Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Xia Wanzhi had packed so much luggage that it was impossible to move it all at once.

Packing had taken up the entire afternoon, and with nightfall approaching, Xia Wanzhi was reluctant to make a second trip.

“Sis, why don’t you just move in with me for now?” Zhuzi suggested, worried about her staying at the Studio alone.

Xia Wanzhi got goosebumps the moment she heard that. “Get rid of that cage of rats and I’ll consider moving in with you.”

“They aren’t rats! They’re Syrian hamsters! Syrian hamsters!” Zhuzi puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

“No, I’m scared of them,” Xia Wanzhi replied, completely lacking any backbone.

“You say you’re not afraid of anything, so why are you afraid of my hamsters? They’re so cute!” Zhuzi’s face was a mask of utter confusion.

Xia Wanzhi gave a small smile. “I’m also afraid of ghosts.”

Zhuzi: “…”

A bit later, Yun Li closed up her flower shop and came over to the Studio to help clear out the storage room. The three of them worked until nearly ten o’clock. When they finally finished, Yun Li stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the night view. She couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. “It’s no wonder this is the top floor of the Xingyao Building. I bet the view from the top of the Beicheng Grand Hotel isn’t even half as good as this.”

It was no surprise Xia Wanzhi didn’t want to move out.

The location of the Xingyao Building was truly superior.

Xia Wanzhi was so tired she could barely stand straight. She took the tea Zhuzi handed her and drained it in one go.

Finally finding a moment of peace, Xia Wanzhi collapsed onto the sofa to reply to a message Xie Tan had sent two hours ago.

Xie Tan: [Sister Wanzi, aren’t you coming back tonight?]

Xia Wanzhi replied casually: [I’m staying at the Studio tonight.]

After sending the text, she attached a photo of the storage room she had converted into a temporary bedroom.

Seeing this, Xie Tan sent back an emoji of a face crying a river: [I feel so bad for you.]

Xia Wanzhi: [Pat pat, don’t cry.jpg]

Xie Tan made a bold suggestion: [Big Brother said you’re embarrassed to stay with our Xie Family for free, so why don’t you marry in and become my sister-in-law? Then it wouldn’t be for free, right?]

Amused by the child’s innocent words, Xia Wanzhi covered her face and laughed until her shoulders shook.

Yun Li gave Zhuzi a meaningful look. “Do you think she’s in a relationship right now?”

Zhuzi was shocked for a moment. “Does it look like it?”

“Doesn’t it? Have you ever seen her surrounded by pink bubbles like this before?” Yun Li crossed her legs, leading Zhuzi toward the conclusion. “Trust me, these are the signs of an impending Second Spring.”

Zhuzi nodded emphatically. “I believe you. She never used to smile at her phone before.”

Yun Li gave a dry laugh. “…”

“Is something wrong?” Zhuzi asked back.

Yun Li sighed softly. “For someone with a fiancé to have never smiled at her phone… what do you think is wrong? Have you ever seen a couple that doesn’t flirt?”

Zhuzi blinked and confessed honestly, “Her chat history with the Young Master of the Zhou Family is more formal than her chats with clients.”

Yun Li: “…”

Well, now she understood why things between Xia Wanzhi and Zhou Yu had reached this point.

There was a total lack of romantic sparks; the two of them clearly had no chemistry.

How did they even get engaged in the first place?

Yun Li became increasingly convinced that the Xia Family’s bankruptcy must have happened because Zhou Yu and Xia Wanzhi were fundamentally incompatible.

After she finished laughing, Xia Wanzhi continued replying to Xie Tan, picking up the thread: [Which sister-in-law would I be?]

Xie Tan replied instantly: [Big Brother’s.]

Xia Wanzhi: [Go suggest that to your Big Brother and see if he doesn’t twist your head off.]

Xie Tan was too chicken to reply after that.

“This is unprecedented. What are you chatting about that’s making you laugh like this?” Yun Li walked over and sat down beside her.

