Mustard and ketchup!

Bai Ye rubbed his nose that got hurt due to Leng Rui's steel-like body. He pitifully called out to Li Jie. "Xiao Li…" 

Leng Rui felt a certain rage after seeing the soft demeanour of Bai Ye. "Is this young master Li's taste?" His tone was sarcastic and demeaning towards Bai Ye along with his eyes that looked down at everyone. 

[Main Villain favorability 02%] 

The youth ignored the system prompt and directly took Bai Ye to his side. Li Jie had already seen the receptionist's tone towards them and after noticing the people surrounding them he had an idea. 'The hotel currently only catered towards the VVIMPs i.e. a snob like Leng Rui.' 

"If that's what you want to believe." Li Jie was about to leave with Bai Ye but Leng Rui threw a room card directly at him. Li Jie was fast enough to catch it fearing it would damage his face that resembled his mother. "The hell…"

But before curse words could leave his lips Leng Rui's next words acted like a bucket of cold water for him. "Dr. Bai Ye, a renowned toxicologist from the Central Hospital affiliated with University C. Would be super bad if his character had a flaw. Right?" 

Li Jie clasped the keycard understanding the depth of Leng Rui's words. "I will thank you for this later."

The three figures soon disappeared from the reception of the hotel. Li Jie took Bai Ye to the hotel room while Leng Rui simply left as his conference was over. 

He was followed by his assistant and a team of bodyguards. It was a scene out of a mafia movie rather than a simple businessman departing. Leng Rui got inside the black car that stood in front of the hotel lobby as his assistant gave him a heads up.

"Boss, the young master Li and Dr. Bai doesn't have that kinda relationship." Assistant Lin looked at his boss through the rearview mirror waiting for Leng Rui to react to his statement. 

"So…" Just one word. Assistant Lin wasn't surprised by the reaction. But at the same time he could let his boss have an error in judgement. 

"Sir, our men had followed young master Li for months on your order and the information we have collected clearly signs towards the fact that Dr Bai and young master Li don't have any romantic relationship." Assistant Lin was sweating, he had spoken too much. In the 5 years of serving Leng Rui this might be the only time Leng Rui actually let him state his own opinion.

On the other hand Leng Rui's dark eyes were focused, his lips turned upward hearing the worry of his assistant. "He had already got inside the hotel room with another guy, even Mrs Li won't believe his innocence. You just gather proof at the moment and wait for my next order." His cold eyes finally fixed on assistant Lin. His next words seemingly remind assistant Lin to have his thoughts. "And you are told to be on standby, not to stand behind him. If assistant Lin loves working independently so much, just transfer departments. Better just quit."

Assistant Lin sat in the front seat listening to the criticism. If only quitting was as simple as Leng Rui said for him.

_______

The next day, Li Jie made sure to slip inside the Li manor before the sun got out. Today was the day Jian Tang was going to see him off. The day his character's plot officially started. 

Li Jie wore a light yellow shirt paired with white trousers. The whole process of selecting an outfit was done blankly. Jian Tang couldn't put words together as she was wearing a white crop top and red pants. Just when she thought there was something wrong with their outfits Li Feng beside her spoke up. "Hah! Mustard and ketchup?" Getting a glare from his wife. 

Li Jie dragged the suitcase behind him, there was a dark air around him today. 

"Did you not get enough sleep?" Jian Tang asked whilst instructing the servants to put his things in the trunk of the car.

"No, I was just too excited to sleep." Jian Tang nor Li Feng were naive enough to buy his excuse. But they didn't pursue it further. Li Feng drove the mother-son duo to the campus of University A and left. 

Li Jie stood at the entrance of University A as Jian Tang took a picture with her phone as a memory. "Can you smile a bit?" 

For the first time Jian Tang felt her son should let a little loose. She observed the atmosphere around full of youth reminiscing her own college days. She quickly selected a few pictures and posted them on her wall.

"I will go and register." 

Jian Tang was too engrossed in her phone just then and when she looked up Li Jie's figure had disappeared. For the first time Jian Tang felt the dreaded feeling. A feeling of loss…