Chapter 4

The little girl needed to do her homework tonight, and the family had hired a tutor. Qin Yuncai didn’t care about his right arm, which was about to be sore, and insisted on taking his niece home before going to eat.

“Finally, she’s gone. So annoying.” After handing his niece over to the family maid, Qin Yuncai pressed the gas pedal and sped off, muttering to himself, “How does such a young child have so much energy?”

Qin Yuncai enjoyed racing in his free time and was good at it, often speeding on the roads.

Wen Ci was jolted by the acceleration and paused for two seconds in silence before quietly fastening her seatbelt.

“Drive slower,” Zhou Wu suddenly spoke up.

“Okay,” Qin Yuncai responded, realizing. He glanced at Wen Ci through the rearview mirror. “Wen Ci, don’t worry. I’m a professional, my car is super stable.”

Wen Ci smiled in response.

—-

After dropping off his noisy niece, Qin Yuncai finally had time to talk about other matters. “By the way, how did you know Wen Ci rode a bike?”

Wen Ci instinctively looked at Zhou Wu.

She had been distracted, wondering how Zhou Wu and Qin Yuncai had mentioned her earlier.

They had agreed not to tell anyone about their relationship, and she believed Zhou Wu wouldn’t break the promise.

This made her even more curious.

Zhou Wu was sitting casually, stretching his long legs. “She used to ride a bike to school in high school.”

Wen Ci lowered her eyes.

Qin Yuncai mumbled, “Really? Our school allows students to park their bikes?”

It didn’t.

There had been incidents with students riding bikes at school, and to avoid responsibility, the school had banned all student vehicles from entering. The parking conditions outside were poor, and bikes were often stolen, so no students rode bikes to school.

Wen Ci had always taken the bus in high school.

Wen Ci smiled vaguely. “Mm.”

The restaurant had a manor design, located amidst mountains and water. The staff knew them and led them down a winding path to the pavilion in the middle of the lake.

The sound of flowing water and the soft sound of a guqin could be heard. A square redwood dining table, clearly the best spot in the manor, awaited them.

The staff said, “Mr. Zhou, Mr. Qin, our boss specially arranged the dishes for you. Is it convenient to serve them now?”

Just as Qin Yuncai was about to nod, Zhou Wu raised his hand. “Bring the menu.”

The staff quickly brought the menu, and Zhou Wu took it, placing it directly in front of Wen Ci.

Wen Ci paused, then realized. “No need, I’ll eat whatever you order.”

“Take a look,” Zhou Wu placed it in front of her. “All these dishes are heavy. You’ll get tired of them.”

“Yeah, Wen Ci, take a look. Order anything you want,” Qin Yuncai was surprised. Why was his friend being so considerate today?

Wen Ci had no choice but to look at the menu.

She had thought that the hotel bill Zhou Wu sent her a few days ago was the most expensive meal she had seen—two bowls of rice, one vegetable dish, and two meat dishes, which cost them 800 yuan.

But in this restaurant, one vegetable dish was 699 yuan, and a pot of tea was 888 yuan.

Beside her, Qin Yuncai was asking Zhou Wu about their American friend’s newly opened ski resort. Zhou Wu responded perfunctorily, saying it was fine.

Wen Ci listened quietly. After a while, when she felt the timing was right, she handed the menu back to the staff with a smile. “I’ve already ordered what I want, so just bring what was arranged earlier.”

Once all the dishes were served, Qin Yuncai said, “Teacher Wen, try some. If there’s anything you like, feel free to add. I’m really sorry for making you wait so long.”

“It’s fine, it’s part of our teacher’s duty,” Wen Ci politely replied. “You can just call me Wen Ci.”

“Okay, Wen Ci, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it? We haven’t talked since high school graduation…” Qin Yuncai paused, suddenly remembering something. “Wait, did you go to Duan Wei’s wedding too?”

Zhou Wu was lazily leaning back in his chair, eating slowly. Upon hearing this, he looked at Wen Ci.

Wen Ci still wore a faint smile. “Yes, I was sitting at the table next to yours.”

At Duan Wei’s wedding, their high school classmates were divided into two tables: one was for Duan Wei’s friends, and the other was for the groom’s friends, who were invited by Wen Wen.

Duan Wei had been the type of girl who was very lively and popular in high school. She was beautiful and energetic, and she knew many troublemakers like Zhou Wu and Qin Yuncai. Half of the people at her table were not from their class. That table was the loudest during the wedding.

Wen Wen was the class monitor in high school, and he invited the class officers and top students to his table.

