Fu Xiling, that bastard.

Shi Zhi glared at his retreating back, cursing under her breath as she locked the back door of the bar, securing three different locks in quick succession.

When she went back upstairs and saw the box of cherries, her irritation subsided a bit as she shifted her focus. She opened her phone and sent Ling Ling a message on WeChat.

Shi Zhi wasn’t good at saying pretty words. She snapped a photo of the cherries and sent it. “Got the fruit, thanks.”

She stayed up late, but her sleep was far from restful.

Around four or five in the morning, the loud beeping of an electric scooter alarm from outside woke her up. Groggily, she reached under her pillow for her phone and saw a reply from Ling Ling.

The reply was long, essay-like, describing how Ling Ling had tried to deliver the cherries but hadn’t found anyone.

Ling Ling, half-asleep and clearly dazed, had sent the message at 3:30 a.m., still fretting over Shi Zhi. She mentioned seeing that the back door of the bar was left unlocked and reminded Shi Zhi to make sure to lock up.

“I saw that guy who tried to dine and dash the other day. He was wandering around near the bar. He even glared at me when he noticed me! I’m afraid he might try to retaliate, so please make sure to lock the door, Sister Shi Zhi!”

Not wanting to wake Ling Ling, Shi Zhi didn’t reply. She figured she could talk about it face-to-face during the day.

Shi Zhi needed to have a proper discussion with Ling Ling and the other two employees. Her aunt was so eager to sell the bar, yet they hadn’t caught even a hint of it.

Ling Ling was straightforward and not the type to hide such things. But the fact that Old Qian and Wan Ran hadn’t noticed anything was troubling.

According to Fu Xiling, his people would be meeting with her uncle and aunt today.

Once the deal was sealed and the contract signed, Ling Ling, Wan Ran, and Old Qian would all be out of a job.

The only question was when her aunt planned to break the news.

It wasn’t until a week later that her aunt finally spoke to her.

Her aunt arrived looking troubled, first gathering the three employees to announce that the bar was struggling financially and operating at a loss. She said she had no choice but to sell it. After the announcement, she called for Shi Zhi.

Her aunt started with a long preamble:

“Shi Zhi, you know how hard life has been for your uncle and me these past few years.”

“Your cousin studies art. It’s so expensive, and I want to send her abroad for further studies.”

“You know we’re strapped for cash. Now that someone is willing to take over the bar, I think it’s a good opportunity to sell.”

“You know how much stock we’ve piled up here. It’s all sunk costs, a big loss. Plus, we’ll have to pay severance to the employees…”

“Sigh, I can’t keep taking care of you anymore.”

“You’re entering your fourth year of university. You’re a big girl now. You can start looking for internships and taking care of yourself.”

“Everyone has to learn to be independent, right?”

If Shi Zhi hadn’t already known how much Fu Xiling was compensating her aunt, she might have fallen for her aunt’s teary, pitiful act.

What she didn’t expect was how quickly her aunt moved to have her move out.

Shi Zhi didn’t have much luggage at the bar; most of her belongings were in her dorm at school.

On moving day, she packed everything into a single 28-inch suitcase.

The university was still on summer break, and Shi Zhi had nowhere to go. She found a cheap guesthouse near the hospital.

Fifty yuan a night.

The heat was oppressive. Wearing a baseball cap, Shi Zhi dragged her suitcase in the direction of the hospital.

Her phone buzzed.

It was Fu Xiling. He’d shared his location with her on WeChat.

Shi Zhi had never shared her location with anyone before. She didn’t know what kind of weird idea Fu Xiling was up to this time, but she tapped “Join” and left it at that.

A few minutes later, Fu Xiling called.

“Where are you headed?”

Shi Zhi didn’t feel like explaining much. “Near the hospital,” she replied curtly.

“Are you sick?”

“No, I’m moving.”

There was a pause on Fu Xiling’s end before he said, “Keep walking straight along the road you’re on. About two hundred meters ahead, there’s a café called Aurora. Go in, have a seat. I’ll have someone bring you an iced coffee and an ice cream cake. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

”…What are you coming for?”

“Got something to talk about,” he said, then hung up.

Shi Zhi sat in the café for over ten minutes. She finished her iced coffee but only managed half the cake.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an SUV smoothly pull into a roadside parking spot.

She had a hunch and turned her head, just in time to see Fu Xiling slam the car door shut with a cold expression and stride over.

The door chime jingled as he entered the café.

He sat in the single-seater across from Shi Zhi, glancing at her suitcase. “Where are you planning to stay?”

