Looking at the watch in Jin Yan's hand, its simple style exuded an air of luxury.
Ye Yanxi seemed to remember that the watch on Xiao Yu's wrist was also of this brand.
Was the watch that Jin Yan said she was going to give to a friend meant for Xiao Yu? However, this watch really suited Xiao Yu's temperament—low - key luxury. Suddenly, an image of Xiao Yu wearing this watch popped into her mind.
An inexplicable feeling welled up in her heart.
"I didn't really care much when I was engaged to him before. I was only focused on my career. Later, I even cancelled the engagement for a career opportunity. But over the years, I've always regretted it," Jin Yan said in a somewhat desolate tone, but as she looked at the watch, a gentle smile appeared on her lips.
Hearing this, Ye Yanxi immediately determined that the watch was for Xiao Yu. He was the only one who had ever been engaged to Jin Yan. As for why the engagement was cancelled, she had no idea.
She just felt as if a needle had pricked her heart, causing a dull pain.
Jin Yan didn't wallow in her sadness for long. In a flash, she pulled Ye Yanxi and said, "Could you help me take a look at this style?"
By chance, Ye Yanxi caught sight of the price tag. It was equivalent to several months of her salary.
Looking at Jin Yan's excited expression, Ye Yanxi managed a smile and said, "This style is very nice. The person you're giving it to will surely look great wearing it."
Jin Yan beamed with joy and directly handed the watch to the salesperson. "I'll take this one. Please wrap it in a nice box."
Seeing Jin Yan make such a quick decision, the salesperson said excitedly, "Sure, I'll wrap it carefully for you. Miss, you have really good taste. This watch is a new model here. It's been very popular since it was launched. You and your sweetheart will surely be together forever."
"Thank you," Jin Yan said, looking even happier.
"Miss Jin, then we'll go shopping first. We won't bother you anymore."
"Okay. See you when we have time." Jin Yan nodded at them with a smile.
Ye Yanxi pulled He Chuyan and went up to the second floor. He Chuyan looked utterly confused. After thinking for a long time, she finally remembered who Miss Jin was. No wonder she seemed so familiar.
"Xixi, isn't that the senior you admire so much, the young female diplomat who often appears on TV news?" He Chuyan slapped her forehead and finally recalled.
"Yes," Ye Yanxi nodded. When she first entered the mall, she was full of energy, determined to shop until her legs gave out. But now she felt that the mall was stuffy and she could hardly breathe.
"Really? It's really her!" He Chuyan finally reacted. "She's so elegant. She looks much prettier than on TV. By the way, how do you know her?"
Ye Yanxi smiled. "I saw her in the president's office. They were once engaged."
The president, wasn't that Xiao Yu? He Chuyan was smart. Connecting all the things Jin Yan had said before and after they met her, she felt a bit suspicious. "Xixi, didn't she say she was buying the watch for her sweetheart? Could it be... "
Ye Yanxi shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe it's for the president."
No matter how well she pretended, He Chuyan still detected a hint of desolation on Ye Yanxi's face. She couldn't help but feel worried. "Xixi, are you... okay?"
"What could be wrong with me?" Ye Yanxi raised her voice a bit. She took a deep breath and felt that the mall was even stuffier. "How about we go out and find a place to have a drink? I'm so thirsty. And I feel it's a bit stuffy and uncomfortable in the mall."
Whether it was the stuffy mall or her stuffy heart, Ye Yanxi didn't want to think about it.
"Sure. I'm thirsty too. I was just about to tell you," He Chuyan clapped her hands and pulled Ye Yanxi out of the mall.
They found a coffee shop, sat there for a while, and then went shopping. But Ye Yanxi was listless all afternoon.
In the evening, they were rather dispirited, so they decided to go for dinner.
Just as they walked out of the mall, they bumped into two people coming towards them. It was really a case of "fate bringing enemies together".
Walking into the mall from outside were Chu Beize and his fiancée, He Man.
He Man was wearing a light - green knee - length skirt and white high heels, while Chu Beize was dressed in a white shirt and dark - blue dress pants. He Man was holding Chu Beize's arm, and their postures were just like those of a passionate couple.
He Chuyan saw Chu Beize first. When she saw him with He Man, her face changed instantly, and she was about to rush forward.
