The Way He Looks So Serious
Two days later, Zhuang Fuyao moved into Boya Bay.
Aunt Yuan went over to help carry her luggage, her tone warm and enthusiastic. “So it was you.”
Zhuang Fuyao gave an awkward smile.
When she had just transmigrated over, she wanted to see Liang Huaixu but had not yet figured out how to face him. She had wandered around this area, hoping to get lucky and see him from afar.
As a result, one of the aunts from his household noticed her, and she was almost taken for a thief.
She said she was a friend of Liang Huaixu. The aunt was half-believing and half-doubting, very guarded, and asked her many questions. Only after she answered them all did they refrain from sending her to the police station.
…Thinking about it now, it was still extremely dramatic.
After finishing unpacking, Aunt Yuan took her downstairs to walk around.
This was a well-known wealthy residential area in Jiang City in recent years. Most of the properties were large manor-style villas. Taking this house as an example, it was divided into a main building and an annex, with north and south gardens. The north garden was relatively open, with only a fountain and lawn, while the south garden featured Chinese-style landscaping, with scenery at every step.
As they walked, Aunt Yuan introduced things to her. “Including me, there are five aunts, three gardeners, one driver, and one head chef at home. Apart from Master and Young Master Chaoluo, everyone else lives in the annex.”
After saying that, she added, “There was originally also Butler Cao here, but he was sent to the family’s place in the UK some time ago.”
Zhuang Fuyao did know Butler Cao.
Butler Cao’s original name was Cao Yu. When she married Liang Huaixu, the Liang family had sent him over to take care of their daily life.
Aside from Butler Cao, however, she realized that everyone here was unfamiliar to her.
After strolling around for a bit, Zhuang Fuyao returned to the main building to eat.
The Liang family had many rules. The servants did not eat together with the main family. And since Liang Huaixu was still abroad and had not returned, a whole table of dishes ended up being for her alone.
She felt it was too wasteful. “If it’s just me eating, there’s no need to make so much. Three dishes and one soup would be enough.”
Chef Chen looked troubled and glanced at Aunt Yuan.
Aunt Yuan understood his meaning and spoke up for him. “Master instructed us to take good care of you. If Master comes back and sees this, he’ll think we didn’t serve you properly…”
“He won’t—” dare.
Zhuang Fuyao paused. She had known Liang Huaixu for seven years and dated him for four. Some reactions were purely instinctive.
“He won’t. I’ll explain it to him privately. This is my request. It has nothing to do with you.”
With that said, Chef Chen finally felt at ease.
After the meal, Zhuang Fuyao went upstairs to rest.
When she woke up the next day, it was already nine in the morning.
After several days of practice, her makeup skills had improved by leaps and bounds. After finishing her makeup, she chose a dark coffee-colored halter-neck dress to change into, sprayed a bit of perfume, and went downstairs.
When Aunt Yuan saw her, she froze for a moment.
Yesterday, when she saw Miss Zhuang, although she looked quite young, Aunt Yuan had inferred that her actual age probably was not too far from Master’s.
With Miss Zhuang dressed like this today, Aunt Yuan began to doubt her own judgment.
She looked like a university graduate who had just entered society.
If she really were a fresh graduate, then Miss Zhuang would be more than ten years younger than Master. An age gap of over ten years was actually within a normal range, but when placed on Master, it somehow felt especially incongruous. Tracing it back to the root, it was because she felt that Master was not that kind of person.
So… could she have gotten it wrong?
Maybe she was not a girlfriend after all?
She wanted to ask several times but held back. Having worked in this line for so many years, she had her own principles. No matter how kind the master of the house was, she could not overstep and pry into the household’s private affairs.
So she simply asked with concern, “Miss Zhuang, breakfast is ready in the dining room. Are you going out later?”
Zhuang Fuyao smiled. “Yes. I won’t be coming back for lunch.”
She drove to the film and television city and spent most of the day supervising the work before returning.
When she got home, her back and waist were aching. She ate a few simple bites and went back to her room to curl up.
She was currently obsessed with a special-forces combat game. Every day was about ranking up and getting kills. When Song Qing and Beiguo got off work, they teamed up for a few more rounds. Without realizing it, they played until after ten.
Unlike her, a person with nothing to do, Song Qing and Beiguo both had to work the next day. At this hour, it was time to log off.
“We’re logging off. You should go to bed early too.”
“Alright. I’ll go shower after I finish this round,” Zhuang Fuyao said, yawning.
*
At Jiang City Airport, Liang Huaixu had just landed.
Old Madam Liang was not seriously ill. She was simply getting older and inevitably had minor ailments here and there. Liang Huaixu stayed there for two days before being chased back to the country by the old madam herself.
