THE BILLIONAIRE'S RIVAL

Chapter 4: The Ex and The Truth

On Day 25, Sugar Corner was no longer just a bakery.

It was a miracle.

The line started at 6 AM every morning. Not for Li Zeyan's face anymore — because after 25 days, he could actually bake. His red bean buns were almost as good as Lin Xiao's. He learned how to make her grandmother's recipe, his big hands kneading dough carefully at 4 AM in silence next to her small hands.

They had made 180,000 yuan in profit. Only 20,000 more to reach the judge's 200,000 goal. Five more days. They could win.

And something else had changed. They didn't fight anymore.

Li Zeyan would bring her hot soy milk every morning because she forgot to eat. Lin Xiao would leave a small egg tart on his car seat because she knew he skipped lunch. They didn't talk about it. But everyone in Tianzifang saw it — the billionaire who once wanted to demolish the street now swept the floor in front of Sugar Corner with a broom.

That afternoon, while Lin Xiao was teaching Li Zeyan how to pipe a perfect strawberry cream, the bell rang.

A woman walked in.

She was tall, beautiful, wearing a Chanel white dress and diamond earrings. Her long black hair was perfect. She looked like she walked out of a fashion magazine.

Li Zeyan froze. The piping bag in his hand squeezed too hard, cream exploded.

"Wanqing," he said.

Lin Xiao looked between them. The woman smiled — a perfect, cold smile — and walked straight to Li Zeyan and linked her arm with his.

"Zeyan, Grandfather told me you are playing baker in this... cute place. I came back from Paris as soon as I heard."

Lin Xiao's heart sank. She knew this face. Chen Wanqing — Li Zeyan's ex-fiancee, daughter of another billionaire family. They were engaged for two years before she left for Paris. Every finance article said she would come back and marry him.

Chen Wanqing finally looked at Lin Xiao, scanning her floury yellow apron, her messy bun, her cheap shoes.

"Oh, you must be the Flour Girl from Douyin. Thank you for taking care of my Zeyan. He is allergic to cheap flour, you know. And he is very busy. He doesn't have time for games."

Game? Lin Xiao felt her face burn.

"We are not playing. We are working," Lin Xiao said quietly.

Chen Wanqing laughed. "Working? Zeyan, tell her. Tell her you only stayed because of the court order. And because Grandfather thought this viral marketing would be good for Knight Group's image. 'Billionaire learns humble life' — great PR, right? Tomorrow's headline is already bought."

Lin Xiao looked at Li Zeyan. "Is that true?"

Li Zeyan didn't answer. He pulled his arm away from Chen Wanqing. "Wanqing, don't speak nonsense. Go home."

"Nonsense?" Chen Wanqing took out her phone and showed a WeChat chat. It was from Li Zeyan's grandfather, Li Chengtian: _[Use the bakery girl to clean your image. Public loves poor girl story. After 30 days, demolish anyway.]_

Lin Xiao read it. Her hands went cold.

So all of it — the 4 AM mornings, the soy milk, the sweater, the hand-holding in the storage room — was just acting? Just business?

"I... I need to go," Lin Xiao whispered. She ran into the back storage room, the same room where they were trapped in the typhoon.

Li Zeyan pushed Chen Wanqing away. "Who told you to come here?!"

"I did it for you! That girl is not worthy of you! She is an orphan with no family, no education! She wants your money!"

"Shut up!" Li Zeyan shouted, his voice so loud the customers outside gasped. He had never shouted like that before. "Get out of my bakery!"

"Your bakery? It's hers!" Chen Wanqing sneered. "Wake up, Zeyan. You are Li Zeyan. You will never belong to this dirty lane."

She left, heels clicking.

Li Zeyan stood for three seconds, then ran to the storage room.

Lin Xiao was sitting on the same flour bag as during the typhoon, crying silently, wearing his black sweater again because she was cold. She had kept it.

"Lin Xiao," he said.

"Don't come near me!" she shouted, tears falling. "Was it all fake? Did you laugh at me? At my Nainai's buns? You said money will never leave — yes, people like you only love money!"

Li Zeyan knelt down in front of her, same height as her. He tried to wipe her tears but she hit his hand away.

"It was not fake," he said, his voice shaking for the first time ever. "At first, yes, I thought it was just a court order. But then... then I started waiting for 4 AM. I started liking the smell of flour. I started... liking you."

Lin Xiao cried harder. "Liar!"

He grabbed her hands tightly. "My grandfather sent that message, not me. I never agreed to demolish after. I... I already told my lawyer to transfer the lane protection file. I was going to give you the deed. I want to protect your street forever."

Lin Xiao stared at him, tears on her cheeks. "Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because," Li Zeyan looked into her eyes, his cold eyes now full of something hot and desperate, "because in that typhoon, when you held my arm in the dark, I realized I haven't been held in 15 years. My parents died, my grandfather only taught me money. No one ever... No one ever made me an egg tart and put it secretly in my car. Only you."

Silence. Outside, rain started again, small rain.

Lin Xiao's tears stopped. She looked at his hands holding hers — his expensive watch was gone, replaced with flour, just like hers.

"You... you kept the egg tart?" she whispered.

"I kept every one," he said. "In my office fridge. I didn't eat them. I didn't want to finish them."

That was it. Lin Xiao burst into tears again, but this time she fell forward into his chest.

Li Zeyan hugged her tightly, burying his face in her floury hair. In the tiny storage room full of flour bags, the billionaire who never hugged anyone held the baker girl like she was the most expensive thing in the world.

But outside, Chen Wanqing was on the phone.

"Grandfather Li, yes, Zeyan is being fooled by that bakery girl. He said he wants to give her the deed? We cannot allow that. Tomorrow is the final court day. I have an idea..."

She smiled cruelly.

To be continued..........