After turning off the surveillance video, Ye Yunting casually tossed his phone onto the bed.
“She’s not back yet at this hour—she’s probably with her suitor.”
The floor-to-ceiling glass window reflected his upright figure in a suit. A flicker of inexplicable disappointment crossed Ye Yunting’s eyes.
…
Early in the morning, Zhang Fan turned over, and her phone slid off, waking her. She curved her body to pick up the phone, and when she looked up, she happened to meet Jiang Qi’s drowsy eyes.
“You’re awake? Morning!”
His slightly hoarse voice inexplicably made the atmosphere a bit ambiguous.
“Morning!”
Zhang Fan smiled awkwardly and quickly grabbed her phone, turning her body away.
Good heavens, her face wasn’t swollen, and there was no eye gunk, right?
She touched her face with both hands, hardly able to believe that she had slept so soundly next to a strange man—no, in the midst of a bunch of strangers?
It felt like she hadn’t even dreamed the whole night. She glanced at the clock in the lobby—it was already six in the morning!
She quickly got up and went to the washroom to freshen up.
Early in the morning, the bathhouse was still filled with steam, and there were actually people soaking in the bath pool!
After scanning her wristband, she received a set of toiletries. Zhang Fan stood in front of the mirror, looking at herself.
Heaven had still been kind to her. Though work was hard, her face hadn’t left any traces of aging, and her collagen was still there.
Perhaps, as some views suggest, not marrying and not having children makes women age much more slowly.
Of course, if you’re too poor, you’ll age however you’re supposed to age.
Her palm brushed over her cheek. Looking at this face in the mirror, she thought it was still quite pretty.
Should she ask Jiang Qi if he has a girlfriend?
The thought had barely surfaced before she immediately rejected it. Zhang Fan shook her head like a rattle drum, oblivious to those around her. One mustn’t be so shameless!
She had the desire but not the courage. Even if the balance in her account was skyrocketing every second, she still wouldn’t dare to “throw her money around.”
She opened her phone and took a look. Her phone seemed to have been bound to a “call-bombing” app—the missed calls and text messages were so many they were about to stuff her phone to bursting.
The same unknown number had called countless times, practically dialing her phone all night long.
She sighed and scrolled through the messages. Sure enough, they were all curses from her parents.
How did they manage to want her money while still being so arrogant and not speaking to her properly?
Her finger slid across the screen, and her gaze paused on a text message—it was from Wang Zekai.
It was roughly about checking in on how Da Huang was doing, whether she had slept, and reminding her about their lunch date.
Right, she still had to have lunch with Wang Zekai at noon.
She looked down at her large floral bathrobe, and Zhang Fan’s head throbbed.
She needed to buy clothes and shoes—from inner to outer, from top to bottom, everything had to be bought.
When she’d had time before, she’d placed some online orders, and they should arrive at the villa in the next couple of days. It was just that today, she might not have enough time to go back and forth.
Since it was a date, she had to dress a bit more formally.
Anyway, the mall was right there—she could buy clothes, change into them, and head straight to the date.
Wang Zekai, this person…
No matter what, Zhang Fan was a person of her word. A date that had been set—she had to go.
After a quick tidy-up, she turned around to see a middle-aged woman leading a little boy inside, carrying bags large and small. The child was mischievous, darting forward, and when the woman tried to grab him, everything she was holding fell scattered across the floor.
Zhang Fan had some reservations about a boy this old being in the women’s washroom.
But there weren’t many people around right now, and no one was changing clothes or anything, so since no one else minded, why should she go out of her way to offend someone?
An elderly person, looking after a child—it wasn’t easy.
She bent down to help the woman pick up her things. It was a small kindness, but it still counted as helping someone, right?
Would the System give her task progress for it?
“Auntie, here, your things!”
The woman snatched what Zhang Fan handed her, moving so fast and with such force that her fingernails scraped Zhang Fan painfully.
She frowned, her mouth full of complaints, and after all the things were picked up, she didn’t even glance at Zhang Fan.
This… ugh, forget it!
Zhang Fan was about to leave when someone patted her shoulder twice, with no small amount of force: “Hey! You’re Fanfan, aren’t you?”
The woman’s excited voice exploded beside her ear. Zhang Fan turned back awkwardly—did they know each other?
“Fanfan, it’s me, your Aunt Wu!”
The woman tossed her things onto the bench, one hand gripping the restless boy: “No wonder you looked down on the matches I introduced you to—turns out you’ve latched onto a billionaire!”
There weren’t many people around, but with that one shout from the woman, everyone was staring at her.
So it was the one who’d tried to set her up with some old man before—an acquaintance of her parents. Zhang Fan had no interest in chatting with her and gave a dry laugh: “Hello, Aunt Wu. I have things to do, so I’ll be going!”
“Hey? Wait, wait!”
Aunt Wu dragged the child along, following her, and forcibly pulled her to a stop in the corridor.
“Let me tell you, we’ve been old neighbors for how many years now! My son is a company executive now, and my daughter married well. When you get married, you absolutely must send us an invitation!”
“I…” Zhang Fan wanted to pull her hand free, but was afraid of using too much force and making a scene: “Aunt Wu, weren’t you going to wash up?”
“Zhang Fan, are you done washing?”
Jiang Qi came from the other end, greeting her naturally.
“And this is?” Aunt Wu looked up at Jiang Qi, her eyes full of gossip: “The young man’s quite handsome. You two are…?”
Her gaze darted back and forth between Zhang Fan and Jiang Qi, her smile strange.
Sensing Zhang Fan’s embarrassment, Jiang Qi spoke up on his own: “I’m heading off. Goodbye!”
With that, he strode away, as if he’d merely run into an acquaintance on the street.
“Aunt Wu, I need to go too. Enjoy yourself!” Zhang Fan yanked her arm free from Aunt Wu’s grip and caught up with Jiang Qi.
“Oh my, tsk tsk tsk…”
Aunt Wu watched the two figures recede, wrinkled her nose, and shook her head. Suddenly, as if something occurred to her, she immediately pulled out her phone and dialed Zhang Fan’s parents: “Hello, Li Guirong? Let me tell you, I’m at the bathhouse, and I saw your Zhang Fan!
She’s fooling around with some pretty boy, did you know?
I’m telling you, you need to rein her in, or if your son-in-law finds out, won’t this whole thing fall apart?”
…
“You’re not angry, are you?” Zhang Fan awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. What kind of mess was this?
“What’s there to be angry about?” Jiang Qi smiled: “Some people just love stirring up trouble over nothing. I was the rash one earlier—I didn’t read the situation and just ran over to say hi.”
“Good, as long as you’re not angry!”
Zhang Fan didn’t know whether to be happy or frustrated, and said awkwardly, “Um, breakfast seems to have started. Are we still eating?”
The mall or the pet hospital—it was so early that neither was open yet. Once she left the bathhouse, she’d have to find another place to stay.
“Eat! We paid for it, so why wouldn’t we eat?”