Chapter Forty-Seven

It was another Friday night, and as usual, Zuo Xutong entered the house around 11 p.m. Her landlord and roommate, who always had a regular schedule, was sitting on the sofa, waiting for her to arrive, just like last week.

This time, however, he was too lazy to ask her if she was free on the weekend, since the answer would be the same anyway.

"Don't go to work overtime tomorrow," he said bluntly, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

"Why?" Zuo Xutong was standing at the door, not even having time to change her shoes, when she heard this terrible news.

"I'm going to do a big cleaning tomorrow, so you'll stay home and help me with the chores."

“I’ll be helping you with work at the company too.” She felt Peng Kun needed to get an MBA to learn human resource management; it was clearly more beneficial for him to work there than here. “Why don’t you hire a housekeeper?”

"Zuo Xutong, are you physiologically abnormal or something? Others complain about working 996, but you've been working 007 for two weeks straight and still insist on working overtime on weekends. I'm being woken up by the sound of your shower every night. I'm almost having a nervous breakdown!" He knew that if he didn't say this, this workaholic would definitely not take a single day off.

Zuo Xutong then realized that her shower room was only separated from his bedroom by a wall, and the soundproofing was so poor. Knowing she was in the wrong, she could only reluctantly agree. Besides, he wasn't the only one living in the house, and it was indeed unfair to make him bear all the housework alone.

Before going to bed, she turned off her alarm, intending to sleep in until she naturally woke up the next day. However, when she opened her eyes the next morning, it was already past nine o'clock. She got up, rushed into the bathroom, quickly washed up, and then walked out of the bedroom with her hair disheveled.

Peng Kun was cooking in the kitchen when he turned around and was startled to see her: "Do you have pads on your feet? You walk without making a sound."

"I'm sorry, did I scare you? Next time, can I count 'one, two, one' while walking?"

Peng Kun frowned, quite dissatisfied with her wording: "What do you mean by 'scared me'? It's as if I'm a coward."

Zuo Xutong didn't say anything, but the expression on her face clearly said: Isn't that right?

To save face, he retorted, "Can't you at least tidy yourself up? Are you going to film a horror movie with your hair all messed up?" Then he turned around and muttered under his breath, "And she's a woman, how can she be so careless about her appearance?"

Perhaps because people who have just woken up have more sensitive senses, Zuo Xutong heard every word he said. She was a little angry and rolled her eyes at his back: "Anyway, I didn't go out, and no one is watching me."

"Am I not a person?" Peng Kun was even more displeased upon hearing this. It is said that women dress up for those who appreciate them, so she meant that she was not worth the effort of dressing up.

He slammed the rice cooker down on the table: "Serve it yourself!"

Zuo Xutong stared wide-eyed at the breakfast in front of her: pickled vegetables and white porridge.

"Are you planning to send me to become a monk? Do you want me to get used to it beforehand?"

"You're complaining about the food being bad even when you're begging? Don't forget, last time I came here, you made me eat dry bread." Peng Kun said, as if to say, "Eat it or don't."

If she didn't eat her fill, she wouldn't have the energy to work. Left with no other choice, Zuo Xutong ladled out a bowl of white rice porridge and slowly ate it with some pickled vegetables.

After she finished cleaning the kitchen, Peng Kun was nowhere to be seen. She found a rag and prepared to start by dusting. As soon as she stepped into the study, she saw Peng Kun standing on the windowsill wiping the glass. The windowsill was nearly a meter high, and there wasn't even a stool underneath. She had no idea how he got up there.

The north wind howled as it rushed in through the open window. Peng Kun was wiping the outside glass, with most of his body hanging outside, a sight that sent chills down one's spine.

Zuo Xutong quickly walked over, looked up at him and shouted, "Come in quickly, it's too dangerous!"

"It's okay, I'm holding onto the window frame."

Worried that the window frame wasn't sturdy enough, she didn't think twice and grabbed his trouser leg, saying, "Then I'll hold you tighter."

Just as Peng Kun was reaching for the top of the glass, the two of them, one pulling upwards and the other downwards, perfectly illustrated the action and reaction forces. Before she finished speaking, Peng Kun felt a chill on his thigh, and when he looked down again, his waistband had already fallen below his buttocks.

Fortunately, he was wearing tight underwear underneath; unfortunately, it was a red pair of tight underwear.

"What are you doing!" he roared.

Zuo Xutong was startled by his roar, looked up, and gasped.

"Ouch!" she cried out louder than the victim, quickly letting go, covering her eyes and turning her back, leaving only the man with his pajama bottoms pulled down hanging on the glass, bewildered in the wind.

And so, the spring cleaning, barely begun, ended abruptly with the main workforce being "sexually harassed." Peng Kun, his face flushed, pulled up his pants and jumped down from the windowsill.

Zuo Xutong's face turned pale, and the usually quick-witted woman stammered, "I...I'm sorry, I...I just wanted to hold you back so you wouldn't fall...fall from the building."

"You saw it?" Peng Kun asked angrily.

“No, I didn’t see it,” she said firmly, as if she wanted to gouge out her own eyes to prove that she hadn’t seen anything.

"Can't I see why you're acting guilty?" Peng Kun panted heavily, almost bursting with anger at her.

