Super Soldier in the City-Chapter 184 True Commitment

Xu Yingying nodded and said, "Since you’re setting conditions for me, then I’m going to set one myself."

"You pursuing me and still setting conditions?" Li Yifei said leisurely, taking a sip of red wine, and smiled at Xu Yingying.

With a faint smile, Xu Yingying had already entered a particular state, the same one she would exhibit at work. To her, Li Yifei was like a challenging project that required conquering, so she intended to display her capabilities and win this ’project’ over. In this state, her speech and demeanor were composed and graceful, without any hint of embarrassment or awkwardness. She said, "So, are you afraid of me?"

Li Yifei replied with a smile, "I’m not scared of you, but I’d rather you give up knowing it’s difficult. If we don’t talk about this, we could be colleagues or you could be my boss, and at the very least, we can still be friends. But with what you’re saying now, I’m afraid we might not even be able to be friends."

"Well then, it seems I really do have some significant obstacles ahead, but I’m not someone who gives up easily. I won’t be content without proving myself."

Seeing Xu Yingying not even stating her conditions anymore, while displaying such an attitude, Li Yifei suddenly felt a bit worried. From his interactions with her, he knew just how formidable she could be in that state.

"Yingying, why bother? Isn’t it good for us to just be friends?" Li Yifei furrowed his brows, looking at her seriously.

Xu Yingying pursed her lips with a smile, took another delicate sip of red wine, and gently swirled the glass in her hand. The red liquid softly shimmered, and through the glass, her gaze met Li Yifei’s as she said, "Don’t worry, I, Xu Yingying, won’t resort to any desperate or clingy tactics. I definitely won’t stoop so low as to throw myself at you indecently, shamelessly trying to sabotage your relationship with your girlfriend. Success or failure, it all comes down to fate. Can’t you accept that?"

Li Yifei stared at Xu Yingying, trying to ascertain if she was sincere. Logically, this should have been reassuring, but somehow he couldn’t shake the feeling that this situation wasn’t so straightforward.

"Alright, it’s time to go back to work. As a man, shouldn’t you be settling the bill now?"

Li Yifei shook his head and said, "I’m a poor man, it makes more sense for you, the boss, to treat me."

Xu Yingying rolled her eyes at Li Yifei and said, "Your skin is really thick. Other men always try to act rich in front of women, but you just do whatever you want shamelessly."

Li Yifei chuckled and replied, "That’s because I’m poor and short of ambition."

"That’s more realistic."

Li Yifei somehow felt Xu Yingying was being too composed, which made him even less confident when dealing with her. Over the years, he had relations with many women, but Xu Yingying was the first he considered to be a hot potato he couldn’t handle.

After paying the bill, Li Yifei drove back to the company with Xu Yingying. During the ride, she didn’t discuss their personal issues but instead talked about company matters with him.

When they arrived at the company, Li Yifei called Xu Shanshan. It took a while before Xu Shanshan answered the phone.

"Shanshan, weren’t you supposed to have lunch with me today?"

Xu Shanshan screamed in surprise, "Is it time already? I fell asleep, I’ll be right there."

"Sweat, why bother coming now? What time do you think it is?"

"Ah, it’s one o’clock already. Brother-in-law, why didn’t you call me earlier? Don’t tell me you didn’t want to have lunch with me?" Xu Shanshan immediately started to complain.

"It’s not that I didn’t want to have lunch with you, but your sister pretended to be you and asked me out instead. I thought it was you at first until I realized it wasn’t."

"No way, she actually pretended to be me? That’s just too despicable!"

Li Yifei was at a loss whether to laugh or cry and said, "I’m really at my wit’s end with the two of you."

Xu Shanshan continued indignantly, "Even if I pretended to be her, it would just be a joke between you and me, but her doing it like that is clearly just to associate with you under my name. That’s truly despicable, shameless. Brother-in-law, what did she say to you?"

"Shanshan, can we not associate me with being despicable and shameless?"

Xu Shanshan paused, then giggled, "That’s true; I’ll be careful next time. How could my brother-in-law ever be a despicable and shameless person? In my heart, you’re the best man."

"Brother-in-law, we need to come up with some kind of secret signal between us. Otherwise, if Xu Yingying tries to impersonate me and you can’t tell, it’ll be my loss if she takes advantage."

Li Yifei broke out in a sweat. It seemed that he didn’t actually have anything serious with Xu Shanshan, but having a secret signal might be a good idea. At least then he wouldn’t keep getting the two sisters confused. Mixing them up had been quite troublesome for him. You could easily say something meant for Xu Shanshan to Xu Yingying instead, and with their current strained relationship, that could easily offend someone. Even if one wasn’t afraid of the consequences, who would want to upset two beautiful women for no good reason?

"Brother-in-law, since you didn’t treat me to lunch today, you have to treat me to dinner. Come to my house to take me out, hmm. I’ll use it to bug her; I’m off to buy groceries now. Bye-bye, brother-in-law."

