Song Jiaye couldn't hold back any longer when he saw her like this. He walked over and slid open the glass door.
"Li Qiyu, what on earth are you doing? Performing a mime?"
Li Qiyu was scared of bumping into things. She reached out her hand and groped in front of Song Jiaye. It wasn't until her hand touched Song Jiaye's chest that she was sure there was no invisible wall. Then she stepped inside with confidence.
Song Jiaye: ... Is she really not taking advantage of me on purpose?
He grabbed Li Qiyu's hand all of a sudden. The shame and humiliation of being drugged by Li Qiyu before welled up in his heart again.
"Li Qiyu, stop seducing me. I'm not interested in you."
Li Qiyu rubbed her forehead, which was starting to ache from the bump. She retorted unhappily, "Who's seducing you?"
As she waved her hand, the box in her hand caught Song Jiaye's eye.
It was an unopened box of Okamoto condoms.
He crossed his arms over his chest, looking as if to say, "Let's see how you're going to explain this."
"Yo, you've even brought your 'tools of the crime'. Li Qiyu, what trick are you going to play this time? Drug me or knock me out?!"
"Tools of the crime? What crime?"
Song Jiaye was sure Li Qiyu was just pretending to be stupid. He frowned and asked coldly, "Stop playing dumb. What do you want?"
He didn't want to discuss the brand of that thing with Li Qiyu here.
"I want you to help me find someone."
"Find someone? You should go to the police station."
"Huh? Can't you find him?" Li Qiyu was immediately a bit disappointed. She walked out of the room dejectedly. "Then I'll go to the police station and ask."
She murmured, "I'll have to ask Sister Liu how to get to the police station tomorrow."
Seeing that Li Qiyu really seemed to be leaving, Song Jiaye felt a headache coming on.
This woman was really different from before.
He called out to her, "Who do you want to find? Maybe I can help you ask around."
"Really? His name is Lu Xingqi." As soon as she heard that Song Jiaye could help, she threw all the old grudges behind her.
All she wanted now was to find Lu Xingqi, someone of the same kind as her.
"Lu Xingqi?" Song Jiaye repeated.
"Yeah, yeah." Li Qiyu nodded like a pounding garlic. "I saw him on TV. Li Tong said you could find him."
Saw him on TV? Then he must be a celebrity.
No wonder she came to him. Song Jiaye opened his laptop and searched for Lu Xingqi's name.
He was a male celebrity who debuted through a talent show. His looks were quite decent, but there were so many good - looking people in the entertainment industry. He didn't seem to have the potential to make it big. So he had been lingering in the 18th - tier for a long time. So far, his only notable achievement was finishing fifth in the talent show.
Song Jiaye also took a look at his resume. It didn't seem like he had any connection with Li Xiyu. His management company was also a small one without any popular celebrities.
He asked, "Do you know him?"
Li Qiyu answered straightforwardly, "I want to get to know him."
Song Jiaye: "..."
Seeing that Song Jiaye didn't say a word for a long time, Li Qiyu thought he couldn't find him. She asked anxiously, "Hey, stop staring at that 'iron plate'. Just tell me first if you can find him or not."
Song Jiaye closed the "iron plate" - the tablet computer in her words, and said, "I can, but you have to wait."
"Ah, how long do I have to wait?" Having finally found someone of the same kind, Li Qiyu was naturally eager to get to know him.
"Just wait for my news."
"Okay then." Li Qiyu walked to the door dejectedly.
Song Jiaye called out to her.
Li Qiyu turned around, her little face looking listless.
"What's up?"
Song Jiaye pointed at the Okamoto box on the table.
"Your stuff. Take it away."
"Okay."
Li Qiyu reached out and grabbed the box. Then she lowered her head and clattered downstairs.
Li Qiyu returned to her room. She lay on the bed and called out, "Xiaoyu, Xiaoyu."
She didn't know that there was no smart voice system installed in this room. Her call went unanswered.
Li Qiyu felt even more down.
Xiaoyu was gone, and there was no one to talk to.
She stood by the window and looked at the back garden outside. There were streetlights on in the back garden. The light from the streetlights shone on the iron fence, casting one black - framed shadow after another on the ground.
It looked just like a prison cell.
Li Qiyu let out a long sigh and went back to bed.
Song Jiaye was standing by the window at that moment. His study was right above Li Qiyu's room, so he heard her sigh and her helpless call for Xiaoyu.
Li Xiyu seemed really different from before.
She didn't care about him, didn't care about this marriage. It didn't seem like an act.
Moreover, she was much cuter than before. In the past, even when she was disappointed, she was either proud or angry. She would always point at someone's nose and say, "You can't even handle such a small thing. What use are you?"
Pity, helplessness, and disappointment - these emotions never showed up on the eldest daughter of the Li family.
Could a near - drowning really change a person's personality?
Song Jiaye returned to his desk and opened his laptop. He looked at the photo of the male celebrity on the encyclopedia introduction.
Tomorrow, he'd better go and meet this guy first.
Early the next morning, as soon as Song Jiaye got up, he saw Li Xiyu playing with Li Tong in the living room.
The house hadn't been this lively for a long time.
Song Jiaye didn't want to interrupt them. He stood on the second floor and watched for a while.
Then, he heard Li Xiyu say to Li Tong, "Tongtong, I have balloons."
Then she took out a small, square - shaped thing from her pocket.
Song Jiaye recognized what it was at a glance. He quickly shouted at Li Qiyu.
"Li Xiyu, what are you doing?"
Wasn't this leading the child astray?
Song Jiaye rushed downstairs from the second floor. He grabbed Li Xiyu's hand and walked into the room. He snatched the "little balloon" from Li Xiyu's hand and said, "Li Xiyu, what are you doing? Can you let a child play with this?"
He turned around to look for a trash can. But when he saw those blown - up, oddly - shaped "balloons" of various sizes under Li Xiyu's bed, his face turned green.
"Li Xiyu! What are you doing? These... these..."
Li Qiyu looked innocent. "These are the balloons Sister Liu gave me yesterday."
Li Qiyu had studied for half the night and didn't know how to open the box. Finally, she smashed the box with the photo frame on the bedside table.
There were all these small square things in the box. She stared at them for a long time and really couldn't figure out what they were for. So she just held them in her hand and looked at them from left to right.
She was about to fall asleep while playing with them when she suddenly remembered that Li Tong had given her a kind of snack before. It looked just like this. All you had to do was tear it open.
She did as she saw and tore open the package. She found that it wasn't a snack because she tasted it and couldn't bite through it. It also had a strange smell.
But it was a bit like the balloons Li Tong had played with.
She imitated the way and blew into it. It really puffed up.
Once she had the first one, there would be more. These were all the results of her boring night.
She even deliberately saved two for Li Tong and resisted the urge to blow them up.
Now that Song Jiaye asked, she naturally had to demonstrate.
Li Qiyu deftly tore open the package and blew up one in front of Song Jiaye.
Song Jiaye's face turned even greener.
"This kind of balloon is quite good. It doesn't break easily and can be blown very big."
Song Jiaye took the "balloon" off with a headache.
"Stop blowing."
"Okay."
"Also, you're not allowed to let Li Tong play with this in the future."
"Why?"
Song Jiaye was completely stunned by Li Qiyu's question. Not only was he stunned, but he also blushed and felt hot all over.
He was a man, a normal man.
Was Li Xiyu really not seducing him by discussing these "balloons" with him so seriously?