Chapter 13 – Feels Like an Affair……

A dreamless night.

Shi Zhen had the most peaceful sleep she’d had in over a month—and she actually woke up naturally!

When she opened her eyes, sunlight had already filled the entire room, and the air was filled with a warm, cozy scent.

She glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand—it was already eleven.

She had slept that long?!

Quickly sitting up, Shi Zhen ran a hand through her messy, nest-like hair.

After confirming she wasn’t wearing anything inappropriate, she slowly opened the bedroom door.

There was no sign of Brother Xie in the living room. The neatly folded blanket and comforter were placed tidily on the sofa.

The entire apartment looked like it had been meticulously cleaned—even the old grime on the floor had vanished.

So diligent… Shi Zhen couldn’t help but marvel.

Her eyes paused as she spotted something on top of the folded blanket.

She leaned closer to check, and found a sticky note attached on top.

“Back at noon. Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid.”

The handwriting was smooth and elegant, carrying a powerful presence. It had to be a note from Brother Xie.

His handwriting was just like him—like a warmhearted big brother. Just looking at it gave her a strong sense of security.

Shi Zhen smiled faintly and carefully saved the sticky note.

She walked to the kitchen, grabbed something to eat from the fridge, and then returned to her bedroom to open her laptop.

WeChat was quiet—Chen Hong still hadn’t accepted her friend request.

But Shi Zhen was almost certain Chen Hong had seen the note she left in her request. Who nowadays goes a whole day without checking WeChat?

Especially someone like Chen Hong—she could chat on her phone all day long. There’s no way she missed it.

Seeing it but choosing not to reply… that was its own kind of answer.

Maybe she really could move on from that messy chapter.

Shi Zhen instantly felt lighter. She decided to reward herself by writing 3,000 words!

The story was already reaching its climax—the conflict between Cinderella and the prince was surfacing, and things would only get more intense from here.

Originally, she had planned a very tragic ending. She had crafted the male lead’s character based on her imagination of Brother Xie.

He loved the female lead, but not enough. He would give up their relationship for many things—

Power, status, money, reputation…

But now, Shi Zhen suddenly hesitated.

Because Xie Qian wasn’t like that. He… wasn’t like the rich second-generation man she had imagined.

She couldn’t imagine the same person who held a bunny ear plushie while sleeping last night being someone cold-hearted or selfish.

If he truly were that kind of person, why would he rush over the moment she called for help? He had no reason to come personally.

After she hung up the phone last night, she hadn’t even had time to call the police before those guys were scared off by Zhaocai and Jinbao.

Compared to a prince, Xie Qian was more like a knight—a knight with the background of a prince.

Shi Zhen’s thoughts were a complete mess. She tried to separate the male lead in her script from the real-life Xie Qian.

But after being so deeply immersed for so long, it was suddenly very hard to make that separation.

It was like having a doll you both loved and hated—you set it up as the big villain. But one day, it suddenly starts talking.

And then you discover—it’s actually a soft, clingy, little cutie who goes “uwu.”

That kind of emotional dissonance was exactly what Shi Zhen was feeling now.

As she struggled, not a single new word had been added to the Word document on her laptop.

She sat there dazed for over half an hour.

Until a knock at the door snapped her out of it.

Thinking it was Xie Qian returning—since his note said “Back at noon”—she got up to open the door.

But when the door swung open, it wasn’t him—it was the face of a stranger.

Shi Zhen cautiously opened the door just a crack and asked, “Can I help you?”

The man craned his neck to look inside the apartment, and only after confirming no one else was there did he start speaking:

“Hey, little missy, I live upstairs. What happened at your place yesterday? So much noise! My kid couldn’t sleep at all.”

Hearing that, Shi Zhen immediately understood. No wonder this guy looked familiar—he was the man from the apartment above.

She had gone up a few times to complain about the noise from his kid.

And twice, he had been the one to answer the door—with a nasty attitude, even mocking her, saying things like, “That’s just how apartment buildings are. If you’ve got the money, go live in a villa.”

Thinking of that made her angry again. She responded coldly, “Yes, it was a bit noisy yesterday. I apologize. But it won’t happen again. Do you need anything else? If not, I’ll close the door now.”

With that, Shi Zhen grabbed the doorknob and was about to shut it—when a sudden force yanked the door open hard.

Caught off guard, she stumbled forward.

The man’s face turned hostile as he barked, “You say it won’t happen again, but what about last night? My son couldn’t sleep, didn’t finish his homework—that’s minor. What if he got scared? Can you take responsibility for that?!”

Shi Zhen felt her blood pressure spike. So this was what it felt like to be gaslit.

Instantly, she went full fire mode, frowning deeply as she snapped back, “That’s rich coming from you. Your kid bounces balls and drives toy cars in the middle of the night, throws stuff all over the floor—it happens all the time! Have I ever said anything? I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks! Can you afford to pay for that?”

The more she spoke, the more fired up she got. “Oh, so now you think it’s noisy? Too bad—‘that’s just how apartment buildings are,’ right? If you’ve got the money, go live in a villa.”

Hands on her hips, head tilted up, she stared straight at the man—who was at least a head taller—with zero fear.

The man was completely speechless. Then his temper flared.

He suddenly raised his hand as if to strike—

“You—”

But before he could even get a word out, another hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. In the blink of an eye, he was thrown to the ground.

