“What’s inappropriate about that? I don’t live there anyway and it’s just empty. Besides, the furnishings there are no worse than here,” Li Shaobin said worriedly. “I’m your boyfriend—it’s what I should do. I know you like a quiet life. It’d definitely be very quiet there. Ruan Yang, I’m doing this for your own good. You can just ask Jiang Duoyao, Changqing, or Guan Ying to find out how evil that Zhao Zhu can be.”
Ruan Yang knew Zhao Zhu’s evilness without needing to ask. When she saw Zhao Zhu’s shrewdness and overbearing ways at the bar that day, she knew Zhao Zhu wasn’t one to be trifled with.
“Was I so poor in the past that I actually ended up looking for a man like that, bringing so much trouble for myself?” Ruan Yang mumbled.
Li Shaobin nodded in agreement. “You were just asking for it, but you were naive in the past and you had some problems with your standards of beauty so you were easily cheated. You just need to be more wary in the future. After all, there really aren’t many men as good as me in the world.”
Ruan Yang couldn’t help but pinch his cheek, seeing how shameless he was.
“You… you dare to pinch me?” Li Shaobin touched his cheek in disbelief.
“Yeah, I dare, so what? I’m the only one who can pinch you here.” Ruan Yang pinched him again naughtily.
Li Shaobin’s heart raced when he saw that. He actually didn’t feel angry at all. “Since you pinched me, I’m going to pinch you too.”
He reached over and when he pinched her, Ruan Yang let out a shout in pain and even hit the back of his hand. “Li Shaobin, that hurts.”
“I didn’t even use much force.” Li Shaobin retracted his hand, aggrieved.
“Don’t you know how much strength you have? You’re not allowed to pinch me ever again. Not allowed,” Ruan Yang said solemnly. “Otherwise, I won’t move over to your house.”
“Aiya, alright, alright. I won’t pinch you.” Li Shaobin surrendered the moment he heard her say that. When she left to pack her things, he suddenly realized he was the one who kindly offered her a place to stay, but how did it end up as though he was the one begging her to go over? He was so useless.
…
While she was packing up in the morning, Ruan Yang wasn’t in a good mood. She actually didn’t want to move. After all, she had a few closets of clothes and she could doll up however she liked. Now that she had to move, she couldn’t take everything with her, so she could only pick a few pretty clothes to bring along.
After she was done packing, it was around 3 pm. Li Shaobin got a few brothers to come over to help her move the things down. He couldn’t bear to let her do any manual labor.
Li Shaobin’s house was in the northern part of the city and it was around an hour’s drive away. However, it was a new estate so there weren’t many people around and the apartment blocks weren’t exceptionally tall. His apartment was on the 10th floor. It was a duplex apartment but renovations still cost a lot.
“Settle in first. When everything dies down over there, you can always move back,” Li Shaobin said. “The villa I live in isn’t far from here. There, there, there. You can see it once you stand on the balcony. That’s the one.”
He dragged Ruan Yang to the balcony as he said that. There were around seven to eight villas by the side of a lake in the distance. Li Shaobin’s villa had the best scenery. “It’s right there. The one with a black roof is mine. When I don’t go back to the Li Household, I live there.”
Ruan Yang squinted and laughed meaningfully. “So after all this, you’re actually staying so close by. Are you doing this on purpose?”
Li Shaobin scratched the back of his head embarrassedly and said with a chuckle, “Of course I want to be closer to you. That way, whenever I want to see you, I can just walk to the yard and look over here and it would feel as though I could really see you. The same goes for you. When you miss me, you can just look out on the balcony. The best part is that you would know if I’m at home or not just by seeing if the lights are on or not. That way, you don’t have to worry about me fooling around outside.”
“I’m not worried at all about you fooling around outside.” Ruan Yang glared at him. Suddenly, she regretted agreeing to move over so quickly.
“I didn’t think your impression of me was so good,” Li Shaobin said shamelessly. “I do rarely go out to play. I just fly my plane, drive my yacht, or sit around at the winery. Right, right, Ruan Yang, do you want to come over to my winery to play today?”
“I’m a little tired today…” After saying that, her phone rang. It was a call from Changqing. She said excitedly, “Ruan Yang, Ruan Yang, come over to my house for dinner tonight. Chuyi managed to bring some Wagyu beef over again. It’s delicious.”
