After being reborn, my sister insisted on marrying me.

On the podium.

The applause didn't erupt immediately.

The silence lasted for about a second and a half, and then a wave of applause surged from the front row to the back row, filling the entire auditorium like a tide.

While clapping, Director Liu turned to Professor Meng next to him and said something, and Professor Meng nodded.

Wu Zhenhe sat in the front row by the side, not clapping, but just watching Wei Yi's back as he walked down from the stage, her lips curving into a bright smile.

Her radiant smile, unsurprisingly, caught the attention of many observant people.

For example, Director Liu, who seemed to be talking to Professor Meng, was actually glancing at her out of the corner of his eye the whole time.

no way.

There are always more people in this world who want to improve than those who don't.

Then Wu Zhenhe sent Chen Xinyi a WeChat message: "Your brother, your husband, and my husband—his performance today deserves a 90 out of 100. I'm deducting 10 points because he touched your couple rings three times on stage; it was too obvious!"

After a few seconds, Chen Xinyi replied, "Then let him buy you an identical one too, so that only the three of us have one."

Wu Zhenhe's smile became even brighter.

She replied, "Okay!"

After the meeting.

As soon as Wei Yi stepped out of the side door of the lecture hall, Su Lai pounced on him.

Her round face flushed with excitement, making her look like a freshly baked meat pie.

"Boss, when did you prepare this? Where did you get that compliance rate data? From a third-party organization? I don't know you used a third-party organization?"

"I asked Sister Wu for help." Wei Yi took out his phone and scrolled through unread messages. "The data is real, and the organization is real too, but the time was a bit rushed, and we only did the university district in the capital."

So it was that long, white leg.

Awesome!

Sulai gave him a thumbs up.

Just then, Dai Wei and several people from ofo came out of the side door and walked straight towards the parking lot without stopping.

His face could no longer be described as black.

Instead, it was a color between grayish-white and iron-blue, making the person look as if their spine had been removed.

As Sulei watched his figure disappear around the corner of the hall, she suddenly lowered her voice and said in an extremely serious tone:

"Boss, I always thought you were just a good-looking, lucky, and opportunistic boss who would just sit back and do nothing. But today I realize you're the kind of person who sleeps with his legs propped up on his desk, and then flips the chessboard over once he wakes up."

"...Are you praising me or insulting me?"

"I'm praising you." Sulei patted his shoulder, smiling to reveal two canine teeth. "I mean it sincerely. Of course, actually, you're even better at sucking up to powerful people."

"roll!"

"No, I'm your mother-in-law."

"My dear in-laws, that's fine, but don't look at me like that. It scares me!"

"Damn it! Wei Yi, you xxxxxx!"

The string of insults that followed has been omitted.

As the two walked toward the parking lot, their phones vibrated simultaneously.

Fang Yunshu posted a link in the TAGE internal group, titled "Credit Score System for the Shared Bike Industry Released Today".

Following Kim Se-rim's comment "진짜대박이다," Lin Si-yan, unusually, chimed in the group chat: "Se-rim unnie, speak Chinese." Kim Se-rim replied: "I said 'It's absolutely amazing.'"

At the same time.

A seat in the back corner of the auditorium.

Wang Xueli closed her laptop, took off her black-rimmed glasses, and slowly wiped the lenses with a lens cloth.

She came to the conference today to accompany her mentor.

Her mentor is Chen Xinyi's mentor.

He is an academic bigwig, currently sitting in the front row of the guest seats.

She sat in the back row as an assistant, responsible for taking meeting minutes.

This was originally just an ordinary academic task.

She has at least fifty, if not a hundred, similar academic assignments a year.

But today's meeting is somewhat different for her.

When she heard the host call out that name and saw that person appear on stage...

She couldn't help but concentrate a lot.

She was certainly familiar with the name.

The most recent instance was last night, when she sat to his right at the dining table in the Palm Springs International Apartment, eating with her head down, and didn't dare to say more than three words to him the whole time.

Chen Xinyi kept serving her food, and Jin Shilin kept pouring her drinks.

She is not stupid.

She knew that neither of those two women was any good.

Kobayashi is pretty good.

Because Kobayashi likes women, and he already has someone he loves.

And Wei Yi—

Wei Yi would only occasionally turn his head to ask her, "Do you like the food?" or "Is the heating warm enough?"

Her voice was warm, and her eyes were gentle.

It's like taking care of a cat that's easily startled.

She admitted it to herself.

His behavior made her feel very, very comfortable.

Even now, the memory of the massage still makes her ears burn.

She didn't know why she agreed at the time.

Maybe it was that glass of red wine, maybe it was Chen Xinyi's words, "You must have a lot of neck and shoulder pain from preparing for the bar exam," or maybe it was the professional technique he used when he massaged her.

She lay face down on the massage bed in the guest room.

She buried her face in the U-shaped pillow, closed her eyes, and pursed her lips into a thin line, trying her best not to make any sound.

Then his hand slid down her spine, down to her waist, and then forward—

She actually wanted to refuse.

But it felt so comfortable.

For some reason, he smelled incredibly good.

She's not a perfume or makeup expert, so she can't tell what kind of perfume it is.

But then again, it didn't seem like perfume; it seemed like his own scent.

It smells a bit like mint and a bit like sunshine after rain; in short, it smells very pleasant.

Drum...

I was pressed.

They were being pressed around.

He also said things like "I'm a professional," "This place is especially effective for relieving women's overall fatigue," "I'm pressing Chengfu acupoint now, which is best for women who sit for long periods of time," and "This is Huantiao acupoint, which can effectively treat sciatica, numbness in the lower limbs, and lower back pain."

