Zhou Jiayu had already stood up, but Wan Xue interjected, “I’ll go get it. My milk tea is almost here too; I’ll grab it all together.”

With that, she walked out.

Seeing this, Fang Wenting also stood up and followed, “I’ll go with you.”

The two of them walked out one after the other and took the elevator down.

As they were walking towards the hotel reception, Shen Zhirou happened to be leaving.

Their eyes inadvertently met and glanced at each other.

Fang Wenting didn’t recognize Shen Zhirou, but Wan Xue had seen her at the cinema last time. Today, she had also heard Fang Wenting and Lu Fanghuai talking about her appearance.

As soon as she saw Shen Zhirou, Wan Xue immediately grabbed Fang Wenting, “Look at that woman!”

Fang Wenting’s eyes roamed around and landed on Shen Zhirou’s face as Wan Xue said, “I saw her at the cinema last time with Zhou Jiayu.”

Standing at a distance, the two of them whispered, so Shen Zhirou couldn’t hear what they were saying.

She just thought that she had been caught as the other woman.

She mistook Wan Xue for Fang Wenting.

Thus, the incident where Zhou Jiayu helped her with her bag in the park earlier today and now seeing these people at the hotel, with their nervous looks, all made sense.

Shen Zhirou felt utterly embarrassed.

In that moment, she even considered whether she should sincerely kneel down and apologize, explaining that she didn’t know Lu Fanghuai was married.

Seeing Wan Xue walking towards her, Shen Zhirou quickly fled.

“Hey! Hey…” Wan Xue, not knowing why Shen Zhirou ran, tried to call out but didn’t know her name, so she could only shout a couple of times, watching her run away.

Fang Wenting, calling Zhou Jiayu on her phone, hurried over as well.

“I saw the girl you’re chasing! Lao Zhou, you have good taste, she’s beautiful!”

Zhou Jiayu was in the hotel, listening to Lu Fanghuai bragging about how he used his name to pursue someone, when he suddenly received a call from Fang Wenting.

He hurried downstairs and asked, “Where is she?”

“She ran away…”

“Ran away?” Zhou Jiayu took the takeout bag and sent a WeChat message to Shen Zhirou, “You must be mistaken.”

“How could I be mistaken? Xiao Xue saw her last time. She said the person standing here just now was her. I thought she was here to see you, so I called you immediately to ask her to hang out with us, but she ran off.” Fang Wenting shrugged.

Zhou Jiayu’s expression grew serious because the message he sent to Shen Zhirou was shown as rejected, indicated by a glaring red exclamation mark.

He had a bad feeling…

“Did you really see her just now?” Zhou Jiayu asked Wan Xue again.

His sudden serious attitude was a bit intimidating.

Wan Xue nodded and pointed in the direction she had seen Shen Zhirou, “She was standing over there.”

Zhou Jiayu immediately turned and walked over.

“What’s going on?” Fang Wenting wondered, seeing Lu Fanghuai arriving, she quickly waved him over to help carry the takeout, then excitedly gossiped with him, “I saw the girl Lao Zhou is chasing just now, she’s super pretty!”

“Where? Where!” Lu Fanghuai was very curious.

“She ran away.”

“Ran away? Then what is he doing now? Not chasing after her?”

“I don’t know.” Fang Wenting shook her head, and they leisurely walked back to Zhou Jiayu.

As they approached, they heard the receptionist explaining, “The lady just confirmed the wedding date for Mr. Lu Fanghuai and Miss Fang Wenting…”

“It’s over! This is a huge misunderstanding!” Lu Fanghuai immediately understood why Zhou Jiayu’s face turned so sour.

“What do you mean? What’s going on?” Fang Wenting, puzzled, grabbed Lu Fanghuai to ask.

Seeing Zhou Jiayu quickly walking out, Lu Fanghuai hurriedly caught up and asked, “Do you want me to go explain with you? I have my ID with me.”

