I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

"Attach a strobe flash to your rifle and get ready."

"There are still 50 meters left. I can see a bit of the front of the car on the other side."

Chen Ya said, "Turn around, don't go under the bridge."

Without saying a word, Pei Hu made a sharp turn. The oncoming car had already noticed something was wrong and came through the underpass; there was more than one of them.

The car behind him also made a sharp turn, blocking Pei Hu's car. Pei Hu stepped on the gas, but ultimately failed to get past it, instead scraping the front of the other car, a Toyota.

The car jolted violently. Chen Ya and Pei Hu, both wearing seatbelts, were nearly thrown upright, while Cui Lingfeng, not wearing a seatbelt, slammed into the front seat.

"Damn it!" Pei Hu shouted, "The Volvo braked automatically for me, but luckily it's a Volvo, I'm tougher than you!"

Sure enough, the front of the Toyota was completely smashed, but several masked men quickly ran out of the car, each carrying a gun.

Chen Ya quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, grabbed the rifle in his hand, and the man had already run to the passenger side of the car and pointed the gun at him.

"Splash!"

The barrel of a rifle protruded from the window of the Volvo, and the strobe lights suddenly went off.

The man glanced over instinctively, only to be directly hit by the flashing lights. He instinctively closed his eyes, pulled the trigger, and the passenger-side window of Chen Ya shattered, but it was slightly off-center.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Cui Lingfeng fired three shots into the man's head and chest. At that moment, another person came up from the other side to flank him.

"Drive!" Chen Ya shouted.

Pei Hu was sweating profusely: "I can't light the fire!"

Cui Lingfeng pushed open the car door and got out: "I'll get out and stop them, you guys go quickly!"

"Come back!" Chen Ya shouted.

However, Cui Lingfeng had already gone down, and with several gunshots, a car coming from the opposite direction was shot off course.

Chen Ya stuck his gun out the window and opened fire on the person running towards him. The person rolled over and found a plane tree by the roadside for cover.

Pei Hu finally got the car started, and, his face covered in sweat, shouted, "It's started! Get in! Get in!"

Cui Lingfeng continued to maneuver outside the car, his rifle occasionally spitting fire.

Chen Ya used firepower to cover Cui Lingfeng, and the person behind the tree was so badly shot that he dared not show his face.

Another car, amidst Cui Lingfeng's gunfire, swept past their Volvo.

In the instant the two cars passed each other, Chen Ya saw that the windshield of the other car was completely shattered, and the person in the driver's seat was slumped there with a large hole in his chest, blood spurting out.

"Alright! Xiao Cui! Let's go!"

Cui Lingfeng finally got into the car, and Chen Ya looked down and realized that Pei Hu's pants were stained red.

"Old Pei, you..."

"I'm alright." Pei Hu's lips were pale. "I'm not dead yet, let's go!"

The bullets struck the rear of the car with a terrifying sound.

The warm yellow light reflected on the car body began to boil and flow again.

……

……

"This is the place Old Pei was talking about."

Chen Ya got out of the car and saw the tenement building in front of him, and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

He hadn't lived in a place like this for many years; rows of rooms, clothes of various colors hanging outside the balconies, and a view of all walks of life through the windows.

After getting out of the car, Liu Ruying wrinkled her nose. She felt very uncomfortable in this place that looked so dirty at first glance.

Going upstairs, Chen Ya followed Pei Hufa's exact location to a door on the third floor.

To his surprise, the door was wide open and very welcoming.

From inside the door came a woman's hoarse voice:

"...What do you have to offer me the life I want? Do you deserve it? You're just a food delivery guy, and this shabby place you live in is rented..."

The neighbor, still in his pajamas, poked his head out of the window, seemingly listening to the commotion. Seeing Chen Ya's gaze, he grinned and said:

"The man in this family is useless; he's always making noise like this."

Chen Ya walked into the house.

Chapter 231 Watch how I deal with him!

Liu Ruying hurried behind Chen Ya, still worried that it might be inappropriate to just casually enter someone else's house.

