Chapter 319: Don

The next day, after the family of three finished breakfast at home, Xu Yanfeng drove Zi Heng and his schoolbag to Su Jinru's place.

Su Jinru happily welcomed her grandson, took his schoolbag in hand, and asked Xu Yanfeng, "Do you have time to come over for dinner tonight? I bought lots of vegetables yesterday. There's also a fresh sea bass I'm keeping in a bucket, lively and jumping."

Normally, Xu Yanfeng would have agreed right away, but today he couldn't.

As an eager-to-impress son‑in‑law‑in‑training, he didn't want to outright refuse his future mother‑in‑law's invitation, so he used Xia Xi as an excuse: "I'm not sure if I'll be free; Xia Xi still has to work overtime today, I'll drop her off and call you later."

Xia Xi: "……"

Su Jinru looked at Xia Xi and asked, "You still have to work on the weekend?"

"No choice, there's a project that needs to be rushed," Xia Xi said helplessly.

Su Jinru stroked her hair and gently reminded, "Take care of yourself, don't overwork."

"Rest assured, I'm here—I'll keep an eye on her," Xu Yanfeng said, half‑embracing Xia Xi's shoulder as he promised Su Jinru.

Su Jinru was already pleased with him; hearing this, she grew even happier: "Then please take care of Xi Xi for me."

Xia Xi tugged Xu Yanfeng's arm, waved at Su Jinru, and said, "We're leaving." If she didn't go now, Xu Yanfeng didn't know how much longer he'd have to chat with Su Jinru.

Stepping into the elevator, Xia Xi let go of his hand, eyed Xu Yanfeng, and settled the score: "You're good at winning my mother's favor, but clearly you just wanted to spend the holiday alone with me and dragged me out as a shield."

Xu Yanfeng put on an innocent, elder‑pleasing look: "How is that using you as a shield? You really do have overtime today—I didn't lie."

"Overtime is overtime, but there's still time to go home for dinner tonight." The elevator doors opened, and Xia Xi made a move to press the floor button, saying, "Or I could go up now and tell Mom I'm free."

Xu Yanfeng grabbed her hand and kneaded it firmly: "You really never admit defeat."

Xu Yanfeng drove Xia Xi to the private estate.

After parking, Xu Yanfeng undid his seatbelt, turned to her, and asked, "How long will you be busy here?"

"Most of the day—I should be done this afternoon."

"Call me before you finish, and I'll come pick you up."

"Mm."

"What about lunch?"

"I'll just order takeout," Xia Xi said, laughing. "Don't treat me like a child—I can take care of myself."

"If you really could take care of yourself, you wouldn't have ended up in the hospital for surgery before."

"……"

Unable to win the argument, Xia Xi gave him a pleading look, wondering why he kept bringing this up. She had a feeling that even a minor stomach‑polyp removal surgery would have him nagging her about it until she was eighty.

"Fine, I won't say more." Xu Yanfeng complied, leaning in to press the button on her side; the seatbelt retracted, but he didn't rush to pull away. Holding that pose, he looked at her up close, his eyes dark, tracing from her brows down to linger on her rosy lips, his voice low and seductive: "If you're leaving, won't you give me something?"

If Xia Xi didn't understand what he meant, she'd be an idiot. She turned her face away with a light laugh, then turned back, looked at him, raised both hands to cradle his head, and planted a kiss on his lips.

Xu Yanfeng pursed his lips, savoring her kiss—light as a dragonfly touching water—and gave a faint evaluation: "Seems a bit perfunctory."

"You're demanding quite a lot," Xia Xi said, punching his shoulder with a clenched fist. "Move over—I need to get out."

Xu Yanfeng blocked her firmly, not letting her exit: "Again."

His breath washed over her cheek in waves, giving her the illusion they weren't in a car but in bed. Her back pressed against the seatback; before she could close her eyes, his lips covered hers.

Their tender, lingering kiss nearly sucked all the oxygen from her chest, making her breathless yet craving more. At some point, the hand she had resting on his shoulder slid around to the back of his neck, fingers curling, nails digging into his flesh without her realizing.

A faint sting made Xu Yanfeng feel hot; kissing further would be dangerous, so he forced himself to pull back, his jaw tightening slightly, his breath growing quicker and quicker.

