Chapter 64

Chen Xi never expected that she would always bump into Zhou Yanzhou during her most wretched moments.

She raised her head, revealing a tear-streaked face. Her eye sockets were intensely red, and her eyelids were slightly swollen from being soaked in tears.

A rare sense of fracture and fragility was exposed in her eyes.

The exquisite makeup she had applied in the morning was now smudged and utterly ruined by her tears.

Seeing this, Zhou Yanzhou felt a tightness in his chest. He reached out, grabbed her slender wrist, and pulled her straight up from the ground.

Having squatted for too long, Chen Xi felt dizzy and experienced numbness in her legs the moment she stood up, almost causing her to stumble and fall.

Subconsciously, she threw herself into Zhou Yanzhou's arms, gripping the hem of his shirt like a drowning person clutching a straw.

Her nose pressed against the fabric of his chest, and she caught a faint, subtle woody fragrance, resembling the scent of summer occasionally drifting on the wind.

It was dry and not sticky at all.

Her phone, tucked against her thigh, buzzed persistently. Zhou Yanzhou supported Chen Xi's shoulder with one hand while pulling out his phone from his trouser pocket with the other. Seeing that it was a call from Teacher Meng, his brows furrowed slightly, and he answered it the next second.

Through the earpiece, Teacher Meng's puzzled voice spilled out: "Yanzhou, where on earth did you go?"

"You promised to accompany me shopping, don't you dare ditch me midway again. Later on, you still have to go have dinner with me; the young lady from the Si family is still waiting for you."

Hearing Teacher Meng's voice, Chen Xi instinctively held her breath, her fingers clutching his clothes tightening by a fraction.

So today, he had come out specifically to accompany Teacher Meng shopping, and by the way, to go on a blind date?

Zhou Yanzhou got a headache the moment he heard anything about blind dates. With Teacher Meng nearing retirement over the past two years and having little to do at the theater troupe, she was now wholeheartedly preoccupied with his lifelong affairs, terrified that he would end up a bachelor for the rest of his life.

Fearing he wouldn't obey her commands, she had even pulled out the old master, who had long lived in retirement at the traditional courtyard compound and rarely interfered in matters.

The old master was a stubborn traditionalist who always advocated for matching family backgrounds, and his word was law—very few in the family dared to defy him.

Zhou Yanzhou had lived with the old master until middle school, so he held a certain degree of respect for him and had never gone against his wishes.

Now that Teacher Meng had issued an ultimatum, Zhou Yanzhou couldn't escape even if he wanted to.

With these thoughts swirling, Zhou Yanzhou lowered his eyelids to glance at the young woman in his arms. Noticing the two lingering tear droplets on her eyelashes, Zhou Yanzhou instinctively reached out his index finger to wipe away her tears.

Caught off guard, Chen Xi's eyelashes trembled slightly.

His thumb gently brushed across her eyelashes and accidentally touched her eyelid. The warm sensation made Chen Xi's nose sting.

Over the phone, Teacher Meng was still urging Zhou Yanzhou not to delay important matters. Feeling a headache coming on, Zhou Yanzhou couldn't help but reply: "Teacher Meng, I'm sorry, but I really don't have time today."

"Another day, I will definitely make a formal apology to the young lady. Right now, I have to head back to the company for an emergency meeting."

"You go ahead and shop for a while, and I'll have Master Xie come pick you up later."

Without waiting for Teacher Meng's response, Zhou Yanzhou swiftly hung up the phone.

Realizing that embracing and hugging on the open street in broad daylight was somewhat unseemly, Zhou Yanzhou released Chen Xi first. He tapped her forehead with his index finger and said in a calm tone, "Come with me."

Chen Xi blinked in a daze, reaching up to touch the spot on her forehead where Zhou Yanzhou had tapped, feeling a sudden flash of sudden enlightenment.

Seeing Zhou Yanzhou walking toward the direction of the underground parking lot with one hand tucked in his pocket, unhurriedly, Chen Xi hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow his pace.

On the way, Zhou Yanzhou called Master Xie, instructing him to take Teacher Meng back later. Master Xie had originally been taking the day off, but upon receiving the call, he quickly agreed.

Upon reaching the underground garage, Zhou Yanzhou fished out his car keys and pressed the lock button. In zone D, a dark-colored Rolls-Royce Cullinan with Beijing plates suddenly flashed its headlights.

In the dim underground garage, that car stood out clearly, just a few paces ahead to Chen Xi's right.

