Chapter 10: 10

Chapter 10: “But then I will have to give you up”

Qi Xi was taken out of the restaurant by Gu Yan.

As soon as she walked out of the restaurant, she sighed in relief, “By the way, Gu Yan, where’s the ride?”

Gu Yan was quite calm as he pursed his lips, “A little bit further.”

Qi Xi did not doubt him. After all, all the parking spaces in the Michelin restaurant were filled, so she followed him through the bustling street. The entire atmosphere at the restaurant had an expensive, stuffy ambiance to it, and, Qi Xi did not feel comfortable. Until she stood on the lively road, she felt as though she could finally take a breath.

However, Gu Yan’s car was parked further than she thought. As she walked along the busy street to the alley, she finally heard Gu Yan’s voice.

“We’ve arrived.”

She looked at the alley where no car could pass, “Hmm… where’s the ride?”

Then she watched Gu Yan walk towards the parking shed filled with motorcycles and bicycles. He took out the key and calmly unlocked the lock.

Gu Yan glanced at Qi Xi, “Isn’t the ride right in front of you?”

“…”

Well, he’s not wrong… it indeed is a ride… but…

“So you came here on a bicycle?”

“Yes”

But if it is by bicycle, it would take him at least 15 minutes to get to the restaurant from the company. How could Gu Yan get here in 10 minutes? Unless he was riding fast with those long legs of his…

Although Gu Yan’s bicycle had a back seat, Qi Xi was still a little embarrassed to sit on it. She just received an email from Gu Xuehan asking her to quickly study the asset shares when Gu Yan walked over.

Seeing the email, he frowned, “Get on.”

“I-it wouldn’t be too good… w-why don’t you push your bike and I’ll walk beside you. It would be good for digestion since I spend a long time sitting in the office. After all, walking is good for your health!”

Unfortunately, Gu Yan didn’t buy her words, “I’m in a hurry,” he seemed a little displeased, “I still have to finish a contract.”

Hearing this, Qi Xi immediately felt guilty. If she hadn’t asked Gu Yan for help, he wouldn’t have left early, and perhaps he would’ve been finished with his work.

No wonder it took him 10 minutes to get here from the law firm. He wanted to end this “rescue mission” as early as he could to get back to work on time.

The time, Qi Xi wasn’t shy. She jumped onto the back seat of Gu Yan’s bicycle as Gu Yan silently began pedaling.

Though he was wearing a suit, he still had a sort of youthful charm to him. Even with his maturity, he wasn’t able to lose his boyish appearance. So instead of looking strange, he looked quite attractive.

Meanwhile, Qi Xi quickly realized from the frequent glances of the passers by that she wasn’t the only one who was attracted to Gu Yan’s appearance. Even outsiders recognized his handsome stature.

However, another thing she took to notice was how Gu Yan wanted to hurry out of the restaurant.

He wanted to leave so quickly back there, but now that we’re on the way back, he’s going so slow.

“Aren’t you in a hurry?”

“Of course.”

“If it took you 10 minutes to come here, shouldn’t we already be at the company? 10 minutes have passed, but we’ve only come 1/3 of the way.”

Though she doubted him, he was quite calm, “I didn’t have you on the back seat when I came.” Without any fear, he even added, “Do you think you’re light?”

Gu Yan… couldn’t you be more polite?

Even still, sitting in the back as he biked slowly, she rather enjoyed watching the dazzling night… the laughing crowd passing by, the occasional breeze, and air filled with the smell of fried sugary chestnuts, even the music of the ice cream truck… they all made Qi Xi feel relaxed and happy.

This type of “ordinary” yet lively life was what she liked most.

Feeling emotional, she couldn’t help but sincerely say, “Thank you, Gu Yan. Thank you for coming here to save me tonight.”

Qi Xi thought Gu Yan would be too lazy to pay attention to her, but Gu Yan answered and made her slightly angry at the same time.

“I didn’t come to rescue you,” he scoffed as he confidently continued, “As your teammate, I was looking out for myself. If you fell in love so quickly wouldn’t I have to work harder?”

Yes, yes, yes… Qi Xi rolled her eyes and was about to refute his words, but her father’s call interrupted.

Qi Rui Ming probably caught up on what happened, because his tone was a little angry, “Xi Xi, what’s going on with you tonight? Don’t you know how hard I worked?”

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Qi Xi was too lazy to reason, “I have a boyfriend, Dad. So please don’t introduce me to someone else without my permission.”

