Chapter 778: Untitled
Ye Ningyuan sent Xu Xing home and saw the majestic castle. Xu Xing was a little melancholic and turned to look at Ye Ningyuan. Although Ye Ningyuan did not have any intention of getting out of the car to visit them, she still smiled and asked, “Would you like to greet my parents?”
He smiled and said, “Just go ahead. I’ll head back first.”
Xu Xing felt disappointed. If it weren’t for the Zhang family, he could have simply ignored her. They had known each other since young, but then he suddenly disappeared for eight years. While hearsay had it that he went to Great Britain for further studies, she could not locate him despite pulling all the strings and had no idea where he went. She eventually went to his godmother, Jiang Lixue, to ask about his whereabouts in Great Britain, but the Ye family remained mum and did not tell him a word.
Five years ago, he returned.
She recalled she visited the Zhang family that year and happened to encounter the Ye family who visited too. Holding little Hailan, he was walking behind.
As City A was in a perpetual spring, it was sunny and beautiful all year round. When she saw him eight years on, he had become a svelte and handsome teenager. Under the light, he had a gentle smile on his face, making him unbelievably good-looking. In that moment, she felt butterflies in her stomach and her face reddened, completely lost in his smile. She finally understood that her feelings for him all these years were no longer the guilt from her childhood.
It wasn’t until she heard his deep voice amidst the laughter did she realize that she was utterly mesmerized by him.
She had always remembered that his hands were gentle, pale, and tender. But now, she felt the gentle callous within his good-looking and strong hands. Since then, her heart had been beating abnormally. Although she could not recall the exact moment, she hoped that time would freeze so that she could grow old with him.
They had few opportunities to meet in these five years. Thus, by virtue of her femininity and his gentlemanliness, she would never fail to be clingy with him and pestered Mommy Zhang to allow him to spend time with her since she knew that Mommy Zhang and he knew each other well.
Whenever they celebrated Chinese New Year, she would love to head to the Zhang’s mansion as she knew that Ye Ningyuan would certainly be there. Seeing them interact with each other, everybody knew that Princess Xu Xing had a thing for Ye Ningyuan and was pursuing him.
The Zhang and Xu families, hoping for the best outcome, tried their best to bring them together.
Because of Zhang Bo, Ye Ningyuan tried his best to fulfill whatever Jiang Lixue and her husband wanted of him. While he seemed gentlemanly, polite, and elegant before people, he, however…
She recalled something he said two years ago. When she managed to gain admission into Cambridge University that year, she was exceptionally happy. Ye Ningyuan was in London, and she looked him up to celebrate her successful admission. He did not turn her down and even graciously wished her all the best.
Xu Xing always knew that Ye Ningyuan treated her well because of the Zhang family and… her elder sister, Xu Nuo, the person whom he loved. He occasionally entered a trance when he saw her, and she could see the gentleness in his eyes, but she also knew that she was not the person he saw.
The haughty Xu Xing was unwilling to stand in for somebody else. However, she spent three years but was unable to enter his heart and inevitably felt upset to the point she almost abandoned herself to despair and thought about how she could simply be a stand-in.
When he wanted to grant her a wish, she said that she wanted to be his girlfriend. Without thinking, he immediately turned her down.
“Xu Xing, I know what you’ve always desired, and that was why I’ve kept my distance from you and hoped that you would understand and automatically give up. I can’t give you what you want, so please do not tell me such things again. I can either treat you like my younger sister or my friend. I can dote on you, care for you endlessly, and give you all you want, including what I could not give your elder sister, except love.”
He sounded gentle, deep, and without emotion. Xu Xing, who was wise enough, knew that she would trigger his bottom line if she insisted. From the onset, he had clarified his stand and she hence settled for second best and buried her feelings in the depths of her heart. Remaining as friends would allow her to see him a few times a year at the very least. She would not have a chance to see him at all if she insisted otherwise.
“Drive safely.” Xu Xing smiled and got out of the car elegantly. As a member of royalty who was brought up well, she was elegant, proud, and had her pride. She knew that Ye Ningyuan would never actively approach women, and she was an exception. Given enough time, she believed that she would be able to touch him with her sincerity.
Ye Ningyuan waved his hand. When he was about to leave, Xu Xing could not help but walk up to him and hold his hand before asking uneasily, “Ningyuan, would you be present at my birthday?”
“Definitely!”
After Xu Xing let go, Ye Ningyuan drove away.
Her eyes slightly reddened. ‘Ningyuan, just how much longer must I wait before you will forget her? I know that I look like her. Wouldn’t that do?’
Was she really that much worse than Xu Nuo, who was just a pile of ash?
The second-generation leader of the Top Terrorist Organization was Ye Ningyuan. He became the Chief of Information Security ever since he entered the Top Terrorist Organization, and when he was eighteen, Chu Li, Jason, and Black J retreated into seclusion and gave him the reins to the Top Terrorist Organization whilst they traveled the world with their wives and led fulfilling lives. When he took the reign of the Top Terrorist Organization two years ago, there was such an upheaval in the underworld at how Chu Li, Jason, and the others must have been nuts to have such a tyke run the Top Terrorist Organization.
At eighteen, he became the youngest leader they had ever seen. They were of the opinion that there would be a massive shuffle of power within the underworld following the transition of power in the Top Terrorist Organization. They assumed that an eighteen-year-old Ye Ningyuan would not be able to keep the various underworld factions in check. Little did anybody expect the Top Terrorist Organization to be so stable in his hand. Through his iron-fist, he obliterated all dissent within the Middle East. Without relying on the Dragon Gate, he quelled violence within North America and Eastern Europe. In that instant, he established his credibility and became the next-generation overlord of the underworld.
Until today, the Top Terrorist Organization was still the largest terrorist organization in the world and the apparent leader of the underworld. The talent whom Ye Ningyuan developed infiltrated various lines and domains. With the most capable people in each domain a member of the Top Terrorist Organization, he was no longer the typical lord of the underworld.
In these two years, he had his way without dissent. His clarion calls never went defied.