Chen Xi had only seen Zhou Yanzhou drive it once—on the very first day of their reunion, when he drove this car to send Lin Fan back to school.

Xie Nanzhou was quite knowledgeable about cars, so he had recognized the brand at a glance and casually glanced at the license plate.

That day, Chen Xi had only paid attention to the person inside the car and hadn't noticed anything unusual about the license plate.

Now that this car had appeared before her once more, Chen Xi's first instinct was to check the license plate: Beijing A·C0724.

Was it a coincidence?

Chen Xi didn't dare to jump to conclusions easily.

Yet, simply seeing these specific digits that weren't so easily stumbled upon, Chen Xi couldn't help letting her imagination run wild.

Zhou Yanzhou got into the car and, sitting in the driver's seat, noticed Chen Xi staring blankly at the car body. He frowned slightly and lightly pressed the horn.

Startled by the horn, Chen Xi snapped out of her daze. Following the hood of the car, she saw the man sitting inside, watching her in silence.

The headlights shone directly on Chen Xi, dazzling her slightly. She squinted as she looked over, her vision obstructed, preventing her from seeing the expression on the man's face.

She only noticed his suit jacket; the clothing was entirely free of wrinkles, save for an intentional crease at the elbow. A feather-shaped diamond brooch was pinned to his chest, catching the dim light and sparkling with faint, scattered brilliance.

Perhaps seeing that Chen Xi hadn't moved for a long time, Zhou Yanzhou sighed, started the engine, backed the car out of the parking space, and slowly glided to a halt beside Chen Xi. He rolled down the passenger window, rested his arm on the window frame, and propped his chin up as a reminder for Chen Xi to get in the car.

Suddenly jolted back to reality under the man's gaze, Chen Xi hurriedly walked around the front of the car, opened the passenger door, and clumsily climbed inside.

The interior was spacious, with plenty of room and an expansive view. Fumbling nervously, Chen Xi fastened her seatbelt and turned her head to look awkwardly at the man beside her.

Seeing her flustered state, Zhou Yanzhou took a bottle of mineral water from the armrest compartment and handed it to her.

Chen Xi accepted the bottle. It was exquisitely packaged—a brand almost never seen in major supermarkets. She unscrewed the cap and lowered her head to take a couple of sips.

Zhou Yanzhou glanced up and down at Chen Xi, finally noticing the dress she was wearing.

The color of the dress was striking, the size was a perfect fit, and it suited her exceedingly well.

Accustomed to wearing private bespoke or high-fashion brands year-round, Zhou Yanzhou's eyes functioned like a measuring tape; with just a single glance, he could tell the dress wasn't cheap.

Catching a glimpse of the label at the back of the neck, Zhou Yanzhou raised an eyebrow and offered a casual, offhanded compliment: "That's a pretty dress."

Chen Xi's hand froze as she was twisting the bottle cap. Lowering her gaze to the hem of the dress, she recalled the scene earlier in the private dining room when Xie Nanzhou had walked in leading Li Jiajia, who was wearing the exact same dress. A sudden, inexplicable wave of nausea welled up in her throat.

She tightened the cap, placed the mineral water back onto the armrest box, fixed her gaze straight ahead at the air conditioning vent, and replied expressionlessly, "My ex-boyfriend bought it."

Hearing the words "ex-boyfriend," a sharp glint flashed in the depths of Zhou Yanzhou's eyes.

Feigning nonchalance, he lifted his chin slightly, kept one hand on the steering wheel, and pressed the accelerator to drive slowly toward the garage exit.

Every now and then, he cast a sideways glance at the person beside him, whose spirits were clearly low. Upon reaching the toll booth, Zhou Yanzhou picked up his phone to scan the QR code and pay the parking fee, tossing the phone aside. Taking advantage of Chen Xi's dazed state, he asked casually, "You two broke up?"

Caught off guard, Chen Xi instinctively let out an "ah."

Realizing something was amiss midway, Chen Xi abruptly raised her head, only to crash right into a pair of teasing peach-blossom eyes.

The man smiled with the smug satisfaction of someone who had achieved his goal, and asked with a straight face, "Why the sudden breakup? Weren't you two still holding roses outside the company building the other day, waiting for him to take you back to school?"

At this point, Zhou Yanzhou paused for two seconds before offering a slow, deliberate commentary: "I thought your relationship was quite solid, but who would have thought..."

*It was so fragile.*

Zhou Yanzhou left the second half of the sentence unsaid.

