Chapter 13 : I Want to Be Alone

Yu Zhi felt like she was being watched by something.

Especially the piece of bare skin on the back of her neck, which was chilly even though it was the hot summer. It felt like it was in a cold pool.

Maybe the central air conditioner was too cold. Yu Zhi opened her eyes in a daze and vaguely noticed a black shadow covering her, spreading to the goose-yellow wall.

She shuddered and was about to feel for some self-defense weapons nearby when she suddenly remembered that she was no longer a lonely housewife guarding an empty room.

Yu Zhi secretly looked at the time under the covers. It was now six o’clock in the morning.

Scumbag man, you woke up too early!

Jiang Qianchen stood behind her without saying a word, which was really scary. Yu Zhi muttered in her heart, closed her eyes and tried to continue sleeping, but she couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. Finally, the man behind her seemed to realize that she was pretending to sleep and spoke first:

“Wake up.”

His tone was very calm, and there was nothing unusual in it: “It’s still early, you can sleep a little longer.”

The person in the corner of the bed didn’t move a muscle.

If it were usual, Yu Zhi would have gotten up anxiously, prepared meals and dressed for the emperor, and served him obediently and pleasingly.

However, today Yu Zhi didn’t want to move at all. The last time she casually mentioned to Jiang Qianchen that her “aunt” (menstrual period) had arrived, it actually came. It was particularly intense and overwhelming. Although her menstrual cycle was always irregular, it was rare for her abdomen to hurt like this.

And for some reason, Yu Zhi always felt that there were burning pains in the back of her neck.

Anyway, she was now a desperate housewife who was hurt by love, so it was normal for her to ignore her husband.

Yu Zhi clenched the blanket, always keeping her back to Jiang Qianchen, showing a resistant attitude towards conversation.

Jiang Qianchen put down his pen.

He had hardly slept all night.

He had a lot of work piled up at the company waiting for him to review due to his business trip to Huacheng. His wife’s sleep-talking made him uneasy, so he decided to bring the documents to the study room to work on the small table there.

There had been situations of working all night before. He would work at the desk in the bedroom, while Yu Zhi would be sound asleep not far away in the bed, but without exception, every time his wife woke up, she would inquire about his well-being and then bring him a cup of coffee.

Jiang Qianchen pushed his glasses up and now he had regained his usual rationality.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Seeing Yu Zhi silent, the man paused for a moment, “Or did you not have a good time last night?”

If he remembered correctly, she should have had dinner with friends last night. Although he felt slightly displeased with the people she was with.

However, Jiang Qianchen focused his gaze on Yu Zhi’s delicate and round earlobe beneath her dark hair. He didn’t have the right to interfere with her friendships.

Yu Zhi was just worried that she wouldn’t have a chance to bring up the topic, but as soon as she heard the man proactively mention “last night,” she immediately sobbed while clutching the corner of the blanket:

“I thought you would know about my unhappiness.”

“I don’t want to pursue what happened last night anymore. Whatever you hid from me, I’ll pretend it didn’t happen. Let’s just continue like this, okay?”

Her voice was muffled, filled with suppressed sadness and entanglement.

Jiang Qianchen hesitated for a moment, and his movement to get closer to Yu Zhi stopped.

She knew about the things he hid…?

After a moment, he finally responded.

“I’m sorry for making you feel uncomfortable.” The man’s voice spread from behind, with a hint of low and deep pressure. “I will try to restrain myself.”

Yu Zhi: ???

What is Jiang Qianchen talking about?

She tried to recall what had happened at that time. Could it be that Chen Baiwei really had a fling with him, but just got off the bed of another sponsor and even confronted her, the legitimate wife, which supported her action of slapping her face?

He said “try to restrain himself,” could it be an apology for his deviant nature?

Subconsciously, Yu Zhi felt that what she and Jiang Qianchen were talking about were not the same thing. She was originally trying to show the magnanimity of a wealthy wife, and then make a big deal out of the news of a certain Chen surname actress’s pregnancy. Shouldn’t Jiang Qianchen be annoyed by her acting like a resentful wife?

The sun had not yet spread across the sky from the horizon. There was only a lamp lit on the small table in the room, and the room was quiet, with only two shallow breathing sounds indicating the presence of people.

After a long time, Yu Zhi didn’t hear any sound from the room. She curled up in the bed, not knowing if Jiang Qianchen had left or not. She tentatively whispered into the air:

“Can you… let me be alone for a while?”

She heard Jiang Qianchen respond with a “Hmm,” unable to distinguish his emotions. Then, the sound of a doorknob being twisted and the door slamming shut came from the opposite corner of the wall.

[Darling, the male lead has already left.]

The system, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly popped up again, reminding her in the tone of an online customer service representative.

Yu Zhi finally lifted her head from under the blanket, turned over, and then flopped onto the bed in a “大” shape, with her relaxed palm shrinking inward.

The right half of the bed felt icy cold, as if it hadn’t been used.

It seemed that Jiang Qianchen hadn’t slept all night. Yu Zhi yawned, no wonder his tone was so low just now, probably due to lack of sleep.

“By the way, system, what do you need from me?”

Yu Zhi adjusted her pillow, found a comfortable position to nestle in, and asked the system.

Perhaps because it trusted her excellent acting skills, the system rarely came online. It usually only appeared in the window when the original plot was unfolding.

Sure enough, the customer service-like system enthusiastically showered her with praise:

[Congratulations! Host, your progress in portraying the supporting female character has improved again!]

The system automatically played a BGM of good luck in her mind.

Yu Zhi showed a hint of confusion.

