Chapter 279

Xu Yanfeng glanced at the screen; even without looking at the photos, he knew which two Xia Xi was referring to. He gave a half‑smile and deliberately asked, "Which two?"

"What are you pretending to be stupid for? Can't you see?" Xia Xi straightened her arm and pushed the phone forward, "Is it because you're old and your eyesight is bad?"

"I really can't see." Xu Yanfeng said.

"How could…"

As Xia Xi spoke, she took the phone back, turned the screen toward her face, and only then realized it had gone dark at some point, the screen black. Her expression froze, a hint of embarrassment creeping onto her face.

She turned the phone back on and showed the photos to Xu Yanfeng.

"You mean these two?" Xu Yanfeng drawled, telling her the truth, "While you weren't looking, I got a passing tourist to help sneak‑take them; otherwise I was afraid you wouldn't cooperate."

Xia Xi muttered to herself, indeed they were sneak‑shots.

Xu Yanfeng sincerely asked, "Any other problems?"

"None."

Xia Xi lowered her head and continued sorting the photos, saving each one to an album, and sent a copy to her sister Xia Yue—except for those two photos.

In the blink of an eye, February was almost over.

Xu Yanfeng had pursued Xia Xi for half a month; there was some effect, but it wasn't noticeable.

On the calendar used to count down the days, twenty days had already been crossed out, leaving only eighty days until the agreed deadline.

After eighty days, Xia Xi would have to move out of his place. Although he had long since made up his mind that even if it went beyond a hundred days he wouldn't stick to the previous agreement and draw a clear line with Xia Xi, pursuing her would certainly be easier if they weren't living together.

On a routine busy Monday, big and small meetings took up most of the day; Xu Yanfeng finally managed to catch his breath in the office, dealing with piled‑up documents, when Guan He came to inform him that Manager Tang of Lofty Heaven Capital had arrived.

Xu Yanfeng blinked in surprise—what was Tang Yizhou doing here?

Not long after Guan He left, Tang Yizhou strolled in like an old man walking his birds at the village entrance, leisurely, stretched his neck, and swept a glance over the desk: "Still busy?"

Xu Yanfeng didn't look up, pen in hand, signing documents with swift strokes: "If you have business, talk; if not, get out."

"You don't know a good heart." Tang Yizhou walked with his hands behind his back, pacing the office, "More than half a month has passed, and I haven't heard of any new progress in your pursuit of your ex‑girlfriend; coincidentally I'm nearby on some errands, so I came up to see you."

Xu Yanfeng didn't want to speak.

"What's up, you two still stuck?" Tang Yizhou chuckled, looking at him; he didn't even need an answer—just from Xu Yanfeng's demeanor he knew he hadn't won the beauty yet, "I told Youyou should listen to me. Your methods are all wishy‑washy, progress too slow. To deal with a woman like Xia Xi, you need to give her a strong dose."

Xu Yanfeng stopped flipping through the documents and finally gave Tang Yizhou a magnanimous glance: "Get this straight—I'm not trying to deal with her; I'm trying to pursue her."

"Fine, pursue her, I misspoke." Tang Yizhou raised both hands in a surrender gesture, then added, "Think about the tactics Xia Xi used when she chased you back then—weren't they a hundred tricks, leaving nothing untried, short of moving heaven and earth?"

Xu Yanfeng recalled the past, seeming to be persuaded, his expression turning a bit more serious.

Tang Yizhou pressed on: "You're busy, she's busy, you two live under the same roof, yet you have less contact with her than she does with the neighborhood guard."

"……"

It's a bit exaggerated, but not entirely without reason.

On weekdays, he and Xia Xi left early and returned late, their time together pitifully little. On weekends, Xia Xi took the kids back to Su Jinru's place, resulting in zero contact.

Xu Yanfeng tossed down the signing pen, leaned back, lifted his eyes to meet the person before him, and said, "Then what do you suggest?"

Tang Yizhou: "You didn't hear a word of what I told you before, didn't I tell you all of it?"

Xu Yanfeng thought for a moment, wondering what stratagem Tang Yizhou had suggested.

In a flash, he remembered—the bitter‑flesh stratagem.

