Chapter 90

"Wait a minute." Yuan Yi grabbed Yan Xi, who was about to get out of the car. "Aren't you working tomorrow?"

"Mm." Yan Xi nodded. "I've been busy for half a year. Finally, I can rest for a few days."

"Grandpa wants to invite you to dinner tomorrow. He's been looking up recipes online these days, saying he wants to research some dishes that young people like. When you go, Auntie will cook them for you." Yuan Yi smiled and complained, "I don't know how you and Grandpa hit it off so well. Since you've come into the picture, my position in Grandpa's heart has just plummeted."

"Well, look at your family, all boys. Of course he finds you interesting," Yan Xi's smile faded a little. With the New Year approaching, the invitation from Yuan Yi's family elders carried a different implication.

If she didn't have the determination to stay with Yuan Yi for life, she should reject the invitation.

"Well... come pick me up tomorrow, but don't come too early. I still need to do my makeup." Yan Xi bent down and, before Yuan Yi could notice, gently kissed his cheek. "Good night."

Yuan Yi was stunned for a moment. It wasn't until Yan Xi was about to enter the house that he quickly got out of the car and caught up with her.

"Yan Xiaoxi," Yuan Yi grabbed her hand, "Did you really agree to this?!"

"Why wouldn't I? I've been meaning to visit Grandpa Xu," Yan Xi reached up to ruffle Yuan Yi's hair, messing up his neat, elite hairstyle into a messy, casual look. "Don't overthink it. Go to sleep early."

"Good night, bye." Yan Xi waved at him from behind the gate and smiled as she walked away.

Yuan Yi had a vague feeling that Yan Xi seemed to be skipping away on purpose.

Was she doing that on purpose?

The driver, A Gang, saw his boss get back in the car, looking troubled, and assumed the boss had argued with Miss Yan. "Mr. Yuan, girls need to be coaxed."

"Coax what? Why would I coax her when everything is fine?" Yuan Yi cleared his throat. "It's so cold, let's just go home and sleep."

"Got it." A Gang started the car, seeing that the boss didn't seem too upset, and continued, "Boss, you never stayed up late before, but now you've changed your habits for Miss Yan. If she knew everything you're doing for her, she'd definitely be touched."

"No need for her to know. It's a man's duty to treat his woman well. I'm not doing it to make her feel moved." Yuan Yi snorted. "And she's so nagging. If she knew all this, I wouldn't even be able to go out with her at night."

"That's true, nightlife is the easiest way to stir up misunderstandings between men and women. Miss Yan is so outstanding, what if..." A Gang noticed his boss's expression change and quickly changed the subject. "Of course, you're one of the top figures in our capital, Mr. Yuan. With such a high-standard girlfriend like Miss Yan, she won't look at other men."

Although Yuan Yi knew A Gang was flattering him, he found part of what he said to be true. Yan Xi, despite her sharp tongue and bad temper, was someone he could recognize. How could anyone else be good enough for her? He had to be cautious about men with ill intentions.

He definitely couldn't restrict Yan Xi's freedom; if he constantly followed her around, she would find it annoying. A relationship also needs personal space. If he dared to do that, with Yan Xi's personality, she'd probably slap him.

Never mind, he'd better think about how to make her believe that no other man in the world was as good as him.

After Yan Xi returned home, changed out of her dress, and took a shower, she discovered that Xu Qiaosheng had dragged her into a group chat on WeChat. The name of the group was quite peculiar, "Fox Friends and Dog Friends," with only five or six people, all familiar faces.

The few people online posted applause emojis, and then Zhang Wang spoke up.

Zhang Wang: "Dahe, there's an event in the game during the Spring Festival where we fight world bosses. Remember to take us."

Dahe, I'm Xiaoxi: "I think this group name suits you guys pretty well."

Qiao Sheng: "Dahe, did you have a good time with Yi Ge tonight?"

Yan Xi had changed her group chat name to Dahe, answered a few questions from Yuan Yi's childhood friends, and was about to log off and go to bed when she saw a new message from Zhu Han.

Zhu Han: "Yuan Er is really giving it his all for you. Normally, when we ask him to go out at night, he wouldn't stay up for anything, but for you, he's willing to break his usual habits. This is what you call putting love above friends—this is the real-life version."

