Chapter 27: With a single “okay”, it seemed to exhaust all his strength

In the following week, Tang Man had a rather comfortable life.

Occasionally, Si Jiahe would come over, and the two of them would inevitably get intimate. Tang Man actually noticed that Si Jiahe’s mood seemed a bit off, as if it was unstable. When asked, the other party was very perfunctory, only saying that it was work-related matters, so she didn’t inquire further.

Thus, she didn’t notice the gloominess between Si Jiahe’s brows.

On the weekend, Tang Man got up early in the morning. She had previously sent a message to Xie Li, asking him to send someone to go with her to pick up a car.

She had never paid much attention to cars, so it would be more reliable to have Xie Li send someone with her. There was no need to buy a sports car; just buying a car for commuting would be fine. Otherwise, it would be too conspicuous for daily work.

However, when she arrived at the store, she found Xie Li sitting on the sofa inside, dressed in casual clothes and sitting on one side, lowering his head and talking to a young salesperson. He looked much more approachable.

She suddenly discovered that men’s formal wear and casual wear gave people two completely different impressions.

At least, Xie Li had a significant impact on her in this regard, because when this man appeared in front of her, he was mostly wearing a suit and leather shoes, with his shirt collar always buttoned up to the top, looking ascetic and strict. No matter how cold he was, he always exuded a sharp aura.

It made it difficult for people to have the idea of offending him. At least Tang Man felt that such a Xie Li was too indifferent, and she would not have any romantic thoughts about such a person.

She had always known what kind of person she could touch and what kind of person she couldn’t. Having already stumbled once with Du Henian, she would not stumble a second time.

Tang Man walked over, and Xie Li looked up and saw her, involuntarily standing up.

“You’re here?”

Tang Man nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed, which was rare. After all, Xie Li rarely took a day off, and she had called him out, giving her the feeling that the big capitalist had just finished enslaving her, this little capitalist, and was continuing to enslave her.

So she said, “Why did you come here yourself? For such a small matter, just send someone who knows about cars.”

When she first sent a message to Xie Li, she really didn’t expect him to come back. It was just about getting a car, not something important, and he really didn’t need to come.

“I had nothing to do anyway.” Xie Li was still holding a booklet in his hand and walked over. “Have you decided what car to buy?”

Tang Man softly hummed and casually took the booklet from his hand, saying, “The car you usually drive is quite good. I’ve driven it a few times and found it pretty nice.”

It was just for commuting to work, just an ordinary car. If it was too conspicuous, it wouldn’t be good either.

Xie Li was stunned for a moment. He couldn’t help but glance at Tang Man, only able to see the woman’s lowered brows and eyes, with her eyelashes covering the emotions in her eyes. He couldn’t see her expression when she said those words.

This person could always say things that made his heart tremble involuntarily with the most casual and lighthearted tone, yet she didn’t know.

In the end, Xie Li could only pretend that nothing had happened. His eyelashes trembled a few times as he tried his best to appear nonchalant and said, “You can take another look. When I bought my car, I didn’t have much money, so I could only buy the one with the best value for the price.”

At that time, he had only been working for a few years. In order to commute conveniently, he didn’t even buy a house and used all his savings to buy a car, because the place he lived was too far from the company. However, after buying the car, Tang Man also used it quite a few times, and gradually, he got used to it.

Tang Man hummed.

What she said was just a casual remark. If there was something better, she would definitely choose the better one.

There was a salesperson here, and Xie Li had already selected a few cars suitable for Tang Man earlier. So when she arrived, she could directly choose one she liked and then go for a test drive.

Among the few cars, she chose a black SUV. The salesperson was a young man, looking quite young. At least now, when Xie Li stood with him, they looked the same age.

Thinking of this, Tang Man couldn’t help but glance at him from the corner of her eye. Under Xie Li’s somewhat puzzled gaze, she sat in the driver’s seat.

