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

Chapter 272 A Career is a Man's Backbone
"Hey……"

Sean Lee had never imagined that Catherine was so strong. With a sudden burst of strength, she made him lose his balance and fall towards her, causing him to cry out in alarm.

Within his field of vision, Catherine's eyes seemed to be open a crack, her brows slightly furrowed, and she let out a few soft hums in a daze, which seemed to grow larger in his eyes.

"..."

As if by some strange twist of fate, his lips were bitten by Catherine. Just as he was in a daze, a sharp, tearing pain quickly pulled him back to reality.

"hiss……"

Unable to suppress a long hiss, Li Xiaoen quickly pushed Catherine's shoulder away. His lip was bitten so hard it was pulled, causing him to wince in pain. He grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her, calling out, "Catherine, Catherine..."

These words seemed to have successfully reached the other person's ears. Li Xiaoen felt the tearing pain on his lips ease, and while he was feeling relieved, before he could push the other person away and quickly retreat, his lips were bitten again—this time in a different place.

What the f**k……

His good intentions backfired, and Li Xiaoen was furious. He gasped for breath and grabbed the other man's shoulders, shaking him violently. But the next moment, he felt an attack on his jaw, which made him freeze in place.

Is this woman kissing him instead of biting him?
The incident happened suddenly, and coupled with the stereotypes he had of Catherine, he finally realized what was happening.

But why does this biting posture look so much like the first time Sophie broke into his door?
Unexpected, yet also reasonable; he had sensed long ago that this woman was a master of verbal sparring.

"Ah……"

Gritting his teeth and letting out a cold laugh, Li Xiaoen followed Catherine's lead and pressed himself against her, responding passionately with his lips and tongue, even taking the initiative and skillfully guiding and demanding.

Honestly, Catherine was a charming and alluring mature woman. Although she had a graceful face in her early twenties, her figure was still quite mature, with curves that gave her the allure of a ripe peach. With such a woman throwing herself into his arms, it was inevitable that Li Xiaoen would feel a surge of desire, something that had been brewing since she first kissed him.

His heart was pounding, and Li Xiaoen was breathing heavily. His lips and tongue were locked in a passionate kiss with Catherine's. Finally, the pain from their teeth clashing together lessened, and it could be considered a proper kiss.

The blankets that had been covering Catherine that morning had been pulled aside at some point, and Sean Lee's neck was tightly held by two arms, his entire body pressed against hers, with no gaps visible between his upper body and hers.

Tonight I finally got to taste some wine...

Li Xiaoen thought to himself, while passionately kissing Catherine, his hands didn't stop. He arched his upper body, lowered one hand, and deftly slipped it inside her blouse, moving upwards along her slightly cool but extremely smooth and elastic skin.

Just as the girl seemed to be in a daze and her body was trembling, the hand broke through the layers of obstacles and finally penetrated the protective shield.

The touch on his hand was even softer and more delicate, an intoxicating sensation. Li Xiaoen's heart trembled, and he lowered his head to kiss the other person, becoming even more lost in the moment.

"..."

The soft body beneath him suddenly tensed. Just as Catherine was trembling and the two arms tied around his neck loosened, Li Xiaoen bit his tongue, took a deep breath, and forced himself to get up and break free.

"If you really have an idea, wait until you're fully conscious before doing it."

Looking down at Catherine, whose clothes were disheveled and who seemed somewhat lost, and who had closed her eyes and hugged the bedding next to her, Li Xiaoen scratched his head in exasperation and let out a long sigh.

Why did their relationship develop to this point?

After tonight's experience, he was never able to face Catherine with the same righteous indifference again.

Based on tonight's experience, it seems I was set up and lured to this point by Catherine step by step, but given her current state of complete unconsciousness, it doesn't make sense.

Forget it, a man doesn't need to make excuses for himself.

Li Xiaoen sighed, bringing his reverie to a conclusion. He glanced down at the towel that had fallen to the ground due to the unexpected situation and picked it up.

"Given your condition just now, I really wanted to just slap you in the face."

