“Hello, I’m Su Luoyi, Li Haii’s secretary. Li Haii asked to bring you over.”
“Alright, lead the way.”
“Sure, please follow .”
Su Luoyi then led Xu Xiuwen to Li Haii’s office.
Li Haii’s office was no different from an ordinary office, with a sign on the wall outside indicating the owner’s position.
Su Luoyi went ahead to inform Li Haii that the visitor had arrived.
Li Haii responded with an acknowledgnt, and then Su Luoyi opened the door and led Xu Xiuwen inside.
Li Haii was seated behind her desk, her head bent over so docunts.
After a minute, she seed to rember and looked up, saying to Su Luoyi, “Xiao Luo, you can leave now.”
“Okay, Mayor Li.”
Su Luoyi left and carefully closed the door behind her.
Li Haii did not raise her head as she said, “Please sit down while I finish reviewing this docunt.”
Xu Xiuwen was once again left speechless by her behavior.
After a while, Li Haii finally finished with the docunt.
Seemingly from looking down too long, her neck felt slightly sore, and she gently moved it around.
“Is it over?”
Hearing the man’s voice, Li Haii rembered there was soone else in the room.
She turned to look at Xu Xiuwen.
Xu Xiuwen suddenly smiled.
“What are you laughing about?” Li Haii asked, puzzled.
Xu Xiuwen explained, “I find you quite interesting. You asked to co over, made wait, and didn’t say a word.”
Li Haii detected a hint of sarcasm in his tone, which she was unaccustod to.
After all, since taking this position, no one had dared to mock her in front of her.
“Why are you silent?” Xu Xiuwen asked.
“If you don’t speak, I might just leave.”
Li Haii snapped out of it and said, “You’re not going to leave.”
“Oh?”
“If you were going to leave, you wouldn’t have co in the first place,” Li Haii said calmly.
“So, what do you want from ?” Xu Xiuwen asked directly, cutting to the chase.
“Why are you so sure that I have sothing to ask you?”
“Funny. If you didn’t have sothing to ask, would you be reminiscing about old tis with ?” Xu Xiuwen blurted out, inadvertently making a sarcastic remark.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized it sounded like he was teasing Li Haii.
Though he hadn’t ant it that way, Li Haii would certainly interpret it as such.
As expected, Li Haii’s expression imdiately turned cold.
Li Haii looked at Xu Xiuwen with a calm yet chilling gaze.
Xu Xiuwen, quick to react, hurriedly corrected himself, “I didn’t an it like that. What I ant was, you must have sothing to discuss with .”
Li Haii gave a cold hum, her expression still fairly composed.
Xu Xiuwen let out a sigh of relief.
However, he didn’t realize that from an angle he couldn’t see, Li Haii’s eyes flickered slightly.
The room was eerily quiet.
After one minute, maybe two, or even three, Li Haii suddenly said, “I do have sothing to discuss with you.”
“Then go ahead.”
Li Haii paused for a few seconds, her voice softening, “I’d like you to tutor Ke Ke.”
Why did Li Haii want to see him?
Before eting Li Haii, Xu Xiuwen had considered many possible answers.
But he had never anticipated this one.
He rejected imdiately, “No way!”
“Why not?”
“I don’t have ti!”
“Why don’t you have ti?”
“You speak so interestingly. If I don’t have ti, I don’t have ti. Why do you need to ask why?”
Li Haii was taken aback by Xu Xiuwen’s words.
She looked at him, her gaze shifting.
“Is there anything else?”
Li Haii remained silent.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now.”
“Don’t you dare leave!” Li Haii’s tone grew increasingly stern.
Xu Xiuwen asked calmly, “Is there sothing else?”
Li Haii continued, “You haven’t agreed to be Ke Ke’s tutor!”
Xu Xiuwen was at a loss, “Why are we still talking about this? I already said it’s not possible. Why does it have to be ? You can find soone else to tutor her.”
A flicker of hesitation and conflict crossed Li Haii’s eyes but quickly turned into resolve.
“It has to be you!”
“You need to give a reason. Why does it have to be ?”
“Don’t you rember that noon?”
“What do you an?”
“That day, Ke Ke thought you were coming for the tutor interview.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Ke Ke has always refused to have a tutor, but last ti she agreed.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“But she only agreed to have you as her tutor.”
