Bai Yu’s pent-up anger finally found an outlet. He clenched his molars. “Are you looking for death?”
“Young Master… I’m afraid—”
“Afraid of what?!”
Bai Yu grew irritable again.
Everyone was so careful around him, so attuned to his every move, every emotion—as if he were some fragile porcelain in a museum.
After swimming fifty full laps, he still returned home in a fury.
Bai Yu lay on the bed, eyes vacant.
He had overdone the exercise; his muscles were sore, yet sleep still wouldn’t come.
He kept his ears pricked.
He waited for a long time. Why wasn’t she coming today?
He, who usually fell asleep so easily, now found himself wide awake—
Suddenly, the soft mattress beside him dipped.
Bai Yu turned his head, biting his lip.
Damn woman, why so late today? She’d made him lose sleep!
After waiting a while with no movement, he said slowly, “Don’t think I’m letting you off just because I haven’t reacted.”
His eyes drooped slightly, as if with reluctance, and he pushed the blanket over. “Didn’t you say you were wronged today? Just this once, only once!”
Meanwhile, on the other side, Fu Zhi decided to try falling asleep without relying on Bai Yu.
She closed her eyes, fists at her sides, took a few deep breaths, then sank her energy into her dantian.
The clock ticked away. Two hours passed, and still the only sound in her ears was the ticking.
“I can’t take it anymore!”
She wearily lifted her heavy eyelids.
Her body was tired, but sleep wouldn’t come.
Failed to fall asleep!
She propped her head up halfway, hesitating whether to sneak into Xiao Bai’s room.
But that man’s grumbling voice was way too noisy…
After half a second of deliberation, she sprang up like a carp leaping, sitting bolt upright: Got it!
He should be asleep by now, so Fu Zhi, wearing a loose purple robe over a black camisole, swung her arms and sauntered over.
When she pushed open the door, she found the man sitting with his back to her, speaking softly to his giant Old English Sheepdog.
And the sheepdog was already snoring like thunder.
The scene was… slightly surreal.
Bai Yu had waited for a while without hearing a response, only heavy breathing.
Could she have fallen asleep?
He flew into a rage and spun around. “I’m giving you face, am I not?”
The moment he grabbed hold, the texture felt off.
He tilted his head. Why was it so furry? The peach scent was there, but slightly distant.
Suddenly, a wet sensation touched his face.
Accompanied by a voice overhead that couldn’t contain its laughter, “I didn’t know you had this kind of hobby! Hahaha…”
Fu Zhi dropped the act—this was just too entertaining at night.
This little young master was hilarious.
Bai Yu’s ears twitched, and with the sheepdog now awake and licking his face, his brain pieced it together in an instant. His toenails dug into the bedsheet as he roared, “I’ll kill you!”
His blood boiled and bubbled as he lunged toward the direction of the voice.
Fu Zhi wasn’t one to be trifled with either. She grabbed his hand and used his momentum to throw him over her shoulder.
The sheepdog let out a “woof” and fled, while the two tumbled into a brawl—fists whistling through the air, sheets twisted into chaos.
Fu Zhi thought to herself: Oh, he’s got some skills.
They were evenly matched right now. If he weren’t blind, she probably wouldn’t be his opponent.
“Young Master, did you bump into something?”
Butler Wan, hearing the commotion, burst through the door in a panic.
They were always on high alert for the young master—even when he was asleep, several people took turns on duty.
Seeing the scene before him, his phoenix eyes widened to their limit. Then he quickly covered his eyes with his fingers and tactfully retreated, afraid of witnessing something unspeakable.
By now, the strap of Fu Zhi’s black camisole had slipped off her shoulder. She lifted her gaze. “Kid, you’ve got some real skill. Looks like I underestimated you.”
Bai Yu squinted. His vision was weak, but not completely gone.
Before his eyes was a dazzling expanse of milky white—
His breath caught, and his mind involuntarily conjured certain fantasies.
