Chapter 1267: Chapter 1267: Jian Tao’s Broken Heart

Jian Tao was fuming, her anger burning, gritting her teeth in hatred.

The dishes on the table, she hadn’t taken a single bite. The wine, she hadn’t drunk a single sip.

She stared fixedly at Ye Fan, but Ye Fan was completely unmoved, as if he hadn’t even noticed her gaze.

"Damn it, damn bastard, you’re doing this on purpose, you’re totally doing this on purpose." Jian Tao’s resentment ran deep.

Ye Fan and Xixi, on the other hand, ate and drank to their hearts’ content, happy as could be.

Just as Jian Tao cut off a small piece of meat, stuck it on her fork and was about to feed it into her mouth, she imagined this piece of meat was Ye Fan, slashed it a few vicious times, then planned to shove it into her mouth and chew it to bits, picturing how miserably Ye Fan would suffer.

But before the meat reached her mouth, Ye Fan’s gaze swept over and he said calmly, "I’m full. Thank you for the dinner, I had a really good time eating."

"You’re full, but I haven’t had a single bite yet, have I? You’re happy, but I’m not, I’m about to explode here." Jian Tao screamed in her heart, but could only squeeze out a smile and say, "As long as Mr. Ye enjoyed the food, I’m very happy."

How could she possibly be happy?

She was clearly saying one thing and thinking another, but isn’t that what people say on such occasions? 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Only an idiot would voice their real thoughts.

Jian Tao gently put down the fork with the meat on it, glanced at the meat reluctantly, as if even the scene in her imagination hadn’t had time to play out. She’d only just cut Ye Fan "to the mouth" and hadn’t even chewed him to bits yet, and her fantasy had already fallen apart.

"Thank you for your hospitality." Ye Fan said lightly, "Miss Jian, do you have no appetite? How come you didn’t eat a single bite?"

"You’re welcome." Jian Tao smiled. "I’m just not very hungry. Just smelling the food made me feel full, so I didn’t have any appetite."

Nonsense, that was complete and utter nonsense.

She couldn’t possibly say she’d skipped dinner out of spite, so "no appetite" was the best excuse she could come up with.

Full just from smelling it, how is that even possible?

Who keeps sniffing food like a dog?

Did she really not have an appetite?

How is that possible?

She was starving right now.

"Since Miss Jian has no appetite and I’m already full, why don’t we leave?" Ye Fan said calmly.

Jian Tao really didn’t want to leave now; at the very least she wanted to fill her stomach. Walking out hungry was just too much torture.

But since Ye Fan had already said that, and she herself had already claimed she wasn’t hungry, there was no way he’d wait for her to eat something. She didn’t have the nerve to ask either, so she could only pin her hopes on her daughter. If she could drag things out a little, she’d have time to eat a bit, and later she could just say she was "casually eating a little so as not to waste food." That excuse would be perfect.

"Xixi, are you done eating? If you’re not full yet, eat a bit more, okay?" Jian Tao looked at Xixi.

As long as Xixi stayed, she believed Ye Fan would stay with her, and then she’d have time to eat, pretending she was just not wasting food while stuffing herself. Who could nitpick that?

"Mommy, my tummy is already big." Xixi patted her round little belly.

Jian Tao stumbled, nearly toppling over from her seated position.

"Are you really my daughter? How can you not get what your mom is thinking? It’s one thing not to cooperate, but you even had to blow my cover." Jian Tao felt like crying, and in her heart she pinned all her resentment on Ye Fan.

What was she supposed to do now?

Ye Fan and her daughter were both full and ready to go, but she was still starving.

She’d already lost the right to use "not wasting food" as an excuse. In order not to let Ye Fan see how embarrassed she was, she could only pretend she had no appetite. So what if she went hungry, saving face was more important than a full stomach.

"Let’s go then." Jian Tao stood up.

Xixi threw herself into Ye Fan’s arms and was carried by him.