Realizing what He Chuyan was about to do, Ye Yanxi grabbed her to prevent her from doing something impulsive.
At the same time, Chu Beize also saw them.
A look of embarrassment flashed across his face. Then he stared at Ye Yanxi and He Chuyan warily, as if afraid that they would expose their past in front of his fiancée.
He Man was a smart woman. She instantly detected something strange from the expressions of the three.
"What? Do you know Beize?" He Man raised her head haughtily and sized up Ye Yanxi and He Chuyan.
"Of course we do. Even if he changed his face, I could still recognize him!" He Chuyan squinted and sneered.
"Beize, why didn't you mention these two ladies when I met them before?" He Man stared directly at Chu Beize.
Chu Beize's expression returned to normal. "Oh, they're my former classmates. I've only met them a few times."
"I see," He Man let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Among these two, isn't there your ex - girlfriend?"
"Not at all," Chu Beize immediately retorted. He remained calm on the surface, but there was still a nervous, stiff smile on his face. "You know I've never been in a relationship before. Where would an ex - girlfriend come from?"
"Even if you have, it doesn't matter. It's all in the past. But I don't want past things to affect our future life."
"How could it? It won't affect our future. By the way, didn't you say you wanted to look at clothes? Let's go up now."
"Okay."
He Man took the lead and walked away. The sound of her high heels echoed on the marble floor. Chu Beize quickly followed behind.
After they walked far away, Ye Yanxi could still faintly hear Chu Beize saying something. "Manman, regarding the development project in the western suburb, I hope you can talk to Uncle He and ask him to give me some advice."
Ye Yanxi knew a bit about the western suburb. It was a project that Chu Beize was in charge of.
Watching their retreating figures, He Chuyan stamped her foot hard. "Chu Beize is such a scumbag. Look at what he said just now. He couldn't wait to distance himself from us. What 'former classmates', it's as if we were trying to cling to him. Who does he think he is? If you hadn't stopped me, I would have gone up and slapped him. And that fiancée of his, her nose is so high in the air. Her rolled - up eyes would scare people to death."
Talking about He Man, Ye Yanxi took another look at their retreating figures. He Man had her hair pulled up today, and Ye Yanxi could clearly see the cinnabar mole on her.
And she was sure that Xiaohong also had such a mole.
"What are you looking at?" He Chuyan waved her hand in front of Ye Yanxi's eyes.
"Yanyan, I feel like He Man is just like Xiaohong from the orphanage before."
"What? You mean that Xiaohong who always liked to cry and always hid behind you? " He Chuyan snorted. "Look at He Man. How could she be? Stop daydreaming. I'm so hungry. Let's go for dinner."
"Okay," Ye Yanxi thought to herself. Maybe she had mistaken the person.
The weather was really bad today. It was overcast. When they finished dinner, it suddenly started pouring rain. It seemed that the rain wouldn't stop anytime soon, and neither Ye Yanxi nor He Chuyan had brought an umbrella when they went out.
After dinner, listening to the pattering rain outside, night had fallen. They just sat in the restaurant, staring at each other.
"It's really bad luck after seeing Chu Beize. It's raining so heavily," He Chuyan pouted.
"You should think like this. It's God's will for us to stay together a bit longer," Ye Yanxi smiled.
"Ugh, so cheesy. I still want to find a man. I'm not interested in women!" He Chuyan rolled her eyes at her.
"Then you're willing to leave me?" Ye Yanxi looked at her longingly, looking like a poor abandoned girl.
"Stop it!" He Chuyan gave Ye Yanxi a sidelong glance. "Maybe it'll be you who leaves me."
Just as they were talking, Ye Yanxi's phone rang.
For some reason, at that moment, Ye Yanxi even thought it was Xiao Yu calling. But when she looked down, she found it was an unfamiliar number.
She hung up the phone less than a minute after answering it. It was a telemarketing call.
Seeing Ye Yanxi looking unhappy, He Chuyan asked, "Whose call was it? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. It was just a telemarketing call," Ye Yanxi said as she put away her phone. She felt extremely irritated.
"An advertising call made you angry?"
"It's nothing. How about we go back now? We don't know how long the rain will last," Ye Yanxi smiled.