Xia Xi's gaze was a little hazy; after a while she recovered, looked at his lips, and noticed—again—that her lipstick had smudged onto them from the kiss. She gave a faint smile, used her fingertip to wipe it off him, pushed him back a little, then pulled out her lipstick and compact mirror from her bag to touch up her own faded, uneven color.

Xia Xi hadn't summoned Huang Shiyu today; she entered the estate alone. The person in charge of liaison there was Li Tai, plus a servant. Li Shiguang wasn't present, and Xia Xi felt much more at ease.

The workers had returned to the site, carrying out the new plan Xia Xi had given them, starting by stripping away the previous renovation on the stairs.

A sizzling, clattering noise filled the air, dust swirling, irritating nose and throat. Li Tai invited Xia Xi to a room beside the main building, where it was a bit quieter, making conversation easier.

Li Tai had reviewed Xia Xi's design plan and found every detail satisfactory, with nothing to fault.

This estate was meant for her retirement, so naturally she wanted every corner to be comfortable.

"If I'd known, I'd have had Xia Gong take charge from the start—then we wouldn't have run into these problems, my mother wouldn't have suffered, and we wouldn't now have to tear it all out and redo it, wasting time." Li Tai took Xia Xi's hand, her tone warmer than before.

Xia Xi said, "The senior engineer's design was also excellent; the fact that you, Madam Li, adopted it before shows you were satisfied with her—except for this oversight on the stairs, which spoiled your mood."

Li Tai smiled and invited her to have coffee.

Xia Xi took a sip of coffee and heard the person across from her ask, "Did you bring the design drawings? There's a spot I'd like to consult you about."

"Please wait a moment," Xia Xi said, setting down her coffee cup. She pulled out the laptop from her bag, placed it on the simple table, called up the 3D renovation rendering, turned the screen toward Li Tai, and asked, "Which area?"

"The living room—where the coffee table goes."

Following her indication, Xia Xi adjusted the view to the living room and placed a strikingly designed coffee table in front of the sofa.

"Right here, exactly here," Li Tai said, pointing at the screen, somewhat excited. "Is this coffee table a model or an actual product? When you showed it to me that day, I fell for it at first sight and have been thinking about it for days."

"I designed it on a whim. The legs are made of marine board, the tabletop's upper layer is marble, the lower layer is the same marine board—just put them together. The pattern on that marble resembles wood grain, matching your love for natural wood while also accommodating your husband's fondness for marble."

"Huh? You designed it? I'd like to have more similar modular furniture around the house, but I don't know where to find it."

"If you like it, we can have it custom‑made," Xia Xi said. "Our company works with a fixed custom‑manufacturer, so meeting your needs isn't difficult."

Li Tai's eyes lit up. "Being able to buy it would be great—then I'll trouble you with it."

Xia Xi smiled and said, "No trouble at all."

At noon, Li Tai invited Xia Xi to lunch at a restaurant outside, and the two enjoyed a rare, pleasant chat.

In the afternoon Xia Xi kept working, while Li Tai didn't go back with her, possibly having other matters to attend to.

Xia Xi personally supervised the workers, occasionally pointing out details to watch so nothing would deviate from her plan. She didn't think that a few smiles from Li Tai made her easy to get along with; it was better to stay cautious.

After monitoring for over two hours straight and seeing everything proceed smoothly, Xia Xi stepped back a bit to get some fresh air and give her ears a rest—it was really noisy inside.

She took out her phone, opened the chat window with Xu Yanfeng, and began typing a message.

【I'm almost done here……】

Before she could finish typing, someone tapped her shoulder. Xia Xi turned around to see Li Shiguang smiling at her: "What a coincidence, running into Miss Xia again." Then his gaze fell on her jaw, his expression tightening slightly as he asked, "Hey, how did this happen? Are you hurt?"

Li Shiguang's fingertips pinched her chin, he leaned in close to examine, Xia Xi was caught off guard, her brow furrowed tightly, she slapped his hand away: "Mr. Li, please…"

The character for "heavy" still lingered on the lips and teeth, a sharp female voice suddenly cut in: "What are you doing?!"

Xia Xi followed the sound and looked over; Li Tai's surprised and angry face came into view.