Chapter 833: He Was Set Up

At the dining table—Cai Xiaotang looked at Li Beichen, who was sitting opposite her, with an expressionless face.

"If you have something to say, just say it."

Seeing his face made her feel annoyed, and consequently, her tone was not very pleasant.

Li Beichen was not angry; he first poured her a glass of wine, then said unhurriedly, "Xiao Tang, what are you in such a rush for? The environment here is so nice; we can wait until the food is served to chat slowly."

"I'm not in the mood to chat with you."

Cai Xiaotang rolled her eyes in her heart, then pulled a long face and warned, "Also, have you forgotten what you're supposed to call me again?"

"You mean... Third Aunt?"

Li Beichen laughed, his gaze sweeping over Cai Xiaotang's face, then he shook his head with feigned pity.

"Sigh... look at you, you're clearly not that old, and you're so pretty, why must you insist on calling yourself old?"

His tone rose slightly, sounding full of frivolity and teasing.

Cai Xiaotang took a deep breath; she had reached the limit of her patience.

Not far away, Li Xiao was also filled with suppressed emotion.

"Shura, are we going out directly?"

Lao Wu asked in the earpiece.

After discovering that the person who came was Cai Xiaotang, none of the three had spoken.

It was easy to guess that there must be a problem here.

Li Xiao did not answer; he took off his earpiece and strode toward the direction of the two!

At the dining table, Li Beichen was holding his wine glass, seemingly about to clink it against Cai Xiaotang's glass.

Cai Xiaotang took a deep breath; she was impatient to the extreme.

Didn't this guy say he had something of Li Xiao's to give her!

Is he going to say it or not!

She was just about to speak—"Xiao Tang."

A familiar voice suddenly appeared behind her!

Cai Xiaotang was startled and turned her head subconsciously; sure enough, she saw it was Li Xiao!

Only, his expression was somewhat serious, and he didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"Li Xiao? Why are you here? Aren't you... tonight?"

Cai Xiaotang was full of surprise, but halfway through her sentence, she suddenly realized something.

Li Xiao said he had something to do tonight; was it coming here?

And she was also asked to come here by Li Beichen...

How could it be such a coincidence?

Cai Xiaotang vaguely felt that something was not quite right.

Then she heard Li Xiao ask in a deep voice, "Beichen, you asked Xiao Tang to come here, what is it for?"

Cai Xiaotang came back to her senses instantly and looked across the table subconsciously.

She saw Li Beichen was unhurried; upon hearing Li Xiao's question, he just smiled, seemingly not at all surprised by his arrival.

Then he explained.

"Uncle, you also know that for the ski resort project that Big Brother is currently working on, Dad's original intention was for me to participate and manage it with Big Brother in the future, but unfortunately, Big Brother just won't agree. I had no choice, so I asked Third Aunt out. After all, she and Sister-in-law are good friends. I thought if I could ask her to put in a good word with Sister-in-law, and then have Sister-in-law relay it to Big Brother, that would be good too."

Li Beichen spoke with such solemnity that no fault could be found.

Cai Xiaotang's expression changed instantly, and she said directly, "You didn't tell me..."

"Third Aunt, if I didn't say it like that, would you have agreed to see me?"

Li Beichen didn't wait for Cai Xiaotang to finish her sentence before retorting.

Cai Xiaotang was stunned; for a moment, she was so blocked she didn't know what to say.

Li Xiao, however, let out a cold snort.

"Beichen, if your big brother won't let you participate, I think you should know the reason yourself. With this time, you'd better improve yourself more; perhaps for the next project, he will loosen his stance. Don't look for Xiao Tang again."

After Li Xiao finished speaking, he pulled Cai Xiaotang up and left the restaurant.

Cai Xiaotang hadn't reacted yet; when she finally came to, she realized she had already been brought to the car.

"Xiao Tang, what exactly happened today?"

With no one around, Li Xiao lowered his voice and asked.

Cai Xiaotang was even more confused; hearing his question, she also looked puzzled.

"I'm the one who wants to ask you what's going on. Didn't you have something to do tonight?"

Li Xiao's gaze darkened upon hearing this, and he didn't speak.

He did indeed have something to do.

But he hadn't expected that the person he caught would turn out to be his own person!

It was simply... being played completely.

Someone wanted to make him suspicious of Cai Xiaotang.

Regardless of the other party's motive, clearly, they had underestimated his trust and feelings for her.

Li Xiao's eyes flickered for a moment, and then he explained—"Li Beichen wanted to tamper with Beijue's project. We discovered that he might have been in contact with certain people recently. The identities of those people are unknown, and they shouldn't be ordinary people. I also found out that Li Beichen booked this restaurant he had never been to before; he must have wanted to meet someone, which is why I brought people over."

He explained briefly.

Cai Xiaotang's expression also gradually turned from dullness to surprise.

"You... you mean..."

She reached out her hand in disbelief and pointed at herself.

"Am I the mastermind behind the scenes?"

"Of course it isn't you."

Li Xiao could not help but be amused by her reaction.

Cai Xiaotang, however, suddenly flared up with anger, her face full of displeasure as she said, "Then I was being used! Damn it! Someone is trying to sow discord between you and me!"

"Hmm... it seems that way now."

Li Xiao nodded in agreement, and as he spoke, he feigned a relaxed manner, patted Cai Xiaotang on the head, and said with a look of gratification, "It seems you've become much smarter lately."

"I was never stupid to begin with, okay!"

Cai Xiaotang retorted crossly, her face full of annoyance.

Li Xiao then asked, "So what did Li Beichen say to you that made you agree to come out and meet?"

"What else could it be..."

At the mention of this, Cai Xiaotang's expression suddenly turned somewhat subtle.

Her voice also softened, and she replied in a low tone, "It's just... he told me he had something of yours to give me, and that if I didn't come, I'd regret it... I figured that since it was a restaurant and there were other guests around, nothing should happen, so I came..."

"Hmm, about what I guessed."

Li Xiao nodded thoughtfully.

Cai Xiaotang suddenly snorted, unable to stop herself from getting angrier the more she thought about it.

"How dare he lie to me! Is that Li Beichen crazy? If I had known, I should have splashed a glass of wine on him before I left just now!"

"Alright, stop being angry for now. The fact that you agreed to come meet him just goes to show..."

Li Xiao left his sentence half-finished, deliberately drawing out his tone.

Cai Xiaotang's expression changed instantly.

Immediately after, she heard that person continue, "Doesn't it just show... that you care about me very much?"

"I..."

Cai Xiaotang had known he would say that, and her face burned, yet she found it hard to refute.

After a long pause, she had no choice but to pretend she hadn't heard him, turned around, opened the door, and got into the car.

Li Xiao watched her play the ostrich with amusement, then pulled open the car door himself.

Only, there were still some concerns in the depths of his eyes.

The matter of Li Beichen was not that simple.

Just that excuse used to trick Xiao Tang into meeting him did not sound like something he would say.

Nor should he have the guts to do so.

It was more like... someone had taught him to say it deliberately.