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

He turned on the TV, switched to a local TV channel, and watched with great interest while listening to the Arabic program. He comfortably leaned back on the sofa and put his feet up on the low table in front of him.

On his first night on a business trip, he rarely relaxed completely, staring blankly at the TV screen and yawning.

Even though he's not someone who's sensitive to sleeping in unfamiliar beds, Li Xiaoen's sleep quality was still not very good, even though there were beds on the plane.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he heard the sound of a door opening in the nearby second bedroom. When he met Catherine's resentful gaze, he raised an eyebrow and seemed much more alert.

To Li Xiaoen's surprise, Catherine was wearing a new set of pajamas, still made of soft fabric that clung to her alluring figure—he finally understood one of the reasons why American girls don't like to wear pajamas out in public.

A surge of anger welled up inside Catherine, making it hard for her to breathe. Her buttocks still felt burning hot. Based on her previous experience, she had checked them in the mirror while showering. Although there were no handprints, her skin was inevitably red, which made her tremble with rage.

Clenching her teeth and taking a few deep breaths, Catherine slowly moved towards the sofa.

"Hey, Catherine, I only hit you before because of your recent disrespectful and bossy attitude towards me, your boss. It's all in the past now..."

Seeing this, Li Xiaoen quickly raised his hand to assume a defensive stance. "If you keep bothering me, you definitely won't be able to beat me in a real fight. You're just asking for trouble. Why bother?"

"Shut up, stop being so self-righteous!"

With a stern rebuke, Catherine rolled her eyes and slammed her body onto the empty space on the other side of the sofa.

"..."

What is this development?
Li Xiaoen swallowed hard, unsure of what the other person was thinking.

“Hey, Catherine…”

His gaze darted back and forth between the television and Catherine, and Sean Lee tentatively spoke, immediately earning a glare in return, "The television is speaking Arabic, can you understand it?"

Catherine was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then her eyes immediately turned sharp. "Don't you understand? Can't I read it?"

"I used to work in media, how could I not understand the meaning conveyed by news footage?"

"Good, good, you're very good."

He shouldn't have spoken up, nor should he have been curious. Li Xiaoen nodded helplessly and quickly ended the topic.

Just as I was preparing myself not to say another word tonight, Catherine kicked me again.

Just as he turned his head to look, he was kicked again.

Li Xiaoen: “???”

"I said……"

Seeing the look of doubt in the young man's eyes, Catherine pursed her lips and said, "You didn't eat before you got off the plane, and you just turned down a client's invitation. Aren't you hungry?"

"What's wrong? Are you hungry?"

Li Xiaoen didn't answer but asked a question in return.

She opened her mouth, her fair and delicate cheeks puffed up with anger. She rolled her eyes at him and kicked the young man's thigh. "How about we get something to eat this afternoon?"

"You can go outside the hotel. This area is a tourist hotspot, and there should still be some local restaurants open at this time."

"Oh, you're hungry."

Li Xiaoen smiled and nodded, waving his hand, "Don't worry, I've already called the hotel front desk and asked them to send up some local specialties."

"Did you ask the hotel staff to bring it up?"

Catherine was taken aback by his words, and disregarding the young man's obvious attempt to trick her, she asked, "Didn't you previously decline a client's invitation to dine with you? Isn't it impolite to have the hotel staff bring you food yourself?"

"who cares."

Li Xiaoen waved his hand dismissively, "Let's not even talk about the fact that they probably won't know. Even if they did, they wouldn't be so tactless as to bring it up. Even if they did, we could just say we got hungry after taking a shower."

"Oh, to fulfill my duty as a shield, I'll say..."

Suddenly remembering something, Li Xiaoen emphasized to Catherine, "Just say that we were hungry after 'exercising' because we expended too much energy."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he was kicked lightly in the upper body by Catherine. He was about to let her go, but when he noticed her foot coming towards his face, Sean Lee raised an eyebrow and quickly grabbed her ankle.

"Catherine, don't push your luck."

Li Xiaoen looked down and gave a stern warning.

"open!"

After struggling unsuccessfully, Catherine scolded her.

"Humph……"

Li Xiaoen sneered, "So arrogant, I guess I didn't hit you hard enough just now?"

"Shut up!"

Upon hearing this, Catherine flew into a rage, kicking Lee Shawn repeatedly with her other foot. "You keep calling yourself a gentleman, but what gentleman hits a woman in that area?!"

"Then tell me, where should I shoot?"

