Chapter 47

"Yuan Xiaoer, tell me honestly, what exactly are you thinking?" Zhang Wang asked, watching as Yuan Yi cut the fruit into evenly sized pieces. "Do you plan to keep going like this?"

After placing the fruit on the plate, Yuan Yi remained silent.

He didn't want to speak, or maybe he didn't know what to say.

As the sun set, Yan Xi opened her eyes and saw the stubborn sunlight creeping through the gaps in the curtains, casting a long orange-red light on the wall. The room was very quiet, and she could even smell the faint scent of books coming from the bookshelf. In addition to the various books, there were also some folders and file bags. Yan Xi guessed these might be related to Yuan Yi's work.

For someone of Yuan Yi's status, leaving an outsider alone in the study was a very unwise move. She looked down at herself, noticing two blankets draped over her. She remembered that before she fell asleep, Yuan Xiaoer had only given her one.

Had he covered her with the second blanket after she fell asleep?

She got up, placed the blanket on the massage chair, and walked over to the window, pulling open the thick curtains.

The fiery sunset illuminated the room. She blinked, feeling an inexplicable sense of joy, probably because both her mind and body felt satisfied after a good sleep.

"You're awake?"

Turning around, she saw Yuan Yi standing in the doorway of the study. Yan Xi tilted her head and smiled before speaking, "Mm."

At that moment, Yuan Yi looked at her, and she seemed to be glowing.

"This villa has such a wide view," Yan Xi took out her phone and snapped a picture. "I haven't seen such a beautiful sunset in a long time."

Yuan Yi wanted to ask her, "Do you really like this house?"

But seeing Yan Xi carefully taking pictures, he swallowed the question and lowered his head, knocking on the door. "Dinner's ready."

"Okay," Yan Xi put away her phone, neatly folding the blankets she had disturbed and followed Yuan Yi downstairs.

Looking at Yuan Yi's back, Yan Xi smiled. When Yuan Xiao Er was quiet, he still had that domineering CEO aura. But for some reason, the back of his head gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if she had seen such an elite figure somewhere before, or perhaps it was his well-groomed hair and sharp look.

After thinking for a while, she couldn't figure it out, so she thought maybe it was because Yuan Xiao Er had such a great figure, and she had mixed him up with a model from a fashion show.

Dinner was light, but the young masters didn't mind and ate whatever was served. They were easy to feed.

The dish they liked the most was a cheap plate of kimchi. Yan Xi took a bite and felt that her dad's kimchi tasted better. The taste of these rich young men was something she couldn't quite understand.

"Yi Ge, one of my friends opened a bar in the circle. After dinner, we're planning to go hang out. Would you like to join us?" Xu Qiaosheng casually asked.

"Did you forget Yuan Xiao Er's habit of going to bed before eleven?" Zhang Wang clicked his tongue. "If he goes to the bar at night and comes back late, it's probably worse than taking his life."

Yan Xi paused, her chopsticks stopping in mid-air. She turned her head to look at Yuan Yi, who was eating quietly and didn't seem to react to Zhang Wang's comment.

Last time when her dad was drunk at the hotel, Yuan Xiao Er helped her take him home. When they returned, it must have been very late. There was also the time she was hospitalized with an injury; Yuan Yi stayed with her until late, making sure she wasn't uncomfortable alone in the hospital. It wasn't until the third day when her dad returned that Yuan Yi stopped accompanying her.

She didn't know Yuan Yi had such a habit, and he had never mentioned it to her.

"He has this kind of habit?" Yan Xi asked, pretending to be curious. "Can't stay up late?"

"When he stays up late, he gets a headache, feels dizzy, and his brain doesn't work properly," Zhang Wang laughed. "At such a young age, he already lives like an old man."

Yan Xi smiled but didn't continue to mock Yuan Yi. As someone who had broken Yuan Xiao Er's 'old man' habits, she didn't want to make fun of him.

"Don't listen to his nonsense," Yuan Yi wiped his mouth clean. "Who still has such habits in this day and age?"

Yan Xi looked at Yuan Yi and then at Zhang Wang. Zhang Wang avoided her gaze quickly, looking embarrassed as if he had been caught lying.

That was true. In today's internet-connected and chaotic environment, how many young people still adhered to regular bedtimes?

But what good did Zhang Wang gain from lying about this?

