Although Le Tong helped Ji Rui fend off nurous phone calls from society girls, Ji Rui himself never expressed any opinion on the matter.
Yang Sheng’s words indirectly confird Le Tong’s understanding of Ji Rui; for the most part, she was right.
For so reason, Ji Rui glanced at Le Tong again, put down his wine glass, and picked up his chopsticks. "Eat!"
Yang Sheng was a smart person who knew his boundaries. Don’t let his casual banter with Ji Rui fool you; he never actually tested Ji Rui’s limits. Seeing that the boss didn’t want to continue the topic, Yang Sheng smoothly changed the subject and started chatting about sports events unrelated to them.
The three of them enjoyed the late-night snack imnsely. Around eleven, Yang Sheng settled the bill, and the three of them walked back to the car. Le Tong naturally headed for Yang Sheng’s car.
But Ji Rui said, "Yang Sheng, Le Tong and I are heading the sa way; let her ride with ."
Ji Rui wasn’t wrong. From where they were, heading east led to where Ji Rui and Le Tong lived, and heading west led to where Yang Sheng lived.
Yang Sheng didn’t respond imdiately; instead, he quietly asked Le Tong for her opinion.
"Should I take you ho?"
Le Tong wasn’t as afraid of Ji Rui as Yang Sheng thought, and it was quite late. How could she let Yang Sheng exhaust himself by driving an extra hour just to take her ho?
"I’ll take the boss’s car. Senior, you’re tired too; get so rest early."
Le Tong waved goodbye to Yang Sheng, turned around, walked over to Ji Rui’s car, opened the door, and got in.
"Boss, sorry for the trouble."
"Hmm."
After a polite exchange, the two fell silent, each turning their heads to look out the window.
The late-night street was desolate and empty. Besides the occasional vehicle speeding by, there were just lonely lamp posts and mottled shadows of trees lining the road.
"Is your stomach okay?"
Ji Rui’s cold voice suddenly sounded in the car, seeming quite abrupt.
Le Tong quickly turned her head, looking at Ji Rui through the dim light outside the window.
"Huh?!"
"If your stomach isn’t well, don’t eat too much spicy food."
Ji Rui’s words were probably ant to be caring, but his tone was so flat, it didn’t convey any sense of concern.
Maybe it was because his tone was too cold, but Le Tong thought he was just making conversation, so she replied politely and formally. "Okay, thank you for your concern, boss."
She didn’t really take his words to heart.
Even a normal conversation like this is hard to continue, let alone the fact that Ji Rui was already a man of few words.
So, the two fell silent again.
Until the car approached near Le Tong’s residence.
"Brother Li, stop over there at the red light; I’ll get off there."
The red light was at an intersection. Turning right and a few hundred ters in was the entrance to Le Tong’s alley, but she was too shy to ask Ji Rui to drive her in.
"You live here?"
The car stopped, and Ji Rui pointed to a new high-rise by the roadside and asked Le Tong. Every ti Le Tong took his car ho, she would get off here.
"Hmm."
Of course, Le Tong didn’t live there; she lived in the old apartnts in the inner street, an area known for rental apartnts. Although it was only a few hundred ters from the building Ji Rui pointed at, the rent was only a fifth of what it was there.
Watching Le Tong get out of the car, Ji Rui gazed thoughtfully at the building. "Xiao Li, what’s the monthly rent for an apartnt here?"
Coincidentally, Ji Rui had previously collaborated with a real estate developer who later owed the Ji Family a lot of money. After court diation, the developer used over half of the units in this building to offset the debt.
The potential for appreciation in this area was very high, so Ji Rui decided to hold onto these units for a few years. For now, he let Xiao Li hand them over to an agency for sublease.
"Five to ten thousand."
Ji Rui pursed his lips and said nothing more.
After getting off the car, Le Tong first bought so daily necessities at the nearby convenience store, then turned down the side street. It took a few minutes to reach her doorstep.
As with previous days, a bag was hanging on the doorknob.
Inside the bag were warm roasted sweet potatoes. She had been coming ho late these days, and every night, Zhang Yi from across the way would keep so roasted sweet potatoes for her.
Le Tong took the bag inside, and as she opened the door, darkness flooded the room. Le Tong closed her eyes briefly and reached for the light switch.
After changing her shoes and entering the living room, she hadn’t even put down the items in her hands before the phone rang.
"Tongtong, are you ho?"
Yang Sheng’s clear voice ca through the receiver, warming up the chilly little apartnt.
"Yeah, just got here. How about you?"
Le Tong placed the roasted sweet potatoes and the bag of items on the coffee table, then took off her backpack and collapsed onto the sofa.
"I just got ho too."
Le Tong was exhausted, reclining on the sofa, her eyelids drooping involuntarily. If not for Yang Sheng’s next sentence, she might have fallen asleep while on the phone.
"Tongtong, do you really have a crush on Mr. Ji?"
Yang Sheng’s words were quite explosive, instantly chasing away any trace of sleepiness from Le Tong.
"Senior, why do you say that?"
Le Tong thought, Oh no, this is a big misunderstanding!
Of course, she wasn’t afraid of Yang Sheng misunderstanding, but she was afraid of Ji Rui misunderstanding!
Ji Rui already suspected she had ulterior motives towards him. Lately, he hadn’t looked at her with the wary eyes he had before, nor used a sarcastic tone to test her. She didn’t want to go back to those days of constantly feeling on edge.
"Tongtong, whether it’s true or not, let warn you first. n like Ji Rui aren’t easy for ordinary won to handle, and you’re no exception."
Yang Sheng spoke very seriously, without the previous flippant tone.
"Yeah, thank you for the warning, Senior! Don’t worry, I have no intentions towards him."
Le Tong let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. It turned out Yang Sheng was just giving her a heads-up, and it wasn’t that she had actually done sothing to cause suspicion.
"Yeah, hurry up and take a shower, go to bed early, see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Senior."
"Goodnight."
The next morning, Le Tong got up as usual, washed up, changed clothes, and went out the door. At that mont, the door opposite hers opened as well.
"Morning, Tongtong!"
Ever since Le Tong helped the couple with sothing a few days ago, they treated her like a savior, constantly checking in on her. Besides roasted sweet potatoes, they occasionally hung other hotown specialties on her door handle.
"Sister-in-law, Wenwen hasn’t woken up yet?"
Sister-in-law Zhang wasn’t carrying the child on her back, and the house was particularly quiet, so probably still asleep.
"Yeah, after the illness, she’s been extra sleepy these days." Sister-in-law Zhang could communicate normally with Le Tong now and loved talking to her about the child.
Le Tong rembered sothing, pushed open her door, and brought out a bag from the coffee table.
"Sister-in-law, these are formula and vitamins samples from our clients. I don’t use them, see if there’s anything you can use."
In fact, Le Tong had bought all these items herself from the supermarket.
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