Zhongxi Construction.

Those four words instantly perked Gan Lan up.

The current chairman of Zhongxi Construction was named Ye Zhongxi.

He was only about eight or nine years older than Ye Yubai, a famous young talent with considerable influence.

Most importantly, he was Ye Yubai’s older half-brother, sharing the same father.

Ye Zhongxi couldn’t have become chairman without the support of the Ye Family behind him.

But he held the position for only a year before someone pushed him out.

The person who replaced him was also part of the Ye Family.

However, that person wasn’t very well-known and rarely appeared in public, so Gan Lan didn’t know much about them.

Of course, that wasn’t the point.

The point was Ye Zhongxi.

Ye Yubai’s father had founded the company, named it Zhongxi Construction, and naturally left it to Ye Zhongxi. It was clear how much he loved that son.

In her previous life, Gan Lan had once seen Ye Zhongxi from a distance outside a café, through the glass and across a flower bed.

The feeling he gave her was something like…

A wolf.

That’s right. A wolf.

His gaze was intimidating, and even when he smiled as he spoke, there was a dangerous edge to him.

Ye Yubai had once bluntly told her that he didn’t like this older brother of his at all.

“Was that call from Ye Zhongxi?”

But as soon as Gan Lan thought of it, something felt off.

The timing didn’t add up!

Ye Yubai didn’t return to the Ye Family until his junior year of college—that was four years from now.

And he wouldn’t meet this half-brother of his until a year after that.

If they’d already spoken this early, wouldn’t Ye Yubai have told her? She knew how chatty the guy was.

There was only one possibility: Ye Yubai hadn’t received this call in his previous life, either!

The phone rang for over ten seconds, then the call ended.

Gan Lan memorized the number, took out her own phone, and tried calling it.

Someone picked up almost immediately.

But it was a young woman’s voice, like a sales rep.

“Hello, you’ve reached the front desk at Zhongxi Construction. How can I help you?”

As soon as she heard the voice, Gan Lan promptly hung up.

“That call just now must’ve been a coincidence, right?”

she thought.

…

She gathered up her dirty clothes and took them to the laundry room downstairs.

You had to pay to do your laundry here.

Someone would wash your clothes and put them in a laundry basket. If you got along well with the lady who worked there, she might even hang them out to dry and bring them in for you.

Unfortunately, Gan Lan wasn’t much of a charmer, and she didn’t have much to talk about with the lady.

If it were Ye Yubai, he’d get the full service: washing, drying, and folding.

The woman in charge of the building gave the amount a rough estimate, then charged her five yuan.

Gan Lan paid and headed outside.

Knowing Ye Yubai and those girls, there were only two or three places they’d usually meet. It’d be easy to find them.

Carrying his phone, Gan Lan followed the route she remembered, checking each place in turn.

…

Meanwhile.

Ye Yubai was already sitting in a milk tea shop, sizing up the three girls in front of him.

Jiang Qingqing was dressed in the most pink, just like her profile picture.

She kept a shy look on her face the whole time, silently doing her homework with her head down. She didn’t try to chat him up at all.

The other two sitting beside Jiang Qingqing were a lot more trouble.

One wanted to borrow his notebook, another wanted to borrow his pen, and one even wanted to try his milk tea to see what it tasted like. Ye Yubai was getting seriously annoyed.

Ye Yubai wrote a note, folded it, and slipped it to Jiang Qingqing without drawing attention to himself.

Jiang Qingqing stared at the note in surprise.

Then she was overcome with joy.

Could it be…

Was Ye Yubai confessing his feelings to her?

But…

When she opened the note, all she saw was a question that left her completely dumbfounded: Do you know if anyone in your class has a crush on me?

Jiang Qingqing thought for a moment, then wrote back: Brother Ye, you’re so handsome. Lots of girls like you!

Then she carefully folded the note and secretly passed it back to Ye Yubai.

Ye Yubai opened it. That answer was basically no answer at all!

How was he supposed to find out the name of the culprit behind all this?

He asked again: Then do you know which girl in your class acts the most crazy?

Jiang Qingqing took the note again.

She sneaked a look inside.

When she read what Ye Yubai had written, she froze again.

What did he mean by that?

Was Ye Yubai testing her character, seeing if she’d bad-mouth someone else?

She was a quiet, sweet girl, of course she couldn’t say bad things about other people!

So she deliberately gave him a vague answer: Brother Ye, I just study at school. I don’t really know about that stuff.

She had just passed the note back to Ye Yubai again.

The glass door swung open.

Gan Lan walked in.

Everyone froze.

When his eyes met Gan Lan’s, Ye Yubai even looked a little flustered. He jumped to his feet.

But then he thought, We’re all guys here. What’s there to freak out about?

Besides, before he left, he’d told Gan Lan he was going out to do homework with some girls. There was nothing to be nervous about!

“H-How did you know I was here?”

That was what he thought, anyway. What came out of his mouth was another matter.

Ye Yubai sounded incredibly guilty.

Like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“I came to bring you your phone.”

As she spoke, Gan Lan set his phone down.

She turned to leave, but Ye Yubai instinctively stood up and grabbed her arm.

“Wait!”

Gan Lan glanced back at him.

Then she turned her face slightly and glanced at Jiang Qingqing.

She’d seen the two of them passing notes when she was just outside the door.

It had nothing to do with her, yet it still left her feeling a little unsettled.

It was like…

She felt a little sour inside.

Especially when she saw their fingers brush as they passed the note back and forth.

That sour feeling became especially strong.

What was she jealous of? She didn’t know.

It wasn’t as if she even liked the girls here.

She forced down her discomfort and said calmly, “My laundry should be done by now. I need to go hang it up, or I won’t have anything to wear to school on Monday.”

“No rush,” Ye Yubai said.

As he spoke, he handed Gan Lan the milk tea beside him.

Ye Yubai added, “It’s plain. I think you’ll like it.”

After handing her the milk tea, he picked up an egg tart and held it up to Gan Lan’s mouth.

Ye Yubai went on, “You’ll like this too. It’s really creamy and super delicious!”

The three girls sitting across from them stared, their eyes wide.

What was Ye Yubai doing?

Was he acting all cute, right?

Was he trying to win Gan Lan over, right?

So the heartthrob was this good at it?!

Gan Lan looked at him helplessly. “I don’t want it. I stopped liking…”

As she said that, she paused.

She couldn’t say that she’d stopped liking egg tarts ages ago.

That would sound way too weird.

At this point in time, she liked these little desserts just as much as Ye Yubai and the girls did.

Ye Yubai gave a slightly disappointed “Oh,” then shoved the egg tart into his mouth.

What a waste! the girls thought in unison. That was an egg tart fed to her by the heartthrob himself!

Gan Lan gently pushed his hand aside and turned to leave.

“I really do have to go hang up my laundry. You have fun.”

Ye Yubai hurried to his feet and chased after her.

“Gan Lan, wait! I’ll come help you hang up your laundry…”

As the two of them walked away, the girls watched them go.

Jiang Qingqing suddenly had a strange feeling:

Why did Ye Yubai and Gan Lan look so much like a couple?