Colors automatically focused into shapes.
In an instant, blood rushed from his chest to his head, and his face flushed a deep red. “Time out! Put your clothes on properly, and then we’ll continue fighting!”
He stiffly turned his face away—though he couldn’t see clearly anyway.
Fu Zhi paused, realized what must have crossed Bai Yu’s mind, and let out a scoffing laugh.
“Then let go of me. How can I fix my strap if you won’t?” Fu Zhi curled her lips. “Or do you just like looking?”
“What would I be looking at? I can’t see anything!”
Bai Yu immediately released his grip, his strength seeming to drain away.
He waited quietly, but what came instead was—
Click.
The familiar sound of metal shackles.
Bai Yu’s head snapped up, veins bulging on his neck. “Damn woman, I’ll kill you.”
He was a gentleman in his conduct—but her? She never played by the rules!
“Xiao Bai, your vocabulary is seriously lacking.” Fu Zhi clicked her tongue twice, raised her hand, and dangled the key in front of him triumphantly. “Haven’t you heard that ‘women and petty men are the hardest to deal with’?”
“I—mmph—”
This time, Fu Zhi gagged him too.
Contentedly lying on the bed, sprawled out in a big “X” shape, this three-meter-wide bed was just so soft and comfortable.
She had to admit, this tsundere little princess really knew how to enjoy life.
If Bai Yu ever found out she called her a little princess, there would probably be another storm of blood and fury.
It was strange, though—within just a minute, she had already drifted off to sleep.
“……”
…………
Over the next few days, Lu Tao didn’t see Gu Xingzhi at all.
He seemed to be very busy—with such a massive business empire, it was only natural that he had a thousand things to attend to.
Lu Tao was busy too. The mall had a zero-yuan shopping event going on, and she couldn’t afford to miss it.
Even if Manager Zhao hadn’t made any promises back then, she was still Madam Gu, so he had to serve her with utmost care.
But when he watched Lu Tao drag in a burlap sack, even Manager Zhao was left speechless.
Fu Zhi silently stepped one pace to the left, putting a person’s width of distance between them. “Hey, isn’t that burlap sack a bit too much?”
Lu Tao didn’t care at all about the look Fu Zhi was giving her that said she was embarrassing herself. She huffed and puffed as she dragged it along—the Doraemon burlap sack was her final stubborn stand. “This is all to build up capital for our future happy life together.”
Hearing this, the scorching sunlight fell on Fu Zhi’s fair, cool-toned skin. She took a sip of her sweet and tangy cheese peach tea, lazily lifting her eyelids. “Do they have matching sacks?”
“They do!”
These past few days, the two of them had been like hamsters moving house, going to the mall every day to stock up on bargains.
It was still summer vacation now—once school started, they probably wouldn’t have the time anymore.
Besides shopping, they chatted, ate, and drank, though Fu Zhi still had to put on a bit of a disguise to avoid being seen by her mother-in-law and Qiao Zhixing.
When they got tired of walking, they’d sit in the mall and chat, drinking the most premium milk tea and eating the finest desserts.
Lu Tao popped a soft, chewy purple taro ball into her mouth when she heard Fu Zhi ask, “Does your husband suspect you?”
“What ‘my husband’…”
Lu Tao cupped her cheeks, which had flushed red like a squeezed heart.
Having been single her whole life and suddenly gaining a husband, it was still a bit hard to get used to.
She was pretty, innocent, and cute—it wasn’t like she’d never had suitors. There were plenty of them, actually. But every time they heard that her only family was a sick grandmother, those boys would back off.
Those boys were no different from Chi Yuan now. Chi Yuan had been childhood sweethearts with the original soul, but after Qiao Zhixing returned to the Qiao family, he knew who could bring him the most benefit and made the choice most advantageous to himself.
Fu Zhi said nonchalantly, “What’s there to be shy about? You’re already planning to have a child with him—you’ll have to cross that line sooner or later. Just borrow one of his…”