Chapter 29: Half
Xinyuan recently played the role of the third female lead in a popular TV drama. Although she didn’t have many scenes, her likable character and beautiful appearance are important. For a while, many people went to comfort her under the Weibo post of Xinyuan.
Her agency is also quite capable. They promptly announced that Xinyuan had actually broken up with her partner three months ago, so this incident has no connection to her or her family.
As Zhou Hang watched the self-reliant inspirational posts on Xinyuan’s Weibo with a cold eye, his eyebrows furrowed slightly and he cancelled the reservation for the engagement ring.
After eating and drinking his fill at Zhou Hang’s house, Zhou Mushi packed up the takeout boxes, carried the trash downstairs, threw it in the garbage bin, and then walked back home.
The snow outside has already stopped, leaving a thick layer like a blanket draped on the green pine trees, making them especially beautiful to look at.
He didn’t expect that, as soon as he entered the door, he was greeted by a shattered teacup lying in pieces at his feet.
“I told you to talk to Jin Yang, what did you do yesterday?” Zhou Qingwen flared up in anger.
“I stayed at Zhou Hang’s house for a day.” Zhou Mushi replied in a poker face while enduring throbbing veins on his forehead.
“Stop right there!” Zhou Qingwen raised her voice and stopped him in his tracks as he tried to run to his own room. He asked, “Let me ask you, what is your relationship with Zhou Hang?”
Zhou Mushi stopped in his tracks and looked at his father, saying, “What kind of relationship? It’s the relationship of growing up together since we were child.”
“What’s going on here?” The old man threw his phone onto the sofa, luckily it didn’t hit the floor tiles and could still be used.
Zhou Mushi picked up the phone, took a quick look at the screen, and even he felt that the scene was ambiguous.
“Oh, it really looks like something’s going on,” he said with a grin as he handed the phone over to his dad. Then he sat down on the sofa and picked up a banana from the table to eat.
“Are you still eating? Do you even have any shame?” Zhou’s father questioned.
Zhou Mushi raised his eyelids and said in a seemingly indifferent manner, “I’m just helping him tidy up his hat. We’re good buddies with a serious relationship. There’s no other meaning to it, so please don’t worry.”
Zhou Qingwen trusts him, not Zhou Mushi, but Zhou Hang. Zhou Hang is a decent and trustworthy young man who wouldn’t associate with delinquents. However, he is still angry and frowning, he said with great emphasis, “I just introduced you to Jin Yang from Yucheng Group, and now you’re making scandalous news with someone else. Strangers may not recognize you, but acquaintances won’t recognized you?”
The banana was obviously not quite ripe and tasted sour in his mouth. Zhou Mushi paused, then looked deeply into his father’s eyes, and after a moment of awkward silence, he spoke up. “Dad, you seem to be going through menopause or something. Why is your temper so bad?”
Zhou Qingwen’s anger flared up, and he was about to throw his phone. However, when he thought of Zhou Mushi’s words, he forced himself to suppress his temper and pointed at Zhou Mushi’s room, saying, “Go inside your own room and stay there.”
The person on the sofa nodded and showed a very obedient smile, then picked up an orange from the table and went into the room.
Zhou Mushi half leaned on the bed and opened his phone, casually searched for a movie to watch.
The beginning of the movie showed pedestrians hurrying along the road. Looking at the sky, it was the peak time for people to get off work. Many people were carrying vegetables and hurrying home to prepare a dinner for their loved ones.
He used to be like these hurried pedestrians, rushing back to the small house where someone was waiting, watching cooking tutorial videos, making some unique dishes, talking about interesting things, and eating together.
But now…
The people are still there, and the vegetable farmers who have been squatting in the market for a decades are still there, but everything can never go back to the starting point.
When the male lead in the movie slowly walked to the female lead’s house with a bunch of red roses hidden behind his back, preparing to confess his love and propose to her, Zhou Mushi had already held a tissue, ready to wipe his tears and follow along. However, a phone call interrupted his emotions.
This is already unpleasant, and the name written in the note just adds to the annoyance.
“You left your keys on the dining table.”
As expected, Zhou Mushi reached into his pocket and found nothing.
“I’ll bring it to you after work, or do you want to come and pick it up?” The voice on the phone sounded a bit deeper than the one Zhou Mushi was familiar with before.
He looked at the strong wind outside and said to the person on the other end of the phone, “I’ll order delivery to buy and send it to your place to pick it up.”
Jin Yang hesitated for a moment, but quickly said, “Okay, I’ll send you the company address.”
The WeChat message arrived quickly. After copying and pasting the address to the food delivery app and placing the order, and paying for the delivery fee, Zhou Mushi continued to lie in bed and watch the movie.
At dinner time, Zhou Qingwen personally came to knock on the door. When he got the approval, he stuck his head out and said,”I gave you a set of apartments, you can move and live there.”
This is said as if joking around.
Zhou Mushi had never seen his father so eager to drive someone away immediately after returning to China. Besides the reason that his father had a girlfriend and didn’t want him to disturb them, he couldn’t think of any other explanation.
“The apartment has already been furnished for you. Move in a couple of days. It’s closer to the office once you move in.”
He moved his neck a couple of times, looked at his dad’s earnest expression, and felt like nothing good was going to come out of it, so he asked, “Is my name written on the property deed?”
“Half of it.” said his father.
Half of it? That’s fine too. After all, his old man has two sons. Or maybe the other half is held by Zhou Qingwen. But it doesn’t matter. Half is better than throwing his luggage out and letting him find a place by himself.
This thing, his old man has also done it before. Back in the days in America… let’s forget about it.
“This is the key to the house, the address is written on it. The weather is good for the next few days, so you can move in.”
Zhou Mushi nodded. He was used to working hard on his own, so when his dad gave him half of a luxury house, he wasn’t quite used to it at first.
“Alright, let’s go out to eat.”
He sat at the dining table and ate his food. As he casually asked, “When will big brother come back?”
“He may not come back for a year or two, so you should take care of yourself first. He’s doing well in Australia.”
“Okay.”
On the day he moved, Zhou Mushi casually hailed a taxi. He had come with just two suitcases and was leaving with the same amount. He traveled light, and from the looks of his father, and it seemed like his father wasn’t going to help him settle in like he used to. Zhou Mushi had grown accustomed to living and working on his own.
After getting on the elevator and entering the room, he put down the two suitcases and looked around. The house was really not bad at all.
Zhou Mushi put away his luggage, had a light snack, and then took off his clothes to take a shower in the bathroom.