After Zhu Han sent the message, he quickly retracted it and nonchalantly posted three more emojis, trying to act like nothing had been said.

Xu Qiao Sheng and Zhang Wang also cooperated by sending a few emojis. The funniest was Xu Qiao Sheng, who, after sending several emoji messages, tried to cover it up by saying, "Pighead, didn't you ask for the emoji packs from my phone? You can take these."

Yan Xi really wanted to say, "You guys don't have to go to so much effort to cover it up, I've already seen it."

But seeing the three of them sending emojis back and forth, she figured it would be better not to interrupt their fun.

What a bunch of childish men. The saying "birds of a feather flock together" is indeed true.

Putting down her phone, Yan Xi remembered that over the more than half a year she had known Yuan Yi, he had never mentioned his early bedtime habit in front of her. The last time his childhood friends mentioned it was when he moved, but she thought they were just joking at the time.

She hadn't realized it was actually true.

She had been silently pampered by a man without even knowing it.

Taking out her drawing tablet, Yan Xi quickly sketched a picture.

A little white rabbit loved a patch of grass by its nest. It watched it every day, and eventually, one day, it moved the grass into its nest.

The drawing was simple, even without color, but the style was particularly cute. Some fans even felt that the picture was full of love. A simple comic strip had awakened their inner girls, and the artist's skills had improved.

Not in technical skill, but in emotional expression, there had been significant progress.

Fan 1: "Is it all because of love?"

Since Yan Xi's drawing alias was revealed, her artist account on Weibo had gained a lot of new followers. It wasn't because everyone was now a fan of her, but because some curious netizens found it interesting that someone who both drew comics and hosted shows existed.

With this, besides the nickname "Master and Granny Killer," Yan Xi had gained another one: "The Amphibious Host."

Other hosts might cross over to singing or acting, but Yan Xi's transition was much bigger—she had gone straight into the comic world. Observant fans noticed that her Weibo account had started updating two or three years ago, when the comics still featured her dad, mom, and little团子 (a small character). Although the mother character had later disappeared, traces of her were still present in the comics.

For example, the bag her mother used, the extra bowl and chopsticks on the table, her mother's shoes, and the photo of her mother on the wall.

In this Weibo post, there was not a single word about missing her late mother, but many of the comics were filled with longing. At the time, fans didn't know the identity of the artist, nor did they know that the artist's mother had passed away. Some fans even asked the blogger why they no longer drew the heartwarming pictures of Little Tuanzi and Tuanzi's mother.

Some netizens noticed that the comments were mostly from a period six months after the well-known young artist Yan Yun passed away. How sad must Yan Xi have been when she saw these comments back then?

Netizens didn't dare to imagine, but as they scrolled back through her posts, they were more and more moved and attracted by each comic story. Indeed, Yan Xi's drawing skills weren't top-tier, but her art was gentle.

Those who saw her comics felt a warmth and happiness from them.

Perhaps because of the support these comics garnered, many random netizens developed a special, tolerant fondness for Yan Xi. When they occasionally saw news about her on the homepage, they would click out of goodwill, even if the content didn't suit their taste, and simply smile it off.

The comic Yan Xi posted now hit the right sweet spots for many people, leading to a lot of shares. Some Weibo accounts that had previously criticized Yan Xi's artist account as being that of a "mistress" also shared the post with a bit of guilt and awkwardness.

A netizen commented when sharing: "I sense the smell of a wedding approaching from this comic."

Thus, a comic about "wedding approaching" became one of the trending topics on Weibo that night.

Song Chao had spent many years abroad and wasn't used to using Weibo. It wasn't until news about Yan Xi and Yuan Yi kept popping up on his phone that he accidentally clicked on it and registered a Weibo account for himself.

He naturally didn't like to expose his thoughts to the public, so even though he registered an account, he never used it.

When he saw the Weibo post "Hengtai leader and girlfriend about to get married," Song Chao paused for a moment and clicked on it.

The article was written vividly, and the accompanying images had been carefully selected by the author. He looked at the photo of Yan Xi smiling on the screen. He wanted to close it, but accidentally clicked again and enlarged the image.

Sometimes he felt that this woman was really annoying, but looking at this photo of her smiling, Song Chao couldn't help but admit that even though Yan Xi wasn't an extraordinarily beautiful woman, there was a natural charm in this picture of her.

