Chapter 2784 - 2846: The Cunning Merchant Li Yifei

It wasn’t that Li Yifei got all horny the moment he saw a beauty. Of course, she really was stunning, and even with his pretty high standards he still had to sigh and think, damn, she’s gorgeous. But if you looked closer, most people would end up lamenting: this beauty isn’t just pretty, her temperament is even better. She stood there, slim and elegant like a jade statue, like she belonged to another world altogether. Plenty of people had the urge to profane a goddess, yet their expressions stayed very solemn.

Just getting into Huaxia Business School was already something to brag about. Making it into that legendary rich-people class was even more rare, and women in there were rarer still—especially one this stunning. That alone added a few extra shades of glow to this beauty who’d just stepped up righteously and offered up her own villa. A lot of people couldn’t help nodding; a woman this generous was hard to come by.

The black wild boar—no, the black fat guy, Xiang Ba—also had his eyes all over the place, shamelessly sizing the beauty up, actually forgetting to speak for a moment.

Li Yifei, on the other hand, was smiling—but not because of how beautiful she was. When it came to beauty, which woman at home wasn’t a knockout? The beauty in front of him was gorgeous, sure, but that wasn’t why he was smiling. He smiled because the instant she stepped out to help him deal with the trouble, he recognized exactly who she was.

Wu Shuwei, daughter of a high-ranking official. There were even rumors her father might enter the core of power. He was still relatively young, so he hadn’t made it in this term, but he’d moved one step up, and if nothing unexpected happened, next term he really might get there—as long as he didn’t screw up.

As for Wu Shuwei herself, she was even more outstanding in ability. In the capital’s circles these past years, she’d been one of the rare talented women. Graduate of a top university, holding multiple degrees—not to mention, her résumé alone was packed: stints in state-owned enterprises, several major achievements, enough that she didn’t need to rely on her looks or her family background. Oh, maybe she did need to borrow the family background a bit; otherwise she’d face plenty of trouble at work. Especially in the last two years, helping the country open up a new front in the Middle East—that was a solid testament to her capabilities.

Of course, not many people knew the inside story there. Aside from her, the prince and princess in the Middle East, a few big bosses inside the company, and then that man on the opposite side—the man whose smile was more sly than a seasoned businessman’s, the man who made Wu Shuwei’s emotions instantly tangle up the moment she saw him.

Before this, Wu Shuwei had dated boyfriends, but those all faded out, leaving her hurt. The damage was psychological, not physical, and she ended up embracing anti-marriage, even celibacy. Because Wu Shuwei knew that even on her own, her life would be splendid; she could live very well from youth all the way to old age. And right when this conviction was rock-solid, Li Yifei appeared. This guy had saved her out of danger more than once—she’d practically been about to fall into the abyss. Whether it was several brush-with-death moments in the Middle East, or that trip to Africa, Li Yifei had descended like a god at every one of her worst, most urgent moments.

That gave the usually non-believing Wu Shuwei a faint sense of fate, as if this man in front of her—this guy who smiled like a cunning businessman, not exactly handsome but absolutely manly—was her destiny. It was a feeling she couldn’t put into words. Anyway, Wu Shuwei... really missed him.

But she definitely hadn’t expected to run into Li Yifei here of all places, and in this kind of way. When she heard the commotion just now, she hadn’t planned to come over; she was already heading this way anyway, intending to go back to the villa for a rest. She casually glanced over, immediately recognized Li Yifei, and her heart leapt with surprise and joy—only to see someone making things hard for him. Wu Shuwei was sharp; she knew Li Yifei’s tendency to swallow things down, so she came over to help him handle the trouble.

Of course, that didn’t mean Wu Shuwei didn’t have other thoughts, like... this guy who smiled like a sly businessman was absolutely scum, a total womanizing carrot. With so many women at home, so many wives, so many soulmate-type beauties willing to follow him single-mindedly, and he still ran out to stir up trouble, stir up her. Stirring her up was one thing, but this jerk hadn’t contacted her in months. As a woman, even one as shrewd as she was, the resentment in Wu Shuwei’s heart was pretty easy to imagine.

That said, she’d already sworn to be a strong, independent woman, living on her own without relying on any man. In fact, that was already the case; she really didn’t need to depend on anyone, male or female. However, once someone barged into her world, left a pile of stories, and then vanished without even a fart of a goodbye—like he’d disappeared—Wu Shuwei’s only updates on Li Yifei these days came from the internet. In reality... Li Yifei hadn’t even made one phone call. So even though seeing him here in this setting made her feel both astonished and delighted, she was still angry—angry at Li Yifei’s "heartlessness", that he hadn’t contacted her for so long, clearly not treating her as... Tch, like she cared about his attention; it’s not like she had any kind of relationship with him anyway.

So at this moment, Wu Shuwei’s mood was complicated. Even though she’d stepped out to help Li Yifei settle the trouble, she wouldn’t allow herself to act all close and familiar with him.

