Chapter 23 Indirect Kiss

Chapter 23: Indirect Kiss

Li Wangyue had no idea about this.

He had virtually no personal relationship with Ting Huayi; if Ting Huayi had something to say, it was usually passed through Li Ping or the household staff.

He didn't know Ting Huayi had rewritten the will.

All of Ting Zhenxi's strange approaches and confusing actions during this time now seemed to make sense.

He remembered how yesterday Ting Zhenxi warned him not to think about getting out of this—turns out it wasn't baseless.

Ting Huayi was putting him on the hot seat.

Li Wangyue sighed softly, didn't explain much. He wanted to say that if Ting Zhenxi didn't like it, he wouldn't hesitate to give it all back, but the words died in his throat.

It would sound like hypocritical grandstanding.

Though he did secretly thrill at seeing his name alongside Ting Zhenxi's, even if that place was a will.

At the hotel, as soon as they went upstairs, Zhao Bing came up to him, holding out a bowl of ice cream like it was a treasure.

Li Wangyue knew what he was up to, took it with thanks, and didn't bring up the last misunderstanding.

Zhao Bing had claimed that ice cream machine as his own, guarding it like a precious gem, and sharing its output with Li Wangyue was a clear gesture of goodwill.

Li Wangyue picked up the spoon, scooped a bit, and was about to take a bite when he suddenly remembered Shang Wendu's line, "You only eat the ice cream this machine shits out," and froze.

He heard someone laugh.

Shang Wendu strolled over slowly, peeked at it, "There are still undigested corn bits in there."

Li Wangyue lost his appetite.

Zhao Bing waved his fist in frustration: "Those are lemon-flavored candy balls!"

Anyway, Li Wangyue couldn't eat anymore, so he set the ice cream bowl aside, using work as an excuse.

He had strained his eyes yesterday, so after staring at the computer for a while, his head started spinning, but he didn't want to slack off—he was almost done screening everything.

He moved the scanner to the southwest corner and noticed an area that seemed off. He zoomed in the probe and pulled up a 3D image of the area, quickly jotting down coordinates and rough info on paper.

When he looked up absentmindedly, Ting Zhenxi was already sitting behind him to the side, straddling the chair backward, leaning on the backrest, eating his bowl of ice cream.

Using Li Wangyue's spoon.

Even though Li Wangyue hadn't used it, he now desperately wished he had taken a bite.

Ting Zhenxi looked up: "Want some?"

Li Wangyue shook his head and made small talk: "I'm surprised it hasn't melted yet. Kind of curious."

"This bowl can cool itself—Zhao Bing had it specially made." Ting Zhenxi swung his long legs, and the chair slid behind Li Wangyue, placed the bowl beside him: "Don't tell Zhao Bing I ate some."

Li Wangyue didn't know what he meant, but looking at the remaining half bowl, he felt a twinge of temptation.

But that would be too obvious.

He couldn't possibly just pick up Ting Zhenxi's spoon and use it.

"Is there another spoon?" Li Wangyue asked. "I'm thirsty, actually."

Ting Zhenxi half-leaned on the chair, chin slightly raised: "What, you're okay sharing an inheritance with me, but not a spoon?"

Fine.

Li Wangyue had nothing to say.

He used only the tip of the spoon to scoop a tiny bit, carefully sipping it, his lips brushed the edge of the spoon, the chilled metal colder than the ice cream itself.

He took a symbolic two bites, then set it aside and didn't touch it again.

It was almost dawn again.

Li Wangyue stretched his arms, sorted the pile of papers in front of him, clipped them together with a paperclip, feeling deeply satisfied.

He had finished the work in the first half of the night and reviewed it in the second half, remembering Ting Zhenxi had high hopes for him—only one chance, so he had to make it perfect.

The sky lightened to a cold white.