"How can we go with the rain pouring like this outside?"
"Maybe I'll go back first. You wait a while. I forgot to feed Xiaohui and Xiaobai this morning. I'm afraid they'll starve," Ye Yanxi said as she stood up.
"What if you catch a cold from getting wet in the rain?" He Chuyan grabbed her.
"It's okay. I'll just buy an umbrella at the convenience store next door."
He Chuyan didn't stop her anymore. She watched Ye Yanxi pick up her bag in a hurry and walk out of the restaurant.
The rain had been falling for a long time with no sign of stopping. Ye Yanxi took the bus and got off at the bus stop near Qingyuwan.
When she got off the bus, even though she was holding an umbrella, her whole body was soaked. She was shivering with cold and completely numb, unable to feel the cold. By the time she reached the apartment building, there wasn't a single dry spot on her clothes.
She got on the elevator. There was someone else in it. Seeing Ye Yanxi all wet, the person moved to the corner in disgust. That person got off the elevator first and walked quickly past Ye Yanxi, almost bumping into her. Ye Yanxi just expressionlessly pushed her bangs out of her eyes.
Her clothes were completely soaked and stuck to her body. When the cold wind blew, she finally felt the bone - chilling cold.
When she reached the door, she reached into her bag to look for the key. After rummaging for a long time, she couldn't find it.
Ye Yanxi searched her bag thoroughly and finally realized that the key might have fallen out when she was taking something out.
So she knocked on the door, hoping that Xiao Yu was at home. But after waiting for more than ten minutes, the door didn't open. She knocked a few more times. The neighbor next door opened the door, took a look at Ye Yanxi, and then closed the door.
Xiao Yu should be out.
The watch that Jin Yan bought was for him. Maybe they were having dinner together at this moment.
Ye Yanxi stopped knocking on the door. The woman next door had clearly shown her impatience on her face. It was already late, and it wouldn't be good to disturb others anymore.
She still felt cold, so she sat down on the floor against the wall, curling up her body to resist the cold wind in the corridor.
The heavy rain had soaked her through, and now she couldn't get into the house. She was so cold.
The events of the day flashed through her mind, and she felt extremely aggrieved. It seemed that she had always been the one being abandoned.
She was just about to take out her phone and call He Chuyan to ask if she had gone back.
But just as she turned on the phone and hadn't found He Chuyan's number yet, the phone gave out a low - battery warning. Then, the faint light on the screen gradually dimmed, and the phone shut down completely.
She couldn't make the call, and she didn't know if He Chuyan had gone back. If she went to look for her now, maybe He Chuyan hadn't returned yet. It was better to wait for Xiao Yu to come back here in this heavy rain.
She had just checked the time. It was almost ten o'clock. Xiao Yu usually didn't come back very late at night. He should be coming soon, she thought.
In the pitch - black corridor, she could hear the pattering rain outside. Waiting alone at the door, Ye Yanxi felt so sad.
Her clothes were all wet and sticking to her body. The cold was seeping into her skin bit by bit. She didn't know how long she had been sitting in the dark night. Later, she felt her body starting to heat up. She just wanted to fall asleep like this, and her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier.
Then, she slowly lost consciousness.
In the underground garage, Xiao Yu got out of the car. He told Xu Bei to come and pick him up early tomorrow, and then he got on the elevator.
Before getting on the elevator, Xiao Yu dialed Ye Yanxi's number, but the phone on the other end gave out a shutdown prompt.
He had sent her a text message in the morning.
Instantly, a look of displeasure flashed in Xiao Yu's eyes. He hung up the phone with a cold face.
After getting out of the elevator, he strode towards the apartment door with his long legs.
But before he reached the door, he saw Ye Yanxi sitting on the floor, with her eyes tightly closed and her whole body soaked.
There was a pool of water on the ground.
In a daze, Ye Yanxi felt someone talking beside her ear. There seemed to be a hand on her forehead, bringing a slightly cool feeling, which was extremely comfortable. She struggled to open her eyes and saw Xiao Yu in front of her. There seemed to be worry in his eyes.
Was he worried about her?
"Must be a dream," Ye Yanxi murmured and then fell into Xiao Yu's arms.