Spy Storm
Li Yutao was stunned.
Break up? She'd never even considered it. She wanted both the fish and the bear's paw.
She looked up and stared straight at Song Weidong. His eyes held a calmness unlike anything she had ever seen before, as if he had made this decision after careful consideration.
Li Yutao immediately laughed, but after a second, seeing that Song Weidong remained motionless, she quickly suppressed her smile, her expression full of doubt.
"are you serious?"
Song Weidong turned his back to her again, lowered his head and said, "I... didn't hold you back. You still have a long life ahead of you to find someone who truly loves you. With your family background, your brother's support, and your good character, I believe your future will be bright."
Li Yutao didn't feel any better after hearing this.
She turned to face him again, forcefully turning his head to make him look at her. "Has this always been your thought? During our relationship, all you ever thought about was not holding me back?"
Song Weidong's eyes flickered, but he remained silent.
Li Yutao laughed in exasperation, tiptoed and kissed him on the lips, then asked, "How far would it have to go for me to be considered a waste of my time? Even my family knows we've been dating for so long. If I say we haven't done anything, will they believe me?"
“The innocent are innocent.” Song Weidong raised his hand and placed it on her hands, taking her soft hands in his and moving them to his chest.
"After you and your husband get married in the future, he will know that you have always been a virtuous and good girl, and he will definitely treat you well from the bottom of his heart."
"..." Li Yutao looked speechlessly into the corner. "I have a question for you. If I told you I wasn't a virgin, would you be with me?"
"Yes," Song Weidong answered without hesitation. "I'm not with you because you're a virgin."
"Then why did you get together with me? I know I was the one who pursued you, but we haven't done anything intimate or had many intimate moments. If you don't have any feelings for me at all, I don't understand why you agreed to be with me."
“I like you,” Song Weidong suddenly said.
"What?" Li Yutao was stunned.
He never said this when their relationship was at its best, but he said it when they broke up. It was really inappropriate for him to say this.
Song Weidong held her hand tightly and led her to the swing set in the yard.
It was so cold outside that Li Yutao was shivering. She had only wanted to say goodnight to him, but who would have thought he would say something that would keep her awake?
Song Weidong shifted his position, sat down on the swing set first, and unbuttoned his cotton-padded coat. Li Yutao, unsure of what he was doing, frowned and asked, "Are you hot?" The next second, she was pulled into his arms.
She was forced to straddle him, holding him tightly. He closed his coat again, his arms encircling her waist, her warmth filling her from all sides.
This was something she had never experienced before. But why did it happen after he broke up with her?
Li Yutao sniffed and nestled against his shoulder, rubbing against him greedily, somewhat reluctantly: "So it turns out that only your girlfriend can enjoy these things." She said sullenly, "But I didn't agree to break up."
"I won't go to the city hospital," Song Weidong said slowly, tightening his embrace.
“Then I’ll stay with you.” Li Yutao straightened up and stared at him intently. She was gambling, gambling on how much of Song Weidong’s affection was genuine.
If he truly loves her, he should consider the future and her well-being; if it's not genuine, she shouldn't waste her life on someone she doesn't like.
Upon hearing this, Song Weidong's expression hardened. He lowered his eyes, blinked, and remained silent for a long time. Suddenly, he hugged Li Yutao tightly again, just as he had done before, greedily nuzzling her neck, wiping off her scarf, and kissing her several times.
Li Yutao frowned slightly, clenching her teeth and remaining motionless.
After a long while, Song Weidong gently raised his head, looking at her with watery eyes, as if asking for more.
Li Yutao, contrary to her usual behavior, said firmly, "You were the one who suggested breaking up. I don't agree, but I won't do anything more."
"I've always been the one taking the initiative in this relationship, to the point that it seems a bit ridiculous to outsiders. It's actually quite tiring. Although forgetting someone can be painful, I think there might be some truth to what you, being older, are saying. Perhaps I don't need you."
Noticing something amiss below her, she paused. "I hope you'll seriously consider our relationship and stop spouting nonsense. My brother is still here. If you say 'break up' again, I'll really go with him."
After saying that, she ignored the pleading look in Song Weidong's eyes, got up and walked into the house without saying a word.
"Good night." Song Weidong's voice drifted from behind, just like her in the past, clumsy and ingratiating.
The lock clicked shut, and Li Yutao's tears fell in response.
The next morning, before eight o'clock, the phone in the living room rang incessantly, waking up all the adults in the house.
Li Yutao was always grumpy when she woke up. Hearing the noise, she buried her head under the covers again and muttered a few curses in the ear of the soundly sleeping Zhi Meizi.
Xu Tangmian and his wife woke up, but didn't want to move.
Li Qingmang, however, couldn't fall back asleep once he woke up. Since he was close to the phone, he had no choice but to throw on a coat and walk over to answer it, grumbling under his breath. Despite his impatience, he instantly switched to polite Mandarin the moment the call connected.
"Hello, what can I do for you?"
