Chapter 74: Extra 4
“Yuli. What on earth are you thinking in that head of yours?” he asked with a smile.
The look of having everything under control made her so guilty that she wanted to run away immediately.
She had taken his money and yet suspected that his money was not clean.
Yuli tried to remedy the situation. “I’m learning about finance.”
“You are writing the third-quarter project summary report. Mingyan Capital is not involved in the business of money laundering,” he said, his hand on the back of the sofa, with a hint of scrutiny.
Yuli’s face gradually turned red. In the end, she couldn’t hold on. She rubbed her face hard with both hands, took out the card, and slapped it on the table.
“I don’t want it anymore.”
Xie Yao was taken aback for a moment, and the corners of his lips curled up. “Then you want to get a marriage license with me.”
“I don’t want that either.”
Xie Yao’s smile faded, and his eyes were deep and calm. “Song Kang’s crime is robbery, which can be sentenced to life imprisonment. If the prosecutor changes it to extortion, the sentence should be many years less.”
Before Yuli could react, he changed the subject. “I’m not threatening you.”
Yuli was not clear about the details of the case. If he hadn’t explained, she really wouldn’t have thought that he was threatening her.
“I wanted to tell you that I can help you solve anything, and everything of mine is also yours. Getting a license and getting married is also the biggest guarantee for you. I can’t figure out why you refuse. Tell me the reason, the real reason.”
Yuli had no time to think. She was enveloped by his gaze and subconsciously followed his train of thought.
“We don’t know each other well enough. Marriage is a lifetime thing and cannot be so rash,” Yuli said, also looking back at him. It was her true words. Although it was partial.
“I also agree,” Xie Yao said, putting away his arms, and his condescending, superior attitude softened at once.
He leaned forward a little, got closer to Yuli, and closed the laptop.
“I think I know you well enough,” he said. “We have been working and living together for almost three months. Tell me, what other concerns do you have about me?”
He put on a very humble and listening posture. Yuli’s mind, on the contrary, wouldn’t turn.
“Let me help you sort out your thoughts. My appearance. My character. My ability. My personality. My living habits.”
He paused for two seconds after each item. Yuli recalled, and she couldn’t find any fault.
But her concerns were also clear. His family would not accept her, and his career might blow up.
“It seems you have an answer. Tell me.”
Yuli was startled. Could he read minds?
Xie Yao looked at her silently, without much emotion. He was also not used to people pointing out his flaws in person. In his previous life, when they were together, she would occasionally say where he had done something wrong, which was also within his expectations. But now, he thought he was perfect enough. She shouldn’t still think he was not good.
Yuli said, “Marriage is a matter of two families. I haven’t met your parents yet.”
Yuli said this also to hand the problem to him, to let him hit a wall with them first, and perhaps he would retreat.
“If you want to see them, I’ll arrange it.”
“I don’t want to.”
Xie Yao’s eyes darkened.
Not having met his parents was a problem, but she didn’t want to see them, and she didn’t want to solve this problem.
Just like in her previous life, she was avoiding being close to him.
In her previous life, at least he was her husband. Now, not to mention that he had no title, if he were to disregard her wishes, he could even be sued for sexual harassment for holding her hand.
He subconsciously showed his majesty and displeasure. Yuli turned her face away, at a loss, restless, and wanted to stand up and walk away. But this was his house, and it was not right for her to go anywhere.
Seeing Yuli’s face was not good, Xie Yao suppressed the restlessness in his heart and immediately compromised. “Mm, there’s no need to see them either.”
Yuli’s face was still pale.
“Let’s not talk about this,” he said, pushing the card to her hand. “My assets are all clean. They don’t need to be washed.”
Yuli turned her face back, a little embarrassed, and wanted to refuse.
“You can use as much as you want, however you want. I guarantee I won’t pursue it. If you’re not at ease, I’ll draw up a gift agreement now.”
Yuli didn’t intend to argue with him about this and had also made up her mind not to spend a single penny.
“I’ll keep it for now,” Yuli said, accepting it.
