Behind her stood Qi Xuan.
In fact, Qi Xuan had arrived much earlier, but he was upstairs. Ye Zhi was about to directly compete with Ou Minghan for the collaboration, which made him a little worried, so he followed to observe. If necessary, he would naturally step in to help.
However, Ye Zhi truly surprised him; she had resolved all the issues by herself.
Qi Xuan smiled faintly, "Listening to you, did I miss something?"
"Not really, just some trivial matters," Ye Zhi shrugged.
"It's getting late. If there's nothing else, why don't we head back together?" he suggested.
Ye Zhi readily agreed, "Sure! I can hitch a ride with you."
Afterwards, the two left the reception together.
However, on their way back, Ye Zhi received a call from Ye Yuzhe.
It turned out that after Ye Yongxian found Ye Qinya and brought her back to the Ye family, Ye Qinya suddenly threw a drunken tantrum, causing a scene and vomiting, all the while shouting Ou Minghan's name and insisting on seeing him.
Ye Yongxian was at his wit's end with her antics and had to call Ou Minghan. But to his surprise, Ou Minghan didn't answer his calls, which greatly angered Ye Yongxian.
Ye Qinya's behavior escalated, causing chaos throughout the Ye family. Fearing something might happen to her, Ye Yongxian and Liu Lingyu coaxed and tricked her into going to the hospital.
Shortly after they left, Ye Yuzhe couldn't help but call Ye Zhi.
"Big Sister, although Mom and Dad told me not to bother you with Second Sister's affairs, I'm really curious," Ye Yuzhe asked, "What exactly happened between you and Ou Minghan at the reception?"
Ye Zhi frowned slightly. Ou Minghan had left midway for Ou Tiantian. Even if Ye Qinya knew about it, she shouldn't have thrown such a tantrum. After all, Ye Qinya's love for Ou Minghan was incredibly blind.
Could it be that something else, which she was unaware of, had occurred?
"I'm not entirely sure either," Ye Zhi said calmly. "But Ou Minghan seemed to have received a call from his sister and then left directly. It might be related to that matter."
"Ah?" Ye Yuzhe asked, puzzled. "Just for that?"
Ye Zhi, assuming her elder sister's authority, reprimanded him, "Alright, you should hurry and go to sleep. This is just your second sister's relationship issue. At most, she's heartbroken. If she is, it might even be a good thing."
"Big Sister, tomorrow is the weekend. Why should I sleep so early?" Ye Yuzhe mumbled softly. "Also, why don't you like Brother Minghan? I think he's a pretty good person!"
Ye Zhi's heart immediately became vigilant. She asked in a deep voice, "Why do you think he's a good person?"
"A few months ago, for my birthday, he gave me the latest game console as a birthday gift!" Ye Yuzhe said happily, then turned and began to complain. "I'd wanted that game console for a long time. Dad had promised to buy it for me, but then he went back on his word..."
Ye Zhi breathed a slight sigh of relief. It seemed Ye Yuzhe had only been swayed by material possessions. She had feared that Ou Minghan, seeing no opportunity to target Ye Yongxian, had instead set his sights on Ye Yuzhe.
"How dare you say that!" Ye Zhi chided. "Dad told me that you both agreed he would buy it for you as long as you passed your exams. Why didn't you pass?"
Afterward, Ye Zhi fully asserted her elder sister's authority and lectured Ye Yuzhe thoroughly before hanging up the phone.
Ye Zhi looked up and saw Qi Xuan watching her with a smile.
Ye Zhi immediately felt embarrassed and said, "My brother is going through a rebellious phase. I'm sorry if I made a spectacle of myself..."
"Your sibling relationship seems quite good?" he asked with a smile.
"It's alright, I suppose." Ye Zhi said with some annoyance. "It's quite strange, really. My brother is a handful at home, he doesn't obey anyone except me, yet he's particularly attached to me..."
"Perhaps it's because you can provide him with a sense of security," Qi Xuan chuckled.
Ye Zhi frowned. Could it be like that? She had previously worried that Ye Yuzhe, like Ye Qinya, might have masochistic tendencies.
The car slowly came to a stop. Ye Zhi looked up and said absently, "We've arrived? Thank you for tonight."
As she reached for the door handle to get out, Qi Xuan called out to her, "The housekeeper has prepared supper. Would you like to join me for a bite?"
"Ah?" Ye Zhi felt a pang of temptation but hesitated. It didn't seem right to freeload like this.
"Tonight's supper is barbecue. The housekeeper personally selected a lamb leg; the meat is very tender. Won't you try it?" Qi Xuan continued to tempt her.
Ye Zhi swallowed hard. Barbecue late at night, who could refuse that!
"Then I won't stand on ceremony!" Ye Zhi pushed the car door open expectantly. "I drank quite a bit earlier, so it's perfect to have something to go with drinks!"
Qi Xuan chuckled. It seemed he could start planning tomorrow night's supper.
*
Early in the morning, Ye Zhi woke up.
Last night's roasted lamb leg was so delicious that she was still eating it in her dreams. Freeloading like this wasn't ideal, and she needed to consider a return gift.
However, she had things to attend to today, so the matter of a return gift would have to wait.
She had already found out the address of Chen Wei, who had started the company with Ou Minghan back then. He was not currently in Kyoto, so Ye Zhi planned to make a trip in person to persuade him to join her.
Chen Wei was currently living in N City, the capital of his home province.
After flying to N City, Ye Zhi searched for a long time before finally finding where Chen Wei was currently living.
Chen Wei was now residing in a “village within the city.” After losing everything, he had returned to N City. However, Ou Minghan still refused to let him go and had blacklisted him across the industry. As a result, he couldn't find any work and could only earn small amounts by writing programs and building websites for others to make a living.
His current residence was provided by a high school classmate. His classmate's family owned a building in the village, and upon hearing about Chen Wei's plight, they rented him a room. Apparently, Chen Wei was so broke that he owed half a year's rent, but his classmate wasn't bothered by it and hadn't asked for it.
Of course, Ye Zhi wasn't alone when coming to such a place; she had brought several bodyguards with her. Ye Zhi and her group searched for a long time in the village before finding the place Chen Wei rented.
Actually, it wasn't so much that she found it as she heard someone banging and shouting from afar.
"Chen Wei! You ungrateful wretch! Come out! You bastard! Do you think you're somebody just because you've been to university and don't recognize your own brother anymore?!"
Ye Zhi watched the man banging on the door from a distance. He had a fierce look on his face, and it was Chen Wei's brother, Chen Hong.
"Wretch! Get out here! If you don't come out, I'll let everyone hear what kind of person you really are..."