Chapter 233 - I do

...

After she finished telling Han Ye that Xiao Yunjie had a brief stint with a big gang within Imperial City, Han Ye frowned and leaned against the front door of his unit as he tried to think. 

"Big gang within Imperial City... There's a few, and besides, it has been so many years. If he's only in the group for a short few months, there probably wouldn't be that many people who would recognize him. And based on what Xiao Lei mentioned before, Xiao Yunjie wasn't really big on chatting and small talks," Han Ye thought.

He glanced at Xiao Lei briefly as he continued to think to himself, "But still... Smaller in stature... Adopted by a wealthy couple... Why do I have the feeling that Xiao Yunjie and the kid 'Jie' were the same person?"

Xiao Lei saw that Han Ye was deep in thought and that he kept taking brief glances at her. This piqued her curiosity, and so, she asked, "What are you thinking about? Did you know something?"

"No..." Han Ye shook his head. "It's just..." 

He looked her in the eye, wondering if he should tell her about it. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Xiao Lei... What if... What if your husband's background is not what it seemed?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Did he ever tell you about his life before he was adopted?"

Xiao Lei froze for a moment before nodding. "Not all, but I do know most of it."

"Can you... tell me a little about it?"

"Why?"

Han Ye looked at her. He then looked at her front door. After a while, he said, "Let's talk in my house." 

When they went in, they saw that An Xin and Lu Ziyan were sitting at the dining table with a few cans of beer and fried chicken. 

"Hey, Han Ye, want some..." Lu Ziyan saw Xiao Lei and changed his words. "Hi, Xiao Lei, is Zhi Hao feeling better now?" 

Xiao Lei shrugged. "He still doesn't want to talk much." 

Lu Ziyan nodded slowly. "He's grieving... I think we should let him have some piece for now." 

Xiao Lei nodded. She agreed with him. Her son was smart and old enough to know that no matter how upset he was, his best friend would still be gone forever, and nothing anyone could say would make him happy at this moment. The only thing they could do now was to let him grieve in peace. 

"Enough of the sad talk..." Han Ye said. He then looked at An Xin and said, "Hi, An Xin. Sorry that I can't hang out with you guys now. I have to talk to Xiao Lei about something." 

An Xin had been coming over so often that Han Ye offered to let her move in without charging her rent, which got him a punch in the guts from Lu Ziyan. However, An Xin refused. She said that she wanted to take it slow for now.

Even so, on Lu Ziyan's request, Han Ye still gave her a set of house keys so that she could come over at any time, especially if she felt overwhelmed by her parents at home. Ever since she moved back with them, her parents had been hovering around her, treating her as if she were a twelve-year-old girl. Thus, when Lu Ziyan and Han Ye gave her the key, it did not take them long to convince her to take it.

An Xin smiled and nodded. "It's alright."

She then looked at Lu Ziyan and asked, "Should we go to the room and give them some space?" 

Before Lu Ziyan could reply, Han Ye said, "You don't have to move. Xiao Lei and I can talk in my room."

"Cough!Talk!" Lu Ziyan teased, which earned him a curious glance from Xiao Lei and warning glares from An Xin and Han Ye. They had been talking about Han Ye and Xiao Lei earlier, so An Xin was glaring at him to stop him from revealing anything. She liked Xiao Lei, and she did not want Xiao Lei to get upset at her for trying to imagine her with Han Ye. 

Meanwhile, Han Ye was glaring at him because Lu Ziyan was getting on his nerves. He did not say anything to the man, but at he walked past Lu Ziyan, he placed one of his hands on Lu Ziyan's shoulder and squeezed down hard, which caused the man to wince slightly. 

An Xin wanted to stop Han Ye, but she could not stop herself from chuckling at the sight. 

When Han Ye released Lu Ziyan's shoulder, he said, "Xiao Lei, go to my room. You know where that is. I'll bring some drinks and snacks."  

Xiao Lei nodded. She then smiled at An Xin and said, "I'm glad you and Ziyan are getting along so well..." 

With a wink, she then turned around and walked away, leaving An Xin with slightly reddened cheeks. Lu Ziyan laughed softly and reached over to pat her hand. "It's ok. We are a.d.u.l.ts here." 

"Mmhmm..."

Han Ye got a can of Coke for himself and poured a cup of apple juice for Xiao Lei. He then took a bag of Pringles with him before bringing everything with him into his room. 

When he was there, Xiao Lei was sitting on his bed with her legs folded. After he passed the drink and the bag of Pringles to her, she asked while opening the bag of Pringles, "So... What do you want to talk about?" 

Instead of answering her, Han Ye walked to the closet and unbuttoned his shirt.

"What are you doing?" she asked while blushing slightly. When he looked at her, she turned her eyes away from him. "Just talk normally!" 

"My shirt is covered in sweat. I'm just going to change it out. Give me a minute..." he said as he pulled a clean t-shirt and a pair of joggers from his closet and went to the bathroom to change. Since he was only changing his shirt, he did not bother to close the door. "You know, it's not like you're a v.i.r.g.i.n or anything. You have a son! Why are you getting fl.u.s.tered just because a man is changing in front of you?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "This has nothing to do with whether I'm a v.i.r.g.i.n or not..." 

She then thought to herself, "This has everything to do with you having a hot bod!" 

When Han Ye came out in a grey shirt that clung to his body and a pair of black joggers, Xiao Lei groaned internally before collapsing on his bed with his comforter over her head. 

"Are you sleepy already? It's still so early!" Han Ye said as he tried to tug the comforter away.

However, Xiao Lei was holding onto the comforter tightly as she did not want him to see her face. "I'm just a little tired. I'm not sleeping! I've been seeing your face for the whole day, I just want to rest my eyes a little!" 

"Erm..." He scratched the back of his head. "Alright..."

He went to his desk and sat down before asking, "Can we still talk?"

"Yeah," came the reply from under the blanket. 

He searched around his desk until he found his glasses. After putting them on, he asked, "About Xiao Yunjie's past. I just want to know a little about it."

"Why?"

"So that I can look for him in a more methodologically way."

Xiao Lei threw the comforter away and sat up. She then looked at him in the eyes. "Really?" 

Han Ye raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You do realize that Guangying and Callum have been looking around for him, right?" 

She nodded. Luo Guangying had told her before that they would do their best to look for her husband, but unfortunately, they could not seem to find anything. "But I didn't know that you are as well." 

"Well, who do you think they sent to do the job?" Han Ye smiled wryly. 

"Oh," she smiled at him and said, "Thanks." 

She didn't realize that he was responsible for this as well. Since she knew how hectic his work schedule was as well as how much extra stuff he had to do because of her, she felt grateful toward him. 

He shrugged. "So, about his past... I need to know more so that I can know where to find him." 

"Erm... Alright." 

"Do you know who left him at the orphanage and why?"

Xiao Lei thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I do."