The salesperson sat in the passenger seat. Tang Man turned her head and glanced at him. “You’ll wait for me here?”

Xie Li nodded.

Tang Man said, “Okay then,” and then started the engine and shifted gears. When getting used to a new car, one always needed to familiarize oneself with it. She was used to Xie Li’s car, so at first, she wasn’t quite accustomed to it. Later, she gradually got used to it. She drove around the surroundings, passed several traffic lights, and returned to the car store.

After getting out of the car, the salesperson kept talking to Tang Man, introducing some features of this car. Tang Man occasionally nodded.

Xie Li had been sitting on the sofa in the store and had long heard the movement. When Tang Man got out of the car, he walked over and asked, “How was it?”

Tang Man said, “Not bad.”

Xie Li gently rubbed his fingers along the edge of his pant seam. He smiled and said casually, “So this one?”

“Okay.” Tang Man glanced at the salesperson. “Let’s go with this one. I’ll take the car right away. I need it in the afternoon.”

She seemed to have forgotten that she had previously said she wanted to buy the same model as Xie Li’s car.

The salesperson immediately said happily, “Okay,” and prepared to go to the front to fill out the paperwork. There was a series of procedures to go through, which would probably take a while.

It just so happened that Xie Li had driven over. After discussing with the salesperson and paying, Tang Man looked at Xie Li, who had been silent beside her, feeling that his mood seemed to have suddenly turned sour.

She thought for a moment and still tentatively extended an invitation, “How about we go have a meal together?”

She said, “I’ve troubled you so many times before, and I suddenly realized that I seem to have never treated you to a meal.”

Even last time when the two of them went to a coffee shop together, in the end, it was still Xie Li who paid for her coffee.

Thinking about it this way, she was really a terrible person. Not only did she pressure others to pay with labor, but now she also let him suffer beatings. It was truly a miracle that Xie Li hadn’t quit her company.

Could his love for her really have such great magic power?

Tang Man didn’t believe it. She herself didn’t believe in love, so she also liked to question other people’s feelings.

She just felt that it wasn’t very necessary.

“Whatever you want to eat, it’s my treat.” Tang Man said quite generously.

She was already prepared to spend money to dispel misfortune, but after Xie Li glanced at her, he drove her to a very ordinary restaurant.

It was also a private kitchen, but not as high-end as the one she went to last time. However, the decor was not bad, but this was far from meeting Tang Man’s expectation of spending money to dispel misfortune.

Meeting Tang Man’s gaze, Xie Li finally only said one sentence, “You should engage in fewer romantic relationships. That would be more useful than treating me to a hundred meals.”

Looking at Xie Li’s plain expression, for a moment, Tang Man couldn’t tell whether this was a double entendre or if he was being sarcastic towards her.

However, now this person had indeed become much sharper. She somewhat missed the indifferent and aloof special assistant from before.

After finishing the meal, Tang Man inquired with the salesperson in the store. After receiving the reply that the procedures had been completed and the car had been fitted with temporary license plates and could be taken away, she returned to the car store with Xie Li.

However, when leaving again, Tang Man’s gaze fell on Xie Li. After sizing him up for a moment, she couldn’t help but say, “Assistant Xie, seeing you today, I suddenly feel that you look much younger.”

Much later, when Tang Man recalled the first half of her life, she sometimes couldn’t help but sigh at her mouth. Why couldn’t she control her words?

After Tang Man said that and saw Xie Li’s momentarily stunned expression, she felt that her words were a bit inappropriate.

It was also because she was usually too lazy, lacking a sense of boundaries when dealing with Xie Li. However, after knowing that he liked her, even though she didn’t care about this affection, she would also involuntarily become somewhat restrained because of his feelings.

If it were before, she probably would have joked as usual. Even if she encountered Xie Li’s gaze like this, she wouldn’t think too much. But now it was different. She subconsciously began to misinterpret this stunned look in her mind.