“Er…” Ruan Yang rubbed her glabella. “Can we do it next time…”
“Do you have something to do?”
“I don’t.”
“Then come over, won’t you?” Changqing said in protest. “Ever since you’ve lost your memory, you’ve rarely contacted me. Are you still blaming me for keeping you in the dark about you and Xin Ziao? Do you want me to go over to ask for your forgiveness?”
“No, no.” Ruan Yang’s head hurt. She really couldn’t find a way to reject Changqing further. “Alright, I’ll come over later.”
“That’s more like it. Then come over earlier.” Changqing was suddenly happy again.
After she put her phone down, Ruan Yang looked helplessly at Li Shaobin. “Changqing asked me over to her house to have Wagyu beef.”
“What? I helped Old Song get that Wagyu beef,” Li Shaobin said unhappily. “If you like it, I can get it for you any time you want.”
“It’s not about whether you bring it over. It’s about Changqing’s invitation. I can’t bear to reject her.” Ruan Yang shrugged. “You can have some leisure time tonight.”
“I don’t want leisure time. I’ve had it for more than 20 years. I don’t want freedom anymore in the future,” Li Shaobin said pitifully. “I want to go too. I’ll call Old Song to say that I want to eat some beef too. He won’t suspect us.”
“Up to you.” Ruan Yang couldn’t be bothered to persuade him otherwise.
After she packed up a little, Ruan Yang drove off to Changqing’s house by herself.
…
When she arrived, it was almost 6 pm. The sky darkened early that day. When Changqing saw Ruan Yang, she complained: “Why are you so late? Your house isn’t that far away.”
“My address was leaked to reporters, so I moved over to the northern part of the city this afternoon. It’s a little far from here.” Ruan Yang walked in after removing her shoes. She was greeted with a sense of familiar warmth.
“How did the reporters know?” Changqing was shocked. “Which part of the north? Do you have a house there?”
“I think it was Zhao Zhu who leaked it. I just rented a random house.” Ruan Yang went over it ambiguously. Changqing was angry. “Why is it Zhao Zhu again? Why don’t the heavens just strike her down with a bolt of lightning?”
Ruan Yang smiled lightly. She happened to see Shen Lu carrying Yan Wo. The child was well-clothed and his face was round and fair, making her fond of him at first sight.
She went over to touch Yan Wo’s little face. The little fellow was very happy.
Ruan Yang reached out to carry him and Yan Wo didn’t even cry. “He’s not afraid of strangers at all.”
“Right? He’s so happy every day,” Changqing said with a smile. “It’s getting late—why hasn’t Brother Shaobin arrived?”
Ruan Yang turned around to look at her. Changqing was afraid she wouldn’t be pleased and quickly explained, “I didn’t intend to invite Brother Shaobin over but he said he wanted to eat the beef and he was the one who got it for us, so I let him come.”
Ruan Yang nodded and continued to play with Yan Wo.
After around more than 10 minutes, Li Shaobin suddenly came in from outside. Changqing said in shock, “Why didn’t I hear your car? Brother Shaobin, you didn’t drive?”
“I sent my car for servicing.” Li Shaobin glanced at Ruan Yang.
Ruan Yang found that excuse funny. He just wanted to take her car back; why did he lie about servicing?
Changqing was stunned. “Didn’t you buy your car less than half a month ago? Why did you send it for servicing again?”
Li Shaobin was embarrassed. “Er… actually, I grazed my car so I sent it to get it painted.”
“Why did you get into such an accident again?” Changqing said with a pout. “It wasn’t long since you got into a car accident. Now you’ve grazed your car. I’d better not allow Chuchu to get rides from you. It’s too dangerous.”
Ruan Yang laughed softly. “Yeah, it’s dangerous.”
Li Shaobin glared gloomily at her. Wasn’t this all because of her? Yet she still mocked him. “Where’s Chuyi?”
“Cooking in the kitchen,” Changqing said with a grin. “Do you want to go in to learn?”
“I’m not learning.” Li Shaobin walked over to Ruan Yang and touched Yan Wo’s little face. Of course, he took the chance to sit beside Ruan Yang.
Changxin said with a chuckle, “Shaobin, I heard you got yourself a girlfriend. Why didn’t you bring her over?”
