CH 41.2

It was then that it suddenly occurred to her that she ought to send a message to Zhang Ning to clarify that it was just an empty scare. 

Surprisingly, a ringtone sounded in the car at that exact moment.

It wasn’t hers, so it could only be from Li Xiaoxing’s side. 

Ji Fanyin thought that it was a business call, but the Secretary Fan suddenly covered the speaker, turned around, and told Li Xiaoxing softly, “It’s the first miss of the Zhang Family.”

“Ah.” Ji Fanyin raised her hand like an obedient student requesting for the right to speak in a classroom. “She’s probably looking for me.”

“… Mr Li?” asked Secretary Fan.

Li Xiaoxing’s eyes remained on the notebook computer as he replied, “Give it to her.”

Secretary Fan passed the phone to Ji Fanyin.

Ji Fanyin quickly placed the phone to her ear and said, “It’s me, Ji Fanyin.”

“Are you okay?” Zhang Ning visibly heaved a sigh of relief. “How did you get involved with him? It took me some time before I managed to get his contact number.”

“It’s a little complicated, but it’s alright now. Sorry for troubling you. Shall I treat you to a meal the next time we meet?” asked Ji Fanyin with a smile.

“Of course. Just a heads up, I’m quite particular with food.” Zhang Ning didn’t hold back at all. “It just so happens that there’s something I’d like to discuss with you… Is Li Xiaoxing still there? I want to talk to him.”

Ji Fanyin’s eyebrows shot up. She turned around and passed the phone to Li Xiaoxing.

However, Li Xiaoxing didn’t take the phone right away. He spent another ten seconds typing away on the laptop notebook and then hitting the ‘Send’ button before receiving the phone. 

“Zhang Ning.”

A while later, he answered, “I see.”

He listened for a while longer, but he no longer gave any more responses. The call ended just like that. 

He passed the phone back to Secretary Fan as he commented, “I didn’t think that you would prepare such a hand.”

“It doesn’t hurt to be prepared. My work is quite high-risk, after all.” Ji Fanyin threw his words back at him as she tapped into her email to look through Li Xiaoxing’s questionnaire.

She came up with the questionnaire herself. Most of them were rating scale questions, though there were a couple of fill-in-the-blanks and open-ended ones too. Of them, the open-ended ones were the most important as they concerned how the clients perceived Ji Xinxin. 

For a special client like Li Xiaoxing, Ji Fanyin skipped through everything else and headed straight for the open-ended questions.

It was clear to her that Li Xiaoxing was a highly percipient individual. He was able to look at things from Ji Xinxin’s perspective, perhaps from a level above hers even. 

Yet, his answers were simple. Exceedingly so.

Question: What’s your mental perception of Ji Xinxin? Choose two to three points and briefly elaborate on them.

Li Xiaoxing’s answer contained a single word: Greedy.

Ji Fanyin: “…” Duh? Do you think that I don’t know that?

She quietly rolled her eyes before scrolling back to the top to carefully look through the questionnaire. 

Soon, they arrived at the restaurant. Ji Fanyin continued staring intently at her phone while subconsciously following Li Xiaoxing’s wheelchair. Due to her inattentiveness, she nearly tripped over the wheelchair at one point in time. 

Li Xiaoxing began making his order right after they arrived at their table.

By then, Ji Fanyin had already finished browsing through the questionnaire. She took a moment to internalize what she had gathered thus far before asking, “Allow me to do a quick summary. You know that she’s not a good person, and you’re also aware that she doesn’t have feelings for you. However, you still love her. Is that an accurate description?”

“I’m paying you money to resolve this problem,” replied Li Xiaoxing.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Ji Fanyin smiled. “Do you mind telling me how the two of you started?”

Li Xiaoxing lowered his head to look at his crippled legs. “She saved me.”

Ji Fanyin habitually rested her head on her arm as she inquired further, “My apologies, but I haven’t done any background checks on you. What happened?”

“It was a car accident.” Li Xiaoxing began recounting his story with the usual emotionless look on his face. “The doctor said that I’d be fully paralyzed for life. It’s thanks to her encouragement and company that I am what I am.”

His words were simple and vague, but Ji Fanyin was somewhat able to grasp his thoughts. 

To put it simply, she helped him during the toughest period in his life. I do recall Ji Xinxin spending a lengthy period of time in the hospital during her younger years… Were they staying in neighboring wards?