Without waiting for Li Yifei to respond, Xu Shanshan had already hung up the phone.

After the events at noon, Li Yifei started to become quite wary of the two sisters, really wanting to find an excuse to decline, but Xu Shanshan hung up so quickly that he didn’t get the chance. When he tried calling back, Xu Shanshan had turned her phone off, which was just too decisive.

Before the end of the workday, Xu Yingying and He Fangqing came straight to Li Yifei’s office and said, "Shanshan said you’re coming over to our place to cook dinner tonight, so let’s go together."

"Shanshan told you?" Li Yifei was somewhat surprised.

"That’s right!" Xu Yingying said with a slight smile.

Li Yifei shook his head and said, "You must have called Shanshan to find out."

"No matter how I found out, I still love the food you cook, and Sister Fangqing likes it too. Do you really mind making an extra serving for us two?"

"I really don’t mind, so let’s go together since you sisters are inviting," Li Yifei answered quite readily this time. With Xu Yingying there, as well as He Fangqing, it was like three monks living together without any water to drink; he could relax a bit more.

In the car, Xu Yingying did not engage in any personal conversation with Li Yifei, still discussing company matters with He Fangqing. Even when talking to Li Yifei, it was all about work.

Moreover, Xu Yingying’s attitude toward Li Yifei was very normal, very natural, not much different from before at the company. Perhaps one thing was different; she and He Fangqing discussed issues without avoiding Li Yifei and even asked for his opinion now and then.

It seemed as if Xu Yingying had no special feelings for Li Yifei, but actually, he always felt that this was Xu Yingying being genuine, unlike before when she seemed to be joking around.

When the door opened, Xu Shanshan greeted them, sweetly calling out "Brother-in-law" and then resentfully said to Xu Yingying, "You usually work overtime; how come you’re not today?"

As Xu Yingying was entering to change her shoes, she replied, "If you like me working overtime that much, I wouldn’t mind dragging Li Yifei and Fangqing back to work some more."

Xu Shanshan snorted and said, "What’s so great about that? He’s just a general manager. And Brother-in-law is the president, higher than you. He doesn’t need to listen to you."

Xu Yingying glanced at Li Yifei and said meaningfully, "If someone truly becomes the president, then I will definitely cooperate well with that person’s work."

Li Yifei rolled his eyes and said, "Enough, stop talking about this. I’ll go cook."

"Brother-in-law, let me help you," said Xu Shanshan, glaring at Xu Yingying before following Li Yifei into the kitchen.

Xu Yingying made no extra comment, greeted He Fangqing and went straight to the living room to sit down, leaning back on the sofa, showing a composed and relaxed air, as if everything was within her control.

Seeing Xu Yingying’s demeanor, He Fangqing praised her, "Yingying, what I admire most about you is your confidence and certainty, no matter how big the difficulty, you face it with calm."

Xu Yingying smiled slightly and said, "Sister Fangqing, that’s praise indeed, but if I lose my composure and self, then I would be at the mercy of others."

"Hehe, it’s not that severe. This is a matter of the heart, not something else. Aren’t you going to help Li Yifei?"

"No need. It’s not my area of expertise. If I went, I’d just make things worse. I need to play to my strengths, not compare my weaknesses to someone else’s strengths—that would just put me at a disadvantage."

In the kitchen, Xu Shanshan stood close to Li Yifei, smiling cheerfully at him, "Brother-in-law, what can I help with?"

Li Yifei laughed, "What do you know how to make?"

"I really don’t know how to do anything. It used to be all done by my mom, and I never lifted a finger. But I heard that the most affectionate times for couples is when they cook together, you cooking while I hold your waist from behind, and when I cook, you hold my waist."

"Is that so? Well, I didn’t know that. I only know that with you here, you’ll just keep me busy."

"Giggle, Brother-in-law, don’t say that. I won’t make trouble. You just do your thing, and I’ll watch from behind. That’s very blissful too."

Xu Shanshan’s voice was loud enough for Xu Yingying and He Fangqing in the living room to hear clearly, and it seemed like Xu Shanshan was deliberately saying it for Xu Yingying to hear.

"Then keep watching, but best to stand back a bit," Li Yifei said as he tied on an apron, ready to start preparing dinner. Xu Shanshan had bought a lot of delicious ingredients, making him busy tonight. Since Li Yifei actually enjoyed cooking, especially with so many tasty ingredients, he naturally wanted to cook them all.

True to her word, Xu Shanshan behaved and just watched Li Yifei without much talking, which allowed him to become even more engrossed in his cooking. Soon, he had finished preparing all the dishes and was ready to start stir-frying.

Busy at work, Xu Shanshan’s soft body pressed against him from behind, her arms encircling his waist. Now that their clothes were quite thin, especially Xu Shanshan’s pajamas, Li Yifei could fully feel the fullness and softness of her chest, an intoxicating sensation that completely enveloped him.