Chapter 149: Love’s Secret Code

Li Yan really just dropped Jiang Lele off near her home and left. In fact, Jiang Lele also felt embarrassed to have him escort her right to the door, fearing her family or acquaintances might call out, which would be extremely awkward.

Of course, where she lived wasn’t an isolated place, so there was no need to worry about any more danger.

Just as Li Yan returned home, Zhang Yurong’s call came through.

It was rather coincidental, but Zhang Yurong figured he wouldn’t have much connection with Liu Yuyang. After leaving, he would definitely head home, so she estimated the time roughly, waited for a bit, and only called when she was sure he had arrived home. Because of the matters with Liu Yuyang and Jiang Lele, Li Yan was slightly delayed on the way, hence he had just reached home.

"What’s up? Missing me already?" Li Yan joked with Yurong with a smile, as he picked up the call right in the garage.

Zhang Yurong hesitated for a moment, then softly said, "That Liu Yuyang... I didn’t know he would come to my house today. Because of the connections between our fathers, I’ve known him for many years, but we don’t interact much... and haven’t been in touch for a while."

With Li Yan’s previous nonsensical reply, she wanted to ask Jiang Xueyin but was worried it might be something unpleasant, not wanting her cousin to find out. After some thought, she wrote it down and handed it to Jiang Xueyin to ask what it meant. Jiang Xueyin was also clueless, not understanding what it was. If it were internet slang or trendy new phrases, Yurong figured a fashionable young woman like Jiang Xueyin wouldn’t be unaware, so she guessed Li Yan was just randomly replying. Consequently, she hesitated before calling again to explain.

After hearing her words, Li Yan pondered for a moment.

"You don’t believe what I said?" Zhang Yurong sighed softly, "Maybe I should say this: back in university, he might have pursued me. But I was focused on studying and had already started my own business; I didn’t have time to bother with him."

"You’ve misunderstood..." Li Yan gently said, "Yurong, I never doubted that you had any history with Liu Yuyang. Even if he told me something, I wouldn’t doubt it. I completely trust that there’s nothing between you and him. Although his family background, appearance, demeanor, and capabilities might surpass mine, that doesn’t mean he’s your type."

"Is that so?" Hearing this, Zhang Yurong felt somewhat reassured. She didn’t know why she felt anxious and wanted to explain. Perhaps it was because she couldn’t publicly acknowledge his identity as her husband and had to pretend he was just a boyfriend, causing her guilt?

"Of course. Well, even if you think my words are too absolute or pretentious and might be false, let me give you more reasons! Liu Yuyang is clearly a few years older than you. I don’t know if he has a master’s or a doctoral degree now, but at least you’ve surpassed him academically by several years. With your constant leap in learning, even if you were college mates, the time was brief. Plus, before managing the group leadership, you had your own business; your investment company was started during your studies. Skipping grades in academics and business, you’ve made many envious. Did you even have time for dating? Are you giving others a chance to live?"

"Haha..." Zhang Yurong couldn’t help but laugh. Indeed, during that period, she barely had any spare time.

"Honestly, I truly trust you, but when you call to explain after texting, it makes me really happy!" Li Yan warmly said, "Because it means I’m important to you, and you’re afraid of misunderstandings and losing me!"

"Really..." Zhang Yurong felt happy, but unwittingly thought of Yu Xiaodi, sighing to herself, wondering if she held such importance in his heart, as he never seemed afraid of misunderstandings or losing her...

Thinking of this, Zhang Yurong felt that she shouldn’t accommodate him too much, lest he take her for granted. So she decided to voice her earlier concern: "I wasn’t... I thought you were throwing a tantrum by sending those nonsensical things, so I explained to you, this petty guy. No, I wanted to understand what you sent!"

Li Yan chuckled, feeling she’s trying to hide her real feelings. At this moment, Yurong didn’t exhibit any traits of a shrewd CEO, instead resembling a young girl first experiencing love. Not revealing her emotions, he quizzically said, "Petty guy or not, what ’nonsensical stuff’ did I send?"

In his mind, to be labeled as ’nonsense’ by Yurong, he knew her well enough to have never sent such jokes to her!

"You said it! What’s the meaning of two numbers 5, two letters n and W, and three exclamation marks?" Zhang Yurong was very intelligent but had pondered for a long time and even sought Jiang Xueyin’s help, still failing to decipher its meaning, regardless of Yun Mandarin, international abbreviations, or character shapes.

Initially tense, listening to Li Yan’s tone now, she realized it was probably nothing serious, possibly just some Yun characters appearing as garbled text. So she didn’t ask Li Yan what he recently sent but inquired directly about the content. If Li Yan was completely confused, it would confirm a mistake, and she could stop worrying.

