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

Chapter 218 Winter Afternoon Tea
call……

A cold, gusty wind whistled through the gaps in the car window, making Li Xiaoen's neatly styled hair sway wildly, but she felt a strange sense of comfort.

"Sean, why are you opening the car window?"

A cold wind swept over her, and Victoria shrank back in fright, quickly calling out.

"Oh……"

Li Xiaoen realized what was happening, casually closed the car window, glanced at the rearview mirror, and was momentarily stunned to see the two girls looking at him with meaningful eyes.

"Isn't it essentially the same whether a group of people share a pot or a small individual pot? After cooking the food, each person takes their own portion?"

Li Xiaoen's tone was somewhat frustrated as he looked back at the road ahead. "Since it's your first time eating here, I, as a Chinese person, have an obligation to help you out."

"Didn't you say that Chinese food is very simple, just boiled food and dipping it in sauce?"

Victoria murmured a sentence, glancing at the young man's slightly stunned expression in the rearview mirror. She rolled her eyes and looked away out the car window.

The atmosphere grew into an eerie silence. Li Xiaoen hesitated and silently turned up the music in the car.

Knowing the way well, he drove to a hotel called Chatworth in Midtown Manhattan. Outside the hotel stood Jasper, Sophie's brother, accompanied by a tall, pretty young woman, presumably his secretary.

After parking his car in the parking lot, as soon as he got out, Li Xiaoen saw Jasper stepping up to greet him and extending his hand to him.

Good afternoon, Jasper.

Li Xiaoen smiled and nodded in greeting, "It's good to see you again so soon."

"good afternoon."

With a smile, Jasper nodded seriously and then exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to act so quickly. The seminar had just ended and you'd already gotten those professors to agree."

"I watched your speech, it was really excellent."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Li Xiaoen nodded in response, "It was a recording, right? I remember there was a camera in the center of the venue that was pointed at us the whole time."

"Exactly, we companies can't get into those kinds of conferences between universities."

Jasper shrugged helplessly, shifted his gaze to Victoria standing to the side, bowed slightly in greeting, then took a deep breath and finally looked at his sister with a rather inexplicable look in his eyes.

With a casual glance, Suffer turned around and walked into the hotel first, carrying her bag.

“Let’s go, Professor Stella must have been waiting for quite a while.”

He couldn't help but exchange a glance with Jasper, and Sean Lee smiled helplessly and raised his hand in a gesture of acknowledgment.

"Let's go too."

"it is good."

He nodded in response and they walked together into the hotel. Jasper's smile quickly faded, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Since it wasn't mealtime, Jasper only booked a meeting room at the hotel. However, when Sean Lee walked in, he still saw a lot of snacks, fruits, coffee, and other food. Stella, dressed casually, was already seated with two young students.

In contrast, he and the two women were dressed casually, while only Jasper and his secretary were in formal attire.

As Li Xiaoen was pondering something, he saw Jasper laugh heartily and shout out, then quickly walk towards Professor Stella.

"Since I'm staying at a hotel, my formal attire was sent to the dry cleaners. Please don't mind..."

With a chuckle, Professor Stella stood up to greet him, and the two shook hands.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, as Li Xiaoen was observing the social dynamics of America, Professor Stella turned and looked at him.

"Sean, I didn't expect you to be here too?"

Smiling, Professor Stella extended her hand and shook hands with Li Xiaoen. She looked at the young man with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Since I promised you, I will naturally do it. Why did you go through all this trouble on a weekday?"

"Since I was the one who made the connection, I think it would be more polite for me to be present."

Li Xiaoen chuckled and explained, "Now, isn't it best to come see you before you go back?"

"Oh, that makes some sense."

Professor Stella nodded repeatedly, then her expression turned serious. "Sean, are you really not considering coming to Harvard? With your current level, I can write a letter of recommendation to the school right now and have you come to Harvard to pursue a master's degree immediately."

"No need really."

