Chapter 35

6:00 PM (2)

Deng Yun’s tone when he said there was no way around it was one of helplessness, but it didn’t feel completely hopeless. It gave off a sense that the situation was merely tricky, not an insurmountable problem. So, Xu Muzi interpreted his “no way around it” as a reason related to work needs or a friend’s enthusiastic recommendation.

Deng Yun’s phone screen dimmed.

They didn’t discuss the TV drama with morally ambiguous themes any further.

When Xu Muzi lived alone, she felt that this room was spacious enough.

With Deng Yun around, it suddenly felt cramped, as if there wasn’t enough oxygen.

The crisis she had worried about was now resolved, and her little desires began to resurface, lurking in the darker corners of the room, clawing at her, making her restless.

Deng Yun had already pulled a chair for himself, placing it directly across from Xu Muzi.

He sat there with his long legs stretched out and asked, “When did you find out that person was your dad’s classmate?”

Xu Muzi thought for a moment. “I don’t remember the exact time, but it was shortly after the incident happened.”

That day was very hot, and Xu Muzi had left the house carrying a huge IKEA woven bag filled with the price list she had found.

She had located a second-hand luxury goods recycling store online, which supposedly offered decent prices, slightly higher than the ones in shopping malls. So, she helped her mom sell the bags and jewelry they had sorted out.

When she returned home, drenched in sweat, she found an uncle crying in the crowded and messy living room.

The frustration and embarrassment of the elders burdened with debt were not something she wanted to witness, so Xu Muzi greeted them and hurried back to her room.

The rented apartment was not soundproof, so she still overheard some of the conversation.

The uncle couldn’t hide his complaints: “If that shameless scammer weren’t your classmate, who could have contacted him?” “Old Xu, old Xu, I really shouldn’t have trusted you.” “It’s also my fault; I didn’t clarify things properly and followed along with you all…”

Xu Muzi gradually realized that her father was the one who had made the wrong choice in the beginning.

She had inevitably felt resentful and anxious.

Just thinking about those elders, including Deng Yun’s parents, who had only encountered the so-called opportunity to make big money because of her father, filled her with guilt, yet she felt powerless.

No one understood Xu Muzi’s experience, so no one had ever asked about it.

Only Deng Yun, who had experienced the burden of eight-digit debt in his family because of this matter, had never said anything hurtful like “you reap what you sow,” “intelligence tax,” or “wealth that doesn’t match intelligence will eventually return to the market.”

Deng Yun listened with a frown. After she finished recounting her experience, he reached out to rub her hair gently. “That must have been really hard for you, right?”

His tone was so gentle that Xu Muzi nearly cried again.

After a long silence, she finally suppressed her bitterness and said, “Yes, it was really hard, but I got through it.”

Xu Muzi had experienced a very similar moment of clarity to Deng Yun’s.

It was also on a night like this, and it had come about by chance.

In the old rented house, there was no separate bathroom attached to her bedroom; the family had only one bathroom to use.

One night, unable to sleep, she went to the bathroom and accidentally overheard a conversation between her parents.

Her mother said, “What should we do? We’ve sold everything we could, even Muzi’s piano…”

Her father had a hoarse voice from a month-long illness, sounding as though he had been rubbed raw: “You should go to sleep; don’t worry too much, I’ll figure something out.”

The couple had a good relationship; even when they bragged over drinks, they complemented each other, helping each other home when they were drunk, and rarely arguing.

But the accumulated pressure had nearly crushed them, and her mother’s voice suddenly rose: “What can you figure out?”

“I told you not to worry about it!”

Xu Muzi’s mother was crying again, choked up as she said, “There’s still a little money in that card; otherwise…”

A loud “bang” sounded from the master bedroom, as if Xu Muzi’s father had slammed a table or something.

Xu Muzi, standing outside the door, was startled.

Her father’s tone was very serious: “No, that money can’t be touched; it’s for Muzi’s tuition. Muzi can’t drop out. Selling the piano is already enough of a betrayal to her…”

Xu Muzi’s father was also crying, sobbing, “It’s my fault; it’s all my fault that you’ve suffered because of me.”

