Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Xia Wanzhi should have guessed it long ago.

From the very first time she met Butler Qi, she had felt that something was off about him in every possible way.

Especially a few days ago, when she had even gotten the strange impression that Butler Qi looked a lot like a celebrity on TV.

Now, it seemed that hadn’t been an illusion. It was just that her stupid brain hadn’t awakened yet.

And there was the other party’s WeChat avatar, which was obviously Xie Qiyan’s. She had clearly thought that the cat looked a lot like Changsheng, yet she had still gaslit herself into believing all orange cats looked the same.

Xia Wanzhi was about to laugh herself stupid over how stupid she was.

“My maternal grandmother’s surname was Qi. If you round it up, I can also have the surname Qi, so you can call me Butler Qi too.” Xie Qiyan analyzed the matter for her in a calm, methodical tone. “If you want to assign blame, you should blame Xie Tan. I was forced by her to become your Mr. Butler.”

In the end, this blame was dumped onto Xie Elementary-Student Tan, who was currently sitting in class at school.

“So what you’re saying is, you’re completely innocent?” Xia Wanzhi laughed in anger.

“You finally understand me,” Xie Qiyan replied without hesitation.

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

“You had a maternal grandmother?” Xia Wanzhi had already been led off track.

Xie Qiyan found her focus inexplicably adorable and answered with perfect seriousness, “Who doesn’t have a maternal grandmother? It’s just that the old lady passed away when I was very young.”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

“You’re even dragging out an old lady who’s already returned to her roots and parading her around? Xie Qiyan, are you even human?” Xia Wanzhi was utterly floored by the absurdity of it all. After being interrupted like that, she even forgot what she had been about to interrogate him about next.

Xie Qiyan answered unhurriedly, “I am your Mr. Butler.”

“Yes, a Mr. Butler who specifically hired someone to mess with me. You even hired an actor. Aren’t you just so capable?” Xia Wanzhi mocked him icily. Furious, she grabbed a throw pillow beside her and hurled it at him.

Xie Qiyan caught the pillow with one hand. With the other, he reached out, pulled Xia Wanzhi up, and made her sit down beside him. “I’m very sorry.”

If it hadn’t been for him, Xia Wanzhi wouldn’t have been frightened tonight.

Last time, it had been falling into the sea. This time, it was a horror prank.

Xie Qiyan could hardly absolve himself of blame.

The guilt in his heart shot up rapidly. Xie Qiyan stopped joking. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he held Xia Wanzhi’s hand, then looked at her with sincere eyes. “I admit I was wrong. If you’re still angry, you can deal with me however you want.”

After learning that he had hired an actor to trick her, she had only cursed at him a couple of times. Her emotions were so stable that she seemed nothing like the Xia Wanzhi he knew.

The warmth of Xie Qiyan’s palm traveled through her wrist. Xia Wanzhi’s lashes trembled slightly, but what she was thinking about wasn’t whether he was in the wrong or not.

“So, by that logic, this house is yours, right?” Xia Wanzhi lifted her eyes and looked at him directly.

Thinking back now, Xie Tan had actually been full of loopholes back then, but at the time, Xia Wanzhi had believed every word.

Whether it had been Xie Tan acting out of kindness or Xie Qiyan giving instructions, Xia Wanzhi already had her answer.

If Xie Qiyan hadn’t agreed, Xie Tan couldn’t have done any of it.

That included Xia Wanzhi stupidly adding him on WeChat and treating him as a butler, while he, a CEO with countless responsibilities, still had the leisure to cosplay as a butler and play this game with her. He had even brought in a professional actor, fixed her pipes, delivered appliances, and come over every night to cook dinner.

Xie Qiyan was silent for a moment. In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to lie again. “Mm.”

Xia Wanzhi: “…”

On the surface, he was sharp-tongued and scheming. In secret, however, he had taken such good care of her.

Putting together everything that had happened during this period, the conclusion Xia Wanzhi calculated was that Xie Qiyan liked her. There was no other possibility.

But this man was far too good at pretending, so she always felt as though her judgment might be wrong.

On top of that, their relationship hadn’t been good when they were children. Since reuniting as adults, he had run his mouth at her plenty of times too.

Who liked someone like this?

Xia Wanzhi frowned slightly and smacked the back of his hand with a sharp slap. “Forget it. I can’t be bothered with you. I’m going to shower and rest. Do whatever you want.”

