CH 40.2

The atmosphere in the Zhao family had fallen below zero recently. Even the nanny was afraid to step out of the kitchen, for fear that she might be hit by the low pressure in the Zhao family.

Now it was even more dead and heavy.

Because of this incident, Zhao Zhanhuai's company suffered serious losses. He had to go and save it, so he didn't care about anything else and moved to an apartment near the company that night.

Originally, Zhao Yuning was still living in the hotel, and Zhao Mo, who was a wanderer, was never home. Mr Zhao was also busy. In addition, Zhao Zhanhuai moved out of the Zhao family home. The Zhao family’s villa suddenly went from past excitement to quiet desertion, like a lonely grave.

Two months ago, even if Madam Zhao were to imagine with all her might, she would not have thought that the Zhao family would break apart like this.

Rather than saying that the current situation was brought about by Zhao Mingxi's departure from home, it was better to say that Zhao Yuan, who shouldn't have possessed the surname Zhao, brought it upon them.

Madam Zhao felt anxious when she thought that her own biological children were driven away by a girl who was not related to her by blood.

This was how people were. Even though Madam Zhao tried her best to make herself forget about the ‘not biological’ part by treating Zhao Yuan as her own daughter, and even treated her better than her own daughter, but once conflicts and disagreements occur, it will still make Madam Zhao feel as if there’s a spike in her throat.

After Zhao Zhanhuai left home that day, Zhao Yuan cried for two hours under the blanket in her room.

But this time, the Zhao family did not take turns to comfort her.

…

What happened in the Zhao family didn't even reach Mingxi's ears.

She packed her clothes and followed Fu Yangxi back to his home.

Mingxi originally wanted to resolve the conflict as soon as possible as she thought that the estrangement could not stay overnight.

But she never expected that the atmosphere at this moment would be so awkward...

Sitting on the sofa with her school bag in her arms, she was seated far away from Fu Yangxi, blushing as they sat across each other.

How could this be?

Mingxi didn't think so much when she poured the glass of water at the time. She just hoped that she would not be separated from Fu Yangxi immediately.

If she knew this, she wouldn't come to his house for the second time even if it killed her.

…

Although there were two bathrooms in the duplex apartment, Fu Yangxi asked someone to transform the second floor into a billiard room and a projection room. In addition, the bathroom on the second floor had not been used for many years and could be cleaned out overnight. So it was equivalent to only one bathroom.

This meant that two people would have to share one bathroom.

It also meant that when a person takes a bath, the person outside will inevitably hear the sound of splashing water, smell the fragrant shower gel, and perceive the sound of water flowing through the body.

In addition, when the two first came in, Fu Yangxi's face was red, and he rushed to the balcony to collect a lot of clothes.

The scattered clothes were also very large...

If Mingxi were to wear one of his sweaters, it would reach her knees.

Last time Mingxi was here, her attention was all on Fu Yangxi's fever.

And Fu Yangxi might have also cleaned up.

This time, her visit was completely unexpected by the two of them. It also caused many things to be exposed.

Shavers were scattered randomly on the coffee table.

It's all things that boys could use.

This suddenly made Mingxi realize that even no matter how arrogant the temper, no matter how obnoxious was the way he spoke, the person in front of her was really a tall, handsome and energetic young man with a juvenile male hormone, rather than a Wifi hotspot that she had been habitually treating him as...

Mingxi's gaze fell again down to Fu Yangxi's big slippers which were a few sizes bigger than hers. The feeling that she couldn't scratch her legs due to the obstruction of her boots once again appeared in her heart.

“Maybe I should go back to school—” Mingxi stood up.

Before she finished speaking, Fu Yangxi quickly stood up. He tried his best to calm himself down. He was a head taller than Mingxi. He glared at Zhao Mingxi. “Why do you have to go back?!”

“It’s only that small spot on the blanket.”

"What do you mean small spot? Your blanket is soaked and it’ll take two days for it to dry. What should you do when you go back? Where will you sleep?!”

Mingxi suggested, “Or I can stay in a hotel.”

Fu Yangxi said, “You can stay here, I will go out to stay in the hotel tonight!”

After that, Fu Yangxi added, “Don't think too much about this. I have always been righteous, if something like this happened to Ke Chengwen I will also keep him for two nights.”

“...”

Mingxi couldn't tell why she felt a sudden loss after hearing his analogy... She couldn't let the owner go out and live by himself, so she hesitated and said, "Then- Then I think we should both just stay here tonight.”

Fu Yangxi swallowed and gave a cold "yep". He appeared very reluctantly. “Tsk, looks like this is all we can do.”

Once this was over.

The air fell into silence again.

In order to break this weird atmosphere, Mingxi said, "You have a movie theater on the second floor, right? Would you like to watch a movie?"

She didn't know if it was her misperception, but she felt that the dark clouds covering Fu Yangxi's head, which had been low in the past few days, seemed to have dispersed a little bit.

Fu Yangxi stood up blankly and led her upstairs. “Which movie to watch? You choose.”

Mingxi answered, “Okay.”

After a pause, Fu Yangxi put his hands in his pockets. Without turning his head back, he said coldly, “Looks like we’ll have to eat together tomorrow.”

"Not at noon." Mingxi said, "Tomorrow at noon, I’ll have to accompany Dong Shen to buy some things like clothes and supplies since he transferred from another city."

“Dong Seng?”

“It’s the ‘shen’ that means ‘deep’.” Mingxi knew that he couldn't remember, so she quietly rolled her eyes behind him. “I mentioned it last time.”

