Zhou Jingze walked out of the school gate, hailed a taxi, and got directly in, quietly reporting an address. He sat in the back seat, elbow propped against the window, fingertips repeatedly tapping lightly against the glass. Finally, he simply rolled down the window. Cold wind rushed in, but the unease and irritation in his heart still weren’t diluted.
Because Zhou Jingze tripled the fare, the driver quickly brought him to his destination – Lichee Gardens. Lichee Gardens was a typical wealthy district with clustered villas, brilliantly lit, where residents were either rich or noble.
Zhou Jingze stood in front of a brightly lit villa and let out a snicker. He didn’t even know how long it had been since he’d come to this place. He walked inside. Nanny Aunt Tao heard the sound and came out to greet him. Seeing it was Zhou Jingze, her voice carried eager surprise: “Young Master is back! Have you eaten? Aunt Tao will go cook two dishes you love right now…”
The two stood in the front courtyard’s open space. Zhou Jingze smiled and put his arm around her shoulder: “Don’t busy yourself, I just finished eating.”
“Really? Don’t lie to Aunt Tao.”
Aunt Tao had stayed with the Zhou family since she was young, watching Zhou Jingze grow up. She had also wholeheartedly cared for his mother before her death. After they moved away from Amber Lane, without anyone’s instructions, Aunt Tao still came over every half month without fail to cook a meal for Zhou Jingze, clean, and tidy up his home.
In Zhou Jingze’s heart, she was no different from family.
Zhou Jingze put his arm around Aunt Tao’s shoulder as they entered. The smile on his face disappeared completely the moment he saw Zhou Zhengyan. Aunt Tao greeted them and then withdrew, leaving space for the father and son.
“Where’s Grandfather? How is he?” Zhou Jingze got straight to the point.
Zhou Zhengyan coughed lightly. Even his usually stern expression looked somewhat unnatural: “Called a doctor over. After examination, they found nothing wrong and sent him back.”
Zhou Jingze stared at Zhou Zhengyan with sharp eyes for a second, then realized he’d been tricked by this old fox. He really was confused by concern – he didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh. Now that he’d calmed down, how could his grandfather come to Zhou Zhengyan’s birthday party? It would be good if he didn’t beat Zhou Zhengyan to death with his walking stick.
The living room was magnificent, with light overflowing from crystal chandeliers. Corners were piled with gifts as high as two small mountains. Zhou Jingze simply sat on the sofa and raised his cold, sharp eyebrows: “What do you want? Specially tricking me here – don’t tell me you want to hear me wish you ‘happiness like the East Sea, longevity like the Southern Mountains’ and other bullshit.”
“I can’t say such insincere words,” Zhou Jingze’s lips curved up, the sarcasm obvious.
Zhou Zhengyan was furious, slamming his teacup down on the table with a “bang,” his anger flaring: “You bastard, you won’t be satisfied until you anger me to death?”
Zhou Jingze raised his cold, sharp eyebrows, noncommittal. He leaned forward to grab an apple from the table, then nestled into the sofa, tossing the apple in the air with a devil-may-care attitude.
Receiving such a blessing from his biological son on his birthday, Zhou Zhengyan’s chest heaved unsteadily. Looking at Zhou Jingze’s stubborn appearance, he was furious.
Suddenly, a woman came down from the staircase, dressed plainly in light-colored clothes and cotton slippers, with an obviously gentle temperament. Zhu Ling came to the living room and smiled friendly at Zhou Jingze: “Jingze, it’s been so long since you came over.”
Zhou Jingze twitched the corner of his mouth as a response.
Zhu Ling walked to Zhou Zhengyan and said gently: “Zhengyan, Jingze is still young. At your age, are you really getting angry?”
“Come help me in the study. There’s something I can’t move.” Zhu Ling went to pull him.
Zhou Zhengyan eventually got up to help. Zhou Jingze watched the two figures walking side by side with no expression. Zhu Ling indeed had some skills – she extinguished Zhou Zhengyan’s fire in just a few moves.
Zhou Jingze sat alone in the empty living room, lit a cigarette, took two puffs, and felt it was boring to stay any longer. Just as he was getting up to leave, someone rang the doorbell.
Aunt Tao went to answer, her footsteps approaching from far to near. Zhou Jingze kept his head down, the elbow holding his cigarette propped on his knee. Smelling a perfume scent, he slowly smiled.
