Chapter 16: Admiring a Beauty Under the Lamp
office
Shan Yan slammed the file onto Song Mingli's desk with a "thud": "Here, take a look."
Song Mingli raised an eyebrow, opened the report, and read it quickly. At first, his expression was normal, but the more he read, the more serious his expression became.
Dan Yan lay back on the sofa and rubbed his eyes, which were now bloodshot from staying up all night for the past two weeks: "Last weekend, that bastard finally couldn't hold back and slipped up. Our people had been on guard for several days, but he still managed to get away at the last minute. Guess who we caught in the end? Hey, Dong Yu."
"It's the one you used to drive out of St. Francis a few years ago."
Song Mingli's brow twitched: "Speak properly. What do you mean I used underhanded methods? I followed all the normal reporting procedures."
Dan Yan shrugged: "Just keep your act up... He's being interrogated by the criminal investigation department in the detention center right now, but he insists it was his idea all by himself. His family is crying and making a scene outside, claiming he's innocent. I heard the Xi family is also pulling strings... They've caught him red-handed."
Song Mingli's eyes flashed with mockery: "The Dong family only has this one precious child."
"Follow-up..."
"You don't need to worry about the rest. Just be a helpful citizen, and we'll take care of the rest." Shan Yan stood up and walked to the table, then suddenly remembered something: "Speaking of which, it's almost Chairman Song's birthday, isn't it?"
Song Mingli nodded, and Shan Yan smiled and said, "Please give my regards to your uncle. I'll be leaving again after this. Shan Qi will be attending the banquet."
Mentioning Shan Yan gives me a headache: "That rascal, my aunt just called me the day before yesterday and said he might be dating someone and they're always hanging out together. Apparently, they've known each other for quite a while. He's never home, I don't know what he's up to."
Song Mingli's expression softened slightly, revealing a rare hint of teasing: "Your good little brother."
However, his smile quickly faded. On this rare weekend off, Song Mingli had arranged for tickets to the latest art exhibition and booked a table at a restaurant that was supposedly famous for its food. Before he could even say anything to Shixue, the doorbell rang.
Song Mingli frowned. Clearly, no visitors had been arranged, so who was so inconsiderate?
The maid stepped forward first and, upon receiving a signal, opened the door. The person who was clinging to the door was caught off guard and nearly fell over due to inertia. He managed to steady himself just before hitting the ground. Before he could even catch his breath, he caught a glimpse of the person standing in front of him and exclaimed in shock, "Brother Li?!"
Song Mingli frowned deeply: "Why are you here?"
Shan Qi felt wronged and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a person slowly descended the escalator from the second floor. Ying Shixue looked over and asked, "...Shan Qi?"
Dan Qi, feeling like he'd been saved, dashed over and peeked out from behind Ying Shixue: "Brother Li, I'm here to help Xue with her homework!"
Song Mingli looked at him, and Ying Shixue nodded: "Yes, we have to submit the final graduation project form soon. We're in the same group, so we have to work together."
Are you going to work at SK today?
We, and you.
Song Mingli glanced at the words, gritted his teeth, and said in a hard tone, "No."
If you don't want to go, then you don't have to.
Ying Shixue looked at him with some doubt, but Song Mingli was sometimes just temperamental, so he didn't pay much attention to it: "Then let's go to the study first."
Only after entering the study on the second floor and closing the door did Shan Qi finally relax. He plopped down in a chair, glanced at the water on the table, picked it up, and gulped it all down in one go. He finally let out a sigh of relief: "My god, that scared me to death! Your brother's temper is getting worse as he gets older."
Ying Shixue, who was looking for some materials by the bookshelf, casually replied, "It's alright."
"All right?!" Shan Qi was about to jump up: "What do you mean all right? You didn't even see the look he gave me after I told him I came to ask you to help me with my homework. I thought he wanted to eat me alive!"
Ying Shixue paused, recalling the scene downstairs just now. After a moment, she lowered her eyes and continued flipping through the book as if nothing had happened: "...Is that so?"
Dan Qi, completely oblivious to the subtle change, muttered, "Yeah,"
"I didn't come here to ask you for anything else. I came here to seriously study together on a school assignment. The way he looked at me was like..."
Dan Qi hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Like watching a pig stealing my cabbage... Ahhhh, that's not right either."
He realized the ambiguity of his words as soon as he said them, and after scratching his head for a long time, he couldn't think of a suitable word. Finally, he decided to give up if he couldn't think of one, and slumped onto the table: "Let's do our homework first."
-
Living room, first floor
The maid who had just opened the door was so frightened by the oppressive atmosphere around the young master that she slipped away without fear of being caught in the crossfire. Song Mingli was holding the exhibition tickets that had been abandoned halfway through the journey, when his phone suddenly rang.