With a light snort of annoyance, Li Xiaoen went back and forth to the washroom to rinse off, and then, without caring whether it was gentle or meticulous, he hastily and roughly smeared some smear on Catherine's face, just like when he was a child and his mother would reluctantly ask him to wipe the table.

Finish quickly and get out of there.

Make sure the door is locked before coming out; it's already 8:30 p.m.

As soon as I got back into the car, Suffer sent me another private message on WhatsApp.

How are things going? Still busy?
Li Xiaoen glanced at it, put on his Bluetooth headset, and sent a voice call directly to the other party.

"Sean, are you done with work?"

As soon as the call connected, Suffer's gentle voice came through the phone.

"I guess I'm done with my work."

As he drove to school, Li Xiaoen nodded and replied, "We just finished a celebration banquet and are driving back to school now."

"Hmm, do you have class tomorrow? Be careful."

"There are some things going on at the school tomorrow, and our company will also give us a half-day off tomorrow morning."

Sean Lee nodded in response. This location was closer to Ridgeview Estates, but in order to have more time tomorrow, he decided to make an unusual trip back to his school dormitory.

Since the company got on track a month ago and was no longer a small-scale operation, he has been living more in the villa, making it convenient for him to commute to the Princeton incubator every day.

I spoke with Professor Sedgewick; he now only returns to the university a handful of times a week.

After answering, seeing that Suffer did not reply on the other end of the phone, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but smile, and then said:

"Don't worry, I'm wearing Bluetooth earphones, so there's no need to worry about safety. Besides, you know I have the superpower to multitask?"

He chuckled. Aside from the specific situation where the other person was in a daze, this was the first time he had ever heard Sophie's voice so gentle. He couldn't help but tease her, "Sophie, did you eat a few marshmallows? How come your voice has become so soft and gentle?"

After he finished speaking, he chuckled and sighed.

It is said that a man's career is his backbone. Although Suffer had been quite concerned about him from the beginning, this was the first time she had seen him so gentle and considerate. Sure enough, this kind of thing works in America as well.

This reminded him of some men's complaints online, saying that their wives only become gentle, considerate, and caring like little women on the two days when they get their paychecks.

His thoughts raced through his mind, but he still couldn't hear Suffer's reply. Li Xiaoen glanced down at his phone from the road in front of the car; it was still busy, which made him raise an eyebrow.

At this moment, in a large, luxurious manor in the suburbs of New York, on a large bed in a room decorated in an exquisite blue and white style, a graceful figure in pajamas suddenly stopped moving.

Her fair and delicate oval face was now covered with an unknown black mask. Su Feier rubbed her hands, which were covered with face cream, back and forth on her two slender legs in front of her. At this moment, she looked down at her phone screen and narrowed her eyes slightly.

Even though she had class tomorrow morning, she made a point of going home today, wanting to show her father the young man's grades.

"Sufeil..."

After a long while, she finally heard Li Xiaoen's tentative voice on the other end of the phone. Her rosy lips curled up slightly, but she quickly suppressed it.

"If you treat him nicely, he'll get all high and mighty," Sophie thought to herself, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself.

"I've found that you deserve to be scolded and treated badly."

"Sean, if you have that kind of fetish, I can satisfy you. How about next time..."

"Stop, stop, stop, I don't have that kind of fetish..." Li Xiaoen quickly denied, smiled helplessly, and said leisurely, "Su Feier, in order for you to talk to me like this in the future, and for your 51% share, I've decided to keep up the good work and make the company bigger and stronger..."

"You don't need to say those comforting words to me."

Sophie rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, but couldn't help but tell the young man the good news, "Sean, I showed your company's results to my father..."

"is it?"

Li Xiaoen was taken aback. "So, what's his attitude?"

“Originally, I planned to talk to him in person when the company was doing better, larger in scale, and had a better market response.”

"How long will it take?"

Sophie couldn't help but retort, a smile playing on her lips again, "Sean, although my father hasn't said anything, judging from his expression and reaction, he's quite satisfied with you for now..."

"is it?"

Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow in surprise and laughed twice. "Suffolk, don't worry, it won't be long before I personally visit your home."