Xie Yao didn’t think much of it. Yuli had always liked money, and it just so happened that he had a lot. This was his bargaining chip and advantage.
After being interrupted by Xie Yao, Yuli temporarily lost her overtime state.
Xie Yao turned her computer over. “You go and rest. I’ll do it for you.”
He opened the computer without question, opened the document, and began to type.
Yuli really hated working overtime, and this document was for him to use tomorrow afternoon. He knew better what to write.
Yuli was not polite with him and returned to the bedroom.
Xie Yao was also not in the mood to work. He wrote a few key points, expanded them by a hundred words in his usual tone, and sent it to the president’s office group with Yuli’s account.
Then he replied with a “good” with his own account, and the work was done.
*
Near the end of the year.
A snowy day.
Song Kang’s case was about to be sentenced. Before that, Li Meijuan had returned. Under Xie Yao’s operation, Song Kang had simply and neatly divorced her by agreement.
A few days later, the trial began. Yuli went to listen.
She wanted to witness in person how many years this scumbag would be sentenced to.
It was only during the trial that she learned that he had been prosecuted for robbery, and the amount was huge. When he had left, Xie Yao had given him a watch, and that watch was actually worth three million.
In the end, he was sentenced to a suspended death sentence.
Although he had appealed in court, the crime had already been established, and it had nothing to do with her anymore. Yuli let out a long sigh of relief. After leaving the court, she saw Xie Yao.
According to the original novel, there was no such plot of Song Kang being tried.
Yuli had recalled that Song Kang had had a car accident, was paralyzed, and had died after two months of treatment in the hospital.
And that car accident was not unrelated to the male lead.
Now the plot was different. Although it was also related to him, what he did was actually legal and compliant. He had just used his legal team to get the heaviest sentence.
It seemed that he himself was not so uncontrollable.
Looking back, his emotions were very stable. There was no red-eyed pressing against a wall. To this day, besides holding hands and that one kiss, there had been no other contact.
They had also lived together for a long time.
It was very different from the original novel, where they would often get carried away by their passions.
The person before her, it was not that he didn’t want to be intimate with her, but that he wanted to marry her even more, as if he still held the concept that sex could only happen after marriage.
Yuli felt it was unlikely. Where could you find such a man these days?
After getting into the car, Yuli stared at Xie Yao. He let her look.
“Aunt Li told me that she wants to go back to our hometown for the New Year. She’s afraid that you’ll be lonely here, so she asked me to take you home to have a look.”
“What?” Yuli was dumbfounded. “My mom didn’t tell me.”
He smiled. “Aunt Li’s mentality is better than yours.”
His words were sarcastic. Yuli ignored him and wanted to call Li Meijuan.
“I have already told her the verdict. She should be at the train station now and it’s not convenient to answer the phone.”
“How can that be? Then you take me to the train station.”
Xie Yao agreed readily.
When they reached the train station, Xie Yao did not follow her but waited in the car.
Yuli entered the station hall and, after much difficulty, found Li Meijuan. She saw that she was full of energy, and a young girl was with her.
After a few words of pleasantries, she found out that the girl was a caregiver that Xie Yao had hired, who was very approachable and meticulous.
Yuli felt even more of a headache and didn’t want her to go back to her hometown alone like this.
“I’m not used to the big city. It’s so boring,” Li Meijuan said with an unprecedentedly relaxed smile. “In the past, in my hometown, because of Song Kang, I had offended so many relatives. Now that he’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison, I also have to go back and live my normal life. I’m still used to the life in our county, and to be with my old sisters who have helped me.”
“Then there’s no need to be in such a hurry. Wait for me to have my Spring Festival holiday, and I’ll go back with you.”
“I can’t wait,” Li Meijuan still smiled. “I don’t know when this illness of mine will act up again…”
“Mom,” Yuli’s eyes turned slightly red.
Li Meijuan held her hand. “You’re still young. Mom can’t be with you for the rest of your life. Little Xie is a good child.”
Yuli was stunned.
