Chapter 245: Return to China

Ye Ci subconsciously took a step back.

She was facing the main entrance, so Ning Li could see her as soon as she raised her head.

Somehow, even being separated by the window and at such a distance, Ye Ci could still inexplicably feel Ning Li’s coldness.

Ning Li’s face was calm and emotionless.

Ye Ci moved away from Ning Li’s line of sight and went back to her desk.

After a while, she heard footsteps outside her room.

Ning Li had gone upstairs.

Ye Ci bit her lip, got up, and walked out.

Ning Li just happened to pa.s.s by her bedroom door.

“Sister Ning Li.” Ye Ci called out to her.

Ning Li turned around.

Ye Ci quickly gave Ning Li a once over with a smile on her face. “Sister Ning Li, what took you so long to come back? I thought you were only staying in Lincheng for a day.”

Ning Li raised her eyebrows and asked, “I don’t remember telling you how long I would be going back for.”

When Ning Li had gone to Lincheng, she had indeed planned to stay for one night and return on Sunday. However, since it was a New Year’s Day holiday, she could stay for another night.

How could Ye Ci have guessed that Ning Li was only staying for one day?

Ye Ci had not expected Ning Li to ask this. Her eyes flickered a little.

“Oh, I just made a casual guess. After all, it’s been a long time since you’ve gone back to Lincheng, so it wouldn’t be very convenient to stay for long…”

Her voice softened as she continued, “After all, this is your first New Year’s Day in Yunzhou, so I thought…”

Ye Ci was implying that Ning Li should have stayed back to countdown the New Year with the Ye family, but Ning Li had gone back to Lincheng on that day instead.

If word got out, it would not sound good.

“I was fine over there.”

Ning Li interrupted her words and looked at her dully.

In her previous life, Ning Li would have felt that Ye Ci truly wanted to keep her here and spend the holidays together as a family, if she had heard this.

Now, she was no longer that naive to believe such a ridiculous notion.

No one in the Ye family welcomed her.

For the first ten years, the Ye family had lived happily without Ning Li’s presence in this house.

To them, Ning Li was just like excess baggage.

“I was delayed.”

Ning Li’s tone was casual, but her eyes were fixed on Ye Ci, carefully watching Ye Ci’s change in expression.

“Oh?” Ye Ci’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “What happened?”

Ning Li narrowed her eyes, then gave a small smile.

“It’s not a big matter. I just happened to run into Second Brother and the others, so we had a meal together.”

Ye Ci’s expression froze for a moment.

“What?”

‘So, Cheng Xiyue had driven Lu Huaiyu and Ning Li back from Lincheng together?’

Ning Li nodded without much concern and suddenly asked again.

“Why do you seem so surprised?”

Her reaction of surprise was not ordinary.

The Cheng family had business in Lincheng, and Lu Huaiyu was Cheng Xiyue’s close friend. It was perfectly normal for them to be in Lincheng.

It was not right that Ye Ci was so shocked.

“Oh, nothing…it’s just…a little unexpected…”

Ye Ci quickly adjusted her expression and resumed her usual gentle and kind appearance.

Ning Li stared at her for a while, before turning to go back to her room.

Ye Ci had originally wanted to ask a few more questions, but she was no longer in the mood.

She went back to her bedroom and picked up her phone.

…

Ning Li opened her laptop and exported all the data that had been recorded before for preliminary processing.

She then organized the data and sent out an email.

The lab in the Capital required an appointment.

After the final exams, the Physics Compet.i.tion Winter Training would start.

During that time, she would have to arrange her schedule accordingly.

Her phone vibrated. It was a message from George.

[Ning, are you free today? Are you sure you don’t want to consider the spring and summer collection?]

George had been urging Ning Li to come out with a new collection since last week.

He would send her a message every other day, and each time, he had sent the same sentence.

In the beginning, Ning Li had only replied “I’m not available at the moment”. Eventually, she had not bothered to reply anymore.

However, George was still persistent in messaging her.

From the first time he had seen Ning Li’s designs, he was particularly fond of it.

That was why he had insisted on making Ning Li’s designs the focus of his promotion despite everyone’s objections.

George had proven to be very far-sighted.

The “Flower and Moon” series was a huge success, and Ning had become an instant hit in the fas.h.i.+on world.

Since then, countless people have tried to find out about Ning. They wanted to work with her or try to befriend her.

After all, everyone saw how Tang Wei had only relied on that one outfit that had brought her to fame.

Not many in the fas.h.i.+on industry had this kind of ability.

If not for G&S’s tight control, they would not be able to keep these people from digging.

Some people had even come to George to ask him in person, but he had refused them all on the grounds of confidentiality.

After this ordeal, George felt both physically and mentally exhausted.

He just needed some new designs from Ning Li’s to soothe his wounded heart.

Moreover, although the last “Flower and Moon” series had presented excellent results, it had been a rushed job, so some parts were not perfect.

George was a perfectionist, so he hoped that Ning Li would give him and the G&S team more time to prepare this time.

Ning Li looked at the message, still without replying.

She really was quite busy at the moment.

Meanwhile, she received another email.

It was from Lin Fengmin.

She clicked on it and only saw two short sentences.

He was returning to China.