Chapter 15

The man had a regular face, slightly deep-set eyes, with a hint of mixed heritage, wearing a blue casual shirt, black trousers, and a thin windbreaker draped over his arm; his scholarly demeanor blended with a touch of dignity.

Everyone secretly thought this person must be an executive from some company.

"Hello hello."

"Mr. Lu, right? Have a seat here."

"I thought Xia Xi was joking, but she really has a boyfriend."

"Don't even say it, you two look perfect together!"

After coming to their senses, everyone started speaking to ease the atmosphere.

Xu Yanfeng coldly eyed the two people surrounded in the middle, his expression unmoving; the low pressure he exuded clashed with the private room's liveliness, making him seem out of place.

Ling Yan, on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief.

Xia Xi now has a boyfriend, and that man's appearance and demeanor are quite decent; Xu Yanfeng probably won't have any other thoughts about her, right?

Lu Mingji put his arm around Xia Xi as they walked to the sofa; when he sat down, he released his hand and rested it on his knee, the whole motion smooth and natural, not a deliberate show of affection, just their usual everyday interaction.

Xia Xi clearly felt a scorching gaze fixed on her face, and she forced herself not to turn her head.

Xu Yanfeng lit a cigarette for himself—his second tonight—took a puff, then shifted his gaze from Xia Xi's face to the man beside her, sizing him up before speaking calmly: "Mr. Lu, where do you work?"

Lu Mingji took a sip of plain water, turned his gaze toward the speaker, and felt surprised inside.

It turned out to be the president of the Xu Clan.

Lu Mingji glanced at Xia Xi, saw her tense expression and some nervousness, understood a bit, and replied gently: "It's nothing high-ranking; I returned to the country a year ago and started a small company—Bo Ya Design Company—perhaps General Manager Xu has heard of it."

Li Guanghang: "Bo Ya Design?"

Even the others, though not in the industry, had heard of it, and looked at Lu Mingji in surprise.

Last year, Bo Ya Design Company designed a library for the tourist destination Yuan Prefecture, in an antique style reminiscent of ancient libraries, blending seamlessly with the local architecture as if it were a relic from a thousand years ago.

Once the library opened, it attracted tourists from all over the country, greatly boosting the local tourism economy.

Even now, one can still see every few days on short-video platforms influencers, big names, and celebrities checking in at that library.

Bo Ya Design became famous overnight, its reputation spreading widely.

It turned out that the man before them was the founder of Bo Ya Design Company.

Today's trip wasn't wasted! First I spoke with the president of the Xu Clan Group, and then I crossed paths with the legendary celebrity.

"Wait, just now Xia Xi said she works at a design company…" Li Guanghang's gaze wandered between Xia Xi and Lu Mingji as he hesitated, "Are you from the same company?"

Xia Xi openly admitted: "You guessed right, Lu Mingji is my boss."

Lu Mingji smiled at her, his eyes full of affection, and corrected her wording: "Well, not exactly a boss. We support each other. The company's success today owes much to your efforts."

Besides him, no one knew that the Yuan Prefecture library was designed single-handedly by Xia Xi.

At that time, Xia Xi was still abroad, and the signature on the design drawings was the two English letters "XI" she casually wrote—the pinyin of the "Xi" in her name.

The girl sitting beside Ling Yan covered her mouth in envy: "Goodness, my boss is my boyfriend—what kind of novel plot came to life? Mr. Lu, how did you two get together?"

Lu Mingji chuckled lightly, first asking Xia Xi's opinion: "Should we tell them?"

Xia Xi's eyes showed bewilderment and confusion—how should we say it, make up a story on the spot?

She tossed the dilemma to Lu Mingji: "Whatever you want." As soon as Xia Xi finished speaking, someone immediately chimed in: "I want to know too! My intuition tells me your story must be quite exciting."

"You'll probably be disappointed hearing it—it's just a story of unrequited love coming true, not that dramatic." Lu Mingji tilted his head slightly, as if pondering where to begin, then after a moment he half-truthfully, half-fabricatedly began: "We met while studying abroad, at the same school; I was her senior. You can imagine that in a foreign land, running into a fellow countryman feels like meeting family. I fell for Xi Xi at first sight, had been secretly crushing on her all along—she's too outstanding, I'm a coward, never dared confess. Yesterday I learned she went on a blind date, afraid of losing her, I mustered the courage to confess my feelings; I didn't expect her to accept, it's my honor. I will treat her well for life, never let go of her hand."

