The words in her ear seemed to come from a distant place. An Yanqing understood every individual word, but when combined, they suddenly became a string of meaningless gibberish.
Zhong Chu wanted to help her cure her sexual frigidity?
An Yanqing could only stare up at the glamorous face inches away from her. The subtle look of pity and sympathy on Zhong Chu’s face was all too clear; even a faint trace of schadenfreude did not escape her eyes.
“Zhong Chu, what are you talking about?”
An Yanqing’s mind was a mess, a thousand thoughts racing through her brain.
Where did she get the idea that she was sexually frigid?
How did Zhong Chu intend to “cure” her?
She stood barefoot on the floor. The coldness of the floorboards traveled from the soles of her feet straight to her head, stimulating her brain into a state of abnormal clarity.
But contrary to that clarity, she did not find the peace she sought.
That feeling of being in a trance—as if walking through a dream—resurfaced. Everything that had happened tonight felt like a descent into an indescribable illusion, one that followed the base cravings of her own heart.
With just a few casual words, Zhong Chu had stirred up a tempest in her soul, yet the culprit herself remained entirely oblivious.
Zhong Chu took a step back, lazily lifted her eyelids, and turned to push open the bedroom door. “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. We’ll talk about the rest tomorrow.”
“Zhong Chu…” An Yanqing lost her composure. Her brow furrowed, and she instinctively reached out her hand to grab her.
But Zhong Chu was likely truly exhausted. The only response An Yanqing received was the unceremonious sound of a door slamming shut.
She had tossed out a sentence so lightly, heartlessly throwing An Yanqing’s mind into chaos, only to swan off to sleep as if nothing had happened. For a moment, An Yanqing couldn’t help but wonder: was this Zhong Chu’s revenge?
Revenge for forcing her to register their marriage, which had clearly left her distraught. The proud Eldest Miss Zhong had always been willful; in the past, whenever An Yanqing made her unhappy, she never hesitated to toss her around in retaliation.
Given An Yanqing’s understanding of her, it seemed perfectly within character for Zhong Chu to engage in such a childish act of vengeance to express her resentment and grievance.
The violent gust of wind caused by the closing door brushed against the hem of An Yanqing’s clothes. The icy night wind, carrying a chill, embedded itself into her skin through her bare feet. The frigidity of the floor continued to seep upward, flowing into her four limbs and hundreds of bones.
She stood frozen on the spot, staring blankly at the closed door, her thoughts in a state of total disorder. After a long while, she finally realized it was indeed getting late.
An Yanqing let out a heavy, stifled sigh. Her fists, which had tightened at some unknown point, slowly relaxed. Her gaze swept over the bedroom door as she prepared to walk away.
Just then, the tightly shut door opened once more.
Zhong Chu was rubbing her eyes, her expression weary. Seeing that An Yanqing hadn’t left, she was clearly startled for a moment. “Still here? Perfect, I have something for you.”
She tossed something over. An Yanqing had just caught it when the door slammed shut again, followed by a slightly impatient: “Don’t just stand there like a guardian statue. Go to sleep. Goodnight.”
Only then did An Yanqing look down at the object in her hands. It was a pair of sealed, disposable plush slippers. Evidently, they were a spare item Zhong Chu’s assistant had thoughtfully prepared when delivering her things tonight.
The messy, tangled threads in An Yanqing’s heart felt as though they had been cleanly severed by a sharp blade, leaving behind nothing but a comforting peace.
The corners of her lips curled up. Looking at the closed door, her tone rose with obvious lightness as she whispered a reply: “Goodnight, Zhong Chu.”
When Zhong Chu woke up the next day, her head was still heavy and groggy.
She was used to a regular schedule; pulling an occasional all-nighter always made her feel like something was wrong with her body.
She lay on the pillow with bleary eyes, staring at the empty room for a good while before suddenly snapping awake—this wasn’t her room.
Her sleepiness vanished instantly. As she sat up, the quilt slipped down, and the warm air from the air conditioner flushed her skin a rosy red. Her movements stiffened. After a moment of sluggishness in the heat, a familiar sense of irritability surged in her heart.
Right. This was An Yanqing’s house.
