The air was silent for two seconds. Just as Mu Yanxi was about to tease her further, Yi Wulan suddenly spoke: “And you?”
Mu Yanxi froze. “Huh?”
“What about you, then?” Yi Wulan looked over and repeated the question, “Do you like it?”
For a moment, Mu Yanxi didn’t know how to answer.
She had expected to see Yi Wulan fly into a rage out of humiliation as usual. Who would have thought Yi Wulan would change her strategy and throw the question back at her?
Mu Yanxi opened her mouth. “I…”
Yi Wulan used the same phrasing Mu Yanxi had just used. “After all, when we were discussing the marriage contract, I heard you say you liked me very much. Has it only been a little over a month, and Miss Mu has already forgotten?”
Her tone was calm, yet it inexplicably made Mu Yanxi feel a little guilty.
“O-of course I haven’t forgotten.”
Yi Wulan seemed to see through Mu Yanxi’s guilt, her eyes holding a hint of deep meaning. “Is that so?”
“Of course it’s true.” Mu Yanxi finally regained her composure and began to bluff without batting an eye. “Who in this world can compare to you? Naturally, I only like you.”
Yi Wulan studied Mu Yanxi’s expression and said no more.
After a long moment, just as Mu Yanxi’s arms, which were propping her up, began to ache, a soft sigh reached her ears.
Immediately after, a warm touch landed on the top of her head.
Mu Yanxi turned her head just in time to see Yi Wulan retracting her hand.
“Sit tight. Don’t go flying out again because of the brakes.”
Even though the hand was gone, Mu Yanxi could still feel its lingering touch on her head, a sensation that didn’t fade for a long time.
She couldn’t figure out what Yi Wulan was thinking and felt that something was strange.
But she couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong.
It left her feeling unsettled.
Mu Yanxi leaned back against the window on her side, admiring the night view of the bustling traffic and colorful neon lights outside.
After a while, she suddenly realized something.
Had she just been flirted with by Yi Wulan?
Was that old-fashioned Yi Wulan deliberately trying to trap her with her words?
And she, like a brainless fish, had obediently and willingly taken the bait Yi Wulan offered…
Worse, she had taken the bait without even realizing the other’s intention, and had the tables turned on her completely.
Mu Yanxi gritted her teeth, feeling a fire of anger rising through her.
She tried to endure it, but the heat in her face kept rising, making her extremely uncomfortable.
Mu Yanxi called out, “Driver, please turn the air conditioning down a bit.”
Beside her, Yi Wulan heard her and looked over.
Mu Yanxi ignored her, trying her best to disregard Yi Wulan. She gritted her teeth and added, “Turn it down to the lowest setting, like last time. What a crappy car, I’m burning up.”
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she thought she heard a faint chuckle from beside her.
The old madam went to bed early, and the evening traffic wasn’t as bad as during the day. So, by the time Mu Yanxi got home and finished her shower, the clock had just passed ten.
She was thirsty after her bath. Mu Yanxi forced herself to wait until she had finished applying her skincare products before reluctantly going downstairs to the dining room to look for something to drink.
Just like when she lived with Mu Yanqing, Mu Yanxi searched everywhere but couldn’t find the iced cola she wanted.
It had to be said, Yi Wulan was sometimes very much like her sister, treating her as a younger sister who needed to be looked after.
Mu Yanxi grumbled about this under her breath for a bit, until her eyes fell on the watermelon in the refrigerator, and they lit up again.
Just then, the cleaning lady passed by. Seeing Mu Yanxi staring blankly at the collection of knives, she enthusiastically came over to ask, “Miss Mu, is there anything I can help you with?”
With a conflicted expression, Mu Yanxi pointed at the knives. “Which one is for cutting watermelon?”
She remembered the last time she had used a meat cleaver to cut a watermelon, and the surface of the fruit had been tainted with a strange taste. This time, she was much more cautious.
The lady washed her hands. “Let me cut it for you. How would you like it cut?”
“I want to make juice.” Mu Yanxi licked her slightly dry lips. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Miss Mu. Just let me know if you need anything.”
