The mysterious CEO's endless pampering

Xie Tingrui felt a little confused. "What does this have to do with whether you get married or not? Elsa isn't an outsider. We've had such a long-standing relationship. Even if there's no possibility between you two, having a meal together won't hurt. Why are you acting like you've committed some huge mistake?"

Li Zhanting suddenly looked at him as if he were an idiot and said, "You don't understand. If a man doesn't even have the awareness to keep his distance from other women after marriage, what kind of husband is he?"

Xie Tingrui's eyes widened in alarm. "Is it really that bad? Did your sister-in-law cast some kind of spell on you, making you so willing to remain chaste for her, and even refuse invitations from female classmates to dinner?"

Back in the day, the two of them and Song Yue were a trio of dashing heroes who dominated the United States. But after he got married, he seemed to have become a completely different person. He stopped going to parties and avoided women, making it seem like he was the one ruining other people's happy marriages.

Li Zhanting concluded by saying, "You'll know when you get married."

When his wife was mentioned, Xie Tingrui's sharp eyes suddenly darkened considerably. "You know, I could never marry any woman in my life."

Li Zhanting was silent for a few seconds, then asked slowly in a low voice, "You... still can't forget her?"

"No, I hate her, and I hate myself for being a fool and being deceived by her for so long." Xie Tingrui laughed self-deprecatingly.

Li Zhanting wasn't good at comforting people, but seeing that his brother was still unable to get over that relationship, he couldn't help but soften his voice, "Whether you get married or not, I just hope you don't live in hatred forever."

A wry smile appeared on Xie Tingrui's handsome face. It was easier said than done...

That woman was like a thorn in his heart; if he didn't find her, he might be tormented by that thorn for the rest of his life.

But he wouldn't voice his thoughts and worry his good friend. "I know you mean well. Don't worry, I may not get married, but I'll still do what I should do for the Xie family. I've already arranged for a suitable surrogate mother. With a child, at least my parents won't pressure me into blind dates anymore. Besides, didn't we agree to become in-laws in the future?"

Although he wasn't ready to be a father, having a father-in-law like Li Zhanting would be nice.

Seeing that he could still joke around, Li Zhanting felt much more at ease, but he still felt that the matter of in-laws needed to be carefully considered: "Who told you that?"

"No way, Lao Li, President Li, how can you go back on your word? Have you forgotten what happened back in college..." Before Xie Tingrui could finish speaking, the voice of the host announcing the charity auction banquet suddenly rang out on the stage in front of him.

"Good evening, everyone. I am your host for tonight, Tom. It is an honor to host such an important charity auction for you. As suggested by the Wilson family, the organizers, all proceeds from tonight's auction will be donated to UNICEF. They are a paradise for children around the world. They protect children's health, save their lives, and respect children's rights. So I hope you can generously donate to help those poor children."

"The auction shall now officially begin!"

Upon hearing that the auction had begun, Xie Tingrui stopped chatting with Li Zhanting and followed the host's movements to the items being auctioned.

A famous painting by a great artist can have a starting bid of one million US dollars.

The banquet was filled with wealthy people, especially those who collect famous paintings. Each of them was worth billions or even tens of billions of US dollars, so a mere million was nothing to them.

With a casual wave of his hand, he doubled the value of that famous painting.

Where there are bidders, there will be competitors, which is a scene that any auction would like to see.

Bidding was intense, and the deal was eventually sold for five million US dollars.

Such a transaction price is an astronomical figure for ordinary people, but for these wealthy families, it's just an extra, dispensable painting on the wall.

For them, charity auctions are nothing more than a way to gain a good reputation.

Moreover, in such a large-scale charity auction, the first few items are merely the starting point, while the truly unique and highly collectible pieces are the ones worth bidding on later.

Xie Tingrui wasn't very interested in the first few items, which were either famous paintings or antiques, and planned to just donate a small sum of money at the end. "This auction is as boring as ever, Lao Li. Let's just give them a check later."

Anyway, they're just here to join in the fun; they don't intend to show off.

Xie Tingrui waited a few seconds, but received no response. Curious, he turned his head to the side and saw Li Zhanting playing on his phone.

"Hey, Lao Li, what are you doing? You didn't even hear me talking to you," Xie Tingrui said, sticking his head out.

Li Zhanting was seen chatting animatedly with someone on WeChat whose username was "My Darling Wife".

There's no need to guess; the owner of this WeChat account must be Shen Yanran.

He truly never dreamed that Li Zhanting, this cold and indifferent man, would one day give his wife such a cheesy name, which even his brother couldn't stand.

But everyone has curiosity; once you see something, you want to see it a second time.

Li Zhanting was not interested in charity auctions in the first place. He only came to participate in order to avoid arousing suspicion from certain people and to make a proper appearance.

