Feeling somewhat breathless, Jiang Zhixue regained some clarity: "You… I…"
Zhou Yan turned around, and when he turned back, a glass of water was handed to her: "Take it slower when climbing stairs from now on."
As he spoke, he pursed his thin lips.
Seeing her panting like this, he knew how exhausting climbing eight floors could be.
But right now, he couldn’t find any other place to stay either.
Jiang Zhixue paused, mumbled a couple of "uh-huhs" in a flustered manner, took the glass, and drank the water, suppressing the urge to pounce on him in the process.
Zhou Yan pulled the door open a little wider to let her in.
Seeing she had finished the water, he reached out, automatically took the glass back, and placed it on the kitchen cabinet.
They didn’t even have a water dispenser; the water had been boiled and cooled in a small electric kettle.
Jiang Zhixue naturally sat down in her usual spot on the bed. The man sized her up: "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine…"
It was just climbing stairs—she wasn’t that delicate.
It was just that the man in front of her was too handsome!
No wonder he was the male lead, the finest specimen of humanity.
"Then I’m off to deliver food."
Jiang Zhixue’s heat-addled brain suddenly cooled down. Right, this was a food delivery rider, not an F1 racer, not a younger version of Pi Laide…
"Mm…" she responded, then secretly glanced up at him again, her brain heating up once more.
So handsome!
"Then I’ll go." Zhou Yan wanted to confirm once more.
"Mm, go ahead." Jiang Zhixue feigned calmness.
Seeing the man still standing at the door, she added: "I’ll tidy up at home. Is there anything I should be careful about?"
Zhou Yan was startled, a glimmer of light flickering in his eyes as he studied her.
Judging by her demeanor, she genuinely regarded this place as their home.
She said she wouldn’t divorce… Were all these things true?
The thought made his heart feel as if it were floating on turbulent seas, tossing violently.
He suppressed his thoughts, refusing to dwell on them: "Do as you like, just don’t touch the things in the corner cabinet."
As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward the cabinet at the foot of the bed.
Jiang Zhixue knew it contained that pile of computer parts and nodded in agreement: "Okay."
Only then did Zhou Yan step out, gently closing the door behind him.
Listening to the sound of footsteps fading away outside, Jiang Zhixue finally took a deep breath once she was sure he had left.
The room was simply too small, with the window right above the head of the bed, making it difficult even to catch a proper breath.
She sat on the bed, resting and calming herself.
Just as she was about to stand up and start tidying after resting, she heard a "click-click" sound—someone was unlocking the door from outside.
Judging by the movement and sound, it was clearly Zhou Yan.
Before she could even react, the door swung open.
Zhou Yan walked in holding a plastic bag: "This is lunch. I bought it for you first."
As he spoke, his gaze deepened as he looked at her.
He added: "So you don’t have to make another trip."
Jiang Zhixue: "?"
She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important she didn’t know.
But the thought of climbing up and down eight floors again filled her with despair.
Her heart warmed instantly.
Yet if she didn’t make this trip, it would be this man who had to.
She looked up at the man carefully placing the lunch into the pot on the kitchen counter.
Though his face wasn’t flushed and he wasn’t sweating, only breathing slightly heavier, he had made this trip effortlessly.
But when she thought about how, from morning till night, he would be squeezed into various elevators, climbing stairs, competing for orders and meals, racing against time to deliver food to people…
In her previous life within the Hong Kong, Macau, and Beijing financial circles, she often ordered takeout.
She knew how hard delivery riders worked—it was an industry with high rates of sudden death and accidental fatalities.
Her heart felt heavy.
"Zhou Yan, I can go downstairs myself to buy lunch." She didn’t want him to take care of her like this when he was already so exhausted.
Zhou Yan glanced at her again. "It’s fine. Eat it early, don’t let it sit too long."
"Okay." Only then did Zhou Yan hurry out the door.
At this hour, it was already the peak time for deliveries. Any later, and he’d miss out on some time and lose quite a bit of money.
But once outside, he couldn’t help but pause at the door, staring at the worn-out little entrance.
He could sense that Jiang Zhixue was concerned about him.
Unlike before, when she had tried to flatter and seduce him to keep him firmly tied to her, this felt genuine—a sincere worry for his health and safety, a fear that he might die suddenly.
Though he had noticed many unusual things about Jiang Zhixue lately, and he couldn’t quite make sense of them, this felt rather nice.
He cut off his train of thought, jogged downstairs, and started grabbing orders on his phone as he went.
Listening to the sound of the man running downstairs, Jiang Zhixue couldn’t sit still either.
