Aren't we friends? Why are you rushing at me?

Xia Ye slumped completely into the chair in the conference room, covering his face with his hands, exuding an aura of dejection.

"It's over...it's all over..."

"I don't want to live anymore, my crystal was stolen..."

Seeing Xia Ye's attitude of surrendering without a fight, Liu Ruyan was instantly furious.

She took a deep breath, stepped forward, and reached out her right hand to once again grasp Xia Ye's crown.

With a slight exertion of force, Natsuno cried out again:

"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Be gentle!"

"Are you awake now?"

"She's awake! She's awake!"

Seeing this, Liu Ruyan slowly released her grip.

While rubbing his numb scalp, Xia Ye looked at Liu Ruyan's well-maintained jade-like hand and couldn't help but mutter under his breath:

"No wonder you own an entertainment company; your acting is superb. Everyone thinks you're such a gentle person. But it turns out..."

Before he could finish speaking...

Liu Ruyan didn't even lift her eyelids. She changed her claws into fists and delivered a crisp "thump" to the forehead.

"Ah~~~"

Liu Ruyan released her grip, pulled out the chair next to her, and sat down, her fingers rhythmically tapping on the table.

"Stop howling."

"Besides, when did Lin Shi become part of your family? Have you got the marriage certificate? Have you had a wedding?"

Stop dreaming.

Natsuno rubbed his numb scalp, sniffed, and looked helpless:

"You don't understand, he really used to belong to my family."

"If it weren't for that incident... sigh."

Xia Ye was speaking when he looked up and saw Liu Ruyan's teasing expression that said, "I'll just watch you make up stories." He could only swallow the rest of his words and instead asked:

"So what should we do? What should we do now?"

Liu Ruyan raised an eyebrow, a half-smile playing on her lips:

"How would I know? Shouldn't I consult Lin Shi's 'official wife,' Miss Xia Ye, about this kind of emotional crisis?"

Xia Ye: "......"

Seeing that the time was right, Liu Ruyan put away her joking mood and her tone became decisive:

"Alright, stop guessing. Just ask."

"what?"

"What do you mean 'huh'? It's not like I don't know Lin Shi. We're all good friends. Just ask him what the problem is."

Liu Ruyan straightened her cuffs and analyzed the situation logically:

"Maybe it's some other special reason."

"You know Lin Shi's personality; he doesn't understand these intricacies at all."

"If we scare ourselves unnecessarily and end up making a fool of ourselves, that would be truly embarrassing."

These words were like a shot of adrenaline.

As Xia Ye listened, a glimmer of hope rekindled in his previously lifeless eyes.

She sat up abruptly and nodded repeatedly:

"Yes! That makes sense!"

"Maybe it was just an accident."

The two exchanged a glance and quickly reached a consensus on "self-deception".

Liu Ruyan quickly touched up her makeup with a cushion foundation, regaining her noble and aloof appearance. Xia Ye also quickly wiped her face and straightened her back.

The two pushed the office door open again.

This time, they moved very quietly, without their previous aggressive demeanor.

The office was quiet, with only the crisp sound of keyboards clicking.

Lin Shi was sitting in front of the computer, focused intently on processing documents. Ye Cheng, on the other hand, sat obediently in the corner, head down, seemingly organizing some information.

Liu Ruyan gave Xia Ye a wink, signaling her not to say anything out of line, and then walked over herself.

She leaned against the filing cabinet, casually glancing around as if to say:

"Lin Shi, are you busy?"

"Nothing much happened just now, Natsuno and I were just joking around. We didn't disturb your work, did we?"

Lin Shi looked up at Liu Ruyan, smiled, then quickly looked down again and continued staring at the screen, his hands never stopping.

"fine."

"Have you two finished dealing with your issues? Do you need any help?"

"We're done with our work. We didn't have anything to do anyway, we just had a bit of a playful fight since we hadn't seen each other in a while."

Liu Ruyan smiled awkwardly, then stared at Lin Shi's computer screen.

After waiting for a long time, he would occasionally share his insights on compiling reports.

Xia Ye looked anxiously at him from the side.

He gently touched Liu Ruyan, hoping she would get to the point quickly.

Liu Ruyan turned around and glared at her, as if scolding her for being truly useless.

Then my gaze returned to the computer screen, naturally moving downwards, following Lin Shi's sleeve, and finally settling on that pure black hair tie.

Liu Ruyan pretended to have just discovered it, her tone full of surprise:

"Hey? Lin Shi, what's that in your hand?"

Natsuno, standing beside her, held her breath, her hands clenching unconsciously. Although she felt there was little hope, she still wanted to hear about a miracle.

Lin Shi paused for a moment while typing.

He slowly raised his left hand and glanced at the thin black cord on his wrist, as if he were looking at an ordinary watch.

However, if Liu Ruyan could see Lin Shi's face, she would notice that he was trying hard to suppress his laughter.

at last!

Finally asked!

Do you two know how much I've been holding it in?!

He cleared his throat, speaking as if it were something trivial, his tone very calm:

"Oh, this? Ye Cheng gave it to me. I don't really know anything about it, so I just keep it with me."

"don't know???"

The two quickly turned their heads and looked at each other, revealing smug smiles on their faces.

Then he turned to look at Ye Cheng, gritting his teeth inwardly, realizing he had almost been "tricked" by this little girl.

Ye Cheng, who had been keeping her head down, finally looked up.

Meeting their gazes, she revealed a standard and obedient smile on her pure and innocent face.

He did not speak.

She simply raised her left hand slowly and gently tucked the stray hairs behind her ear.

With her movement, her smooth, fair wrist was exposed to the air.

It was also wearing an identical, pure black rubber band.

They are the same style.

Same color.

Even the somewhat cheap feel of it is exactly the same.

Ye Cheng lowered her hand, blinked her clear eyes at the two of them, and her face was filled with a pure smile that looked like "happiness".

Before the two could say anything more, Lin Shi spoke up quickly, somewhat impatiently:

"That's right, we're together."

"what?"

Upon hearing Lin Shi's answer, Liu Ruyan and Xia Ye froze instantly.

I was so happy just now, and I'm so shocked now.

Xia Ye's mouth gaped slightly, his jaw stiffened, still somewhat incredulous. He took a step forward and stammered as he asked:

"You two, are you together?"

"Um!"

Lin Shi nodded emphatically, admitting the matter without the slightest hesitation.

The two looked at each other and saw the desolation of "all is lost" in each other's eyes.

He didn't say another word.

They didn't even have the strength to ask another single question.

The two people lowered their heads, hunched their shoulders, silently turned around, and pushed open the door to leave.

That figure from behind looked desolate and forlorn.

They looked like two stray dogs who had been kicked in the pouring rain and hadn't even gotten a bone yet.

Not long after the two left, Ye Cheng's phone suddenly lit up with two messages:

[Natsuno: "Ye Cheng, orange."]

[Natsuno: "You, do you mind if I act asjdhasbnfhj?"]

Ye Cheng was utterly puzzled by the string of gibberish that followed.

Ye Cheng: "?"