Li Xiaoen shook his head repeatedly, both amused and exasperated. "Don't worry, Professor Stella, we will definitely have more opportunities to collaborate in the future."

"Okay, okay."

Seemingly having placed little hope in the first place, Stella didn't seem to care. With a sigh, she began introducing the two students following behind her, "These are my students..."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Li Xiaoen only drank half a cup of coffee and ate two pastries before the discussion on the cooperation between the two parties moved on to the topic of profit and distribution. He tactfully got up and left with Victoria.

"Judging from Professor Stella's attitude and reaction, this collaboration is largely due to you."

It wasn't until they stepped outside the hotel and found a small table propped up by an umbrella, and there was no one else around, that Victoria smiled and looked over, then spoke.

"After all, the premise of this collaboration was my speech at the seminar."

Sean Lee shrugged, gestured for Victoria to sit down on the other side, looked up at the clear, sunny New York sky, and let out a long sigh. "I just didn't expect Professor Stella to be like this today. Perhaps things would have been worse if I hadn't come..."

Saying this might seem like self-praise or boasting, but in front of Victoria, Li Xiaoen wasn't worried and casually expressed her feelings.

Mingming's impression of Professor Stella at the Saturday seminar was that of a friendly, easy-going, and even somewhat eccentric scholar who just liked to joke around.

Sure enough, even at Harvard, a private university where most of the funding comes from external donations, do academic professors still tend to be somewhat arrogant when dealing with business people?
"What you're saying is just a minor reason."

A casual voice came from behind him. It was Suffer. Li Xiaoen turned around in surprise and saw the girl move to stand beside him and look down at him.

"Get up, I want to sit."

Sophie's expression remained calm, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Aren't you listening inside?

Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow but did not choose to get up.

With his eyes slightly narrowed, Suffer shifted his gaze to the young man's lap, moved to his side, and was about to bend down to sit when a loud shout came from behind him.

"Sophie, please have a seat. I'll go order some coffee and snacks."

After saying that, Li Xiaoen placed the chair he had pushed behind him back behind Su Feier, and then quickly walked into the hotel. Withdrawing her gaze from the young man's fleeing figure, Victoria looked at Su Feier with an unreadable expression, opened her mouth, and for a moment didn't know what to say.

Her face remained calm, but Suffer's heart was pounding. She took a deep breath, took out her phone, and started typing intently.

Victoria paused for a moment upon seeing this, then lowered her eyes, a look of sorrow slowly creeping over her. The thought of the person who had caused their awkward relationship filled her with resentment towards Sean Lee.

After taking a few deep breaths, Victoria composed herself and was about to look up and speak when Sophie, holding her phone, suddenly looked up at her.

“Victoria, I found the video of Sean’s seminar over the weekend. Want to watch it together?”

"Oh……"

Startled for a moment, Victoria quickly nodded, got up and moved her chair over. Seeing that Sophie also moved her chair over, a happy smile appeared on her face.

And so, under the clear winter sky of late February, the two girls sat side by side, their eyes fixed on the boring seminar video on their phones, which was rarely viewed because it was too technical.

After a while, Sophie's eyes gradually narrowed, and Victoria's brows furrowed slightly as she pursed her lips tightly.

"Sure enough, that bastard never stops flirting with women."

Gritting her teeth, Sufiel sneered.

"Uh-huh……"

Victoria let out a breath and nodded repeatedly.

Just then, a slow footstep sound came from ahead. The two women looked up and saw the young man, and in unison gave him a disdainful look.

"what happened?"

Li Xiaoen paused involuntarily, gesturing for the waiter beside her to place the coffee and pastries on the table. She then pulled up a chair and sat down opposite them, her gaze unconsciously drifting down to the phones in front of them. "What are you looking at?"

He hid in the hotel, intending to stall for time and return later, but seeing the two girls snuggling intimately together, he felt the atmosphere had improved and returned.

"Look at that good student, daydreaming during the meeting."

With a sigh, Su Feier turned her phone around to face the young man and sneered, "I've noticed you're really smart. You have such a high aptitude for learning; it seems like you don't even need to pay attention in class or meetings..."