Yet Chen Xi guessed it probably wasn't anything nice.

What troubled Chen Xi wasn't this, but rather the urge to ask him: *Did he see Xie Nanzhou come to pick her up that day?*

Chen Xi suddenly felt a bit awkward, plagued by the illusion that she had been completely and thoroughly seen through by Zhou Yanzhou.

Whether Xie Nanzhou had finally realized what happened or not, Chen Xi's phone began to ring incessantly.

First came a barrage of text messages, followed by a relentless string of phone calls.

Chen Xi retrieved her phone from her bag and saw the screen flooded with WeChat notifications. Before she even had a chance to delete them, Xie Nanzhou's call came right on their heels.

Zhou Yanzhou inadvertently glanced at Chen Xi's phone screen. Seeing that it was her ex-boyfriend calling, a trace of disgust flashed in his eyes, and he offered a lukewarm reminder: "A good horse doesn't turn back to graze on old grass."

"What, are you planning to reconcile?"

Chen Xi, who had just been about to reply: "?"

When did she ever say she was going to reconcile?

Calming down, Chen Xi wrinkled her small nose and remained silent.

From Zhou Yanzhou's angle, it looked as though Chen Xi was hesitating over how to respond to the person on WeChat.

Taking advantage of a red light, Zhou Yanzhou reached over, snatched Chen Xi's phone, switched off the screen, and tossed it aside, saying unhurriedly, "Afraid of getting carsick?"

Chen Xi tended to get carsick if she looked at her phone in a moving vehicle, so she rarely looked at her screen while riding in cars.

She hadn't expected Zhou Yanzhou to remember. Looking down at her empty palms, Chen Xi turned her head to steal a glance at the man beside her.

The man rested his left arm on the window frame, his right hand on the steering wheel, looking straight ahead with complete composure, as if the person who had just snatched her phone away from her wasn't him at all.

Chen Xi pursed her lips and deliberately acted contrary to Zhou Yanzhou: "I don't get carsick in just anyone's car."

Zhou Yanzhou shifted his gaze and asked lightly, "You don't get carsick in your ex-boyfriend's car?"

Chen Xi: "..."

Twitching the corners of her mouth, she stubbornly retorted, "His driving skills are quite steady, so I don't get very dizzy."

Zhou Yanzhou let out an "oh" and reminded her flatly, "You two have already broken up."

Chen Xi didn't catch his drift: "What?"

Lifting his chin with an arrogant attitude, Zhou Yanzhou said, "Opportunity knocks only once. Understand?"

Chen Xi: "..."

Driven by some unknown competitive streak, Zhou Yanzhou rolled his eyes upward, and the second before the red light flashed to green, he said calmly, "Didn't you say you've never gotten carsick in my car either?"

Unable to figure out why Zhou Yanzhou cared so much about such a trivial matter, Chen Xi blinked and said placidly, "Maybe it's because your car is more expensive."

Hearing this, Zhou Yanzhou let out a cold laugh.

The instant the light turned green, he slammed down on the accelerator, and the car smoothly surged forward four or five meters.

The vehicle's performance was superb, devoid of any jolting sensation, and Chen Xi indeed felt no motion sickness.

Yet Zhou Yanzhou remarked, "My driving skills are also pretty good."

Chen Xi: "..."

It was an ordinary afternoon. Beijing had no sun; although heavy gray clouds hung in midair, blocking the scorching glare, they couldn't shut out the intense heat of summer.

The air conditioning hummed inside the car, yet the man's dry humor was colder than the AC.

Chen Xi had originally been in a depressed mood, still trapped beneath the storm cloud of her breakup, but Zhou Yanzhou's antics left her torn between laughter and tears.

After driving for a short distance, Zhou Yanzhou finally remembered to ask where Chen Xi was headed.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, he realized that the young girl had somehow leaned against the armrest and fallen asleep.

Perhaps the young girl's sleeping face was too peaceful, or perhaps his mood was inexplicably good today, but Zhou Yanzhou rarely curved the corners of his lips. He intentionally slowed his speed, made a U-turn at the intersection ahead, and drove in the direction of the Peninsula Palace.

Having been tossed about all morning and subjected to such a melodramatic plot, Chen Xi was physically and mentally exhausted.

With the cool air conditioning blowing inside and the car moving at a moderate pace, Chen Xi had initially tried hard to keep her eyelids open, but eventually, reason lost to sleepiness, and she drifted off.