Perhaps her graceful failure and embarrassment yesterday caused the progress bar to skyrocket?

Although she didn’t understand how the system determined her progress in completing the task, it didn’t hinder Yu Zhi’s soaring spirits.

Just thinking that soon she would be able to escape from this cold ice cave called Jiang Qianchen, and no longer have to pretend to want to warm him up, made her ecstatic.

Nothing could stop her longing for freedom! While her body was still in bed, her heart had already flown into the outside world.

Lost in her moment of triumph, she exposed her feet outside the covers to enjoy the coolness, only to be hit by the coolness of the air conditioner, causing a dull pain in her lower abdomen.

So when Lin Ruixuan came to invite her to go out and have fun together in the morning, Yu Zhi reluctantly declined, suggesting meeting in the afternoon instead.

[No way! Is it that exciting?!]

Upon learning that she couldn’t meet as planned, Lin Ruixuan’s exclamation marks flooded her WeChat message:

[The battle was so intense last night that you couldn’t even get out of bed?]

[President Jiang is awesome!]

Yu Zhi wrapped herself in the blanket, holding her stomach and curling up into a ball as she replied, [Not really, it’s because I’m on my period.]

She felt that Lin Ruixuan had some deep misunderstandings about Jiang Qianchen. Although they were both dominant male leads who forced love, the differences between the two Jiang Qianchens were very clear.

There was no such thing as partying every night or having sex 18 times in one night. On odd-numbered days of the week, Jiang Qianchen strictly followed his schedule and traditional procedures, like checking off a to-do list. The perpetual motion pile driver only existed in urban legends in novels.

Not to mention the idea of passion like fire, melting glaciers into scorching heat, and being covered by kiss marks all over the body.

…But being like a rag doll run over by a car was true.

[Well, I thought you came to Huacheng specifically to chase after celebrities, and President Jiang would not be pleased,” Lin Ruixuan said somewhat regretfully. “By the way, nothing happened to Chen Baiwei last night, right?]

[You don’t know how funny her expression was when she heard you call him ‘hubby.’ She was pretending to be weak, but then got so angry that she screamed. She probably thought President Jiang was her bed partner.]

[But I heard that Chen Baiwei is really pregnant, and no one knows who the father is. The entertainment industry is really chaotic,] Lin Ruixuan commented.

Yu Zhi wasn’t very interested in this kind of cannon fodder that was mentioned in passing. Jiang Qianchen hurriedly left in the morning, and she ordered room service to bring breakfast. Toast with bacon and cheese, a very standard Western breakfast that hit all of her dislikes perfectly. Even though she had been accompanying Jiang Qianchen to eat Western food for so long, her favorite was still Chinese food like big meat buns and sweet tofu pudding.

As she held the teapot and poured it into the cup, the scent in the air was so familiar that it was almost unbelievable. The whole scene seemed to have gone wrong, like it was on the wrong set.

This familiar taste and color, could it be brown sugar water?

It even had goji berries and small pieces of turmeric.

Yu Zhi drank a small sip with half-belief, and the warmth in her mouth immediately rolled her tongue and slowly moved towards her stomach. The feeling of falling suddenly improved a lot.

When did this scumbag man become so good at this?

…

…

On the other side of the city, in the office of a subsidiary company of the Jiang family.

Jiang Qianchen, who was sitting in the first seat listening to the report, just put down his phone.

On the diagonally opposite side, Secretary Xu only had time to see the words “What to do during a girl’s period” appear in the search box before they disappeared.

“The people in the finance department should be fired.”

After sending instructions to the hotel staff via text message, Jiang Qianchen finally shifted his gaze away from the screen, his brows furrowed.

“How did this kind of project pass the budget plan?”

He coldly tossed the document onto his desk. This visit to Huacheng was not only because of an invitation from Ju Hui Film and Television, but also to inspect the land situation bordering Ningcheng Ecological Industrial Park for a project.

There had been times in the past when documents submitted from below did not meet the requirements, but today, President Jiang’s anger seemed particularly intense. He unintentionally peeked into his boss’s privacy and suddenly couldn’t control his thoughts. President Jiang left early in the morning and now he seems so displeased. Could it be that President Jiang was unsatisfied with his desires?

Secretary Xu coughed, driving away this unreliable thought from his mind.

After meeting with several CEOs of well-known companies in Huacheng, half of the day had passed.

“Make an appointment with Dr. Qiao for me.”

During the break after the meeting, Jiang Qianchen instructed.

He still had a meeting with the cooperating party in the afternoon. The man adjusted his suit, straightened his tie clip outward, and then picked up his phone. The WeChat icon remained green, without any unread messages popping up.

Knowing that he was working, his wife sensibly refrained from disturbing him and remained silent.

Perhaps Yu Zhi wasn’t feeling well and was resting in the hotel today.

Jiang Qianchen leaned back in his chair, realizing that he had gone too far last night. Even though it wasn’t within the designated time for being together, he still did something inappropriate to her.

Feeling bored on the way to his destination, Jiang Qianchen casually scrolled through his WeChat. When he saw a familiar profile picture appearing in the upper right corner of the “Moments” section, he couldn’t help but click on it.

Vivian Waiting for Love: [I support He Mengxin in the ‘Yogurt Star Force.’ Everyone, let’s pick him together! Please vote for my cub! Thank you so much!]

…

Yu Zhi, who was making the final push for votes before the finals, suddenly felt her phone vibrate.

She opened WeChat and saw a system notification:

“Jiang” liked your Moments post.

“Jiang” commented: [No need.]