Chapter 68

Chapter 68

After the cruise dinner, Xia Wanzhi flew to the UK that very day.

She said she was going to celebrate Mrs. Becker-the esteemed Ms. Qiao Shu, her dearest grandmother’s-birthday.

Before, she had refused to go to the UK even if it killed her. Now, with several days still left before the old lady’s birthday, she had already bolted onto a plane.

Even a dog could tell Xia Wanzhi was deliberately avoiding Xie Qiyan.

Xie Qiyan truly could not figure it out.

“If you ask me, you overdid it with the shameless flirting, so the girl is avoiding you on purpose.” Jiang Baichuan came over to Lanting Bieyuan as a self-appointed strategist, and while he was at it, he intended to pour out his nameless sorrow.

Xie Qiyan glanced at him, carried Changsheng back into the room, and left Jiang Baichuan alone in the living room to wallow in his grief.

Jiang Baichuan craned his neck and called after him, “Hey, I haven’t even told you why I came to see you yet.”

Bang-

That was Xie Qiyan’s loving response.

Once Xia Wanzhi left, she was gone for over a week, not returning until after Mid-Autumn Festival.

A pile of orders had built up at the Studio. As soon as Xia Wanzhi came back, she threw herself into work with great enthusiasm, running herself ragged every day. She stopped going to Xie Qiyan’s place for free meals, and she did not even go over to pet her most beloved cat.

Wearing a set of loungewear, Xie Qiyan crouched in front of Xia Changsheng’s cat bed and lectured him. “Are you old and no longer charming? Xia Changsheng, you’ve been abandoned by your benefactor.”

Changsheng frowned for quite a while before finally glancing at him.

Then he yawned, curled into a ball, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Elderly cats barely liked to move. Xie Qiyan knew he had been disdained, so he gave a soft sigh and sensibly went to sit in the living room.

In his WeChat contacts, Xia Wanzhi had changed to a new profile picture of a cartoon sticky-rice Wanzi. Xie Qiyan tapped into her Moments and saw a single horizontal line.

For a moment, he did not know whether to feel resentful or relieved.

He was the one being blocked, yet not exactly just him.

Xie Qiyan flipped his phone around a few times, then sent Yu Fei a message asking him to prepare a Mid-Autumn gift package for tomorrow. After that, he switched to his chat with Qi Shi and told him to come over tomorrow to play a background role.

Recently, Xia Wanzhi had been getting off work right at six in the evening. At six-thirty, as soon as she got home, she received a message from her butler.

Xie Qiyan: “Your Mid-Autumn gift package will be delivered in ten minutes.”

Xia Wanzhi: “Isn’t Mid-Autumn already over?”

Xie Qiyan: “A belated delivery.”

Xia Wanzhi thought the other party truly was the best butler in the world.

Ten minutes later, Butler Qi, wearing a mask, stood in a neat row with a dozen or so boxes at Xia Wanzhi’s door.

Xia Wanzhi’s pupils trembled. “This… is way too much.”

Qi Shi was panting slightly, his voice muffled behind the mask. “I’ll help you… move them inside.”

The person above had specifically instructed him that he had to go in and observe carefully.

Especially the kitchen.

He had to figure out what she had been eating lately.

Xia Wanzhi’s expression froze for ten seconds before she reacted. Stammering, she asked, “Y-y-y-you’re not mute?”

Qi Shi stiffened, then returned to his original mute act.

The corner of Xia Wanzhi’s mouth twitched. “…”

After completing his mission, Qi Shi continued sending Xie Qiyan a long report, this time adding his own subjective opinion: “The kitchen seems like it hasn’t been used in a long time. There was takeout from Imperial Kitchen on the table. Miss Xia is probably eating delivery every day.”

Xie Qiyan asked, “Can you cook?”

Qi Shi, who knew how to fix plumbing, fell silent for a long while. “Yes.”

Xie Qiyan continued issuing orders. “From now on, go over every day at six with fresh ingredients and cook.”

Qi Shi, an eighteenth-tier actor who could fix plumbing and also cook: “Understood.”

Early the next morning, Qi Shi received yet another new casting notice and once again prepared to join a production with backing.

His agent asked him, “Tell me the truth. Are you being kept by some Big Shot?”

Two days ago, he had just wrapped his scenes as the white-moonlight character in a film. A week before that, he had just finished recording an episode of a food variety show. Now here came another good script. This was clearly someone force-feeding him resources.

Qi Shi: “…”

The following night, Qi Shi, who was suspected of being kept by a Big Shot, went to cook dinner for the Big Shot’s delicate little wife.

