Chapter 81 Coffee Shop

"Over here, over here."

Inside the coffee shop, Xiao Rongyu, looking expectant, saw Chen Yan walk in and quickly stood up to wave at him.

Seeing this, a flash of something strange passed through Chen Yan's eyes, but he quickly returned to normal.

Counting from their breakup at the airport back then until today, this was the first time the two of them had met privately in an informal setting.

"Come, come, sit down, sit down."

Watching Chen Yan approach, Xiao Rongyu's face was filled with smiles as she took the initiative to pull him to a seat.

In order to bridge the gap with Chen Yan more quickly and effectively, and to restore their old feelings, Xiao Rongyu had gone to great lengths to choose an inconspicuous corner of the coffee shop. This corner even had a translucent, non-transparent screen, almost cutting them off into a separate world from the outside.

Hearing this, Chen Yan did not stand on ceremony and sat down naturally across from Xiao Rongyu.

The two locked eyes, but surprisingly, neither of them spoke first. They just sat there quietly, facing each other across the table.

The light in the corner of the coffee shop was soft, and the screen blocked the view from outside, as well as most of the noise. The air held the bitter fragrance of ground coffee beans, mixed with the slight sweetness of milk foam, creating a deliberately relaxing atmosphere.

But Xiao Rongyu did not feel relaxed.

Her hands were on the table, fingers interlaced, thumbs unconsciously rubbing against each other. This was a small habit of hers when she was nervous, dating back to their college days, which Chen Yan certainly knew.

And Chen Yan just looked at her, his gaze as calm as a stagnant pool of water.

This calmness made Xiao Rongyu panic. She would rather he be angry, indifferent, or stand up and walk away—any strong emotion would be better than this calmness. Because calmness meant indifference, it meant she could no longer stir any ripples in his heart.

"What would you like to drink?" Xiao Rongyu spoke first, her voice carrying a deliberate lightness. "I remember you used to like Americanos, no sugar, no milk. It was bitter as hell; I don't know how you could drink it."

"I can't drink it anymore; it's too bitter. I've grown to like lattes, seventy percent sweet."

Chen Yan said.

Hearing this, Xiao Rongyu was stunned.

"Wh-why?"

"Life is already bitter enough; I need to add some sweetness for myself."

Hearing this, Xiao Rongyu smiled at him, raised her hand to call the waiter, and ordered two cups of coffee: one latte and one Americano. In the years she had been abroad, she had long since gotten used to drinking iced Americanos.

After the waiter left, a brief silence fell between the two.

Xiao Rongyu's gaze wandered over Chen Yan's face, as if trying to make up for all the years she had missed. He had lost weight, or rather, he had become leaner. The youthful roundness he had in college had completely faded, and his jawline was as sharp as if it had been cut by a knife. His eyes hadn't changed; they were still that bottomless black, but there were a few fine lines at the corners of his eyes. They weren't marks of age, but more like... something had settled deep in his eyes, making him look much older than his actual age.

"Chen Yan," Xiao Rongyu finally spoke, her voice very soft. "Have you been doing well all these years?"

After so long, she finally had the chance to ask this question.

However, Chen Yan just looked at her without answering immediately.

This question was too ordinary, so ordinary that it felt like the standard opening line between two old acquaintances reuniting after a long time. But precisely because it was so standard, it felt hypocritical.

What Xiao Rongyu wanted to know right now was how Chen Yan had gotten through these years.

Finally, Chen Yan spoke.

"It's alright," he said.

Two words, perfunctory and blatantly so.

The corners of Xiao Rongyu's mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smile, but couldn't.

She lowered her eyes, looking at her interlaced fingers, was silent for a few seconds, then took a deep breath, as if she had made a decision.

She reached into her bag and took something out.

A bank card.

The card was deep blue with the bank's logo in the top left corner. It was a very ordinary debit card, with nothing special about it. But when Xiao Rongyu placed it on the table, her movements were very light and slow, as if she were putting down something fragile.

The bank card landed on the wooden table with a faint sound.

Chen Yan's gaze fell on the card, paused for a moment, and then he looked up at her.

"What is the meaning of this?" His voice had no inflection.