“Think about it, in our Li and Song families combined, how many men go into the kitchen to cook? He can go into the kitchen. In Song Kang’s case, how much effort did he put in, and how well did he handle it? He can go up to the hall. As for the rest, he doesn’t smoke or drink, and he comes home after work. He has a good temper. I think he’s not bad.”
Yuli was speechless. He was not bad, so what?
Li Meijuan was deafening. “I think he would be willing even if you were to have him marry into our family.”
Seeing Yuli in a daze, Li Meijuan continued, “Don’t care about how good-looking he is or how good his family background is. People will get old, and family fortunes may be scattered. Character and living habits are the most important.”
Yuli was speechless.
Li Meijuan didn’t say any more about this. She said there were many reasons why she was going back to her hometown. She had to go to the graves, to pay off the last of her debts, and to maintain the old house. If life in the big city was not good, there was still a hometown to go back to.
In the end, Yuli held back her tears and watched Li Meijuan get on the train.
On the way back, Yuli did not speak. She was a little moved by what Li Meijuan had said, but the turmoil of these years made her very afraid of the unknown and of change.
She would rather live a plain and simple life than to be looked down upon by his parents and friends with a condescending gaze.
She could convince herself that she was very independent and self-reliant and had no need to feel inferior. But in the face of the contempt of people who were indeed of a much higher status than her, she could not talk back and could at most walk away.
But she was indeed a little sorry to Xie Yao.
But it was better to have a short pain than a long one.
Yuli was unusually quiet, and Xie Yao was also silent all the way.
After Li Meijuan returned from her trip, Yuli moved back to their home and did not live in the same apartment as Xie Yao.
When they reached the garage, she naturally got out of the car and walked towards her own home. Xie Yao followed, and she did not slow down.
Until he held her, pressed her against the wall, and lowered his head to kiss her.
Yuli pushed him, but he didn’t move a single bit. A scorching breath lingered at the tip of her nose, and her whole person was on fire.
Her lips and tongue were numb and soft, and her whole body had no strength.
She no longer resisted, and Xie Yao’s kiss also became much gentler.
He pecked her red lips and said against her lips, “We are boyfriend and girlfriend now, right?”
Yuli was panting unevenly. This scene of his overlapped with what the male lead in the original novel had done. She was afraid that he would do those half-coercive, half-forced things from the original novel, and nodded.
“Then let’s be boyfriend and girlfriend for a lifetime. We won’t get married,” he suddenly said, pulling her towards the elevator of another building.
Yuli didn’t quite understand what he meant.
When they reached the fourth floor, his home, he held her as soon as he entered the door and went to the bedroom.
Yuli struggled to get down, but he turned and pressed her on the sofa.
A dense kiss landed on her lips, the side of her neck. On a whim, Yuli did not resist.
It’s not a loss to sleep with him before breaking up.
Yuli did not push him, but instead raised her hand to touch his face. The last trace of Xie Yao’s reason also disappeared.
He had missed his wife for more than twenty years. He didn’t need those titles. He would go along with her wishes and live however she wanted.
If she dared to have a change of heart, he would go into politics halfway. In short, it was impossible to let her leave his side.
When they reached the bedroom, all their clothes fell to the floor.
Only then did Yuli remember that she was missing the most important tool.
Just as she was about to interrupt and stop, she heard Xie Yao open a drawer, tear open a package, and hold her again.
When did he buy it?
Before Yuli could figure it out, her body stiffened, and her fingers clenched, but she held his fingers.
…
A week later, New Year’s Day.
The winter sun was warm. Yuli slept until the sun was on her pillow before waking up.
Her limbs were heavy, and she could barely use any strength.
Yuli didn’t want to move, but she was really hungry. She sat up and saw that the room was very tidy, completely different from the chaos of last night.
Even the sheets had been changed. She didn’t remember at all when she had fallen asleep last night.
Xie Yao’s stamina was amazing, and his energy was also frighteningly vigorous.
Previously, he had looked well-dressed, cold, and calm. In bed, he was actually another person.
