Chapter 721: Chapter 96: Yurong, the day after tomorrow, next year
Chapter Ninety-six: Yurong, the Day After Tomorrow, Next Year
No matter if it was Hai Fu, Huang Ying, or Wen Qianyi, they all kindly left his schedule free for Christmas. Unfortunately, they all ended up squeezing their plans onto Christmas Eve.
It’s like when a movie ends, everyone thinks there will be too many people leaving after the credits, so they decide to leave as soon as it ends. As a result, everyone does the same and rushes out when the end credits start, leaving hardly anyone to watch the credits.
Just as Li Yan was sighing and pondering countermeasures, the phone rang again...
Without looking at the phone, he said to himself, if it’s another girl calling to ask if he’s free on Christmas night and wants to have dinner tonight, no matter who it is, refuse all of them; don’t make things complicated for yourself!
Holding onto this thought, he picked up his phone to check, and was somewhat dumbfounded. It was... Zhang Yurong calling!
Since the day he left home, this was the first time she called him!
Of course, Li Yan himself hadn’t used his phone to call her either. After being refused once when he tried calling from the office, he hadn’t called again. Recently, the two seemed to have calmed down, appearing almost like strangers, both ostensibly avoiding each other in some form of tacit agreement, and not running into each other in places like the parking lot, elevator, or company cafeteria, thus avoiding awkwardness and dodging the need to face the issue.
Now, Zhang Yurong actually called his cellphone!
Li Yan, after a brief distraction, steadied himself. He thought skeptically: It can’t be her. She’s too proud and reserved. She wouldn’t answer my calls, how could she call me? Perhaps someone else is using her phone, or she was pressured by her parents to call?
With such suspicions, he answered the phone.
"Yur... Is this Ms. Zhang?" He almost blurted out the familiar name ’Yurong,’ but considering their current relationship, she might not want him calling her so intimately. Given it’s work hours, she might be calling due to a complaint from Jiang Xueyin about his frequent absence from the office, thus phoning about work issues. Hence, after a slip, he swallowed back the ’Rong’ and changed it to ’Ms. Zhang.’
On the other end, Zhang Yurong didn’t respond, but Li Yan could tell from the slight breathing that it was indeed Zhang Yurong! This stirred a ripple in his heart. He thought he’d already reached a calm, undisturbed state, yet just hearing her breathe made it feel as if she was there beside him, as if they were close again.
"Is it something? Are you calling because I’m not at the company?" he asked in a low voice after calming himself.
Little did he know, Zhang Yurong was even more nervous than he was!
Just like Yue Yao described, and as everyone believed, she truly was a proud person. This pride didn’t stem from her background or beauty, those were innate, but from her acquired efforts, her genius academic performance, her business talents, her capabilities. Such pride influences one’s character. Moreover, she typically seemed aloof to people, only showing her smile to those she’s very familiar with or close to. She was the one who initiated the breakup with Li Yan, so how could she possibly call him first?
Furthermore, during these days, she had been worried that Li Yan was planning to leave Paradise Group, hence avoiding contact to prevent him from having the chance to resign.
But today was Friday, a regular family gathering day. At this time each week, it was her and Li Yan’s turn to go have a family dinner, a tradition that went from being a display of affection to becoming somewhat natural. But now... last week, she already used the excuse of being too busy to return home. Can she use the same excuse again today?
"No... it’s personal." Yurong forced herself to calm down, "Do you remember what day it is today?"
Again? Hai Fu had just asked a similar question. Li Yan was a bit dizzy, and this time he didn’t counter-question but answered straightforwardly, "Today is December 24th, Friday. Tomorrow is Christmas. Tonight seems to be the time for some celebration, Christmas Eve, or something. I don’t understand it well, whether it’s tonight or tomorrow night."
Hearing Li Yan’s answer, Yurong gave a faint snort inwardly. Emphasizing Christmas and Christmas Eve—is he expecting me to ask him to celebrate the holiday together? That’s some confidence, right?
She said blandly, "Since you remember today is Friday, do you also remember what you’re supposed to do on Friday night?"
Li Yan didn’t really care about foreign festivals. It was mainly because the three previous calls were all date invites for tonight, pulling him into the holiday atmosphere that led to this assumption about Yurong’s intentions. Now upon hearing her, it dawned on him—right, on Friday night, aren’t we supposed to go to my in-laws’ for dinner?
Even though they’ve been giving each other the cold shoulder for over ten days, as long as nothing is publicly determined, they still have to keep up the loving act in front of the elders. Ten months of habit made him naturally inclined to agree to go back with her tonight.
However, just as he was about to agree, another issue crossed his mind. If they keep acting lovingly in front of the elders, or at least like there’s no problem, and then suddenly announce a separation or divorce some time later, wouldn’t the elders be completely unprepared? Wouldn’t the shock be greater?
