The cashier was a very young girl.
After scanning Cen Xi’s items, she had originally been looking down at her phone. When she suddenly heard Shang Hanzhou’s low, deep voice, she froze for a moment.
Then she looked up—and saw his cold, strikingly handsome face.
Her cheeks immediately flushed red.
“Ah… okay,” she stammered.
She took the item from his hand. After seeing clearly what it was, even someone usually calm like her felt a little embarrassed.
“Total is 199.”
After hearing the price, Cen Xi immediately pushed open the glass door and walked out.
The air inside had been cool and air-conditioned, but somehow she now felt heat rushing up her body.
She fanned her cheeks with her hand.
Behind her, the mechanical “Welcome” voice sounded as the door opened again.
Shang Hanzhou came out.
Cen Xi wasn’t sure whether she should wait for him.
Forget it—this place wasn’t far from the barbecue stall. He wouldn’t get lost again.
Just as she was about to leave, he stepped up beside her first.
“Don’t move,” he said softly.
Cen Xi paused.
Was he telling her to wait for him?
Before she could react, the tall man suddenly crouched down in front of her.
She instinctively took a small step back.
His rough thumb and index finger gently circled her slender ankle.
Cen Xi panicked slightly.
“What… what are you doing?”
He didn’t explain.
“Wait a moment,” he said.
Cen Xi stopped asking.
But her mind immediately started racing.
The wound on his thigh—he was crouching like this, would it reopen?
She instinctively bent down, trying to pull him up.
But then—
A cool sensation touched her skin.
It was medicated ointment.
Shang Hanzhou lowered his pale eyes and silently applied medicine onto the mosquito bites on her calf.
Cen Xi’s hand froze mid-air.
Something indescribably sour and soft rose in her chest.
From her angle, she could only see his sharp facial outline and straight nose bridge.
The mosquito bites weren’t even that serious. She hadn’t cared about them at all—left alone, they would’ve healed in a few days anyway.
She hadn’t expected him to notice.
After finishing, Shang Hanzhou stood up.
Cen Xi lightly kicked the tip of her foot.
She almost instinctively wanted to say “thank you” again.
But she held it back.
Instead, she casually asked,
“Why did you think to buy this?”
Shang Hanzhou replied calmly,
“I saw a pharmacy while looking for you. Bought it on the way.”
“…Oh.”
She responded softly.
She almost asked how he had even noticed the mosquito bites on her leg—but then decided it was probably just a coincidence glance.
The words were swallowed back down.
“Thank you,” she still said anyway.
Then, as if remembering something, she added seriously,
“Tonight when you get back, don’t get it wet again.”
“If you want to shower, try to hold off. If it gets wet by accident, use sterile cotton swabs to absorb the water, then disinfect with iodine or saline. Keep it dry.”
She spoke very seriously.
Shang Hanzhou suddenly smiled faintly.
Cen Xi paused.
That brief smile made her feel like he was treating her like one of those difficult patients who never listened to instructions.
She puffed her cheeks slightly, her expression becoming more serious.
“Did you hear me?”
Only after speaking did she realize she had used the same tone she used with noncompliant patients.
Too strict.
This wasn’t the hospital.
She quickly added,
“Sorry. I’m not scolding you.”
Shang Hanzhou didn’t seem bothered at all.
Instead, he cooperated calmly.
“Understood, Dr. Cen,” he said, his low voice carrying a faint smile.
“…”
Cen Xi bit her lower lip.
Hearing “Dr. Cen” from others was normal.
But hearing it from him felt strangely different.
They packed up the leftover skewers.
There was too much food left, so they took it home.
Lin Xingyou often worked late into the night, so she might eat it later.
The black Maybach followed behind their small electric scooter all the way back, only leaving after confirming they entered the apartment building safely.
After they went upstairs,
Lin Xingyou grabbed a takeaway bag in one hand and pushed Cen Xi against the wall with the other, tilting her head as if analyzing her expression.
“Xi Baby,” she declared seriously, “after today’s meeting, I’ve decided—you’re officially allowed to like Shang Hanzhou!”
Originally, she had a terrible impression of him.
He had married and immediately gone abroad for two years, while his company’s valuation soared and his wife was left alone.
But after seeing him today, he didn’t seem that bad.
She pinched her chin thoughtfully.
“So tell me honestly,” she said, eyes sparkling with curiosity, “how exactly did you end up liking Shang Hanzhou?”
“You hid it so well—you didn’t even tell me!”
Curiosity practically overflowed.
Cen Xi blinked, bent slightly, slipped out from under her arm, and answered seriously—but changed the topic entirely.
“I told you before. I don’t like him anymore.”
Lin Xingyou snorted.
“Xi Baby, you can fool others, but not me.”
After eating too much barbecue, she felt thirsty.
Cen Xi walked to the water dispenser, poured herself a glass, and also poured one for her friend.
“Really,” she said softly, biting the rim of the cup.
But Lin Xingyou ignored her completely and continued.
“Then try harder! Make him like you back! Mutual love solves everything.”
They were husband and wife, after all.
There was no closer starting point than this.
Cen Xi paused mid-sip.
Her long eyelashes lowered slightly.
“It won’t happen,” she said quietly.
He didn’t want feelings.
They both knew that clearly.
If he had known the “person she liked” back then was him, he would never have agreed to the marriage.
Thinking of the box of condoms from earlier that night, Cen Xi almost choked on her water and quickly set the cup down.
She hesitated.
“Maybe… later,” she said.
After all, he hadn’t urged her.
He probably wasn’t in a hurry.