Before leaving, Jian Tao took another look at her untouched dishes, her heart aching.

"It’s all that bastard Ye Fan’s fault, making me go hungry." Jian Tao grumbled inwardly.

The three of them, Ye Fan, Jian Tao, and Xixi, left together.

Not far from them, at another table, a young man’s face lit up with an excited grin.

He was the well-known star reporter, Jiang Zhe. He’d taken a generous payoff to tail Jian Tao and her daughter.

The payoff had naturally come from Zhao Zhongtian through a secret channel.

This was the "right person" Zhao Zhongtian had mentioned.

Someone like this wouldn’t easily arouse suspicion, and even if someone traced it back, it wouldn’t blow up on him. A rare chess piece.

Jiang Zhe flipped through the photos he’d just taken one by one, a satisfied smile on his face.

"The Zhao Family’s daughter-in-law has just been widowed and she’s already taking her daughter to secretly meet a strange man, chatting and laughing away. With a bit of embellishment, this will turn into ’The Zhao Family’s daughter-in-law meets her secret ex-boyfriend in private, can’t wait to hook up with a new man right after being widowed.’ Doesn’t that imply the child’s father is actually someone else? You can tell just from how warm the kid is toward this ’strange man.’"

"Big news, this is big news."

"I’m going to be famous. Who besides me, Jiang Zhe, has the guts to break such a shocking story?"

Jiang Zhe was so excited his eyes were practically shining.

On the way back, with Ye Fan and Jian Tao’s mother and daughter in the car.

Ye Fan and Xixi were in the backseat, while Jian Tao drove.

Jian Tao’s vision was going a bit blurry; in front of her eyes she kept seeing those untouched dishes from earlier. She couldn’t stop sighing in her heart, "What a waste of that feast. I didn’t eat anything at all before we left, just got caught up in my anger. But being furious burns energy too, doesn’t it? So now I’m even hungrier. Sigh, it really sucks to be starving. All this just to save face and lie through my teeth. Serves me right."

Her inner monologue was unknown to both Ye Fan and Xixi.

Xixi had nothing to worry about.

Ye Fan simply had no interest in knowing.

So Jian Tao was the only one suffering.

Actually, just when Jian Tao was about to eat, Ye Fan had interrupted her on purpose. When he was eating, Jian Tao kept sneaking glances at him, watching every move. Now that he’d finished, of course he wanted to leave. There was no way he’d be kind enough to wait for her to eat her fill.

Ye Fan didn’t know whether Jian Tao was hungry or not, but he did know that if he stayed and kept watching her eat, he’d just have to endure her constant scrutiny and probing stares. He didn’t like being looked at that way, so the best choice was to leave.

Given all that, it was understandable that Jian Tao blamed Ye Fan in her heart.

"Uncle, next time let’s come out to eat together again, okay?" Xixi said happily. "It’s really fun eating with Uncle."

"Okay." Ye Fan agreed.

"Not okay, what’s okay about that." Jian Tao complained silently at her daughter’s lack of tact. "Xixi, you’re happy, sure, but Mommy is not happy, Mommy is very hurt, okay?"

The car drove on in silence.

At the worst possible moment, Jian Tao’s stomach started growling loudly.

"I want to die from embarrassment." Jian Tao’s face flushed red, even her ears burned. She could only grip the steering wheel tightly, keep her eyes on the road, and pretend she hadn’t heard a thing.

"Mommy, are you really hungry?" Xixi looked at Jian Tao in confusion.

"Not hungry, Mommy’s stomach just feels a bit uncomfortable." Jian Tao could only lie, while thinking in her heart, "Duh, how could I not be hungry?"

"Oh." Xixi didn’t think too much of it.

"Bastard, stop pretending to be all calm and expressionless. You’re definitely laughing at me on the inside." Through the rearview mirror, Jian Tao caught a glimpse of Ye Fan’s composed, nothing-happened expression and couldn’t help getting angry all over again.