Xie Li wanted to speak, but it tugged at the wound at the corner of his mouth. He couldn’t help but hiss, his tongue pressing against the wound. It hurt a little.

That person really didn’t hold back. This punch was fierce.

He answered casually, not wanting to admit defeat in front of Tang Man, “I also punched him back.”

Through the rearview mirror, Xie Li glanced at his wound with the corner of his eye. It was a bit too obvious. He frowned, but thinking of the patch on the corner of Du Henian’s mouth, he didn’t care too much. Du Henian hit first, and he hit back with a heavier force later.

Not a loss.

Tang Man heard a different meaning from this sentence and frowned. She leaned forward to look at the wound at the corner of Xie Li’s mouth. It wasn’t too serious and didn’t even break the skin, so she put her mind at ease. At the same time, she spoke, “Did you say something to anger him?”

She knew that Du Henian was definitely not the kind of person who would hit someone for no reason, unless Xie Li said something that angered him.

But these two didn’t know each other, so what could Xie Li say to anger Du Henian? When Tang Man thought about it, she was really a little curious.

Hearing Tang Man’s words, Xie Li glanced at her and noticed that she was too close to him. He instinctively took a step back.

“Do you regret it?”

Seeing Xie Li’s evasive action, Tang Man almost rolled her eyes. If it were someone else, who knows if they would start doubting their judgment and whether this person in front of them liked them or not.

But Tang Man didn’t care whether Xie Li liked her or not, because even if he did, she wouldn’t change her attitude towards him.

So she pretended not to see Xie Li’s evasive action, sat back in the passenger seat, and said, “You think I feel sorry for him?”

Xie Li turned the car key, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Tang Man couldn’t be inferred by common sense. It wasn’t like she hadn’t played the trick of breaking up for a while and then getting back together.

When she was younger, Tang Man’s heart was a bit softer than it was now. Basically, as long as a boy cried a little, it could make her feel distressed for half a day. In this case, they could basically regain her heart just by crying. From an ex-boyfriend to a current boyfriend, of course, in this situation, it was generally the case that this ex-boyfriend had not made a principled mistake.

Xie Li said, “I’ll take you back to your apartment?”

Tang Man made an affirmative sound and said that dropping her off at the apartment she rented near the school was fine. She was too tired today, especially dealing with Du Henian, the fatigue was doubled.

However, after she finished speaking, she still couldn’t help but tease him, “Assistant Xie, I find that you are becoming more and more relaxed in front of me now.”

Before, this person always had an expressionless face in front of her. Now it was simply like he had let himself go.

Xie Li didn’t speak. When Tang Man almost thought he wouldn’t answer, he spoke, “Tang Man, I thought we could be considered friends.”

This was the first time Xie Li directly called Tang Man by her name.

Usually, what she heard the most was Miss, a very distant form of address, followed by you, which later changed to you, and now it had changed to Tang Man.

She thought, the change in human relationships was really strange. It could actually be seen through the change of a form of address.

Chinese characters were profound.

So—

Tang Man watched the car drive out of the underground parking lot, turn in the opposite direction after exiting, and still couldn’t help but curiously ask, “Then as your friend, can I ask what exactly did you say to Du Henian? To make him unable to hold back and hit you.”

What did he say?

Xie Li’s gaze fell on the windshield in front of him, and he saw the traffic light flashing in the distance.

What else could he say? He just made a joke, telling Du Henian not to pester Tang Man in the future.

Then Du Henian couldn’t help but sarcastically replied, “And now you can’t even be considered a rival in love.”

In fact, Du Henian indeed had the ability to infuriate people. Otherwise, Si Jiahe from a few years ago wouldn’t have fallen for his tricks, quarreled with Tang Man, and ended up breaking up.

But what kind of person was Xie Li? Someone who could climb from a small personal assistant under Tang Zhengfeng to the current position of special assistant, how could he possibly be angered? At most, he responded with a veiled remark, saying that he knew all of Tang Man’s ex-boyfriends, and Du Henian was just an inconspicuous one among the ex-boyfriends he had dealt with for Tang Man.

This sentence directly pierced through the sky. Du Henian, who was already suppressing his emotions due to Tang Man’s departure, couldn’t hold back at once and completely broke down. He made a move, punching Xie Li’s mouth corner, which could be considered a precise strike.