The reason Qin Yuncai remembered that Wen Ci had also attended was because: “After the banquet, Duan Wei and the others arranged a second event, a class reunion. Wen Wen came over and asked me if I had seen you… Why did you leave so early that night?”

Wen Ci swallowed her food slowly. “I was a bit drunk, so I went home early.”

“What a pity, the second event was really fun. You and Zhou Wu didn’t go.”

Wen Ci’s eating slowed even more.

Zhou Wu wasn’t just casually mentioning it; the restaurant’s owner had arranged for them to have all the big dishes: Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Dongpo Pork, Shark’s Fin Rice, even the tofu was wrapped in thick crab roe. The only relatively light dish was the boiled cabbage, which had just three pieces of cabbage. Wen Ci didn’t dare eat too much of it.

When they saw that they had almost finished eating, Wen Ci also put down her chopsticks. Her phone rang from her pocket, and as she saw the caller ID, she remembered that she had forgotten to explain the situation to Teacher Li.

She gave a small gesture to the two people at the table and hurriedly picked up her phone to step outside.

“Did you see that?” After she went out, Qin Yun suddenly asked.

Zhou Wu, who was tapping on his phone, didn’t look up: “What?”

“Wen Ci here, and also this.” Qin Yun pointed to the sides of his neck and whispered, “I didn’t expect that, she plays so wild.”

The marks left by mosquito bites—this might fool others, but for someone like Qin Yun, he could easily tell what they were.

Qin Yun: “The sound, like someone strangling… Wait, what the hell are you doing?”

The hot towel that had just been brought by the waiter suddenly flew toward his face, and Qin Yun hurriedly raised his hand to block it.

“I told you to shut up,” Zhou Wu said in a calm voice. “What are you staring at?”

When Wen Ci came back after hanging up the phone, Qin Yun had already obediently wiped his hands with the towel that had been thrown at him.

—-

After eating and drinking to their fill, the three of them walked outside together.

It was already dark, and to create a better atmosphere, the lights along the brick road were dim, making the path unclear. It had just rained lightly, and the stone bricks were slippery. Wen Ci had to carefully watch the ground to move forward with ease.

Zhou Wu slowly fell behind.

“By the way, Wen Ci, let’s add each other on WeChat, so we can stay in touch.” Qin Yun turned around. “Don’t worry, I won’t ask about my bratty niece’s homework.“

Wen Ci smiled and picked up her phone to scan his friend code: “Okay, you can ask, it doesn’t matter.”

After they added each other as friends, Qin Yun suddenly remembered something and laughed: “Just don’t block me on your Moments.”

Wen Ci was momentarily stunned: “What?”

“That day when you blocked Zhou Wu, I was right next to him, hahaha.” Qin Yun couldn’t stop laughing when he recalled that day.

That night at Blue Note, Qin Yun had intended to ask Zhou Wu if he wanted to try the new wine. He went over, only to find that Zhou Wu was reading something. When he looked closer, Qin Yun was curious: “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t go to the school anniversary? Why are you looking at the anniversary promotions?”

Zhou Wu closed the article, gave it a like, and said, “Just browsing.”

“Wen Ci?” Seeing the person involved in the Moments post, Qin Yun was even more surprised. “How do you have her as a friend? Hey, don’t hide it, let me see too. What did the promotion say? Did Old Yu show up?”

“Look it up yourself.”

“I don’t have any friends who share this stuff, if you open it again, I’ll take a look.”

Unable to tolerate Qin Yun’s curiosity, Zhou Wu reopened WeChat to let him have a glance just to get him to shut up.

But after a while, the post couldn’t be found.

To avoid having the chat history exposed, Zhou Wu searched Wen Ci’s contact and clicked on her Moments—there was no article, no reposts, just a “——”.

“So funny, this is the first time I’ve witnessed a like getting immediately blocked in real time.” When they reached the entrance of the manor, Qin Yun was still laughing. “And it was Zhou Wu of all people, it’s just so damn brilliant.”

Wen Ci hadn’t expected this to happen. She froze for a moment, then instinctively wanted to turn around to explain to Zhou Wu, but didn’t pay attention to the road, and suddenly, her foot slipped, throwing her off balance.

Her waist was caught by someone, and the person behind her gently helped her stand upright.

Before Wen Ci could react, she was let go.

Two cars were parked at the entrance of the manor. Qin Yun was about to get in his car when he suddenly felt something was off.

He looked at the G-Wagon parked behind his car: “Zhou Wu, this car is the same model as yours. The license plate is the same too—wait, how is your car here?”