Xu Xiuwen was stunned.
Li Haii continued, “I’ve tried to persuade her to consider other tutors, but she absolutely refused. I have no other options.”
“But it can’t be ! My grades are poor, I’m not qualified to be anyone’s tutor. Aren’t you worried that your daughter’s grades might get worse?”
“The primary purpose of hiring a tutor is not to improve her grades. Besides, Ke Ke’s grades have always been good.”
“Then I don’t understand. If her grades are fine, why does she need a tutor?”
Li Haii took a deep breath, “I need soone to keep an eye on her and prevent her from running around at night. She sneaked out the other ti, and fortunately, you were there to help her. But people aren’t always so lucky.”
Xu Xiuwen finally understood why Li Haii wanted to hire a tutor without concern for their qualifications.
It was to find soone to discreetly monitor Li Ke.
This was Li Haii’s way of protecting Li Ke without raising her suspicions or causing any aversion.
As a mother, she was indeed putting in a lot of thought.
Xu Xiuwen hesitated but ultimately declined.
“I understand your concern as a mother, but I really can’t help with this.”
Li Haii thought that after saying this much, Xu Xiuwen would agree.
To her surprise, he declined once again.
His repeated refusals drained her remaining patience.
Li Haii suddenly picked up a docunt from the desk, stood up, and walked over to Xu Xiuwen.
She placed the docunt on the coffee table in front of him.
With her arms crossed and a detached expression, she said nothing.
Xu Xiuwen was taken aback, unsure of her intentions.
However, he guessed she probably wanted him to look at the docunt.
He picked up the docunt from the coffee table.
As he glanced through it, Xu Xiuwen was shocked.
The docunt contained detailed background information on him, including every school he had attended from childhood, and even listed his classes.
“What’s the aning of this?” Xu Xiuwen’s expression turned serious.
He coldly stared at Li Haii.
Li Haii calmly said, “Be Ke Ke’s tutor!”
“Impossible!” Xu Xiuwen refused without hesitation.
Li Haii said calmly, “Don’t be so quick to refuse. You have a company on XX Road, right?”
Xu Xiuwen said nothing.
Li Haii continued, “Running a company requires knowing more people. I can introduce you to so.”
Li Haii wore a faint smile, which seed sowhat warm, yet she radiated a chilling aura.
Xu Xiuwen hesitated but ultimately declined her offer.
“No, thank you.”
Li Haii’s smile gradually faded upon hearing his response.
She suddenly said sothing that puzzled Xu Xiuwen.
“You’re still a student at heart, though a bit more mature than your peers.”
“It’s fine if you don’t want to et them, but they’ll likely want to et you. They might even co knocking on your door.”
Even the slowest person would catch on now.
Xu Xiuwen couldn’t help but ask, “What do you an? Are you threatening ?”
Li Haii gave him a glance but said nothing, turning back to her desk and sitting down.
“You can think of it that way,” Li Haii said calmly as she settled into her chair.
“You!” Xu Xiuwen glared fiercely at Li Haii.
He had heard threats before.
But this was different.
The woman before him was no ordinary housewife; calling her half the sky here wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
If she wanted to target him, she had plenty of ways.
Fighting her was clearly a losing battle for Xu Xiuwen.
Seeing Xu Xiuwen’s silence, Li Haii gave a faint smile, “So, have you agreed to be Ke Ke’s tutor?”
Li Haii felt she had the upper hand.
As long as Xu Xiuwen wasn’t a complete fool, he should know how to choose.
Li Haii thought: no man had ever resisted her will, not even this man will whom she had been intimate with.
Thinking of that night, her heart raced a little.
Fortunately, she was used to acting, so her exterior remained unaffected.
After a psychological struggle, Xu Xiuwen finally had to give in.
He looked at her and asked in confusion, “You could arrange for a bodyguard. Why a tutor? Isn’t that redundant?”
“People always pay for their lies. I’ve already told Ke Ke that you’re her tutor, and she will only accept you, so it has to be you.”
Xu Xiuwen felt a mix of helplessness and frustration.
But then he noticed a small detail.
When Li Haii finished speaking, she made a very subtle sigh.
It was as if she had just relaxed.
