Chapter 3 — My Best Friend's Older Brother Took Responsibility for Me

Ye Zhiyi watched the entire drama unfold and delivered her summary: "He definitely thought the big diamond was too expensive, got stingy, and backed out. I told you men are all the same—when it comes to spending money, they're tightfisted and haggle over every penny. Relying on men is worse than relying on sisters. Wait till I dig money out of my eldest and second brothers later—I'll save up to buy one for you."

The corner of my mouth twitched. "Well, thanks then."

"Though his voice sounded kinda familiar... that cold tone sounds a lot like someone I know. But there's no way a stingy, terrible guy like that exists around me—I must have misheard." The more she cursed, the more worked up she got. I had to use food to shut her trap. "Want sour sauce fish?" "Yes." "How about tofu?" "Eat that too."

...

Early the next morning, the Ye family doorbell rang. A professional courier carefully delivered a luxurious black gift box tied with a ribbon.

"May I ask which lady is Miss Lin Wan? There's a package requiring her personal signature." Ye Zhiyi, lounging on the sofa petting the cat, looked up. "What did you buy? The packaging is so fancy." She reached out to sign for me, but the courier politely stopped her. "Apologies, miss. This item is extremely valuable and requires the recipient's signature in person."

I came downstairs, signed for it, and took the gift box. I had just moved in yesterday and hadn't bought anything online yet. Opening the box revealed two small square black velvet cases. I popped open the first lid—a diamond ring. A diamond the size of a jackfruit seed, so ridiculously huge it was comical. I opened the second case—also a diamond ring. A daily-wear style set with pavé diamonds, exquisitely minimalist. He bought both?!

Ye Zhiyi rushed over. "The jackfruit seed one! That's the diamond he put away yesterday! He actually bought it?!" She held the diamond up to the window, spinning it under the sunlight; its cut facets reflected a brilliant rainbow sparkle. "It's real—the fire is amazing! It's super expensive, at least tens of millions of yuan!"

Ye Zhiyi looked at me with a complex expression. "Your husband isn't in illegal business, is he?" A chill ran down my spine. "Probably not... who in illegal business would have a face like that?" "True," Ye Zhiyi agreed. "Someone who splurges like this definitely has an extraordinary background. You need to hurry up and find out his full name—I'll get someone to investigate him."

"Alright. But I have to go to work now; I can't be late on my first day. We'll figure it out tonight." I slipped the small pavé ring onto my ring finger, carefully put the large diamond ring back into its box, and stowed it away securely. Something so expensive couldn't be worn casually on the street.

After changing clothes, I patted Yuan Yuan's head. "Be good at home, Mommy's off to earn bread." Yuan Yuan raised its tail, rubbed my leg, and bounded onto the sofa to find Dou Dou. Driving the small Fit that Ye Zhiyi handed down to me, I hummed along all the way to the company.

At a red light, a text message popped up on my phone.

Zhi: *Received the rings?*

I typed back with one hand.

Lin Wan: *Received them. They're too precious—one was enough, why buy two?*

Zhi: *One is sincerity. One is fidelity.*

I looked at those two lines and blinked. His meaning was: the large diamond represented sincerity, while the small daily ring represented fidelity. Whatever it was, he was willing to give it all to me? This man certainly knew how to win someone over.

With eight seconds left on the red light, I quickly typed out a line and sent it.

Lin Wan: *By the way, what's your name again?*

No answer came for a long time. The green light lit up, and I put down the phone. The small diamond ring on my finger sparkled on the steering wheel under the sun. I recalled his face, thought of that jackfruit-seed diamond, and then remembered his wildness in bed. Tit for tat—should I give him something in return? But I couldn't afford to reciprocate a ring worth tens of millions. Maybe a tie?

Turning the wheel, I backed into a parking spot and checked my phone. He had replied with just two words.

Zhi: *Surname Li.*

Li? I asked his name, and he only gave his surname! Just how deep was this guy's background? I hastily sent a voice message to Ye Zhiyi: "His surname is Li. Help me check if there are any prominent wealthy families named Li in Hecheng."

Ye Zhiyi, teasing the cat at home, listened to the message and knit her delicate eyebrows tightly. Surname Li? As far as she knew, among the major families in Hecheng named Li, besides her maternal mother's side, there were virtually no others. It was a rare surname—in her twenty-four years of life, she had barely met a few in real life. Her eldest and second brothers ran around outside every day with much sharper news instincts—asking them would probably be fastest.

Ye Zhiyi bit her lip, opened her phone to her eldest brother's contact, and tentatively sent a message: "Brother, are you there?"

A few seconds later, the other side replied with a voice message—a clear, cool, detached voice identical to his personality: "If you have something to say, say it."