Chapter 56: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Li Yaoyao crawled onto the bed herself. Not daring to lift the quilt and terrified of crushing Ye Fan, she carefully spread her legs and leaned over the head of the bed, reaching downward.

"How is it? Did you touch it?" Mother Li bent down to look under the bed.

"Not yet!" With her legs straddling the quilt and forced to reach down while taking care not to touch Ye Fan, Li Yaoyao found herself in an impossibly awkward posture, having to strain downward with every movement.

Crouched tightly inside the quilt, Ye Fan felt a certain soft region brushing against his head over and over again... an experience both agonizing and helpless.

Watching as Li Yaoyao's little hand came within a hair's breadth of the rabbit, Mother Li became displeased and raised her head to say, "Can't you just move the quilt aside and lie down flat on the bed?"

Of course lying flat on the bed would make it easier to reach the rabbit underneath, but Ye Fan was still right there!

Unable to laugh or cry, Li Yaoyao gave a sudden, determined push!

Her hand finally brushed the rabbit, and the little creature bolted out with a startled squeak.

"Oh!" Seeing the rabbit escape, Li Yaoyao felt the heart hanging in her throat finally drop, and she collapsed in a heap onto the bed!

"Damn it..." Ye Fan couldn't help letting out a low groan!

Wrapped tightly inside the quilt, he suddenly felt the bed shake, followed by a heavy impact from something both soft and firm right on his face, cutting off his breath entirely!

Jolting in surprise, Li Yaoyao quickly scrambled up and cast an anxious glance toward Mother Li.

Fortunately, Mother Li's full attention was on the rabbit. With quick, nimble movements, she intercepted the fleeing animal from left and right, caught it, and shoved it back into the cage.

Giving a guilty, nervous smile, Li Yaoyao asked, "Mom... are you alright?"

"What's there to be alright or not alright about!"

Mother Li shot her daughter a sideways glance and said, "You pampered kids have never done any real work. Back in the day when I was sent to the countryside, I was in charge of raising rabbits and chickens on the farm. Catching these things is child's play for me!"

With that, she eyed the plump rabbit in the cage with a smile. "This rabbit is quite meaty. Who knows where it wandered off from? Let's keep it in the courtyard for a few days. If nobody comes looking to claim it, we'll stew it for dinner!"

"Okay..." Li Yaoyao answered with her head bowed, sitting on just the edge of the mattress.

"Huh? You've been acting really strange today!" Mother Li shook her head and walked away, carrying the rabbit.

Watching furtively until her mother was far down the hall, Li Yaoyao hurried over to lock the door, patted her chest, and breathed out, "Oh my goodness! Ye Fan, you can come out now! You scared me to death!"

"Phew! I was about to suffocate!" Ye Fan pushed the quilt away, exposing his upper body. "What on earth was that thing that just smashed straight into my face?"

"I..." Mid-sentence, Li Yaoyao gave an annoyed huff, turned away, closed her eyes, and urged, "Hurry up and put your clothes on!"

"Right!"

Ye Fan hurriedly fished his clothes out from beneath the quilt and put them on. The two of them were finally able to face each other normally, yet the atmosphere hung thick with awkwardness.

"Would you... like some water?"

"No, I'm good, I'm good!"

Ye Fan scratched his head, feeling much like someone meeting their online romantic partner in reality for the first time, completely at a loss for words.

Seeing Li Yaoyao standing nearby, equally fidgety and shy, Ye Fan hardened his resolve, reached out, and grabbed her delicate hand!

"Ah..."

Li Yaoyao let out a startled gasp. After offering a symbolic, token struggle, she obediently let Ye Fan hold her hand.

"Hehe!" Grinning broadly, Ye Fan pulled Li Yaoyao down to sit beside him on the edge of the bed and said, "We've finally met in person! Gosh, this feels just like a dream."

"Mmm..."

"Why don't you take me out for a walk? Back in my world, the 1980s haven't even happened yet, I wasn't even born!"

“I don't think that's a good idea. We're in my house right now—if you go outside, my mom will see you immediately!”

"Oh, oh, right, of course. Look at me, I was so nervous I completely forgot about that."

Scratching his head and chatting idly just to break the silence, Ye Fan finally remembered the main business of the day.

"Yaoyao, will you bring the suitcase to the clothing store tomorrow?"

"Huh?" Brought back to reality by talk of business, Li Yaoyao forgot her embarrassment, looked up at Ye Fan, and said, "I wanted to clean the place up first. Nobody's been in there for years, so it's terribly dirty and messy."

"That's perfect then, I can help you clean!"

"Alright, then! Sister Haiyan is going too tomorrow, so it'll be a great chance for you to meet her!"

As they chatted on, Li Yaoyao's mood gradually settled. She thought to herself how truly handsome Ye Fan looked, and how pleasing his voice was, stirring a deep, natural yearning to grow closer to him.

