America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 214 This is Interest
As soon as he uttered his tentative words, Li Xiaoen blinked and was about to speak again when Su Feier's voice reached his ears.

“Victoria, don’t do so much, Sean doesn’t want to come.”

"..."

Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow, and then a soft voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Ah...why?"

Just as his toothache was starting, the voice seemed to lean closer to the phone, "Sean, is it too late, or is there something that prevents you from coming?"

"You can come, but I think it's getting late, so I'm sorry to trouble you."

Trying to make his voice sound a little amused, Li Xiaoen responded.

"It's no trouble at all. We had afternoon tea anyway, and we were going to have dinner this late anyway."

Victoria chuckled, "Then we'll wait for you. Don't rush back by car, be careful."

"okay."

Li Xiaoen nodded, and then there was silence on the other end of the phone. Just as he was about to say something to Su Feier, the call was immediately disconnected.

Why do I have this vague feeling that something is wrong?

Li Xiaoen gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. Coming back to his senses, he noticed Amelia standing beside him, staring at him with disdain. He shrugged.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Li Xiaoen asked helplessly, "Can you hear the sound on the phone?"

"No."

Amelia sneered and turned to look at the bustling traffic in the parking lot not far away. "Based on my understanding of you, this scumbag, I can tell what's going on just by looking at your expression and your reply."

After saying that, she let out a long breath, raised her hands to her chest and hugged them together, looking as if she were praying, "May God bless us so that every scumbag will be exposed as soon as possible and receive the punishment they deserve, so that all the hurt girls can see their true colors and escape from hell as soon as possible..."

"Hey hey hey..."

Li Xiaoen's face darkened, and he couldn't help but interrupt, "I neither lied nor robbed. In the end, I will be honest with them and ask for their opinions."

"Is it about creating a fait accompli first, and then using emotions, or even more important things, to force them to compromise?"

"..."

Li Xiaoen opened his mouth but didn't answer for a moment. Seeing the young man's reaction, Amelia couldn't help but sneer.

"So what if he's a scumbag? I won't use hurting them as an excuse to blackmail them."

Li Xiaoen waved his hand, the meaning of which was self-evident: he simply wanted to express his feelings. He shook his head and took the lead, walking towards the parking lot.

"Hey……"

Seeing the girl following closely behind like a shadow, Li Xiaoen turned around and could even see her disdainful look. He couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.

"What are you doing following a scumbag like me? You're cursing me like that, and now you're looking at me like that. You still expect me to take you home?"

"Let's take down an Uber; with the tip, it'll be around a hundred dollars."

Amelia's eyes widened slightly upon hearing this, but she neither responded nor moved, turning her head to look in the other direction.

Seeing the other person's eyes narrow slightly, Li Xiaoen pondered for a moment, then turned around, opened the car door, and got in. Just then, he saw the girl's steps quicken, and she slipped into the passenger seat, opened the door, and got in.

As expected, Li Xiaoen didn't say anything more, started the car, turned on the heater, and silently looked over.

Amelia initially didn't want to pay any attention to the young man, but after a while, she finally couldn't stand his gaze and flipped up the hood of her coat to put it on her head.

With this layer of protection completely shielding him from conveying his meaning, Li Xiaoen's eyes became blank, and he shook his head as he sat back down.

"There aren't many people in this world as tolerant as me."

He turned on the music, started the car, drove out of the parking space, and headed towards the exit. Li Xiaoen shook his head and sighed, "I was called a scumbag again, and I was stared at like I was a piece of trash. I didn't even get an apology, and now I have to take this rude girl home..."

"Ah... I'm so great..."

A self-praising remark made Amelia burst out laughing. Noticing the young man's gaze, she turned her head slightly, using her hat to hide from him.

As the hazy night gradually descended, Amelia could vaguely see her reflection in the car window, and she noticed a slight smile curving her lips.

This was exactly what she expected. Even though she criticized the young man's behavior and looked at him with disdain, he still wouldn't refuse to help her—because he didn't care at all and could even find affirmation in it.