“Hi, long time no see.” Zhou Zhengyan’s capable secretary Zhao Yan wore an OL outfit with attractive red lips.
“It has been a long time,” Zhou Jingze flicked ash and smiled with curved lips.
Zhao Yan sat across from him, took out a document from her bag, and began discussing business: “Zhengshi Group Chairman Zhou Zhengyan currently wishes to unconditionally gift you two properties under his name and partial shares of Zhengshi Group… You only need to sign this contract, and the gift document will take effect immediately.”
After listening for a while, Zhou Jingze finally reacted. Was Zhou Zhengyan starting to have a conscience and compensate his son? He suddenly interrupted the secretary: “Just sign?”
Zhao Yan was stunned, nodded, then passed over the pen and contract. Zhou Jingze lounged lazily on the sofa, the contract spread on his thigh. He held the pen and turned it left, glancing at the contract with vacant eyes: “Secretary Zhao, what does this clause mean? Can you explain it?”
Zhao Yan sat beside him, leaning over to point at the clause and explain. Zhou Jingze sat up a bit more, changed his position, and his knee accidentally touched Zhao Yan’s knee.
Very lightly, intentional or unintentional, unclear.
Then he glimpsed a flash of unnaturalness in Zhao Yan’s expression. She continued speaking, and Zhou Jingze suddenly looked at her as if his eyes could only hold her alone, his voice carrying some flirtation:
“Secretary Zhao, did you change your perfume? Serge Lutens’ Black Mandala suits you better.”
“How did you know I changed perfume?” Zhao Yan looked surprised.
“Because last time’s scent… was heart-stirring.” Zhou Jingze said slowly, deliberately emphasizing the last two words.
Boys like Zhou Jingze – roguishly handsome with a hint of bad boy charm – understood best how to stir a woman’s emotions. After saying this, he pulled away from their distance, the fire from his cigarette between his fingers glowing red, not speaking.
Zhao Yan was now like having her heart scratched, couldn’t help asking: “Really?”
Before Zhou Jingze could answer, a black ink stone box flew straight at him. He turned his head to dodge, the corner of the box flying toward his forehead, then falling to the ground.
“How did I raise such a beast like you? Even daring to… my secretary…” Zhou Zhengyan was quite angry, the last two words he was ashamed to say out loud, as if preserving one last bit of dignity.
Zhao Yan came to her senses, knowing she had lost composure, stood up and apologized repeatedly.
A bright red bloodstain immediately appeared on Zhou Jingze’s brow bone, burning pain spreading from his forehead. He kept his head down and smiled, licking his lips.
Aunt Tao heard the commotion and came out, got a big fright, then hurried back to the kitchen to get ice. Zhou Jingze stood up, patted the dust off his pants, only then answering his question in a roguish tone: “Isn’t this learning from childhood, studying till old age?”
“You—” Father Zhou was choked speechless.
Zhou Jingze turned his head to look at the docile woman standing beside Zhou Zhengyan, kindly reminding: “Aunt Zhu, don’t think marrying into our family means you can rest easy forever. You need to have some crisis awareness.”
Zhu Ling’s face went pale, unable to say a word.
Finally, Zhou Jingze lifted his head and dropped the burning cigarette butt into the teacup. The spark met water with a “sizzle” sound and was completely extinguished.
He walked to the entrance, remembered something, turned back to look at them, and said: “Stop putting on these acts in the future. If you have this kind of heart, you can go to my mother’s grave and kowtow a few more times.”
“Also, I won’t take a penny from my father. You can rest assured.” Zhou Jingze looked directly at Aunt Zhu.
Zhou Jingze had grown up in the freedom brought by trust funds since childhood – this was what his mother had left for him from the moment he was born. He wasn’t lacking money at all. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if he were so poor as to beg on the streets, he would never open his mouth to ask Zhou Zhengyan for money.
He walked out the front door, alone through the courtyard. When Aunt Tao chased after him, he was already gone.
Zhou Jingze walked out with one hand in his pocket, cold wind whistling. He stubbornly walked down the hillside alone, but unexpectedly bumped into Shi Yuejie, who was just returning home, at the intersection.
