Chapter 330: If You Were to Marry Him Someday

Lu Mingji drank coffee himself and poured Xia Xi a cup of plain water.

"You really don't want to go?" Lu Mingji was surprised; with Xia Xi's intelligence and talent, recording a show would be easy for her, especially since it's in her professional field.

She just needs to perform as usual; there's nothing difficult about it.

"Isn't that a pointless question? If I wanted to go, I wouldn't need to come to you." Xia Xi took a sip of scalding plain water, her tongue tingling, her feelings growing more gloomy: "I already told you that yesterday in the meeting."

Lu Mingji: "Besides you, I can't find anyone more suitable in our company."

"How come there isn't any?" Xia Xi counted on her fingers, listing for him: "Gao Ge, Pei Yichuan, and that..."

She rattled off five or six names without pause; Lu Mingji smiled: "Go ask them if they're willing to go."

Xia Xi nearly spat blood: "If they don't want to go, they can just not go, but if I don't want to go, I can't? What kind of logic is this, targeting me on purpose?"

Lu Mingji raised both hands in surrender, seeing her angry expression, he stopped joking and spoke seriously: "I also decided to let you go after considering many factors. First, of course, your professional skills are solid—there aren't many in the company who match you. Second, you act steadily; when unexpected situations arise, you can quickly think of a countermeasure."

"Wait." Xia Xi raised a palm to interrupt him, sternly: "Unexpected situations? The show wouldn't deliberately manufacture conflict, would it? I've heard many variety shows have scripts—the more heated the argument, the higher the ratings."

Lu Mingji rubbed his forehead: "Don't get worked up; I was just giving an example."

Xia Xi said: "Anything else? These two reasons of yours can't convince me."

Lu Mingji spread his hands: "Besides, Gao Ge is right—you have a good image; you could be a spokesperson for our Broad and Elegant."

Having just nearly spat blood, Xia Xi now nearly choked: "Stop saying that to placate me—I'm not some twenty-year-old girl."

Lu Mingji couldn't persuade her, so he changed tactics: "Then tell me, what's your reason for not wanting to go?"

Xia Xi was much more direct: "No reason—I just don't want to go."

Lu Mingji fell silent for a moment, then suddenly thought of a reason, unsure if it was right; he coughed and ventured: "Are you... considering Xu Yanfeng?"

On the contrary, Xia Xi was surprised by his words: "What does Xu Yanfeng have to do with anything?"

Lu Mingji thought he'd guessed wrong, quickly shook his head, mindful of the bounds of friendship: "Nothing, I just said it offhand."

"If you're going to say something, say it clearly." Xia Xi blew on the water in her cup, took a sip, lifted her eyes to him: "Don't be so hesitant."

"Then I'll just say it straight." Lu Mingji threw caution to the wind: "I don't know much about variety shows, but there might be some controversial clips that get spread and discussed later; Xu Yanfeng's status is not ordinary, so if you ever marry him, you'd have to consider his family's opinion." After thinking it through, Lu Mingji also felt pushing Xia Xi out was a bit unfair: "I hadn't considered this before—sorry. If you really have such concerns, as a friend I can't hold you back; otherwise I could pick someone else. However, I've already sent your materials to my director friend; I don't know if I can withdraw them now."

"Enough." Xia Xi didn't expect his thoughts to wander so far, even considering her future marriage: "I am myself; no matter who I marry, my choice concerns only my present thoughts and has nothing to do with others."

Lu Mingji stumbled: "Well, then I was overthinking it?"

Xia Xi affirmed: "Yes."

"Since it's not what I said, how about I impose on you a little—you still do the show; I really can't trust anyone else, this concerns Broad and Elegant's reputation, we can't mess it up. As one of the partners, shouldn't you share the burden? You see, you don't want to get involved in management, and I haven't forced you to be director." Lu Mingji, worthy of being a boss, changed his expression so quickly it was dizzying.

Xia Xi set down the cup she'd only taken two sips from, got up and left, as if she had never come.