The pale blue linen curtains by the window fluttered restlessly, a little dirty; the plastic tablecloth on the table was greasy, printed with Snoopy's cartoon head; sharp white porcelain shards were scattered on the floor, crunching underfoot.

This was an apartment room where you could see right to the bottom. The woman was standing in the living room, gesturing wildly and appearing very agitated.

The man was sitting on the ground by the wall at the corner, with broken porcelain shards all around his feet, and he was wearing a yellow food delivery uniform.

He looked to be in his late twenties, with a thin face, a prominent Adam's apple, and thick calluses on his thumbs and the base of his thumbs, which were resting on his knees.

"You went behind my back to deliver flowers to another woman, didn't you? How dare you?" The woman's voice was shrill, deafening in the small room.

The man said, "I'm not giving flowers to the woman. Today is the anniversary of her death, and I'm just going to pay my respects."

"Is that the point? I meant, don't you spend money on buying flowers?" the woman yelled. "Aren't you saving money for your wedding? Do you even want to stay together? If you don't, go tell your mom you want to break up with me!"

The man frowned: "I will give you all my money this month. I'll save up the money for flowers by skipping two meals."

"If you could save that much, why don't you hand over so much more every month?..."

Chen Ya and Liu Ruying stood a little inside the doorway. Hearing their conversation, Chen Ya suddenly remembered that today was indeed the anniversary of Xiao Cui's first love's death.

Four years ago today, he suddenly received a text message on his phone containing only three simple words:

"she left."

In reality, it was common knowledge that Cui Yongyuan's girlfriend was terminally ill. ALS remains a difficult and incurable disease for doctors worldwide today, let alone four years ago.

After Chen Ya said goodbye to Pei Hu and Xiao Cui, he gave each of them a sum of money. Pei Hu used the money to establish Yangchen, while Xiao Cui gave the money to the hospital.

Years later, Yangchen Company became an industry leader, and its growth rate made this former illegal immigrant from South Vietnam stand out among a group of elite families and top students.

But Xiao Cui's girlfriend still passed away.

In this world, the industries that invest in hope are always the most profitable, such as lotteries and hospitals.

Chen Ya had once told both of them that if they were to lose, it would be because of their women. But the two of them were too obsessed and could not get out of their own predicament.

Chen Ya looked up at the woman pointing at Xiao Cui and cursing her. Her features seemed to resemble Xiao Cui's first love.

He couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh.

He pulled Liu Ruying out of the room and downstairs.

Liu Ruying looked at him curiously and asked, "Aren't you going to see your friend?"

“He probably doesn’t want to meet me in this kind of setting,” Chen Ya said. “Face is something you earn yourself, but protecting your friends’ face is also important. That woman is immature, but I’m not.”

He turned to Liu Ruying and said, "A man's dignity is not just vanity; it is also the source of his strength. The saying 'A man's knees are worth gold' is not just a saying. Therefore, a smart woman will always give her man face in front of others."

Liu Ruying nodded, silently memorizing another piece of knowledge.

The two sat in a 24-hour convenience store outside the residential area. Chen Ya sent a text message to his friend. Half an hour later, the man in the delivery uniform appeared at the store entrance.

He stared blankly at Chen Ya, and tears suddenly welled up in his eyes.

"Brother Ya."

“Xiao Cui,” Chen Ya said, “that’s not what you said in your letter to me.”

When Cui Lingfeng saw Chen Ya, he started laughing and then burst into tears; a grown man's tears streamed down his face.

Chen Ya did not burst into tears like the character in "A Better Tomorrow".

He felt that as the best soldier in the 7th Reconnaissance Company of the former 49th Field Army, who had killed 7 Kharguri mercenaries by himself and survived 8 assassination attempts alongside him, he shouldn't be living the life he was in now.

"Has Pei Hu contacted you in the last two years?" Chen Ya asked.

“He’s tried to contact me several times, but I…I don’t want to see him,” Cui Lingfeng said. “I don’t want to see my old friends in this state…”

"You want to rot away in a corner all by yourself, huh?" Chen Ya looked at him coldly.