Zhang Wang glared at Yuan Yi, thinking to himself that he had missed a great opportunity to make the girl sympathize with him. What was wrong with him? His brain must have been full of tofu dregs.

After dinner, Yan Xi got up to leave and complimented Aunt Li's cooking, making Aunt Li smile broadly.

"I'll see you out," Yuan Yi followed Yan Xi out. The cool night wind brushed against their faces, bringing a chill. He noticed that Yan Xi was only wearing a dress and that the shawl around her shoulders was more of an accessory than for warmth. "Don't you women feel cold?"

Yan Xi pulled her shawl tighter and turned her head with a hum. "I dress up beautifully not for you to ask me if I'm cold."

Yuan Yi: ...

It was impossible to reason with women.

"Hey," Yan Xi sat in the car, ready to drive away. She noticed Yuan Yi still standing in place and, for some reason, rolled down the car window and called out to him.

"Yuan Xiao Er."

Yuan Yi crossed his arms and looked up at Yan Xi, "What is it?"

"Do you really go to bed before eleven every night?"

Hearing this, Yuan Yi chuckled lightly and suddenly leaned forward, getting closer to Yan Xi until there were only a few inches between them. "Why are you so concerned about my sleep schedule?"

His eyes were so deep.

As Yuan Yi came closer, Yan Xi couldn't help but focus only on his attractive eyes.

"Could it be... you want to be my girlfriend?" Yuan Yi raised an eyebrow. "Although you're not my type, I might consider it if I'm in a good mood."

"Yuan Xiao Er," Yan Xi extended her arms out of the window, gesturing a long distance. "Your face is this big."

Yuan Yi moved his face closer to her arm. "In fact, my face is quite small."

"Tsk, you're really getting more shameless," Yan Xi pushed him away a little, then quickly rolled up the window, backing out of the driveway and spraying Yuan Yi's face with exhaust fumes before driving off.

Yuan Yi touched his forehead where she had slapped it and suddenly squatted down on the ground.

After a long while, he got up, his face turning red. He turned around to find his friends watching him from a distance.

When they noticed he saw them, they quickly pulled their heads back, pretending as if they hadn't seen anything.

Yuan Yi: Do I look like a fool?

At the Song family home, Song Hai waited for his daughter to return. Seeing that she was calm and appeared unaffected by anything unpleasant, he felt relieved and went upstairs to rest without asking who attended the gathering or bringing up any matters related to business interests.

As a father, he never wanted his daughter to feel inferior when interacting with others.

Perhaps because she had slept for too long in the afternoon, Yan Xi felt especially energetic and even drew a cute comic to post on Weibo.

Her Weibo was already buzzing with activity. At first, people were curious about her relationship with Xu Qiaosheng, but now the netizens had begun to speculate that she was the daughter of a wealthy family. Although she never posted photos or flaunted her wealth, the netizens had still managed to find clues.

Netizen 1: "The blogger, this kind of rich and beautiful woman, is always striving for her hobbies every day. What reason do I have not to work hard?"

Netizen 2: "Rich and beautiful? What exactly does that mean, the blogger knows in her heart. Fans, don't blindly flatter her, otherwise, when the truth comes out, where will you hide your face?"

Netizen 3: "The sourness in the previous comment is strong. There are already screenshots from bystanders proving that those rich young masters followed Xiaoxi first, and then Xiaoxi followed them back. I don't know much else, but at least one thing is certain, Xiaoxi has a good relationship with these young masters. No matter how much some people are sour, it's useless."

Netizen 4: "I just want to say, in a blurry photo, the watch on the artist's wrist is a limited edition high-end version, and in another photo showing the desk, the corner of an ornament visible looks like top-quality jade. Who would use such precious jade as a paperweight? So to those saying the artist is clinging to the rich, please calm down. This is obviously the process of rich young masters and ladies getting to know each other. No matter how envious we are, it's useless."

Despite the online arguments, Yanxi ignored them, closed her Weibo, took a bath, and went to bed.

She didn't look at the messages in the chat group either; it was boring to see too many of them.

The next day, when she returned to the station, Yanxi got busy. Tonight, "The Things Around Us" was airing for the first time on the satellite channel, and there wasn't enough program material left. She and Chen Pei still had to think more about the content.

