Chapter Forty-Five Who Made the Trouble

  From behind, the woman had a head of curly hair, but it wasn't dyed. The upper half of her body was dressed in a professional suit. Although I still didn't know what she looked like, my impression was that this woman might not be easy to get along with. I shook Yang Xiufeng's hand and exchanged a glance with her. It was clear from the look in her eyes that there was a hint of fear, but it wasn't fear itself, rather a kind of self-consciousness. I nodded slightly and let out a gentle sigh, then pulled Yang Xiufeng along as we went over. As for the other woman, I didn't even consider her. The reason was simple: one, I could see her profile, and she looked like she was in her forties; two, although the other woman wasn't very old, she looked more like a student. But my intuition told me that the girl probably wasn't Li Xiaoman. The reason was simple: my instincts told me that Li Xiaoman wasn't a kind person, it was something that came from deep within. That girl looked very gentle, which isn't something you can fake. Only the woman behind me fit the image I had in mind.

  He plopped himself down in front of the woman, casually pulling Yang Xiufeng into his arms, then snapped his fingers with one hand and whistled: "Give me two cups of coffee, sugared."

  Actually, I've never been to a place like this either, but I haven't eaten pork and seen pigs run. Moreover, I don't want to lose face, so after I finished speaking, I went to take a closer look at the woman. At that moment, she frowned slightly, looking somewhat annoyed, with a hint of disdain in her eyes, not even bothering to glance at me, just focusing on drinking her coffee without raising an eyebrow.

  Go ahead, keep pretending, I hummed in my heart, but didn't show it on my face, nor did I say anything. I just wrapped my arms around Yang Xiufeng and whispered into her ear, saying whatever came to mind. This made Yang Xiufeng's face turn bright red, although she understood that I was doing it on purpose. She was too shy to lift her head, subconsciously wanting to hide, but also afraid of losing face in front of me, so she could only endure it, yet felt awkward and didn't dare move.

  It wasn't until she had drunk half a cup of coffee that the woman finally couldn't help it, looked up at me, but didn't look at Yang Xiufeng again, as if it was all a waste of energy. Although her face was full of disgust, her voice was still very calm: "Is this interesting?"

  "Yes." I replied curtly, raising an eyebrow with a hint of mockery in my eyes. I was intentionally provoking Li Xiaoman, to be honest, from the moment I knew her until now, I had already put a big cross on her in my heart.

  For a moment, the woman fell silent again, still sipping her coffee, with an even thicker look of disdain on her face. But I didn't care, and instead became even more arrogant, with my legs crossed and a smug expression on my face. The more Li Xiaoman was annoyed with me, the more interesting I found it, and I felt secretly pleased in my heart.

  But what surprised me was that the woman finally couldn't take it anymore and suddenly waved her hand: "Check, please!"

  Then she put down the money and stood up to leave, this time I was caught off guard. It didn't look like she was joking around, but I still insisted on not speaking up, just staring at the woman with all my might, determined to see what she was up to. But even more unexpectedly, the woman really did stand up and leave, this time I felt a bit annoyed, don't play tricks on me, and couldn't help but hum: "Li Xiaoman, don't try this trick on me——"

  The woman took a few steps forward, but upon hearing this, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Then, slowly, she turned around. I, however, put on a straight face again and resumed my previous indifference. But to my surprise, the woman suddenly burst out laughing, and with great joy, looked me up and down. She shook her head lightly: "If you think this attitude of yours can attract women's attention, then you're wrong, little brother. If you want to get to know me, I suggest you give yourself some substance, don't pretend to be a playboy. Not everyone will like your act. And also, don't flirt with other women in front of the girl you like."

  Then the woman actually left, which made me stunned. What is Li Xiaoman playing? I finally couldn't sit still and stood up abruptly, taking three steps to block in front of the woman. My face turned gloomy, and I hummed heavily: "Li Xiaoman, what do you mean? You called me here just to show off your superiority? I admit that I am at a disadvantage, but it doesn't mean you can feel superior to me."

  The woman tilted her head and looked at me, as if searching for something on my face. After a while, she suddenly smiled and covered her mouth, seemingly unable to contain her joy. However, her happiness only made me angrier, and my expression grew colder. A thread of anger rose in my heart, but just then, the woman nodded: "I understand now. You're not pretending, you're intentionally trying to annoy me, right? Unfortunately, I have to tell you that you've got the wrong person. My name is Cui Manli, not Li Xiaoman. Here's my business card; if you need anything, you can contact me. It's clear that you're a man with a story."

