Chapter 26

Aunt Chen stammered, unable to respond. There were so many rumors outside, how could she know who started them? 

Zhou Yanjing wasn’t particularly interested in her answer. 

“If you’re living in this house, make sure you know who the master is. Why bother with outside gossip?” 

Aunt Chen quickly replied, “Of course, it’s you!” 

Zhou Yanjing gave a faint, unclear smile. 

“If my employees at the company were as slow as you, they wouldn’t last long.” 

Aunt Chen had no idea what she’d said wrong. Her hands nervously twisted together as she stammered, “But you are the master of this house…” 

Zhou Yanjing turned off the water, picked up his glass, and looked at her indifferently. 

“I hired you to take care of Yuxi. Aunt Chen, it’s been three years, and you still haven’t figured out who your real boss is.” 

Aunt Chen froze, standing there in shock. 

Zhou Yanjing didn’t say anything further and left. 

After that conversation, Aunt Chen had an epiphany. The next day, her attitude towards Lin Yuxi changed completely. 

Early the next morning, as Lin Yuxi came downstairs to feed the cat, Aunt Chen rushed ahead of her. “Oh, let me do that! You shouldn’t get near the cat. If you get cat hair on you, Second Young Master won’t be able to stand being near you.” 

Lin Yuxi replied, “Wouldn’t it be better if it made him itch?” 

When Aunt Chen served breakfast, it was all of Lin Yuxi’s favorite dishes. 

As soon as Lin Yuxi approached the table, Aunt Chen hurried over to pull out her chair, flashing a big smile. 

Lin Yuxi sat down, and Aunt Chen eagerly asked, “I made seafood porridge and sweet red bean rice balls, both sweet and savory options. Which would you like to start with?” 

“The seafood porridge.” 

As soon as Aunt Chen brought over the seafood porridge, Lin Yuxi scooped up a spoonful, but Aunt Chen immediately exclaimed, “Careful, it’s hot! Should I blow on it for you first?” 

Lin Yuxi said, “Why don’t you just eat it for me?” 

Aunt Chen quickly backed away, looking a bit hurt. “I was just worried you’d burn yourself.” 

Lin Yuxi found Aunt Chen’s sudden shift in attitude strange but didn’t pay it much attention. 

She had received so little love growing up that she always gave her genuine care to others without hesitation. But once she was betrayed or hurt, she would forever close the door on that person. 

Once trust is broken, it’s never restored. 

It was a Sunday, and Lin Yuxi had the rare day off. She could sit down and enjoy a slow breakfast without rushing to work. 

After a while, Zhou Yanjing came downstairs and sat across from her at the dining table. 

Aunt Chen served him some porridge. During the meal, Zhou Yanjing glanced at Lin Yuxi several times, but she ignored him, eating her food slowly and deliberately. 

Zhou Yanjing only drank half a bowl of porridge before getting up, tying his tie and putting on his suit jacket. 

Lin Yuxi didn’t react at all, as if she had no interest in his whereabouts. 

Even after he finished adjusting his suit and putting on his watch, her focus remained on her bowl, eating her seafood porridge in small, delicate bites. 

Zhou Yanjing finally said, “I’m heading out for a bit.” 

Lin Yuxi glanced up briefly, unsure why he was telling her this. 

He hadn’t even bothered to inform her when he went to the U.S. Why did it matter now that he was just going out? 

Lin Yuxi simply replied, “Okay.” 

She didn’t care. 

Zhou Yanjing’s interest piqued. “Aren’t you going to ask me where I’m going?” 

Lin Yuxi thought his behavior was odd. “Go wherever you want.” 

Zhou Yanjing laughed in exasperation. “Did Aunt Chen put ice in your porridge? Why are you so cold this early in the morning?” 

Lin Yuxi ignored him. 

By the time Zhou Yanjing reached the door, grabbed his coat, and turned back, he asked, “I have a golf game with a client today. Want to come with me?” 

“No,” Lin Yuxi didn’t even look up. 

After Zhou Yanjing left, Aunt Chen couldn’t resist commenting, “It’s rare for Second Young Master to want to take you along. Why didn’t you go?” 

Lin Yuxi finished her meal, put down her chopsticks, and wiped her mouth with a napkin. 

“Because I no longer care.” 

She no longer cared about being by his side. 

Nor did she care about the title of Mrs. Zhou. 

Later that afternoon, Lin Yuxi was at home reading when she received a call from Tan Xingchen, who eagerly asked, “Dr. Lin, why didn’t you come today?” 

Despite promising to satisfy her curiosity, Tan Xingchen had continued pestering Lin Yuxi every day, constantly wanting to see her, much to the annoyance of the entire ophthalmology department. 

Lin Yuxi replied, “I’m not a robot. I need rest, too.” 

