When they arrived outside the Li family home, Li Weiyi’s eyes were already full of admiration and trust. She said, “Brother Xu Yi, chatting with you is so interesting! It makes me wish I had an older brother too. After final exams, I’ll treat you to a meal!”

Xu Yi laughed again and said, “I don’t want to be your brother.”

Li Weiyi froze. The refined man dressed in a black wool coat and suit looked down at her and said, “Weiyi, I’m almost 26, nine years older than you. I think that’s not too much. You might find it absurd, but I’ve truly developed strong feelings for you. Once you get into college, give me your answer, alright?”

Li Weiyi was stunned.

Xu Yi smiled again and patted her little head, saying, “Think it over carefully. My conditions aren’t bad. If you’re with me, I have the ability to let you always live this easily and happily.”

On the drive home, Xu Yi received Li Weiyi’s reply.

She sent a text message: “I’m sorry, Brother Xu Yi. I see you as a brother and don’t have those kinds of feelings for you. Please don’t wait for me.”

Xu Yi merely smiled and tossed his phone aside.

Would a hunter care about the prey’s thoughts?

He thought she was still young, perhaps frightened. She was still a girl, not a woman. She didn’t understand his worth, didn’t understand his tenacity, didn’t understand his desire.

Fu Ming was finished. The Zhang father and son were about to fall and become rats crossing the street that everyone shouts to beat. She was the girl who once captivated the noble Zhang family heir, yet now Zhang Jingchan spoke of her with deep secrecy.

No one knew he was pursuing her. Zhang Jingchan didn’t know either.

She was like the last pure white pearl left behind in the rotting swamp after a great edifice collapsed, and he had picked it up.

However, the world doesn’t develop according to one’s will. Even hunters can have their eyes painfully pecked by hawks.

After Li Weiyi got into college, Xu Yi’s pursuit and companionship remained unwavering. As they spent more and more time together and understood each other more deeply, he gradually discovered that Li Weiyi had many other facets.

She was lively and adorable but also tenacious and unyielding. On the path of learning painting, she was always the most hardworking among her classmates. She appeared carefree on the surface but was actually clear-headed and rational inside. Often, a casual remark that popped out could leave him silent and contemplative. She was also kind and sincere to everyone around her. Xu Yi wanted exactly this kind of woman, because if she held goodwill toward others, she would cherish and care for her lover even more.

The more he pursued her, the less he wanted to let go. Since establishing Muchen Group, more and more women were attracted to him—plenty who were more beautiful, mature, and excellent than her. But he didn’t need to think before rejecting them. At that time, he felt his feelings for Li Weiyi weren’t necessarily that deep, but to just abandon this little thing he’d known for years—he couldn’t bear it.

What truly made Xu Yi’s emotions explode was in the spring of her first year of work.

At that time, Li Weiyi still hadn’t accepted him, but they were already close friends of many years. Her parents and all her friends knew him. Everyone felt they should be together.

Even Xu Yi hadn’t expected that Li Weiyi could be stubborn enough to make him chase for so many years, stubbornly refusing to give in, stubbornly hesitating to take that one step. He didn’t know what exactly she was insisting on. But by then, he absolutely would not allow anyone else in her life.

Until that day when they were eating at a restaurant—like close friends, like siblings, and like a couple just one step away from being together.

The TV was broadcasting news. At a certain moment, Xu Yi looked up and found Li Weiyi staring at the screen, transfixed.

It was news about Huicui Group. Six years had passed. The 25-year-old Zhang Jingchan stood before the camera—handsome, upright, with an imposing presence—as if they’d just met, as if separated by a lifetime.

Xu Yi suddenly felt his throat go dry. People and events from years past came rushing back. He asked, “What are you watching?”

Only then did Li Weiyi come back to herself, pointing at the screen: “That’s Zhang Jingchan from the former Fu Ming, right? He’s established his own company again. He’s really amazing.”

This attitude made Xu Yi’s heart feel somewhat settled. He smiled lightly and asked, “You haven’t forgotten him, have you?”

Li Weiyi’s eyes widened: “How could that be! I just…”

Just…

Remembered that important message from the future—

Treat Zhang Jingchan well.

Exactly how would count as treating him well, and how could I treat him well?

Over these years, I’ve often thought about it but can’t figure it out.

He never came looking for me, and I don’t know how to reach his side.

But now he’s doing so well—surely he doesn’t need the good treatment of an insignificant person like me anymore, right?

——

After that night, Xu Yi pursued Li Weiyi even more intensely. And he keenly noticed that her attitude was actually starting to gradually soften. In her eyes, he saw increasing amounts of being touched, tenderness, and relief.

And relief.

Xu Yi didn’t understand why there would be relief.

But he knew he was about to win her over.

The day Li Weiyi agreed to be with him, Xu Yi’s mood was actually very calm—it was a sense of harvest from steady persistence finally coming to fruition. He even arranged a business trip to another city the next day.

But that night, Xu Yi ultimately didn’t sleep all night. Secret joy and satisfaction, like a tap forgotten to be turned off, gradually flooded the man’s chest. He realized he had obtained unprecedented happiness. He also finally understood what Li Weiyi meant to his life.

She had become part of his habits, was the child he’d protected as she grew up, who had finally become his woman. He longed to control everything in her life.

She was the spoils of war from the darkest and most dangerous phase of his life, and also the orange light illuminating his heart.

——

January 13, 2022.

After Li Weiyi refused to have dinner together and hung up the phone playing dumb, Xu Yi slowly leaned back in his executive chair. His figure remained lean and slender. Although he was already the absolute center of power in a listed group, he looked little different from that young man from eight years ago. He was perpetually as mild as a pool of water, making it impossible to see how many sharp rocks and undercurrents were hidden beneath the surface.

His hand slowly tapped several times on the armrest, his eyes completely devoid of warmth.

This woman, after all these years, could still make his thoughts turn restlessly.

Making him sit alone at the top of a skyscraper, yet feel as if he’d returned to those years, standing alone outside her home, watching her walk away without looking back. Even then, he understood—she truly hadn’t fallen in love with him yet.

But Li Weiyi, you’re already my woman. You’ve already promised to love me wholeheartedly from now on. What are you thinking about now?

He picked up his phone and opened an app—tracking software. He opened the map, and a bright dot representing Li Weiyi’s phone appeared—she was on a highway from Xiang City heading toward Chen City.

Xu Yi closed his eyes and leaned back, his Adam’s apple rolling lightly as he slowly exhaled.

She couldn’t drive.

Whose car was she in?