The lady worked quickly. In just a few minutes, a large pitcher of watermelon juice was ready.
Mu Yanxi drank more than half a glass in one go. Looking at the remaining half of the juice in the pitcher, her scarce conscience finally pricked her a little. She decided to be benevolent and bring a glass to Yi Wulan as well.
It was a way to once again show her gentleness and consideration, in an attempt to salvage her persona of being deeply and unswervingly in love with Yi Wulan.
—Just in case she couldn’t get into the master bedroom later that night.
After dawdling for a moment, Mu Yanxi thoughtfully used a spoon to skim the foam off the top of the watermelon juice. Then, with great ceremony, she placed it on a tray and sauntered over to Yi Wulan’s study.
The study door was ajar. The entire floor was quiet, making the sound of Yi Wulan’s phone call particularly clear.
By the time Yi Wulan hung up the phone, Mu Yanxi’s legs were aching. She had just taken one step when she lost her footing and stumbled right through the study door.
Yi Wulan finally noticed Mu Yanxi’s presence. She looked over, a hint of surprise on her face. “Yanxi?”
At the doorway of the study stood Mu Yanxi, wearing a white nightgown adorned with a few thin layers of white gauze. In her hands was a tray with a glass of watermelon juice, making her look gentle, considerate, and perfectly domestic.
Yi Wulan put down her phone and studied Mu Yanxi for a moment, her expression slightly surprised. “What are you doing?”
Mu Yanxi finally snapped back to her senses from their locked gaze.
Her initial thought of currying favor with Yi Wulan instantly vanished, replaced by the desire to quickly escape the awkward situation.
She spoke hurriedly, “I was just passing by. My foot cramped, and I lost my balance, so I accidentally barged in. You can go back to what you were doing.”
“I’m not busy, just reading a book for a bit.” Yi Wulan held up the book in her hand to show her.
“Then, you continue reading.”
Yi Wulan seemed to sense what Mu Yanxi was thinking and looked at her hands. “I happen to be a little thirsty. Yanxi, could you give me that glass of watermelon juice?”
Mu Yanxi followed her gaze to the watermelon juice in her hand and said stubbornly, “This is juice I personally made for myself. If I give it to you, what will I drink?”
After a pause, remembering her purpose, Mu Yanxi put on a reluctant expression and handed over the juice. “But seeing as you’re spending so much money to win the Shuilin Fang project, I’ll reluctantly let you have it.”
Yi Wulan took the juice, a fleeting smile flashing in her peach-blossom eyes.
Perhaps because of what happened at the family dinner tonight, Yi Wulan had gained a slightly new understanding of Mu Yanxi’s personality.
It turned out that the feisty little ancestor who bared her fangs and brandished her claws in front of outsiders was not always as composed as she appeared.
Her heart felt as if it were being filled with a strange emotion—a little joy, a little hesitation, and threads of vexation.
As soon as she returned, she had shut herself in the study to deal with documents, feeling restless and unable to focus on her reading.
But now, seeing Mu Yanxi, her mind unexpectedly calmed down.
It was strange, but not unpleasant.
However, Mu Yanxi had no idea what Yi Wulan was thinking.
The tiny bit of conscience she had from bringing the watermelon juice instantly turned to ash at the mention of Shuilin Fang.
She let out a small, soft huff. “Yi Wulan, the Shuilin Fang project should be quite profitable, right?”
She phrased it as a question, but her tone was very certain.
Yi Wulan nodded. “Rongjia did an assessment before. If you want to know more, I can have Assistant Gu send you the file.”
“Oh, no need, no need.” Mu Yanxi took two steps forward. “What I mean is, since you’re going to make a lot of money anyway, shouldn’t I, the hero who contributed to your project, get a cut?”
“Reason?”
Mu Yanxi said confidently, as if she were in the right, “I just gave you my watermelon juice. You’re not even willing to give me a tiny little cut?”
She emphasized again, “The watermelon juice that I personally made, which I originally intended to drink myself, but gave to you instead.”
