Chapter 8: Chapter 0008 Let’s Get Married Part 1

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Mr. Ye, I’ve been wanting to find an opportunity to thank you and never had the chance. Tonight’s dinner is on me,” Yang Xinyi said with a smile.

Just one smile, and it felt as if the surroundings were bathed in a warm breeze.

“Waiter!” Ye Xiong raised his hand and called out.

Once the waiter came over, Ye Xiong said, “Open up a bottle of your most expensive red wine for me.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xiao Fangfang glared at him fiercely.

“What are you glaring at? It’s not your money being spent, and President Yang doesn’t mind, right?” Ye Xiong said, curling his lip.

Apparently accustomed to his carefree manner, Yang Xinyi laughed and said, “It’s okay.”

“Xinyi, this guy is seizing the opportunity to take advantage of you, climbing the vine as he goes. You shouldn’t be biased toward him.”

“Stop it, Fangfang. I have my own plans,” Yang Xinyi said and then, with a smile, she turned her gaze to Ye Xiong and continued, “Mr. Ye…”

“You might as well call me by name.”

Being called Mr. this and Mr. that by her made Ye Xiong’s skin crawl.

“I’ll just call you Ye Xiong then.”

The dinner and red wine were served, and after the waiter opened the bottle, he poured a glass for everyone.

At the dinner table, three different personalities were present. Xiao Fangfang kept asking questions, trying to probe Ye Xiong’s background, while Ye Xiong kept bluffing, with nine and a half of his ten statements being false. Only Yang Xinyi, like a sage, sat listening quietly, occasionally interjecting a few words like someone with considerable influence.

After dinner, Yang Xinyi said, “Ye Xiong, could you give me a lift? I can’t really hold my liquor.”

“Xinyi…”

“What, you’re reluctant to?” Yang Xinyi, her face glowing red, teased Xiao Fangfang.

“I’m just warning you, don’t be fooled by this guy’s appearance; he’s full of mischief inside,” Xiao Fangfang cautioned.

“Hear that, President Yang? Aren’t you afraid of delivering the lamb into the tiger’s mouth?” Ye Xiong looked at Yang Xinyi with suggestive intent.

Tipsy from the wine, Yang Xinyi’s face was flushed and her eyes hazy. Her voice, warm and inviting, as she opened her lips slightly to smile, said, “I trust Ye Xiong. He is a gentleman.”

“Don’t blame me if you suffer for it,” Xiao Fangfang said, huffing before walking to her BMW and driving off with a roar.

For some reason, she felt very uncomfortable, especially the thought of Ye Xiong sitting in Yang Xinyi’s car made her even more upset!

“To think you’re being sent by a useless construction worker, I curse that you lose yourself tonight,” Xiao Fangfang muttered repeatedly.

Ye Xiong stepped into Yang Xinyi’s Porsche and watched her quietly sitting in the back seat through the rearview mirror, looking out the window as if deep in thought.

The sporadic street lights played upon her face, brightening and dimming. The smile that had been fixed on her face during dinner had vanished, replaced by a furrowed brow, as she seemed preoccupied with something.

“President Yang, where to?” asked Ye Xiong.

“Let’s drive to the peak of Tiandu Mountain,” Yang Xinyi responded indifferently.

Tiandu Mountain was a mountain north of Jiangnan City. It had narrow winding roads leading up to the peak, making it an excellent spot for a drive. Ye Xiong didn’t understand why she wanted to go there so late in the evening. Could it be that she wanted something to happen between them?

At that thought, he immediately dismissed it. He remembered Xiao Fangfang saying that Yang Xinyi was religious and opposed to any premarital physical contact. The idea of her wanting something to happen with him was ludicrous.

The car roared off, quickly reaching the mountaintop.

Just as they got out of the car, they heard a raucous call. Seven young men, clearly drunk, surrounded them.

“We were just talking about women, and now a beauty shows up on our doorstep, and such a pretty one too!”

“The heavens are watching, maybe they’ll let us brothers have a bit of fun.”

Five or six hooligans moved closer, eyeing Yang Xinyi with evident desire.

Yang Xinyi hid behind Ye Xiong without a hint of panic, as if certain that Ye Xiong could handle these punks.

“Scram!”

A cold voice erupted from Ye Xiong.

The voice wasn’t loud, but it seemed to resonate with the soul, momentarily sobering up the group of punks.

“You brat, you’ve got a death wish—”

The man didn’t finish his sentence before he was flying five or six meters through the air, hitting the ground and struggling to get up for quite a while. The surrounding ruffians hadn’t even clearly seen how Ye Xiong had struck.

“This guy has some Evil Sect moves, let’s gang up on him.”

The remaining men pulled out daggers from their waists and fiercely pounced toward Ye Xiong.

Crack!

A sound of bone breaking was heard as the hand that tried to stab Ye Xiong not only lost its knife but also had its wrist broken and was then savagely kicked away, landing on the hoodlum from before.

