Chapter 165: Chapter 165

Le Tong was completely unaware of Ji Rui’s probing and scrutiny of her, and only kept her head down, pushing the document in front of Ji Rui, pointing to the place she mentioned.

Ji Rui struggled to control his thoughts, finally managing to move his gaze from her face to the document.

"Find the few pieces of information that Yang Sheng sent back for me."

Le Tong had to put down the document in her hand and pull out a piece from the mountain of files, handing it to Ji Rui.

"When will Special Assistant Yang be back?"

Le Tong asked this question casually, initially just trying to find some common topics, but as soon as she asked, she realized she had overstepped.

No matter how good her relationship with Yang Sheng was, it was a private matter, and it wasn’t appropriate to discuss his whereabouts at the office.

Sure enough, Ji Rui gave her a thoughtful glance and didn’t respond.

After quickly flipping through the documents that Yang Sheng had sent for Le Tong to sort, he finally looked up at Le Tong, who was still standing by the desk, and said, "Why don’t you ask him directly when he will return? Why ask me?"

Le Tong wanted to kick herself. There was no need to make an effort to warm up the atmosphere with President Ji—it was unnecessary and wouldn’t work.

With him, you just need to say what you need to and let it out; why make small talk? Whether he’s in a good mood doesn’t really have anything to do with her. Why should she assume that if he’s in a good mood, he’d be willing to chat casually with her?

"I’m sorry!" Le Tong didn’t bother to explain to Ji Rui, just apologized, bowed her head, and sorted the incoming documents, classifying them properly. Seeing that Ji Rui gave no further instructions, she turned to leave.

During lunch, as usual, Le Tong sat in the cafeteria with the finance department team, eating together. Surprisingly, the colleagues who had been teasing her about Luo Yifan these days were very reserved today, not mentioning Luo Yifan at all.

Le Tong assumed everyone’s curiosity had waned, so they were no longer interested in her and Luo Yifan’s affairs.

Little did she know, the situation was not what she imagined.

After lunch, chatting with colleagues in the cafeteria for a while, she returned to the office, still with nearly an hour before work resumed. Le Tong sat at her desk browsing the web, thinking it was almost Lunar New Year and she ought to pick out a couple of festive outfits for that little girl, Wenwen.

Just then, the phone rang. She thought it was Ji Baby, but it was Luo Yifan.

Since his birthday night, Luo Yifan had not met with her, nor had they been in contact.

In her view, everything that needed to be said had been clearly expressed that night, and there was no need for further contact.

"Tongtong, have you read today’s newspaper?"

As soon as the call connected, Luo Yifan asked.

Le Tong was puzzled. She never read newspapers, and Luo Yifan knew this.

"Tongtong, do you have time tomorrow evening? Let’s have a casual meal together."

Luo Yifan only made this brief inquiry, not getting an answer and not pressing further, just straightforwardly invited her, seemingly using the newspaper as a mere excuse to contact Le Tong.

"I have to work overtime tomorrow." Le Tong habitually refused.

"Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you after work, no matter how late it is!"

Luo Yifan seemed to anticipate that Le Tong would use this reason to refuse him, with a simple sentence making it impossible for Le Tong to refuse further.

"See when you can make time, notify me half an hour earlier, and I’ll come to pick you up." Luo Yifan decided swiftly with a firmness Le Tong hadn’t seen before.

Before Le Tong could finish, Luo Yifan added, "I’ll be waiting for you all day tomorrow!"

Luo Yifan finished speaking and directly hung up the phone.

When Le Tong called again, all she got was a busy tone.

Le Tong put down the phone and opened the electronic newspaper. Upon seeing the clarification statement, she understood why the finance team was so quiet today.

They must have assumed that she was publicly abandoned by the Luo family, so to avoid making her sad, they didn’t dare mention Luo Yifan in front of her.

The statement finally made Le Tong feel relieved, but only until she read the last line did she realize she had been happy too soon.

Apparently, certain matters need to be seriously clarified in person with Luo Yifan. This update is available on novᴇlfire.net

For this reason, Le Tong decided to attend the meeting.

She arranged to meet him at the "Ordinary People" restaurant at the corner of Deyi Street, with the time set for seven in the evening.

On Saturday morning, she cleaned her little home inside and out, and in the afternoon, took little Wenwen, who was learning to walk, for a stroll in a nearby park. Seeing that time was almost up, she took a shower, changed into casual clothes, and headed out.

Originally, she had reserved a private room, but when she arrived at the restaurant, the owner informed her that the electrical wiring in the reserved room had short-circuited and was temporarily unavailable, while other private rooms were already fully booked. Therefore, she had to sit in the main hall.

She arrived ten minutes early, and shortly after sitting down, she saw Luo Yifan, in a suit, walk in, clearly coming straight from the office after finishing work.

In the 30 to 40 square meters of the living room, there were only a few tables. Le Tong raised her hand and waved at Luo Yifan.

"Tongtong, sorry for being late!"

Luo Yifan looked apologetic as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

"It’s fine; it’s not you being late, it’s me being early." Le Tong said while pouring a cup of tea and pushing it toward him, "Have a cup of tea to calm down first. I never said I wouldn’t wait, so why rush yourself?"

Le Tong was always considerate and gentle with her friends.

It was evident that Luo Yifan had come in a hurry, otherwise, knowing him, he would’ve certainly changed clothes in the office before coming to the appointment.

Luo Yifan lifted the cup and took a sip of tea, composed himself, and said, "I was temporarily sent by my brother to deal with a troublesome client, fiddling with it since the morning, really exhausting."

Le Tong saw his look and didn’t say much more but handed him the menu, "You must be hungry, pick something to eat and fill your stomach, we can chat while we eat."

Luo Yifan wasn’t reserved, and after consulting Le Tong’s opinion, he ordered six dishes and one soup, instructing the waiter to serve them quickly.

When the waiter left, Luo Yifan sat up straight and looked squarely at Le Tong.

"Tongtong, I apologize for those reports in the newspaper. On my birthday, I did invite media reporters, but I didn’t anticipate they would report so ridiculously. I’m sorry for any trouble it caused you."

A Monday report with an apology arriving only on Saturday—what’s the logic behind this six-day delayed apology?

Le Tong took a small sip of tea, speculating on Luo Yifan’s intention in doing this.

If he was sincerely apologizing, wouldn’t he have called on the day of the report? Speaking only today—what is he really after?

"Actually, it’s nothing much. Anyway, I don’t have many relatives or friends. My best friends are just you and Yuan’er. As long as neither of you misunderstands, I don’t care what others think of me!"

[Today two updates, a total of four thousand. Besides, Zhu Zi has to work during the day and can only write after dinner in the evening, so the updates will certainly be late. If you can’t wait, check back the next day. Thanks for understanding!]