CH 2

That night, Lin Zhixia couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning in bed. But he still woke up before eight o’clock. 

Luo Qin was a little late for work today and the two met at the entrance of the study. Lin Zhixia smiled at him as soon as he saw him, “Good morning.” Luo Qin seemed to have not slept well last night and he frowned, only nodding to Lin Zhixia as a response. 

The two went downstairs together and sat at the table for breakfast.

Lin Zhixia secretly looked at Luo Qin while eating. Luo Qin ate breakfast intently and didn’t seem to notice his peeking. So Lin Zhixia’s glances became more and more bold. 

He could see such a handsome man in the morning and this man was his own. He was so happy!

Luo Qin couldn’t stand being stared at anymore and he raised his eyes to glance at Lin Zhixia. Lin Zhixia bit into a poached egg and looked at him, his eyes innocent.  After realizing that Luo Qin was looking at him, Lin Zhixia immediately revealed a big smile. 

It was kind of weird. Lin Zhixia was acting a bit strange recently. Always looking at Luo Qin with such silly eyes… 

He was completely different from the former cowardly and gloomy Lin Zhixia, who seemed to be conscientious on the surface but who was hiding sinister motivations. 

Lin Zhixia had always had the habit of staring at Luo Qin secretly. Luo Qin never called him out on it but every time he caught him, Lin Zhixia would quickly look away. But now, Lin Zhixia didn’t care if he was caught, only looking boldly with those big, dreamy eyes. 

Luo Qin had to admit that Lin Zhixia was good looking. Especially those doe-like eyes; black and bright like a fawn’s, clear and moist like water. 

In the past, those eyes had been dim and gloomy.  

Even so, Luo Qin still couldn’t soften his heart to him. He didn’t respond to Lin Zhixia’s smile, put down his chopsticks, said goodbye to Wang Ma and went to work.

Lin Zhixia was a little hurt. 

His information about this world was like reading a progress bar. It was obtained step by step. At first, he didn’t even know who he was. Later, he remembered his identity and thought that the relationship between himself, Luo Qin and the Qin family would need to be cultivated slowly. Time would bring them together. 

He didn’t know what happened between Luo Qin and Lin Zhixia before he transmigrated. And Luo Qin’s coldness these days had exceeded what Lin Zhixia thought was just a distant personality.

Lin Zhixia suspected a serious problem had caused them to quarrel. Otherwise, there was no logical reason these newlyweds were so indifferent to each other.  

Being treated so badly early in the morning caused Lin Zhixia to lose his appetite. He ate his porridge without much enthusiasm. 

There was a scream from the innermost room upstairs and then the servant bell rang.

Luo Yao rushed out from upstairs, clearing two steps with one foot and Lin Zhixia was afraid that she would fall. She yelled as she ran, “Mother Wang, why didn’t you wake me! I’m going to be late!!”

Mother Wang yelled back to her, “You don’t get up at this time every day. I didn’t know you wanted to be woken up earlier today. Or I would have!”

“Our squad leader is on duty today! I promised to help her!” Luo Yao was very angry when she got downstairs and yelled at Mother Wang for a while. When she saw Lin Zhixia sitting at the table, she turned her anger towards him, “What are you looking at? You think everyone is doing nothing like you?”

Lin Zhixia, who was aggrieved by her attitude, looked at her, dumbfounded. It was true he didn’t have a job right now. The original owner of this body had graduated from high school and had no ambition afterwards. Lin Zhixia really didn’t know what he could do after graduating from high school and he also had to worry about the reputation of the Luo family. He couldn’t just take a low-cost job. 

Her words happened to poke at Lin Zhixia’s self esteem and his face naturally showed melancholy. 

“Pretending to be pitiful again.”

Luo Yao rolled her eyes impatiently and Lin Zhixia lowered his head. He was thinking that if the two of them did not see each other, she wouldn’t have an excuse to attack him. He vowed to avoid her in the future.

