108: A Battle of Wits and Courage

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When Yiyang returned to his residence after work, he saw Anna stepping out of a car in fashionable attire. She walked toward him with poised confidence.

“Yiyang, do you have some time? I’d like to take you somewhere.”

When they arrived at the place Anna had mentioned, Yiyang’s heart stirred.

“When did you get this done?”

Anna smiled gracefully. “I started working on it the day after your exhibition room caught fire.” She pointed toward the paintings on the wall. “Fortunately, the fire wasn’t too serious, so restoring everything wasn’t too difficult.”

She looked at him and suddenly said, “I heard your brother put Ye Xiyang in your department.”

Yiyang was startled. “How did you know?”

Anna did not answer. Instead, she continued, “I also know that you found out a long time ago about Ye Xiyang’s relationship with your brother, yet you kept it from me.”

A trace of disappointment flickered through Yiyang’s eyes. He said faintly, “That was a matter between you and my brother. What could I say? And even if I had told you, I wouldn’t have been able to help you.”

“I know.” Anna smiled slightly. “You simply didn’t want to hurt me. You were trying to protect me, weren’t you?”

Yiyang looked away from her and remained silent.

Anna walked up to him and gazed at his evasive eyes. In a gentle voice, she said, “Yiyang, can you dismiss Ye Xiyang?”

Yiyang stared at her in disbelief. “I already helped you cover up the video exposing Xiyang for stealing the sapphire. She hasn’t done anything wrong this time, so what right do you have to ask me to dismiss her?”

“Given her qualifications and abilities, she shouldn’t have been kept in your company in the first place,” Anna argued forcefully. “Besides, her origins are completely unclear. How can someone of unknown background be allowed to remain by your side? And what if she continues pestering Yichen?”

“She already acknowledged my brother…” Yiyang stopped himself. In the end, he merely said, “Anna, I’ll be honest with you. My brother actually likes Xiyang. Even if you…”

“Are you saying I’m interfering in their relationship?” Anger colored Anna’s face. “I’ve known your brother for three years. If not for that memory loss of his…” She changed her wording. “If she hadn’t appeared and I hadn’t returned, your brother would never have treated me the way he does now. So what I’m doing is simply giving her a taste of her own medicine.”

Yiyang truly felt that she had become a stranger to him.

He said helplessly, “If my brother really liked you, then even with Xiyang in the picture, he would still like you.”

“So, after all this, in your eyes I’m simply the third party interfering between them, aren’t I?”

Yiyang looked gloomily toward the floor-to-ceiling window. “That isn’t what I mean. I just think dismissing Xiyang for no reason would be unfair to her.”

“If you dismiss her, I’ll immediately arrange a new job for her,” Anna said the moment she saw him wavering. “I promise I’ll make sure she has a good life—as long as she leaves Yichen.”

Yiyang lowered his eyes to look at her and said firmly, “I will not hurt an innocent person for the sake of private feelings.”

#

Xiaoqi tossed and turned in bed.

Aaaah!

She sat up and raked both hands through her hair.

“Xiaobai, tell me—should I still go to TC tomorrow?”

“Of course you should.” After hearing everything, Xiaobai almost wanted to claw some sense into her. “First, for your signal device. Second, for the money. Third, for yourself.”

“For myself?”

Xiaoqi was bewildered.

Xiaobai, having taught himself the art of reasoning, listed the disadvantages of staying away one by one. “If you don’t go, you won’t get your signal device, and you won’t be able to return home. If you don’t go, you’ll lose that thick wad of cash. If you don’t go, you’ll remain miserable and unhappy.”

All right. Xiaobai was absolutely right.

“Xiyang.” Fang Yun pushed open the door with a beaming smile.

One glance at her aunt’s expression told Xiaoqi exactly why she had come.

She got straight to the point. “Auntie, Doctor Pan’s full name is Pan Sen. He’s thirty-two this year. I have no idea what kind of person he likes, what he eats, or what he enjoys doing. You’ll have to win him over yourself.”

“…”

Fang Yun noticed only one detail.

Thirty-two.

Three years younger than her.

For that reason alone, Fang Yun began to retreat a little.

Sigh. He was so outstanding, and he was even younger than she was…

Forget it. Some things could not be forced. She could only let nature take its course.

Seeing the worry on her aunt’s face, Xiaoqi declared loyally, “Auntie, you’ve always been so good to me. Don’t worry about Doctor Pan—I’ll definitely help you win him over.”

Fang Yun shook her head. “Forget it. Forcing things too much can have the opposite effect. Let’s just let nature take its course.”

Fang Yun left.

Let nature take its course?

Those four words suddenly enlightened Xiaoqi.

Really, why should an alien like her trouble herself over an Earthling?

There was no need for it.

So she would simply let nature take its course.

“Xiyang!”

A familiar voice came from outside the door.

Xiaoqi was puzzled. Why had Yiyang come here?

The two of them sat at the dining table by the window, drinking.

Of course, Xiaoqi was drinking a soft drink.

Just as he had the last time, Yiyang took large gulps of alcohol. Xiaoqi looked at him.

“Yiyang, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Yiyang set down his glass and looked at Xiaoqi, a flicker passing through his eyes. “How is your cold? Are you going to take another day off tomorrow?”