That sounds really professional.

It feels so good to massage.

But that place.

That's something only a husband can touch.

That's just how he is...

How could she possibly bear it?

At that time, ...you know...

Although it was only a little bit.

Later, he went even further and further astray.

Press the button below.

Move your hand upwards.

While she was feeling incredibly comfortable.

亻. 申.

주무르다, 주무르다.

Wang Xueli couldn't take it anymore.

She suddenly sat up, her face so red it could fry an egg, and said, "I should go back now."

He grabbed the bag and ran.

Next, from last night until now.

She didn't dare contact Chen Xinyi.

Chen Xinyi proactively sent her a WeChat message, her tone as warm as ever: "Senior sister, I'm sorry about last night. My brother was a bit rough, please don't be angry. Let's have dinner another day, and I'll tell him to behave himself."

She stared at the message for several minutes before finally replying, "It's nothing, I was just too nervous."

She wanted to add, "His massage skills are indeed very professional," but she typed it, deleted it, typed it again, and ultimately didn't send it.

She thought she had moved on from the past.

Until now.

She didn't stop until she saw Wei Yi stand up from his seat, walk through the aisle of the entire lecture hall, and head towards the podium.

He walked slowly and steadily, the cuffs of his navy blue shirt peeking out just a little bit from his suit jacket, and his leather shoes making almost no sound on the carpet.

She suddenly realized that the boy who spoke softly when serving her food at the table, and the boy who asked her "Is the pressure too strong?" on the massage bed, sounded as gentle as if he were coaxing a child.

He became a completely different person at that moment.

He stood on the stage, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a remote control.

Despite being in front of a group of big shots, his tone was as casual as a kindergarten teacher lecturing to children.

It was as if the presence of numerous ministerial leaders, academic bigwigs, and professional journalists did not exert any pressure on him whatsoever.

Then, before anyone could react, they dropped a bombshell that could change the entire industry landscape.

No deposit required. Credit score. Credit loop.

As she listened, she unconsciously took notes, her fingers flying across the keyboard.

I wrote a whole page before suddenly stopping, realizing that what I had written was not meeting minutes, but a line of text that I had unconsciously typed out.

"His eyes are so bright, like the sun."

She quickly deleted the line and secretly glanced around.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief when he realized no one had noticed.

She switched back to the meeting minutes format, but the image wouldn't leave her mind.

It was him standing on the stage, with that commanding and confident air.

When the applause started, she closed her laptop, took off her glasses to wipe them, and then put them back on.

Her gaze, involuntarily drawn, pierced through the gaps in the crowd to the figure walking down from the podium.

He was speaking to Sulei, who was approaching him, with a slight smile on his lips.

Unlike the relaxed confidence before going on stage, this was a sense of ease after the performance was completed.

Sulei was so excited that he was gesturing wildly, while he remained calm throughout, occasionally nodding, occasionally interjecting, and occasionally raising his hand to straighten his tie, which had been bent out of shape by the applause.

Her gaze involuntarily followed his back until he reached the third row.

Then she saw him bend down and naturally kiss his sister on the forehead.

Chen Xinyi looked up at him and smiled, then reached out to straighten his tie.

That tie was clearly tied very neatly before going on stage.

Xiao Chen insisted on tidying it up again, doing so slowly and carefully.

It was as if she were confirming that some precious object had been returned to her hands intact.

Wang Xueli suddenly remembered the things Chen Xinyi had said to her on WeChat.

"He seems lazy most of the time, but he never lets you worry when it matters. You have no idea how proud I was watching him from the sidelines; that feeling was more gratifying than anything I accomplished myself."

At the time, she thought it was just a one-sided outburst from a doting brother.

Now she suddenly understood.

Chen Xinyi's statement is not an exaggeration at all.

A thought suddenly popped into her mind.

An idea that was completely contrary to her usual caution and discipline.

Last night on the massage bed, if she hadn't pushed his hand away.

What will happen?

The thought startled her the moment it popped into her head.

Her face turned bright red, down to her ears.

She quickly lowered her head, stuffed her laptop into her briefcase, and moved more than twice as fast as usual.

Her black-rimmed glasses slipped down her nose, and she tried to push them back up twice but couldn't get them in place.

She doesn't remember how she got out of the conference center.

The cold wind from the parking lot blew into her collar, making her shiver and finally bringing her back to her senses.

She took out her car keys, pressed a button, got into the driver's seat, and closed the door, but didn't start the engine immediately. She just sat there for a long time.

The car stereo automatically played the legal lecture she hadn't finished listening to last time.

The professor's voice rose and fell in the car as he recounted a classic case in property law, but she didn't hear a single word.

The same image kept replaying in her mind—

He stood on the stage, one hand in his pocket, his finger tracing an arc across the screen as he flipped through the PowerPoint presentation.

Then there was the moment after the event when he bent down and kissed Chen Xinyi's forehead—casual, intimate, and oblivious to everyone else, as if the hundreds of eyes in the entire lecture hall didn't exist.

Then she remembered what Chen Xinyi had whispered in her ear when she saw her off at the Palm Springs family dinner.

"Senior sister, my brother's massage is really just to help you relax. But if you ever want to relax even more, just let me know."

At the time, she thought that statement was absurd.

So absurd was it that she didn't know how to respond, and could only blush and say "Goodnight" before hurriedly entering the elevator.

Now she suddenly realized that perhaps the absurd thing wasn't that sentence.

I'm actually starting to really want to relax more...