Since he had nothing better to do, he started chatting with Shen Yanran.

Suddenly sensing someone approaching, Li Zhanting immediately locked the screen, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Is there something you need?"

Xie Tingrui couldn't help but complain, "Brother, I'm sitting right next to you, and instead of talking to me, you're on your phone sending WeChat messages to your wife who's across the Pacific Ocean. Don't you think that's incredibly inhumane?"

Li Zhanting replied matter-of-factly, "I don't think so."

Xie Tingrui suddenly regretted agreeing to come to America with Li Zhanting. Not only did he not get any good food or fun activities, but he also had to constantly be fed dog food by this man. He was truly on the verge of tears.

"If I had known you were so heartless, I would have called A-Yue over to keep me company." Xie Tingrui probably desperately needs the company of a friend right now.

However, he forgot that Song Yue was no longer single. He had a girlfriend who was also Shen Yanran's good friend. No matter how you looked at it, it didn't seem like Song Yue would side with Xie Tingrui.

Li Zhanting had also thought of this, and kindly reminded him, "He has to spend time with his girlfriend, he doesn't have time for you."

"Ugh, you and A-Yue are both such bastards who prioritize women over friends! I'm so angry! You can have fun by yourself. I'm going to have a smoke, I'll be back in a bit." Xie Tingrui's smoking habit was brought out by this bastard in front of him.

No sooner had Xie Tingrui left than a beautiful figure sat down beside Li Zhanting.

Li Zhanting caught a whiff of an unfamiliar perfume, turned around, saw Elsa's stunning face, and asked coldly, "Why are you here?"

Elsa gently brushed a stray hair behind her ear with her long, slender, white fingers, and looked at Li Zhanting with a pitiful expression, saying, "I'm sorry, Zhan, I didn't mean to bother you. I just couldn't sit still any longer. I saw Rui go out, so I came over to sit for a bit. I'll go back when Rui comes back."

Li Zhanting frowned slightly and looked behind Elsa. Two blonde, blue-eyed women were looking at them with ill intent.

Elsa bit her red lips slightly, blinked her innocent light blue eyes, and continued to explain to Li Zhanting in a soft voice: "They are my half-sisters. They always thought I came back to fight for the Wilson family's property, so they are very hostile towards me. Even though I have explained many times that I don't want a single penny, they don't believe me. They even insult me ​​and my mother in various public places. I don't want to argue with them, so I had no choice but to come here for refuge."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the two blonde, blue-eyed beauties walked over as well.

One of them, disregarding the occasion and location, said sarcastically, "Elsa, my dear sister, how come you've come over here to be intimate with a man after only a few words? Aren't you a little too impatient?"

Elsa subconsciously took a step closer to Li Zhanting, then shook her head vigorously and explained, "No, Anna, you've misunderstood. Zhan is my former college classmate. We're very close. I just came over to catch up with him."

Anna scoffed dismissively, "Catch up? What are you catching up about? Look at you, you're practically pressed against that handsome guy, and you're still trying to deny it!"

Another girl, slightly younger than Anna, threatened without any restraint: "Sister, why waste so much breath on such a slut? We'll go home and tell Dad what she did, and he'll teach this bitch a lesson, and her shameless mother too!"

Elsa's face paled, and she coldly stopped him, saying, "Enough, Marry. You can say whatever you want about me, but I won't allow you to insult my mother. Please apologize."

Marry laughed twice, "Apologizing to a vile woman like you is worse than getting hit by a car!"

Elsa clenched her fists, trying her best to suppress her anger, and said, "Marry, this is a public place, and I don't want to argue with you. If you insist on not apologizing, I will tell Father what you did to me today."

The moment Marry saw Elsa's stunningly beautiful face, she was consumed by jealousy. Her words became even more vicious. "You dare threaten me? That's hilarious! You really think that just because you're back in this family, you can be on equal footing with us? Let me tell you, stop daydreaming! Open your eyes wide and take a good look at that diamond necklace being auctioned off. Doesn't it look familiar? Yes, that's right, it's the birthday gift your father gave your slutty mother a couple of days ago. It wasn't cheap, it was worth at least thirty million US dollars, but your father used it for charity. It shows that your father doesn't care about you two, you wretched mother and daughter!"

Elsa looked at the auction center of the stage in shock; it was indeed her mother's birthday present.

If she knew that her birthday present was being auctioned off by her father so heartlessly, she would be heartbroken.

The bidding price has now reached fifty million US dollars, and she simply doesn't have that much money to buy the necklace back. Helpless, she could only turn to Li Zhanting beside her for help: "Zhan, please help me, please bid for that diamond necklace, okay?"