He was currently looking over the contract sent by Hongmeng, his mind entirely focused on earning as much as he possibly could.
When it came to making money, he had never once slacked off. The live-streaming tip income he had earned recently was also completely stashed away by him, but those funds were still far from enough.
Shen Jin’an coughed again.
Before the small scissors for removing the stitches could even get close, Qin Zhen misunderstood his intention, slipped his phone back into his pocket, and raised his gaze to ask, “Are you afraid of pain?”
As soon as he asked, he felt that he was being utterly ridiculous.
According to what 999 had said, Shen Jin’an was an all-powerful villain whom everyone feared. How could a villain possibly be afraid of pain?
A villain would only say that things were getting more and more interesting when facing extreme adversity.
He suddenly gave a faint chuckle, only to hear a breathy sound escaping from Shen Jin’an’s nasal cavity.
“Yes.”
Qin Zhen froze. Under the nurse’s surprised gaze, he stepped forward, reached out, and covered Shen Jin’an’s eyes with his hand. “Then don’t look.”
His slender eyelashes fluttered open and closed against Qin Zhen’s palm, bringing a warm, moist trace of breath.
He said, “If you can’t see it, it won’t hurt.”
On the way back, Shen Jin’an was obviously in a much higher spirited mood. His bangs were pushed up to the top of his head, revealing a full, fair forehead and eyebrows of moderate thickness.
The car stopped at an intersection to wait for a red light.
Shen Jin’an’s gaze shifted as he seriously examined the interior of the battered little car for the very first time. Crossing his arms, he pointed toward the air conditioning vent and evaluated, “The air conditioning doesn’t work well.”
Qin Zhen’s indifferent gaze remained fixed on the windshield. Hearing this, he shot Shen Jin’an a smiling glance, his hand instinctively reaching out to stroke Shen Jin’an’s face. “Feeling hot?”
True enough, his car really wasn’t very reliable.
He turned the air conditioning up to maximum, trying to give Shen Jin’an the most comfortable temperature possible.
When his face was stroked, Shen Jin’an stiffened all over, though it wasn’t out of aversion, feeling more like the awkwardness of someone who didn’t know how to react.
He blinked. After a moment, with a completely expressionless and dry tone, he squeezed out a single sentence: “I’ll give you a new car tomorrow.”
Qin Zhen didn’t take it seriously. Shen Jin’an’s current situation was perilous, so he was probably just saying it casually.
With a curving smile, he joked, “Give it to me for what? So I can be your chauffeur? That would require extra pay.”
Before his words could fade, his phone chimed. Without even shifting his gaze, Qin Zhen pulled the phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Shen Jin’an. “See who it is.”
Shen Jin’an knew the password to his phone; his fingerprint had been registered last night when Qin Zhen had asked him if he wanted to switch to a smartphone.
The idea was almost instantly rejected by the other party.
Shen Jin’an had said he wasn’t interested in smartphones and saw no need to receive so much useless information, considering it a waste of time.
From Shen Jin’an’s subtle expression, Qin Zhen realized that this person not only hated crowded places, but also loathed the noisy online world, as if places with people were the root of all evil.
Therefore, he had skeptically asked the other person why he needed to register his fingerprint information.
Shen Jin’an had suddenly stammered, biting his lip for quite a while before saying he occasionally needed to check the weather forecast or something.
As the car drove forward, Shen Jin’an looked at the WeChat contact labeled MXX and read the message out loud, word for word: “Does the treat you promised me last time still count?”
Upon hearing this, Qin Zhen knew immediately that it was Mu Xiaoxiao.
He tapped his fingers twice on the steering wheel; he wasn’t so stingy that he couldn’t afford a meal.
“Tell her it still counts.”
Shen Jin’an let out an “oh” and coldly tapped the keyboard twice, sending back nothing more than a single “Mn.”
The other side replied with three question marks and a panda-head question-mark sticker.
Immediately afterward, Mu Xiaoxiao’s phone call came chasing right after. Having known Qin Zhen for several years, she had never seen him reply with such indifference.