She said it as if the glass of watermelon juice was plated with diamonds.
Yi Wulan looked at Mu Yanxi with great interest, her fingertips lightly tapping the desk. “How much do you want?”
Mu Yanxi bit her lower lip, meeting the other’s gaze. “Forty-sixty?”
Yi Wulan didn’t answer.
Mu Yanxi tried again. “Then fifty-fifty?”
Yi Wulan’s hand, which was tapping the desk, paused. Only then did she realize that the forty-sixty Mu Yanxi had initially proposed meant sixty for Mu Yanxi.
The little ancestor spent money lavishly, dropping millions without batting an eye.
But at times, she was excessively shrewd.
Yi Wulan spoke in a calm tone, “The investment in Shuilin Fang is huge, and the construction period is long. We don’t even know when the first returns will come in.”
Mu Yanxi nodded, as if it were a matter of course. “If you need money, go to my sister.”
Meaning: If you need money, go to Mu Yanqing; you do the work yourself, but in the end, you only get a forty percent profit.
The rest had to be handed over.
The exploitation was crystal clear.
“This was a project I recommended to you, so it’s not too much to collect a little interest, right?” Mu Yanxi didn’t even blink, adding, “We’ve been married for so long, you’re not even willing to give me this little bit of money?”
Yes, ‘this little bit of money’ for a project that cost over a billion in the initial bidding alone and would require several times that investment later on.
Even for Yi Wulan, a veteran of the business world, she had never encountered such an outrageous demand.
But Mu Yanxi was, after all, different from other people.
Yi Wulan didn’t answer, merely lifting the glass and taking a sip of watermelon juice. “Oh.”
Oh? What did “oh” mean?
Just as Mu Yanxi was about to question her, Yi Wulan looked at the tray in Mu Yanxi’s hands and changed the subject first. “Does Miss Mu always have such a sense of ceremony when drinking water by herself?”
Mu Yanxi saw through Yi Wulan’s intention. After silently cursing ‘capitalist vampire’ in her heart, she quietly hid the tray behind her back and averted her gaze.
Trying to hide the original purpose of this glass of watermelon juice.
She argued, “We young people just like this kind of ceremony. Can’t I use a tray when I’m drinking water by myself? If you don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense.”
“Mm,” Yi Wulan responded, continuing to flip through the book in her hands.
The atmosphere gradually cooled, returning to how it was before Mu Yanxi arrived, with only the sound of pages turning.
The breeze from the central air conditioning blew down, settling between the two of them.
It felt as if she was being given the cold shoulder.
Unconvinced, Mu Yanxi sat down opposite Yi Wulan, as if searching for some sense of presence.
Then, she watched as Yi Wulan circled and dotted things in the book, with no idea what she was writing.
In short, she was completely ignoring a living, breathing person right in front of her.
Mu Yanxi propped her chin on one hand, picked up a pen with the other, and carefully poked Yi Wulan’s book.
Pat. Yi Wulan wasn’t holding the page down, and Mu Yanxi’s poke snapped it shut.
Mu Yanxi looked up and saw Yi Wulan’s expressionless face.
Mu Yanxi silently shrank back, explaining in a small voice, “I didn’t mean to disturb you. I was just a little careless.”
After thinking for a moment, she added, “You can continue. I won’t disturb you.”
Yi Wulan met Mu Yanxi’s gaze for a moment, then sighed. “If you’re bored, go back to the room and sleep.”
Mu Yanxi wasn’t about to give Yi Wulan a chance to not share a bed with her. She had a mission to complete tonight.
Normally, she didn’t meet outsiders with Yi Wulan. Even at Rongjia, due to Yi Wulan’s status, she didn’t feel any malice from others.
But after going to the Yi family home that evening and facing Yi Wulan’s other relatives of the same generation, Mu Yanxi realized just how covetously those people eyed Yi Wulan’s position.
Yi Jingming alone was enough to make her wary.
Today, she happened to have evidence against Yi Jingming, and Bai Yu’an happened to be a reasonable and assertive girl.
