Chapter 1046: Chapter 282: Little Di Overthinking Things

Chapter 282 Little Di Who Over-Understood

After glossing over the matter with Zheng Tian, Li Yan shifted the topic to tonight’s movie premiere and asked Yu Xiaodi how she felt about the film.

Yu Xiaodi said excitedly that it felt very strange. Usually when she watched a movie, it was for the stars or the plot, but this time, seeing all those celebrities on stage didn’t make her feel anything special; instead, all her attention was on Li Yan. As for the film’s quality, she could only subjectively say it was great.

Li Yan couldn’t just keep talking about "Springtime Leaked," because Li Jie hadn’t gone, and she’d been silent ever since she appeared tonight. At first he didn’t think much of it, but later he noticed and guessed she must feel awkward because Yu Xiaodi was here and he had once betrayed her.

Though she always looked very cool, she was still human. When she wasn’t on a mission, she was grounded like anyone else. If she kept silent too long, it would inevitably make Yu Xiaodi suspicious.

He thought about what topic would let Li Jie play more of a role, and figured it was the security company. Sure enough, when he asked her how she’d spent the New Year, she just brushed it off with a simple "it was okay" type of answer. Only when he finally asked about the company—whether a lot of guards had gone home on leave, whether some hadn’t come back on time, issues of staff turnover and so on—did Li Jie slowly start talking a bit more.

This was the restaurant of a five-star hotel, and it was even a private room, serving signature dishes. Zheng Tian had undoubtedly put some thought into it. At this hour, if Li Yan tried to switch places, there might not even be another private room available, or they might not be able to get the dishes they wanted on time. Although the various dishes were all visually appealing, aromatic, and delicious, the focus was on nutrition, taste, and presentation, so of course the portions weren’t huge. The three of them chatted while they ate and ended up finishing most of it.

Li Jie, who had several times wanted to speak up to say goodbye, finally gathered her courage and said, "I’m full. You two chat a bit longer, I’ll head back first!"

Of course, Yu Xiaodi wanted to talk a bit more with Li Yan. After the New Year, this was their first time seeing each other. But after the premiere event and the movie, they’d already spent a lot of time, and then coming here for a late-night meal had delayed things even more; it was indeed quite late now. If Li Jie stayed with them, she would feel more at ease.

Now that Li Jie said she was leaving, even though Yu Xiaodi was reluctant, she could only say, "It’s late. I’ll head back too."

She was extremely conflicted inside. She hoped Li Yan would ask her to stay, that they’d just book a room upstairs in the hotel to rest, and as long as they only talked, did nothing else, it wouldn’t count as breaking the rules.

Then again, if the two of them spent the night at a hotel, with no family or Zhang Yurong watching them on monitors, how could anyone believe they truly did nothing?

Like someone quitting smoking who has finally gone a few months without a cigarette and thinks they can definitely resist now—sometimes they’ll light one just to smell it, or hang out with heavy-smoking friends, and often they’re quickly tempted into failing. It’s the same with shopaholics: sometimes they think, I’ll just go look, I definitely won’t buy anything, yet they still can’t resist in the end; investors too—thinking they won’t get greedy, yet when the price is rising, they figure holding on a little longer might mean more gains, and in the end they often miss the best chance to sell because of greed.

Given how she felt about Li Yan, Xiaodi didn’t dare test her own self-control. Even now, though she said she was going back, if Li Yan tried to keep her, she felt she wouldn’t be able to refuse.

But Li Yan had long since made up his mind on this issue. Never mind that Li Jie was here; just the fact that he and Zhang Yurong were now living together meant she’d know perfectly well whether he came home or not, and how late he stayed out. He couldn’t push her any further. Besides, there was work, and things he needed to discuss with Yue Yao.

"Okay then, let’s all head out together. Someone else is picking up the tab anyway. I’m going home too. You both drove, right? Don’t need me to see you off?" he asked jokingly with a smile.

Li Jie shook her head, and Yu Xiaodi said, "No need."

On the surface the two of them were very calm, but they both felt a bit disappointed inside.

Alongside her disappointment, Li Jie also felt somewhat settled, thinking Li Yan was doing it for fear of upsetting her. But she was also a little uneasy, worried he might send Xiaodi off and then follow her back to the dorm. What if he made that request again? 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

As for Yu Xiaodi, beyond the disappointment she also felt relieved. This way, at least they wouldn’t, under irresistible temptation, once again betray Zhang Yurong’s trust.

...

In the parking lot, as they were about to drive off in their own directions, Yu Xiaodi couldn’t help but hug Li Yan and give him a kiss. A little regretfully she said, "I really did buy flowers. I was going to go on stage and give them to you. It’s a pity you didn’t go up there, and then that whole misunderstanding happened. I rushed out in such a hurry I forgot to bring them."

Li Yan kissed her back and said with a laugh, "You’re the freshest, most delicate flower of all. Just seeing you is like I’ve already received countless bouquets!"

