Su Xingque sent the voice message, turned, and started to walk away.
“Hey.”
Before his massive bundle of doubts could be answered, Shen Zhu panicked. He reached out with his free left hand and grabbed a corner of the passing suit jacket.
The man leaving clearly didn’t expect Shen Zhu to stop him so directly. Before he could even get angry, he did something unprecedented: he turned around and stared coldly at the hand gripping his hem.
At least he didn’t snap at me, Shen Zhu thought. He awkwardly pulled his hand back under the blanket. “How did you find this place?”
His high fever from the night before had barely broken. His voice was heavily stuffed up and muffled; one had to listen closely to make out what he was saying.
Su Xingque turned around completely, saying nothing, just looking at him thoughtfully.
Am I really that good-looking? Receiving no reply, Shen Zhu’s mind began to wander.
He had heard before that Bai Que’s family wasn’t very well-off—the kind that needed financial aid just to get through school. Was Su Xingque feeling sentimental because this run-down place reminded him of his ex?
In that case, he had to push a little harder to trigger Su Xingque’s protective instincts!
Shen Zhu’s eyes darted down to his tied-up right hand.
“Could you help untie my arm? It’s completely numb.”
He pouted pitifully as he spoke.
“Is finding you supposed to be hard?” Su Xingque’s voice cut through the air.
What on earth was in this guy’s head? He was as dumb as a single-celled organism. Su Xingque had wanted to mock him when he heard such a stupid question, but when he turned and saw those misty, watery eyes, the words died in his throat.
It was that strange sense of cognitive dissonance again.
Shen Zhu was stunned for a second before realizing Su Xingque was answering his previous question.
Why does this guy always ruin my flow!
“I thought you wouldn’t care where I was,” Shen Zhu muttered, casting his gaze downward.
They fell back into their usual silence. Whether it was the fever clouding his brain or something else, Shen Zhu felt that this particular silence was different from before.
It was like an imperceptible crack had formed in the barrier between them. With just a little push, it could shatter completely.
“You move around too much in your sleep. The IV needle could slip.” Before Su Xingque even realized what he was doing, his hands had already moved, untying the cloth around Shen Zhu’s wrist.
“The butler will be over shortly to help you pack.”
Watching Su Xingque’s hurried departure, Shen Zhu chuckled under his blanket.
See? Su Xingque was flustered.
At this rate, making Su Xingque fall for him was just around the corner.
And so was hitting the jackpot and getting filthy rich!
Su Xingque stepped out of the run-down rental apartment and got into the back seat of his car.
The driver glanced cautiously at his boss in the rearview mirror and asked hesitantly, “President Su, are we heading straight to the office, or—?”
According to the original schedule, Su Xingque was supposed to review several project contracts at the office before heading to a lunch meeting with a client. But this morning, the driver had suddenly received an address from his boss, telling him to drive here.
And they had ended up staying the entire morning.
“To the client meeting,” Su Xingque answered directly.
He had already wrapped up his morning tasks remotely with Wilson’s assistance. Oddly enough, his efficiency today had been remarkably high.
He had even quietly corrected his subordinates’ careless mistakes—errors he usually found intolerable—without calling anyone out.
Su Xingque turned his hand over—the one he had just used to untie Shen Zhu—staring at his palm in a daze. After a moment, he frowned.
What kind of spell did that little thing cast to influence everyone so easily?
Yesterday, after filming the video of Shen Zhu and sending it to Meng Jing, Su Xingque had hired a designated driver to take him back to the family estate.
Meng Jing hadn’t moved in with him after he took over the family business; she still lived in their old villa, so she naturally couldn’t see through his little stunt.
He thought Shen Zhu’s reputation would take a massive hit in Meng Jing’s eyes. Instead, early the next morning, Su Xingque received a video call from her.
“You two just got your marriage certificate yesterday! Why are you letting Xiao Zhu go out on his own instead of staying home and being sweet together?”
The moment the call connected, Meng Jing’s voice came rushing out like a barrage of firecrackers.
Seeing Su Xingque’s dark expression and silence, Meng Jing paused and asked tentatively, “Xingque, you’re not actually—”
“—having performance issues, are you?”
Meng Jing had heard various rumors about Su Xingque. She hadn’t believed them at first, but after seeing the video of Shen Zhu drinking out by himself, and remembering that her son hadn’t dated anyone since Bai Que.
Su Xingque’s eye twitched. “What on earth are you thinking?”
Meng Jing refused to let it go. “Then let Xiao Zhu on the phone.”
Su Xingque hadn’t expected to dig himself into a hole. He stood frozen, trying to make up an excuse that Shen Zhu wasn’t home.
But Meng Jing knew her son too well; she could tell exactly what he was planning just by looking at his face.
“Xiao Zhu hasn’t moved into the family estate yet?” Meng Jing’s brow furrowed.
The result was Su Xingque getting a gentle lecture for nearly half an hour, listening to Meng Jing expound on the importance of doting on his partner, treating them right, and trying to live together and communicate.
She also strictly ordered him to bring Shen Zhu home today.
“President Su, we’ve arrived,” the driver said, pulling up to the restaurant and opening the door for him.
So be it, Su Xingque thought, pulling himself back to reality.
Even if Shen Zhu had tricks up his sleeve, he wouldn’t let this meaningless marriage last very long.