He would also say some dirty words and ask her how she felt.
She couldn’t say it at all, and he would tell her not to be shy, that it was normal human desire.
He had her, “If you like it, hint at me.”
She had hinted out of politeness, and it had gotten out of hand.
Fortunately, it was a holiday today. Otherwise, she would have been late for work.
Yuli walked to the living room in her pajamas. She didn’t see Xie Yao. She saw breakfast in the dining room and the note he had left.
He had gone to the supermarket to buy groceries.
It was only after living with him for a long time that Yuli found out that he liked to personally choose the ingredients. In terms of cooking, he was a perfectionist.
It was almost ten o’clock. Yuli was sitting on the sofa in her pajamas, watching TV, waiting for him to come back.
Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door without any defense, with a smile on her face, and was about to call out “Xie Yao,” but she saw a middle-aged couple standing at the door.
The man was wearing a suit, unsmiling. The woman was wearing a velvet cheongsam, very kind, but her eyes flashed strangely when she saw her.
Yuli’s whole body was stiff, and she didn’t even know how to speak.
“I am Xie Yao’s mother, and this is his dad. May I ask who you are?” Du Hongyun was the first to speak politely.
Yuli forced herself to be calm. “I am Xie Yao’s friend. He has gone out. Please come in and sit down, uncle and aunt.”
The two of them entered the door. Yuli couldn’t find any slippers for them to change into.
Xie Weifeng walked in on his own, took off his coat, sat on the sofa, and changed the channel to the news with the remote control.
Du Hongyun had been smiling all along. Although she was sizing Yuli up, she did not show any contempt, but seemed very curious and close.
Yuli was very uncomfortable. She found an excuse to go to the bedroom to change her pajamas and came out in her usual loungewear.
Just as she came out, the door to the living room opened, and Xie Yao walked in.
Perhaps because he was walking a little fast, he was a little out of breath. He exhaled a white mist in the winter and looked at his dad on the sofa. He lowered his eyes before releasing his coldness.
Du Hongyun went to take the shopping bag from his hand and kept giving him a look.
Xie Yao ignored her, walked to Yuli’s side, held her shoulder, and introduced her to Du Hongyun and Xie Weifeng, who had his back to them. “This is my fiancée, Song Yuli.”
Yuli maintained a polite smile.
Du Hongyun just smiled and said nothing.
Xie Weifeng, on the other hand, turned his head, glanced at Yuli, and then turned back.
Xie Yao squeezed Yuli’s shoulder, walked to the front of Xie Weifeng, and sat down on the sofa on his side.
He looked directly at him. “Why does Minister Xie have the time to visit my private residence today?” His gaze was cold and sharp, even more imposing than his attitude towards his business partners.
Xie Weifeng turned his head to look at him, snorted coldly, and his imposing majesty was no less.
Yuli desperately wanted to find an excuse to leave. She saw the shopping bag on the shoe cabinet in the entrance hall and wanted to take it to the kitchen. But Du Hongyun beat her to it.
She smiled at her with great affection. “Little Song, let’s go and make lunch.” Saying this, she walked quickly into the kitchen in her high heels.
Yuli followed. Du Hongyun closed the door, faced the stove and the pots, let out a breath, and turned back. “Can you cook?”
Yuli nodded.
“I can’t. I’ll leave it to you, Little Song,” Du Hongyun said with a smile.
Yuli also let out a heavy breath.
The atmosphere in the kitchen had just eased a little.
The door was suddenly pulled open from the outside.
“I’ll make lunch. Yuli, stay and help me,” Xie Yao said, walking in and naturally rolling up his sleeves.
As if she couldn’t ask for more, Ms. Du smiled at Yuli and strode out.
Xie Yao looked at Yuli’s somewhat tense expression, closed the door, and held her. “Xie Weifeng is not easy to get along with. Don’t mind him.”
This name was very familiar. Yuli remembered that she had just seen it on the political news.
But Xie Yao was not right. Why was he not afraid of his dad at all?