Before leaving work, Xia Xi received a call from Xu Yanfeng asking when she would finish.

Thanks to Lu Mingji, she didn't have to handle other projects lately, so naturally there was no need for overtime; she left on time.

Xu Yanfeng said he would come pick her up, not go home to eat tonight, and take her somewhere.

Xia Xi first thought of Zi Heng: "What about Zi Heng—should I have Aunt Zhang keep him company for dinner, or send him to my mother's?"

Xu Yanfeng: "Of course bring him along."

Xia Xi had nothing else to ask, didn't ask where he was taking her, just went along with his plan, left only saying "See you later," hung up, glanced at the lower-right corner of her computer—quitting time was approaching—so she began packing her things into her bag.

Just as luck would have it, Huang Shiyu came over to deliver documents, concerning the order verification for the next batch of materials for Jingyu Yuan.

Xia Xi checked each item carefully, confirmed there were no problems, signed it, handed it to Huang Shiyu, which delayed her about twenty minutes.

She took the elevator down, passed through the lobby, and through the office building's glass doors saw a familiar car parked outside.

This building isn't just Broad and Elegant alone; there's plenty of foot traffic, and people passing that car tend to glance at it a few extra times. Seeing Xia Xi come out, Xu Yanfeng got out of the car to help her with her bag—he's always so thoughtful and attentive.

Zi Heng sat in the back seat, the window rolled down, happily waving and shouting "Mom!" with cream still on his lips, he was holding a palm-sized mango mousse cake.

Xia Xi sat in the back with him; he had a spoon in his mouth, freed a hand to take another strawberry cake from the box and hand it to her, pointing at the person in the front driver's seat: "He bought it, saying to eat a bit first to fill our stomachs."

Xia Xi placed the cake on her lap, tore open the plastic wrap around the spoon, and smiling asked Zi Heng: "Who is he?"

Zi Heng scooped a spoonful of mango bits into his mouth, mumbled: "Dad."

Xu Yanfeng gave a light smile and gently started the car.

While eating the sweet cake, Xia Xi then asked: "Where are you taking us?"

Xu Yanfeng said: "You'll find out soon."

Xia Xi smiled, pursing her lips; he was still keeping it a secret, so she stopped asking, ate the cake bite by bite until only a little remained, then noticed the scenery outside was very familiar—she must have come here many times before.

Having already figured it out in her mind, Xia Xi voiced the thought: "Isn't this the villa I had you decorate before?"

Originally, to establish contact with her, Xu Yanfeng, together with his assistant, had dug a pit for her; she only learned after signing the contract that the villa's true owner was him. At that time she didn't want any further involvement with him, wanted to quit, but the penalty for breach was too high, so she gritted her teeth and endured.

When discussing renovation opinions, Xu Yanfeng fully followed the ideas about a home she had mentioned when they were dating back then. She had to comply with the client's requests, so the villa ended up decorated exactly as she once liked.

The car drove into the villa gate; the courtyard was clearly tended by professionals, planted with many varieties of plants, plus a rose garden that bloomed brilliantly in the early summer evening glow.

Xu Yanfeng led the mother and son inside: "Find some time to move in? This place isn't far from your company; in the second half of the year Zi Heng will be in first grade, there's an international school less than a twenty-minute drive away, and also a key primary school—he can choose either. The villa has many empty rooms; you could have your mother move in to live together, so there's someone to look after her." By "mother" here he meant Xia Xi's mother.

Xu Yanfeng thought his plan was excellent, raised his eyebrows in self-affirmation, then turned to ask Zi Heng's opinion: "Son, what do you think?"

Zi Heng nodded blankly; he didn't care where they lived, as long as he was with his dad and mom, he felt fine.

Xia Xi stood in the living room, her gaze sweeping around, then suddenly lowered her head, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, she covered her forehead with her hand.

Xu Yanfeng never expected Xia Xi to react this way; he cupped her face and lifted it so she could look at him: "What's wrong with you?"