What if next time, she had no way to deal with it?
The fact that Yi Jingming could get her help in her past life and meet Bai Yu’an in this one showed that his protagonist’s halo hadn’t disappeared.
The most urgent task was to get Yi Wulan’s legs to heal as soon as possible and to clear the blood clot in her brain.
But since her rebirth, her special ability had yet to undergo its second evolution.
Without a higher-level ability, she could only rely on human effort.
Mu Yanxi flatly refused the suggestion to go back to her room first. “I don’t want to. I’ve barely been in your study. I want to look around.”
“Then be quiet.”
Mu Yanxi promised with a serious face, “I’ll be very quiet. I won’t disturb you.”
However, nearly ten minutes later, Yi Wulan put down the document and pen in her hands and looked across again with a heavy gaze, staring into those bright, unblinking fox-like eyes that were fixed on her.
“Can you stop staring at me?”
Mu Yanxi shrugged, her tone quite innocent. “Then what should I look at?”
Yi Wulan pulled out the file for the Shuilin Fang project. “Don’t you like this project? Look at this, not me.”
“How can a file be as good-looking as you…” Mu Yanxi took it reluctantly, then steered the conversation back to the beginning. “If I look at this, will you give me a cut of the money?”
“Are you short on money?” Yi Wulan seemed rather puzzled. “The card I gave you has no limit.”
“I’m still short.” Mu Yanxi said timidly in a small voice, holding the file up to hide her face. “Alright, alright, stop looking at me like I’m a robber. I’ll look at the file, okay?”
After saying that, Mu Yanxi opened the thick file and began to read.
Yi Wulan was genuinely flipping through some unknown finance book, all in English, circling and dotting things and occasionally jotting down numbers.
Mu Yanxi, however, was just going through the motions.
Sure enough, her seriousness didn’t last a minute before she started getting restless again.
Having been warned by Yi Wulan just now, this time Mu Yanxi didn’t stare directly at her, but instead looked at the things around her.
Then, she would “accidentally” let her gaze brush past Yi Wulan’s face.
Whenever Yi Wulan glanced over, Mu Yanxi would pretend to be nonchalant, avert her gaze, and look down at her file again.
Half an hour later, there was a knock on the study door, and the lady brought in two bowls of sweet fermented rice balls.
Each ball was plump and round, dotted with golden osmanthus flowers. The mellow fragrance of the fermented rice wine wafted over, very appetizing.
The lady placed the tray on Yi Wulan’s side, put one of the bowls in front of Mu Yanxi, and then left.
Mu Yanxi scooped some with her spoon and found it a bit hot, so she stirred it to pass the time.
A few minutes later, a fair hand suddenly reached out in front of Yi Wulan and hooked her wrist.
Yi Wulan looked up and asked, “What is it now?”
“There were so many people at the Yi family home just now, so I didn’t eat much.” Mu Yanxi paused, pointing a finger in the direction of the tray. “Quick, pass me that saucer of sugar.”
The sweet fermented rice balls beside her smelled really good, but unfortunately, one taste revealed they were bland. It was obvious they were made to suit Yi Wulan’s palate.
As she spoke, Mu Yanxi’s outstretched hand was already open, as if waiting for Yi Wulan to pass her the small saucer.
Yi Wulan rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Mu Yanxi, did you come to my study to read documents or to go sightseeing?”
The next second, Mu Yanxi used honorifics and spoke politely, “Excuse me, esteemed President Yi, could you please pass me the saucer of sugar?”
Yi Wulan’s hand, which was turning a page, paused. She turned to get the sugar and pushed the saucer in front of Mu Yanxi. “Be quiet.”
“Thank you.” After thanking her, Mu Yanxi prepared to pour the sugar in.
Who knew that the sugar packet the lady brought was unopened. She tried tearing it several times but couldn’t get it open.
Just as Mu Yanxi was about to turn away and bite it open with her teeth, she heard a very, very soft sigh from Yi Wulan opposite her. “Give it to me.”
Mu Yanxi obediently handed over the sugar packet.
