"Are you ok?" the other party asked again.
Tang Li took the backpack from the other person’s hand: "I’m fine."
The man stood up following Tang Li, his figure tall and slim, unlike the burly build of other Westerners. With a black T-shirt and jeans, short neat hair, and pronounced facial features that were not overly rugged, Tang Li remembered he wasn’t purely American, having both British and French ancestry.
After hesitating for a few seconds, the other party initiated a conversation with Tang Li: "Did you just come out of the library?"
Tang Li’s gaze lingered on him.
The other party raised his hand to touch the back of his neck, looking somewhat shy: "I’m an exchange student at Capital University. I just got off the plane today. I wanted to take a walk but accidentally got lost."
"Take bus number 662 from here to reach Capital University," Tang Li gave him directions. "Or, you could take a taxi back to the school."
The other party suddenly asked while looking at Tang Li: "Are you also a student at Capital University?"
Right at that moment, Tang Li’s cellphone rang.
The taxi driver she had called was on the line.
Without taking off her mask, Tang Li walked straight ahead, but the man followed her: "My name is Ethan Winters. What about you? I’m not kidding, you are the first girl I’ve talked to since arriving in the S-country."
The taxi was already waiting next to the bus stop.
Tang Li opened the car door, turned to look at the other party, her eyes and brows curving slightly: "What a coincidence, my name is Jill Valentian."
The man was taken aback, but Tang Li had already gotten into the car.
Watching the taxi drive away, the man stood by the road, licking his thin lips, his cellphone vibrating in his pocket. Seeing the caller ID, he answered: "I’ve met the person. It’s tougher than I thought, but don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get close to her."
Lai Shengxia’s voice transmitted from the receiver: "If it were easy, I wouldn’t have sent you. At most... I can give you one month to gain Tang Li’s trust and to make her fond of you."
The man complied: "Then, about my accommodation in the Capital..."
"I’ve transferred fifty thousand yuan to you, enough for you to rent a place near Capital University."
While speaking, Lai Shengxia specifically reminded him: "Tang Li will be more shrewd than you think, so don’t take it lightly. If you slip up, I can’t help you."
"I know what to do," the man chuckled lightly: "You paid a high price to bring me here. I would not fulfill my duty if I didn’t handle this job perfectly for your ten million."
On the other end of the phone, Lai Shengxia’s eyebrows relaxed: "As long as you understand."
Sitting in the back of the taxi, Tang Li watched the dusk scenery outside the window. Perhaps because she lived alone in a villa for too long in her past life, some memories were deeply hidden.
In her previous life, Tang Li met Ethan in a tea art class.
At that time, she had been studying tea art for half a year, and Ethan suddenly joined the tea art training class one day, becoming the only male in the class. He claimed to be American and stayed to work as a system analyst in an IT company after graduating from Capital University.
Later, Ethan became her desk mate, and their communication became more frequent. For origınal chapters go to 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⚑𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⚑𝙣𝙚𝙩
During the tea art class, Ethan asked for her contact information.
Ethan would occasionally ask her about tea art in private, and gradually, they became friends in daily life.
After Tang Li married Han Jifeng, she focused much of her life on Qin Yueru, which meant she couldn’t leave her home and lacked peers for friends. Ethan could be considered the only friend she made, and given his patient nature and lack of friends in S-country, she sometimes shared her experiences with him.