Tan Xingchen asked, “Where do you live? I’ll come hang out with you.” 

Lin Yuxi coldly responded, “I’m hanging up.” 

Just after dealing with one person, here came Yu Jiaxiao. 

“Yuxi, hurry up and get ready! I’ll be at your place in ten minutes! My boss gave me two tickets to a play, and I’m taking you to watch it!” 

There went Lin Yuxi’s peaceful day off, suddenly scheduled away. 

She closed her book and said, “Alright, give me a moment. I’ll change.” 

Only Yu Jiaxiao could pull her out of the house on a precious weekend with just one phone call. 

Lin Yuxi put on some light makeup and changed her clothes. When she got outside, Yu Jiaxiao was already there, standing beside a black G-Wagon, wearing sunglasses and posing dramatically with her hands on her hips. 

As Lin Yuxi walked past her, she casually took the sunglasses off Yu Jiaxiao and put them on herself. 

“Hey!” Yu Jiaxiao’s cool pose instantly collapsed. “You weren’t even impressed by how awesome I looked? And you still stole my sunglasses!” 

“You have to be awesome for me to steal them,” Lin Yuxi teased. “Do I look cool?” 

She was wearing a caramel-colored coat that made her lips look even redder and her skin brighter. Her small face framed by the large sunglasses made her look like a movie star stepping out in style stunning. 

Yu Jiaxiao pouted, “You’re drop-dead gorgeous, I won’t lie. Come here, give me a kiss!” 

Lin Yuxi pushed her away. “If you keep messing around, I’m going back inside.” 

Once in the car, Yu Jiaxiao eagerly held out her hand, boasting, “This is my boss’s car. He lost a bet to me, so I get to drive it for a few days. How cool is that?” 

Lin Yuxi took out a bottle of hand sanitizer and squeezed some into Yu Jiaxiao’s hands. “You’re going to make your fortune off betting one day.” 

The thing about Yu Jiaxiao was that she had a mouth that could make anything she said come true at least when it came to bets. 

She had never lost a bet from childhood to now. She’d won herself a year of not having to help clean the classroom from a classmate, three thousand yuan in pocket money from a rich kid, and even the school heartthrob who was the boyfriend of her biggest rival in college. 

Her rival had been so humiliated that she handed over the guy’s contact details in bitter defeat, and Yu Jiaxiao had sent him a voice message saying, “Your girlfriend dumped you, hahaha!” 

After rubbing the sanitizer into her hands, Yu Jiaxiao turned on the car’s music app. 

The playlist belonged to her boss, and she didn’t like it, skipping through the songs with disdain. “What kind of taste is this?” 

Finally, she found a song she liked and started singing along passionately as she drove. 

“How come~ the passionate one cools down first~” 

“The slow-burning one can’t stop, still boiling over~” 

“Time runs recklessly, changing at will~” 

“But the slow-cooling person~ keeps self-tormenting~” 

Lin Yuxi glanced at the display screen. “What song is this?” 

“‘Slow Burn,’ I love it!” Yu Jiaxiao said. “You’ve never heard it?” 

“No,” Lin Yuxi replied. “But the lyrics hit close to home. It feels like they’re describing me and Zhou Yanjing.” 

Zhou Yanjing had loved her briefly and intensely, then left her without looking back. 

Meanwhile, the slow-burning Lin Yuxi had spent over two years tormenting herself, still boiling with feelings. 

But thankfully, she was finally cooling down now. 

Just as she finished speaking, Yu Jiaxiao decisively skipped the song, her face filled with disgust. 

“Ugh! That scumbag has ruined my favorite song!” 

Lin Yuxi couldn’t help but laugh. 

At that moment, her phone rang. 

As a doctor, she received calls from unfamiliar numbers all the time. Some patients would call after consultations to ask more questions, so she didn’t think much of it and answered. 

To her surprise, it was Jiang Nan. 

“Yuxi?” 

“Is something wrong?” Lin Yuxi’s smile faded a little. 

“I thought I might’ve dialed the wrong number,” Jiang Nan said. “Nothing too important, really. I just got back, and Shi Tang insisted on throwing me a welcome-back party. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but he still invited a bunch of friends for a big gathering, all noisy and over-the-top.” 

Her tone was laced with helplessness. Lin Yuxi’s lips twitched, but she didn’t respond. 

Shi Tang and his group treated Jiang Nan completely differently than they treated her. 

After all, they’d grown up with Jiang Nan, so their bond was special. 

Sensing Lin Yuxi’s silence, Jiang Nan continued, “I was wondering if you’d do me the honor of coming tonight? We haven’t seen each other in a while.” 

Lin Yuxi was about to decline. 

But Jiang Nan quickly added with a laugh, “You’re not going to use work as an excuse, are you? I already asked Yanjing, and he said you have the day off today.”