Happy, Yu Xiaodi leaned against his chest, pressed close to his ear, and said, "That time you decorated the room with roses, I took pictures of it with my phone. I often take them out and savor them. And the love letters you wrote—I don’t even know how many times I’ve read them... every time I read them, it feels like you’re right here beside me."

Li Yan held her a little tighter and patted her back to comfort her. "You’re only a freshman. There’s still plenty of time. We’ll definitely be together in the future!"

Something stirred in Yu Xiaodi’s heart. What did he mean by that? Was there some deeper implication?

"You’re only a freshman. There’s still plenty of time. We’ll definitely be together in the future!"

Carefully chewing over this sentence, she faintly tasted a possibility... Did he mean that since she was only a freshman and couldn’t get married yet anyway, they would definitely be together in the future—that is, that he would leave Zhang Yurong and marry her after she graduated? Was he tactfully telling her that she didn’t need to compete with Zhang Yurong right now, that she should give them a few years? No matter why those two had gotten married, in a few years, if they wanted a divorce, people would have nothing to say about it!

Thinking she’d grasped the true inner meaning of Li Yan’s words, Xiaodi said very happily, "I understand now!"

Then she let go of him, waved at him, and ran toward her car, bubbling with excitement.

Her reaction left Li Yan completely at sea. He’d just been trying to comfort her—was there really any need to get that excited? Was she putting on a show to reassure him? It never occurred to him that his one sentence of comfort had made her read something else into it.

As for Li Jie, she certainly wouldn’t stand around watching them make out. She’d already driven her car out.

Li Yan waved to them one by one, seeing both of them off.

As for his own car, Zheng Tian had already sent someone to fetch it from the cinema parking lot and bring it back to the hotel. When Li Yan came out now, Zheng Tian, who was still eating his late-night snack, didn’t ostentatiously bring a whole group out to see him off; he just had someone pull the car up for him.

The underling who handled it had already found it incredible when he went to get the car, unable to imagine why the boss treated Li Yan so well. But those who could accompany the boss as personal security on trips out of town were obviously longtime subordinates. They also knew a bit about Nian Yufei, and they guessed this was the man the young miss had her eye on, and the boss also thought highly of him, so he respected him a lot.

It was just that... this guy was clearly a womanizer. Could he really devote himself wholeheartedly to Miss Fei’Er?

With the boss’s attitude, was he... trying to win him over with kindness? Or telling him to sort out his love life before getting involved with Miss Fei’Er?

It was possible. The two women were probably invited by this man, and the boss wanted them to break up at the dinner table! No wonder he’d so happily given up the private room for them. One was his current girlfriend, one was someone just tagging along. And they must have already broken up, which was why they’d just been so reluctant to part ways.

Thinking this, everything finally seemed to make sense to him, and he stopped feeling sorry for the unlucky Nian Yufei.

The underling’s reaction made Li Yan feel his gaze was a bit strange, but whatever Zheng Yucheng’s attitude was, he didn’t care. This was just a small fry’s reaction; he cared even less.

...

By the time he got home, it was already very late, but Yue Yao and Yurong were still waiting for him to come back. They showed no sign of complaining about how late he was; instead, beneath their exhaustion there was a certain anticipation and excitement as they asked him how the premiere had gone and how the film had been received.

When they finally lay down in bed, after some hesitation Li Yan still chose not to hide it from her. "Yurong..."

"Mm."

"I didn’t actually go schmooze with those stars or celebrate with my coworkers. I went to talk about some cooperation with a Cloud Island boss, and... I saw Xiaodi."

"Oh."

"She went to see the premiere too, but didn’t tell me. She said she wanted to give me a surprise and present me with flowers when I went up to speak. But I kept a low profile and didn’t go on stage. After I came out, I went to talk business. She waited a long time, and in the end we only had a late-night meal together before I came back."

Hearing how clearly Li Yan laid it out made Yurong look at him in some surprise. "You don’t need to tell me these things. Really. Whatever position she and I are in, that’s between her and me, that’s our competition. Everything between you and her doesn’t need to be reported to me. Otherwise that would be unfair to her, and it would also make me feel that you’d tell her everything about being with me too."

Li Yan was a bit taken aback; he hadn’t expected her to see it that way. "It’s just that... we’re husband and wife after all, I don’t want to lie to you."

Yurong gave a faint smile. "Actually, as long as you’re not making up lies, it’s not lying to me. If I don’t ask and you don’t say, that’s not lying, that’s just keeping something from me, and that’s an allowed kind of keeping. After all... if you tell me everything as it really is, I’m not going to be overjoyed listening to it. And you won’t feel natural either, right?"

Li Yan fell silent, thinking to himself, so this is "what the eyes don’t see won’t hurt"? "What the ears don’t hear won’t hurt"? Was this going to evolve into turning a blind eye?

(Haha, it’s the first day of the New Year—Happy New Year, everyone! Any red envelopes?) (To be continued. For what happens next, please log on to www.qidian.com. More Chapters there—support the author, support genuine reading!)