The voice on the other end was excited and said urgently, "Is this Director Yu? I'm from the tape factory."
Li Qingmang frowned and was about to call Yu Chunsheng over when Yu Chunsheng, seemingly oblivious to everything else, blurted out, "Have you watched the Spring Festival Gala? The cassette tapes we collaborated on are selling like hotcakes! It's only the first day of the Lunar New Year, and orders from all over the country are already pouring in like snowflakes!"
"We've already urgently arranged for colleagues from nearby areas to come and work. Don't sit idle over there either, hurry up and arrange for people to come to work! I've noted down all the contracts, you won't be treated unfairly. Remember to reassure your employees, time is money now, seize the opportunity to speed up production!"
Although Li Qingmang wasn't "Boss Yu" himself, he had watched the Spring Festival Gala last night, and the order had reached Yu Chunsheng through his connections, so he roughly understood what the other party meant. He vaguely replied, "Okay, I'll arrange it."
He couldn't delay his business, so after hanging up the phone, he immediately went to the bedroom to knock on the door, just as Yu Chunsheng, dressed neatly, came out.
Yu Chunsheng opened the door a crack and came out, then carefully closed it again, asking softly, "What is it? Are you looking for me?"
“We have too many orders. The tape factory wants you to expedite production,” Li Qingmang said succinctly. “They said the contract will continue and that you need to reassure the employees.”
Thanks to Xu Tangmian's advance "spoiler," this was entirely within Yu Chunsheng's expectations, and he wasn't surprised. He just hadn't dared to gamble on an early reprint for fear of oversight, and now he'd probably have to arrange for someone to come.
Liu Peng was still secretly plotting behind the scenes; it wasn't realistic to call all the employees together for printing on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Everything was proceeding according to plan, and all the paper in the factory was specially sourced from the city's paper mill through Li Qingmang's connections.
Wang Youli was very dedicated to his work; even during the Chinese New Year, he didn't lose contact with his childhood friend who worked at the town's paper mill.
Early one morning on New Year's Day, he wandered over to his childhood friend's house. When his friend invited him in for a couple of drinks, he feigned surprise, "Oh my, it's been so long since we last got together?"
His childhood friend pulled him into the house and told his wife to prepare some dishes so he could chat with his brothers at noon.
Wang Youli frowned and said, "Sigh, you guys have such a good life. Our factory doesn't even give us any benefits for the New Year."
My childhood friend offered me a cigarette. "Why don't you come work at our factory after the New Year?"
"How could I possibly go to your factory? I don't understand your work either."
"That's true." My childhood friend said, "Hey, you could try that newly opened printing factory. They placed a huge order with us before the holiday."
Wang Youli's eyes darted around a couple of times, and he was thinking to himself, "Another order? Do you guys have that much business?" But he said aloud, "Oh? That's not good. He's competing with our boss for business. How can I work for him?"
His childhood friend didn't take it seriously, picked up the thermos and poured him another cup of tea, glaring at him and saying, "Can morality feed you? If the factory goes out of business, so be it, we still have to live our lives! You've endured this for so long, if your factory manager was really a good person, he should have let you go long ago."
Wang Youli nodded, deliberately agreeing with him, "You're right." He suddenly leaned close to his childhood friend and whispered in his ear, "Is that newly opened printing factory really doing so well?"
My childhood friend frowned. "I don't know either. Anyway, every time you guys place an order, he tries to snatch it away. I don't know where he gets the business from."
"He must have a lot of money," Wang Youli chuckled. "Did he settle the balance after you shipped the goods?"
“Not a penny less.” Mentioning his childhood friend, he nodded, his eyes full of admiration. “I heard people say that the boss was a gambler, but I didn’t expect him to be so generous after starting the factory. He has never been in arrears with a single penny.”
Wang Youli understood immediately, leaned over and patted his childhood friend on the shoulder, "Alright! I won't freeload at your house anymore, I'll go check out their factory right now."
"Hey!" His childhood friend stretched out his arm to stop him. "What's the rush? Who's open for business on the first day of the Lunar New Year? They won't be open even if you go there."
“Even if the door isn’t open, there must be someone on duty, right?” Wang Youli chuckled. “I’ll go find out what’s going on.”
After saying that, he ran off in a flash.
The factory manager told him to arrange for three employees who lived near the factory to work with him, and each employee would be paid five times their usual wage, working only half a day.
If he weren't so far away and had to go undercover, he would have wanted to earn that money too!
Unable to make any money, Wang Youli arrived at the printing factory he had inquired about earlier, filled with resentment.
There was only an old man guarding the gate, and when Wang Youli arrived, the old man was carrying a lunchbox home for lunch. The big red iron gate was half open, and Wang Youli glanced at it from afar, only seeing piles of papers, not a single machine.
Not only that, the paper was still stacked there exactly as it was when it was unloaded. It didn't look like a printing plant; it looked more like a paper mill warehouse.
Wang Youli was overjoyed and quickly went back to report the matter to Director Yu.
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