He did want to stay a few more days, but Changting truly could not do without him right now. If he wanted to enjoy some leisure, he would have to wait until his son could stand on his own and take over his position.
Thinking of this, he made a video call to Liang Chaoluo.
When the call connected, the light on the other side flickered on and off across the face, like something out of a horror film.
Liang Huaixu frowned. “Where are you?”
“In the car.” Liang Chaoluo was already used to this beat-up vehicle. He skillfully tapped the overhead light, and the light inside finally stabilized. A cold, stern face that also looked slightly haggard appeared. “Just got off work.”
Liang Huaixu asked, “How have things been lately?”
Liang Chaoluo replied stiffly, “Pretty good. The supervisor even praised me today.”
Liang Huaixu raised an eyebrow.
Liang Chaoluo had gotten a girlfriend in university and said after graduation that he wanted to get married. Liang Huaixu felt that the girl’s temperament was too soft and that she could not take charge of things.
Liang Chaoluo thought that he was trying to break them up, and his reaction was extremely intense. It was like a belated rebellious phase had arrived. He had a big argument with him.
In truth, when it came to relationships, if his son really insisted, he would not oppose it. Of course, that did not prevent him from using this opportunity to send him down to the grassroots level to gain some experience.
Liang Chaoluo had already been at the grassroots level for three months. He indeed looked much more haggard, but the results were good. The young man who had once lived in luxury and been aloof and arrogant had finally tasted the hardships of ordinary life.
After saying a few words of concern, he hung up the call.
Outside the window, cars came and went. Late at night, Jiang City was still lively. Liang Huaixu was lost in thought for a while.
He wondered how Zhuang Fuyao had been these past few days.
After getting home, he glanced toward the second floor. The lights were off. He thought she had already gone to sleep, so he did not disturb her and went straight up to the third floor.
The lights in the house were all smart-sensor controlled. Liang Huaixu was used to bright surroundings and did not notice anything different today.
He turned the television in the living room to the side. The bathroom’s glass wall had adjustable settings. When he had free time, he would set the frosted glass to transparent, soak in the bath, and watch movies at the same time.
As he walked closer, he vaguely sensed that something was off, but it was already too late.
His hand moved faster than his reaction.
“Ah!”
Along with the scream, Liang Huaixu’s face also turned red.
Ah ah ah ah ah!
Zhuang Fuyao was startled. It was not because Liang Huaixu had seen her naked. In her view, the two of them had only recently still been living an unabashed married life together.
What frightened her was the glass. She had been bathing perfectly fine when the frosted glass suddenly turned transparent, and there was a person standing right across from her.
At this late hour, even with two hearts, she would still have been scared half to death.
Was glass sixteen years later really this advanced?
Liang Huaixu held the remote as if it were burning hot and switched the glass back to frosted.
“……”
Zhuang Fuyao adjusted her breathing and finished washing up. By the time she came out, she was much calmer.
Wrapped in a bath towel, she looked Liang Huaixu up and down, her tone carrying a hint of intrigue. “I couldn’t tell. You play around quite a lot.”
Liang Huaixu: “……”
After such a huge mix-up, he had no mood left to take a bath.
He stood rather awkwardly outside Zhuang Fuyao’s door. After a long while, he finally knocked.
“What is it?”
Zhuang Fuyao leaned against the doorframe. Her face after the shower was fair with a rosy flush. Her hair, which had been wrapped under a drying cap, was now let down, carrying a soft, sweet dampness.
Liang Huaixu stood motionless outside the door. “I think regarding tonight’s accident, it’s necessary for me to explain it to you.”
The way he looked so serious reminded Zhuang Fuyao of when they had just started dating.
On a university campus filled with clashing hormones, other couples who had known each other as long as they had were already burning with passion. Yet her progress with Liang Huaixu had stalled at light, fleeting kisses.
Every day, facing a boyfriend who completely matched her aesthetic taste, it was hard for Zhuang Fuyao not to want to do something more. After observing for all of her freshman and sophomore years, she finally found an opportunity during her junior-year internship.
At the time, her internship was in another province. In order to spend more time together when they met, Liang Huaixu did not go stay elsewhere on his own.
There were several times when the atmosphere was just right. Liang Huaixu was clearly deeply moved, yet he only kissed her with restraint and even held her hands back, not allowing her to make any excessive moves.
Later, she found out that inside Liang Huaixu’s early-twenties body lived an old-fashioned conservative who believed that such things should only be done after marriage.
Compared to his nervous and shy demeanor, she was like a soul-seducing enchantress.
Thinking up to this point, Zhuang Fuyao curled her lips with playful interest. “Explain what?”