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Yiyang was just about to take Xiao Qi out for lunch when his phone rang. He answered it.

"Yiyang, we haven't seen each other in a long time. Let's grab lunch together today."

Yiyang couldn't quite describe his feelings toward Anna anymore; he only felt that she was becoming increasingly unfamiliar, harder for him to understand, and frankly, he no longer had any desire to understand her.

"You are already with my brother now, so it's not appropriate for us to meet."

Anna never expected him to refuse. Her eyeshadow-adorned eyes narrowed sharply. It seemed the current Yiyang was no longer the Yiyang of the past.

"Are you still upset about what happened before? I know it was my fault to ask you to steal Yichen's fingerprints and to pressure you into firing Ye Xiyang."

"It's all in the past," Yiyang said calmly, his voice flat without the slightest fluctuation. "I don't blame you."

"That's good then," Anna said with a smile. "Yiyang, actually I can tell that you like Ye Xiyang, so I want to help you."

"What do you mean?"

"I just want to help you," Anna said tactfully. "Your brother is with me. As your sister-in-law, I should support you and Ye Xiyang. An arrangement where you're with her and I'm with Yichen—that's the most perfect ending."

Hearing the implication in her words, Yiyang felt a twinge of darkness in his heart. "You mean you want me to be with Xiyang so it can clear the obstacles for you, right?"

Anna looked slightly angry at these words. "You can't put it that way. Actually, I've always hoped you could find a good place to settle down. Isn't this perfect? As long as we join forces, everyone gets what they want."

"Stop talking. I used to think you genuinely regarded me as a friend, and I always thought you just loved my brother too much to change like this. I never expected you to be this kind of person."

"How can you say that? I am trying to help you."

Yiyang scoffed. "I don't need your help. I have no desire for things obtained through scheming and manipulation. Qiao Anna, starting today, we are no longer friends."

He hung up the phone.

Anna had not expected Yiyang to show her so little affection now. She simply couldn't understand why everyone liked a good-for-nothing person so much.

After hanging up, Yiyang walked out, but Xiao Qi was not at her desk. He assumed she had gone to the restroom, but she didn't return for a long time. When he called her cell phone, it was turned off. It was extremely rare for her to turn off her phone.

He remembered bringing her upstairs that morning; she had seemed a bit strange then. He also recalled that his brother had happened to go upstairs at that time with a particularly cold expression.

He immediately ran to look for his brother, but his brother wasn't in his office either. It was strange that neither of them was around.

As he walked past the hallway on his way back to his own office, he overheard two female colleagues gossiping.

"I must say, that Ye Xiyang is really shameless. President Lin has kicked her out time and time again, yet she still endlessly pesters him."

"President Lin not only drove her out of his office today but even told her to get lost. I guess she won't have the nerve to come to TC ever again."

Hearing this, Yiyang immediately understood. The two of them had argued again. But wasn't his brother together with Anna now? Why were they still fighting?

Thinking of what the two employees had just said, he sighed inwardly: *Oh Xiyang, why are you so utterly devoted to my brother!*

Xiao Qi, having been driven out by Yichen for reasons unknown, ran all the way to the little stream she had visited yesterday. She sat by the stream for almost the entire afternoon. As the sky gradually darkened, she seemed completely unaware of the passage of time.

"Well, well, little beauty, why are you sitting here all alone? You look so sad!"

Two punks walked toward Xiao Qi, their eyes unblushingly leering at her. Naturally, Xiao Qi wasn't afraid; she was an alien with superpowers. She stood up, ignored them, and walked past the two punks to leave.

Naturally, the punks weren't going to let her leave so easily. They blocked her path. "Little beauty, where are you trying to go? Why don't these two older brothers keep you company?"

"Move aside."

*Damn it,* she thought, *such a pretty place, yet it's ruined by running into these two pieces of trash. What a mood killer.*

"Where should we move to?" A punk stepped closer to her. "How about right into my arms?"

Xiao Qi's eyes turned frosty, her delicate face chilling as a cold aura suddenly emanated from her refined brows—an intensity that looked almost innate.

"You'd better move aside for this lady, or I'll slap you to death."

The punks burst into laughter. "I must say, this woman sure knows how to talk big. Are you an idiot or something?"

The other punk kept staring at Xiao Qi's pretty face, growing restless. "Stop wasting time with her. Just go for it."

Suddenly, a cold voice laced with urgency cut through the air, filled with intense anger: "What are you doing?"

The voice carried a formidable deterrent force, commanding and awe-inspiring without even trying.

Yichen was dressed in a crisp black suit with not a single wrinkle on his collar, which only accentuated his perfectly proportioned physique. His handsome face was tightly pulled into a cold, stern expression. He strode over on his long legs, his tall figure instantly closing in on them with oppressive force. His handsome, deep-set brows were framed by a slight fringe sweeping across his forehead.

*Why is he here?*

Seeing the tall man approach, the two punks were intimidated and frightened by his oppressive aura and fierce expression. However, relying on the fact that there were two of them against one, they mustered the courage to say, "This is none of your business. I advise you to get out of here right now, or the two of us will beat you so hard you won't even know your own name."

Hearing this, Yichen let out an indifferent, low chuckle. Beneath his dark gaze lay a force capable of shaking mountains and rivers, radiating a wild, untamed dominance. "I'll give you ten seconds to vanish from my sight."