"How about doing an episode about daily routines?" Yanxi suggested when she saw Chen Pei looking confused. "For example, the elderly always have trouble sleeping, young people stay up late or suffer from lack of sleep due to overtime, and students have poor sleep quality due to stress. What do you think?"

The elderly, young people, and children are different groups, and comparing their daily routines would create a huge contrast. This idea was indeed somewhat fresh.

But how watchable would it be?

Chen Pei didn't immediately oppose it and instead looked at the other team members: "What do you all think?"

"It's not bad. At least it's something new, not the same old thing," Zhao Peng, sitting with his legs crossed, said. "We'll know how it works when we try it."

"This is our first time planning content for the satellite channel, so we should be careful," Chen Pei said, feeling a bit uneasy. "I think the episode we did about delivery workers was really well-received, so maybe we should do something about couriers. Even if it doesn't become a big hit, at least we can avoid mistakes. This opportunity is hard to come by, we can't afford any slip-ups."

"Chen Jie, relax. Even when our program wasn't on the satellite channel, didn't we still do well?" Zhao Peng frowned. "I think Xiao Yan's idea is really good. It's all about how we choose the material, whether the content can move the audience."

Chen Pei trembled slightly. She had been floating ever since she knew their show would be on the satellite channel, but now, hearing Zhao Peng's words, she realized that her mindset hadn't been right.

"Old Zhao is right. We should maintain the same attitude as before," Chen Pei turned to Yanxi. "Since this episode idea came from you, you can handle the specific content arrangement."

"Thank you, Chen Jie." Yanxi smiled at Chen Pei.

Chen Pei smiled but said nothing. Since Yanxi joined the station, her work had been getting smoother. She had even become the director of the "Noon News," so Chen Pei highly valued Yanxi's talents. Even when she didn't agree with her ideas, she would discuss things with Yanxi instead of causing conflicts.

To be blunt, in the awkward situation of their channel, the only one who could really stand out was Yanxi.

Yanxi arranged six subjects for follow-up and interviews, two each from the elderly, middle-aged, and young, with varying living standards and environments.

She gave this episode the title "Their Lives."

Following people for this show was tiring. Yanxi and the crew spent three whole days filming the daily routines of the six subjects. On the last day, she followed a high school senior. After the work was done, the well-behaved girl gave her a big rainbow lollipop.

Yanxi took a selfie holding the lollipop and posted it on her Weibo account.

At this moment, she received a call from Song Chao, which wasn't exactly something to be happy about.

"Miss Yan is such a filial daughter. Don't you want to show concern for your father's work?" On the other side of the phone, Song Chao's voice remained gentle and low, extremely seductive, but Yanxi felt quite annoyed. "Mr. Song, are you threatening me?"

"I think Miss Yan has misunderstood me all along." Song Chao chuckled softly. "I've secretly liked you for ten years, how could I bear to threaten you?"

"Mr. Song, please just tell me what you want," Yanxi pressed her lips together, a small gesture she made when suppressing her emotions. "I don't have much patience."

"It's nothing, just wanted to invite Miss Yan for dinner," Song Chao provided an address, a famous restaurant in the capital. "Please believe me, I don't have any ill intentions, nor am I plotting anything inappropriate."

Yanxi scoffed, "Fine, since Mr. Song has so kindly invited me, I will definitely come."

No matter how good-looking the man was, how much he met her tastes, when he tried to act all mysterious, it just made Yanxi lose interest.

The restaurant where they agreed to meet was on the 68th floor.

When Yanxi arrived, Song Chao was already seated at the table. Seeing her come over, he handed her the menu. "I've already ordered a few dishes for you, feel free to let me know if there's anything you don't like."

"No need, I'll go with the flow," Yanxi reached out to stop the menu and didn't take it.

Song Chao wasn't bothered. With a gentle smile, he poured Yanxi a glass of champagne. "The wine here is really good. Would you like to try some?"

"No thanks, I prefer chilled sour plum juice," Yanxi shook the napkin and placed it on her lap, then turned to the waiter standing nearby. "Please bring me a glass of sour plum juice, thank you."

Putting down his wine glass, Song Chao chuckled lightly. "Miss Yanxi, you're still as straightforward as you were back then when refusing someone."

"Are you talking about the love letter from back then?"

"Sorry, I never received the love letter you wrote back then."