Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“Why are you looking for Sister Wanzi so late at night?” Xie Tan sat up, rubbing her nose to hide her awkwardness.

“Do you always talk this much?” Xie Qiyan pulled a chair over from her desk and sat down, his tone commanding. “Hurry up.”

Xie Tan rolled her eyes and gave a cheeky grin. “Are you worried about her?”

“I’ll give you three seconds,” Xie Qiyan said calmly.

The calmer he was, the more it hinted at an impending storm.

Xie Tan was quick to read the room. She nimbly picked up her smart watch and started a WeChat video call with Xia Wanzhi.

Xia Wanzhi picked up quickly. Her face, covered in a sheet mask, appeared on the small screen of Xie Tan’s watch. “You little night owl, why are you calling me so late instead of sleeping?”

“It’s not me, it’s-” A sharp, murderous glare shot toward her, and Xie Tan’s words were instantly swallowed back into her stomach.

Xia Wanzhi blinked. “It’s what?”

Xie Tan broke into a melodic, indirect lilt: “Whose heart is it-”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

Xie Qiyan’s face darkened a shade. He reached out, grabbed a pen from Xie Tan’s desk, and wrote a sentence in her notebook for her to see.

Xie Tan read it aloud: “Where are you?”

Her tone was so stiff that Xia Wanzhi thought she had misheard. She chuckled, “What?”

Xie Tan’s lips twitched as she tried to smooth it over. “I mean, uh, I just can’t sleep and wanted to chat with you, Sister Wanzi. Where are you? It doesn’t look like my cousin’s house.”

“A hotel. I’m having some quality time with Sister Yun Li.” Xia Wanzhi switched the camera angle, showing Yun Li, who was also wearing a face mask and waving at Xie Tan.

The amenities of a five-star hotel were clearly visible.

“Why are you staying at a hotel?” Xie Tan had already forgotten about Xie Qiyan’s presence and started chatting away with the two on the other side.

Xia Wanzhi tilted her head back and lay down on the sofa. After a moment of silence, she said, “I’m homeless.”

Xie Tan wanted to say more, but Xie Qiyan had already written two words and held them up in front of her eyes.

*Hang up.*

Xie Tan considered resisting him, but she was no match for that murderous gaze. Ultimately, she admitted defeat and said goodbye to Xia Wanzhi. “Sister Wanzi, I’m sleepy. I’m going to bed now.”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

“That little brat.” Xia Wanzhi tossed her phone aside. Seeing Yun Li get up and walk over, she shifted to make room for her.

As the two of them squeezed onto the small sofa with their face masks on, Yun Li looked at Xia Wanzhi with a meaningful smile. After a moment, she hit the nail on the head. “There was definitely someone else next to that kid.”

Xia Wanzhi’s eyes widened. “How do you know?”

“Intuition,” Yun Li replied cryptically.

“So mysterious.” Xia Wanzhi didn’t pay it much mind.

“You’ll figure it out yourself,” Yun Li laughed, choosing not to spell it out.

Around ten o’clock that night, just as Yun Li was about to drive home after closing her flower shop, she had turned around to find the dressed-up young miss crying and asking for a hug.

Yun Li had a rough idea of what had happened, so she teased her, “Are we eloping?”

And so, the two of them had “eloped” to a hotel, where Xia Wanzhi shared stories of her past as childhood friends with Zhou Yu.

Speaking it out loud meant that this chapter of her life was finally being turned over.

On the other side, after the video call ended, Xie Tan stared at Xie Qiyan with her bright, wide eyes.

“Lights out. Go to sleep. If I catch you secretly reading manga again, I’ll have them all thrown away.” Xie Qiyan stood up, his tone brookng no argument.

Xie Tan pouted, grumbling in her heart that she’d be a total fool if she ever helped him again.

“Don’t tell anyone I made you make that call,” Xie Qiyan warned before leaving.

After stepping out of Xie Tan’s room, he went to the terrace to catch the breeze. A cigar was perched between his fingertips; he didn’t smoke much of it, standing still like a statue until the cigar burned itself out.

