Chapter 40

Chapter 40

“Do you need to change your shoes?” Xie Qiyan’s gaze swept over her pale, bare feet.

She wore a pair of white slippers, yet her skin appeared even whiter than the fabric.

She truly was a pampered white rose.

Xia Wanzhi glanced back at him, her thoughts unreadable. After a moment, she said dryly, “No need. I don’t have any men’s slippers here.”

Xie Qiyan walked inside with perfect composure.

Watching him head straight for the living room sofa and sit down with practiced ease, Xia Wanzhi was struck by his effortless air of indifference. He acted as if he were in his own home.

Confusion was written all over Xia Wanzhi’s face.

Just where did he get the confidence to act like the master of the house when he was merely a guest?

“Tea or water?” Xia Wanzhi asked politely, maintaining her etiquette as a hostess.

The kitchen was an open-plan design, and Xie Qiyan’s seat happened to face that direction. The water dispenser was right next to the kitchen, so Xia Wanzhi washed two cups and went over to fill them.

Before Xie Qiyan could even answer, she had already finished pouring the water.

Steam rose from both cups.

However, Xia Wanzhi picked one up and started drinking immediately, as if she couldn’t feel the heat.

“Tea,” Xie Qiyan said, his voice flat and his emotions even flatter.

Xia Wanzhi bit her lip.

Fine, he was doing this on purpose.

She had already brought the water over, yet he chose that exact moment to ask for tea.

She was just being polite; did he really have to take her seriously?

“Fine, Brother Xie, just you wait. I’ll brew a pot for you.” Xia Wanzhi forced a smile and went to search for tea leaves with great reluctance.

She would brew a pot so strong that whoever drank it tonight wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink.

But after rummaging around for a long while, Xia Wanzhi couldn’t find a single bag of regular tea. She only found her own health teas.

Her constitution was too weak; since she was a child, she had been drinking medicinal teas prescribed by traditional doctors and health teas to nourish her blood almost every day.

Zhuzi must have dug these two bags out of her luggage when she moved. They were likely prepared for her by Ms. Ross.

Ginseng Goji Eight-Treasure Tea.

Containing thousand-year ginseng.

One look at it told her it was incredibly potent for boosting one’s energy.

Xia Wanzhi tore open the packets and dumped everything into the electric kettle. After filling it with water and bringing it to a boil, she poured a large, full cup and handed it to Xie Qiyan.

Boiling the tea had taken at least ten minutes.

Yet, he had actually stayed put.

He truly was a patient, powerful man.

“This is the first time I’ve ever brewed tea for someone. If you don’t finish this cup, you’re disrespecting me,” Xia Wanzhi said, looking him straight in the eye.

Xie Qiyan frowned slightly. “You brewed tea in an electric kettle?”

Xia Wanzhi maintained her smile. “Boiled tea has more flavor.”

Xie Qiyan fell into thought for a few seconds.

It wasn’t tea leaves, but it emitted a faint, clear fragrance. He wondered if this was something that could poison a person to death.

As if to prove the tea wasn’t toxic, Xia Wanzhi went back and poured a cup for herself.

The tea was scalding hot; she couldn’t drink it yet.

The two sat facing each other, their gazes locked.

Neither was the first to look away.

“I want to talk to you about the Studio.” Xia Wanzhi had been sick for several days and had only just regained some of her spirit. Her voice hadn’t been very loud all day, and now that she brought up the Studio, her tone involuntarily softened a bit.

To Xie Qiyan’s ears, it sounded strangely like she was acting spoiled.

He lowered his eyes and looked away.

“I know that work has already begun on Xingyao Building these past few days. I’m very grateful that you gave me a one-month extension to move out, but I’ll say it again: I don’t want to leave.”

Xia Wanzhi pinched her fingertips, continuing the negotiation with a nervous heart. “If you agree, I can pay you double the rent.”

“That’s not a small sum. Do you plan to pay it all at once?” Xie Qiyan scrutinized her.

Xia Wanzhi remained silent for a moment before gritting her teeth. “Yes. I’ll pay it all at once.”

“Pay it now?” Xie Qiyan was clearly pressing her.

Her fingertips at her side pinched tighter and tighter. Xia Wanzhi pursed her lips, her voice completely lacking confidence. “Right now… I don’t have the money.”