Xiao Rongyu did not answer immediately. Her hand was still resting on the card, her fingertips gently pressing against the edge, as if confirming that the card had indeed left her bag, was placed on this table, and could no longer be taken back.

"There is one million here," she finally spoke, her voice steadier than she had expected, but she didn't look at Chen Yan, looking at the card instead. "I heard about Director Mother. I know you need money, and Liu Ruyan's money is not easy to earn."

Chen Yan did not move. He didn't even blink.

"Her money is hard to earn, but does that mean, Senior, your money is easy for me to earn?"

Once these words were out, the expression on Xiao Rongyu's face clearly froze, and for a moment, she didn't know how to answer.

Clearly, Xiao Rongyu was stunned there, her fingers still resting on the edge of the bank card, as if her whole person had been pressed with a pause button.

She had thought of many reactions from Chen Yan. He would refuse, be silent, sneer and push the card back, or even get up and walk away.

But she never thought he would use this method—using a rhetorical question to lightly block her good intentions in her throat.

"I..." Xiao Rongyu opened her mouth, the sound stuck in her throat, unable to come out or be swallowed.

Her money was not easy to earn.

These six words echoed repeatedly in her mind, like a nail being driven in, pulled out, and driven in again. Of course, she understood what Chen Yan meant—it wasn't about the money, but about the person giving it. Liu Ruyan's money was hard to earn because taking her money meant having to play along with her acting, but the advantage was that it didn't require any emotional investment.

Then what about her money?

After taking her money, what was he supposed to do? Act as her ex-boyfriend? Serve as proof that she was making up for regrets? Or act as a placebo for her uneasy conscience?

"I didn't mean that." Xiao Rongyu finally found her voice, but her tone no longer had the certainty of just a moment ago; instead, it carried a panic, eager to explain. "This money isn't for you to do anything; it's just... just for emergencies. Director Mother's surgery fees, follow-up treatment, rehabilitation costs—I know these are all bottomless pits. With this money, you can stay further away from Liu Ruyan and won't have to suffer this indignity."

She paused, took a deep breath, and forced herself to calm down.

"Chen Yan, you can treat this money as a loan. Write an IOU, calculate interest; pay me back whenever you have it, I won't rush you. Will that work?"

She had lowered her stance significantly.

In the investment department of Su Group, Xiao Rongyu was famously strong-willed. She never backed down at the negotiating table, scrutinized every clause and detail word by word, and it was harder than ascending to heaven for partners to take advantage of her. But now, in front of a bank card, she stripped away her pride layer by layer, until at the very end, she revealed the softest, most vulnerable thing inside.

Chen Yan looked at her, his gaze still calm.

The waiter walked over with a tray and placed the two cups of coffee on the table. The latte had a heart-shaped latte art, the milk foam delicate and white, floating on the dark brown coffee liquid like a cloud resting in the twilight. The Americano was much simpler; the black liquid swayed a few times against the white cup wall before quickly returning to stillness.

"Latte, seventy percent sweet." The waiter confirmed, placed the cup with the heart-shaped latte art in front of Chen Yan, and the other cup in front of Xiao Rongyu.

Chen Yan picked up the cup and took a sip.

Milk foam stained his upper lip, and he wiped it away gently with his thumb, his movements casual and natural.

"Is it good?" Xiao Rongyu asked.

She didn't know why she asked this question; perhaps it was too quiet, so quiet that it was unsettling, and she needed to say something to fill the void.

"It's alright." Chen Yan put down the cup, still those same two words.

"It's alright" again. Xiao Rongyu smiled bitterly in her heart. She had developed a physiological aversion to the phrase "It's alright"—it meant rejection, it meant perfunctoriness, it meant that the person speaking didn't want to engage in any in-depth conversation with you.

"Chen Yan," Xiao Rongyu suddenly spoke, her voice much softer than before, so soft it was as if she were afraid of startling something. "Do you think I'm particularly hypocritical?"

Chen Yan raised his eyes to look at her.

"Back then, I was the one who initiated the breakup, I was the one who walked away from the airport without looking back, and I was the one who cut off all contact, leaving you alone to wait for someone who would never return." Xiao Rongyu's voice began to tremble, but she didn't stop. "Now I'm back, sitting in front of you, taking out a bank card, saying some high-sounding words, pretending that I'm still the girl from back then who was willing to go through fire and water for you."