Yes, the young man is right. This kind of personality is admirable, especially since the other person is a very handsome guy with a great physique and exceptional academic talent—almost perfect in every way, except for his luck with women…

That's absolutely awful!

Thinking of this, Amelia couldn't help but take a deep breath to calm her suddenly heavy heart.

The car suddenly slowed down, and a cold wind blew in from the other side. Amelia quickly snapped out of her reverie and turned to look at the other side with a puzzled expression.

What came into view was Li Xiaoen with the car window open, one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm resting on the window. He greeted the two people standing on the roadside outside.

"Hi, beautiful ladies, what can I do for you?"

Li Xiaoen asked with a smile, "Are they the two girls who came to chat us up at noon? They were waving vigorously at us from the road ahead."

"Sean, it really is you!"

The two women looked down and, upon seeing the newcomer, exclaimed in delight. Their eyes darted involuntarily to the left and right, glancing at the luxurious and imposing convertible sports car before them, their eyes gleaming with intense light. "Tomorrow's Sunday, our day off. We've come all this way to New York, so we're planning to stroll around here a bit..."

"Sean, you're from Princeton, you must have been here a few times. Would you mind being my guide sometime?"

They chuckled, bent down slightly, glanced at Amelia sitting in the passenger seat, and their smiles immediately faded.

Is this hinting at something?

Li Xiaoen felt strange, but regardless of whether it was true or not, such things couldn't be said openly, so he shook his head and refused.

"Let's talk about it another day, when I have time."

Are you going back to school?

The two girls exchanged a helpless glance, then smiled knowingly. "We're both girls, and tomorrow's Sunday. We've just finished a meeting. Don't you want to have some fun and relax?"

That's pretty much an explicit statement, isn't it?

Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow, but still shook his head decisively. "To be honest, we're not going back to school, but to the Trump International Hotel."

"hotel?"

The two women were taken aback for a moment upon hearing this. "The two of you?"

“Yes.” Li Xiaoen nodded, a smile still creeping onto his face. Seeing that the traffic ahead had thinned, he raised his hand. “That’s enough for now, we’re in a hurry…”

After saying that, Li Xiaoen quickly started the car and drove off into the road ahead.

What are we going to the hotel for?

Only now did Amelia finally ask, her brow furrowed, "I remember Professor Sedgewick didn't mention going there for a team-building dinner..."

"Yes, the professor didn't say that."

Li Xiaoen nodded, quickly weaving through the traffic, somewhat amused and exasperated by the girl's question, "You Americans are so open-minded, what else can you do at a hotel besides eat? Don't you really know?"

Hearing the worst possible outcome she had anticipated, Amelia froze for a moment, then gritted her teeth and threw her bag at him. "You bastard, let me out of the car right now, or I'll call the police!"

"Hey, didn't you see we're on our way back to school?"

Li Xiaoen sighed helplessly and glanced over. "Sometimes, I really think you're pretty stupid. Didn't you realize I was trying to get rid of those two girls quickly?"

"..."

Her agitated emotions quickly calmed down, and Amelia glared at them. "Even so, if you tell them this, won't they think I really went to a hotel with you?"

“It’s clearly not true, but they’re telling other people, and I’m being misunderstood as having that kind of relationship with someone as awful as you for no reason. It’s really distressing for me…”

"There's nothing we can do. According to you, our relationship is already a fait accompli in their eyes."

Li Xiaoen couldn't help but chuckle in exasperation, shaking her head and casually taking out her phone. "I still have to emphasize to them that we booked a deluxe king room, the kind with floor-to-ceiling windows on a high floor..."

"You bastard, are you doing this on purpose, openly and blatantly?"

Amelia threw her bag at him again.

"Ha ha……"

Li Xiaoen laughed twice, and after navigating the busy evening rush hour roads of New York City, he finally got onto the highway. He quickly accelerated, leaving the car windows open. The cold evening wind outside made his hair disheveled, and he felt a sense of exhilaration.

“This is the interest, Amelia.”

Braving the strong wind, Li Xiaoen overcame his difficulty speaking and explained loudly with a smile, "If you hit me again, the principal I owe will increase..."