"I……"

Cui Lingfeng was speechless.

“Compared to Pei Hu, I originally had more faith in you,” Chen Ya said. “You have a stronger moral compass and are kinder. You deserve to succeed. This is not your life.”

"Brother Ya, I've lost my chance," Xiao Cui said.

Chen Ya thought for a moment and asked, "Can you drive?"

Cui Lingfeng's eyes darkened: "I lent my driver's license to my uncle, and he deducted all the points, so it was revoked."

"I'll give you two weeks to take the test and come back," Chen Ya said. "You still have to come back and drive for me. I'll call you tomorrow. If you don't show up at the location I specify, I'll consider you as someone who never existed and I'll never see you again."

Cui Lingfeng remained seated, staring straight ahead, while Chen Ya had already pulled Liu Ruying away.

"Isn't it a bit cruel to say that about him?" Liu Ruying asked softly after the two left the store. "I don't think he's a bad person."

“When good people make stupid mistakes, they can be more hateful than bad people,” Chen Ya said. “The weakness of good people is like the extra items in a store; they are never a necessary option and can be disgusting.”

Besides, he wasn't exactly a good person to begin with, and neither was he.

They were all people who had heard the sound of bullets whizzing past their ears, and when they killed someone, they would consider the loud sound of the spent cartridge case hitting the ground and subconsciously reach out to press it down.

How could someone like that be a good person?

Looking at his profile, Liu Ruying suddenly felt a little flustered.

Although Chen Ya's expression remained poker-faced and his voice was as rational as the waveform of a stable power supply on an oscilloscope, she still sensed a subtle hint of anger within it.

This anger was like helium in the air, imperceptible yet omnipresent. It suddenly made Liu Ruying feel very insecure.

Later, she realized that the reason she felt insecure was because Chen Ya was too handsome. A handsome guy getting angry for no reason would definitely make the girl next to him panic.

……

The next day, Chen Ya called Lu Qingxuan, saying he was going to inspect Yunshang Jinghua.

After hanging up the phone, a slightly sarcastic smile appeared on her thin pink lips, as if she were laughing at how the man's actions were entirely within her expectations.

First, he dragged me into the mess to create common ground, then he used the excuse of working together to invite me out. One thing after another, it really shows that you can't judge a book by its cover.

However, she had already experienced these tricks countless times. If someone else used them, it wouldn't surprise Lu Qingxuan; it would only make her tired of them.

After dressing up a little, she went out wearing a royal blue dress. Chen Ya's Lexus had been waiting at the door for a while. She reached out and opened the passenger door, only to find that there was another woman sitting in the passenger seat.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Liu Ruying nodded and greeted Lu Qingxuan with a reserved expression.

"Who is she?" Lu Qingxuan frowned and pointed at Liu Ruying without any politeness.

"My intern secretary." Chen Ya gripped the steering wheel with both hands, not even looking at her, and pointed to the back, "You sit in the back."

Lu Qingxuan was very unhappy. She gave a haughty "humph," opened the back door, and got in. She crossed her legs and put them down, finding it quite comfortable.

On the bright side, there's more space in the back, so wouldn't it be more comfortable to sit there?

“You actually have a secretary? I admit I underestimated you,” Lu Qingxuan said, her eyes constantly scanning Liu Ruying in the passenger seat through the rearview mirror. “Your secretary doesn’t look very old.”

"The same age as you."

After Chen Ya finished speaking, Liu Ruying turned around and looked at Lu Qingxuan seriously, saying:

"My name is Liu Ruying. I've heard of you before, senior, and I've always heard that you're a very dashing person."

Lu Qingxuan raised her eyebrows and asked, "Really? Which university do you attend?"

"Kyoto University. If I remember correctly, you're at Berkeley?"

"Hmm, you're a student at Peking University? Why aren't you studying? You're here to be his secretary?"

"It's just a part-time job, it won't affect my studies."

"So, how did our great pianist Chen choose you? There must be a reason, right?"

"pianist?"