Right. She had already registered her marriage with that bastard An Yanqing.
Right. They were now living together.
She threw her body backward, falling heavily onto the bed with a muffled groan.
In the heat of the moment last night, she hadn’t used her brain. Recalling her deliberate attempt to seduce An Yanqing—which only resulted in the other woman remaining unmoved and coldly shutting the door—an extreme sense of hindsight-driven embarrassment flooded her mind. Its intensity was not small.
Was she insane?! How could she have done something so devoid of logic and dignity!
Zhong Chu’s ears turned beet red. She couldn’t help but pull the quilt up, burying her head completely inside, attempting to play the ostrich and hide from reality.
Her phone’s “Do Not Disturb” mode deactivated automatically, and the WeChat notification sounds began to ring one after another, an endless pitter-patter of pings.
Zhong Chu stayed in bed for a while, realizing she couldn’t calm down. To distract herself, she picked up her phone to look.
He Yu: Sister Chu Chu, I heard from them… are you really going to register your marriage with An Yanqing?
He Yu: Sister Chu Chu [crying emoji], that person An Yanqing just snatched the Mr. magazine cover right out of my hands. Now I can’t appear in the outfit you worked so hard to design for me. All your hard work is going to waste. I hate her so much; are you really going to become family with her?
He Yu: Sister Chu Chu, you hate An Yanqing so much. Wouldn’t it be too painful for you to live with her for the rest of your life?
Zhong Chu scrolled through He Yu’s messages. From yesterday until now, the messages she had sent were nearly at “99+”. As Zhong Chu watched, her mood grew even more somber.
He Yu was her close friend and, moreover, a former classmate of both her and An Yanqing. Unlike the fallout between Zhong Chu and An Yanqing, He Yu and An Yanqing had been at odds from the very beginning.
After Zhong Chu and An Yanqing fell out, they grew to loathe the sight of each other. The usually shy and introverted He Yu was even so happy that she brought fireworks to Zhong Chu’s house to celebrate.
The two had been rivals in their youth, and upon reaching adulthood, they both coincidentally chose to enter the entertainment industry. The circle was small and resources were limited; combined with their existing animosity, it was inevitable that more conflicts would arise.
After Zhong Chu stopped contacting An Yanqing, most of the news she heard about An Yanqing’s recent situation came from He Yu’s mouth.
As she hesitated over how to reply, He Yu’s phone call came through.
He Yu knew Zhong Chu’s disciplined routine of sleeping at ten and waking at seven. Even though Zhong Chu hadn’t set an alarm this morning, her biological clock had already prompted her to wake up at the same time.
Zhong Chu pressed her aching brow and answered the call.
He Yu’s voice was thin and soft, timid and delicate, tinged with a faint sob as she spoke. Although the person wasn’t in front of her, just by hearing the voice, Zhong Chu could imagine her usual pitiful appearance, face covered in tears.
“Sister Chu Chu, you didn’t reply to my messages yesterday. I was so worried about you, I didn’t dare close my eyes all night. I was afraid that calling would disturb your rest, so I only reached out to you now.”
He Yu was the eldest daughter of the He family. The He family started in the catering industry, while the Zhong family had numerous industries; the two families had more or less some cooperation. But unlike the Zhong family, in the He family—which placed extreme importance on male heirs—a daughter like He Yu was habitually neglected.
With Zhong Chu’s proud nature, she naturally looked down on the He family’s way of doing things, and had looked after this “poor little thing” He Yu since they were children.
He Yu’s concern for her was palpable. Adding to the fact that it was indeed her own fault for being too distracted last night to reply to her friends’ messages, leading to the other’s worry, Zhong Chu felt a sense of guilt.
Zhong Chu exerted her patience and gave her a rough summary of yesterday’s process.
There was a long silence on the other end before He Yu choked out a sob and asked pitifully, “Sister Chu Chu, did you really register your marriage with An Yanqing?”
On one side was her close childhood friend, and on the other was her arch-rival she had just married. Naturally, Zhong Chu would prioritize her friend’s feelings.
However, regarding the handling of this matter, she felt guilty after all. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and spoke in a helpless tone: “Grandpa forced me to register with her. What choice did I have?”