The next moment, Gou Kai called back, directly to Li Jin Yu. Li Jin Yu had already gotten out of the car and was leaning against the door with one hand in his pocket, waiting for Ye Meng while answering the call. He went straight to the point, cold as ice: “Speak.”
Gou Kai thought to himself, what’s with the attitude? He had just returned to his hotel, exhausted. Closing the door, he coughed, then lowered his voice to argue: “How am I stealing from you? At most, Ye Meng might be considered your mistress. Don’t talk to me with that primary wife tone. Even if I wanted to pursue her, it’s not your place to lecture me. Her small-town husband hasn’t said anything, so why are you getting so worked up? It would be better if we joined forces to get rid of her husband first. Then we can talk.”
Li Jin Yu: “Are you serious? What do you take sister for?”
“Isn’t this what you wanted to discuss with me?” Gou Kai asked suspiciously.
The city lights were just coming on, and the wind was howling by the river. There were many pedestrians on the street, bustling about. At that moment, someone asked him for directions—an old Beijinger by the accent. “Excuse me, how do I get to Daguan Residential Area? I’ve been going in circles.” Li Jin Yu had been lazily leaning against the car door while on the phone, but hearing someone speak to him, he straightened up, and while still holding his phone, pointed in a direction, “Through this intersection.”
“Ah, thank you.” The person left.
“No problem,” he replied, then casually leaned back with his hand in his pocket and said to Gou Kai on the phone: “That was my original plan, but now I’ve changed my mind.”
Gou Kai had taken off his suit and unbuttoned his shirt. Sitting on the sofa in the British hotel, he was methodically pouring himself some red wine, with an attitude like Jiang Taigong fishing—whether you want to or not, you’ll take my bait. He spoke fiercely to Li Jin Yu: “That’s more like it.”
“Let’s settle this one-on-one. I won’t feel better until I’ve beaten you up.” Li Jin Yu hung up directly.
The wind in England suddenly stopped, as if reporting to the dark clouds, and Gou Kai’s hand pouring wine froze in an instant.
By the time Ye Meng came out, Li Jin Yu was already back in the car. He had taken off his sports jacket and thrown it in the back seat, wearing only a thin t-shirt. He looked slender yet strong. Hearing the car door open, he turned his head while smoking. Seeing her with a dejected face, his heart inexplicably skipped a beat, and he also became nervous. He rested his hand outside the window, obediently waiting for her to share the result.
Ye Meng sat in the passenger seat and turned to face him with a solemn expression. Li Jin Yu was so unsettled by her expression that he almost dropped his cigarette. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to have a child—he was indifferent. If she was pregnant, they would have the baby and raise it. He just worried she wouldn’t be happy. Pregnancy wasn’t a simple matter, and if they weren’t prepared for it, he feared Ye Meng would be under too much pressure and might even develop postpartum depression. He would rather remain childless for life.
Ye Meng remained silent, with a troubled expression. Li Jin Yu had his suspicions—she was probably pregnant. He leaned back in the driver’s seat, his hand still resting outside the window, ash accumulating on his cigarette. After thinking for a moment, he said, “If you’re not ready, then get an abortion.”
“What?” Ye Meng couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe such life-disrespecting words could come from the mouth of the usually obedient and well-behaved Li Jin Yu.
“Of course, it’s best not to. An abortion isn’t good for your body either. I don’t know how to say this, and I don’t have much experience, but I think it’s fine if we have the baby. At worst, we’ll throw it out when it turns eighteen and go back to our two-person world.” Li Jin Yu had the air of a man who could still be a youth at eighty-eight.
“Alright, then it’s settled. We’ll throw it out at eighteen,” they reached an agreement, and Ye Meng said with a smile, “But I’m not pregnant this time. I was just teasing you.”
“Then why the expression?” Li Jin Yu glanced at her sideways.
“To scare you, since you never wear condoms.”
Li Jin Yu started the car, listening to the rumbling engine for a moment. He put out his cigarette and tossed it into the car ashtray, saying coldly, “Fine, next time don’t beg me.”
Ye Meng leaned back in the passenger seat, completely ignoring him, with a smug expression, almost swinging her feet. She admired the brilliant lights and bustling night scene outside the window while humming a song proudly. It was the one Li Jin Yu had hummed in Ning Sui, “Summer Holiday”—
“Summer holiday “Watch only on my way “Summer holiday “Babe, you are my baby…”
Over and over, just these four lines, because that was all Li Jin Yu had hummed at the time.
He smiled.
Gou Kai arrived in Beijing the next afternoon. Li Jin Yu had been playing basketball those days. When he received the message, he silently tossed the ball and told Li Chen he was leaving.
