◎ Xu Tiancheng knew he had won the bet. ◎

After she hung up on him, Xu Tiancheng stared at his phone for a long time, unable to process the sudden emotional upheaval.

If not for that, he might not have noticed the notification from Xiaofanshu’s account in time, which helped him pinpoint the root of the problem.

He didn’t blame her for misunderstanding. After reviewing the comments under Xu Tianyu’s account and putting himself in her shoes, he realized that anyone in her position would have misread the situation.

What he couldn’t understand was how she could be so ruthless. Just an hour ago, she was nestled in his arms, saying she liked him. An hour later, she didn’t hesitate to say she was leaving.

Why couldn’t she at least argue with him? Give him a chance to explain?

All signs pointed to one clear conclusion—

She didn’t like him that much. She could walk away from this relationship at any moment.

Once the misunderstanding was resolved, Xu Tiancheng immediately pulled her into a video call with his family, forcing her to establish a connection with them. She panicked and tried to run, but he pretended not to notice. He was deliberately using emotional leverage.

Soon enough, Teacher Seagull proved her capability once again. Just before appearing on the screen, she was still staring at him in horror, shaking her head desperately. But the moment she was in front of the camera, she transformed. She beamed brightly and chatted enthusiastically with his family.

She sweetly inquired about his parents’ health, even engaged in a conversation about Xu Tianyu’s pregnancy symptoms, made plans to play tennis with his father, promised to send his mother a bottle of good wine, and showered Xu Tianyu with praises as if she were the most extraordinary person in the world.

By the time the call ended, his family was treating her better than they treated him. They repeatedly reminded him to bring her home.

Xu Tiancheng put down his phone and turned to look at her, amusement flickering in his eyes.

He was completely convinced—she was truly something.

Thanks to this misunderstanding, he finally learned her real name. She was called You Lexin, and her nickname was Lele.

The name suited her well—someone who wandered through life with a carefree heart.

Xu Tiancheng finally confessed to her properly. In his eyes, he had already confessed countless times, but she had always skillfully ignored them.

As expected, she still didn’t accept his confession this time. She didn’t blame him, though. She saved his pride by putting all the fault on herself, exaggerating her own emotional instability in hopes of scaring him away.

Xu Tiancheng had long grown numb to rejection. He came up with an excuse for a “trial period” to buy some time. She agreed.

During that one-day trial period, Xu Tiancheng did everything he could, especially in bed. Not just one hard-working donkey, but an entire lineage of donkeys combined wouldn’t have matched his effort.

He was foolishly hoping that this would make her stay.

He loved seeing her completely lost in him, utterly dependent, surrendering everything to him.

Judging by her reaction, You Lexin seemed quite satisfied with his performance, yet she still refused to stay.

He offered to drive her home. She hesitated at first but ultimately agreed when she saw his insistence.

The entire drive, Xu Tiancheng was anxious. Was she letting him take her home simply out of courtesy? Or was it because she didn’t want him to know where she lived?

Fortunately, she didn’t say anything that suggested otherwise. He drove into her residential complex, where a security guard came out to check as usual. When Xu Tiancheng lowered the window, the guard was momentarily surprised before smiling and asking, “Oh, so Xiao You has a boyfriend now?”

You Lexin hesitated and glanced at him but didn’t deny it.

When they arrived at her building, Xu Tiancheng watched as she practically bolted out of the car and ran upstairs. He let out a bitter laugh.

He decided not to tell her yet that he was moving to her city.

Would she even be happy if she knew?

She was already retreating without him asking for anything. If she found out he was making such a big move for her, would it only make her feel pressured and drive her away even faster?

Dealing with a woman who never played by the rules, Xu Tiancheng truly couldn’t be sure.

After that night, he could feel it clearly—You Lexin wanted to cut ties with him.

She no longer initiated conversations, and even when he reached out, her responses became increasingly delayed and uninterested.

The message was clear—

She had tried him out. He was okay, but the novelty had worn off. It was time to move on.

He was anxious and frustrated, but he also felt helpless. He feared that if he pushed too hard, he would only scare her away faster. For now, he decided to follow her pace and take things one step at a time.

Luckily, he was busy too. Moving his entire life from one city to another wasn’t a small task. He had employees and business matters to handle, and the transition required a great deal of time and effort.

With everything going on, their communication dwindled.