No matter what, she had to make the best of their current life, to ensure that she and Zhou Yan didn’t have to struggle so much.
Action followed thought. She took off her shoes, stepped onto the bed, and pulled down the ice-pink branded suitcase from the top cabinet.
She had already sorted through it yesterday—it was filled with her dresses, skirts, and handbags.
After her outing, she had come up with a preliminary plan: to set up a stall at the subway entrance after six or seven in the evening to sell her things.
Although these items were branded, they weren’t particularly expensive.
Haishi was a top-tier major city. Even ordinary office workers could occasionally afford dresses and handbags costing one or two thousand, or even three or four thousand yuan.
If the items were good, someone would buy them.
She wanted to sell them for as high a price as possible.
Since this was her first time going out tonight, she couldn’t take too much. She picked out a few dresses and skirts, along with two handbags.
After checking everything, she spritzed on a bit of perfume.
In the cabinet, there were also some of her skincare products and half a bottle of perfume.
It was something Zhou Yan had bought when his company went public and he became a billionaire boss—costing five thousand yuan, it was a very pleasant, high-end perfume.
After tidying up, everything was nearly perfect.
Once she was almost done packing, her stomach started growling.
In her previous life, she had been at the very bottom of the corporate ladder—overworked and constantly competing.
Eating and sleeping meant nothing; clients came first, and their money came first.
As a result, she had developed severe stomach issues.
Her sudden death was closely linked to her stomach problems.
In this life, the original host’s body was perfectly healthy—for her, this was an immense blessing.
She was determined to eat well and keep herself in good health.
Once she divorced Zhou Yan and took his money, she would enjoy life and the world.
A little longer, and the food would be completely cold.
So, she decided to eat first.
She walked over to the kitchen counter, lifted the lid of the pot, and saw the lunch inside.
It was a boxed meal: a portion of rice, a medium-spicy stir-fried pork dish, some stir-fried greens, and a complimentary soup.
With both meat and vegetables, it was a balanced meal—better than most of what she had eaten in her previous life.
The food tasted just right for her palate.
Zhou Yan had bought it based on the original host’s tastes and preferences.
Since her own tastes were similar to the original host’s, this lunch suited her perfectly.
Zhou Yan was truly a thoughtful and considerate man.
After finishing her meal and cleaning up, Jiang Zhixue checked the time. She had nothing to do for the entire afternoon—a whole stretch of free time.
Having been accustomed to a busy life in her past existence, she felt somewhat unaccustomed to such sudden idleness.
Her gaze inadvertently fell on Zhou Yan’s cabinet, reminding her of his computers. She pondered the progression of the plot.
In the original storyline, she and Zhou Yan would divorce three months later.
After the divorce, Zhou Yan delivered takeout during the day and dedicated his nights to studying AI, soon establishing his own company.
By the time his wealthy family came looking for him, his company had already begun to make a name for itself.
Zhou Yan was an AI technology expert. If he hadn’t been suppressed and held back by her, he could have easily found a job at a tech company in a place like Haishi, earning twenty to thirty thousand a month.
Even now, she wasn’t entirely clear why Zhou Yan chose to deliver takeout during the day and drive for ride-sharing services at night.
An idea struck her immediately.
While wandering around in the morning, she had noticed a computer repair shop on the street outside the alley.
She decided to start by getting Zhou Yan’s computer fixed.
Opening the cabinet, she found a cardboard box and packed the computer’s main unit and monitor inside, deciding to prioritize repairing these two items.
Once packed, she carried the box out and headed downstairs.
By the time she returned, it was already six in the afternoon.
Climbing the stairs with the large cardboard box left her nearly breathless.
Setting the box down by the door, she caught her breath, took out her keys, and was about to unlock the door when she realized it was already open.
Pushing the door open, she saw the man sitting in the space by the bed.
It was only April, and by six in the evening, the sky was already growing dark.
The only light in the room came from the small window at the foot of the bed, confined to the area around the bedding.
Jiang Zhixue’s eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the darkness, making it nearly impossible to see anything in the room or to clearly make out the man.
But she could sense it was Zhou Yan.
As she looked up, her eyes met his.
In the darkness, his deep red eyes burned like torches, unnervingly bright.
"Zhou Yan?" she exclaimed, instinctively stepping back.
The man’s aura was terrifying—a powerful presence that felt as though it could crush her.
"Jiang Zhixue!" Zhou Yan spoke.
Jiang Zhixue could hear the anger in his voice.
"I told you not to throw away anything from my cabinet."
She had agreed to that.
"How much more do you intend to torment me?"