated by him. He raised his hands and swore a solemn oath, insisting that he had done nothing and that he had only helped take Li Li to the airport.
Li Zhoudu instructed those around him to keep an eye on Wang Zhuokang, and then took off overnight to find Tan Yi in Hong Kong, only to find him gone again.
Tan Yi reeked of alcohol, and he seemed so ethereal that his very soul had been ripped from his body.
He looked at Li Zhoudu and admitted, "Li Li came, but left again."
Only then did Li Zhoudu feel a little warmth in his icy hands and feet, and he finally regained his breath and came back to life.
He pushed Tan Yi aside in disbelief and went into the house. He checked each room one by one to make sure no one was there before asking, "Where is everyone?"
Tan Yi avoided the question: "Tan Su took it away, so it should be fine."
Li Zhoudu found this answer outrageous: "In the middle of the night, you let a girl be taken away by another man. What makes you think you can guarantee she'll be alright?!"
Tan Yi remained silent.
Seeing that he couldn't get any more information, Li Zhoudu went downstairs and left. He couldn't get through to Tan Su on the phone either, and his car drove aimlessly around the road all night.
Originally, Li Zhoudu planned to find her this time and give her a good scolding and a lesson, asking her what the hell she was thinking, why she ran away from home, and what the hell she was doing last night without turning her phone on.
But once Li Li got in the car, she slumped headfirst onto Li Zhoudu's shoulder. She rubbed her eyes and mumbled, "I'm so sleepy. Wake me up when we get to the airport."
Li Zhoudu didn't get a chance to ask his questions.
Li Li then said, "Oh, I broke up with Tan Yi."
After saying that, she said nothing more.
Li Zhoudu looked down at her, raised his arm to make room for Li Li, and she immediately nestled into his chest to find a comfortable position and quickly fell asleep.
As the sun rises, it falls on my eyelids, revealing the bright red of the veins in my vision.
He might have fallen asleep last night, or he might not have slept at all. Bottle after bottle of alcohol he drank couldn't bring him sleep, but it did cause a severe headache. When the doorbell rang, Tan Yi opened his eyes.
His feet felt unsteady, but his mind was perfectly clear as he saw Tan Su standing before him.
He said, "I've come to pick up the cat's vaccination record and other materials."
Tan Yi said, "I'll go get it."
He turned and went to the bedroom, but suddenly stumbled and fell heavily to the ground.
Tan Yi suddenly didn't want to move anymore. He felt very tired and lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling with his eyes open.
Tan Su walked past him, rummaged through the bedside table and found some of Su Mi's things, then saw several silver diamonds that the owner hadn't finished using.
His leather shoes stopped beside him. He squatted down, stared into Tan Yi's eyes, and said, "I always thought that you at least had some bottom line when it came to Li Li."
Tan Yi's eyes fell on the bloodstains on Tan Su's neck and the ambiguous red marks under the two unbuttoned shirt buttons. His body trembled involuntarily, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed repeatedly.
He said after a long pause, "If I had a bottom line, how could my elder brother have gotten what he wanted?"
"So, do I need to thank you?" Tan Su grabbed Tan Yi's collar and stared at him intently as he asked, "You tried to take her there once and failed, so you came a second time?"
Tan Yi, who was completely drunk and lying on the ground, laughed through his tears: "But brother, you clearly like it a lot, don't you?"
"You've liked it a lot from the very beginning."
"How warm and radiant the kitten is! All the sunshine in the sky seems to fall around her. Who wouldn't love her?"
Looking at Tan Su's noncommittal gaze, he countered, "You waited by the elevator for a long time yesterday, just to see how I would completely break her heart? Or perhaps you'd been waiting to take over even longer?"
Tan Yi turned his head away and said, "A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime. If I don't break up with him, my brother won't be able to complete the equity transfer smoothly, and he won't be able to push Huisheng to go public. In the end, he will still force me to keep pushing the cat to you again and again."
"I'm tired of it."
——
Tan Su returned to S City two nights later. When the plane landed, Su Mi was packed in a flight case and handed to him.
The sky was dotted with stars, and a gentle breeze blew in through the car window. Tan Su was driving and, while waiting at a traffic light, touched his pink nose with his finger through the mesh.
Hearing its affectionate meows, Tan Su said, "I wonder if your mother will try to renege on your promise again this time?"
Half an hour later, the car drove directly into the Li family's house. Tan Su got out of the car carrying the airline case, which was taken by the housekeeper, and then he was welcomed inside for tea.
Around 10 o'clock, the Li family was unusually quiet, with only Wenxi present, who invited him to sit down.
Tan Su looked up at the upstairs and asked, "Isn't Li Li here?"
Wenxi poured him some tea and said, "Little Cat has left with her mother. Zhoudu took her there this morning."
"So urgent?"
Wenxi learned from Li Zhoudu that Li Li was finally picked up from Tan Su that day. He must have known about Xiao Mao'er's foolish act of running away from home. Wenxi sighed and said, "The time she ran to Hong Kong, she scared Fu Jing and his wife half to death. They were afraid she would cause trouble if she stayed there, so they took her away first."
Tan Su lowered his eyes, took a sip of tea, and remained silent.
Wenxi said, "I still have to thank you for that day, Tan Su. I'm sorry for causing you trouble."
“Of course,” he replied.
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Author's Note: Updated!
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