Although he did not understand what kind of new kink this was, he respected it.
Xia Wanzhi walked over, washed a tomato, and wandered around eating it. Vaguely, she felt that the way this butler cooked looked a little like some celebrity she had seen on TV last night.

The variety show on TV hadn’t been especially popular, but since it was a Xigua TV program and had come on at its scheduled time, Xia Wanzhi hadn’t changed the channel.

Once Qi Shi finished cooking, he left. Xia Wanzhi stared at the table full of dishes, a spread practically worthy of a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast, and had no idea where to begin. After hesitating for a long while, she finally went over and knocked on Xie Qiyan’s door.

“Want to eat? My treat.” The moment the door opened, Xia Wanzhi pretended to be calm as she warmly invited him over.

“Sure.” Xie Qiyan had been betting on whether Xia Wanzhi still had a conscience, which was why he had deliberately avoided working overtime today.

As it turned out, she did.

They hadn’t spent time alone together in over half a month. When they did run into each other, they only exchanged a casual greeting or two. Lately, Xie Qiyan had either been away on business trips or busy with a new project, so he hadn’t had time to make a special trip to her Studio. If Xia Wanzhi hadn’t taken the initiative to invite him over for dinner tonight, he would have shown up at her door himself.

“Are you avoiding me?” Xie Qiyan went straight for the kill.

“Ahem-” Xia Wanzhi choked and coughed, instantly guilty. “No.”

“Two weeks ago, the Little Princess of the Becker Family was boldly staking her claim, saying I was her man. Then after saying it, she ran off. What, is the Little Princess planning to use me and dump me?” Xie Qiyan had thought about it for a long time and still couldn’t figure out why Xia Wanzhi was avoiding him.

Every day, Jiang Baichuan kept hinting that he had flirted too hard.

Xie Qiyan refused to admit it, but aside from having scared her off for that reason, he really couldn’t think of anything else.

After Xia Wanzhi heard that, her eyes shot up. Then, under Xie Qiyan’s direct gaze, she nearly buried her face in her bowl.

A faint pink flush visibly spread across her cheeks.

After that meal, for the next two days, Xia Wanzhi didn’t even say hello when she saw him.

Xie Qiyan: “…”

Xia Wanzhi changed her off-work time and, while she was at it, sent a message to Mr. Butler to remind him that he no longer needed to come over and cook.

Seeing her looking all listless, Zhuzi couldn’t help asking, “Sis, which little vixen sucked away your life force?”

Xia Wanzhi glared at her. “What nonsense are you spouting? I’m perfectly fine.”

“Fine, my foot. In Sister Yun Li’s words, the state you’re in right now is exactly like you’re lovesick.” Zhuzi teased her.

Xia Wanzhi was about to retort, but her lips moved, and what came out instead was, “What does being lovesick look like?”

Zhuzi thought about it. “Distracted, spacing out, and your mind keeps uncontrollably thinking about one person.”

Xia Wanzhi hit every single mark: “…”

Zhuzi concluded, “Just like you.”

“All right, that’s enough, you may withdraw.” Xia Wanzhi hurriedly stopped her.

At the same time, inside the President’s Office at Xie Corporation, Yu Fei pushed several trending videos over for Xie Qiyan to see. “Qi Shi recently received your… special care, and he suddenly went viral on that food variety show that aired a few days ago. A lot of casual viewers are into his looks now, and he’s appearing in many popular short videos too. I’m worried Miss Xia…”

Xie Qiyan frowned. “Get to the point.”

“Ahem. If Butler Qi appears in front of Miss Xia again, the whole thing will be exposed,” Yu Fei tactfully reminded him.

Even if he didn’t appear, as long as Xia Wanzhi came across videos of Qi Shi, she would have a sudden realization and discover she had been tricked.

Yu Fei sighed softly.

His boss was about to lose his head.

Xie Qiyan’s frown deepened. “Then blacklist him.”

Yu Fei: “!?”

Where was your conscience?

Fortunately, that was only said in anger. The next day, Yu Fei went to find Qi Shi with a termination contract and offered him more than enough compensation.

Qi Shi accepted happily.

Because he had exploded in popularity thanks to that variety show, there would be better gigs waiting for him afterward. To him, Xie Qiyan was his benefactor.

“Mr. Yu, please rest assured. I will absolutely keep my mouth shut. If Mrs. Xie comes to me and asks about it, I’ll just say Qi Ayan is my twin brother.”

Yu Fei: “…”

Just shut up already.

Mrs. Xie… No, wait. Eldest Miss Xia was no fool.