Xie Li immediately unbuttoned his shirt sleeves and swung a fist back.

In the past two or three years, he had long been disgusted with this person.

Even more disgusted than with Si Jiahe.

However, the two still had some sense. After each throwing a punch before the shop staff could stop them, they took the lead in stopping, which could be considered a decent end. The two had no intention of putting on a show in public.

But those words, Xie Li couldn’t possibly tell Tang Man. In the end, he could only respond with silence.

Tang Man waited for a long time, passing several intersections and traffic lights, but the man remained silent. Only then did she realize that Xie Li really couldn’t tell her, so she gave up.

She didn’t have such a strong curiosity and desire to pry. At most, she was a little curious now, but once that point passed and she found that the possibility of digging it out was too small, she instantly gave up.

When they arrived at the apartment building, Tang Man said thanks and got out of the car. However, when she closed the car door, she saw a convenience store across the street and suddenly remembered something. She knocked on the car window again, and when the glass was rolled down, she leaned on the window and said a sentence to the person in the driver’s seat.

“Wait for me here for a moment, don’t leave yet.”

After saying that, she quickly walked towards the convenience store and came out in just a moment, holding a small box in her hand.

Xie Li thought of something, and his heart was suddenly touched.

Isn’t it often said that there are three major illusions in life, and one of them is that she likes me?

The reason for having this illusion is not because of one’s own liking, but the desire for the other person to also give the same level of liking.

At this moment, Xie Li also had a slight illusion due to Tang Man’s small action. However, he was cool-headed enough and vigilant enough. After all, he had seen too many of Tang Man’s ex-boyfriends, so that little bit of illusion was too fleeting in comparison.

The car window on his side was knocked a few times. Xie Li withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyelids, seeing a scratch on the joint of his finger. He couldn’t help but bend his finger, and the faint tingling pain made him much more clear-headed.

“I saw a convenience store across the street, so I bought you a box of band-aids by the way, just consider it a thank you between friends.”

Tang Man smiled and placed the box on the car window, then turned and left.

At the same time, she was also considering whether she should buy a commuter car. Taking the subway and taxis every day was not very convenient, and it was troublesome to borrow Assistant Xie’s car every time. It was better to let Old Tang buy her a commuter car as a gift, and her birthday was approaching anyway.

Xie Li sat in the car and didn’t leave immediately. After Tang Man disappeared from his sight, he looked at the paper box in his hand for a long time before opening it, taking out a band-aid, and slowly applying it to his finger, trying to bend it.

It was a bit inconvenient.

Moreover, the band-aids were not the usual kind. They had childish cartoon patterns drawn on them, which were obviously specially chosen by Tang Man with ill intentions, very inconsistent with his usual style of products.

In the end, he didn’t take out another one and put the box of band-aids in the bottom layer of the car’s storage box without looking at it again.

The phone placed on the side vibrated. It was a call from the company. He answered, said a few words, hung up the phone, and drove the car towards the company.

He had wasted too much energy outside during this period.

As for Tang Man, she went upstairs, and her phone rang again almost as soon as she got out of the elevator. She thought it was Si Jiahe calling, as he was very clingy when they were dating. However, when she took it out and looked, it wasn’t. The screen clearly showed Madam Yang, whom she hadn’t been in contact with for a long time.

In other words, Tang Man’s mother.

Thinking about it, the last time they met seemed to be a month or two ago, and it was also a chance encounter where they said a few words, with a distant relationship like long-lost distant relatives.

Every time Madam Yang looked for her, there was actually nothing serious. It was nothing more than her sticky and mushy love stories.

Madam Yang had a peculiar habit. After a serious relationship, when she fell into the passionate love period, she liked to bring her boyfriend to meet Tang Man, claiming to let her daughter check on him.

One year, Madam Yang even made five date calls to her. In that year, Madam Yang also changed five boyfriends.

In the past year or two, Madam Yang had been much quieter. Perhaps it was because she was getting older and also pursuing stability. Her boyfriend hadn’t changed, but she had never brought him to have a formal meal with Tang Man.

Tang Man entered the apartment door and only then answered the call.

She had already anticipated what it was. Sure enough, as soon as the call was connected, Madam Yang’s voice came from the other end, “Man Man, are you free on Tuesday evening? Mom has a friend she wants to introduce to you. Let’s have a meal together.”