Chapter 60

Why would Xia Xi keep photos from six years ago? She even made a private encrypted album, so that no one besides herself could find them.

Xu Yanfeng tilted his head, his face full of bewilderment; he truly couldn't figure it out.

Given Xia Xi's straightforward nature, after she blocked all his contact methods back then, the next step should have been to delete those memories—so how could she have kept them properly? If she liked him, why was she entangled with Zhou Du? And if she didn't like him, how could the encrypted album full of his photos be explained?

After thinking it through, Xu Yanfeng's mind went blank, and his heart felt utterly lost.

Xia Xi… what on earth does she mean? He wished he could rush to her, shake her shoulders, and demand why she kept those photos.

Xu Yanfeng kept scrolling down the screen, looking for proof that Xia Xi didn't love him—even if he found a photo of Zhou Du in the encrypted album, he could convince himself she was just nostalgic, not missing him.

But when he scrolled to the end of the album, there were only his photos and pictures of the two of them—no one else.

Some of those joint photos he had never seen before; they were candid shots taken by Xia Xi.

One showed him asleep on the sofa, hugging a pillow, while Xia Xi tilted her head toward him, poked his cheek with a finger—he didn't wake, and she smiled at the camera. Both were in loungewear; he recognized the setting as his off-campus apartment.

Xu Yanfeng took his phone out of the bathroom, sat on the bed, and flipped backward from the last photo; he could recall where each was taken, and related scenes played in his mind.

Guan He knocked outside, got no reply, waited a moment, saw that the time for his client meeting was approaching, and had no choice but to push the door open and enter the room.

What he saw was Xu Yanfeng sitting with legs spread, head lowered, looking at his phone, as if an invisible shroud enveloped him, isolating him in his own world from the outside.

Guan He considered his words, then said: "General Manager Xu, I just received word from the front desk—Mr. Wilson has arrived."

His voice broke the shroud; Xu Yanfeng slowly lifted his head, glanced at him for a few seconds, and his eyes regained their usual sharpness: "I know." After a pause, he instructed, "Find a courier and send this phone to Bo Ya Design Company."

Guan He nodded: "All right, I'll take care of it right away."

As he turned, Xu Yanfeng changed his mind again and called out: "Never mind, no need to find one."

Guan He stopped, looking at him in confusion.

Xu Yanfeng offered no explanation, stood up, slipped Xia Xi's phone into his trouser pocket, and waited for her to notice it was missing so she would take the initiative to find him.

An opportunity given by heaven—don't let it go to waste.

*Xia Xi brewed a cup of coffee, sat down to revise the renderings, and, per Client Xu Yanfeng's demand, added a sunroom. It was simple—she could finish it in less than an hour.

"Knock knock—"

Someone came to knock; Xia Xi set down her coffee cup, pursed her lips, looked toward the door, and said, "Come in."

The door wasn't opened right away; the person outside seemed to hesitate, and after several seconds—by which Xia Xi was losing patience—he finally pushed it open slowly.

The visitor was Jiang Tian; Xia Xi was a little surprised, then recalled the argument she'd overheard outside the meeting room earlier, which made it less surprising. She pretended not to know and asked in a natural tone: "Manager Jiang, what do you need?"

Jiang Tian stood about 1.75 meters tall, wore a black suit, had a neatly tied blue-striped tie, and his hair was neatly groomed—very much the image of a client manager.

At that moment he stood with his palms pressed together in front of him, looking awkward: "After thinking it over, I should come explain—Ge Ge's mood is off, we had a few words, I don't know how much you overheard outside, but don't believe what she says."

Xia Xi dismissed his concern with three words: "I didn't believe it." Jiang Tian had more to say, but she cut him off; he gave an embarrassed laugh: "Hope I didn't cause you trouble." Her saying she didn't believe him implied she had heard those words.

Xia Xi's attitude remained the same—neither warm nor cold, just indifferent: "No."

Jiang Tian: "……"

Suddenly, Ge Ge's words popped into his mind—

"No matter how hard you try, they won't even notice you."

"A sycophant ends up with nothing in the end."

"A toad craving swan meat can only dream—it'll never get it."

Though harsh, the words were true; precisely because they were true, he felt both ashamed and angry, lost his composure, and quarreled with Ge Ge.

Looking again at Xia Xi's expression, which seemed calm but actually conveyed distance—it felt as if no matter what you did, you couldn't get close to her, let alone win her heart.

Jiang Tian sighed silently, looking for a topic, then began to complain about Ge Ge: "When you first joined the company, I told you she's too arrogant, always thinking she's the best in the company and can't stand anyone outshining her. Lately I don't know if it's her age, but her temper has flared—she snaps at anyone, you're tolerant and don't hold it against her, yet she doesn't know how to back down; sooner or later she'll crash."

Xia Xi had work to do and really didn't want to waste time listening to Jiang Tian badmouth others here; she stopped looking at him, fixed her gaze on the computer screen, waited for him to finish, then glanced at him and said in a flat tone: "Manager Jiang, regardless of Engineer Ge's character, discussing a woman's age behind her back is not gentlemanly."

Besides, Ge Ge is only thirty-six—hardly "old."

Hearing that, Jiang Tian's face twitched slightly—neither crying nor laughing—he was extremely embarrassed.

He had thought that if Xia Xi overheard Ge Ge saying that about her outside the meeting room, she would surely hate her; since he was criticizing Ge Ge, she should be pleased—but when she heard it, her face showed no hint of pleasure, only a faint trace of anger.

Jiang Tian tried to make amends, not knowing what else to say, he stumbled: "I spoke without thinking—don't take it to heart. Seeing you're busy, I won't bother you; we can chat another time."

Xia Xi: "Mm."

Jiang Tian left, the office finally quiet; Xia Xi exhaled, instinctively reached for her phone on the desk, found nothing, her expression froze—where was her phone?

She scanned the desk—no phone; she rummaged through her bag—still nothing.

Could it have fallen in the car?

Needing her phone urgently, Xia Xi grabbed her car keys and went down to the underground parking lot, found her car, opened the door, and turned the interior upside down—still no phone.

One hand braced on the door, the other on her waist, she bit her lower lip and tried to recall exactly when she last used her phone.

It seemed to be in the hotel suite bathroom—she had messaged Liang Yuan, chatted a couple of lines, then absentmindedly left her phone on the washbasin, washed her hands, and went out to eat, forgetting to take it.

That must be where she left it.

Xia Xi covered her forehead, a wave of regret creeping up her brow—how could she be so forgetful! Losing it anywhere would be bad, but of all places, she left it with Xu Yanfeng!

After locking the car, Xia Xi went upstairs to borrow a phone from Huang Shiyu; she held the phone, pacing in the office for at least ten minutes, then finally took a deep breath, dialed Xu Yanfeng's number, hit call, and held her breath waiting.

(End of chapter)