Yi Wulan’s cool fingertips brushed against her palm as she took the sugar packet from her hand.
Mu Yanxi pulled her hand back.
Her hand was empty, yet it felt a little itchy.
She curled her fingertips.
Not two seconds later, Yi Wulan took out a small pair of scissors, cut open the sugar packet that Mu Yanxi had mangled, and held the opening out to her.
Mu Yanxi’s heart stirred. She pushed her bowl of sweet rice balls in front of Yi Wulan and tilted her head, gesturing.
Yi Wulan looked down. Under the bright, eye-friendly lamp, Mu Yanxi’s fingers looked as fair as jade. Even the bowl of sweet rice balls in her hand seemed to have a crystalline luster, making it exceptionally tempting.
The faint scent of fermented rice wine wafted to her nose, making the very air feel sweet.
Mu Yanxi’s lips curved up. She leaned her upper body slightly closer to Yi Wulan, her voice as soft as a spring. “Am I that good-looking?”
Only then did Yi Wulan realize that her gaze, which had originally been on Mu Yanxi’s hand, had unconsciously shifted to Mu Yanxi’s face.
Looking at that beautiful, smiling face, she found it difficult to say the words ‘not good-looking’ to refuse her.
Unable to, she had to avert her eyes slightly.
But the next second, a soft touch came from her fingertips. Yi Wulan froze. She saw Mu Yanxi tilt the sugar packet in her hand at a slight angle, just enough to sprinkle a few grains of sugar, which landed steadily in the bowl of sweet rice balls.
Her mischievous fingertips would touch her hand from time to time. She wanted to dodge, but she couldn’t.
Not until nearly half the packet of sugar had been sprinkled did Yi Wulan find a reason to speak. “That’s enough. You should try it.”
But Mu Yanxi deliberately ignored the bowl of sweet rice balls and put on a hurt expression. “Am I not good-looking? Am I so ugly that you won’t even give me an answer?”
Yi Wulan said awkwardly, “Not ugly. Very good-looking.”
Not just now, but in Yi Wulan’s impression, Mu Yanxi was, at every moment, just as her fans online said: beautiful enough to stir the heart.
To be able to stand out in the entertainment industry, which was full of beauties, was not due to any marketing, but to genuine, unadulterated beauty.
The smile on Mu Yanxi’s lips grew even brighter. She took the bowl of sweet rice balls with a grin. “Well… you look very good-looking today, too.”
Yi Wulan said helplessly, “You’re probably the only one who would use such a word to describe me.”
“Is that so?” Mu Yanxi stirred with her spoon. “I’m just telling the truth, unlike them with their random flattery. Do you prefer it when people praise you for being successful in your career?”
Yi Wulan placed the opened sugar packet aside and said nothing.
Mu Yanxi asked again, “Yi Wulan, why aren’t you talking? Did you realize I’m better than all of them?”
Yi Wulan glanced up. “Finish eating and go back to the room early.”
“I’m already like this and you still want to chase me away?” Mu Yanxi feigned surprise, putting down her spoon with an exaggerated clatter, which was very unladylike.
She simply stood up, hooked Yi Wulan’s fingertips, and asked softly, “Then tell me, what kind do you like? Do you like the coquettish type, the clingy type, or my type?”
Yi Wulan carefully considered the three styles Mu Yanxi mentioned, and her brow twitched.
At first glance, they seemed like three different styles, but upon closer consideration, there was no difference. No matter which one, it was Mu Yanxi.
When she looked up again, she indeed saw the cunning hidden in those fox-like eyes.
Yi Wulan stiffened, leaned back abruptly, and pulled her hand away. “Sit properly.”
She put some distance between them and went back to reading the book in her hands.
There was no change in Yi Wulan’s expression, and her posture was perfectly upright, no different from usual.
Only her fingertips, which were turning the pages, felt as if they were on fire and curled up slightly.
She knew perfectly well that Mu Yanxi was deliberately teasing her.
But as Yi Wulan stared at the rigorous data and calculations in the book, she couldn’t take any of it in.
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