Zhou Jiayu ignored him and walked swiftly.

Left behind, Lu Fanghuai met Fang Wenting’s curious eyes and briefly explained the misunderstanding that he had been helping Zhou Jiayu conceal.

__

Shen Zhirou hurried home in a panic. When she opened the door, Xu Jia was already back, waiting anxiously for her.

“You’re back!” Xu Jia immediately stood up and approached her upon hearing the door, “You look a bit pale, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“But you…”

“Really, I’m fine. I’ve deleted Lu Fanghuai from my contacts, as if we never knew each other. Don’t mention those ridiculous things from before to your brother and the others, or it will just cause more misunderstandings.” Shen Zhirou pressed her lips together and forced out her words, “I’m sorry, Xu Jia.”

“Why are you apologizing to me? It should be me apologizing to you. If it weren’t for my reckless words, you wouldn’t have met Lu Fanghuai. I…”

“It’s fine. I’m going to my room. I have a photo shoot tomorrow. Goodnight.” Shen Zhirou waved her hand and walked to her room.

After closing the door, she leaned against it and slowly sank to the ground.

She didn’t know if blocking and deleting Lu Fanghuai as if they had never met would really mean nothing had happened and wouldn’t affect his marriage.

Her mind was in a mess, and suddenly, she felt very scared.

She was afraid of encountering Lu Fanghuai again in this city…

She slumped on the ground, took out her phone, and opened the work groups set to ‘Do Not Disturb.’ Finally, she tried sending a WeChat message to Xiong Hao.

Shen Zhirou: “Do you have any commercial shoots available recently? Even those requiring travel.”

Xiong Hao: “Don’t you usually avoid out-of-town shoots? You don’t even take local night shoots that require overnight stays.”

Shen Zhirou: “I suddenly feel like taking a trip.”

Xiong Hao: “I’ll check.”

Clutching her phone, Shen Zhirou buried her face in her knees, waiting quietly for a reply.

Working as a model was a complex and chaotic field. She had stumbled many times and been deceived often, but she was relatively lucky, managing to avoid major setbacks.

Six months ago, she almost fell into a major trap while desperately taking gigs to pay off debts. She nearly got tricked into signing a contract for an obscene photoshoot and was even harassed at night.

Since then, she firmly avoided distant shoots, especially those requiring overnight stays.

Now, she was so afraid of running into Lu Fanghuai again that she wanted to escape.

She feared entanglement with a married man, an entanglement that couldn’t be easily cut off.

Her phone vibrated in her hand.

Xiong Hao: “Tomorrow there’s a shoot at a nearby city’s hot spring resort. Swimsuit photos. After the shoot, the client offers a day trip at the resort. Since it’s last minute, it’s only 300 yuan for the day. Want to go?”

Shen Zhirou: “Yes. What time tomorrow?”

Xiong Hao: “Departure at 6 AM sharp, the bus leaves from the sports center.”

Shen Zhirou: “Okay.”

She responded, then dragged her stiff body to pack a simple suitcase.

She didn’t sleep at all that night.

At the first light of dawn, she left her apartment.

When she left the complex, she even chose the north gate, which was farther from her side.

As Shen Zhirou left, she had no idea that Zhou Jiayu was waiting for her at the south gate and had been waiting all night.

When Zhou Jiayu rushed out of the hotel, he realized he only had Shen Zhirou’s WeChat contact, no other way to reach her or know where she lived.

She was like a gust of wind that teased his heart and then disappeared without a trace.

He didn’t know how many messages he had sent her on WeChat, but they were all rejected. Even his attempts to re-add her as a friend failed.

Lu Fanghuai suggested using his own WeChat to help add her and explain, but it was completely useless.

Zhou Jiayu had no choice but to wait near the bus stop where he had picked her up last time, hoping to catch a glimpse of her again.

As his impatience grew more visible, and the day became brighter, someone came to remind him that he couldn’t park there…