She withdrew her hand from the bank card, clenched it into a fist, and placed it on her lap.

"I am indeed hypocritical." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "But I didn't come to act out some reunion drama with you. I just... I just can't stand seeing you like this right now."

Xiao Rongyu began to question herself.

"What do I look like now?" Chen Yan asked.

Xiao Rongyu looked at him for several seconds.

"You are not happy," she said.

These four words were like a blunt knife—not fast, but very painful.

Chen Yan's eyelashes moved. Just that once, then he immediately returned to that unfathomable calmness.

"Happy?" He repeated the word, as if tasting it. "Senior, do you think happiness is a necessity?"

Senior.

This form of address made Xiao Rongyu's heart twitch violently.

In college, Chen Yan never called her Senior. He called her "Rongyu," or "Little Fish," and occasionally "President Xiao" when joking. But the term "Senior" carried a deliberate, distant politeness, like an invisible wall he had built between them with his own hands.

"You didn't call me that before," Xiao Rongyu said, the grievance in her voice almost overflowing.

"Before was before." Chen Yan picked up the latte and took another sip, as if using the temperature of the coffee to suppress something. "Senior, we have both changed a lot. You are no longer the girl who was willing to eat street food with me, and I am no longer the silly kid who would wait at the airport all day for someone."

Xiao Rongyu's nose soured.

She desperately held it back.

"Then what about Shen Youchu?" she suddenly asked.

Chen Yan's hand holding the cup paused slightly.

"Youchu, she..."

Chen Yan collected himself and was just about to speak when a familiar voice sounded from the other side of the screen behind him.

"I say, Brother Shi, why am I so unlucky? I was originally planning to take Liu Ruyan down. But in the end, I gave her a divine assist instead."

Liu Haoran's voice came from behind, instantly interrupting what Chen Yan was about to say next.

Upon hearing the sensitive term "Brother Shi," Chen Yan immediately stopped his train of thought and shook his head slightly at Xiao Rongyu.

In an instant, Xiao Rongyu also quieted down. Although she didn't understand Chen Yan's actions at the moment, she still complied obediently.

"Hey, don't worry, think about it, we are planning big things, how could it be so smooth?"

"Besides, Brother Liu Haoran, even if this matter of yours succeeds, so what? Could it be that you think such a trivial, sesame-seed-sized matter could make your grandfather hand over your sister's position to you?"

Subsequently, Qin Shi's voice rang out, sounding full of confidence, but actually filled with bewitchment between the lines.

He actually never explicitly stated anything, but the meaning between the lines had already been conveyed.

"Hmm? Brother Shi, what do you mean by that? I don't understand."

Before the voice had even faded, Liu Haoran's voice rang out, filled with eagerness; clearly, he had already been drawn in by this rhetoric of Qin Shi's.

"Brother Liu Haoran, let me tell you, those of us who do big things cannot be overly cautious. Whether it's the righteous path or crooked ways, as long as you can achieve your goal, you must know how to use them."

Seeing the other party take the bait, Qin Shi was already overjoyed in his heart, but on the surface, he still maintained a serious appearance, even using a preachy tone as he spoke.

"Exactly. We can create a little trouble for your Sister Ruyan. For example, get a tax file and send it over to cause her some trouble. If I remember correctly, your Liu Group will soon be facing a tax inspection, right?"

Qin Shi coaxed him step by step.

"Yes, yes, these past few days, the accounting department has been busily checking the accounts and preparing the declarations."

Upon hearing this, Liu Haoran's eyes immediately lit up.

"Then what are you waiting for? Don't be afraid to spend money; find a way to get a piece of tax verification information that looks fake but is actually real, and cause trouble for your sister. When she is actually called in for questioning, you can point out the bug in it, prove your sister's innocence, and then your grandfather will definitely look at you in a new light."

"Hey, now that you mention it, Brother Shi, this could work..."

And at this moment, on the other side of the screen.

"The Liu Clan?"

Having vaguely heard a few sentences, Xiao Rongyu also reacted. Her red lips moved slightly toward Chen Yan, but she didn't make any sound, only using lip-reading.

Chen Yan just nodded, not speaking.