Shi Zhen hadn’t even seen what happened—it was just a blur of motion.

By the time he snapped out of it, he was already lying on the concrete floor, clutching his wrist and yelling, “I’m calling the police! I’m going to report you for assault! I’ll have all of you thrown in jail!”

Xie Qian’s tall figure appeared at the top of the stairs like a god descending from the heavens, looking down at the shouting man with a cold gaze.

As if he had just heard a joke, he sneered and curled his lips. “Oh? Call the police?”

“Calling the police is actually a great idea. But you don’t really think the police will press charges just because you can run your mouth, do you? Do you believe that even if I beat you until you look like a pig, nothing will happen to me?”

“Go ahead, call the cops. Let’s see who ends up in jail.”

There seemed to be an innate authority in Xie Qian—no matter how outrageous his words were, no one dared question them.

The man struggled to his feet, rubbing his wrist while glaring viciously at Xie Qian.

Apparently realizing Xie Qian wasn’t someone to mess with, he patted the dust off his backside and slunk upstairs, covered in dirt.

From beginning to end, he didn’t dare say another word.

Shi Zhen was completely stunned. Wasn’t this just a classic case of bullying the weak and fearing the strong?

“You’re not hurt, right?” Xie Qian quickly walked up the stairs, took Shi Zhen’s hand, and gave it a quick inspection. Only after confirming she was unharmed did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.

He had woken up early, done a full cleaning of the place, and then taken Shi Zhen’s phone to get it repaired.

As he expected, neither the phone shop nor the repair shop could fix it. So, he popped out the SIM card and, taking the liberty, mailed the phone back to Shulin for repairs.

The Xie family owned one of the country’s top research teams—if they could resurrect a phone smashed into pieces, Shi Zhen’s was no problem.

Considering it would be inconvenient for Shi Zhen to be without a phone, he once again took the liberty of buying her a new one.

The latest model—even newer than Yueyue’s.

After buying the phone, he made a stop at the security company to check on things. He didn’t go just for fun—he had something on his mind. The three people who played cards with Shi Zhen yesterday—were any of them even remotely good-looking?

He hired agents to manage the company, not to keep a bunch of disobedient freeloaders around. Just because he was the boss behind the scenes didn’t mean his words could be ignored.

But when Xie Qian got to the company, he realized he had misunderstood—the three from yesterday were actually the best-looking ones of the lot. The rest weren’t exactly ugly, but they were all built like tanks—each one was practically double Shi Zhen’s size.

Xie Qian asked about the company’s current status, held a brief meeting, and then came back. Who would’ve thought that just as he came upstairs, he’d see some guy at the door trying to get violent?

How could he possibly let that slide?

Absolutely not.

Young Master Xie took action immediately, knocked the guy down, and to be honest, ever since returning to the Xie family, he rarely had to lift a finger himself. This was a good chance to test his skills.

Not bad. Still got it.

“Scared silly?” Xie Qian waved his hand in front of Shi Zhen’s dazed eyes. “Come on, let’s go inside. You’ll catch a cold.”

Shi Zhen let herself be pulled inside in a daze.

She wasn’t scared. Nor was she stunned by Xie Qian’s fighting skills. She’d just been struck by sudden inspiration.

Why was she so fixated on creating a character that fit a certain predetermined, socially accepted image?

A tragic ending wasn’t the only way to evoke pity. Perhaps two people staying together out of obligation, with fading love and growing suspicion, was even more heartbreaking.

Just then, something was shoved into her hand, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked down and realized there was an unopened phone box in her hands.

Shi Zhen looked at Xie Qian in confusion. “Brother Xie, this is…”

Xie Qian smiled. “It’s for you. See if you like it. I already sent your old phone off for repair—it’ll come back as good as new.”

“As long as the old one can be fixed, there’s no rush. But I can’t accept this.” Shi Zhen tried to hand the phone back. “Brother Xie, you’ve already helped me so much. I can’t accept a new phone from you.”

Xie Qian shoved the phone back into her hands. “I told you, your brother’s rich. Just take it.”

“I really can’t accept it.” Shi Zhen pressed her lips together and said firmly, “If you insist on giving it to me, then I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Xie Qian teased. “Call the cops? I’d love to see whether the police would do anything about someone forcing a phone on you.”

Shi Zhen: …

Honestly, the police probably wouldn’t care. If someone snatched her phone, sure, the police would definitely intervene.

But calling the cops because someone insisted on giving her a phone? At best, she’d get a warning for filing a false report.

Shi Zhen had no choice but to accept the phone. “Then… thank you again. And again. And again.”

Great. Now she owed Xie Qian even more.

“Brother Xie… are you busy these days? If not, how about I show you around Xiaoshan for a few days?” Shi Zhen asked.

Xie Qian seriously thought it over. He originally came to Jinhe for business and to relax. A change of scenery might not be a bad idea.

He nodded without hesitation and smiled. “Sure. But if you’re going to accompany me… does he know?”

As he spoke, he pointed to the clothes he was wearing—none other than the set Shi Zhen had given him last night.

Shi Zhen gasped. That definitely couldn’t be discovered by Shi Daguo. It looked like they’d have to avoid any places he frequented for the next few days.

She shook her head honestly. “He doesn’t know. We absolutely can’t let him find out. If he does, we’re doomed.”

Xie Qian: …

Yeah. If they got caught, they were totally screwed.

Why did it feel like they were having a secret affair…?