Then, after days of silence, You Lexin finally sent him a message.

She asked him what he was doing.

Based on the time, she had just gotten off work.

When he received her message, Xu Tiancheng was in the middle of chaos. His new store was under renovation, and one of the workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding, breaking his leg.

Even though the contract stated that the construction company was responsible for worker safety, the accident had happened in his store. He couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Xu Tiancheng drove the injured worker to the hospital in a rush and didn’t have time to return. Later, he was running up and down, handling paperwork and medical examinations. When he finally got a moment to breathe, he sat on a cold bench, waiting for the worker’s family to arrive for the compensation discussion. Only then did he have the chance to pick up his phone, but he hesitated.

What happened today couldn’t be explained in just a few words. He originally wanted to send You Lexin a voice message to briefly describe the situation. He even raised the phone to his lips but stopped. Would she even want to know? She might have only reached out to him out of boredom, looking for some entertainment. Now that something so unpleasant had happened to him, she might not be interested in hearing about it.

Just then, the insurance company’s representative arrived, led upstairs by the renovation company. Both parties were urging him from the hallway. With all the distractions, Xu Tiancheng decided not to say too much. He simply sent You Lexin a message saying he was busy.

By the time he finished the compensation discussion and walked out of the hospital, he checked his nearly dead phone—You Lexin hadn’t replied.

He wondered if she was upset with him for being too distant. But then he looked at the time—it had been hours since his last message. After running around all day, both physically and mentally exhausted, he thought about it and decided to let it go. She was already losing interest in him; there was no need to drag her into his negativity and make her even more annoyed.

He was holding back for something bigger.

There were many reasons why Xu Tiancheng changed his mind and took over Old Xie’s two stores, but the most important one was that he accidentally discovered one of the stores was very close to You Lexin’s workplace.

He knew where she worked—she had never hidden her workplace from him. In their past conversations, she had occasionally mentioned things about her office surroundings. A quick online search was all it took to find out which floor of which building her company was in.

After rushing to get everything ready, he finally pushed the fitness club into the trial operation stage. When it came time to plan the promotional visits to nearby offices, Xu Tiancheng immediately said, “I’ll go.”

“Huh?” His team looked at each other in surprise. “We can handle it. Climbing floor after floor is exhausting. By the end of the day, our throats will be dry from talking so much. And that’s not even the worst part—we have to butter up the property management, send them little gifts, and even deal with security guards who give us attitude. It’s tough work.”

“It’s fine. I’ll go.”

Xu Tiancheng was firm.

But if You Lexin rejected him again this time, would he give up?

Probably not.

He felt like he wouldn’t.

If this didn’t work, he really had no other ideas. What would he do then?

Well, he’d worry about that later. No point in getting discouraged before even making a move.

The standard practice for promotional visits was to start from the top floor. When they reached the 29th floor, Xu Tiancheng immediately spotted You Lexin’s back among the crowd.

They had been making a huge commotion, but she just sat at her desk, completely indifferent.

As he walked toward her, his heart pounded with nervousness. In the end, all he could do was pretend he didn’t see her.

He was too much of a coward. He had only been determined to come here, but he hadn’t actually thought about what to do once he arrived. Countless bad ideas had crossed his mind, and he had even spent days picking out engagement rings. Thankfully, he still had some sense left—he knew this wasn’t the right time to propose. Doing it in front of all her colleagues would be nothing short of emotional blackmail.

His mind was a mess. In the end, he said nothing and just walked past her.

But then, he caught a glimpse of her face in the reflection of the oversized mirrored water cup on her desk. She seemed unaffected, but in reality, her head was lowered, and her lips were tightly pressed into a straight line. She looked like she was crying.

A surge of emotion rushed through him—shock, heartache, and even a bit of joy. He felt an overwhelming impulse.

He turned back in big strides and stopped in front of her. He hadn’t rehearsed anything, and he wasn’t sure what exactly he blurted out, but one thing was certain—it came straight from his heart.

When he saw You Lexin break into a smile through her tears and throw her “weapon” at him, Xu Tiancheng let out a long breath of relief.

He knew—he had won this bet.

°.✩┈┈∘*┈˃̶୨୧˂̶┈*∘┈┈✩.°

📢 Author’s Note:

The male lead’s perspective ends here! Whoosh~