Xia Wanzhi flipped her phone over and pressed it against her chest, letting out a sigh for no particular reason. “Xie Tan wants me to live with the Xie Family.”
Yun Li chimed in naturally, “Living with Xie Qiyan?”

Xia Wanzhi reflexively grumbled, “Why does everyone keep bringing up Xie Qiyan?”

That man had been appearing in her life with far too much frequency lately.

As Xia Wanzhi reflected on everything that had happened recently, she suddenly realized something.

The first time in her life she had ever gotten drunk, she was taken home by Xie Qiyan.

The first time in her life she found herself homeless, she was also taken home by Xie Qiyan.

Going back even further, the first time she was ever rejected, it was by Xie Qiyan.

The first time she ever had a real argument, it was with Xie Qiyan.

Why was Xie Qiyan everywhere?

***

The next day, a cleansing rain descended upon Beicheng just as dawn broke. The pitter-patter against the windows was a more effective wake-up call than the alarm Xia Wanzhi had set.

In the past, she had spent entire nights in the Studio for the sake of her painting, but this time, she was there out of necessity.

The rain was coming down quite hard, so her plans to move her luggage out of the Zhou Family residence had to be pushed back. Xia Wanzhi no longer had a private driver, and she relied on ride-hailing apps to get around.

In the past, Old Xia and Ms. Ross always used to say-

“As long as your parents are around, your only responsibility is to look pretty.”

Consequently, she didn’t know how to drive or cook; she only knew how to look pretty.

There wasn’t much to eat in the Studio. After a quick search, Xia Wanzhi found a thumb-sized packet of instant coffee on the desk to make do with.

This was the kind of stuff Zhuzi usually drank to stay alert.

Xia Wanzhi didn’t actually like coffee.

However, there was nothing else here to fill her stomach. She suffered from low blood sugar and had to take care of her appetite the moment she woke up.

The rain delayed all her plans. Mrs. Lu also sent a WeChat message canceling their meeting today because of the weather, saying she would find another time for Xia Wanzhi to come over and paint the two children at home.

According to the usual rules, a client only needed to pay half the deposit when commissioning a piece. However, after they had agreed on a time last night, Mrs. Lu had paid the full amount in one go.

Whether it was out of trust or some other reason, Xia Wanzhi was very grateful. This money was enough for her to get herself settled.

Some of her luggage was still at the Zhou Family house. To facilitate further communication, Xia Wanzhi had agreed to take Zhou Yu off her blacklist last night.

Half of her WeChat messages today were from Zhou Yu. They had been sent around three or four in the morning; Xia Wanzhi could guess that he had likely been dead drunk at the time.

Xia Wanzhi didn’t like drinking.

She disliked men who acted out while drunk even more.

Ever since she discovered her poor tolerance and realized she had made a fool of herself in public once, she had silently vowed never to touch the stuff again.

Thinking back on it now still filled her with chagrin.

It would have been one thing if anyone else had seen her in such a disheveled, drunken state, but it had to be Xie Qiyan.

She had even thrown a tantrum and acted like a brat toward him.

From that moment on, she was a woman with a shameful past.

Xia Wanzhi didn’t reply to Zhou Yu’s messages. After washing up, she pushed open the glass door to the atelier and pressed the button for the automatic curtains.

Through the floor-to-ceiling window, she gazed into the distance. The horizon was gloomy, and the interlacing rain felt like a massive net enveloping the entire city.

She was trapped beneath the shroud of rain.

She wondered whose bed a hungover Zhou Yu would wake up in.

At that very moment, in a luxury suite inside the Jiang’an Club, a woman with smeared makeup woke up in a messy, oversized bed. She was being held so tightly in a protective embrace that she couldn’t move.

The man was still in a deep sleep, his lips twitching as if he were mumbling in his dreams.

“Zhi Zhi, I’m sorry… don’t go…”

“I was wrong. Please forgive me just once… just this once…”