That night, Xu Muzi had cried along with them, and afterward, silently returned to her room, wracking her brain for a way to independently support her expensive tuition fees.

“Deng Yun, after that, I never blamed my parents again, not even once.”

The blind dates arranged by her family for Xu Muzi would leave the other party awkwardly lying in her contact list after they exchanged numbers; she always felt there was nothing to talk about.

Deng Yun was different; they had so many common topics to discuss.

They talked for a long time in Xu Muzi’s room, exchanging small talk, unable to stop.

Feeling stuffy inside, Xu Muzi found a mug and poured herself some mineral water.

Deng Yun had his with ice; when he shook it, the ice cubes clinked against the cup, making a crisp sound.

At this point, they began discussing the names of three stray cats.

Xu Muzi said she and Xia Xia had decided to name the strays “Cai,” “Yuan Yuan,” and “Gun Gun.”

They hoped that the diligent owners who worked hard to run the inn would enjoy abundant wealth.

Deng Yun asked, “Do you like it here?”

“I really like it, and I feel a special connection to this place.”

Deng Yun seemed surprised and asked, “What do you mean?”

“I had a Weibo account…”

Xu Muzi’s account had very few followers; it was more of a venting space where she occasionally shared her daily thoughts and complaints.

After the family incident, she hadn’t used it for over two years.

This year, she thought of it and logged into the account, only to find a zombie account follower had sent her a private message a long time ago.

It was a zombie account that had been following her for quite some time.

Because there were few followers, and she often clicked to check it out, she even recognized the long string of numbers in the initial ID.

In the past, during sleepless nights out of boredom, she would visit that account’s profile to see how the zombie account made money.

The account that sent her the private message also had a string of numbers for an ID.

It hadn’t sent any phishing messages trying to lure others to malicious websites, and it had even liked some of her posts.

The private message contained an advertisement for this inn, with many photos of the place and links for booking.

Xu Muzi clicked on it a few times; she thought the style of the inn suited her tastes perfectly, looking very pleasant and comfortable.

However, at that time, she was busy preparing for her thesis, graduation performance, and competing for various job opportunities back home.

She was so busy that she had no travel plans at all.

“I suddenly thought of this inn after coming out here on a whim, and I actually found it on the app,” she said.

Deng Yun’s eyes flashed with a moment of amusement: “That really is quite a coincidence.”

“Yeah, I find it unbelievable, but that account has even fewer followers than I do. I asked Xia Xia if the inn bought ads, and she said she wasn’t one of the initial employees and didn’t know about the owner’s promotion plans…”

The aromatherapy candle had already burned down a thick layer, and the candlelight danced on the melted black wax.

Deng Yun sat across from Xu Muzi, gazing at her intently and listening to her speak.

Xu Muzi felt shy under his gaze, her voice lowering significantly.

Then, her stomach growled.

At lunch, she had just drunk some alcohol and had a poor appetite, eating only half of what she usually would.

Although she hadn’t done much in the afternoon, she hadn’t been idle either; perhaps kissing consumes energy, as she now felt a bit hungry.

Deng Yun stretched his arm to take the phone resting beside her, checked the time on the screen, and naturally took Xu Muzi’s hand.

“Let’s go; dinner starts at seven, and it’s almost time.”

They held hands, fingers intertwined.

Xu Muzi grabbed her room card and followed him out.

The candle flame trembled fiercely in Deng Yun’s hand, swaying dangerously due to the unstable airflow.

Their shadows flickered on the walls, floor, and stairs.

The rain had lightened significantly, pattering softly on the stone ledge outside the stairwell window.

Getting close, Xu Muzi could smell the fresh scent on Deng Yun and the medicinal scent on his shoulder.

They moved from a lit area toward another source of light in the dimness.

Before reaching the first floor, they could already hear the voices of Xing Pengjie and his group playing cards.

Just as they stepped into the lively common area on the first floor, he subtly released her hand to greet a keen-eyed guest who had come to check on his injury.

