Chapter 44 - 43 Requirements

Chapter 44: Chapter 43 Requirements"I invited you to come live at my place. The apartment I rented has two bedrooms, one for you and one for me," Xu Yingying’s voice came through the phone again. "Oh, that’s okay. I thought your place was like mine, with only one bedroom," Li Yifei said with a sigh of relief. Hearing Li Yifei speak in such a tone, Xu Yingying felt somewhat annoyed. If she had said this to any other man, they would probably be overjoyed, but who knew Li Yifei would respond like this? Could it be that by asking him to pretend to be her boyfriend, she had somehow insulted him? But such emotions were fleeting, and more than anything, it gave Xu Yingying a sense of relief. Since Li Yifei had such thoughts, it meant that living with him would be safe. Otherwise, letting a man stay at her place could be very dangerous. Searᴄh the NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. This wasn’t like being at her parents’ house where there were other people around. Even if they were living in the same room, Li Yifei wouldn’t dare to make a move since all she needed to do was call out, and her parents would come in. But now, it was just her and Li Yifei, where calling for heaven wouldn’t help, nor would calling for earth. "Come over now so we can avoid Shanshan calling tonight." "Come over now... isn’t that unnecessary?" Li Yifei laughed bitterly. "If I tell you to come, you come. Have I ever short-changed you?" "Alright, for the sake of the money, I’ll take the risk one more time." Xu Yingying felt a bit stuffy inside and really wanted to scold Li Yifei. Making such a big deal out of it, was she really that frightening? Or could it be that she’d force herself on him? An hour later, Li Yifei arrived at Xu Yingying’s place. Xu Yingying lived in the British Mansion district, which was a lot nicer compared to where Li Yifei lived. It even had some villas, though Xu Yingying lived on the top floor, the twelfth, of a relatively tall building. Li Yifei had memorized these details a while ago, so he didn’t need Xu Yingying to tell him and took a taxi directly. However, he still needed Xu Yingying to inform the security through the video communication system to let him into the district. Standing at Xu Yingying’s front door, he had just knocked twice when Xu Yingying opened it. Xu Yingying was wearing a set of home clothes which was pretty much the same as at her parents’ house. Since Li Yifei had seen her like this many times already, he didn’t have much of a special reaction. "Come in," Xu Yingying invited Li Yifei in and then closed the door behind him. Li Yifei sized up Xu Yingying’s apartment, which was roughly a hundred square meters. Entering the front door led to a square living room with a wall-mounted LCD TV, a sectional sofa, and a coffee table, which didn’t seem particularly special, but the large balcony was quite appealing. Directly opposite the living room was an open-plan kitchen combined with the dining area, and right across from the front door was a bathroom with an artistic sliding glass door. There were likely two bedrooms on each side. This layout seemed to be standard for most high-rise apartments. Xu Yingying pointed to the bedroom on the north side, "That’s your room." Li Yifei chuckled, took off his shoes, "Had I known you’d let me stay here, I would’ve terminated my own lease." Xu Yingying frowned slightly, "You can only stay for a while. Once Shanshan gives up, you can’t stay here anymore." "Still, it’s a saving. I’m not rich like you, the president." Xu Yingying was somewhat displeased with Li Yifei’s greed for money, but she also understood that a regular employee really didn’t earn much. In a city where only the salaries were low and everything else was expensive, a bit of greed wasn’t considered a big flaw. Li Yifei entered what was his bedroom to find just a bed with bedding and a wardrobe. Although it was simple, it seemed better than his own place. He threw his bag onto the bed and said, "Not bad." Xu Yingying, with her arms crossed, stood at the doorway, "Although I’m letting you stay here, there are a few rules I need to set in advance." Li Yifei turned around and looked at Xu Yingying, "Come on, Xu president, you invited me to stay here and yet you’re setting conditions. Doesn’t that seem unreasonable?" Xu Yingying nodded, "I understand, but it’s better to clarify some things beforehand to avoid any unpleasantness later on." "Alright, go ahead," Li Yifei said, somewhat resigned, as he sat down on the bed. "Firstly, without my permission, you’re not allowed in my room." "No problem." "Secondly, please maintain your personal hygiene. I really can’t stand a man being sloppy in my house." "That’s no problem, either. I’m not a sloppy person." "Thirdly, you can’t smoke inside the house." "That won’t do. I have this habit, and I smoked at your parents’ place, too. Your father smokes, and you agreed to it as well." "That’s different. I can’t stop my father, and in front of him, I can’t restrict you too