What did it matter to him where Xia Wanzhi was?

He really must have had too much time on his hands.
Xia Wanzhi stayed cooped up in the hotel in a daze until noon before finally leaving. Instead of returning to the Zhou Family home, she took a taxi straight to her Studio.

She knew Zhou Yu would be there waiting for her.

“Zhi Zhi, where did you go? I’ve been looking for you all night…” Seeing her again, Zhou Yu couldn’t hide his agitation. He had expected to wait here for days.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked haggard and disheveled.

Xia Wanzhi felt a pang of bitterness, but her gaze remained sharp, as if she were trying to peer through the earth itself to see right through him.

She wanted to see just how much his heart had rotted.

“We need to talk.” Xia Wanzhi was composed. After a night of reflection, she had come to understand many things. Now that she was actually looking at him, she suddenly felt that none of it mattered anymore.

An unimportant person, an unimportant matter.

Her tone was far too nonchalant. Zhou Yu’s heart tightened, and he immediately began to apologize: “I’m sorry, Zhi Zhi. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen. Please forgive me…”

“It’s never intentional with you.” Xia Wanzhi took a step back. “Zhou Yu, don’t just apologize to me every time something goes wrong.”

“But you have to at least listen to my explanation.” Zhou Yu rubbed his face, turning away to compose his emotions. When he turned back, he didn’t dare meet Xia Wanzhi’s eyes. “That woman… someone arranged for her to be there on purpose.”

“Isn’t that nice? Someone makes an arrangement and you just enjoy the service.” Xia Wanzhi didn’t feel like standing; she pulled out a chair, sat down, and began to pour tea with deliberate slowness.

Zhou Yu clenched his fists, a sense of frustration washing over him. “Zhi Zhi, don’t speak out of anger.”

“I’m not speaking out of anger.” Xia Wanzhi took a sip of tea and let the moment settle. She looked up at Zhou Yu, her gaze lingering on his face for three seconds before she spoke calmly. “Zhou Yu, let’s end our engagement here.”

It was as if a bucket of freezing water had been dumped over him. Zhou Yu froze. He had already prepared for the worst after Xia Wanzhi discovered what happened last night.

However, he hadn’t expected her not to cry or make a scene. She didn’t even bother to scold him.

She was so calm it felt as if she had been planning for this moment all along.

As if she had been waiting for it.

Zhou Yu let out a bitter laugh. Enduring the pain in his heart, he pressed her, “Xia Wanzhi, do you even have a heart? Have you… ever loved me?”

Xia Wanzhi avoided his gaze.

It was a question she couldn’t answer.

When she agreed to the engagement, she had intended to slowly grow into the role of his fiancée and live her life with him.

But too much had happened recently. She needed to take a hard look at her relationship with Zhou Yu.

“Zhou Yu, maybe I just don’t know how to love someone.” Xia Wanzhi looked up, her expression serious. “I’ll be the one to call off the engagement, so the Zhou Family won’t have to bear any consequences. Let’s leave it at that.”

“I’ve liked you for so many years, and now you want to end it all with a single sentence? Zhi Zhi, you can’t be this heartless…”

“You were the one who betrayed me first.” Xia Wanzhi hesitated, the words catching in her throat before she swallowed them back down. It was precisely because she knew Zhou Yu’s feelings for her had once been sincere that she wanted to give him a dignified exit.

Yet he was pushing her, insisting on a path where they both got hurt.

Zhou Yu looked remorseful, his eyes rimmed with red. He knelt down and grabbed Xia Wanzhi’s hand. “Yes, I was possessed. I couldn’t resist the temptation and I did something to hurt you. But Zhi Zhi…”

He choked up. “I’m a man. I have desires. There isn’t a man in the world who doesn’t make mistakes. Can’t you forgive me just this once?”

Xia Wanzhi looked at him in disbelief.

In twenty-five years, this was the first time she had seen this side of Zhou Yu.

She never imagined such words would one day come out of his mouth.