196: This paper is clean.

When Ye Su withdrew his gaze from outside the window, he realized that Li Mengyao was staring intensely at him.

"Oh—"

Instantly understanding her intention, Ye Su immediately pulled a crumpled tissue from his pocket and placed it in front of Li Mengyao: "Here, a gift for you."

Looking at the crumpled tissue in front of her, Li Mengyao, having never seen such a gift before, was momentarily stunned, her brain briefly short-circuiting.

Feeling as though she had been played, Li Mengyao narrowed her eyes and glared at Ye Su with murderous intent: "This is the gift you were talking about!"

As she spoke, even Ye Su could clearly hear the sound of Li Mengyao grinding her teeth in frustration.

Sensing his life was under unprecedented threat, Ye Su hurriedly explained: "The tissue is clean and unused! I was just in a rush and couldn't find anything else to wrap it in, so I used the tissue. The actual gift for you is inside!"

"Inside?"

Li Mengyao skeptically unfolded the tissue, revealing a pitch-black meteorite inside: "A stone? Do you really think this is any better than the tissue!"

"Do you really think I'm bored enough to pick up a random stone on the street just to trick you into buying me afternoon tea?"

Ye Su was puzzled; why were Miss Li's mood swings so extreme? Surely her period hadn't lasted this long.

"Your family is in the jewelry business; you should be able to recognize what this is..."

Prompted by Ye Su, Li Mengyao finally noticed the fusion crust with regmaglypts on the meteorite: "This is a meteorite?!"

"Mhm—" Ye Su was quite satisfied with Li Mengyao's shocked reaction.

Ignoring Ye Su's smug expression, Li Mengyao turned the meteorite over. Where the fusion crust had peeled away, a corner of the stone's true appearance was revealed: "What a beautiful meteorite!"

It was a mysterious, deep black, yet under the light, it refracted a brilliant, iridescent glow.

Even Li Mengyao, who had handled countless gemstones, was deeply awestruck by this meteorite formed by the cosmos.

Just as Ye Su had anticipated.

After observing the unique characteristics of the meteorite, Li Mengyao's first thought was to turn it into a piece of high-end jewelry.

To her knowledge, she had never seen a jeweler use a meteorite like this to create jewelry.

Rarity equals value; this applied to every industry.

Li Mengyao was confident that by leveraging the reputation of the Fei Wenyuan Silver Shop and incorporating this meteorite into a piece of jewelry—perhaps creating a "King of Jewelry" to match the concept of a "building king"—it would absolutely trigger a fanatical pursuit among clients!

Of course, the prerequisite for all this was that the stone in her hand was indeed a natural meteorite, not some modern technological craft.

However, Li Mengyao always had a special sense of trust in Ye Su.

If he said the stone was a natural meteorite, then it was a natural meteorite.

"Are you really giving this to me?" Li Mengyao looked up and asked Ye Su, her face full of delight.

"I really am..."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony?"

Li Mengyao asked tentatively again, hoping to prevent a repeat of last time, where Ye Su had seemed to imply he was selling the item to her.

Li Mengyao's repeated confirmation made Ye Su feel as though his integrity was being questioned yet again.

"Just take it. Consider it a thank you for the ten percent dividend you and your uncle gave me last time."

Ye Su's words caused the light in Li Mengyao's eyes to dim slightly.

So he had suddenly given her the meteorite out of a sense of reciprocity for that previous dividend contract.

"What's wrong?" Noticing Li Mengyao's expression change, Ye Su asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No." Li Mengyao quickly composed herself and offered Ye Su a bright smile: "You said you were giving it to me, so you can't go back on your word."

"Don't worry. I'm a man of my word; when I say I'll give it to you, I mean it."

Ye Su asked helplessly, "Do you want me to come to your company and sign a deed of gift, just to be sure?"

"That won't be necessary." Li Mengyao happily re-wrapped the tissue and placed the meteorite back into her Hermès bag.

She didn't believe that someone with Ye Su's discernment and intelligence wouldn't realize the true value of this meteorite.

Regardless of his reason for choosing to give it to her,

at the very least, he had indeed given her such a valuable and special gift, which made Li Mengyao very happy.

Seeing Li Mengyao's joyous expression, Ye Su was actually a bit puzzled.

The meteorite was only worth a few hundred thousand; while that was a huge sum for an ordinary person,

for a family like Li Mengyao's, who could casually hand him a contract worth over a million, surely she wouldn't be this happy over a few hundred thousand, right?

Oh well, never mind. The meteorite was already given away, and the rest was none of his business.

While Ye Su was busy with his own thoughts, the waiter brought over the tea and two desserts.

"Shall we share these?" Li Mengyao asked, looking at him with a hint of expectation.

Ye Su was used to trying a bit of everything he ordered, so he nodded, "Sure."

Ye Su wasn't the type to take photos of his food.

And Li Mengyao certainly wouldn't lower herself to taking photos of every afternoon tea she had at a hotel.

So, after getting Ye Su's agreement, Li Mengyao got right to it, using a spoon to divide both desserts into larger and smaller portions.

She took the two smaller portions for herself and gave the larger portions to Ye Su.

"Both of these desserts are quite good. You should try them."

"Hmm."

Ye Su took the dessert, scooped up a bite, and put it in his mouth.

"How is it?" Li Mengyao asked, looking expectant as she waited for his verdict.

"It's good. Not too sweet."

For Ye Su, "not too sweet" was the highest praise a dessert could receive.

"It's delicious, right?"

Seeing that Ye Su enjoyed what she had ordered made Li Mengyao very happy, and she picked up her spoon to eat as well.

After trying the two desserts, Ye Su took a sip of the tea—whatever it was called—and found that it was smooth and mellow, with a sweet aftertaste that suited his palate perfectly.

These rich people really knew how to eat; following their lead was never a mistake.

Even though the food was to his liking, in a setting like this, Ye Su felt embarrassed to stuff his face like he did with his bread in the morning.

He had to follow Li Mengyao's lead, taking small spoonfuls while providing her with conversational company.

The truffle beef roll served at the end felt similar to Beef Wellington.

After cutting it open, Li Mengyao only ate two pieces, and the rest went into Ye Su's stomach.

Not bad.

After finishing the meal, Ye Su leaned back on the sofa, satisfied. It had been worth skipping a dish at the cafeteria during lunch.

"How was it? Was that enough, or should I order a few more things for you to try?"

Ye Su noticed that when it came to food, Li Mengyao was just like Chen Xinyi—always worried that he wouldn't get enough to eat.

Perhaps this was a common trait among women a few years older than him; they were all quite good at taking care of others.

"That's enough. Any more and I won't be able to eat dinner."

"Alright then."

Li Mengyao reached out to signal the waiter and paid the bill with her membership card.