Chapter 344: Chapter 344

The conversation between the two had reached the point of complete collapse.

Firstly, for a man like Ji Rui, who was used to being on top, being rejected was already humiliating enough. What’s more, it wasn’t even a rejection, but rather being told he was never in consideration at all.

It’s like a high university admission score requirement; if you don’t meet it, it’s your own fault, no one else to blame. But if you exceed the score by a lot and are then told you’re not even within the admission’s scope, that blow is harder to bear than just not passing.

Secondly, Le Tong also felt that, after speaking to this extent, there was nothing left for them to discuss.

After receiving Le Tong’s comment about his overly good self-perception, Ji Rui, who was already struggling to eat, found it completely impossible to continue his meal.

With a grim expression, Ji Rui stood up abruptly, pushed the chair aside, said to Le Tong, "Sorry to have disturbed you!" turned around, and strode into the living room, grabbing his jacket and bag from the sofa, and stormed out like a gust of wind.

A moment later, that clever little Baobao thought their parents had talked enough, ran out from the bedroom, and slipped into the dining room only to find Le Tong bent over, tidying up the dishes.

The little tyke sprinted over, hugging Le Tong’s waist from behind, his little face full of anticipation, blinking his eyes and glancing around.

"Mommy, where’s Daddy?"

Le Tong lowered her head, sealing the two dishes of meat that Ji Rui particularly liked but barely touched today with plastic wrap.

"Why did he leave so suddenly?" Baobao was quite puzzled; usually, Ji Rui would stay until he was asleep before leaving, so why did he suddenly leave today? Moreover, he hadn’t even said goodbye.

"The company suddenly had some business for him to handle, so he left."

Naturally, Le Tong couldn’t tell Baobao that she and Ji Rui had a falling-out and that Ji Rui had stormed out in anger.

"Oh..." Baobao looked very disappointed.

After hugging Le Tong for a little while, Baobao’s little face peeked out from under her arm, his bright eyes locking onto Le Tong. "Mommy, did you say yes to Daddy?"

Le Tong played dumb, her hands never stopping, "Say yes to what?"

"Daddy said he likes you..."

As for what she was supposed to say yes to, Baobao couldn’t really articulate it. He simply, innocently believed that if Daddy liked Mommy and Mommy liked Daddy back, then he could live with both of them.

"Baobao, your daddy was just joking."

Le Tong totally refused to face this matter. Ultimately, she still didn’t believe the man could like her. Although he spoke very seriously, to her, it was like hearing a joke.

Moreover, it was a cold joke with no punchline.

Having finished, the atmosphere also completely went cold.

"But..." Baobao wanted to say something nice about Ji Rui, but what could a little kid really understand about the convoluted thoughts of adults?

"Baobao, can you help Mommy put these two dishes of meat on the lowest shelf in the fridge?"

Le Tong pushed the two dishes sealed with plastic wrap in front of Baobao, assigning him the task.

Baobao still had a child’s mind and had complete trust in Le Tong, so once she distracted him, he quickly forgot about the matter of Daddy confessing to Mommy.

As for Ji Rui, after leaving Le Tong’s house, he didn’t rush home but sat in the car in silence for a long time.

Xiao Li hadn’t really seen Ji Rui so dejected before and dared not speak without orders, just quietly sitting in the driver’s seat keeping him company.

Until Ji Rui, with a cold voice, instructed "Go home," Xiao Li started the car, backed out of the alley, glanced a few times in the rearview mirror at the gloomy-faced man, hesitated several times before finally speaking up.

"President, Mr. Yuan has sent you the design plans for the apartment; he wants you to have a look and get back to him as soon as possible about which you like."

"Mm..." The man gave him a response at last.

As the car drove onto the main road, Ji Rui lifted his head to look at the tall building at the intersection.

He initially thought that since Baobao wanted to live with her, and since he himself was always dining at her place, he’d have Xiao Li renovate the vacant duplex apartment at the top of this building so he could move in, making it more convenient to visit both places. But now it seemed a bit superfluous.

"Special Assistant Yang called earlier, asked you to return his call." Xiao Li remembered another matter. Read full story at n̷o̷v̷e̷l̷f̷i̷r̷e̷.net

Ji Rui acknowledged, took out his phone to check, and indeed found several missed calls, both from Mr. Yuan and Yang Sheng.

Presumably, it was while he was speaking with Le Tong, at which time he was already so angry that he didn’t hear the phone ring.

"Yang Sheng, what’s up?"

Ji Rui was not someone who would get depressed over emotions. Whenever Yang Sheng contacted him, it mostly concerned business.

"The client tomorrow is a bit difficult, insists on seeing you in person. Is it convenient for you? If not, I can think of a way to handle them."

Ji Rui thought for a moment, "Weren’t we almost done negotiating? Why the sudden change of mind?"

Yang Sheng seemed just as puzzled, "I’m not really sure, either. Everything seemed pretty much settled, just short of signing the contract. But now they suddenly want you to appear. Not sure if something happened. I only just got the call from them."

Ji Rui’s forehead suddenly throbbed, "If I remember correctly, isn’t the real boss behind that company a distant relative of CoCo?"

Yang Sheng affirmed, and there was a moment of silence between the two.

"Is it still possible to switch to another company?" Ji Rui pinched his temples.

The sound of rustling came through the handset, sounding like flipping through documents. After a moment, Yang Sheng’s voice came through.

"I’ll immediately get in touch with the head of advertising to provide a brand new alternate plan first thing tomorrow morning."

Ji Rui acknowledged, "Thank you for your efforts!"

After ending the call, Ji Rui asked Xiao Li, "Has CoCo returned?"

Xiao Li looked a little bewildered, "No, right? The people at the immigration office didn’t say anything."

Moreover, CoCo’s influence should be limited to Y Country; she didn’t have much power domestically. The company just mentioned had been a steady partner, yet it had suddenly turned difficult. Ji Rui’s wariness had caused him to quickly associate this with CoCo.

He was someone who never liked being at others’ mercy, so once it occurred to him that the company was a potential threat, he knew a partner change was urgent to prevent the Ji Family from becoming the passive side.

This feeling of being constrained in every way was something Ji Rui disliked. So he decided to uproot this possibility entirely.

Thus, Ji Rui thought of Le Tong again.

If he had foreseen today’s outcome, could he have uprooted her from his heart early on, leaving not even a trace of yearning?

The answer, however, wasn’t as decisive as he wished; in fact, his self-questioning yielded no answer at all!