"I’ll walk you out." Yun Hezhi escorted her out of the neighborhood, reminding her to call him once she got ho, and watched her hurry away.
He had originally thought that maybe he and Qi Zeyan could compete fairly, but matters of the heart are never fair. From the very beginning, they were never equal in Ruan ngxi’s heart.
If Ruan ngxi didn’t like him, she would probably still have to brood over rejecting him, and Yun Hezhi didn’t want to be that kind of person.
If affection has already beco a burden, then the love gained from it would probably be tainted.
...
When Yun Hezhi got ho, he had just tidied up the coffee table when he received a call from Tang Wan, inviting him to a full moon banquet.
"Send the ti and place in advance, and I’ll be there on ti."
"No problem." Tang Wan laughed. "Did you have lunch with Xixi today? How was it?"
"Pretty good."
Ranting... was also pretty satisfying.
"Grandma’s always praising your singing. How about performing sothing at the full moon banquet?"
"Mr. Tang, are you inviting for drinks or asking to perform?"
**
The two were chatting and laughing when Ruan ngxi almost jogged back to her apartnt complex.
She felt a bit uneasy on her way back. According to Yun Hezhi, if Qi Zeyan liked her, he should wait for her. But what if he left?
When she reached the bottom of the building, she found that Qi Zeyan’s parking spot had been taken by another car, leaving her feeling a sudden emptiness inside. She couldn’t say why and let out a sigh.
Perhaps she was overthinking it. She sighed, went straight into the building, and with the heavy snow outside, she bowed her head and walked towards the elevator, brushing off the snowflakes clinging to her clothes and hair.
She didn’t notice soone behind her, looking at her with a face full of resentnt.
Qi Zeyan took a deep breath, glancing at his watch.
Two hours and forty-three minutes...
Ruan ngxi was still brushing off snow, oblivious to soone approaching, until she reached the elevator and swiped her card to wait for it to go up. Through the elevator’s reflection, she noticed soone coming up behind her.
Yet the reflection was blurry. She couldn’t see clearly, only a black shadow with no sound of footsteps.
Her breath caught for a mont, and she glanced at the corner’s surveillance cara.
Qi Zeyan had been waiting for over two hours. Growing more anxious, especially seeing her leisurely deanor, he suddenly had the impulse to hug her.
He thought it through and then did it...
Unexpectedly, Ruan ngxi suddenly turned her head, her long hair whipping him in the face, making his nose itch, and he sneezed at her.
...
Ruan ngxi was stunned, and Qi Zeyan was just as shocked:
Damn, am I an idiot to be sneezing at a ti like this?
It seed that nothing romantic ever happened between them.
"You..." Ruan ngxi, feeling a complex emotion, didn’t finish her sentence before he interrupted her with another sneeze.
"Sorry." Qi Zeyan covered his mouth and nose.
"You haven’t left?"
"I caught a cold," Qi Zeyan said bluntly.
"Then you should go to the hospital." Ruan ngxi looked at his flushed face from sneezing and tried to hold back her laughter.
"I can’t drive."
"Then I’ll call a driver for you."
"In this weather, if the car gets stuck halfway, won’t I be waiting to die?"
"Then what do you want to do?"
"The elevator’s here. Let’s go to your place first." As soon as the elevator arrived, Qi Zeyan walked in first, and Ruan ngxi followed behind him, but they stood left and right, with space for two more people in between.
"Do you need to stand so far from ?" Qi Zeyan frowned. Just now, she was so close with that scheming guy.
"You caught a cold and you’re carrying a virus."
"You... Achoo—" Qi Zeyan just got out a word before sneezing again.
When they got to Ruan ngxi’s place, the hot pot sll lingered, the pungent scent of beef oil and chili hitting their noses, and Qi Zeyan sneezed countless tis.
His hairstyle was ssed up, and his slicked-back hair had a few strands standing up on his head, looking rather comical.
Ruan ngxi tried hard to suppress her laughter. Qi Zeyan took a deep breath; he was sick, and yet she could still laugh?
Without knowing, a few strands of hair on his head were bobbing around.
"Change shoes and co in, sit by the radiator; it’s warr there."
Qi Zeyan looked down at the shoes soone else had worn, snorted coldly, and instead wore Ruan ngxi’s father’s slippers.
...
He had just spent so ti in the cold wind. Ruan ngxi made him so cold dicine, wrapped him in a blanket, and he napped by the radiator. After sweating, he felt much better.
Outside, the sky was completely dark, with only the howling wind swirling snow, beating against the windows.
Ruan ngxi was watching a drama and cracking sunflower seeds, catching a glimpse of Qi Zeyan waking up, "Feeling better?"
"Yeah." Qi Zeyan’s voice was a bit hoarse.
"It’s almost seven. When do you plan to leave?"
"..." Qi Zeyan gritted his teeth. Ruan ngxi never treated him like this before. What’s with her now, always wanting to kick him out? "I’m a bit hungry."
"I had hot pot for lunch and I’m still not hungry." Ruan ngxi lowered her head, cracking sunflower seeds, the crunching sounds especially irritating to him. "If you’re hungry, just go ho and eat."
Qi Zeyan, who had been feeling much better, was now so angry his chest hurt, giving a severe cough.
"So hungry I can’t move. Don’t you have anything here to fill my stomach?" He decided to park himself here.
"There are so hot pot leftovers from lunch. You can check if there’s anything you can eat."
Qi Zeyan was dumbfounded:
What the heck?
Am I supposed to eat the leftovers you and that scheming guy left?
Ruan ngxi had an expression of indifference, as if saying "eat it or not; I don’t care," leaving Qi Zeyan no choice but to drag his sick self to the kitchen.
Ruan ngxi just kept cracking seeds, watching him leisurely, feeling both worried and amused.
"Alright, let do it." Ruan ngxi walked over, "You’re sick, so eat sothing light..."
Seeing her personally making food for him, Qi Zeyan felt secretly pleased, but as he watched her profile, he rembered what Yun Hezhi had said, wondering why she was surrounded by such a scheming guy.
With ngxi’s naive nature, she couldn’t possibly outwit him.
That’s the kind of scheming and level that even involved shalessly pretending to be a victim, and ngxi, with her simple-mindedness, would eventually be eaten alive.
But he wasn’t soone who gossiped behind others’ backs. Besides, with such a lodramatic situation, even if he told ngxi everything, she might not believe it.
While waiting for Ruan ngxi, he had spoken with Jiang Jinsang, trying to glean so information about Yun Hezhi.
He ended up being "accused" by soone’s evil nature and Jiang Jinsang.
Jiang Jinsang retorted with:
"Are you sure it’s just a cold, and you didn’t burn your brain with a fever? How could you think of such a lodramatic thing?"
"..."
He was almost fuming, unable to just watch Ruan ngxi suffer a loss.
Hesitating, he decided to at least give her a heads-up.
"Xiaoruan..."
"Hmm?"
"Are you close with that Yun Hezhi?"
"We’ve known each other for many years."
"Haven’t you not seen each other for a long ti? People change over ti, don’t they?"
"Yes, he’s beco more talkative than before."
"It’s wise to be more guarded with those you’re not too familiar with; don’t easily bring people ho, especially n."
Ruan ngxi was well aware of what Yun Hezhi had done, so Qi Zeyan’s subtle hint was imdiately understood, and she just smiled at him, "Boss Yun is a good person, I’m not worried."
Qi Zeyan was infuriated, thinking she must have been brainwashed by that scheming guy.
This led him to make a silent decision:
To stay here and watch over her! To protect her.
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