“Heh.” Xie Qiyan let out a short laugh.

Since he had asked that, he was likely considering whether to agree to her request. Xia Wanzhi didn’t want to miss this opportunity. She took a deep breath and said, “I can give you an IOU. I’ll owe it to you for now, but by next summer at the latest, I’ll definitely pay you back. I’ll pay you back triple.”
If she could just drag this out until next year, the Xia Group’s debts would surely be paid off. In a year’s time, either she would cave or her grandfather would. Once her bank cards were unfrozen, her private savings would naturally return to her.

Even if the savings didn’t come back, as long as her Studio was saved, she could earn her own money within a year.

“I’m willing to pay ten times the penalty just to get rid of you. Your measly triple rent penalty is nothing,” Xie Qiyan said dismissively. To him, such an amount was insignificant.

Xia Wanzhi glared at him, her teeth clenched. After a few seconds of deadlock, she suddenly relaxed her fingers, which had been digging into her palms.

He was clearly leaving her no way out.

This was too much.

Even if they had detested each other growing up, that was all in the past. There was no blood feud between them. Yet, even for the sake of Old Master Xie or Xie Tan, he wasn’t willing to take a single step back.

Xia Wanzhi finally understood why everyone said Xie Qiyan was not a man to be trifled with.

He simply had no heart.

“Forget it. You can go. Let’s just pretend I never invited you up tonight.” Xia Wanzhi’s face turned pale instantly. Resentment built up in her chest, a physical pressure so sharp she had to turn her head away and cough several times.

It was bad enough that her fiancé had cheated on her.

Now, she couldn’t even protect her most precious Studio.

No wonder her grandfather said she would be contacting him before long.

It turned out the Old Master had predicted she wouldn’t be able to hold out.

The more Xia Wanzhi thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt.

In all her years, this was the first time she hadn’t received her family’s support, the first time she had rebelled against them, and the first time she couldn’t get what she wanted.

A sense of defeat washed over her. Her nose tingled, and she felt miserable.

Her eyelashes grew heavy and damp with the tears pooling in her eyes. Overwhelmed by a wave of self-pity, she gritted her teeth, but a moment of weakness allowed the tears to breach the dam.

When a person is sick, their vulnerability is magnified infinitely.

Her eyes burned, and tears the size of beans rolled down onto the back of her hand.

This wasn’t the first time she had cried in front of Xie Qiyan.

The first time they met as children, he had made her cry by smashing the bottle of milk she had given him.

Adding that to the last time he’d seen her in such a pathetic state, soaked to the bone, Xia Wanzhi had reached a point of total self-abandonment. She felt that her image no longer mattered in front of him.

Xie Qiyan’s breathing suddenly grew heavy.

He hadn’t intended to make Xia Wanzhi cry.

Ever since their childhood feud, she had always held a grudge and targeted him at every turn. In their past arguments, she would fight until she won, or at the very least, until they were at a draw. But now, after only a few words, she was admitting defeat.

She looked like a pear blossom bathed in rain.

Now that she was grown, how could she be even more of a crybaby than when she was a child?

“Did I say I wouldn’t agree?” Xie Qiyan asked, his expression unchanged, though his tone held a hint of compromise. “Crying like this… are you trying to use tears to blackmail me?”

Xia Wanzhi didn’t actually make a sound; she just wept silently.

She didn’t know how she could have so many tears.

“I invited you up, I served you tea… can’t you tell I’m begging you?” Her vision was blurred by tears, making it hard to see him clearly.

She had said before that there was no friendship between them.

She had forgotten. How could there be no history between them?

It was clearly a history of ‘you won’t let me go, and I won’t let you go.’

The history of Brother Xie and Little Sister Xia.

Xie Qiyan let out a frustrated, amused huff. “This is hardly like the Xia Wanzhi I know.”

Xia Wanzhi choked up, taking a moment to steady her emotions before answering, “I’d rather bleed than lose my Studio.”

“How ambitious,” Xie Qiyan hummed. “What, you don’t hate me anymore?”

“I do,” Xia Wanzhi answered firmly.

But as she wiped away her tears, her voice sounded soft and delicate, as if she were scolding him playfully.

Or rather, as if she were acting spoiled.

Xie Qiyan was startled by his own inexplicable over-interpretation, and he fell silent, his brow furrowing slightly.