That’s why people say that humans are animals that influence each other, and this interpersonal influence is more profound than any other animal because there are too many secrets hidden in the central nervous system of the brain.

Therefore, Tang Man secretly decided in her heart that it would be better to keep a distance from Xie Li in the future.

When people are together for a long time, the sense of boundaries between men and women can easily disappear, like a thin film slowly being dissolved by something.

As she prepared to leave, Xie Li had already come back to his senses. The two walked out the door together, with the salesperson following alongside them, continuously smiling as they sent the customers out of the store.

For them, customers like Tang Man were probably their favorite, paying promptly without requiring too much effort on their part.

Tang Man returned to her car. Xie Li didn’t leave first, instead standing by Tang Man’s car. As Tang Man drove away, he couldn’t help but ask, “You said you need the car in the afternoon. Are you going on a self-driving trip?”

He couldn’t think of a reason why Tang Man suddenly wanted to buy a car. After all, she had used his car quite often before, frequently using it when dating Si Jiahe in college. Later on, many small items in his car were left behind by Tang Man. One or two lipsticks could even be found under the storage box.

Tang Man didn’t notice Xie Li’s expression and emotion. With her eyes on the dashboard in front of her, she released the handbrake and then said to Xie Li, “I’m going to an art exhibition in the evening. Using your car is a bit inconvenient.”

Xie Li tugged at the corner of his mouth, wanting to say something, but still remained silent.

Should he say that he didn’t mind?

That would be too undignified. Dealing with his youthful feelings for this person had already made him lose all his dignity. He couldn’t say anything more.

He knew that all humble feelings ultimately couldn’t seek a result. It was better not to have extravagant hopes from the beginning.

He stood there watching Tang Man’s car disappear into the sea of vehicles. He stood for a good while before slowly regaining his senses and returning to his car. He couldn’t help but recall Tang Man’s words again.

Lies. He thought, glib lies without heart.

That woman had always been like this. If you thought too deeply, you would be delusional.

However, he still couldn’t help but look at his face in the mirror. He rarely gazed at his own appearance in front of the mirror like this. Compared to Tang Man, compared to Si Jiahe, he indeed couldn’t be considered young anymore.

He knew that his appearance might be considered good-looking, because in high school, there were also girls who confessed to him. But his family was poor, and since he was a child, he knew that only studying could change his fate.

So until he graduated from college, he had always been struggling to survive.

When he was working part-time while studying in college, Tang Man was just a middle school student. At that time, she was even more immature than now. In that woman’s eyes, he might indeed be considered old. So this still passable face was nothing in Tang Man’s eyes.

He had seen that woman’s ex-boyfriends. None of them had ordinary appearances, and most of them had a good face.

Suddenly, he pushed the rearview mirror upwards and leaned back on the seat, closing his eyes. The back of his hand rested on his eyelids, and one hand tightly grasped the leather surface of the seat. Only after smelling the familiar fragrance in the car did he slowly suppress that complex emotion in his heart.

At this moment, the phone placed beside him started vibrating. He picked it up and saw that it was a call from Tang Man.

His slightly calmed emotions showed signs of fluctuation again.

Just as he was about to hang up the phone, her voice came from the other end. The sound of car horns could still be faintly heard.

“Xie Li, help me keep an eye on my dad’s side recently. If there’s anything special, let me know.”

This was mainly because Tang Man suddenly thought of Madam Yang mentioning getting married when they had dinner last time. She always felt it was a bomb, and if Old Tang found out, something might happen. Calling now was to let Assistant Xie pay attention, after all, this person was basically by Old Tang’s side all the time and probably knew more about Old Tang’s matters than she did.

Xie Li took a deep breath and didn’t say anything. His hand couldn’t help but curl up several times, as if grasping something.

But Tang Man’s voice came through again.

Xie Li could only reply with a suppressed “Okay.”

With a single “okay”, it seemed to exhaust all his strength.