For the past few days, Fu Xiling had been personally busy with work, wearing the same clothes for two days in a row. Today was the first day he’d found time to take a proper shower.

He had originally planned to invite Shi Zhi to dinner. But earlier that afternoon, as he sat in his office listening to a progress report, he overheard this:

”…The contracts are almost done, just two more to go. The bar deal’s been the quickest. The staff living on-site will move out today, and our team can do the inspection tomorrow.”

The only person living at the bar was Shi Zhi.

When Fu Xiling negotiated the deal, he’d deliberately avoided setting a deadline for handing over the premises.

But according to his team, the bar’s owner had been eager to close as quickly as possible to get the compensation money sooner.

Fu Xiling remembered his last meeting with Shi Zhi.

She had laid bare her wounds, hoping to secure the best possible compensation for her uncle and aunt.

In his eyes, her aunt’s actions were a blatant betrayal.

He highly doubted her aunt would let her stay at their home.

And now, it seemed, he had been right.

Shi Zhi absently stirred the melted remnants of her ice cream cake with a small metal spoon. “A guesthouse near the People’s Hospital,” she said nonchalantly.

Hearing this, Fu Xiling didn’t hesitate for even a second. He stood up, grabbed her suitcase, and headed for the door.

Shi Zhi froze, putting down her spoon and chasing after him. “Fu Xiling, what are you doing?”

“Taking you to my place.”

It was three in the afternoon, scorching hot with blinding sunlight.

Leaving the air-conditioned café, the heat was almost unbearable, making it hard to even keep her eyes open.

Shi Zhi frowned, ready to refuse, but Fu Xiling didn’t give her the chance. He stashed her suitcase in the trunk of his car and said, “I need your help with something.”

“What is it?”

He didn’t answer, only muttered, “Get in.”

Shi Zhi got into the car.

As he started driving, Fu Xiling commented, “You’ve got guts, staying in a place like that. Those guesthouses always have funeral supply shops downstairs—coffins, wreaths, and the like. Hygiene’s questionable. You’d probably have cockroaches and rats as roommates.”

The bar had cockroaches and rats too.

The important thing was that with ten days left before school started, the guesthouse was the most affordable option.

“So?” she shot back.

Fu Xiling said nothing further, driving in silence the rest of the way.

He seemed annoyed about something, radiating a tense energy.

Shi Zhi decided to close her eyes and rest against the passenger seat.

The car eventually pulled into the underground parking lot of Fu Xiling’s residential complex.

Shi Zhi had been there before and wasn’t unfamiliar.

Fu Xiling got out, retrieved her suitcase from the trunk, and motioned for her to follow. “Let’s go.”

Back in the apartment, Fu Xiling’s expression softened slightly. He handed Shi Zhi a bottle of mineral water before finally speaking. “What did your aunt say to you?”

Shi Zhi gave a concise summary. “Played the pity card. Claimed it was all losses and a tough decision.”

Judging by his expression, Fu Xiling looked like he wanted to curse.

Instead, he furrowed his brows, downed half the bottle of water, and said, “I calculated the payout at 80% of the valuation, plus an extra fifty thousand as a goodwill gesture. And she didn’t give you a single cent?”

Shi Zhi shook her head. “No.”

Her tone was subdued.

On a normal day, she’d have had the energy to put up a fight—she might have wrestled her suitcase back from him at the café and refused to come here in the first place.

But today, she just didn’t have it in her.

Fu Xiling sat beside her, lightly poking her arm with the water bottle. “Hey, if you’re upset about how your aunt handled this, I could hold back that extra fifty thousand. It’s not in the contract anyway.”

“No need.”

Shi Zhi had long grown used to her relatives’ avoidance and indifference. She didn’t want sympathy, nor did she want to badmouth them.

She just wanted some peace and quiet.

Luckily, Fu Xiling wasn’t a chatterbox.

He sat silently with her for a long time before pulling her by the wrist to his wine storage room. As promised earlier, he said, “Pick whatever you like.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll get drunk and cause trouble in your house?”

Somehow, Fu Xiling’s earlier frustration had melted away. He smiled nonchalantly and said, “I’ve got money to spare. Even if you smash a dozen things, it’s not worth worrying about.”

He grabbed two bottles of red wine. “Try these. Good vintages from a foreign winery. Excellent flavor.”

The lighting in his apartment was bright—too bright, even.

Fu Xiling pulled the curtains closed, dimming the room like an early nightfall, creating a haven for a restless heart.