With his other hand, he swiftly caught Catherine's other foot, which she was struggling with. Li Xiaoen asked, puzzled, his gaze sweeping down over her body, "Hitting her chest or nearby is out of the question. Hitting her stomach might hurt you, hitting her head might injure you, and I can't exactly bend down and slap her leg, can I..."

"Strong words!"

Catherine shouted, struggling with her legs, then leaned forward and slammed her fists at Sean Lee.

"Hey……"

Li Xiaon called out a warning, but to no avail. He then grabbed the other woman's feet, lifted her up, and pushed her in front of him. This position successfully made Catherine lie back down naturally.

"..."

This pose, this angle of view, it's really getting my blood pumping!

Looking down, Li Xiaoen was stunned for a moment, especially seeing Catherine's long hair in disarray and her chest heaving with each movement, which suddenly made him feel thirsty.

Ding.

It was a sudden noise from the doorway that pulled him back to his senses. Li Xiaoen took a deep breath, threw Catherine's feet onto the sofa, and then got up and walked towards the door.

After taking out twenty dollars from the [Containment Space] and handing it to the other party as a tip, Li Xiaoen pushed the food cart back.

"Come on, let's eat."

Li Xiaoen moved the food from the food cart to the low table in front of the sofa, and then sat down on the carpet.

Seeing that Catherine remained unmoved, sitting on the sofa with her legs bent and hugged in front of her, ready to kick him at any moment, Sean Lee raised an eyebrow and took a piece of lamb chop and handed it to her.

"Eat up, you only ate one meal on the plane, right?"

Speaking softly, Sean Lee held the lamb chop to Catherine's mouth as a gesture, "Even if you're stubborn, you can't ignore your stomach, can you?"

Frowning, Catherine glanced at Sean Lee with resentment before lowering her head and taking a bite of the lamb chop.

"Um……"

Li Xiaoen nodded, gesturing for Catherine to take it with her hand, but she remained unmoved, chewing slowly before swallowing. Then, under his feeding, she opened her mouth and took a bite.

Li Xiaoen: “???”

"Is it delicious?"

The lamb chops weren't big either; he could have easily taken a bite out of them. Li Xiaoen smiled and nodded at Catherine.

Unfortunately, all I got in return was a glare from the other person.

If you don't answer, then it's delicious.

Li Xiaoen didn't take it to heart, smiled and nodded, but instead of sitting back down, she walked towards the bathroom next to the living room.

"What are you going to do again?"

Completely baffled by the young man's nonsensical behavior, Catherine couldn't help but ask, "Oh, didn't I just grab your foot?"

Li Xiaoen glanced back and chuckled, "My mom always told me to wash my hands before eating. If you haven't washed them, come over here..."

Catherine: "..."

With a slight frown, Catherine unconsciously turned her gaze back to the bone that Li Xiaoen had placed on the table.

Are you really not going to wash it?

After washing his hands, Sean Lee deliberately sat further away. Seeing Catherine sitting on the carpet, slowly drinking a bottle of coconut water, he couldn't help but ask again.

"I'm pretty sure my hands are clean."

Catherine gave a soft snort, her swan-like neck slightly raised, as if she had regained the arrogant haughtiness of her previous wealthy heiress days. "My feet too, unlike some people's..."

"Heh...then enjoy your food."

Li Xiaoen nodded repeatedly, no longer bothering to dwell on the other party's veiled sarcasm.

The dishes he ordered from the waiter were all local Arabian specialties, but some of them were similar to the food he had eaten in other places before.

Hummus, kebabs, Machboos, grilled fish, Luqaimat...

Putting aside hummus, which is also available in other places, Machboos is rice and mutton stewed together with lots of spices, which is very similar to hand-grabbed rice in Xinjiang, China.

While watching TV, they quickly ate and drank their fill. After cleaning up, the two rested for a while before deciding to go back to their room to rest.

Just as he reached the door of his master bedroom, Li Xiaoen was suddenly kicked from behind. Caught off guard, he bumped into the door and turned to look at Catherine.

Before she could even make a move, Li Xiaoen saw the long hair that had been lifted up floating in the air. Catherine quickly slipped into her bedroom and locked the door.

Li Xiaoen: "..."

“Hey, Catherine…”

Li Xiaoen pounded on the door and shouted inside, "You hit someone and then hide? Is this how you act like a coward? Where's your ladylike demeanor?"