Ting Zhenxi had fallen asleep on the sofa nearby, having stayed awake until dawn. He had just been leaning on the sofa reading, and it seemed he had only dozed off moments ago, one arm draped over the sofa edge, a magazine lying open on the carpet.

The faint morning light fell on him through the floor-to-ceiling windows, beautiful like an oil painting, even the tousled black hair and the collar of his shirt exuding a perfect allure.

Zhao Bing was asleep on the other side of the room, hanging upside down with his legs on the sofa back and his body on the armrest—Li Wangyue had no idea how he managed that.

He found a blanket and bent down to cover Zhao Bing.

Then he walked over to Ting Zhenxi.

The magazine on the floor was the financial section of Liming News, and on the back cover was another word puzzle, coincidentally by Yinghuo again.

Li Wangyue picked up the magazine and placed it on the coffee table.

He shook out the blanket in his hand, but his gaze stuck on the man, unable to look away.

The white dress shirt had a translucent quality in the morning light, the fabric flowing over the contours of his muscles, hinting at a narrow waist and the faint line of his obliques extending to his lower abdomen, the taut chest straining the shirt's lines…

Li Wangyue bit his lip, swallowed, and took a deep breath to suppress the heat in his chest, gently draping the blanket over the man.

When he looked up, he met his gaze.

Li Wangyue's hand trembled. "You're awake."

The man's eyes slanted slightly, his gaze unreadable, carrying a trace of drowsiness.

"I'm awake. Are you?" he said.

Li Wangyue straightened up, stepping back a few inches to a safe distance. "Yeah, I've finished the screening. You can look at the report directly, or I can walk you through it if you want."

"I know."

Left hanging like this, Li Wangyue's heart grew more unsettled, and he found an excuse to tidy up his things.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ting Zhenxi sit up from the sofa, rubbing his temples, as if just waking up.

So he must have been asleep just now… Li Wangyue made a futile attempt to comfort himself.

Just as he finished packing up, Li Wangyue received a message. So early—he wondered who would want to contact him.

The image of a blank account popped into his head.

But it wasn't.

It was Yu Jiayi. She'd sent him a bunch of messages, clearly super emotional. Looking closer, they were all thanks, with a ton of crying emojis.

"Professor Li, the review committee contacted me!"

"I was really about to give up. I never thought I'd still have a chance. I really didn't."

"Professor Li, thank you so much!"

Li Wangyue didn't really get what she was saying. He tapped on the screenshot Yu Jiayi had sent—it was a scholarship evaluation document, with the donor being some company he'd never heard of.

But the evaluation explicitly mentioned Li Wangyue, so that's why Yu Jiayi was thanking him like that.

Yet Li Wangyue didn't remember any company talking to him about setting up a scholarship, or remember...

Someone in the corner of his eye walked over.

Li Wangyue was surprised.

Was it Ting Zhenxi?

But if Ting Zhenxi wanted to donate a scholarship, he could just do it in Huacheng's name. Or maybe Ting Zhenxi didn't want anyone to know, since Ting Huayi just put him in line as an heir—Ting Zhenxi probably didn't want to be seen as buddying up to Li Wangyue.

Li Wangyue was about to ask him.

Ting Zhenxi was reading his report.

"Xiao Xi, did you..."

"Oh, you already heard?" A hand came from behind and grabbed his phone.

Zhao Bing, totally lacking boundaries, started scrolling through his phone: "Not bad, but the amount's a little small. Can't help it—I couldn't pull together that much. Your student should be on the list."

Li Wangyue got it right away: "It was you?"

Zhao Bing grinned, trying to look cool: "Yep."

"How did you know..."

"I heard you on the phone in the hallway back then," Zhao Bing said. "My brother told me to meet someone in your building, and I saw you on the phone, so I listened in a little."

He sounded totally proud of himself for pulling it off, without a hint of shame for eavesdropping.

Li Wangyue figured it out.

Maybe Zhao Bing, who'd gossiped about him before and wasn't sure if Li Wangyue knew, was trying to make it up to him.