"..."

"The meeting was boring; it was just normal chatting."

Turning her gaze away from her phone, Li Xiaoen shook her head, both amused and exasperated. Facing a reproachful and indignant look, her expression remained calm. "I really don't have any feelings for her. We were just having a normal, simple chat."

"I've heard it said that acting unintentionally can ultimately achieve twice the result with half the effort."

Victoria then let out a leisurely utterance.

"Then tell me, what is my purpose?"

Honestly, he should be happy about the two girls' reaction, but unfortunately they were together. Li Xiaoen asked with amusement, "Go ahead and tell me, I'll explain to you one by one."

His nonchalant demeanor immediately diminished their desire to investigate. The two women exchanged glances, both feeling somewhat frustrated as they waited for no response from the other.

They understand young people, and given their personalities, they are indeed capable of making teasing or flirting remarks to a stranger they've just met.

"By the way, Sophie, what did you mean when you came here that Professor Stella's arrogance was only a minor reason?"

Li Xiaoen casually picked up his coffee and took a sip.

"Your attempt to change the subject is too obvious."

Sophie rolled her eyes and scolded him, but didn't dwell on what she had said before. She picked up her coffee, took a sip, and then said leisurely, "Actually, you would know if I just gave you a simple hint."

Under the watchful eyes of Li Xiaoen and Victoria, Su Feier simply stated, "Profit sharing, money."

"Oh……"

Li Xiaoen suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly, "That's right, that's the most likely way."

The so-called "dismissal of formal attire during cooperation talks" and the deliberate display of arrogance are ultimately aimed at gaining dominance in subsequent negotiations and seeking greater benefits.

This should be easy to understand. It happened to someone close to you, something that you never expected would suddenly lead him into a dead end.

Perhaps this is a case of being too close to the situation to see clearly, Li Xiaoen thought to himself, and he couldn't help but gain a new understanding of Professor Stella, whom he had only known for two or three days.

Indeed, none of the professors who made it to the Harvard lab lacked emotional intelligence; they were all incredibly shrewd and worldly-wise when it came to interpersonal relationships and competing for interests.

"As you know, my family is Princeton's largest donor, and the company we represented in the talks was just a startup internet company. There's a connection between all of that."

As if afraid that the two hadn't thought it through, Suffer nodded and added, taking a bite of the biscuit on the table, "If it were my father, even if he were representing a completely unrelated real estate company, he wouldn't be negligent in the slightest."

Sure enough, even though she appeared calm on the surface, Suffer was still somewhat indignant inside.

Li Xiaoen found it amusing, straightened his back, and nodded solemnly to Su Feier.

"Okay, we understand. Thank you, Professor Sophie."

Suffering a pause as she bit into the biscuit, Sophie squinted at the past.

"Okay, okay, let's chat quietly and peacefully, and have some afternoon tea, okay?"

She quickly spoke up to ease the tension, and Victoria looked at the two of them, her expression turning strange.

If she hadn't been certain that Suffer liked the young man, and that the young man reciprocated but also wanted to possess him both, she would have thought, based on appearances alone, that the two were still the same as before, constantly sabotaging each other and refusing to admit defeat.

and many more……

Victoria's thoughts suddenly stopped, and an idea she absolutely did not want to face popped into her mind—they had been in this state for a long time, could it be that they had already developed feelings for each other?

As soon as the thought crossed Victoria's mind, she couldn't help but start making connections, and she froze on the spot.

"Okay, let's chat casually."

Nodding casually, Sophie smiled charmingly. "Let's talk about Mr. Sean's romantic history in America..."

“You’ve mistaken me for someone else, Miss Sophie.”

Li Xiaoen rolled her eyes. "I came here to study, not to show mercy, thank you..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he grinned and bared his teeth. Victoria was jolted awake, glanced at Sophie who was smiling with her lips pursed, and quickly bent down to look under the table.

(End of this chapter)