Xiaoqi shook her head. “No need. It’s only a slight cold. It won’t affect me.”

“Yiyang…” Xiaoqi suddenly sounded dispirited. “Today I did a whole pile of things I shouldn’t have done, and helped someone I shouldn’t have helped. Now I’m wondering whether I should stay here at all.”

The moment he heard this, Yiyang knew she was talking about his brother.

“You went to TC today? My brother still ignored you, just as he did yesterday?”

“Not merely ignored me.” Xiaoqi stared sadly at her drink. “Once I get what I’m supposed to get, I won’t have anything more to do with him.”

Yiyang was curious. “You have something at my brother’s place? What is it? Tell me, and I’ll help you retrieve it.”

Xiaoqi shook her head. “That thing is in a very important part of his body. Taking it by force would injure him, so I have to find the right opportunity and retrieve it myself.”

She took a sip of her drink, then walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and murmured in a low voice, “Actually, I’m incredibly happy that he’s become like this. That way, I’ll never again have to fear the day my lies are exposed. I won’t have to worry about him suffering after I return home. Then I’ll be able to go back to my planet without a care. It’s good this way.”

Yiyang picked up his glass and walked over. Seeing her expression drift, he waved five fingers in front of her eyes.

“Xiyang, what did you just say about returning to your planet? What’s wrong? Are you having another one of your alien dreams?”

Xiaoqi smiled sadly and raised her drink to clink against his glass.

“Come on. Here’s to both of us returning to our home planets soon.”

Yiyang felt that the aftereffects of her accident had struck again.

He smiled bitterly to himself.

Wasn’t he suffering from those aftereffects as well?

He knew perfectly well that she could never like him, yet she still had the power to sway his emotions.

Regardless, he would never hurt the person beside him.

The next morning, as soon as Yichen arrived at the company, he coldly instructed Fang Li, “From now on, do not allow Ye Xiyang to come to the company again. Give her a severance payment in the company’s name—enough to support her for some time—as compensation. And don’t mention her in front of me again. Understood?”

Fang Li hesitated, wanting to say something, but the Mr. Lin before him was no longer the man who had loved Ye Xiyang.

He withdrew, thought for a moment, and then went to find Yiyang.

Surely Mr. Lin would at least consider his younger brother’s words.

After hearing what Fang Li had said, Yiyang immediately went to the president’s office.

“Brother, why are you dismissing Xiyang? What exactly did she do to make you suddenly hate her enough to fire her?”

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Yichen did not even raise his eyes. His voice was icy.

“I’m dismissing an employee. Do I need to report it to you?”

Yiyang frowned. “I truly don’t understand any of you. Why are you all determined to target Xiyang?”

Yichen looked up. “Who do you mean by ‘you all’?”

Yiyang’s eyes flickered. “Someone just like you.”

Yichen did not pursue the matter. Lowering his head, he continued reviewing the documents.

“If you have nothing else, leave.”

“Of course I have something else.”

Yiyang placed both hands on the desk and, for the first time in his life, spoke with such force.

“Brother, Xiyang is my employee now. Without my consent, no one is allowed to touch her.”

The pen between Yichen’s fingers stopped. His dark eyes turned toward Yiyang once more. After a long silence, he asked coldly, “You like her?”

“Yes, I like her.”

Yiyang did not know why, but the words came out with astonishing ease.

If he did not say he liked her, he had no reason to help her.

“So I have to keep her in the company. I have to see her every day. If I can’t see her, I won’t be able to work. So if you’re going to fire her, then I won’t work here either.”

Yichen gave a faint smile.

“Fine.”

At those words, Yiyang immediately relaxed. “Brother, you agree?”

Yichen was still smiling as he nodded.

“I agree… to fire you.”

In an instant, Yiyang’s face stiffened.

“There’s no use keeping someone who would abandon his career for a woman. Think it over, and if you decide to resign, hand me your resignation letter. I’ll approve it immediately.”

“…”

“Go back to your office and think it over.”

His tone was mercilessly cold.

Yiyang returned to his office in defeat.

“Quietly, it is Xiyang bidding farewell; silently, it is Cambridge Bridge tonight.”

“I never knew our Xiyang could rewrite poetry.”

As soon as Xiaoqi arrived at the company, she stood staring blankly out the window.

For some reason, the poetry of the great poet Xu Zhimo had come to mind.

She had been moved to improvise.

Xiaoqi looked at Yiyang listlessly and lifted the employee card hanging from her neck.

“When I entered the company just now, my employee card had stopped working. The security guard said I’d been dismissed, which was why the card was invalid.”

Her brother’s move had certainly been swift.

Yiyang took out his own card and handed it to her.

“Don’t listen to him talking nonsense. How could the company possibly dismiss you? Maybe your card is broken. Use mine.”

Xiaoqi glanced at his card. “What will you use, then?”

“I’ll use facial recognition,” Yiyang said casually. “Who in this company doesn’t recognize this handsome heir’s face?”

One look was enough for Xiaoqi to understand what had happened.

That detestable capitalist had actually fired her.

Damn it. When she had wanted to leave before, he had done everything possible to stop her.

Now he had dismissed her without the slightest hesitation.

That amnesiac capitalist was truly cold and heartless.

Xiaoqi returned the card to him and smiled faintly.

“I don’t need yours. I can get in without a card.”

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