Two girls were helping Xia Xia set up candlelight for the dining tables, laughing as they said, “Eating dinner by candlelight like this is quite romantic.”

Xu Muzi, feeling kind, joined in to help.

As dinner time approached, guests trickled downstairs, and Xing Pengjie’s card game broke up; almost everyone gathered in the dining area.

Xu Muzi struck a match, lit a white candle, and turned around, only to find Deng Yun missing.

She looked around and soon discovered Deng Yun was talking to Xia Xia.

Deng Yun informed Xu Muzi that the repairman for the circuit was hurrying over, and if all went well, the power might be restored tonight.

With many hands, the preparation work was completed quickly, and dinner began earlier, before seven.

The ingredients included the batch of mushrooms they had foraged.

The mushroom soup was delicious, and the stir-fried mushrooms with meat smelled particularly good, with a few of the mushroom pickers sharing their foraging experiences with the guests who hadn’t gone out…

While they were eating, Xu Muzi heard someone calling for Deng Yun.

It was the suited woman she had seen before, holding a roll of paper and waving it at Deng Yun: “I brought the blueprints.”

As she stood up, Deng Yun lightly touched Xu Muzi’s shoulder: “I’ll be back right away.”

Xu Muzi glanced over at their side.

She puffed her cheeks and thought that after dinner, she should tell Deng Yun about the competitions she had participated in later.

She even jokingly wished her mother were there, wishing her mother and Deng Yun’s mother could see each other often.

That way, in Deng Yun’s heart, her shining moments wouldn’t just be in the past.

They wouldn’t just be limited to the music school poster from her elementary school days, the competitions she won in middle school, or her smooth admission to a foreign music academy after finishing the college entrance exams…

The girl sitting beside Xu Muzi reached for a piece of mushroom but accidentally knocked the utensils out of Xu Muzi’s hand.

The girl repeatedly apologized, wanting to bend down to help pick them up, but Xu Muzi stopped her.

She almost crawled under the table to retrieve the utensils and grabbed a new pair of chopsticks, saying, “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

The girl had foraged mushrooms with Xu Muzi before and chatted, “At first, when we met, you didn’t say much, and I thought you were hard to approach.”

Xu Muzi replied, “I was lost in thought back then; I felt embarrassed.”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about? You have a really nice personality. Do you want to go mushroom foraging together again tomorrow?”

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

The girl asked, “You’re leaving tomorrow?”

Xing Pengjie, sitting across from them, also asked, “You’re leaving tomorrow? I heard Xia Xia say you just arrived at the inn in the early morning, only two or three hours earlier than me. Why are you leaving so soon?”

Knowing a bit of the inside story, Xing Pengjie sneered towards Deng Yun’s side and made some gestures with his eyebrows at Xu Muzi.

The implication was probably asking:

“Is it that Deng Yun’s interactions with other females drove her away?”

Xu Muzi shook her head with a smile: “I only have today and tomorrow left for my vacation. I came out here on a whim, just to relax and clear my mind; I need to go back to work soon.”

“Did you have a fight with your boyfriend?”

“No.”

Xu Muzi instinctively glanced over at Deng Yun and realized that their relationship hadn’t yet clearly changed. “I… I don’t have a boyfriend yet; I’m just tired of being urged by my family.”

The two girls could relate to this issue.

They naturally continued the conversation, complaining about their parents’ excessive worrying and sharing stories about the strange blind dates they had encountered.

After Deng Yun finished discussing the blueprints with Cheng Zhichun, Cheng Zhichun caught sight of Xu Muzi and teased her a bit.

When he returned, Xu Muzi was sitting in the candlelight in the dining room.

She looked like she was performing an ancient ritual, solemnly raising three slender fingers, her gaze distant: “Three.”

The two girls beside her simultaneously gasped: “Three?”

The scene was quite amusing, as the girl playing the piano seemed like a part-time oracle, but she was only talking about her own affairs.

Xu Muzi sighed: “This year, my parents have introduced me to three blind dates. I just turned one down, and I heard there’s another one in a few days. It’s killing me…”