Chapter 18: Mental Illness

"Because of work reasons, I don't have many holidays. I'm worried that I might not have many opportunities to invite you to dinner in the future," Yan Xi took a sip of the sour plum drink in her tall glass. "Moreover, I'm afraid your girlfriend might misunderstand our relationship."

"Misunderstand us?" Yuan Yi didn't even lift his head. "Don't worry, being with me is perfectly safe, no one will misunderstand."

"That's true," Yan Xi nodded. "I prefer refined, elegant men, so my friends are unlikely to misunderstand. I'm mainly worried about your friends misunderstanding you, which might affect your future love life."

"I told you before, I like women with big chests and long legs?" Yuan Yi glanced at Yan Xi meaningfully. "As for you..."

What's wrong with having a small chest? I'm saving fabric for the country, conserving resources, you know?

Yan Xi smiled with a hint of sarcasm, "I understand. You like Zhao Feifei, right?" There had been rumors recently about him and the actress, but honestly, Zhao Feifei did have a large chest, making her a sex symbol for many nerdy men.

"Who is Zhao Feifei?" Yuan Yi looked at Yan Xi in confusion, not understanding why she was suddenly bringing up someone else.

"She's the big-chested, long-legged, sexy goddess," Yan Xi raised her eyebrows. "A few months ago, you accompanied her to choose a house and it even made the entertainment headlines."

"I would never accompany a woman to choose a house," Yuan Yi immediately denied. "I'm not that free." He looked at her suspiciously. "Didn't you just join the TV station?"

"What's wrong?"

"No wonder you believe all these random entertainment reports."

"Yeah, unlike you, Mr. Yuan, who is so experienced," Yan Xi internally rolled her eyes.

Noticing that Yan Xi seemed a bit displeased, Yuan Yi felt helpless. This woman was really strange, getting angry for no reason. He couldn't argue with her. After waiting for a while, the steak was almost finished, but Yan Xi hadn't spoken up, so Yuan Yi said, "Next time, I'll treat you."

Yan Xi looked up at him. "How could I let you spend money? I've already made plans with friends to go out next holiday, so I won't be able to accept your offer."

"It's fine, even if you're free next time, I'll still treat you," Yuan Yi thought he was being generous. "If you want to eat something, you can tell me."

Seeing Yuan Yi's serious expression, Yan Xi realized he probably didn't understand that this kind of response was called "politely refusing." She blinked, "Mr. Yuan, when a man insists on treating a woman to dinner alone, unless he wants something from her, it means he has an interest in her."

Yuan Yi: ...

"Stop overthinking, I'm just..."

"Yes, yes, you like women with big chests and long legs," Yan Xi stood up from her chair. "Please sit for a moment, I'll go pay the bill."

Yuan Yi watched her walk gracefully to the counter, his gaze unintentionally falling on her slender, fair calves. Actually, this woman's legs... were also quite long and beautiful.

After Yan Xi paid the bill and turned around, Yuan Yi quickly withdrew his gaze, staring at the empty plate in front of him.

The restaurant's air conditioning wasn't strong enough, and it was a little hot.

As the two walked out of the restaurant, Yuan Yi watched Yan Xi walk elegantly in high heels on the patterned tiles and couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid of spraining your ankle with such high heels?"

"Mr. Yuan must have never dated a woman," Yan Xi stopped walking and looked at him with a half-smile.

Yuan Yi, confused, thought that smile might be mocking him. His tone became sharper, "What do you mean by that?"

"Because men who've been in relationships wouldn't say something like that to a woman. They would praise her beautiful feet or how graceful she walks," Yan Xi slightly raised her chin. "This is also the reason why you're still single."

"Ridiculous," Yuan Yi sneered coldly, "If I want to find a woman, do I still need to put in so much effort?"

"That's a good point. As long as you have money and status, forget being a person— even if you're not human, someone will still want to be with you," Yan Xi looked enlightened, smiling innocently, her apricot-like eyes sparkling. "I must have narrow vision, Mr. Yuan, please don't take it to heart."

Yuan Yi knew he was being mocked, but looking at Yan Xi's sparkling eyes, he couldn't bring himself to be angry. After holding it in for a while, he said, "You understand men and women so well, yet you're still single?"

Yan Xi: ...

She really wanted to roll up her sleeves and hit him.

"This gentleman," a middle-aged man came over and stood between Yuan Yi and Yan Xi. "If there are any conflicts between you two, you can talk it through, don't resort to violence."

Afterward, to ease the tension, he patted Yuan Yi on the shoulder. "Big man, it won't hurt to be a bit more tolerant with your woman."

What's going on? Yuan Yi looked at the man who suddenly appeared, a bit taken aback. Soon, two older women surrounded him, advising him to be more considerate of the woman by his side, telling him how good and gentle his girlfriend was, and how lucky he was to have such a girlfriend.

Wait, his girlfriend? Who?

Yuan Yi's face was indeed handsome but a bit unapproachable, so people usually thought he was hard to get along with, but not violent. However, when he stood with someone like Yan Xi, who seemed easy to bully, it gave others the impression that he was bullying her.

