Chapter 211 - Acting Fail

“Um…

haha, I’ve been too busy with work these past few days and also felt bad about disturbing you, so I didn’t call you,” Ye Fan said with an apologetic smile.

“How have you been doing these days?”

“Not good!” Zhao Lina said, a bit huffily.

Pretending not to know, Ye Fan asked, “Work not going well?

Haha, actually, you don’t need to push yourself so hard.

While serving the people is important, you can’t possibly get everything done perfectly on your own…”

Listening on the other end of the phone, Zhao Lina grew so annoyed at Ye Fan’s feigned ignorance and nonsense that she itched to bite him.

If Ye Fan had been in front of her, she certainly would have pounced and bitten him hard.

However, despite knowing Ye Fan was talking nonsense, she couldn’t bring herself to say the real reason.

“Why does this annoying guy always have to be so detestable?!” she cursed inwardly.

After Ye Fan rambled on for a bit, he finally stopped.

Zhao Lina hadn’t been paying attention to whatever Ye Fan had been saying after his nonsense, and when he stopped talking, she went straight to the point: “My dad and mom want me to invite you over for dinner, so what should we do?”

“Just tell your dad and mom that I’m too swamped with work and don’t have time for now,” Ye Fan suggested.

Although he knew this excuse would likely be useless, he still wanted to put it out there—who knows, maybe Zhao Lina would actually go along with it.

I can’t keep entangled in this any longer; I need to give her the cold shoulder, otherwise if Zhao Lina really falls for me, I’ll be at a loss.

Zhao Lina snorted, “That excuse might fool a three-year-old but don’t think it will fool my dad and mom.

You think you’re busier than my dad?”

“That’s not the point; even a small fry can be busy with small fry things,” Ye Fan defended himself.

Zhao Lina just huffed dismissively, clearly not buying Ye Fan’s slippery excuse.

“Then what do you suggest?” Ye Fan asked helplessly.

“I don’t have any other option.

So, you have to keep pretending to be my boyfriend and come over for dinner tonight,” Zhao Lina stated, then emphasized, “Remember, I’m only doing this because I have no choice, do not think I’ve accepted you!”

“Yes, yes, I get it, I get it,” Ye Fan replied, feebly forcing a smile.

Zhao Lina let out a proud snort.

“Today’s Friday, right?” Ye Fan suddenly asked.

“Yes,” Zhao Lina answered, “It’s Friday, isn’t it perfect?”

“Dinner at your place on Friday won’t work,” Ye Fan said earnestly, “I really have a pressing matter tonight and cannot make it.

How about tomorrow night?”

Friday was the time to accompany Li Zhaojun to see Old Master Li; that was a commitment he couldn’t postpone.

Zhao Lina was left fuming; why did he always have to delay every time she made plans with him?

The little bit of pride she had just managed to muster was scattered in an instant.

“Whatever!” she said irritably, then hung up the phone forcefully.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, at the Suo Yu Cafe on Xianxing Road in Liu Jiahui, Ye Fan met with Xiao Yu once again.

This time, however, it wasn’t just Xiao Yu alone; there were also two men.

One was the project manager, and the other was a renovation designer wearing black-framed glasses.

He discussed the changes he wanted to make to the renovation plan directly with the designer with black-framed glasses.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Ye Fan discussed his proposed amendments with the designer in black-framed glasses, and the project manager agreed that the amendments were within budget, so they formally signed the contract.

Next up, all that was left was for the designer in black-framed glasses to go back, revise the drawings and 3D simulation model according to Ye Fan’s requests, send them over the internet for Ye Fan’s review, and wait for Ye Fan to decide on the final version.

Then Sunlight Decoration Company would print out the drawings for Ye Fan to sign off on, and finally, they would officially begin the decoration work.

After returning to Emali Group, when it was past five o’clock, Li Zhaojun called Ye Fan to confirm that they would visit Elder Li after work.

Thinking about the imminent face-to-face interaction with Li Zhaojun made Ye Fan somewhat depressed.

Ever since the misunderstanding the night before last, where he was accused of peeping under skirts, he had been avoiding Li Zhaojun and refraining from meeting her.

“Sigh, this is just my luck, she’ll scorn me to death,” Ye Fan muttered to himself.

Just thinking about living under Li Zhaojun’s scornful gaze for a considerably long time in the future, unable to lift his head, made him feel extremely frustrated.

However, an ugly daughter-in-law must eventually meet the in-laws.

In the parking lot of the high-ranking retired officials’ retirement community, Ye Fan finally came face-to-face with Li Zhaojun after getting out of the car.

Ye Fan glanced at Li Zhaojun’s pretty face and saw that her face was still cold as frost, and the cold look in her phoenix eyes was filled with disdain and contempt.

“Sigh—” Ye Fan slouched, unable to lift his head.

Walking together toward the red-brick building and climbing up to the second-floor corridor, Ye Fan thought to himself that with her detesting and despising him so much, she probably wouldn’t even be willing to pretend.

Therefore, he dismissed the thought of reaching for Li Zhaojun’s small hand.

However, after taking a couple of steps, Li Zhaojun called out from behind, “Wait!”

Hearing Li Zhaojun’s call, Ye Fan’s heart couldn’t help but leap with joy, and he quickly turned back.

“Hold hands,” Li Zhaojun said coldly.

“Heh, no problem, no problem,” Ye Fan chuckled, thinking to himself, hey hey, it seems she has forgiven me, and she won’t scorn me for the rest of my life because of that incident.

Taking two steps for every one, Ye Fan returned to Li Zhaojun’s side, then extended his hand to hold her delicate, jade-like hand, which was indeed as smooth as silk and soft as if boneless.

Just as he started to walk while holding Li Zhaojun’s hand, Ye Fan couldn’t help but glance at her expression.

However, he saw Li Zhaojun looking at him out of the corner of her eye with disdain, a look of disgust and gagging on her face, as if she had been held by a hand covered in filth.

Hearing this, his mood was immediately doused with cold water, and he let go of Li Zhaojun’s hand at once.

“A play or two won’t make grandfather notice anything,” Ye Fan said indifferently, “Besides, grandfather is probably resting in the bedroom right now, and he won’t see it even if we put on a show.”

Having said that, he quickened his pace and moved forward.

He had his pride.

Although the incident the night before last had been a misunderstanding, and he had been unable to express his frustration, swallowing his pride and gritting his teeth, it didn’t mean he would let Li Zhaojun scorn and disgust him without standing up for himself.

Li Zhaojun was taken aback, not expecting Ye Fan to let go of her hand voluntarily.

By the time she regained her composure and was about to call out to Ye Fan, he had already walked briskly to the front of Elder Li’s residence.

With no choice but to swallow her call and catch up with Ye Fan in a few quick steps, she aimed to avoid arriving at the entrance of Elder Li’s residence one after the other.

However, just as they reached the door together and looked inside through the open doorway, they happened to see Elder Li sitting in an old rattan chair, facing the doorway with his eyes wide open, watching them.

Both Ye Fan and Li Zhaojun were startled by the surprise.

Li Zhaojun came to her senses, hurriedly reached out to grab Ye Fan’s hand, and with a guilty smile, called out, “Grandfather, we’ve come to see you.”

“Grandfather,” Ye Fan called out, a bitter smile welling up inside: all the effort beforehand had been in vain.

Elder Li’s sitting there was clearly a vigil for Ye Fan and Li Zhaojun.