Chapter 435: Negotiation (1)

The cold evening breeze crushed the faint, mottled shadow in the golden twilight while a dark paper-cut silhouette drove slowly towards the Maple Residence.

Xi Xiaye parked her car and then got down.

When she reached home, she could hear the music playing in the living room from afar. The man must be cooking in the kitchen.

She set her things aside and then walked straight to the kitchen. Indeed, she saw a man in casual home clothes leisurely seasoning as the stove on the side was brewing something on a low fire to. She stood at the door and could smell a tempting aroma. Unable to help herself, she gulped.

Her starry eyes twinkled, and she subconsciously looked around. Unexpectedly, she found Shen Yue handling a fish on the sink.

Mu Yuchen set aside the seasoning he had prepared and took the fish from Shen Yue as he asked softly, "Sweet and sour fish or steamed in broth?"

"Let's make sweet and sour fish. It'll go great with rice! Ah Chen, I realize that your culinary skills are better than your mother's. That girl Xiaye isn't good with this too. Your mother used to always talk about that, worried that she would be disliked because of it when she gets married."

Shen Yue took over the ginger and started washing it.

While upon hearing this, Mu Yuchen chuckled. "Who dares to dislike her? It's not such a bad thing that she can't master it. Some women are meant to be protected. To me, she and Mother are like that."

"You are quite open-minded and tolerant. Back then, when your grandmother told me about you, I took a look and you and immediately liked you. One look and I felt like you would be quite suitable with Xiaye. After that, your grandmother didn't even need to introduce you much. You were just a fellow that I had my eye on," Shen Yue lamented.

"That means I'll have to thank Grandpa for having such a good first impression of me."

"It's alright. I've always trusted my judgment of others." Shen Yue was not very humble.

"Grandpa, he's not as angelic as you say he is. A certain someone has admitted to me himself that he is an evil man." Xi Xiaye's light voice that contained a smile suddenly came from behind. The two of them quickly turned around and saw Xi Xiaye standing at the door.

"You're back." Mu Yuchen's soft and gentle voice was immediately heard.

Shen Yue's sharp eyes looked at the two of them, then he very knowingly tossed aside the things in his hands. "You two handle it. I'll go to the backyard and see what other flowers I can plant for you."

Then, before the two of them could respond, he walked out of the kitchen.

Xi Xiaye shrugged and watched Shen Yue's shadow walk away, then she walked to Mu Yuchen. "Why's Grandpa here? Weren't you two going to play golf?"

"We didn't get to go, so he came over to take some materials on the South River project, and send the wedding guest list over too. We've been fishing an entire afternoon by the lake. Mm-hmm, this is our loot." Mu Yuchen pointed at the fish in his hand and smiled.

"Why do I find that you've been asking Grandpa out quite frequently recently, like two brothers? If it's not fishing, then it's golf, or else some chess game. I don't see you bringing me out often... Also, you haven't sent me flowers for a long while now," Lady Xiaye complained unhappily through glaring eyes.

He was stunned, but moments after that, he chuckled. "You... Are you being jealous of Grandpa? If I don't ask him out, how would Father have any chances to get close to Mother? Who am I doing all of this for? I don't see you being considerate about me."

"You can call me up too."

"If I call you to come as well, then it'd be obvious. Can't you think a little? Grandpa's such a smart person. Do you think he can be easily fooled?" He helplessly shot her a side look.

She then eased a little and rolled her eyes before she began to help him wash the vegetables. "I've just gone to West Park. I bumped into Father and Han Yifeng."

"Han Yifeng? Was he repenting to you or what?" When Han Yifeng was mentioned, Mu Yuchen's low tone was faintly colored with disdain.

Xi Xiaye washed the vegetables with her head lowered as she spoke, "No, Father called him over. He seems to have become thin and much frailer. It must be because of him worrying over Xi Xinyi's problems. I thought that he wanted to tell me to have mercy on Xi Xinyi, but then he said to me that even if he doesn't help them out, someone else would. I suddenly found it quite odd. I think it might be the Yue family, so I wanted to give you a heads-up."

However, when Xi Xiaye said this, Mu Yuchen paused what he was doing for a moment as a cold light surfaced in his dark eyes.

Moments after, he continued what he was doing. "Don't worry. The Yue family won't be able to do much. Yue Lingsi's problems are enough to cause them a headache. You don't have to worry about these things, okay?"

Xi Xiaye nodded. "Mmm, I'll leave it up to you."

...

At the same time, when Han Yifeng reached the office, working hours had long passed and the entire building was quiet.

Secretary Wang looked at Han Yifeng with concern as he softly suggested, "CEO Han, Miss Xinyi is still waiting upstairs. It's about time for dinner. How about you talk over food? Two days ago, you still had gastritis."

Han Yifeng sat in the car and slowly wound the window down to look at the empty office building, nodding. "Call her to get her to come down then."

"Okay, CEO Han."

Secretary Wang then called Xi Xinyi. He had just hung up for less than five minutes when Xi Xinyi had very quickly appeared at the lobby.

"Yifeng!"

When she saw the car parked up front, Xi Xinyi immediately walked up anxiously. Her gentle and beautiful face looked pale and worn out. When she saw Han Yifeng in the car, her beautiful eyes instantly welled up with tears as she stared at him.

Han Yifeng just slowly closed his eyes and sighed. "Get in. Let's go eat first."

Xi Xinyi bit her lip and nodded, then she walked around the car to get in through the other side. She opened the car door and got in.

Once Xi Xinyi got into the car, she started to speak and choked on her sobs as she did. She subconsciously held her showing belly and looked helplessly at Han Yifeng. "Yifeng, where did you go these past few days? I've looked all over for you... My mother..."

However, before she could finish, Han Yifeng had already responded, "I know about everything. You don't have to tell me anymore. We can talk after dinner."

He stopped her from continuing, then lifted a hand to massage his heavy head. Feeling weary, he quietly shut his eyes, clearly not wanting to talk.

The light in her eyes sank as her eyes became hot with tears. She bit down hard on her lips and covered her face with both hands as she looked down.