……

After dropping Amelia off at her dorm, Lee Shawn felt a bit awkward and unsure of what to do next. He parked his car in front of the dorms of the two girls, Suffer and her roommate.

Scratching his head, unable to imagine what tricks Suffer might pull this time, Li Xiaoen took a deep breath, determined to meet any challenge head-on, got out of the car and went to the dormitory door, knocking on the door.

"coming……"

The voice that came from inside the house was Su Feier's. As Li Xiaoen raised his eyebrows, the door opened, revealing a beautiful girl dressed in loose home clothes.

"It's not too late, is it, Sophie?"

Li Xiaoen smiled and nodded, "I drove back as soon as I finished the call, but there was a lot of traffic during the New York rush hour."

"Um……"

With a casual hum, Sophie didn't make way for the young man. Instead, she leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, looking up at him with a cold smile. "Didn't you refuse to come? Victoria said one word and you immediately agreed, and you even drove back at breakneck speed..."

"..."

Is this a case of shooting oneself in the foot?

Li Xiaoen had a toothache. He looked up at the living room but didn't see Victoria. Realizing this, he immediately activated [Eye of Insight] again. He only breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed after confirming that she was in the kitchen.

Given Suffer's intelligence and cunning, he had no doubt that the girl would make Victoria hide to the side so that he could make intimate gestures, thus allowing Victoria to clearly see their relationship and achieve her goal.

"Actually, if it were just you alone, I would definitely agree immediately."

Seeing the girl's earnest emphasis, Li Xiaoen chuckled and reached out to put his arms around her slender waist, but was unfortunately pushed away.

"Aren't you fearless? You dared to barge into my house alone and demand a tip before."

Gritting her teeth and glaring at the young man, Su Feier sneered, "What's wrong with you? Why are you afraid of the two of us girls now?"

"You know the reason perfectly well."

Li Xiaoen shrugged helplessly. There was nothing he could do; he was always in the wrong for this reason. He glanced around at the night view of the dormitory area, then quickly wrapped his arms around the girl's slender waist and pulled her into the room.

As the girl frowned and felt the other person's hand reaching towards her waist, Li Xiaoen quickly spoke up.

"Sophie, the collaboration between your company and the university laboratory has been finalized."

Upon hearing this, Sufiel's tightly furrowed brows quickly melted away, her small face, which had been looking up, paused for a moment, and even the hands that had been gripping the young man's lower back stopped moving.

"The meeting just ended, and the collaboration was already finalized?"

Sophie asked incredulously, her hands instinctively loosening and wrapping around the young man's slender waist.

"Of course, didn't you see how well I gave my speech on stage?"

Li Xiaoen smiled and raised his chin. "It's Professor Stella from Harvard. He should be a good friend of Professor Sedgewick, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"Hmm...we already knew about this before."

Nodding knowingly, Sophie's gaze toward the young man became meaningful. "Besides Professor Sedgewick, Jasper also went to see him before. Although he successfully met with him, he was still rejected."

"No, you still paid, right?"

Recalling how Sophie had even offered to pay him to help relay a message to Professor Sedgewick, Sean Lee raised an eyebrow and asked.

"It wasn't a direct donation; it was a small donation made to Harvard in the name of the donor."

With a helpless expression in her eyes, Suffer nodded, which made Li Xiaon both amused and exasperated.

No wonder Professor Stella previously said that Harvard treats outstanding students better than Princeton. According to Sophie, there was probably no intention to cooperate from the beginning, but Professor Stella still agreed to meet for the sake of donations—it turns out that donations are involved in this kind of thing.

"So, this opportunity for cooperation is quite valuable?"

Li Xiaoen chuckled and teased Su Feier, his fingers caressing the girl's slender waist and the softness beneath her dress.

She pursed her lips, rolled her eyes, and was in a great mood. Just as she was about to tiptoe and kiss him, she was suddenly released, and the young man who had been pressed against her quickly escaped and stood out.

While she was still in a daze, Victoria's voice came from behind her.

"Sophie, is that Sean?"

(End of this chapter)