Chapter 196: Chapter 196

While Le Tong was observing Ji Rui, he was also observing her.

Having not seen each other for more than ten days, her spirits seemed exceptionally good!

Compared to when she was at the Ji Family, she was in a much better state!

This realization made Ji Rui quite unhappy, as if a fishbone was stuck in his throat, causing immense discomfort!!

Ji Rui straightened up, his gaze never leaving Le Tong by even a fraction, his voice still filled with oppression and intimidation.

"He was originally my neighbor, and later, I recognized him as my brother."

Le Tong obediently answered, it wasn’t because she wasn’t angry, but because this matter was solely between her and Ji Rui. Someone like Zhang Yi, who was honest, shouldn’t be implicated.

Ji Rui’s eyes squinted abruptly, a hint of danger flickering towards Le Tong. "Brother?"

Le Tong nodded, "Yes, he has a wife and kids. This matter doesn’t concern him. It was me who pestered him to bring me back. You let him go home first, and we can find somewhere to talk."

Regarding Ji Rui standing stubbornly in front of the bank, questioning her and Zhang Yi, Le Tong was too angry to speak.

In this small town, even the smallest matters could spread throughout the town in half an hour. Now, with the situation escalating to involve a police officer, it seemed she had caused Zhang Yi quite a bit of trouble.

Ji Rui silently glanced at her, reached out, and pulled her unsuspecting self into his arms, then turned to the surrounding police officers and said, "Officer Chen, I’ll talk with her slowly. Sorry for the trouble."

A man with one more stripe on his shoulder than the others nodded at Ji Rui, gestured with his hand, and the police officers surrounding Le Tong quickly turned and jogged away.

Zhang Yi, who had been shouting and causing a scene, paused, reacted, and quickly rushed forward wanting to pull Le Tong out of Ji Rui’s embrace.

"Tongtong, are you alright?"

Zhang Yi urgently reached towards Le Tong, only to be slapped away by a strong hand in mid-air.

"It’s none of your business!!" his tone was full of impending storm anxiety!

Le Tong couldn’t be bothered with Ji Rui’s rudeness, she smiled at Zhang Yi, "Brother, this is my friend. I have something to discuss with him. You go ahead, I’ll return later."

Zhang Yi glanced at Ji Rui, instinctively sensing he was not someone to be trifled with. Looking at Le Tong’s calm demeanor, it seemed this man had no ill will towards her.

He still had one hundred thousand yuan in his pocket, with everyone waiting at his home for the money, and they had planned to sign a contract at the town hall in the afternoon.

"Are you sure you’re alright?"

Zhang Yi looked at Le Tong, still not reassured, before glancing at Ji Rui again.

"Yes, I’m fine. Hurry home, Sister-in-law and they’re waiting for you!"

To ease Ji Rui’s doubts, Le Tong deliberately mentioned Sister-in-law Zhang.

As expected, Ji Rui’s face softened somewhat, and his vigilance towards Zhang Yi seemed to lessen significantly. "Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. I’ll send her back later."

Zhang Yi hesitated for a moment, and only turned away slowly after Le Tong waved at him to signal he need not worry.

Watching Zhang Yi walk away, Le Tong raised her elbow and directed it heavily towards Ji Rui’s ribs. Ji Rui winced in pain, but still held her tightly, not loosening his grip one bit as he started moving towards the car.

Ji Rui didn’t mind having a public argument with Le Tong, but some matters needed to be discussed slowly and thoroughly!

Le Tong hesitated; hotels always gave her a sense of danger, especially with just the two of them in a room!

Ji Rui seemed to perceive her anxiety, raising an eyebrow, "It’s fine if we don’t go to the hotel. We can go to your brother’s house!"

From Le Tong’s earlier reaction, he concluded that she didn’t want to involve that man. It seemed the man was oblivious to their situation.

Sure enough, Le Tong, caught by her weak point, reluctantly lifted her feet and walked towards the car with him.

After closing the car door, the vehicle smoothly merged into the road. Le Tong moved her mouth, about to say something, when Ji Rui glanced at her and coolly said, "I’ll give you half an hour. Better think of a reasonable explanation!"

After being anxious for so many days, it was at this moment that Ji Rui surprisingly felt calm. Having found her made his heart inexplicably restful, allowing drowsiness to quietly approach. After speaking, he folded his arms, leaned back, and closed his eyes to pretend to sleep.

Le Tong then remained silent. The suddenness of these events was unexpected, she had never thought Ji Rui would appear before her suddenly, hence she indeed needed some time to consider how to confront Ji Rui.

Le Tong looked out the car window; there were only two roads outside this small town, one leading to the next small town, and the other leading to the county. The road they were on was towards the county.

President Ji was truly different, whenever he traveled, he rode in luxurious cars and stayed in high-end hotels.

After some self-mockery, Le Tong forced herself to calm down and sort out the tangled accounts with Ji Rui.

Of course, strictly speaking, this was not a tangled account because, for her, she and Ji Rui were always strictly just subordinate and superior, without any deviation or overlap.

However, Ji Rui, for some unknown reason, wanted to implacably entangle her, forcing her to sign some absurd contract.

For the first time in so many days, Le Tong meticulously analyzed the motives behind this contract.

Previously, it wasn’t that she wasn’t curious, but she forced herself not to think about it. After all, imagining something that could never be would be a waste of effort.

But now, that contract, which she thought had no binding force on her whatsoever, had become, through Ji Rui’s persistence, a rope that tied her securely.

Originally, her solution was to simply cut this rope, but the facts proved that this method failed. Now, she must find a breakthrough to untie the knot in the rope.

The afternoon sun was very bright, the strong light reflected from the road was uncomfortable, so Le Tong quickly withdrew her gaze from the highway.

From beside her, Ji Rui’s even and rhythmic breathing could be heard clearly!

The days Le Tong spent next to Ji Rui were neither too long nor short, so naturally, she knew that President Ji was asleep.

Le Tong involuntarily turned her head, her eyes falling on the man leaning back in his seat with his eyes tightly shut.

Ji Rui’s skin tone wasn’t particularly fair; it was the sort of wheat color unique to healthy men, but despite not being very pale, there were two clear dark circles visible under his long eyelashes.

Did this man, who always had boundless energy like a robot, also have moments of physical and mental exhaustion?

[Completed update for New Year’s Eve! Happy New Year, everyone!! Baobao loves you all, and of course, Zhu Zi also loves you very, very much, cough cough!] Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel-fire.net