Chapter 17: Negotiate Conditions

Chi Xiyu cheerfully assured Lin Yiwei, “Don’t worry, I don’t need you to do anything else, just make your presence felt around him, attract his attention, and keep his eyes off Ye Anning. You look somewhat like Ye Anning, but you’re prettier. With you as a comparison, I don’t believe she could have any appeal to Xie Bo.”

Chi Xiyu’s thought process was always so straightforward and blunt. Her affection for Xie Bo was ninety percent because of his looks, so she assumed that Xie Bo must be tolerating Ye Anning’s entanglement for so long solely because of her appearance.

Whether this was true or not, Lin Yiwei neither knew nor wanted to know. She simply found the whole situation bothersome.

“He will get tired of Ye Anning and will get tired of me too. There will be prettier girls appearing,” Lin Yiwei didn’t show any reluctance but reasoned with Chi Xiyu, “Is doing this really useful?”

“Others maybe, but Ye Anning…” Chi Xiyu clenched her teeth, “No, no! That just won’t do!”

Lin Yiwei realized that it was Ye Anning’s family background that made Chi Xiyu feel threatened. She worried that if Xie Bo got too close to Ye Anning, it would affect the potential marriage alliance between the Xie and Chi families, impacting her future happiness.

Recently, the Ye and Xie families had collaborated on a development project… Chi Xiyu didn’t want to continue being oblivious like an ostrich.

“Yiwei, please help me with this. If you can do this for me, you’ll be my best sister. I won’t let you down!”

Reason told Lin Yiwei she couldn’t refuse. She had finally made some progress regarding Lin Xie’s matter; rejecting Chi Xiyu now would be throwing all her efforts away.

She took a deep breath, as if making a significant decision, and said, “Xixi, I can do these things for you, but I can’t guarantee success. I’m not sure about your fiancé’s temper.”

“He’s not my fiancé yet,” Chi Xiyu’s cheeks flushed red, “We haven’t gotten engaged yet, but if you’re willing to help me, I’ll be much more at ease.”

“I have one condition, or rather, a small wish.”

“Tell me!”

“Your birthday party next month,” Lin Yiwei looked into her eyes with a longing expression, “Can you invite me?”

Every year, Chi Xiyu’s birthday party was a lavish affair. Being the only daughter of Chi Youhuai, the CEO of Chi Corporation, she was pampered to no end. Her father spared no expense for her birthday celebrations, which were luxurious and extravagant, beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Xu Qianxi had told her about it; the party was held at the Chi family’s traditional courtyard estate. Top figures from the entertainment industry and young heirs from Qinggang City’s wealthy families attended, but not everyone was privileged enough to be on Chi Xiyu’s guest list. Even Xu Qianxi had only attended her 18th birthday party and missed out on previous years.

Lin Yiwei also wanted to seize this opportunity to visit Chi Xiyu’s home, hoping to find some clues about Lin Xie.

Chi Xiyu was surprised, “You… want to attend my birthday party?”

“Yes! I heard from Xu Qianxi about the grandeur, and I want to see it for myself,” Lin Yiwei showed an eager expression, “I heard there will be celebrities.”

Chi Xiyu hesitated, worried that Lin Yiwei, without suitable clothes and bags, would be ridiculed.

But…

“As long as you can accomplish this, I’ll let you come.” Chi Xiyu set aside her concerns for now, her immediate priority being Ye Anning, “As long as you can make Xie Bo lose interest in Ye Anning, you’ll have done me a great favor!”

“I’ll give it my best try!”

Chi Xiyu casually straightened a strand of hair by Lin Yiwei’s ear, organizing it: “I believe you can definitely do it.”

On Friday night, Ye Anning invited Lin Yiwei for a motorcycle ride in the mountains.

“It’s organized by a few guys from the DS club. Xie Bo isn’t really into motorcycles, so I’m not sure if he’ll come today.” Ye Anning took Lin Yiwei’s hand, pulling her out of the car and walking along the roadside to the edge of the highway.

Several cool black motorcycles were parked by the side of the asphalt road, surrounded by beautiful ladies with long legs, wearing exaggerated nightclub makeup, looking absolutely lethal.

Groups of tall, handsome guys sat on the motorcycles, the bikes blasting rock music with deep bass. Everyone moved rhythmically to the melody, their spirits high.

“I really hope he comes, otherwise it’s not as fun.”

“Just ask,” Lin Yiwei suggested quietly.Ye Anning sighed, took out her phone, and showed Lin Yiwei her chat history with Xie Bo.

Opening the message list, Lin Yiwei saw that their conversation… was mostly Ye Anning talking to herself.

Xie Bo would reply with a brief message after dozens of Ye Anning’s, either “Hmm” or “Okay.”

“So perfunctory,” Lin Yiwei frowned unhappily.

If someone treated her that way, seen but not replied, she would block them without a second thought, deciding never to chat with them again in this lifetime.

In a relationship or close bond, Lin Yiwei might seem lowly and humble, but that was not really the case.