Throughout the journey, so as not to wake her, Zhou Yanzhou deliberately turned off his phone and muted the radio.

Perhaps seeing her sleeping soundly, when Zhou Yanzhou pulled the car into the garage, he didn't wake her. Instead, he left the engine running, kept the air conditioning on, rolled down the window a tiny fraction, and quietly sat in the car waiting for her.

This wait lasted a full hour. Zhou Yanzhou neither played on his phone nor listened to the radio; he simply lowered his gaze, staring at the sleeping face of the young girl curled up in the passenger seat.

With that sharp-tongued mouth—capable of uttering words that could kill without bloodshed—finally closed, she looked much more agreeable, bearing a striking resemblance to how she had been in Xiping a few years ago.

Back then, he didn't carry heavy burdens on his shoulders, nor did he need to face people he despised yet couldn't avoid. Every day, he would drop by the office to check in, then return to the hotel to sleep or drive to the middle school to wait for her to pass the time.

In the years since returning to Beijing, he often reminisced about that relaxing and pleasant period, always feeling as though those days had been stolen.

He wasn't one for retracing his steps, nor did he wish to drown forever in a bed of lotus blossoms, which was why he had never thought of going back to look for her.

He had figured that the fate between them was only that long; once fate ran out, it ended, and there was no need to force it.

Yet Zhou Yanzhou hadn't expected that she would abandon her family and familiar homeland, struggle through immense hardships to test into Beijing, and spend two or three years alone in a city where she knew no one.

Every weekend, other classmates could go home to reunite with their loved ones, while she stayed all alone in the dormitory, enduring isolation until the winter and summer breaks when she could finally return. Had she ever regretted her choice back then?

Zhou Yanzhou didn't dare to dwell too closely on the hardships Chen Xi had endured along the way; he was afraid he would grow soft-hearted or regretful.

Yet now that fate had genuinely pushed her back into his arms, he didn't want to let her walk away just like that.

During the two days when the college entrance examination scores were released in 2015, Zhou Yanzhou hadn't slept peacefully in Beijing either. By day, he attended meetings and handled work; by night, he squatted alone in front of his computer, refreshing the website and inputting her examination registration number over and over again, only for the page to remain blank every time he clicked through.

Later, when the scores were published, Zhou Yanzhou called Chen Xi's homeroom teacher under the guise of being a family member to inquire about her results. Learning that she was the top liberal arts student in Xiping City for 2015, Zhou Yanzhou sincerely felt happy for her, blessing her for the fact that a decade and a half of hard work had not gone to waste.

Possessing such stellar scores was enough to make her welcomed by universities nationwide.

He had assumed she would choose between Tsinghua and Peking University, but he never expected that she would still choose R University without a second thought.

At that moment, Zhou Yanzhou realized that this girl possessed a stubborn disposition—the kind of person who refused to turn back until she hit a brick wall.

Past memories surged forward like frantic wisps of cotton, showing no signs of stopping.

Gazing at this tangled ball of yarn with no discernible end, Zhou Yanzhou felt a vague sense of a headache.

Fate had pushed the two of them to this current juncture, and for the moment, he simply couldn't come up with a solution.

The more Zhou Yanzhou thought, the more chaotic his mind became, prompting him to let out a long sigh laden with emotion.

Chen Xi was jolted awake by that sigh, which was heavy with feeling. Having just woken up, her right cheek bore the red, pressed imprint of the leather chair cushion.

Before her brain had completely cleared, her eyes instinctively landed upon the sighing man.

For some reason, an aura of utter helplessness seemed to cling to him.

It felt very much like being trapped in a dilemma from which he could find no way out.

Blinking her eyelids and bearing a pair of wet, almond-shaped eyes, Chen Xi asked innocently, "Where is this?"

Hearing the voice of the culprit who caused all this, Zhou Yanzhou chased away those headache-inducing thoughts from his mind, turned his face, and quietly observed the newly awakened person.

Her fair cheek was deeply indented by the red mark, creating a rather startling pattern.

Seeing this, Zhou Yanzhou's brows knitted slightly.

The next second, the man leaned forward toward Chen Xi and reached out to stroke the red mark on her right cheek.

Caught off guard, Chen Xi realized his intention only when the man was already right before her eyes, the distance between them narrowing to mere inches.

Their breaths tangled together, making it impossible to tell whose heart had gone astray.

Chen Xi's heart hammered wildly against her ribs. Before she could devise a countermeasure, the man gripped her jawline and leaned in to kiss her lips.