"I...I didn't see it clearly, it just flashed by," she vehemently denied, but a vivid image of bright red quickly flashed through her mind. "It...it's really not my fault. Blame that clothing factory for making the waistband so loose. Even if I didn't pull it up, it might have accidentally fallen down one day..."

Peng Kun listened silently as she continued to argue, “But think about it, this might not be a bad thing…right? You’ve actually turned misfortune into blessing, and you won’t make the same mistake of buying clothes from this brand again.”

Peng Kun almost laughed out of anger: "Don't you have a brain? These are pajama pants, aren't you afraid of strangling someone if they're made so tight!"

"Yes, yes, I didn't see clearly. You're wearing pajama bottoms." Zuo Xutong lowered her head, feeling ashamed as she recalled her lewd behavior.

"Forget it, I'll just hire a housekeeper another day," Peng Kun said, turning and leaving.

The moment the victim left, she fled back to her own place with lightning speed. Only after closing the door did her heart finally settle back into her chest. She had been avoiding him these past few days, and now, she was utterly too ashamed to face anyone.

All morning, she sat anxiously in her bedroom. By 2 p.m., she was starving and finally opened the door furtively, peeking out to sneak out for a bite to eat. But as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom, she was caught red-handed.

"Where are you going?" Peng Kun blocked her path to the gate.

"I...I want to go out and get something to eat." She felt a little flustered, unsure whether it was from hunger or fear.

“I’m hungry too, let’s go together,” Peng Kun said.

Zuo Xutong then realized that he had already changed his clothes, as if he had been waiting for her there on purpose. Alarm bells immediately went off in her head: was he planning to retaliate by taking her to an exorbitantly priced restaurant for a meal?

Along the way, her eyes kept scanning the restaurants on the street. She wanted to go into any small restaurant with a shabby sign. If Peng Kun hadn't stopped her, she probably would have rushed in and ordered food long ago.

Finally, he led her into a high-end seafood restaurant. The decor was ostentatious and luxurious, with dishes framed in exquisite detail and displayed on the walls like paintings in an art exhibition, their prices listed below: 288 yuan, 388 yuan… even the cheapest dish, loofah sprouts with tofu skin, cost 88 yuan. Zuo Xutong looked away, her face pale, her breathing labored. Inwardly, she screamed: What's going on? Is this meal all it takes to send me to my execution?

She suppressed her excitement and whispered, "How about we go to another place?"

"What's wrong?"

"I feel like throwing up whenever I see seafood," she said through gritted teeth.

Peng Kun had always thought she loved seafood, and he still clearly remembered the time she ate it without any regard for her image at the Japanese restaurant.

"It's so cold, don't bother. They have a lot of dishes. If you don't eat seafood, just order something else."

Since he had already said that, Zuo Xutong had no choice but to give up. She stopped insisting on changing places and, regardless of what the other person wanted to eat, quickly ordered a few of the cheapest vegetarian dishes and then found a nearby table to sit down.

He didn't argue with her. After all the dishes were on the table, before either of them had even touched their chopsticks, he said, "I've wanted to invite you here for dinner for a while, but you've been too busy lately, so it's been delayed until today."

"You're treating?" Zuo Xutong could hardly believe her ears, repeatedly confirming, "You mean this meal is on you?"

"Yeah, what else did you think?"

Zuo Xutong sighed, regretting her decision immensely. She should have ordered sea cucumber, abalone, and lobster instead. She angrily picked up a piece of dried bean curd and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing it fiercely. Her expression was a complex mix of emotions. "No wonder this is a fancy restaurant," she thought, "even their cold dishes are better than the braised pork at a street stall."

"Actually, this year... is my birth year in the Chinese zodiac," Peng Kun said hesitantly, looking at her.

"You're 36 already? I really can't tell. If it weren't for a few gray hairs, you'd look quite young." Zuo Xutong didn't understand his meaning and launched into a barrage of emotional appeals, hoping that he would be pleased and give her a couple more substantial dishes.

To everyone's surprise, Peng Kun's face darkened, and a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes: "Do you know about the customs of your birth year?"

"I know, it's my birth year and I'm in bad luck," she said, not bothering to even look up as she ate, seeing that there was no chance of getting more food. "It's okay, it'll be fine after this year."

Peng Kun wanted to explain why he was wearing red underwear, but the other person didn't get the hint and kept changing the subject. In the end, he gave up and followed her lead, saying, "Yes, I'm another year older with the New Year. Ever since I turned 35, my mother-in-law has been anxious and has been asking people to introduce me to potential partners and forcing me to go on blind dates."

Zuo Xutong finally looked up and asked in surprise, "You went?"

Peng Kun shook his head: "At that time, I felt that being single was fine and I had no intention of getting married."

Hearing him say that, Zuo Xutong finally felt much more at ease. She picked up her chopsticks to continue eating, but unexpectedly, he suddenly changed the subject, staring intently at her: "But I don't think that way anymore. I didn't want to get married before because I hadn't met someone I truly liked, and I didn't want to settle for someone else for the rest of my life..."

"Waiter, bring me some napkins!" she interrupted him immediately, thinking that she absolutely could not let him say what he said when he was drunk that night while he was sober. If such a thing really happened, how could the two of them get along in the future?

He glanced at her with a stern face, but the words he was about to say were swallowed back down.