Perfunctory replies were common with him, and wisecracks were common too, but she just felt this single “Mn” character was completely wrong, and she refused to believe she was just being too sensitive.
Shen Jin’an wasn’t startled by the sudden phone call. Quietly opening the speakerphone, he held the phone up near the center console, and Mu Xiaoxiao’s voice instantly burst out from it.
“Qin Zhen! What are you doing! Do you have to be this cold to me? We’ve been together for goodness knows how long!”
Shen Jin’an narrowed his eyes dangerously, his fingers tightening.
Unbothered, Qin Zhen raised the corners of his mouth in a casual smile, his tone lazy. “Xiaoxiao, can you finish your sentences?”
“No! I won’t finish them! I’ve just been dumped, so you’re treating me to dinner tonight! You can’t put it off for even a single day!”
With a headache, Qin Zhen glanced at Shen Jin’an. He couldn’t very well throw Shen Jin’an back home just to go out for dinner, though as for why he couldn’t, he hadn’t really thought about it.
Yet before he could refuse, Mu Xiaoxiao fiercely declared, “Anyway, I’ve already bought the groceries. I’m going to your place for hotpot, and I’m driving over right now! Don’t say another word, or I might just cry for you to see.”
Having known each other for so long, Qin Zhen had truly never seen Mu Xiaoxiao cry.
He couldn’t handle it, nor did he want to.
Pondering for a few seconds, Qin Zhen guessed that Mu Xiaoxiao might have discovered a problem with her boyfriend, leaving him with no choice but to agree.
Before getting close to home, he scanned the nearby cafes through the car window, brainstorming various ways to temporarily settle Shen Jin’an somewhere safe until Mu Xiaoxiao left, after which he would go pick him up.
As if suddenly able to read his mind, Shen Jin’an said with his usual composure, “Is this your friend? If I stay in the bedroom and don’t come out, would there be an issue?”
Qin Zhen’s hand on the steering wheel paused for a second. Shen Jin’an looked at him and pressed further, “Unless your friend plans to enter your bedroom?”
There was a subtle edge to that look; it didn’t look like he was watching the fun, but rather as though he wanted to avoid seeing this fun altogether. Qin Zhen blinked, catching a fleeting flash of emotion in those pupils before they returned to a glacial chill.
He must have been seeing things, Qin Zhen figured.
“They won’t enter. Sorry to have you stay in the bedroom for a bit.”
One hour later.
The apartment doorbell rang.
Wearing a framed pair of glasses, an oversized t-shirt, shorts, and a hair bun, Mu Xiaoxiao arrived wrapped in a wave of heat.
As soon as she stepped inside, she looked around in every direction, scanning the perimeter to make sure there were no suspicious traces before changing her shoes and sitting on the sofa.
“I thought you really got kept by a sugar daddy! I’ve already bought the groceries. The boxed ones don’t need washing, just set up the pot directly. No need to thank me.”
“So much?” Qin Zhen glanced at the bags, which were packed full of two large bags of ingredients, definitely not portions for just two people. Walking over to the edge of the dining table, he poured a glass of water for Mu Xiaoxiao. “Weren’t you always yelling about going on a diet? What made you think of eating hotpot at my place today?”
“I’m not drinking water,” Mu Xiaoxiao waved a hand. “I bought a lot of alcohol. Tonight, the two of us are going to drink until we drop.”
“Don’t, my alcohol tolerance is terrible. What on earth happened to you? Did you find out Liang Kaiqi has issues?”
Clenching both fists with a righteous expression of indignation, Mu Xiaoxiao fumed, “Yeah! That garbage scum actually cheated on me, hooking up with some rich family’s daughter behind my back! To think I actually believed he was some honest guy, it was all a fake illusion. Bah, what’s even the point of talking about trash like that? May he rot in the ground forever, locked down tight with that mistress for eternity.”
She spoke with such uninhibited ease and a natural demeanor that Qin Zhen initially thought she really was fine.