Luo Yao was about to go out in a hurry. Before leaving, she glanced at Lin Zhixia, who was sitting quietly at the table with his head down. She suddenly smiled, walked quickly to him and took out a thin card from her backpack.

It was an invitation letter. It was black with a few red paper-cut roses on it. He opened it to see a series of gold printed words. 

It was a birthday party invitation for someone named Qiao Mei. He murmured, “Qiao Mei…”

Luo Yao smiled, “You don’t know her, she is the sister of Brother Xu. Brother Xu has such a good relationship with my brother. Don’t you want to pay your respects and congratulate her?”

Luo Yao rarely smiled at him, so Lin Zhixia was a little stunned. He flipped through the invitation letter carefully, then frowned and said, “But, it’s an invitation for you.” 

“I have something to do tonight”, Luo Yao said vaguely, “My brother asked me to give it to you. Go if you want, it’s up to you.” 

At first, Lin Zhixia was hesitant. Luo Yao suddenly changed her attitude towards him, he really felt it was a little strange. But when he heard that Luo Qin wanted him to go, he immediately felt relieved. He held the invitation letter tightly in his hand and smiled sincerely at Luo Yao, “Then I will go. Thank you, Yaoyao.”

Luo Yao wanted to shout, ‘who asked you to call me Yaoyao!?’ but held back. Forget it. It was going to be very lively tonight at the party. It was a pity that she had something to do and couldn’t witness the event with her own eyes. 

Lin Zhixia went straight upstairs, feeling a little nervous. The location on the invitation stated that the party was on a Qianjiang Cruise. He had never participated in this kind of event.  The biggest event he participated in in the original world was the school welcome party. He had never been on such a large ship. 

It was written on the invitation that the dress code was formal. Lin Zhixia, as an unfortunate orphan, didn’t even know the concept of formal wear.

He opened the closet and sighed.

He found out a few days ago that the original owner had very few clothes. Or more accurately, that he had nothing of his own. The huge room was empty and it felt less lived in than a hotel. 

There were a few pieces of clothes in the cabinet, mostly in gray and a white shirt, which was neatly folded and looked formal. Lin Zhixia put on his clothes and sighed softly at the boy in the mirror. He looked young and immature. 

This face looked exactly the same as his face before he transmigrated. The white shirt fit him well but he looked like a college student. 

In his original world, Lin Zhixia had been a college student but then he transmigrated and became a married man. Now he was going to a stranger’s birthday party alone. 

The location of the cruise ship was far away from the Qin home. Lin Zhixia checked the route, seeing that it would take about two or three hours by bus. A taxi would be faster but that sounded too expensive. Lin Zhixia in this world had no money.

Day to day, this fact didn’t matter. Lin Zhixia stayed in the Qin home, ate in the Qin home and had no need for extra entertainment. But now he had a birthday party to attend. 

He decided to leave early to pick out a birthday present for Qiao Mei. He didn’t know what gift to give a young girl for her birthday, so he decided to go shopping first. 

After Lin Zhixia had arrived in this world, he went out and wandered around a few times by himself. He found that this world was no different from his original world, except that the landmark names were different. For example, Tongshi, where they were located, was the largest city. In his original world, there was no such place. But it was just a change of name, which was not too inconvenient. 

He went to the mall in the city center. His simple white shirt and black pants made him beautiful and eye-catching among the crowd. He was not particularly tall but his figure was very good. His legs were very long and his waist was thin. His complexion was healthy and refreshing to look at. He was very attractive. 

Lin Zhixia also noticed the many stares he drew, which made him a little embarrassed. He used to be very busy, working many jobs every day and he never cared what other people thought of his appearance. His roommates had constantly tried to matchmake him with girls but he was always too busy to care. 

Lin Zhixia started to walk slower, feeling like a bright spot among the crowd. All this attention actually made him quite happy. 

He stood in the jewelry store for a long time, trying to select the best gift. He finally chose a necklace that was priced about two thousand. 

For Lin Zhixia, this would cost most of his meager savings. The clerk had been staring at him as he debated. He blushed then said softly, “Please help me wrap this up.”