So it wasn't Ting Zhenxi.

"I called your school's admin right then and told them to give your student what they were owed," Zhao Bing said, his face turning serious.

Li Wangyue was shocked: "And they went along with it?"

"No, they said if I kept it up, they'd tell my brother to straighten me out." Zhao Bing slumped.

Li Wangyue: "...Sorry." He patted Zhao Bing's shoulder to comfort him.

"Then I went to my brother and made him call your school's admin to get your student what they were owed." Zhao Bing got serious again.

Li Wangyue paused: "...And he went along with it?"

"No, my brother was already yelling at his staff, and when I walked in, he started yelling at me too." Zhao Bing drooped again.

Li Wangyue almost laughed but held it in—since Zhao Bing had gone through all this trouble for his student.

He didn't say anything, just gently put his hand on Zhao Bing's shoulder.

Zhao Bing sat up straight again: "So I just took a small company from my family and set up a special scholarship for your school. Think of it as a little something for your student."

That was way more than "a little something." The scholarship Zhao Bing gave Yu Jiayi was top-notch, almost at the city level—not just money, but something that'd make her résumé look great.

Even if the timing seemed a bit random, Zhao Bing wasn't exactly smooth or worldly. He was like a kid—cursing people he hated and praising people he liked. Li Wangyue couldn't be too hard on him.

Either way, he owed Zhao Bing one.

And at least Yu Jiayi's hard work wouldn't be totally wasted.

"So... that 'Zhao Xuanfeng' in the file—that was you?"

Zhao Bing looked worried: "Is it too obvious? My brother won't let me do this kind of thing. I did it on the sly—no one can tell it's me, right?"

Li Wangyue hesitated for a moment: "Probably not."

But he was still deeply grateful: "This is more than just a little something. I've been stressing over this lately. Thank you so much. Let me treat you to a meal sometime."

He wanted to say he'd help if needed, but he figured Zhao Bing wouldn't need his help, so he settled for the simplest polite gesture.

Zhao Bing grinned and leaned on his shoulder: "Sure! I'll send you my favorite restaurant later. I'll pick the time, and you'll pay."

Li Wangyue wasn't used to such familiarity. He leaned away slightly but still replied gently, "Okay, you decide."

Just as they were talking, a dull explosion sounded behind them.

Li Wangyue instinctively turned toward Ting Zhenxi.

Ting Zhenxi stumbled back, his left sleeve soaked dark red, small metal fragments embedded in his arm. His face darkened instantly.

"Equipment short circuit." Ting Zhenxi rolled up his sleeve with one hand, picked up the malfunctioning device, and locked it in an isolation box to prevent a second failure.

Li Wangyue rushed over: "Don't touch the wound. Zhao Bing, call a car to the hospital."

Seeing Li Wangyue so anxious, Ting Zhenxi's perpetually gloomy expression softened slightly. He naturally offered his arm for Li Wangyue to tend to while continuing to flip through documents as if nothing had happened.

Li Wangyue wanted to say something but held back. Then he took the documents from Ting Zhenxi's hand and urged, "Forget about those for now. Let's go to the hospital first."

Ting Zhenxi let his hand drop at Li Wangyue's motion.

Li Wangyue didn't bother with keeping his distance anymore. He practically cradled Ting Zhenxi's arm, afraid to touch it yet unwilling to let go.

"I wanted to test your data," Ting Zhenxi said in the car. "But I don't know how to calibrate the equipment, so it malfunctioned."

Li Wangyue was too panicked to catch the hidden meaning in his words.

Ting Zhenxi continued: "If you had been watching over me just now, the accident wouldn't have happened."

Li Wangyue was consumed with guilt, his emotions fragile. He took all the blame: "I'm sorry. I didn't think it through."

Ting Zhenxi stared at his profile for a moment, then looked away, a hint of barely perceptible pleasure in his tone.

"You know that now."

Yaya.