Black fat guy Xiang Ba, with the keys in hand, stared at Wu Shuwei, his lips trembling. Sure, he’d played around with his share of beauties, but the woman in front of him... this was what you called a real beauty. Her figure, the features barely visible under her sunglasses, her voice—even that casual motion when she tossed the keys—all radiated this pure, intoxicating charm, which made the black fat guy’s soul start slipping out of his body.

At this point, black fat guy had pretty much forgotten himself. He gulped loudly, and the people crowding around to watch were all secretly nodding. This beauty was their classmate; at worst she was a fellow new student this year, which meant there was a decent chance of getting to know her. Tsk tsk, if someone actually could win this beauty’s heart, that would be one hell of a good thing. The question was, who’d be lucky enough?

"Ms. Wu, then what about you? This villa was assigned to you by the president. If you give it up now..." The pretty receptionist knew Wu Shuwei, but the keys were already thrown; there was no stopping it now.

Right, this beauty was showing such lofty generosity, willingly handing over the villa assigned to her to that troublemaking black fat guy—but what about her? If a beauty like this stayed on campus, she’d probably inspire a lot more people to choose to live here. But if she left and moved off campus, some of those wolves—uh, students—might lose a lot of motivation to live in the school villas.

Wu Shuwei let out a soft "oh" and said, "Didn’t you say two people can share one villa?"

"Yes, but... this term you’re the only female trainee who chose to live on campus, so sharing with someone else isn’t very convenient. All the others are male trainees..." There weren’t many trainees in total, so the pretty receptionist remembered clearly and couldn’t help voicing her concern.

Everyone saw Wu Shuwei shift her gaze to Li Yifei, and she said mildly, "Classmate—do you mind if we share a villa? For convenience, I may need you to take the downstairs bedroom."

Whoa! The onlookers’ eyes all lit up like spotlights. This beauty was actually choosing to live with that Country Bumpkin? What a twist... If they’d known earlier, they would’ve rushed to put on their own act of noble generosity, volunteering to live with the beauty. Even if nothing happened, just spending every morning and night together for a month or two would be a huge win.

Especially since once you live together, mornings and evenings and everything in between, how could you not at least chat, maybe let something happen? And once "something" happened, then... Just thinking about it made many people instantly jealous of Li Yifei. What did this Country Bumpkin do to deserve a beauty’s favor?

Of course, sharing a villa wasn’t the same as sharing a room. Big difference there. Plenty of dorms or co-rent situations had people living in the same unit without anything happening at all. Listening to the beauty’s proposal and then looking at that Country Bumpkin’s reaction, several people felt a stab of pain. Two of the trainees this term had been assigned dorms, and they were itching to say: that female classmate, since we’re classmates now, how about sharing with me? Don’t worry, I’ll absolutely follow the rules and not pull anything shady. But... they didn’t dare say it out loud. There were too many people around right now; if they laid it on too thick, they’d draw way too much attention.

Not everyone likes being high-key. In fact, some bosses and big shots prefer to keep things low-key. Someone like black fat guy Xiang Ba wasn’t "high-key" so much as "hasn’t been beaten up enough by society yet."

Hearing what Wu Shuwei said, even Li Yifei was a bit surprised, which made his expression look slightly dumbfounded. That expression landing in Wu Shuwei’s eyes made her a bit unhappy. She couldn’t help frowning and said, "If it’s inconvenient, then never mind."

Oof! The crowd couldn’t help feeling anxious on Li Yifei’s behalf. A beauty like this takes the initiative to suggest living in the same villa with you, and you’re hesitating? Are you stupid? Is he really such a Country Bumpkin from some tiny place that he doesn’t get it? Or did the beauty’s sudden appearance fry his brain?

Li Yifei grinned, showing a row of white teeth. "Sure. You take upstairs, I’ll take downstairs."

"Okay." Wu Shuwei’s voice was back to neutral, neither happy nor sad. Once Li Yifei finished, she gave black fat guy a faint glance and said, "We’re all classmates. I hope you can show some mutual respect. And aside from being trainees, everyone also has other identities. Most importantly, this isn’t the Shu Region."

If they knew Li Yifei’s identity and the things he’d done, plenty of people would be sucking in cold air. One man being good in a fight, with solid skills—nothing special. One man being loaded—also nothing special. In this high-end business training class, rich folks were everywhere, from all over Southern Sky and beyond; everyone was capable. But one man who could fight, had money, and had connections that reached everywhere—that was a real harbinger of doom, someone you absolutely did not want to provoke lightly. Today, the only reason black fat guy got off easy was that Li Yifei hadn’t made a move. Otherwise, he’d be the one eating dirt. Looked at another way, Wu Shuwei was helping him, saving him from a massive loss.

Too bad black fat guy wasn’t about to appreciate that right now. Getting scolded by Wu Shuwei made his pudgy face twitch twice—not from fear, but from a kind of annoyed frustration with nowhere to vent.