Tai Ming Xiao was drinking water on the sidelines. When he heard the sound and turned around, he only saw the tail of a car speeding away. So he hurriedly screwed the cap back on and scurried over to ask Li Chen, who was shooting baskets alone: “Where did the pretty boy go?”
Li Chen shot three balls at the backboard without making a single one, and glanced at him expressionlessly: “Gou Kai has arrived.”
For some reason, Tai Ming Xiao’s scalp tingled. Under the blazing sunshine of the basketball court, he immediately took out his phone and looked. The screen had some glare, so he covered it with his hand to see. This idiot had posted something on WeChat Moments without any awareness.
[Gou Kai: Finally arrived in Beijing. China Eastern Airlines was efficient this time, but the first-class cabin air conditioning was too cold and the blanket too thin. I suggest they provide two.]
To hell with your suggestions, you might as well go straight into a coffin.
“Where are they meeting?” Tai Ming Xiao asked anxiously. “Should we call Ye Meng? I’m worried they might fight. They’ve been brothers for so many years, it would be a shame to let a woman affect their friendship.”
Li Chen said calmly: “He said none of us should interfere in this matter. He just wants to talk with Gou Kai alone.”
“But…” Tai Ming Xiao was still worried.
“Stop with the ‘buts.’ Do you think Li Jin Yu is jealous?” Li Chen also tossed the ball, letting it roll off the court. He walked to the basket and unscrewed a bottle of water for himself, saying, “Think about what Gou Kai did to Ye Meng before. Li Jin Yu is taking this opportunity to get revenge on her behalf.”
Tai Ming Xiao had almost forgotten how Gou Kai had joined forces with Ye Meng’s old classmate Jiang Lu Zhi to drive her away. At that time, he was at an auction in Guangdong. The two of them had been arguing fiercely, and people from the office called him, asking if he could come back early to mediate. Gou Kai had a bit of a twisted psychology—he looked down on Ye Meng, yet wanted her to depend on him, to live at his mercy. If Ye Meng wanted to stay in Beijing, it could only be with him; using his connections to go to other companies was out of the question; otherwise, she should go back to her hometown.
At that time, the entire office heard him say to Ye Meng: “If you don’t want to work with Jiang Lu Zhi, fine, you can resign and go back to your hometown. At least you’re a graduate of a prestigious university.”
These words sounded harsh, but they were also quite realistic.
However, Gou Kai thought Ye Meng would obediently listen, who knew that Ye Meng really resigned and returned to Ning Sui.
They agreed to meet at an e-sports hall below Gou Kai’s building. Gou Kai asked why he didn’t arrange to meet in the city center. Li Jin Yu was someone you couldn’t quite tell whether he was being gentlemanly or just taking advantage of his good looks—both flirtatious and unbridled. Because he had told Gou Kai to go home after landing to make himself presentable before meeting him.
Gou Kai’s place was quite remote, with no coffee shops or tea houses nearby. There was only a bustling e-sports hall and a small foot massage parlor. Li Jin Yu didn’t like being touched, so he chose the e-sports hall. The second floor was the e-sports area, crowded with people, with groups of young people sitting together, chatting and watching others play games. There was a lounge on the third floor, but membership was required. Li Jin Yu didn’t play games, but he paid for a membership and went straight to the third floor.
Compared to the foot massage parlor, the people here were younger, mostly students. They were quite spirited, like sparrows on spring branches, chirping away—a bit noisy.
When Gou Kai arrived, a competition seemed to have just ended downstairs. Cheers, applause, and whistles filled the air; the whole place couldn’t contain the excitement. Li Jin Yu impatiently turned his gaze back from the window and saw a man in an impeccable three-piece suit and shiny leather shoes walking towards him.
Gou Kai saw him too. Li Jin Yu didn’t look out of place among these young people. He was wearing a shirt and dress pants, all proper, with the buttons fastened meticulously. The pants legs accentuated his well-proportioned long legs, revealing slender ankles in black socks. One shirt sleeve was loosely rolled up on his arm. In front of him was a half-drunk glass of lemon water. This was the smoking area, with a transparent ashtray by the window containing several stubbed-out cigarette butts and one unfinished cigarette resting on the edge.
As soon as Gou Kai sat down, the guy across from him said indifferently: “Your fly is down.”
?
Gou Kai looked down. Damn.
It was. Not a good start. No wonder people had been staring at him all the way. He had thought he looked particularly handsome today. Gou Kai pretended to be calm, casually zipping up with a swoosh. His momentum had weakened by half.
“Let’s talk,” Gou Kai said after zipping up and exhaling.
“Talk?” Li Jin Yu took a sip of lemon water and tossed the cigarette into the water as well. “I thought you were prepared to take a beating.”
“Cut the crap. If you wanted to fight, would you have arranged to meet here?” Gou Kai said.