“President Song,” Tang Ronghan began, “the restaurant in the sky doesn’t have enough large salmon. The head chef asked if it would be okay to use blue knife fish, which were just caught and air-freighted from the Zeliu River this year during the rainy season, instead. Their meat quality…”
"No."
Huh? Tang Ronghan took her phone down and glanced at the call screen again. It was indeed a call to the boss. Didn't she plan to take the young master out for a stroll this morning on her day off after returning from Yuancheng?
"President Song..." Before she could finish speaking, the call was abruptly cut off.
Tang Ronghan touched her nose, puzzled. What was wrong with the boss now?
Song Mingli sat back on the sofa, his face grim. He waited for a while, about to pick up his phone again to call the company to handle work, when in a flash he remembered what Shan Yan had said in the office that day:
"...dating...spending every day together...knowing each other for quite some time..."
...！ ！ ！
Song Mingli stood up abruptly, the veins on his arms bulging.
Ten minutes later, in the study, there was a knock.
Ying Shixue was calculating data when she heard the voice and looked up from a pile of scratch paper: "Come in."
The study door opened slowly, and Song Mingli steadily held a fruit plate in his hands.
Dan Qi, who had been sitting sprawled out on the chair with his legs crossed, suddenly sat up straight and put his legs together properly when he saw him come in.
Song Mingli frowned imperceptibly, but his expression remained unchanged. He placed the fruit plate on the side of the table where there were no books: "Making a project schedule?"
Ying Shixue hummed in agreement, and slowly put down her pen.
Shan Qi was initially nervous, but seeing that he was just like an ordinary family helping to take care of a classmate by bringing a fruit platter, he gradually relaxed and even boldly picked a cherry from the fruit platter to eat.
As a result, Song Mingli actually went around to the bookshelf, took a book down, glanced at it, and then sat down in a leather executive chair.
Wait, Shan Qi's smile froze halfway: He sat down, he sat down?
He almost choked on the cherry pit and suddenly coughed violently. While choking, he desperately tried to signal to Ying Shixue with his eyes: What's wrong with your brother?
Ying Shixue looked away coolly, shook her head slightly to indicate that she didn't know, and then lowered her head to continue calculating the data.
No. Shan Qi spat the pit in his mouth into the nearby trash can, his eyes twitching as he winked: "If you don't do something about this, how are we supposed to do our homework with your brother here?"
Ying Shixue remained calm and composed, seemingly unaffected.
They were sitting opposite each other at this desk. At first, it was because there was more space, but now Shan Qi only regrets it. With so much space between them, it's not easy to even whisper a word. Ying Shixue is still there, holding a pen and writing.
He gritted his teeth, moved his leg under the table to try and touch Ying Shixue's knee, but the next second Song Mingli's eyes shot over as if they were equipped with X-rays.
Holy crap! Shan Qi was jolted awake. What's going on? Wasn't Brother Li reading a book? Why did he look over as soon as he moved?
When one plan failed, Shan Qi thought for a while and then tore off a small piece of white paper from his notebook: "Isn't your brother going to work today?"
Ying Shixue: I don't know, I probably won't go.
Dan: Doesn't he have anything else to do?
Response: I don't know
Dan Qi was getting a little anxious. Just as he was about to write something on the small piece of paper, he suddenly heard two coughs beside his ear.
Dan Qi's hand holding the pen trembled, and he became completely obedient.
Fortunately, Song Mingli didn't have anything else to do besides reading here, and Shan Qi gradually relaxed and got back to work on the project schedule after being nervous at first.
The three people in the study were in harmony and quiet for a while. A day passed in the blink of an eye. In the evening, Shan Qi finally looked up from a pile of documents, stretched lazily, and there were still tears left from yawning in the corners of his eyes.
"Aren't you staying for dinner?" Ying Shixue asked him.
"No, no," Shan Qi shook his head. Actually, he came here to complete a school assignment and also to avoid his mother's interrogation. He didn't expect there to be something even more terrifying than his mother here. Come to think of it, his mother didn't watch him as closely as Song Mingli watched Xiaoxue.
Dan Qi muttered to himself, packed his schoolbag, and opened the door: "I'm off now, Xue~"
The door closed again, and Aunt He had already set the food on the table inside the restaurant.
Song Mingli stood behind him, watching Ying Shixue's back still staring at the door, his expression dark and unfathomable. After a long while, he slowly spoke: "...Let's eat first."
Ying Shixue sat at the table, quietly eating her dinner.
He was wearing only a thin loungewear, his slender collarbone visible at the neckline. The slanted light from the ceiling shone down, creating a hazy, veiled effect, making his skin appear snow-white and translucent, almost revealing the flow of his bones beneath.
Aunt He's cooking skills have always been excellent. After Ying Shixue finished eating, she put down her chopsticks and said, "I'm going back to my room now."
"etc."
Song Mingli also put down his chopsticks and slowly pulled out a tissue to wipe his hands.
"Let's talk."
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