"And what if we don't listen?"

"Not listening?" Yichen curled the corners of his lips in a cruel, bloodthirsty smirk. "Are you sure?"

Looking at the smile playing at the corners of Yichen's mouth, the punks felt as though he were preparing to slaughter a city. The ruthlessness on his handsome face made him look like the cruelest king of the underworld—gloomy and bloodthirsty.

This man looked terrifying. Ultimately, the two punks turned tail and fled.

Xiao Qi pouted. They couldn't even handle a little scare; they were even more useless than her!

Seeing that Xiao Qi was still pouting, Yichen's gaze grew sharply cold. With a sweep of his long arm, he imprisoned her slender waist, frowning as he said in a cold voice, "Why did you run out here? Want to fall off again?"

"..."

He had been searching for her all afternoon, and her phone wouldn't go through. He had been frantic with worry. Coming to this place on the off chance of luck, he never expected to actually find her here—and right as she was being bullied. If he had arrived even a step later, she would have...

At this thought, Yichen's expression turned even frostier.

Xiao Qi was already feeling wronged and angry, and seeing him looking even more furious, she tried to push him away. However, the arm wrapped around her waist didn't loosen in the slightest.

"Hey, let go right now. This lady doesn't want to see you right now."

Hearing this, Yichen narrowed his eyes and let out a low, husky chuckle. "Don't want to see me?"

"Yeah, yeah, get your paws off me right now."

Yichen's voice turned hoarse as he suddenly said, "I'm apologizing to you."

"What?" Xiao Qi felt like she had heard a fantasy story. "You're apologizing to me?"

With a trace of unnaturalness on his face, Yichen gave a faint "Mn."

Xiao Qi felt that President Lin's apology lacked any sincerity whatsoever, and she forcefully tried to pry the hand off her waist. *Damn it, he pulls people into his arms the moment he arrives. Doesn't he know his body's hormones are choking? If he keeps holding her like this, she's going to short-circuit.*

Instead of letting go, Yichen used his other hand to catch her prying fingers. With his magnetic, intoxicating voice right against her ear, he said, "Ye Xiyang, I..."

"Let me go quickly!" As he closed in extremely close, Xiao Qi's superpowers once again slipped out of her control.

Perhaps sensing her sudden change in expression, or perhaps because her voice sounded too angry, or perhaps out of fear that she would hate him for it, Yichen finally released her.

Xiao Qi immediately ran far away from him. "Lin Yichen, I am not pestering you right now, so you aren't allowed to pester me either—especially don't come near me."

With that, she turned and bolted.

Remorse and helplessness lurked in the depths of Yichen's eyes. If he had been wronged and misunderstood like that, he probably would have been even angrier than she was.

Yichen drove around searching the streets for a while when he suddenly remembered the text message Xiao Qi had sent from his phone. She had said this person was her aunt.

He dialed the phone number from that message.

On the other end, Fang Yun answered with a curious "Hello!"

Yichen unexpectedly felt a bit nervous for a moment. "Hello, may I ask if Xiyang has arrived home?"

Recognizing who it was instantly, Fang Yun truthfully replied, "She's here, just got back. Her phone ran out of battery, so she's charging it. Should I call her to the phone?"

"No need," Yichen breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as she got home safely. It's quite cold out now, make sure she takes a hot bath before sleeping, and it's best if she drinks a cup of warm milk. Goodbye."

Fang Yun never expected President Lin to be so polite and so considerate toward Xiyang. She immediately ran to Xiao Qi's room. Xiao Qi was sitting on the bed, angrily poking the framed photo of Yichen with her finger.

"You bastard! If my superpowers hadn't failed, I would have slapped you into..."

"Xiyang," Fang Yun walked in with a beaming smile, "Yichen just called. Oh my goodness, that tone, those words—so gentle and caring..."

"Aunty, don't ever mention him in front of me again. I want to sleep, please go out, Aunty."

"..."

*What is wrong with these two? Did they fall out again?*

Not willing to give up, Fang Yun asked, "Xiyang, tell me, did you and Yichen have another fight?"

Ignoring her, Xiao Qi pulled the quilt over her head and hid entirely underneath it, choosing the silent treatment of hiding under the covers.

"..."

Helpless, Fang Yun had no choice but to walk out.

As soon as Yichen arrived at the villa, Yiyang walked up to him. "Brother! Why did you drive Xiyang out?"

Yichen glanced at him and sat down on the sofa. "You're very well-informed."

"We're in the same company, of course I'd find out," Yiyang said, looking a bit sheepish before calling out again, "Brother."

"Speak!"

"...Do you still like Xiyang or not?"

Yichen gave a noncommittal response, clearly having no intention of answering.

"Brother," Yiyang looked at him earnestly and said, "I know you don't like talking to me about these things, but I need to know what you're really thinking. If you still like Xiyang, then be properly with her. If you don't like her, then be properly with Anna. Don't..."

"Don't you think it's very strange of you to ask this question?" Yichen's expression was calm, and his tone was equally flat. "For someone like me to be associated with things like 'liking,' don't you think it feels extremely discordant?"

Yiyang felt he was just rationalizing his unreasonable behavior. "Then how do you explain the current situation? If you don't like either of them, why is Anna your girlfriend now? If you don't like Xiyang, make it clear to her, and she will definitely never pester you again."