His apartment was full of expensive gadgets and equipment. As a projector screen descended, Fu Xiling set up a TV series to play.

The image was crystal clear, like a private theater.

Shi Zhi asked, “Was this expensive?”

“About a hundred thousand,” he replied.

What kind of high-tech innovation cost that much?

Shi Zhi studied the screen a little more, taking a sip of her wine.

Fu Xiling circled back to their earlier conversation.

Pointing to various items in his home, he jokingly gave her a rundown of what to avoid smashing:

“That concrete-style side table? Don’t break that. It’s ugly, but my cousin gave it to me, and she’s incredibly petty. She’ll hunt me down if she finds out.”

“And the coffee machine—hands off that. My uncle-in-law brought it from abroad when I renovated this place. My aunt’s a manicure fanatic, and her ‘Nine Yin Skeleton Claw’ won’t spare me if it’s gone.”

“Oh, and that’s the same aunt who made me drink soda water, by the way.”

As for the other items—designer figurines, gaming consoles, sound systems, and the hundred-thousand-yuan projector—they were all fair game.

“I bought those myself,” he said with a shrug. “If they break, I’ll just replace them.”

Shi Zhi could tell Fu Xiling’s family had a warm, close-knit vibe.

She lowered her gaze, thinking how lucky he was.

That afternoon, she drank wine while Fu Xiling sat beside her, spouting nonsense. He narrated the series like an amateur commentator, even though it was clear he hadn’t seen it before.

Gradually, the gloom weighing on her heart began to lift, dissipating bit by bit as his rambling went on.

By the time they emptied the third bottle, Shi Zhi remembered to ask, “Didn’t you say you needed my help with something?”

Fu Xiling pulled out his phone, explaining that a few days ago, Yao Yao’s mom had gone shopping with his mom and mentioned that he supposedly had a girlfriend.

No one knows a son better than his mother. She didn’t buy it and had been probing him about it ever since.

Shi Zhi opened another bottle of wine. “You’re not going to ask me to meet your parents, are you?”

“Would you?”

“No.”

“Well, there you go.”

Fu Xiling snapped a quick photo of Shi Zhi and said, “No need for all that hassle. Anyway, you’re not going back to the bar, so just stay at my place.”

Shi Zhi abruptly looked up at him, surprised.

He looked back at her, his lips slowly curling into a smile. “Don’t overthink it. It’s just more convenient for me to snap a photo every now and then to send to my family group chat, so they know I really do have a girlfriend.”

He handed her his phone, showing her his WeChat.

He’d just posted a photo in the family group—of her, sitting with her head down, opening a bottle of wine. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders.

Shi Zhi’s question was, “And your parents will approve of a girl drinking at your house?”

Fu Xiling’s answer: “They don’t care about that. They’d just think anyone I like must have some extraordinary qualities.”

Fu Xiling ordered takeout.

Shi Zhi stopped drinking after finishing her fourth bottle and joined him for dinner.

Fu Xiling had impeccable table manners and wasn’t bad company.

He said it was too late to bother with moving arrangements, so he suggested she stay the night to rest. He added that he’d leave the apartment to her afterward and stay at a hotel himself, which would also be convenient for work.

At 11 p.m., Shi Zhi watched him meticulously wipe his fingers with a disinfectant wipe and suddenly said, “When I mentioned causing trouble when drunk, I wasn’t talking about smashing things.”

Fu Xiling was still wiping his hands, his head lowered.

His long fingers looked delicate, his pale skin flushed slightly red at the joints from the pressure, the veins faintly visible on the back of his hand.

He didn’t realize what Shi Zhi meant and joked, “Feel free to throw up. The cleaning lady will handle it in the morning.”

When Fu Xiling got up to toss the used wipe into the trash, Shi Zhi stood too.

He turned back, almost bumping into her. “Hm?”

“I meant this kind of trouble.”

Shi Zhi stepped closer, so close she was nearly pressed against him. She grabbed his collar and leaned in.

The scent of wine lingered on her, and she stopped just short of his lips.

Fu Xiling’s expression was restrained.

But as Shi Zhi drew closer, he couldn’t help swallowing hard.

Their breaths mingled.

Shi Zhi tilted her head up slightly, quietly observing Fu Xiling. She could see the turbulent emotions in his eyes.

Just as he placed his hands on her waist, she suddenly stepped back.

Fu Xiling raised an eyebrow.

Shi Zhi retreated step by step, heading toward the bedroom. In the brightly lit living room, she smiled, returning the words he’d once said to her.

“I’m off. Goodnight.”