She was a girl with a strong sense of self, craving maximum attention and all the love she could get due to the lack of it in her childhood.

Selfish, she would never warm up to someone who was cold to her.

She expected others to love her unconditionally and would consider whether or not to sparingly return a bit of affection based on their behavior.

It took Lin Xie several years of caring for her like a brother, melting the ice-like defenses in her heart, making her depend on him…

Thus, for Lin Yiwei, she needed to see to believe in life or death.

This person was the most important in her life, her only light.

“Xie Bo is very busy, not just with the club. He also runs a company and often doesn’t check his phone. But he replies when he sees my messages,” Ye Anning tried to excuse Xie Bo, “Besides, I’m not even his girlfriend.”

“You’re not?”

“Of course not!” Ye Anning saw the reality clearly, “I, including Chi Xiyu and those girls from his past, none of us were considered his girlfriends. To be honest, Xie Bo is quite lonely. He likes having people around because I’m not annoying to him, but actually, he doesn’t like me.”

Lin Yiwei thought, Chi Xiyu wouldn’t agree.She already considered Ye Anning an enemy.

“Xie Bo doesn’t like anyone. He only loves himself,” Ye Anning sighed with a helpless look.

“Then why do you still hang out with him?”

“Because I like him. As long as I’m by his side, I’m happy. Life is pretty boring anyway, and having someone to race with, feeling my heart leap to my throat, is thrilling. I’m willing to keep playing with him, even just as friends. I don’t even need his response.”

Lin Yiwei felt helpless.

Liking someone to the point of debasing oneself to the dust, their every mood controlled by that person, even losing oneself, tolerating and accommodating unconditionally.

Lin Yiwei refused to be such a person.

Unless the other person loved her to death, she would not easily give away even a sliver of her feelings.

She thought, in some ways, Xie Bo might be similar to her.

Only ever taking others’ affection, stingy in giving even a little bit of his own feelings.

Heartless.

As Lin Yiwei was lost in her thoughts, Ye Anning opened the beauty camera and aimed it at both Lin Yiwei and herself, “Look here.”

Lin Yiwei smiled obligingly and made a peace sign.

“No, no, my face looks too big!” Ye Anning handed the phone to Lin Yiwei, “You take it, I’ll stand behind.”

After saying this, she hid behind Lin Yiwei, resting her chin on her shoulder, showing only a small part of her face.

Lin Yiwei adjusted various filters, raised her hand, and clicked away, taking many pictures.

She never used to take selfies or photos.

The only time was when she and Lin Xie went to the fountain square, where there was a photographer taking tourist photos.

Lin Xie suggested they take a photo, so the shy girl hid behind the slender boy, resulting in a somewhat shy photo.

That was the only photo of her and Lin Xie together, still saved in Lin Yiwei’s encrypted phone album, which she would look at in detail late at night, holding her phone as she fell asleep.

Ye Anning lowered her head to edit the photos, choosing the most satisfying one to ask Lin Yiwei if it could be posted to her Moments.

Lin Yiwei hesitated for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.

At the DS Club, Xie Bo lay on the sofa, listlessly watching the match.

Li Du scrolled through Ye Anning’s social media feed, chuckled, and then shook his phone in front of Xie Bo, waving it back and forth—

“Your secret friend is really something, not only getting to know Chi Xiyu but also getting involved with Ye Anning. Is she some kind of social networking genius? Especially since Chi Xiyu and Ye Anning don’t get along! I suspect she has the same hobby as Deng Xiao, aiming specifically at the girls around Brother Bo. So, the question is, who does this beautiful Ms. Lin actually like?”

Xie Bo’s narrow and indifferent eyes glanced at the screen.

He saw that Lin Yiwei was wearing… his shirt.

The white shirt she used as a nightgown, which Xie Bo had turned the house upside down looking for one night when he was in a foul mood, convinced she had taken it.

She actually wore it out.

Like some kind of secret undercurrent suddenly finding an outlet, Xie Bo instantly perked up, his drowsiness completely dispelled.

The long hem of the shirt tied into a knot, half-covering her flat stomach, with tight black jeans below, outlining her long and beautiful legs.

He wasn’t sure if it was because she couldn’t afford clothes, or if she just didn’t know how to dress herself. If one were to wear a shirt like that, it would be best paired with hot pants; she would undoubtedly become the most eye-catching girl there.

Xie Bo always thought her sense of style was quite plain.

That didn’t stop him from being interested in her.

His long fingertips touched the phone screen, zooming in on the photo, avoiding Ye Anning to the side, making her fill the entire screen.

Now, she wasn’t afraid to wear his clothes.She thought this shirt was of a common style, easily found anywhere, but she didn’t notice the left collar of the shirt embroidered with a letter in gold thread—

T.The initial of Thin, his name.Whether it was because she was inherently sexy, or because she was wearing his clothes, Xie Bo stared at her for a long time, emotions surging.He stood up, leaned on a motorcycle, and had someone open the garage door for him.”Boss Bo, where are you going?””For a ride.”