Seeing Xu Yanfeng silent for a long time, Tang Yizhou, as if he had forgotten, shook his head and sighed, resenting his lack of ambition: "You should go to the hospital now, put on a patient's gown, lie on the bed, and leave the rest to me."

Xu Yanfeng dared not agree: "Isn't that deception? I can't do that."

"Deception in love isn't deception." Teacher Tang tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, giving him a lesson.

"What is it called?"

"It's called enticement."

"……"

Xu Yanfeng didn't understand, but he was greatly shocked.

Tang Yizhou smacked the back of his hand into his palm, exasperated: "How can you not get it? If you lie in bed unable to care for yourself, and if Xia Xi still has you in her heart, how could she remain indifferent? She would surely drop everything to look after you, feed you, wipe you down—wouldn't that warm up the feelings? I've explained it so clearly, you couldn't possibly still not understand, could you?"

"I understand, but—" Xu Yanfeng pressed his lips, humbly asking the teacher, "How serious does my illness have to be before I can't even feed myself or wash? Am I supposed to be paralyzed in all four limbs?"

He thought it was utterly ridiculous, almost wanting to laugh.

Xia Xi wasn't at the company that afternoon; she went to the Jingyu Yuan site to final‑check the construction drawings with the supervisor, and the person in charge of the Xu Clan was also present.

Almost done, Xia Xi's phone rang—it was Xu Yanfeng calling her.

Xu Yanfeng rarely bothered her during work hours, not knowing what he wanted. Xia Xi apologized to the other two parties, stepped aside, and answered: "Xu Yanfeng?"

"Hello, is this Xia Xi? It's me……"

Xia Xi recognized Tang Yizhou's voice; her impression of him was extremely bad, she immediately frowned, couldn't be bothered to say a word, and hung up.

Tang Yizhou: "???"

After a two‑second pause, Tang Yizhou called again.

Xia Xi was a little impatient; if she ignored him, he'd keep calling. After hesitating a bit, she answered and asked, "Why is Xu Yanfeng's phone in your hand?"

This time Tang Yizhou had learned his lesson, skipping irrelevant chatter and speaking rapidly to get to the point: "Xu Er got into a car accident, he's been sent to the hospital—come quickly, I'll send you the address!"

"What……what?"

Xia Xi's limbs went numb; she froze on the spot, unable to move, feeling she couldn't catch her breath.

"Hurry up." Tang Yizhou knew she had heard clearly, didn't repeat himself, urged her once, and hung up.

A few seconds later, Xia Xi received a message—it was the address of a private hospital.

Xia Xi had lost the ability to think; she turned and walked to the simple meeting table, saying something to those present that she herself wasn't clear on, her head buzzing. She frantically gathered the documents and computer from the desk, shoved everything into her bag, and rushed out, leaving Huang Shiyu to tidy up.

Unable to drive, Xia Xi waited a long time before hailing a taxi and gave the hospital's name.

Several minutes later, she could finally hear sounds; the din of traffic flooded her ears, making her feel she was still living in the human world, not in a dream.

Xia Xi's fingertips were icy; she pulled up Xia Yue's number from her phone contacts and called her. Zi Heng and Youyou were about to get out of school, so she asked Xia Yue to help pick them up, and that evening she would have the two children stay at Su Jinru's house.

She didn't explain the reason, only vaguely saying she and Xu Yanfeng were both a bit busy.

Xia Yue didn't suspect anything and agreed.

Arriving at the hospital, Xia Xi only then realized she had forgotten to ask Xu Yanfeng exactly where he was. Her hand still had no warmth; she wanted to call him, but first she heard someone call her: "Xia Xi."

Xia Xi paused, lifted her eyes, and Tang Yizhou came running over with an anxious expression.

"Come with me." he said.

Xia Xi closely followed his steps, took the elevator upstairs, and entered a VIP ward.

Xu Yanfeng lay in bed wearing a hospital gown, his eyes tightly shut, his head wrapped in a circle of white gauze; it was impossible to tell how severe his injury was, but Xia Xi's face was paler than frightening compared to Xu Yanfeng lying there.