This kiss lacked the aggression of the previous one, appearing remarkably gentle.

His thin lips brushed against her soft lower lip, sipping lightly before ceasing any further movement.

Her breathing suddenly turned ragged. Subconsciously, Chen Xi clutched the man's sleeve, too nervous to meet his gaze directly.

Yet Zhou Yanzhou refused to let her off the hook. Cupping her face in one hand, nose pressed against nose, his gaze plunged straight into the shimmering fragments of her eyes.

Chen Xi felt as though her heart had been seized by someone, and even breathing hurt slightly.

After kissing her for a short while, Zhou Yanzhou finally released Chen Xi. Panting softly, he pulled back to sit upright in his seat, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, and retrieved a cigarette pack and lighter from the armrest compartment.

Sliding out a cigarette with his thumb, he lowered his head to bite the filter, cupped the lighter in his hands, and lit the cigarette right in front of Chen Xi.

Smoke drifted through the cabin, prompting Chen Xi to cough lightly. Seeing this, Zhou Yanzhou pushed open the car door, pinched the cigarette between his fingers, stepped outside to a secluded spot, and smoked quietly to calm himself down.

Sitting inside the car, Chen Xi sniffed the windshield. The faint wisp of smoke in the air had dissipated entirely, leaving behind only a lingering trace of perfume.

It was faint yet pleasant, smelling almost identical to the scent on Zhou Yanzhou himself.

Chen Xi picked up the phone that Zhou Yanzhou had discarded in the armrest box and turned it on. Checking the time, she realized it was already past six in the evening—she had slept for nearly two hours.

So, he had been sitting in the car waiting for her all this time?

Incredulous, Chen Xi raised her eyes to look outside. The man was standing beneath a stone pillar, his back pressed against it, holding the cigarette between his fingers and smoking absentmindedly with his head lowered.

Had his nicotine addiction gotten worse?

Flickering away the cigarette ash once the smoke had burned down to the filter, the sparks tumbled to the ground.

Returning to the front of the car, Zhou Yanzhou didn't get back in. Instead, he walked around the hood, tapped the passenger window with two curved knuckles, and called out to Chen Xi from outside: "Get out of the car."

Stunned for two seconds, Chen Xi pushed open the door and stepped out.

The man stood before her, holding the door open, reached out to pull her behind him, and ducked his torso into the cabin to retrieve the car keys.

With a soft *thud*, the door closed. Zhou Yanzhou locked the car, fixed his gaze on Chen Xi's face, and instructed unhurriedly, "We'll talk once we go upstairs."

It wasn't until they entered the elevator that she realized where this was.

She followed Zhou Yanzhou up to the 52nd floor, stepped out of the elevator behind him, and walked across the plush carpet until they stopped in front of the door number she had lingered before countless times. Then, she watched as he fished out a room card and swiped it to unlock the door.

The moment the door swung open, a wave of intense familiarity washed over her.

Prompted by Zhou Yanzhou's gaze, Chen Xi dazedly forced her legs to move.

The second she stepped inside, before she even had a chance to change her shoes, her waist was caught in Zhou Yanzhou's grip and she was pressed against the wall.

With a muffled thud, the front door swung shut behind Zhou Yanzhou, and the next second, the man's overwhelming, all-encompassing kiss descended upon her.

Chen Xi felt her heart pounding wildly in her chest, a wave of numbness spreading down her tailbone, and her calves turning so weak that she could barely stand.

The man gripped her waist, arching his back as he unsparingly plundered the oxygen from her mouth.

Gradually, Chen Xi's mind began to wander.

Tilting her head back, she stared fixedly at the ceiling light in the foyer, her thoughts drifting far away.

Sensing Chen Xi's lack of focus, the man grasped her jaw, forced her face around, fixed his burning gaze upon her long eyelashes, and leaned down to kiss her lips once more. He murmured in a hoarse voice, "Be a good girl, pay attention."

Under his gaze, Chen Xi nodded mechanically as if under a spell.

Prompted by her compliance, the danger brewing in the man's eyes intensified.

Before Chen Xi could surrender, the man cupped her face and kissed her again.

This time, his demeanor was extraordinarily gentle and careful, as if terrified that she might shatter, nurturing her with utmost tenderness.

A line of dialogue abruptly popped into Chen Xi's mind: *Falling in love with someone is like creating a religion, serving a deity destined to fall at any moment.*