Wasn’t she supposed to be confident and in control?
Why did she seem to be relieved?
Xu Xiuwen was initially confused but quickly connected the dots.
Li Haii continued, “Ke Ke finishes school at 5:40 PM every day, and the tutoring starts from 6 PM tonight—”
“Wait a minute!”
Xu Xiuwen interrupted Li Haii.
Li Haii frowned at him.
She hated being interrupted, a habit she had developed over years of work.
“It seems I haven’t agreed to be Ke Ke’s tutor.”
Upon hearing this, Li Haii’s brows furrowed slightly, and her pupils narrowed.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll send soone to your door every day? If that happens, your company might not be able to keep running.”
Xu Xiuwen nodded, “Yes, I’m afraid, of course, anyone would be.”
“Then—”
Xu Xiuwen chuckled, “But no matter how afraid, a man of principle won’t bow for re grains. I’m not soone who changes my stance due to threats. Whether it’s harassnt or company closure, I won’t retreat in the face of power.”
“You—” Li Haii was left speechless.
She didn’t realize that Xu Xiuwen’s defiant stance was purely out of bravado.
She assud he was truly that kind of person.
Having worked for many years and interacted with all kinds of people, Li Haii had encountered countless sycophants, but only a few who remained unyielding under pressure.
Deep down, she admired such people.
So even though her objective might not be achieved this ti, a trace of admiration flickered in her eyes.
The office fell into silence.
The information Xu Xiuwen had seen was indeed investigated by Li Haii’s people.
She did this only to ensure that Xu Xiuwen wasn’t soone with ulterior motives seeking to get close to her and her daughter for so hidden agenda, not to find his weaknesses and threaten him.
Although she had subtly threatened Xu Xiuwen, after his refusal, she had no intention of actually targeting his company.
Li Haii felt disappointed.
“Forget it, you can leave. Just consider that I didn’t call you today,” Li Haii said softly.
Xu Xiuwen suddenly chuckled.
His laughter seed a bit out of place and puzzled Li Haii.
“What are you laughing at?”
“It seems I didn’t actually refuse.”
Li Haii frowned slightly, not understanding Xu Xiuwen’s aning.
Xu Xiuwen smiled faintly, “I’ve thought it over; this matter can be negotiated.”
Li Haii, who usually kept her emotions hidden, imdiately relaxed her furrowed brows upon hearing Xu Xiuwen’s words.
“You agree then?”
“I an it can be negotiated.”
Li Haii was puzzled by Xu Xiuwen’s aning.
She looked at him, confused.
Xu Xiuwen continued, “You’ve made a request, and I have conditions. It’s only fair, right?”
“Conditions? What conditions do you have?”
Xu Xiuwen didn’t answer imdiately.
He gazed at Li Haii’s face.
Suddenly, he stood up from the sofa and walked toward Li Haii, step by step.
As he drew closer, Li Haii felt an odd sensation, making her uneasy.
She spoke to herself, “Are you looking for money? I can pay you the highest rate for a tutor on the market, or even double that.”
“Heh...”
Xu Xiuwen was amused by Li Haii’s naive words.
To him, Li Haii was a mature woman, but he didn’t expect her to make such innocent offers.
Xu Xiuwen had now reached Li Haii.
He stood by the desk, towering over her, and said with a smile, “Since you’ve investigated , you should know I’m not short on money.”
Being looked down upon made Li Haii uncomfortable.
She maintained her composure and asked, “Then what do you want?”
Xu Xiuwen suddenly leaned in close.
They were now at eye level, their faces almost touching, and their noses nearly brushing, allowing him to feel her breath.
“I want you!” Xu Xiuwen said with a mischievous smile.
The statent caused the room to fall silent once more.
Li Haii first felt confusion, then surprise, followed by incomprehension, and finally, anger.
Various emotions flashed in her eyes.
Xu Xiuwen, however, remained oblivious.
It was as if he had completely forgotten the identity of the woman before him.
He continued, “I can be Ke Ke’s tutor, but for each lesson, I want you to be with once.”
Seeing Li Haii’s widened eyes and dilated pupils in reaction to his words, Xu Xiuwen found it amusing.
“If you agree to my terms, you can contact anyti. Otherwise, as you said, let’s act as if we don’t know each other.”
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