The remaining hoodlums were all stunned, scattering in a rush, soon they were nowhere to be seen.

“Finally, peace.”

Yang Xinyi, as if she had anticipated the outcome, walked over to a rock and sat down.

Ye Xiong followed her and sat down as well, keeping a distance of about a meter.

For some reason, when facing Yang Xinyi, Ye Xiong couldn’t pretend to be heartless as he did with Xiao Fangfang or others; it was as if her eyes could see right through him.

“Let’s get married,” Yang Xinyi suddenly said.

“What?”

In his life, Ye Xiong had heard countless things, but none had the impact of these words; they stupefied him.

“I’ve been thinking about it for several days. If we don’t get married, He Haodong won’t give up and my dad will keep introducing me to suitors. This morning, my dad asked what happened that night again, and I couldn’t tell him, so he pressured me to keep seeing He Haodong, though you should know that’s just not possible.”

“So you want to use a fake marriage to get your dad and He Haodong to give up,” Ye Xiong continued.

“As soon as I’m married, my dad will definitely stop pestering me. Just give me two more years, by then my business will have a solid foundation and I won’t be afraid of Haotian Group anymore.”

“Do you think this kind of marriage is what I need?” Ye Xiong scoffed. He wondered what she took him for.

“It’s just a piece of paper. Besides that, there are no obligations. I don’t have to fulfill the duties of a wife, and you can go out and enjoy yourself, pick up girls, whatever, just make sure my dad doesn’t find out. Once this is over, we can divorce anytime. As compensation, I’ll give you a million every year, but when I need you, you have to be there.”

Ye Xiong never expected that the reason Yang Xinyi sought him out would be for this.

Logically, he would absolutely refuse, but the image of her sitting in the back seat of the car, staring out the window with that solitary look, reminded him so much of the time when he had lost his most important team and left Kyoto in a car—it was strikingly similar!

This woman, she must have many secrets hidden inside. Outwardly, she lived well, with money and power, cars and houses, but was she truly happy?

“Why me?” Ye Xiong asked.

“I don’t know why either, it was just an intuition that made me choose you. Even though you seem to treat life as a game, deep down you must be harbouring many unhappy things. I think we are similar, only our external expressions differ. You chose to be carefree, while I chose to arm myself with my faith. Since that’s the case, why shouldn’t we help each other? To some extent, there’s no loss for either of us. I achieve my goal, and you get the money.”

“You’re overthinking it, I have nothing that makes me unhappy,” Ye Xiong denied.

“With your talent, you could be more than a construction worker; you could be a manager, a decision-maker. It seems the only reason you’re working so frantically is to numb yourself.”

Ye Xiong hadn’t expected that despite his careful facade, this woman had seen right through him.

“After we register, I’ll send you a million. That should be enough for you to start a small business. Starting a business is the busiest time, you’ll be so busy that you’ll even think about working at night rather than dwelling on other things.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. We were only supposed to do business, choosing what kind of life I live is my own matter,” he replied.

“Suit yourself.”

“Tomorrow at eight in the morning, meet me in front of the civil affairs bureau.”

On the way back, one drove in silence, while the other gazed quietly out of the window, as if they were two individuals with no connection at all.

Who would have thought that after tomorrow, they would become husband and wife, at least legally speaking.

In the city center, Ye Xiong got out of the car, then Yang Xinyi drove back to her place.

Back in the dorm, Ye Xiong’s head was full of the image of Yang Xinyi in the back of the car, as if she were another version of himself.

Dizzy and drowsy, he barely slept that night. Early the next day, Ye Xiong took his identity card and household registration book and went to the front of the civil affairs bureau and waited quietly. Within ten minutes, Yang Xinyi arrived.

She was dressed in a black professional long dress with a coat over her shoulders, her hair slightly curled and lying on her shoulders, not tied up, adding a more neighborly charm. With a height of about 1.67 meters and an estimated weight around 100 pounds, her body was proportionally balanced.

It was the first time Ye Xiong scrutinized Yang Xinyi so carefully. He smirked self-deprecatingly; knowing this was but a marriage for show, why bother taking such a close look? No matter how beautiful, she was not someone he could turn over in bed.

It was Thursday, not a particular day, so there wasn’t a long wait.

However, they forgot to take photos and were forced to go to a photo studio to take a wedding picture. That was the first time Ye Xiong got close to her and smelled her faint body fragrance.

When they each held a red marriage booklet in hand, Ye Xiong suggested they have a celebratory lunch, as a form of commemoration, but Yang Xinyi declined, saying she had work to do at the company and needed to go back.

An hour later, Ye Xiong’s account received an additional million, the rest would come when they divorced.

In the days that followed, Ye Xiong continued his brick-moving life. The red booklet was thrown under his bed, as if nothing had happened.

Since that shooting incident, Luo Weiwei hadn’t come looking for trouble; it seemed she had a lot to deal with.