“She’s… a little busy.” Li Shaobin replied quickly and glanced at Ruan Yang but her expression didn’t change as though it was none of her business.
“Brother Shaobin, what’s your girlfriend’s profession? Someone you set your eyes on must be extraordinary,” Changqing said curiously.
“That’s a matter of course… very extraordinary and very beautiful. Super beautiful,” Li Shaobin answered carefully.
“I really want to meet her if I get the chance to.” After Changqing said that, the doorbell rang again. Her eyes lit up and she quickly ran over to open the door. A man with black-rimmed spectacles walked in. He looked refined, clean, elegant, and scholarly.
“Dr. Zheng, come in quickly.” Changqing passed him a pair of slippers.
“It’s my first time visiting. I got you a little something.” Dr. Zheng passed her the gift in his hand. Changqing took a look. They were all expensive things.
Just then, Song Chuyi came out of the kitchen with an apron on. He said with a smile, “Chongbing, you didn’t have to bring a gift.”
“This is for Uncle and Auntie, not for you,” Zheng Chongbing joked. He shifted his gaze to look at Ruan Yang, who was on the couch. “This must be Miss Ruan. I’ve wanted to get to know you for a long time. I didn’t think I would actually get to meet you in person.”
Ruan Yang stood up quickly and shook his hand. Song Chuyi said, “This is Zheng Chongbing. He’s works in the same hospital I’m at but he’s an ophthalmologist. He graduated from Oxford University.”
“Then he must be very good at his studies,” Ruan Yang said with a smile.
“I’m alright. I heard Miss Ruan was also very good with your studies,” Zheng Chongbing said very courteously.
“I’m alright. Anyway, I don’t think I would be able to make it into Oxford University,” Ruan Yang said with a smile.
Song Chuyi and Changqing exchanged glances and he said with a smile, “Then you guys can continue chatting first. I’ll go back to the kitchen. Changqing, keep them company.”
“Mm.” Changqing also sat down and said, “Ruan Yang, Dr. Zheng said you’re his goddess.”
Ruan Yang was stunned. She seemed to understand it all. Just then, Zheng Chongbing said embarrassedly, “I guess I could be considered your loyal fan. I’ve watched most of your movies. I think it’s really a pity that you left the scene.”
“Oh, is that so?” Ruan Yang didn’t want to bring up the past subconsciously. “There’s not much to pity actually. There are a lot of good actors out there right now.”
“I don’t think so.” Zheng Chongbing shook his head. “The newer generation of actresses aren’t really skilled. Besides, I admire the things you say in public too. However, the entertainment industry is too messy. Sometimes, news reports might not be true so I don’t usually trust them.”
“Dr. Zheng, you’re absolutely right,” Changqing agreed immediately.
No matter how low Li Shaobin’s IQ and EQ were, he could figure some things out now. He felt exceptionally uncomfortable. So after all this, was this actually a matchmaking session for Ruan Yang? He frowned and said, “Dr. Zheng, you work in Ophthalmology? I heard it’s pretty disgusting working in Ophthalmology. You see a lot of rheum.”
Ruan Yang rolled her eyes at him while Changqing kicked him under the table and said, “Brother Shaobin, that, you don’t know. Ophthalmology is considered the cleanest part of the hospital. Departments like anorectal or dermatology are the disgusting ones.”
“I don’t know,” Li Shaobin said in a weird tone. “Anyway, I went to the Ophthalmology unit with my grandma before and the smell inside made me uncomfortable.”
“Hospitals usually have the smell of disinfectant.” Zheng Chongbing wasn’t angered by his comment and instead, replied very gently. “This must be Young Master Li from the Li Hall who makes everyone cower at the mention of his name. I’ve heard Chuyi talk about you before. How do you do?”
He reached his hand out but Li Shaobin just looked at him coldly without even reaching out to shake his hand. There was a sudden awkwardness in the air.
Changqing felt anxious when she saw that. She kicked Li Shaobin secretly again. Who knew what he had gotten into tonight. He was acting so weird. Did Dr. Zheng offend him in any way?
Seeing that the situation had gone wrong, Ruan Yang could only reach her hand over and say very tactfully, “I respect doctors the most. Actually, medicine is a really noble profession.”