0036 Auntie Lai After Drinking

Lai Feifei was not drinking at this moment. However, the way she looked at Li Zhiyan with her beautiful, mesmerizing eyes was still filled with deep affection. This kid was truly too clever! Moreover, Li Zhiyan was almost excessively intelligent. How did he know that she was currently suffering a massive headache over how to reject Lai Tianming? Perhaps, this was telepathy? A sense of wonder flickered in Lai Feifei's heart.

Lai Tianming frowned, looking at Li Zhiyan with deep suspicion. His sister had always maintained the image of a wealthy woman in Shanghai. She had received a great deal of money during her divorce—conservatively estimated at tens of millions—along with many properties. How could she suddenly be so destitute?

"Ms. Lai, please take a look at my employee ID. I am not a scammer," Li Zhiyan continued, pointing to the Changlong Group badge on his chest, which bore the company’s official seal. This seal proved one thing: Li Zhiyan was no fraud, as forging an official seal was a criminal offense. This action made Lai Feifei like him even more; how did this boy know exactly how to strike a chord in her heart?

"Business has really been difficult lately. Could you speak with President Catherine? Please make an exception and let me delay for a while longer; I am already in the process of selling my house," Lai Feifei said, appearing very distressed.

"This... this puts me in a very difficult position," Li Zhiyan replied.

The two of them played along perfectly, and Lai Tianming was temporarily bluffed. Could his sister really be so down and out?

"You are making this very difficult for me," Lai Tianming said, just as he received a call from a friend.

"Hey, Mr. Lai, come out and play mahjong? We’re one short."

When he heard the person on the other end address him as "Mr. Lai," Li Zhiyan noticed his expression was clearly one of immense enjoyment. He was deeply immersed in the pleasure of being addressed by such a title.

"What 'Mr. Lai'? I'm so poor," he feigned.

"Haha, Mr. Lai, you’re being too modest. A '24 E300! They say anyone driving a Mercedes E300 is a dragon among men in reality. Come on over, Mr. Lai."

Although he remained modest in his speech, his uncontrollable, smug expression betrayed him completely. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

Hearing his friend call for mahjong and looking at the situation before him, Lai Tianming knew there was no hope of borrowing money today.

"Sister, I’ll head off then. You handle the matters at hand. Make sure you have that half-million ready for me." Lai Tianming reached the door and drove away in his Mercedes E-Class.

Seeing the plague of a man leave, Lai Feifei finally let out a sigh of relief. "Li Zhiyan, thank you so much today. How did you come up with that tactic?"

Li Zhiyan followed Lai Feifei toward the villa's living room. He felt that Auntie Lai, when sober, truly had an air of cold elegance. She was like a completely different person from the one who called him "Little Yan-bao" while drunk.

"I heard what he said and realized he wasn't a good person, so I helped you act," Li Zhiyan said. "Auntie Lai, who is he?" Although he knew perfectly well, he still had to ask.

"He’s my younger brother, Lai Tianming. I helped him out quite a bit when I was married before, but later he came to me to borrow money for a business venture, owed me a million, and now he wants to borrow even more. I’ve already done all I could for him."

Li Zhiyan agreed with her approach. It was normal to have feelings for family and to help when possible—and Auntie Lai’s money was earned by her own hard work. But helping without boundaries would be pure exploitation.

"Auntie Lai, couldn't you have just rejected him directly?"

"Li Zhiyan, you're still a child. There are some things you don't understand. My parents are both still alive; it’s not easy to make things too ugly. And even though he’s detestable, we are born of the same mother; it's not like you can just cut ties completely."

Li Zhiyan pondered this. His perspective was perhaps a bit more one-sided than an adult's; if it were up to his temper, he certainly wouldn't have been so gentle.

"Thank you again, Li Zhiyan. The time is about right; come out and have a meal with me."

"Okay!" Li Zhiyan felt a surge of anticipation. He loved the feeling of being with Auntie Lai, and today was a chance.

"Go wait for me in the garage; I'll be there in a moment."

...

Soon, at the garage entrance, Li Zhiyan saw Lai Feifei walking toward him in a black silk skirt. She was carrying a pair of high heels in her hand, which was quite similar to Auntie Shen. Beautiful women were always so obsessed with their appearance! Soon, Lai Feifei drove out of the underground garage in her Maybach S480.

"Get in!"

After sitting in the passenger seat, Li Zhiyan praised, "Auntie Lai, the interior is beautiful."

"Hmm, Little Yan, if you work hard, you'll be able to drive a Maybach too one day."

"Auntie Lai, I don't have your talent—you were born with the 'lucky koi' body."

As they hit the road, pedestrians looked at the Maybach with envy. A luxury car worth over a million was something most ordinary people could never reach, or even dare to dream of, in their entire lives.

"That's not necessarily true, Little Yan. Although the era of easy dividends has passed, there are still many ordinary people who manage to turn their lives around."

"Auntie Lai, I’ve seen some people who dance on social media make it big, and that guy who’s always saying 'giaogiao'—he just bought a BMW 7 Series recently. A normal person probably doesn't have a chance to turn their life around."

Lai Feifei couldn't help but smile. Although she admired Li Zhiyan, she didn't believe that in this era of big data, he could easily change his fate. "Haha, indeed. In the past, people with high academic qualifications were the ones who got ahead; now, you couldn't find a single vocational school diploma among ten internet celebrities."

Upon arriving at a Western restaurant, Lai Feifei parked the car and found a window seat for them. Looking at the pedestrians outside and the streetlights that had just flickered to life, Li Zhiyan felt for the first time that he was truly in the heart of the "Magic City"—before, he had always felt like he was in hell.

"Two sirloin steaks. This one, and this one. And a bottle of red wine."

Afterward, Lai Feifei handed the menu to Li Zhiyan. Hearing that she was going to drink, Li Zhiyan felt both nervous and expectant. This lush was the same whether she had one glass or ten. Her ceiling was ridiculously high, but her floor was that she’d get tipsy the moment she started.

Once the red wine arrived, Li Zhiyan clearly saw desire in Lai Feifei's beautiful, mesmerizing eyes. That desire was just like his own desire for black silk!

After one glass, within minutes, Lai Feifei’s face began to flush. "Little Yan-bao, thank you so much for today. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have known how to drive that scoundrel Lai Tianming away. I’m going to reward you! Let you eat Auntie’s feet."

As she spoke, she placed her black-silk-clad legs onto the dining table. Li Zhiyan felt like he wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.