Saying this, Lu Mingji became a bit moved, took Xia Xi's hand, and gazed deeply into her eyes.

Although Xia Xi felt a little cheesy, she admired his eloquence from the bottom of her heart; coming up with such a speech in a short time is no easy feat, which explains why he can be a leader. If it were her, she couldn't do it, so she figures she's only fit to be Lu Mingji's grunt, head down drawing diagrams.

"How romantic!" Zhao Lei acted as the mood-maker, crossing her hands in front of her chin, face full of envy.

Xia Xi pressed her lips together, suppressing the urge to twitch her mouth.

By this point, everyone believed Xia Xi and Lu Mingji were a couple, no longer doubting her earlier "heart-to-heart" words, but Xu Yanfeng wouldn't give up; at the peak of the pleasant atmosphere, he coldly interjected a sentence that shattered everyone's fantasy of a serendipitous, beautiful romance: "Mr. Lu, do you mind that Xia Xi has children?"

"What? Children?! Everyone's eyes widened, each as if they'd just bitten into a huge melon."

"Does Xia Xi have children? Even Zhao Lei, who is relatively close to Xia Xi, was shocked. They haven't been in touch much these years, at most exchanging holiday greetings, so she wasn't sure of Xia Xi's situation."

Lu Mingji's expression unchanged, he locked eyes with Xu Yanfeng and replied with a smile: "You mean Zi Heng and Youyou? I like them a lot; abroad I often eat with them. I don't mind. I believe they'd also welcome me as their dad. To suddenly have two cute, smart children makes me feel very happy."

Xu Yanfeng likewise kept his composure, but inside he was laughing in anger.

"Rushing to be someone else's kids' dad—this Lu Mingji is quite something."

"Then have you considered what the children's biological father might think?" Xu Yanfeng drawled.

Hearing that, Xia Xi's heart skipped a beat—had Xu Yanfeng not dispelled his doubts yet?

Lu Mingji was momentarily at a loss for words—"the kids' biological father…?" Ding Wen Qi felt his head swell; the atmosphere had just begun to improve, yet as soon as General Manager Xu opened his mouth, after just a couple sentences it turned awkward again. He hurriedly changed the subject: "How about we eat? We can talk while we eat."

He gave Zhao Lei a look; she caught his signal and immediately said: "Ah yes yes yes, I'm starving—let's start eating!"

Ding Wen Qi breathed a sigh of relief and called everyone to move to the nearby dining area.

Everyone also didn't hesitate, they all got up and took their seats around the large round table in turn.

As the meal drew to a close, Xia Xi had drunk quite a bit; she leaned close to Lu Mingji's ear and said she needed to use the restroom. He thoughtfully asked if she wanted him to accompany her, but she declined, taking her bag and heading to the washroom.

Their interaction didn't escape Xu Yanfeng's eyes; he narrowed his eyes, picked up his glass and drained it in one go, then after a while he also rose and left the private room.

After finishing in the restroom, Xia Xi faced the mirror to touch up her makeup, clearly seeing her slightly tired visage; she tried to lift the corners of her mouth, but the next second they drooped again.

Attending tonight's class reunion really was a mistaken choice.

She slowly exhaled the stale air stuck in her chest, turned and headed toward the private room; from the side, a hand suddenly shot out, grabbed her wrist, and with an irresistible force dragged her into an unused, empty private room.

Before Xia Xi's startled cry could even leave her throat, the door was shut, the lock clicking loudly in her ears.

All around was pitch black; her back pressed against the hard door panel, and before her was an equally hard… male chest.

A crisp pine scent mixed with a faint tobacco aroma and the rich fragrance of alcohol invaded her sense of smell.

Xia Xi's mind automatically spat out three words—Xu Yanfeng.

She wanted to ask him what he was doing, but had no chance to speak; her lips were sealed, the near-biting kiss left her feeling no tenderness, only pain.

Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk, I said in the comments that this class reunion was super lit, how about that! Surprised or not, unexpected or not? Trust me, I'm not wrong! 【thump thump pat chest. jpg】

(End of chapter)