123: It's a man

After confirming there were no other issues, Ye Su signed and pressed his thumbprint on both copies of the contract.

"We still need to take both copies of the contract back to get them stamped. Once the process is complete, we will mail them to you."

"No problem."

"Let's add each other as friends so it's easier to communicate regarding work in the future."

Getting to know Ye Su was the real reason Lin Guanglei was so attentive to this matter.

Having more friends means having more paths; this was true not just for Ye Su, but also for Lin Guanglei.

Being able to know the eldest daughter of Poyun Group was proof enough that Ye Su himself was worth getting to know.

Ye Su had wanted to say that he had already added Shen Xinyue as a friend, and he could just communicate with her if anything came up later.

But since the other party initiated it, and he was a director at the Agricultural Science Institute, adding him as a friend was a good thing.

Ye Su checked Shen Xinyue's expression, and seeing she had no reaction to this, he took out his phone:

"Sure. Do you want to scan me, or should I scan you?"

"I'll scan you."

"Mm."

After exchanging contact information, Ye Su stood up to take his leave: "Since the contract is signed, I won't disturb your work any further."

"See you next time. Xinyue, please help see Mr. Ye out."

"Alright."

Leaving the meeting room, Shen Xinyue led Ye Su back to the parking lot the way they came.

"I remember the way out. You don't need to go through the trouble of personally showing me out."

"I'm just taking the opportunity to slack off." Shen Xinyue glanced at Ye Su: "What, now that the contract is signed and you think you don't need me anymore, you can't be bothered to deal with me?"

Ye Su scanned his own body with his hands: "Do I look like that kind of person to you?"

"Hmm..." Shen Xinyue walked forward while rubbing her chin, sizing Ye Su up: "Judging by your appearance, you don't look like it."

Ye Su gave a thumbs up: "You're a good judge of character."

"Heh." Shen Xinyue gave Ye Su a dry, fake smile and rolled her eyes.

After dealing with her twice, Ye Su realized that Shen Xinyue had a confident and generous personality, as well as being sunny and cheerful. He wasn't surprised at all by her playful reaction:

"I have to thank you for making this partnership possible. When I have the chance, I'll treat you to a meal. You can pick the place."

"Are you really treating me? Or is this a Louis XVI promise—giving me an empty check?"

This sudden dark joke completely caught Ye Su off guard.

"I'm really treating you... Just let me know when you're free. I'll even provide transportation, how about that?"

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." Shen Xinyue began to probe: "When you have a meal alone with me, do you need to report it to Mengyao?"

"Huh?" Ye Su was stunned, then realized what she meant: "You're overthinking it. Mengyao and I are just ordinary friends."

Since graduating from university, the men around Li Mengyao were basically only her business partners.

"So you're just ordinary friends. I thought Mengyao had finally come around."

When she had suddenly approached her, saying she wanted to help a friend contact the Agricultural Science Institute, and then seeing Ye Su in person and feeling that he wasn't one of Li Mengyao's business partners...

Shen Xinyue had thought there was some gossip to be had, but it seemed she had overthought it.

For the rest of the way, the two chatted idly. Once they reached the parking lot, Ye Su said goodbye to Shen Xinyue and drove away from the Agricultural Science Institute.

...

With nothing to do for the rest of the time, and having to accompany Li Mengyao home to act tomorrow night without knowing when it would end,

Ye Su thought for a moment and decided to go pick up Chen Xinyi from work.

Seeing it was still early and confirming that Chen Xinyi would get off work on time,

Ye Su drove the car around aimlessly, using the time to practice driving, before heading to the vicinity of Chen Xinyi's company, finding a parking spot to wait for her to get off work.

Before it was time to get off work, Ye Su picked up his phone and crammed some knowledge about antiques, thinking it might come in handy tomorrow night.

Knock, knock, knock—

As a qualified wage slave, Chen Xinyi left work right on time as expected. Just past six, she found Ye Su's car and knocked on the window.

"Get in yourself."

The window rolled down. After confirming she hadn't found the wrong car, Chen Xinyi didn't get in immediately. Instead, she walked around the car a few times, inspecting it, before opening the door and sitting in the passenger seat.

"So this is the Audi you bought? It looks quite new." Chen Xinyi said with a hidden meaning: "And there aren't any scrapes or scratches."

"What do you mean by that? Not even hiding it anymore, are you? Mocking me to my face?" Ye Su angrily launched a sneak attack on Chen Xinyi.

Mm, still the familiar feeling.

Long accustomed to this, facing Ye Su's sneak attack, Chen Xinyi couldn't even be bothered to dodge:

"How did I mock you? Don't wrong me. I was just saying the used car you bought is still very new. I completely didn't mean anything else."

"You weren't mocking my driving skills?"

"Of course not!" Chen Xinyi said righteously: "Who said your driving skills are bad? Your driving skills are amazing!"

"Hmm?"

Ye Su always felt something was off about that, but Chen Xinyi had already started urging him:

"It's the evening rush hour already, hurry up and drive. Otherwise, who knows how long it will take to get back." Chen Xinyi realized she had a slip of the tongue and immediately corrected herself: "Driving slowly is fine too; we're not in a rush."

Ye Su gave the passenger seat a middle finger: "Fasten your seatbelt. Let's go..."

"Okay."

Although she said she trusted him, when the car started, Chen Xinyi's right hand subconsciously gripped the handle. It was as if the word [tragic] was almost carved onto her forehead.

After driving for a stretch, confirming that Ye Su was following the rules and not like some young people who thought about speeding as soon as they got in the car, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and her right hand slowly let go of the handle.

"I bought a new electric grill. Should we stop by the supermarket on the way to buy some things and have barbecue tonight?"

Renting a larger house has that advantage; there's no need to worry about not having space after buying things.

Besides the electric grill, Chen Xinyi also bought an oven, planning to learn how to bake a cake when she had time, and then let Ye Su help her test for poison.

"That works. It saves me from having to struggle with what to eat tonight."

The two agreed immediately, and Ye Su changed his destination, driving to the nearest mall to buy things.

...

Meanwhile, inside Villa No. 18 at Zijing Villa District, Li Mengyao's family was also having dinner.

First, she secretly glanced at Li Shanhai and Wang Lijuan, and finding that they were both eating on their own, Li Mengyao said nonchalantly:

"A friend of mine is coming over to visit tomorrow night."

"Oh." Li Shanhai didn't take it to heart, nodded, and continued eating.

It was Wang Lijuan who, seeing that it was rare for her daughter to have a friend visit, asked carefully:

"Are they coming over for dinner? If so, I'll tell the kitchen to prepare two extra dishes tomorrow night."

Clearly, Li Mengyao had a long history, so even Wang Lijuan didn't think in the direction that her daughter was bringing a "boyfriend" home.

"Yes."

"Does she have any dietary restrictions? Does she want spicy or something lighter?"

Oh no, she had only focused on going over the character background with Ye Su in the afternoon and had forgotten to ask about this.

Fortunately, Li Mengyao remembered that Ye Su was from Guying, so logically he shouldn't eat much spicy food.

"He is also from this province, so his taste is similar to ours."

"Alright." Wang Lijuan nodded: "Even though she's a girl, for safety's sake, let the kitchen make a few more dishes so they don't leave hungry."

"It's not a girl, it's a man."

"Ah!"