much. But here, it’s just the two of us, and you can’t smoke." Li Yifei sprang to his feet, grabbed his bag, and said, "Sorry, Xu president, I can’t help with that." Then he headed straight for the door. Xu Yingying watched Li Yifei in shock. She was used to men always agreeing to her requests, but now, just because of a simple no-smoking rule, not only did Li Yifei refuse, but he was also about to leave. It was as if he really didn’t care about her at all. Typically, Xu Yingying would never tolerate such behavior from a man, but in this situation, she had to swallow her pride. She quickly stepped forward to block Li Yifei, saying, "Alright, that one doesn’t count, you can smoke in the house, but only in the kitchen, and you must turn on the extractor fan." Li Yifei rolled his eyes, "Boss, you really have too many rules." A rare hint of apology appeared on Xu Yingying’s face as she said, "I’m sorry, I really hate the smell of smoke. This is already the maximum I can tolerate." "Fine, I guess you are my boss. If I don’t agree, you’ll probably start giving me a hard time at work," Li Yifei conceded. "Hmph, I, Xu Yingying, always keep personal and professional matters separate. No matter how great our personal grudges, I never let them affect my work," she retorted. Li Yifei grinned, "Okay, you’re one of the best bosses in the world, then I can rest easy. Besides these three rules, are there any others?" Xu Yingying shook her head, her ears warming, "No, that’s all." "Then it’s OK, I’m going to take a shower first." "Wait," Xu Yingying quickly called out to Li Yifei, and then hurriedly walked into the restroom. Although Li Yifei didn’t follow her in, he leaned against the doorway and said with a chuckle, "You don’t need to do this. At your parents’ place, I’ve seen your underwear before." Xu Yingying was tidying up her underwear hanging in the restroom. Hearing Li Yifei’s words, she felt a bit depressed. Not only had Li Yifei seen her underwear, but she had also bought him underwear, the kind that is worn intimately close to the body. She wondered if he was wearing the ones she bought for him. Nevertheless, Xu Yingying put them away and said, "That was out of necessity, but now it’s different. We should be careful. Although I trust your character, men tend to make mistakes in the heat of the moment, an inadvertent stimulus can lead to things happening." Li Yifei spoke disdainfully, "I have a pretty strong resistance, unless you deliberately seduce me, I won’t do anything to you. You should know this. At your grandfather’s place, even under those circumstances, didn’t I resist?" A blush crept over Xu Yingying’s face, but she quickly regained her composure and said, "I hope you can forget that incident in the future." "Heh, I was just proving my integrity, just so you don’t lose confidence in me," Li Yifei chuckled. "I already have a lot of confidence in you. Otherwise, why would I let you stay at my place?" she remarked. "Alright, Xu president, since you have so much confidence, I’ll go take my shower now," he said. Xu Yingying then remembered she was still standing in the doorway of the restroom, holding a bunch of underwear, and quickly retreated to her bedroom. Li Yifei chuckled to himself and entered the restroom. The space was quite large, which pleased him, especially because it was filled with a faint, pleasant fragrance—the same one that normally clung to Xu Yingying. After the shower, Li Yifei felt refreshed, wearing a set of pajamas he had brought with him, ready for this visit unlike his last-minute stay at Xu Yingying’s parents’ home. "Your phone," Xu Yingying pointed to the number on the coffee table, then gave Li Yifei a strange look. Li Yifei picked up the phone and saw two missed calls from He Fangqing’s number. He hadn’t saved He Fangqing’s number, but Xu Yingying obviously knew it. No wonder she was looking at him that way. Li Yifei didn’t care how Xu Yingying saw him but thought he should consider He Fangqing’s feelings, so he smiled and said, "Director He seems to be looking for me. I’ll go make a call." Back in his room, Li Yifei closed the door before dialing He Fangqing’s number. The phone barely rang once before He Fangqing picked up. "Hello, are you with your girlfriend, is that why you couldn’t answer my call?" He Fangqing began by questioning Li Yifei. Li Yifei responded with a chuckle, "I am with a woman, that’s true, but she’s not my girlfriend." "Hmph, you playboy, who are you with?" He Fangqing immediately scolded him in an unfriendly tone. "With President Xu." "What? Haha... You must be blowing smoke. I could believe you if you said you were with someone else, but at this hour, with President Xu? Do you know who I just called? It was President Xu. You really suck at lying. So, have I caught you out?" Listening to He Fangqing’s triumphant tone, Li Yifei was momentarily speechless. Was it that lying seemed more believable to people, but telling the truth was not? However, Li Yifei was more concerned about why Director He was calling him now.