After a pause, Mingxi hurriedly said, "Let’s eat together tomorrow night."

She also couldn't describe her own thoughts at this time. In short, Fu Yangxi was acting weird these days, and he rarely offered an invitation to eat, so she didn't want to refuse it. Moreover, although the two have spent a lot of time together, they have never eaten together before.

She didn’t know if she was overthinking this, but after she said this, the back of the person in front of her looked much more pleasant.

?

Mingxi couldn't understand Fu Yangxi's thoughts. She suddenly climbed two steps quickly and jumped to the steps in front of him to look back at his expression.

As a result, she saw Fu Yangxi's face that said ‘Although we can have a meal together, I am still thoroughly dead inside. Although I feel tired and not in love, a man does not shed his tears easily, so leave me alone.’

Fu Yangxi raised his head. “What are you doing?”

He doesn’t look happy.

Mingxi felt that while it was hard to guess what was on a boy’s mind, Fu Yangxi's mind was even harder to decipher.

Before this, he was weird and Mingxi didn't know what he was thinking about. Now Mingxi was beginning to figure out what he was thinking, but found that the difficulty was no less than doing a few sets of Mathematical Olympiad problems.

Mingxi's brain began to hurt. “Nothing.”

She figured that while she waited to watch the movie, she must ask Fu Yangxi what was going on these days, and where did she offend him.

Fu Yangxi opened the door and the two entered the theater room.

Mingxi was stunned.

Is this the life of the rich? The apartment that one person lived in was almost as good as the villa of the Zhao family. The huge room was empty, with only a sofa missing. Behind the sofa was a row of shelves with books and DVDs piled up in a mess. On the opposite white wall is a whole projection screen.

The projector was on, emitting a faint blue light.

Fu Yangxi walked over. His profile was sharply defined, his eyelashes drooped slightly, and the blue light cast a shadow on his face.

Mingxi looked at him, and then at his hand that was fiddling with the remote.

The hand was pale and slender, and because of his pampered upbringing, it had no thin calluses. It ought to be dry and warm when held in the early winter.

…

Mingxi’s mind suddenly began to wander. She was unconsciously recalling the feeling of holding Fu Yangxi's hand before the last monthly exam.

But in fact, at that time, all the attention was on the buds of her flower pot.

It was no different from the behavior of many students who would hold the hand of the statue of Einstein in school before an exam.

She couldn’t remember how it felt at all.

Mingxi remembered the feeling of her hair being messed up by his hand again. The strength was not light at all, and it was even a little heavier, just like rubbing a rag.

She didn't care much at the time.

But at this moment, she was inexplicably thinking of it.

Why?

Mingxi licked her dry lips subconsciously.

"Have you watched this?"

When he came back to his senses, Mingxi saw Fu Yangxi put up a science fiction film.

“I have.”

Fu Yangxi asked, “With who?”

Mingxi's gaze was still on Fu Yangxi's well-defined face, and she subconsciously replied, “When I first came to City A, I watched this together with Shen Liyao and Dong Shen. It was very touching. I cried."

“...”

He didn't expect to get such an answer at all.

Fu Yangxi's fingers gripping the DVD suddenly tightened.

Fu Yangxi abruptly realized that Shen Liyao had known people around Zhao Mingxi a long time ago, and knew about Zhao Mingxi's family earlier than he did.

"Oh, is that so? Good." Fu Yangxi didn't put on any expression, he merely slid the disc back, his brows and eyes gloomy in the cloud of blue light.

“Would you like to change the movie?” Mingxi was very comfortable with the situation. “If you want to watch it, I can watch it again.”

After a pause, Fu Yangxi said lightly, “Is the movie good?”

Mingxi recalled the plot and said, “It's about a little boy with artificial intelligence who went through an adventure in order to become a real child. It was very touching.”

Fu Yangxi said, “You remember it quite clearly.”

Mingxi thought he wanted to listen, so she began to introduce the movie, “It was in a movie theater, it was dark all around, and the effect was very good. I still remember one part where…”

However, before she could finish speaking, Fu Yangxi interrupted, “I suddenly feel sleepy.”

Mingxi: ?

If he were to continue listening to her, Fu Yangxi couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn't find Shen Liyao and beat him up in the middle of the night. He knew that he shouldn't have negative emotions because of such a thing, but he was still inevitably jealous.

He was jealous that Shen Liyao and Little Mask had been set to marry since they were babies, and that he was a part of Little Mask’s life in the past.

He was more jealous of the fact that Shen Liyao was liked by Little Mask— she really liked him, not the kind where he was overthinking on his own.

Mingxi observed the mess of hair on his forehead. It was then that he lowered his eyes and suddenly turned downstairs.

“Are we not watching anything?” Mingxi hurriedly followed after him.

She felt that Fu Yangxi’s recent mood swings were like that of an irregular old uncle...

“Next time.”

"You go take a shower, and then go to bed early." Fu Yangxi sent Mingxi to the front of the room.

…

The moment Mingxi entered the room, Fu Yangxi almost blurted out his thoughts. So do you still like Shen Liyao?

But he felt like a clown. He didn't have the courage to ask, and he was more afraid of getting an answer that he didn't want to hear.

ray's note: thank you so much for the kind words and support everyone. for now, the situation has been alerted to the higher ups, and work should begin next month to fix the slope. hopefully it'll all be better soon!

merry christmas everyone! it's been a year since this story started. i'm so thankful for each and every one of you who has stuck through the story from beginning till the end. please continue to show your love for the story and stay tuned because there's going to be a few exciting chapters ahead!