Shi Yuejie was wearing a white hoodie, struggling to ride his bicycle uphill, already sweating on his forehead. The cold wind blew Zhou Jingze’s open jacket to one side. He glanced at Shi Yuejie, smiled coldly with curved lips, withdrew his gaze from the other person, and was just brushing past him when—
A sharp braking sound rang out. Shi Yuejie got off his bike panting. He saw the wound on Zhou Jingze’s face at a glance and was about to touch him: “What happened?”
Zhou Jingze turned his face away, disgust flashing in his eyes: “Don’t touch me.”
Shi Yuejie wasn’t angry either. He parked his bicycle to the side, his voice gentle: “Wait for me a moment.”
After saying this, Shi Yuejie ran off. Zhou Jingze stood under the tree and curved his lips. He kicked pebbles at his feet boredly – he was almost admiring his own patience for actually listening to Shi Yuejie and waiting here.
He just wanted to see what Shi Yuejie was trying to do.
Ten minutes later, Shi Yuejie ran over from the other side of the road, stopping breathlessly in front of Zhou Jingze. He stuffed a bag of items into Zhou Jingze’s hands.
Zhou Jingze looked down and through the white plastic bag discovered it contained iodine and gauze. He lowered his head and twitched his lips, then casually threw the medicine into a nearby trash bin:
“You’re trying to please the wrong person.”
After Zhou Jingze left, Xu Sui and Da Liu ate something outside. After Da Liu left, just as Xu Sui was about to return to school, she received a call from Hu Qianxi.
Hu Qianxi’s suppressed and aggrieved crying came through the phone. Xu Sui frowned with concern: “What’s wrong? Did Sheng Nanzhou bully you?”
“No, I scolded him away. I’m in the dorm now,” Hu Qianxi answered, then after a while said somewhat embarrassedly, “I just got my period. It hurts and I’m hungry.”
Xu Sui understood and replied: “What do you want to eat? I’m still outside.”
“I want brown sugar sticky rice cakes and seaweed shark fin porridge,” Hu Qianxi sniffled and added, “From Chen’s place.”
Xu Sui laughed. Hu Qianxi was indeed a lovely picky young lady. She nodded: “Okay, I’ll bring it for you.”
“Love you, my Sui!” Hu Qianxi immediately declared her love.
The shop Hu Qianxi mentioned happened to be near the school, run by an old man called Uncle Chen. His porridge was exceptionally good – soft and glutinous with a unique floral fragrance, and reasonably priced. Therefore, business was extremely busy, and each visit required waiting at least forty minutes.
Perhaps because it was a weekend, Uncle Chen’s helper had taken leave. Xu Sui waited for an hour. She stood at the door drowsily, her eyelids drooping.
Suddenly, Uncle Chen called out to her, handed her the packaged porridge, looking apologetic: “Sorry, miss, too busy today.”
Xu Sui took the porridge, shook her head, and said: “It’s fine.”
Xu Sui walked out of Chen’s place. A cold wind surged over, and she instinctively shrank her neck. Glancing forward casually, she happened to see Zhou Jingze getting out of a taxi.
“Zhou Jingze?” Xu Sui called out with some uncertainty.
Zhou Jingze walked over upon hearing her voice. He wore a thin jacket, his dark brows and eyes heavy, looking like he was in a somewhat bad mood.
“Didn’t eat?” Zhou Jingze’s voice was a bit hoarse, immediately noticing the porridge in her hands.
Xu Sui shook her head and answered: “Bringing it for Xixi.”
Light from the billiards room across the snack street shone over, illuminating Zhou Jingze’s features distinctly. At the same time, she saw the bloodstain above his brow bone and her eyes widened slightly: “What happened to you?”
“Nothing, just bumped into something.” Zhou Jingze smiled lazily, his tone unconcerned.
“Wait a moment.”
Xu Sui immediately rummaged through her bag, finally finding a pink Snoopy band-aid. She nervously smoothed out the wrinkles on it and handed it to him.
Zhou Jingze didn’t speak, staring at the pink band-aid in her hand for two seconds, finally moving his gaze to Xu Sui. After Xu Sui read the message “Do you think I would put on such girly stuff?” from his eyes, she understood. Her expression became somewhat awkward.
Xu Sui embarrassedly pulled her hand back, wrinkling her nose slightly. Zhou Jingze stared at her for two seconds, suddenly changed his mind, and reached out his hand:
“Give it to me.”