"Um……"

Sophie simply gave a soft hum.

"So, with such good progress, shouldn't you give some reward and encouragement?"

Li Xiaoen was in a great mood. He took off the convertible top of the sports car, letting the evening breeze tousle his hair, and a cool, refreshing feeling enveloped his whole body.

"This is what you should do. What reward do you want?"

Sophie rolled her eyes at this, having long since become desensitized to the young man's shameless nature of taking advantage of others.

"Um……"

Ignoring the girl's refusal, Li Xiaoen hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Su Feier, it's been several days since we last met, why don't you give me a kiss over the phone?"

After these words were spoken, a long silence fell over the other end of the phone.

Li Xiaoen wasn't in a hurry. He drove calmly, and instead, a light and melodious call came out of his mouth.

"Sufeil...Sufeil..."

"Okay, shut up."

After only a few breaths, Suffer shouted, and Li Xiaoen stopped in time, listening carefully to any sound in the earphone.

After a while, a faint kissing sound could be heard. If he hadn't had such keen hearing and focused on his ears, he probably wouldn't have been able to hear it.

"Sophie, did you kiss him?"

Li Xiaoen asked, "Hurry up, this dawdling isn't like you."

"Humph……"

Sophie suddenly sneered, "It's good that you can ask that question."

"..."

"Ok."

His expression turned strange, and Li Xiaoen sighed helplessly, "Sophie, can't you be a little dumber?"

"Is it because you're too smart that you can't go out and flirt with other women?"

"Hey, what are you talking about? I was only referring to the two of us..."

"Oh, so you're just being a little stupid so you can't see any evidence of your womanizing?"

"..."

The next day.

Early in the morning, after finishing the bi-weekly group meeting in the lab, Sean Lee followed Professor Sedgewick to his office.

"Sean, your studio is doing quite well now."

Professor Sedgewick's smile hadn't faded since he saw him that morning. When they entered the office, he warmly and familiarly brought Li Xiaoen a cup of coffee, saying with a smile, "Letting users share their own push codes and sharing the push mechanism—this idea might not be the first of its kind on the internet, but you're definitely the first to achieve such a large scale and such good results."

"It's just a little bit of creativity."

Li Xiaoen took a sip of coffee and said modestly, "Actually, the reason why it has generated such a big buzz online is more for publicity."

"Well, you've come to understand some of the underlying logic of business."

Professor Sedgewick wasn't surprised by Li Xiaoen's question. He smiled meaningfully and nodded repeatedly. "In the future, which direction do you plan to develop in?"

"We can come up with the idea of ​​push sharing, and so can other major internet companies. But when it comes down to the essence, it all comes down to optimizing the most basic push mechanism."

Li Xiaoen answered seriously, and seeing Professor Sedgewick's wide eyes, he couldn't help but smile, "As I said before, I want to push machine learning to its limits, and now it's based on the push mechanisms of various major Internet websites."

"Hmm, this sounds like a tough challenge."

With a sigh, Professor Sedgewick waved his hand generously, "Sean, go ahead and do it. If there's anything I can help with, just let me know."

"To be honest, the goal you mentioned is very ambitious and far-reaching, but I look forward to it and really want to see that day come."

"Receiving your affirmation, Professor, gives me even more motivation."

Sean Lee's expression also became emotional. "So, Professor Sedgewick, it's all for you that I've been working so hard."

"..."

"Sean, does this mean there's something you need my help with?"

Originally, Professor Sedgewick was just expressing some sentiments in front of his beloved student, but when he saw Li Xiaoen's expression suddenly change, he raised an eyebrow and a sense of foreboding began to spread in his heart.

"hey-hey……"

Sean Lee gave an awkward laugh. "Professor Sedgewick, I did come to see you today because of something that might require your permission..."

"Smelly boy..."

You don't come to a temple without a reason. I just praised this kid a couple of times, and now he's causing me trouble again.

Even though he had just agreed to help the young man, Professor Sedgewick couldn't help but feel both amused and exasperated, letting out a chuckle and a curse.

(End of this chapter)