“What’s the family background of your boyfriend? Would they match us? Most of your interactions are with your classmates. You are still young, Qi Xi. You don’t understand reality and so easily succumbed to a school love. You have to listen to your parents. I only introduced you after I checked the man’s family. Li Cheng Xin, even if you couldn’t see his excellence, it is fine. I have another one. He’s my client actually, and they just recently listed their IPO. His son is Meng Kai, and he’s just 3 years older than you. Tomorrow, have dinner with him.”

Qi Xi was tired, “Dad, I told you! I have a boyfriend!”

“I know, I know,” Qi Rui Ming was determined to save face, so his tone was indescribable. “But it’s still alright for you to make friends, right? Even if you and your boyfriend are strong, you need to get to know the other excellent young men out there. And once you have the comparison, you will understand that your school boyfriend is not that reliable.”

“So I won’t say more. I still have work, but if Li Cheng Xin doesn’t meet your criteria, meet Meng Kai tomorrow.”

She heard background noise before her father cut the call. She could only look at her phone angrily.

Because her father’s voice was loud, Gu Yan was able to hear everything, and this made Qi Xi very embarrased.

He didn’t say anything and just continued to pedal, but when he turned a corner, it was as if he couldn’t hold back. His tone was a little vague.

“You seem to be ‘dating’ quite a few people. After finishing up tonight, you already have another one in the line up. If tomorrow fails, will there be another one after that?”

Gu Yan most likely had opinions because he couldn’t keep going on the forced blind dates every night while giving up work responsibilities. After all, Gu Xuehan gave them a lot of work as they were interns.

Qi Xi could understand where Gu Yan was coming from.

“I don’t want to go either, but that’s my dad’s client’s son! If I don’t go, it won’t end well,” as Qi Xi said this, she had an idea come to her mind, “How about this, I’ll go tomorrow, waste some time there, and at the half way point, I’ll send you a message asking you to call me. I’ll pick up the call and lie to get out of the dinner. And if he’s as sticky as the person tonight, you’ll just come and pick me up?”

“Recently, I’ve had a lot of work,” Gu Yan said with careful consideration. Still, he reluctantly agreed with Qi Xi, “But I am efficient, so it shouldn’t be a problem to waste a little of my time.”

Gu Yan is quite nice!

Qi Xi immediately thanked him, “Then tomorrow I will invite you to eat durian with me!”

He immediately rejected the invitation, “No need.” After a second, he quickly added, “You don’t need to invite me to eat durian so formally. Stop being polite, we were classmates and now we’re colleagues.”

That’s great!

Truthfully, the king durian was not cheap. Because she hadn’t asked for any financial assistance from her family, those expenses came from her paycheck. Her salary as an intern was meager. After rent and living expenses were subtracted, she stumbled to make a living. Now that she didn’t have to buy durian, she could relax a little.

But before she could celebrate, Gu Yan continued, “But please buy me something else to eat.”

“What?”

“I’m out of money,” he calmly answered.

Qi Xi’s eyes widened, “Didn’t you just get paid a few days ago?!?”

Now that they reached the company, Gu Yan stepped down and turned to Qi Xi with a blank expression, “I just ran out of money paying for you.”

How could I forget this?

Before leaving, Qi Xi asked Gu Yan for the bill and almost fainted when she saw that it was almost 3,000! The meal cost more than 3,000! Two Michelin star was quite expensive indeed.

Heartbroken, she sighed, “I wish I knew before. I would have finished eating!”

Because she was in a hurry to leave the embarrassment of a night, Qi Xi hardly could move her chopsticks, so there was still a lot of food left on her plate.

Gu Yan bent over to lock his bike, “If you don’t want to pay me back, then just forget it.”

At this moment, a gust of wind passed between them. The leaves rustled on the roadside, making Gu Yan’s voice even more chilly and broken. However, it was still a beautiful scene.

“But then I’ll have to give you up.”

Just as Qi Xi was about to finish the sentence, the wind stopped and the atmosphere suddenly took on a fragile tone. She heard Gu Yan’s words very clearly while she still thought about her unfinished words…

“I can see your efforts very clearly. But I want to draw a line with you, you don’t need to work so hard just for us to become plastic colleagues.”

I see…

“Don’t worry Gu Yan, I will be with you until the end! I won’t be able to pay the money all at once, but I can pay back in installments! Until then, I will take care of your meals!”

Now, to save money, she had begun cooking dinner for herself most of the time. It wasn’t too hard to make a little more, and she could even invite him to the apartment she shared with Zhao Yanyan.

But what if I make a big mistake? Even though Gu Yan seems relatively nice right now, what if I screw up again?

She felt as though she needed to have a look through Gu Yan Daquan when she was back at home. That way she could cook to Gu Yan’s tastes.

Author’s Note: Many people in the comment section speculated that Gu Yan’s ride was a sports car, but no, it was a bicycle.

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