After driving him away, Xia Wanzhi deliberately added essential oil to her bath. It was both to keep herself from being unable to sleep tonight and to soothe the fright she had just received.
But the moment she climbed into bed, pulled the covers up, and closed her eyes, the scene of opening that box replayed in her mind. It was as if that doll was lurking in some corner of her room right now.

Xia Wanzhi shuddered in fright. Her mouth puckering as she fought back tears, she ran barefoot out the door to find Xie Qiyan for help.

She had come over before to feed Changsheng, so she knew the passcode to Xie Qiyan’s place. After a few beeps, Xia Wanzhi stepped inside, turned around, and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Xie Qiyan, who had been brushing his teeth, walked out with a toothbrush in his mouth and looked at her at his leisure.

Their eyes met. Xia Wanzhi blinked, two tears welling in her eyes, and gave him a polite yet awkward smile. “I-I-I… I came to check on Changsheng.”

Changsheng was an independent old cat. At the moment, he was sleeping soundly in his own cat room. Seeing Xia Wanzhi come in, he lazily opened his eyes, meowed once, then closed them and went back to sleep.

That already counted as giving Xia Wanzhi face.

If the person who had come in had been Xie Qiyan, he would not even have bothered to move.

Xia Wanzhi pitifully stayed in the cat room for a while. Just as she was about to leave, she turned around and saw Xie Qiyan leaning against the doorframe, and immediately shuddered again.

“You-you-you scared me to death…” Xia Wanzhi tried to hold back the tremor in her voice, but a little still slipped out.

She actually was not that easy to scare, but tonight had left her with some lingering aftereffects.

“I tidied up the guest room. If you’re scared, sleep here tonight.” Xie Qiyan’s gaze was gentle, his whole body lazily propped against one side. Concern seeped through his words, making him look every bit like a warm, approachable Big Brother from next door.

Xia Wanzhi steadied her breathing.

It had to be an illusion.

Still, Xia Wanzhi accepted the kindness. This had been her goal all along, so she asked in a muffled voice, “Can I?”

Xie Qiyan nodded. “Mm.”

Xia Wanzhi asked again, “Can I really sleep here?”

For no reason, Xie Qiyan felt like laughing. He raised his hand and patted her on the head. “You can. Go sleep.”

At midnight, before turning off the lights, Xie Qiyan received a message from Yu Fei saying they had already found Zheng Lei and submitted evidence of a series of her illegal acts to the police station. The police had currently detained her at the station.

Xie Qiyan had never considered himself a good person. The last time Sun Xiao had picked a fight with Xia Wanzhi and accidentally pushed her into the sea, Xie Qiyan had retaliated by terminating all cooperation with the Sun Family. Incidentally, he had also let Sun Xiao experience what it felt like to be soaked in water.

In these circles, offending the Xie Family meant offending the Xie Family’s dependents as well, which was equivalent to offending half of M’s elite families. To make amends, the Sun Family’s Old Master had personally brought Sun Xiao to Xia Wanzhi to apologize, and he had also promised that he would never let his granddaughter appear in Beicheng again.

This time, the matter had started because of Qi Shi, so it should also be resolved by him.

But as for how it would be resolved, Xie Qiyan would be the one to decide.

Worried that Xia Wanzhi would be afraid, Xie Qiyan even specially tossed Changsheng into her room, thinking she might feel more at ease with Changsheng keeping her company.

But at one-thirty in the morning, when all was silent, Xie Qiyan had already fallen asleep. In his dream, he only felt a faint itch on his cheek, as if something fluffy had brushed against him.

A not-quite-even breath also spilled across the side of his face.

The curtains were not completely blackout curtains. In the darkness, a human silhouette could vaguely be seen. Xie Qiyan turned over, and his fingers suddenly touched even more fluff.

Instinctively cracking one eye open, Xie Qiyan seemed to see a hazy figure. He went still for a few seconds, trying to tell whether this was a dream, when a delicate, icy sensation suddenly came from his palm. His entire hand was tightly grasped.

All sleepiness vanished at once. His brain connected to every organ in his body at the speed of light. Xie Qiyan sucked in a cold breath and slapped the wall lamp on.

Xia Wanzhi was kneeling on the floor, both hands gripping his palm tightly, blinking her innocent big eyes as she stared fixedly at him.

Her waist-length hair was loose, making her look exactly like a vengeful female ghost here to claim his life.

Beside his pillow lay an orange cat with the same round, wide-open eyes.

For the first time in his twenty-six years of life, Xie Qiyan was scared out of his wits. His face went rigid. “…”