"Ha ha……"

Catherine didn't answer, only letting out a triumphant laugh, making Sean Lee realize that there was no hope of revenge tonight.

“Hey, Catherine…”

After frowning and thinking for a moment, Li Xiaoen leaned leisurely against the door and spoke into it again, "Are you listening, Catherine?"

"It's getting late, so I'll be magnanimous and let you off the hook tonight. But there's something I still want to tell you..."

After pausing for a while, making sure his words had reached the other person's ears, Li Xiaoen finally spoke, "When we first came into the room, didn't I hit you there? What I wanted to tell you was..."

"Hmm...it feels really nice, very soft and bouncy..."

Carefully choosing his words, Li Xiaoen gave a serious assessment, "You need to exercise more. You're still young now, but if you don't exercise to maintain your figure when you get older, your skin will sag..."

"..."

After he finished speaking, there was a long silence inside and outside the room before the door opened a crack.

Upon seeing this, Li Xiaoen's eyes widened in surprise. Instead of retreating when the enemy advanced, she quickly slipped into the master bedroom.

"Damn it, open the door for me..."

This time, it was Catherine's turn to shout from outside the door.

Goodnight, Catherine...

Ignoring the other party's provocation and questioning, Li Xiaoen laughed twice, "Sweet dreams..."

After saying that, Li Xiaoen went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and closed the door behind him, adding another layer of barrier to Catherine's shouts outside the room.

……

The next day.

Li Xiaoen woke up at nine o'clock in the morning, quickly washed up, dressed, and left home at nine-thirty.

After confirming the time and seeing that Catherine was not in the living room, he knocked on her door.

A few faint tapping sounds came from inside. The door opened, revealing Catherine dressed in an office lady suit.

Meeting those resentful eyes for a moment, Li Xiaoen blinked and greeted them with a smile.

"How was your sleep last night?"

"Thanks to someone, I got a good rest."

Rolling her eyes, Catherine turned around and sat back down in front of the dressing mirror in the room, using a cotton swab to apply something to her face.

Suffer rarely wears makeup. The few times he has ever worn makeup in his life were only when someone helped him before going on stage. Li Xiaoen also knows nothing about cosmetics.

Watching Catherine apply her makeup silently reminded him of the way the renovation workers used to lay bricks and plaster walls in his hometown when he was a child.

"Instead of spending your time watching over there, you might as well make a call and ask the hotel to prepare breakfast and bring it up to you."

Having been watching Li Xiaoen from the very beginning, Catherine turned her head and said in a muffled voice.

"Is it alright if it's already been brought up?"

Li Xiaoen shook his head. "The hotel has a buffet breakfast. Let's get ready, go downstairs, eat, and then head to the client's place."

"it is good."

Upon hearing this, Catherine didn't say much, nodded, and picked up her lipstick again. "By the way, besides the cooperation contract we signed with the other party this time, should we also discuss the cooperation with those two game companies that you mentioned before?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

Li Xiaoen nodded with a smile.

As mentioned before, standardizing the configurations of various games is still not fast enough, even though several popular games and companies have already agreed to participate, and other smaller companies are gradually joining in.

The Qatari company currently being discussed for cooperation, owned by the Benhamid family, is a major shareholder in both of the game companies. Having them act as an ally and act as a bridge is undoubtedly faster than letting BanYan slowly assimilate and absorb them.

"Seriously, you look great even without makeup, why bother with all this fuss and waste your time?"

While waiting for Catherine to finish her makeup, Li Xiaoen paced around her room, bored. Even though he had only stayed one night, he could smell a fragrance in the air that he didn't have in his own master bedroom.

Sean Lee strongly suspects that Catherine sprayed perfume before going to bed last night.

After silently watching the other person put on makeup for a while, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

"In the workplace, maintaining basic decorum and propriety is the most fundamental form of courtesy."

With a slow and deliberate reply, Catherine glanced at Sean Lee through the mirror in front of her and gave a light snort, "From a professional perspective, you look like a greenhorn who's just entered the workforce."

"Oh, or rather, a naive, bookish, introverted STEM nerd..."

"Is it that exaggerated?"

Li Xiaoen shrugged and looked down at his clothes.

Suddenly noticing that Catherine had stood up, Li Xiaoen looked up, only to have her head pressed down by the woman who had walked up to him.

"do not move!"

With her wrists pressed down on Li Xiaoen's head, Catherine shouted to stop the young man from trying to break free.

"What are you going to do?"

"Let me fix your messy student hairstyle..." (End of Chapter)