“It was just brought here,” Zhou Wu took the keys from the valet, pressed a button to unlock the car, and said casually, “You can drive back by yourself.”

Qin Yun was confused: “Alright, then I’ll take Wen Ci back…”

“No need, I’m going with her.” Zhou Wu tapped his trunk and said simply, “We’re heading the same way.”

“Wait, at least ask Wen Ci what she thinks.” Qin Yun laughed. “She just blocked you, maybe she doesn’t want to ride in your car—”

Click.

Not far away, Wen Ci had already opened the passenger side door of Zhou Wu’s car.

The night wind was strong, and Wen Ci couldn’t hear what they were saying behind her.

Seeing the sudden silence and the two of them looking at her, Wen Ci blinked and uncertainly asked, “Do you want me to help lift the car?”

Qin Yun silently opened his own trunk, and Zhou Wu took back his car, seemingly smiling as he said, “No need, get in and wait for me.”

The mountain roads were few, and Qin Yun’s car was still following them. He rolled down the window to chat with Wen Ci. Though he claimed not to care about his bratty niece, three out of five sentences were about the girl.

Wen Ci was worried that his talking would distract him from driving but felt embarrassed not to respond, so she answered him sparingly.

After driving out of the narrow mountain road and entering the city, Zhou Wu could no longer stand it and floored the gas pedal, leaving the self-proclaimed professional Qin Yun far behind. Wen Ci didn’t even have time to say goodbye.

Finally, the ear-splitting noise stopped, and Wen Ci let out a sigh, closing the window, and the world fell back into silence.

The faint smell of pine filled the car, and Wen Ci realized—this was probably the first time she had been alone with Zhou Wu outside of a hotel since they graduated high school.

This was also the first time she had ridden in this car. Zhou Wu had offered to drive her home before, but the streets near her house were narrow and crowded, so she had always refused.

The silence in the car made Wen Ci acutely aware of her heartbeat.

After a while, she spoke up to explain: “About the Moments… it wasn’t intentional.”

“I just didn’t want to bother you. My Moments are pretty boring.”

“Mm.” Zhou Wu didn’t seem to mind much. “It’s fine.”

The car fell silent again.

Wen Ci opened her mouth, wanting to say something to break the silence, but after thinking for a while, she closed it again.

Wen Ci had never been good at small talk. Her parents had taught her to speak less, do more, focus on studying, and avoid unnecessary socializing, so she had grown accustomed to being quiet. Even now, when she wanted to change, it was hard for her to do so.

Perhaps she was just born to be a person who isn’t very interesting.

Zhou Wu drove casually, his long fingers gripping the steering wheel, his elbow lazily resting on the armrest. The dim, intersecting streetlights reflected on his face, outlining his sharp, well-defined features.

He played music, and the intro of “Love Me Like You Do” began. The atmosphere in the car finally became less awkward.

Wen Ci listened to the familiar song and slowly relaxed.

Until they stopped at a red light, and Zhou Wu turned to look at her.

Sensing his gaze, Wen Ci reacted: “My home is on Zhongxing Street. The roads there are a bit hard to drive through. You can just drop me at the intersection.”

Zhou Wu gave a soft “mm,” then suddenly asked, “Do you have to be dropped off there?”

Wen Ci understood: “You can just drop me somewhere ahead; I can take a taxi back.”

Zhou Wu stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly turned his face and smiled.

The red light turned green, Zhou Wu stepped on the gas, and in Wen Ci’s confusion, he silently laughed for a while before speaking.

“What I meant was, can we go to a hotel first?”

Wen Ci crossed her fingers, her face calm, as if replying to a message from her boss in a work group: “Okay.”

The black G-class SUV slowly stopped by the roadside.

“I’m going to buy some condoms, the ones from before are gone.”

Zhou Wu didn’t like using the ones provided by the hotel. He got out of the car and, holding the door, asked the passenger, “What do you want to eat?”

Wen Ci silently met his gaze.

Zhou Wu waited for a long time, until he raised an eyebrow in confusion. Only then did Wen Ci speak.

“Just the ones you used last time,” she said.

“The ones I used last time?” Zhou Wu repeated.

“Mm,” Wen Ci said, “The thin ones, 001.”

Zhou Wu nodded, mimicking her earlier tone: “Okay.”

“But I was asking what you want to eat?” Zhou Wu said. “You didn’t eat much at the manor earlier, I’ll buy you something else.”

The car door closed, and Zhou Wu walked into the convenience store on the street.

Wen Ci bent down, hiding her reddened face in her palm.