Yin Mengfan noticed Zhou Qin hadn't spoken for a long time. She whispered a few times before Zhou Qin finally snapped back to attention.
A thought nagged at Yin Mengfan: Zhou Qin had never called over a guy before, nor had she ever been so distracted by a man. Could she actually have feelings for this one?
“Hey, Zhou Qin, let me tell you, your friend is practically a superstar here now. Just today, at my company alone, there were at least twenty women shoving little notes at him, wanting to sleep with him. And the numbers from other floors who came up just to get a look are uncountable! You better keep a close eye on him, or he’ll be someone else’s boyfriend before you know it!” Yin Mengfan probed quietly.
Zhou Qin managed a wry smile. “He’s already someone else’s boyfriend.”
Yin Mengfan exclaimed in shock, “No way?”
Her exclamation was slightly too loud, and Li Yundong immediately woke up. His eyes flew open, two beams of divine light seeming to shoot out, stabbing Yin Mengfan’s eyes with pain. She instinctively closed her eyes, rubbed them, and murmured into the phone, “He’s awake. I’ll talk to you later.”
Yin Mengfan hung up. When her gaze fell upon Li Yundong, she managed a strained smile, as if he were the CEO of the building and she a young woman fresh out of college.
“Damn, how did the tables turn?” Yin Mengfan mentally scorned herself, yet she wanted to speak and found no words.
But luckily, a quick glance showed her it was already five-thirty!
Yin Mengfan felt utterly relieved and broke into a genuine smile. “Time flies when you’re busy. How are you feeling today?”
After finishing his Qi refinement, Li Yundong felt refreshed and invigorated. The oppressive feeling of being gawked at in the office had vanished without a trace. He smiled faintly and replied, “Not bad, just a little startling.”
Yin Mengfan found the aura emanating from the young man intimidating enough to leave her flustered. The smile plastered on her face felt stiff, dry, and completely unnatural. “Alright then. Remember to be here at nine tomorrow.”
As Li Yundong stood up and reached the doorway, he turned back. “What exactly will I be doing tomorrow?”
Yin Mengfan instantly felt a headache coming on. She unconsciously pressed her forehead, pondered for a moment, and then said, “Oh, right. Tomorrow, you’ll follow Manager Cao. She needs some assistance with a few tasks.”
Li Yundong looked puzzled. “Isn’t Manager Cao on the ninth floor? Isn’t she the head of the film company?”
Yin Mengfan explained, “Our company has some collaborations with hers, so personnel shuffling like this is completely normal.”
Li Yundong asked again, “So what will I be doing for Manager Cao?”
Yin Mengfan chuckled. “You’ll have to ask her that.”
Li Yundong nodded and turned to leave.
He walked toward the stairs and the elevator lobby just as a crowd of female office workers were swiping their badges to clock out. These women had been chattering nonstop, their laughter unrestrained, but the moment their eyes swept across Li Yundong, the noise instantly died down. Some subtly smoothed their hair to show off their best angles, others secretly pulled out makeup compacts for quick touch-ups, and a few puffed out their chests and tucked in their stomachs, adopting the demeanor of demure ladies.
Li Yundong suppressed a smile. As he stepped into the elevator, the swarm of beauties followed right behind him. A man lingering outside shouted loudly, “Hey! Wait up!”
The woman nearest the door didn’t hesitate; she jabbed the close button and yelled out to the man, “Wait for the next one!”
The man watched the elevator doors begin to slide shut, then lunged forward, jamming his hand into the narrow gap, narrowly stopping the closure. The doors slowly reopened.
The woman standing at the threshold crossed her arms and glared at the man. “I told you to wait for the next one! Didn’t you see it was full?”
The man glanced inside, flashing a conciliatory smile. “It looks like there’s still room for a few people, right?”
The women inside erupted into an uproar, completely abandoning their earlier restraint and ladylike airs. “When you run into thugs, you shove backward; now you’re fighting to squeeze forward—are you even a man?”
“Get lost, get lost! Wait obediently for the next ride!”
When this many women started yelling insults, it was truly frightening. The man backed away two steps, intimidated, and the woman at the door quickly hit the close button again.
The moment the doors sealed shut, the women inside threw their hands up in the air and cheered as if they had won a monumental victory. After their cheer subsided, they exchanged glances, then looked at Li Yundong, whose expression was rather peculiar. Then, they all burst out laughing.
Li Yundong was caught between a laugh and a cry: these women were incredible entertainers!
Fortunately, after securing victory in the Elevator Defense War, the women did not bother Li Yundong further. After their laughter faded, they reverted to their reserved and refined appearances. They deeply understood the principle: treat enemies with the coldness of winter, but treat handsome men with the reserve of a lady.
Finally reaching the ground floor, Li Yundong’s first action upon escaping the perfume-drenched elevator was to take a deep breath; the confluence of various fragrances inside had nearly choked him.
Outside the company building, the flock of beauties were whispering to one another, egging each other on: “Go on, what are you afraid of? So many sisters are backing you up. It’s just asking him out for a meal!”
“No way, how embarrassing if he refuses!”
“What does that matter? If you always walk by the river, you’re bound to get your shoes wet! How many slimy guys have you rejected yourself? Getting rejected by one slimy guy today would just be karmic balance, just deserts!”