Perhaps it was because her smile was so bright and natural, giving off a sense of beauty in life. It wasn't that she was beautiful, but that life itself felt beautiful.

He stared at the picture for a long time, suddenly recalling what had attracted him to Yan Xi all those years ago. The large, durable, and stain-resistant school skirts that looked ugly and plain on most girls, but on Yan Xi, they gave off a delicate and pure aura.

Who doesn't like a pure and beautiful girl?

Back then, when he saw a girl like that, it felt like finding a beautiful white flower in a desolate, corpse-filled wasteland. His feelings of affection were unstoppable.

Now, after more than nine years, when he saw this woman again, she no longer had the innocence and fragility of her youth, and he felt disappointed, angry, even thinking she had tainted the emotions he had once felt for her.

But now, seeing this picture, he suddenly banged his fist on the table and laughed out loud, as though he had encountered something extremely ridiculous.

After laughing, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Cancel the plan."

"Now that the entire Song family is under my control, I no longer have time to play with women."

After hanging up, he stared at his phone for a long time before exiting the screen.

Throughout his life, he had interacted with many people. Whenever his cousins would badmouth him, calling him a bastard, even if others didn't agree, they would either stay silent or laugh it off. Not a single person ever stood up to refute them.

He had long known that the people in this world, though outwardly refined, were disgustingly vile on the inside. Emotions were nothing compared to the importance of personal gain.

He hadn't expected this day to come, where a woman would openly ask in front of Song Ci, "If Song Chao is a bastard, then what about the person who gave birth to him?" His childhood bitterness and anger had been brought up by a woman he despised from the bottom of his heart.

Although he had long outgrown the age where he would argue with others, many years ago, he had hoped there would be someone who would stand up in front of the Song family, question them, and ridicule them. But he waited for a long time, and no one, not a single person, stood up for him.

His father said it was just a childish prank.

His mother said it was because he wasn't capable enough, that was why his cousins bullied him. Only by becoming someone with power and means could he avoid being bullied and take revenge on all the hardships he had suffered.

The phone rang again, and he pressed the answer button.

"Mr. Song, Mr. Song Ci's ex-girlfriend was taken by him to drink with friends before her death. They didn't leave the hotel that night, and the next morning, she was found leaving the hotel with a dazed expression. Five days later, she committed suicide."

"These details are no longer important to me," Song Chao smirked and smiled charmingly. "However, I'll still pay you as agreed, and I'll pay you extra as long as you anonymously hand over this information to the police. That way... at least you're doing a public service."

After hanging up, Song Chao stared out at the night sky, scoffing.

In Yan Xi's eyes, he was a man of bad character, but she didn't know that in the Song family, a man of bad character was still slightly better than a scumbag. In this family, being just an upright person wouldn't allow you to survive.

Early in the morning, when Song Hai called his daughter to have breakfast, she was still putting on makeup.

By the time he finished breakfast and was ready to leave for work, she was still doing her makeup.

"Yan Yan, the company's annual dinner is tonight. If you have time, come and show your face. Many employees want to meet the little boss."

"Okay." Yan Xi put down her eyelash brush and turned to Song Hai. "The snow hasn't melted on the roads, so remember to take our Jeep when you go out. It's safer and less slippery."

Song Hai saw that she had finished speaking and was still busy in front of the mirror, unable to resist commenting, "Why are you taking so long with your makeup today? Are you going on a date with that brat, Yuan Yi?"

"It's not a date, I'm visiting his elders." Yan Xi put on her earrings. "His maternal grandparents invited me to visit them today."

Song Hai, who was already prepared to leave, froze when he heard this. His feet stopped moving, and he could no longer take another step. "What, you're officially meeting the family?!"

Doesn't that mean considering a wedding next year?

Song Hai was internally opposed to the idea.

"Dad, please stop making that face," Yan Xi stood up and walked over to him, smiling. "If you don't want me to go, I won't."

"Nonsense, if you've promised, how can you back out? Since you were little, when have I taught you to go back on your word?" Song Hai let his daughter take his arm, and the two of them slowly walked downstairs. "No matter who you're with, I'll always be reluctant to let you go, but I just want you to be happy."

He opened the door and looked outside, snickering, "That pig who's trying to steal our precious jade cabbage is here."

Yan Xi: "I thought you said you just wanted me to be happy?"