However, it was actually a deliberately crafted message by Li Yan, so how could he not know? Upon hearing her words, Li Yan laughed, "Exclamation n55 exclamation W exclamation? Haha, rotate your phone 180 degrees."

"Hmm? Rotate my phone 180 degrees?" Zhang Yurong was puzzled, quickly responding, "Hold on..."

She didn’t hang up the call and didn’t need to operate her phone; instead, she took the note she had transcribed for Jiang Xueyin and rotated it 180 degrees herself. (Readers protest: My computer can’t rotate to view!)

Yurong immediately discovered that it originally read ’!n55!W!’, but after rotation, it resembled ’imisSu!’, making it much easier to interpret!

"I... miss... u! ... I miss you!?"

"I miss you too!" Li Yan added.

"Haha..." Zhang Yurong couldn’t help but giggle, "So that’s what it means... You, why don’t you just say it outright? Is it fun to mess with others?"

Li Yan recalled a joke about the Si Country Intelligence Bureau intercepting a mysterious code ’qs-!HS!N’, which they couldn’t decipher even with the help of the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and others; they also tried asking Lan Country for assistance, but it didn’t work; finally, they had no choice but to try asking Yun Country, where the intelligence personnel quickly deciphered the code: it was upside down, look at it rotated 180 degrees.

Turning it upside down, it became ’NiShi-sb’. Of course, he couldn’t tell Yurong this.

"Hey! I just touched a corner, and someone linked it to Morse code. I thought you’d enjoy romantic love passwords. I’m not by your side, can’t do a three-letter code, so I made up another one!"

Talking about three-letter love codes, Zhang Yurong recalled the romantic times at the cinema, her cheeks slightly flushing. She had solved her mystery and was ready to tease Jiang Xueyin, so she stopped talking: "Alright, I’m done fooling around with you."

Before hanging up, Li Yan wanted to say something. After getting out of the car, before the crash, he had recorded a conversation with Liu Yuyang on his phone, hoping to show Yurong Liu Yuyang’s true face.

However, now he didn’t think it was necessary. Although it was meant to remind her, he had just promised to trust her, saying this would seem insincere. He decided to just give her a proper reminder about Liu Yuyang and pay more attention himself.

...

Earlier they had said they wouldn’t return, spending the night at the Zhang Family, so Yue Yao and Sister Liu weren’t waiting for anyone. Li Yan didn’t disturb Sister Liu; he went straight upstairs.

When leaving in the morning, Li Yan hadn’t worn underwear, and had been with Wen Qianyi in the afternoon, then kept going until now, naturally feeling uncomfortable. Once in his room, he quickly took a shower, changed into the underwear, pajamas, and pants he’d brought, then headed to the guest room Yue Yao was staying in.

Maybe it was out of habit; usually, only the three of them lived on the second floor, so it felt normal. Now with just one person missing, it felt incredibly quiet and forlorn. When Yurong was around, Li Yan and Yue Yao maintained a proper distance; now with Yurong not home, it should feel less restrained, but instead felt more cautious.

Li Yan laughed quietly, shaking his head, and knocked on Yue Yao’s door.

There was movement inside immediately, and soon after, Yue Yao opened the door, feeling slightly surprised seeing Li Yan at the entrance: "You’re back?"

"Yeah, let’s talk inside!" Li Yan pushed the door open slightly and went inside.

Yue Yao silently closed the door, sighing softly: "Is something wrong again? Did Yurong go home?"

"Haha, Yurong is at home, didn’t come back, but it’s not what you think. There’s no problem between us; actually, we’re closer than before." Li Yan briefly explained the afternoon’s cinema visit and what had happened until just now.

By the time he finished, both were sitting at the bedhead. Yue Yao breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest, smiling, "Well, now I’m relieved. It’s all your fault, always causing trouble, after cleaning up after you so much, even when there’s no problem, I worry there might be..."

"When did you clean up after..." Li Yan felt a bit sweaty; although she had helped a lot with him and Yurong, don’t use ’cleaning up’ to describe it. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Yue Yao awkwardly laughed, "Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue."

Only then did Li Yan have the opportunity to observe the room’s situation; he had noticed Yue Yao’s slightly flushed face earlier, thinking maybe it was because she was lying in bed. Then, smelling wine, seeing a nearly empty bottle of red wine, he realized she had been drinking!

"Are you... drowning your sorrows in alcohol?" he sighed softly, looking at Yue Yao.

(Thanks for yesterday’s rewards: QEfrank, Feng→Sui Feng Fei, Lan Yan For Whom Drunk, zjun971210, jp^^, Reluctant Parting, Book Friend 100802203734892, kipagod, dongmin8061, Cp Pampas) (To be continued. To know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters available, support the author, support legitimate reading!)