Passersby saw his bad mood and thought he was about to hit her, which is why they bravely stepped forward to intervene.

Burdened with this huge misunderstanding, Yuan Yi gritted his teeth and glared at the source of all this trouble, only to see Yan Xi innocently looking at him with wide eyes, her face expressing "What happened? I don't understand at all."

"Yan Xi!" Yuan Yi barely squeezed those words out through gritted teeth.

When Yan Xi saw Yuan Yi was genuinely angry, she smiled and walked over to calm the enthusiastic onlookers, occasionally scolding Yuan Yi, and when Yuan Yi seemed like he wanted to argue back, she immediately pointed to her lips, signaling for him to stay silent.

Yuan Yi looked at her soft pink lips, and all his anger evaporated as if thrown into the Arctic, disappearing instantly.

"That's better," the enthusiastic aunt smiled at Yan Xi. "Girl, as women, we can't always obey men. Don't keep a man who hits you."

Yan Xi nodded repeatedly, sending the enthusiastic aunt and uncle off, then quickly walked with Yuan Yi to the parking lot.

"Hahahahaha." Once inside the car, Yan Xi couldn't hold back her laughter anymore.

"Knock knock knock."

Yuan Yi looked expressionlessly at the woman who was laughing uncontrollably inside the car and knocked on her car door. However, she didn't respond. Unwilling to give up, he kept knocking, seemingly determined to continue until she opened the door.

After laughing enough, Yan Xi finally noticed Yuan Yi. She took a deep breath, looked at him seriously, and asked, "Mr. Yuan, is there something you need?"

Did this woman think that by putting on a serious expression, he wouldn't notice she was laughing just now?

"No, just wanted to remind you not to laugh while leaning on the steering wheel next time, or the horn will go off," Yuan Yi said coldly, his expression giving off a vibe of complete indifference. "Was it funny?"

"Not funny," Yan Xi quickly shook her head, trying to straighten her attitude to make her words seem more convincing. "Really!"

After all, he was the second young master of the Yuan family, someone she couldn't afford to offend. Although she felt that after today, she probably already had.

"Go ahead and laugh if you want to," Yuan Yi said, looking at her pale yet slightly red cheeks, turning his head away, not looking at her. "I won't hold it against you."

"Cough," Yan Xi cleared her throat, "There was a little bit... just a tiny bit funny." She saw Yuan Yi turning his face with a clearly annoyed look. "But it's not your fault, it's all because of my poor little appearance that made others misunderstand you."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Yi frowned.

It reminded him of an incident nine years ago, his first time being wrongly accused. From that moment on, he realized that women were really troublesome creatures.

Nine years later, experiencing this feeling of being wrongly accused again, Yuan Yi found that he didn't miss it at all.

"Forget it, go home early," Yuan Yi turned around and saw that Yan Xi was still looking at him. He said seriously, "Since we agreed to have dinner in two weeks, I'll come to pick you up."

Looking at his back as he strode away, Yan Xi was left speechless.

When did they agree on having dinner in two weeks?

When Yuan Yi returned home, Yuan Bo was already sitting on the sofa waiting for him.

"You're back?" Yuan Bo glanced at him. "At lunch today, Uncle Zeng asked about you."

"He asked what about me?" Yuan Yi took off his suit jacket and handed it to Aunt Li, then sat on the sofa next to Yuan Bo. "Could he really want to marry his daughter to me?"

"You would like that, but it also depends on whether the girl is willing," Yuan Bo said, laughing at his indifferent attitude. "Now tell me, what kind of woman do you like?"

For some reason, the image of Yan Xi hiding behind a couple of enthusiastic uncles and aunts with an innocent expression appeared in Yuan Yi's mind. His back suddenly felt cold. This woman was really a troublemaker. Whenever he thought about women, he now couldn't help but think of her.

If all women were like her, it would be the sorrow of all men. He would rather stay single forever.

Back in the study, he pulled out the unfinished "Little Monster" from last time and discovered that the author's name was "Xiao Xiliu."

Xiliu...

Yan Xi...

Feeling irritable, he shoved the sketchbook back onto the shelf. He was definitely going crazy because of that woman named Yan Xi. He even thought of her when he saw "Xiao Xiliu."

He went downstairs and turned on the TV. An old singer was performing a familiar song.

"A big river, waves wide, the wind blows the rice flowers..."

Wasn't Yan Xi's WeChat name "Big River, I'm Little Stream"?

"Clap!" He threw the remote control back onto the coffee table. Why did he agree to have dinner with that woman? Why did he even agree to ask her to dinner in two weeks?

Was he out of his mind?!

"What are you doing?" Yuan Bo looked up at the TV. This long-time popular song—what exactly did it have to do with him?

"I ate too much at lunch," Yuan Yi replied, turning around and heading upstairs.

Yuan Bo looked at the empty staircase. So, his brain broke because of this logic? Even his stomach and digestive system were protesting.