  As you handed me a business card, I took it in a daze. On it were indeed the three characters "Cui Manli", with the title of reporter for the Metropolitan Daily. Oh no, had I really mistaken her for someone else? For a moment, I was stunned, my face burning with embarrassment, unable to pretend anymore. My old face turned red as I scratched my head and dryly laughed: "Sorry, it seems...I really did mistake you for someone else, sorry..."

  Then I hurried to make way, and saw Cui Manli watching me with a smile, making me really want to find a seam in the ground to drill into. But I didn't dare stay there, so I quickly ran back, but instead rushed towards another girl. She was looking at this side with a curious expression, or rather, looking at me. Wearing a t-shirt and jeans, with glasses and a ponytail, she looked more like a student. How could Li Xiaoman be like this? Although I had doubts in my heart, I didn't hesitate, standing in front of her with a cold face and saying in a low voice: "Alright, Li Xiaoman, no need to pretend anymore. Say it, what did you call me here for?"

  The girl was taken aback and suddenly laughed: "You've mistaken me for someone else, I'm not Li Xiaoman."

  "Are you Li Xiaoman?" I was stunned for a moment, my mouth twitching, and for a while I didn't dare to believe it. But looking at the girl's honest eyes, I still hesitated.

  Maybe I really got the wrong person, sighed and spat, I didn't even have the mood to say sorry, just dryly laughed and nodded at the girl, then walked in front of that middle-aged woman. The woman looked up at me with a smile on her face, probably thinking it was funny that I mistook people twice in a row. I naturally wasn't in a good mood, with a belly full of pent-up fire and nowhere to vent it, so I couldn't help but say: "Li Xiaoman, stop pretending, if you have something to say then say it. But honestly, you look even older than your dad, tsk tsk... you really do look old..."

  The woman's face changed, and she spat at me. She threw down the money, stood up, and walked away without saying a word to me. This made my heart start racing again - what was going on? Just as I was about to chase after her, the woman turned around and merely hummed: "You're really blind, you mistook three women in total. What were you thinking? I'm going to pick up my daughter, you can find your own way."

  Watching the woman walk out of the store, Cui Manli didn't leave, and another girl was also very interested in looking at me, but I was stunned there, not knowing what to do for a while. Looking at Cui Manli again, then looking at the girl, but couldn't tell which one is more likely, however, thinking that Cui Manli should be impossible, because it's impossible to prepare business cards early to cheat me, so I put my eyes on another girl again. Just as I was about to speak, the girl smiled: "My name is Zhang Yan, a student of the First Academy, but not the Li Xiaoman you're looking for."

  My face twitched, and I felt both embarrassed and suffocated in my heart, feeling like I had been played. Yang Xiufeng also stood up, holding my arm, looking at Cui Manli, then at Zhang Yan, and for a moment, she couldn't make up her mind either. She bit her lip and hesitated before saying: "Two sisters, no matter who is Li Xiaoman, please stop playing this game. After all, it's for your father's sake. Your father just passed away, and you shouldn't be causing such a commotion."

  "Who made a fuss, I've been sitting here all along. You came in yourself without asking and randomly recognized people. You misrecognized someone but blamed me instead. Isn't that unreasonable?" Someone behind me spoke up with a cold tone, which was the same voice I heard on the phone, but it wasn't Cui Manli or Zhang Yan's voice.

  I suddenly turned my head around and saw a guy with a crew cut wearing a suit, sitting there with a calm face, not even looking at me. This kid looked pretty cool, but at first glance, I thought it was him because he was quite sturdy, of course not tall and majestic, but the well-fitted suit made him look explosive, and he was wearing leather shoes, obviously a practitioner.

  This time I was really stunned. For a moment, I couldn't help but laugh bitterly, shaking my head and sighing: "It seems it's not my fault for misjudging the person, everyone thought Li Xiaoman was a woman's name, who would have thought it was actually a man, anyone would be mistaken."

  Actually, everyone has the same feeling about this. Li Xiaoman is indeed very handsome, but he has a heroic aura and looks like a big boy no matter how you look at him. It's not surprising that I mistook him for someone else. But just as my words fell, Li Xiaoman snorted: "Liu Hai, I really don't know if you're as stupid as a pig. What did my dad see in you to let you help me? Are you using your nose and eyes to tell that I'm a boy?"

  As she spoke, her eyes glanced at me and a cold light flashed in them, making me stunned on the spot. She looked up and down at Li Xiaoman, but pretended not to hear Li Xiaoman's sarcasm, with an expression of disbelief still lingering on her face. She swallowed her saliva and then snorted: "You're a girl! I said your dad has such bad taste, giving you a girl's name. But this isn't my fault, if you don't have breasts or buttocks, but instead a muscular body, who wouldn't think you're a boy?"