Lost in these thoughts, she unconsciously leaned her head against Ye Fan's shoulder.

While deep in thought, Ye Fan suddenly felt a weight against his chest and realized that Li Yaoyao was leaning right against him. His pulse instantly raced, and his face flushed red!

"Your heart is beating so fast!" Li Yaoyao murmured with half-closed eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Fan draped his arm around her shoulder and replied, "You're burning up too!"

...

Wonderful times always pass in the blink of an eye. As dusk began to fall, Mother Li's voice echoed from outside the door: "Yaoyao! Time for dinner!"

"Ah! Coming right now!"

Starting awake as if from a dream, Li Yaoyao sat up straight from Ye Fan's embrace. She looked up, and their eyes locked. Captivated by her exquisite beauty, Ye Fan froze in a daze, and the two of them simply stared blankly at each other.

"Ye Fan, let's video chat tonight. You should head back now, okay?"

"Okay!"

Nodding, Ye Fan made to take off his clothes when Li Yaoyao suddenly leaned forward and pecked him lightly on the cheek!

"See you tonight!"

Blushing furiously, Li Yaoyao bolted toward the door, then paused to glance back over her shoulder. "Go on back first! I'll send your clothes over tonight!"

With that, she pulled the door open and slipped outside.

Watching the skipping, spirited young girl, Ye Fan stretched lazily with a sense of profound happiness.

Isn't this precisely what the greatest happiness in life looks like? To meet through destiny, come to know one another, and fall in love—no matter what dangers and obstacles lie ahead, eventually remaining steadfastly together...

...

When Ye Fan returned to his villa at Chunjiang Yueming, it was bathed in the warm glow of thousands of household lights, and the fragrant aroma of evening meals drifted faintly through the air.

He hadn't closed the suitcase lid when he left, so naturally he didn't have to worry about being trapped inside this time.

Still, this remained a hidden hazard; what if an accident caused the suitcase to snap shut while he was away, leaving him permanently stranded in the other world?

The thought gave Ye Fan a jolt of worry. It seemed he would eventually need to find someone he could completely trust and reveal the secret of the suitcase to.

There was no need to rush that just yet. Picking up his phone from the table to order some takeout, Ye Fan discovered a dozen missed calls and a flood of notifications on WeChat.

It was Chen Shuting.

After quickly ordering his dinner, Ye Fan called her back.

The moment the line connected, Chen Shuting's furious roar blasted through the receiver!

"Where on earth did you go this afternoon? Why was it impossible to get ahold of you?"

Ye Fan was momentarily stunned. Naturally, he couldn't tell her he had gone to visit Li Yaoyao, so he hastily made up an excuse that he had fallen asleep and left his phone on silent.

Even across the phone line, Ye Fan could practically picture Chen Shuting's speechless expression.

He heard her snap, "Didn't you claim you could make 200 million in a month? Can you earn money just by sleeping?!"

Listening to her exasperated, frantic voice, Ye Fan guessed that Chen Shuting must have suffered some mistreatment at the Chen family estate.

And it made sense—she had gone back specifically to borrow money, and given her already strained relationship with the family, conflict was practically guaranteed!

With that realization, he offered some soothing words of comfort. "Things are proceeding quite smoothly on my end. What happened on yours? Did your second uncle give you a hard time?"

"Hard time? That's putting it mildly!" Mentioning it brought a wave of grievance to Chen Shuting's voice. When she went to the Chen family compound that day, she hadn't even been allowed past the gates initially; it took her grandfather personally coming out to let her in.

Her grandfather was advanced in age and had long since washed his hands of family affairs, leaving all administrative matters of the Chen family in the hands of her second uncle, rendering her grandfather powerless to help now.

Furious yet helpless, she had forced herself to swallow her pride and smile ingratiatingly at her second uncle, hoping for his assistance. To her shock, her second uncle had demanded an exorbitant price, stating that the Chen family could indeed provide funds—not as a loan, but as equity financing!

When the shares were eventually acquired, the Chen family would only claim their stake proportional to their direct financial contribution!

The more she spoke, the angrier Chen Shuting became. She vented to Ye Fan over the phone, "I calculated it—we only have a little over a million left in our hands. If the Chen family puts up 200 million, they'll end up with 39% of the Lin family's shares, while I'll be left with less than 1%! That's even less than the stake I originally held!"

Listening to her grievances, Ye Fan felt a mix of anger and helplessness. But who was to blame when they simply lacked the capital?

Now things had reached a head: Lin Junqiang knew they had no money and would undoubtedly drag things out until the contract breached, at which point they would face double penalties. Meanwhile, Chen Shuting's second uncle was blatantly exploiting the situation, dead set on the certainty that they couldn't fulfill the terms of the contract!

Taking a deep breath, Ye Fan said firmly, "Don't worry, I will definitely make enough money within two months!"

Gritting his teeth, he resolved to cross over to Li Yaoyao's side the very next day and kick his plan into full gear!