The women giggled amongst themselves.
While they were hesitating, a deep-red Lamborghini convertible suddenly purred down the street and screeched to a halt right in front of Li Yundong.
The moment the women saw that stunning sports car, looks of envy and disappointment immediately washed over their faces. They stopped talking and turned their gazes simultaneously toward the vehicle.
After the car stopped, its mirror-like scissor doors swept upward with a swish. A head peered out, wearing sunglasses large enough to cover half the face. Only a straight nose and sensuous, ruby-red lips were visible on the face underneath.
“Manager Cao?” Li Yundong was momentarily stunned. Regarding this woman, he had already made up his mind: she was too seductive, seeming to be tempting men at all times. Such people were surely nothing but trouble, better to avoid them if possible.
Cao Kefei had spent days adjusting her mental state and composure just to face Li Yundong calmly. Her crimson lips curved into a captivating, alluring arc. She smiled sweetly, “Little handsome, would you grace me with your presence?”
Li Yundong pretended not to understand, blinking his eyes. “Grace you with my presence how?”
Although Cao Kefei’s sunglasses concealed the majority of her face, the exposed sensual lips only made her more captivating. The curve of her mouth could always form expressions that both made a man’s heart flutter and accurately conveyed her own mood.
Cao Kefei chided playfully, “Get in the car, of course!”
Li Yundong continued his charade. “Get in the car for what?”
Cao Kefei felt a surge of frustration. She felt the courage she had barely mustered was draining away bit by bit. “To have dinner together, naturally!”
Li Yundong smiled. “I have to rush back and cook dinner for my girlfriend.”
What? He—he had a girlfriend? And he was rushing back to cook for her?
The female office workers listening nearby overheard the exchange and felt a collective faintness. They simultaneously mourned the tragic reality that Li Yundong was already taken, while also marveling that such a dedicated, rare good man actually existed in the world!
“So capable, so handsome, and so devoted to his family! Gods, grant me a man like that!” one woman swooned, clasping her hands together in a girlish prayer.
The women beside her teased her. “Stop daydreaming, honey. In all my life, apart from this one right here, I haven’t seen a man like this!”
“Ah, what a pity, he’s spoken for!”
“What’s there to fear? If you swing your hoe well enough, no wall can stand against you! Watch Manager Cao, see how she digs!”
“Mhm, I bet Li Yundong is getting in the car right now.”
“Can he refuse? Manager Cao is rumored to be the Terminator of men! Looks, figure, fortune—tsk, tsk, we mere commoners can’t compare!”
“But if you really manage to win over a man like that, what happens when someone else comes along to steal him? Those who dig are also dug up!”
“Right. If you actually manage to break them up, would you even dare keep him then?”
The women stared at each other, the atmosphere momentarily falling silent. One woman smoothly intervened, “Hey, let’s just watch the show!”
Saying that, the women refocused their attention on Li Yundong and Cao Kefei.
Cao Kefei was truly astonished. She pushed her sunglasses down slightly, widened her eyes, and stared at Li Yundong. “You have a girlfriend?”
Li Yundong thought of the little fox being alone at home and smiled, his eyes shining with happiness. “Yes, I do.”
Cao Kefei couldn't help but ask, “She must be very beautiful?”
Li Yundong offered praise without reservation. “Yes, in my eyes, she’s the most beautiful girl in the world.”
Cao Kefei’s tone became unavoidably tinged with acidity. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose!”
Li Yundong smiled. “Manager Cao, if there’s nothing else, I should get going. Oh, right, you mentioned this morning you needed me to help you move some things. I forgot to go later. I’ll help you move tomorrow, okay?”
Cao Kefei sat there dazed. She hadn’t properly registered the rest of Li Yundong’s words; only one sentence echoed in her mind: He rejected me? He rejected me?! He actually rejected me!!
Cao Kefei sat frozen in her seat, staring blankly as Li Yundong walked away, her eyes fixed straight ahead.
The women nearby also gasped in unison, utterly dumbfounded, crying out in disbelief, “No way? Manager Cao actually got rejected?”
“Impossible? The supposed public enemy of women and killer of men, Manager Cao, actually got turned down?”
“Is this handsome guy too awesome, too incredible? A Lamborghini convertible, a stunning beauty, and he rejected both? A gorgeous woman and a fast car—that’s too much!! Is he gay?”
“No way, didn’t he just say he has a girlfriend?”
Li Yundong was completely unaware that his action today had been even more shocking than his heroic rescue earlier that day. Within moments, the news had spread throughout the entire building.
Not everyone was interested in Li Yundong’s heroic feats from the daytime, but the matter of him publicly rejecting Cao Kefei downstairs was of intense interest to everyone!
Cao Kefei sat in the sports car as if petrified, biting her lip hard, feeling both unwilling to accept it and fiercely angry: Is saving someone a license to be this arrogant?
It wasn't until Li Yundong’s retreating figure vanished from sight that Cao Kefei came back to her senses. She gritted her teeth and muttered to herself, Li Yundong, oh Li Yundong, I’d like to see if you’re truly steadfast or just playing hard to get!
She stomped on the accelerator. The sleek, beautiful Lamborghini spat out a cloud of exhaust fumes and roared away.
[Ti: Dear reader, the current chapter has reached the final page of this book]