No talent

Tao Xingye turned back that night and sent Lin Yu back to the research institute. He could actually feel that he had a bad temper. He thought that he should be more restrained in the future. After all, Lin Yu was his wife.

He intended to let people in his circle know the news of his marriage, and that night he gathered all his close friends in Jincheng together. Although Lin Yu was not present, it did not prevent him from introducing Lin Yu to others.

Zhou Xing was familiar with the name Lin Yu. He thought she must be the girl from the Lin family in Rongcheng. He didn't ask any more questions and just raised his glass to celebrate with Tao Xingye. "Congratulations! When can you bring your sister-in-law out for dinner?"

Tao Xinghai clinked glasses with him and took a sip of red wine. The wine was dry, red and sour. He thought Lin Yu would not be happy to have dinner with his friends. After all, he didn't even have dinner with him.

After three rounds of drinks, most people had left, leaving only Zhou Xing, whose face was red from drinking. Zhou Xing was drinking generously tonight. He usually liked to drink white wine with a lower alcohol content, but tonight he was drinking white wine the whole time, even pouring it directly from the bottle.

"What's wrong with you?" Tao Xingye snatched the bottle from his hand and pressed it on the table. "Everyone, go down. I'll bring you some hangover soup later."

There were only two of them left in the room. Zhou Xing was lying on the table, looking unusually decadent. The area from his collar to his chest was wet with white wine. His face was stiff and he refused to say a word.

Tao Xingye had no choice but to call Zhou's house. As soon as he opened his mouth, Zhou Xing suddenly leaned over and hung up his phone. His fingers clumsily took Tao Xingye's phone and dialed a number. The other party picked up the phone quickly.

"Hello? Mr. Tao, is that you?"

It was a very soft female voice, yet with a crispness. Tao Xingye couldn't remember where he had heard it before. He glanced at Zhou Xing who was drunk. It was probably this guy who had attracted some romantic interest from somewhere.

"It's me. Zhou Xing is with me. I'll send you an address. Please pick him up."

The person on the other end sounded a little hesitant, pausing for a second or two before responding.

The waiter brought up two cups of hangover soup. Zhou Xing was held in the arms of a waiter and fed a lot. He finally regained some consciousness, pushed the waiter away, and started drinking on the table.

There was a knock on the door, and Tao Xingye signaled the waiter to open it. The girl, wearing a purple dress and a mask, rushed over as if she had just gotten out of bed.

She stood at the door and looked inside, her eyes falling on Zhou Xing. Then she walked in, taking off her mask as she walked. A red and swollen slap mark was clearly imprinted on her face. "Mr. Tao, I'm sorry, I'm afraid someone is impersonating you."

Tao Xingye looked at her delicate facial features, and then he remembered where he had heard her voice - Yunjin Renjia, where she and Lin Yu had provided service together that day.

Shuang Axi naturally took the spoon from Zhou Xing's hand and half-knelt beside him to feed him the soup. Zhou Xing stared into her eyes with a dazed look, drank several spoonfuls from her hand, and suddenly pushed her away, "Who asked you to come?"

The soup spilled on Shuang Axi, and Tao Xingye couldn't bear to watch it. "I'll take him away tonight. You can't handle him if he gets drunk."

The man said nothing, but just smiled with his head down. She stood up very slowly, put the bowl of soup on the table, and took out a few paper towels to wipe the soup off her body. "Mr. Tao, I am here to clean up his mess."

Tao Xingye couldn't tell what her smile meant, but he intuitively felt that the relationship between this girl and Zhou Xing was definitely not just a fleeting romance.

He didn't ask too many questions, so he just explained a lot of things and got up to leave.

Before leaving, Zhou Xing's impatient voice sounded again, "You're fucking disgusting, do you know that?"

…

It drizzled for ten minutes on the way home for Tao Xingye. He sat in the back seat and lowered the window for the first time. The temperature inside the car was extremely low. As soon as he opened the window, a heat wave mixed with water vapor hit him, and he suddenly felt like he was in a stuffy tropical rainforest.

He stretched out half of his palm and placed it on the window. Drops of rain fell on his palm, and even his heart began to itch.

He looked at his watch. It was eleven o'clock. Wouldn't it be too late to call Lin Yu?

He tentatively sent a text message to Lin Yu, [Are you asleep?]

The other side quickly replied, "I'm going to sleep."

He had just typed "Want to call?" on the screen when another message came through: [Lin Yu: You should get some rest early too.]

Tao Xingye looked at the six words and calmly deleted the message. The rain gradually stopped. He left the window open, letting the heat fill the car and humming a song with great enjoyment.

The next day, Zhou Xing was woken up by a rustling sound of busy work. He felt sore all over, so he grabbed something and threw it at the source of the noise, "Get out!"

He lay down on his side again and tossed and turned a few times, but the bed under him was still uncomfortable. He opened his eyes and saw the purple silk sheets, followed by the figure of Shuang Axi squatting on the ground packing things.

He sat up suddenly, looked around and finally looked at Shuang Axi, "Sorry, I didn't know it was your house."

Shuang Axi looked at the phone in her hand with the screen shattered into pieces with heartache. He was really good at smashing things. There were two phones placed together on the bedside, but he just happened to smash her phone.

"It's okay." Shuang Axi looked back at him, "I made breakfast, you can sleep for a while, I'll make it for you later."

The slap marks on her face had faded a lot, and it was impossible to see them without looking carefully. Zhou Xing gritted her teeth and hesitated for a long time before speaking, "I didn't know she would come to find you."

He was in the company all day yesterday and never expected that Shi Lingjia would come to Shuang Axi.

"Lingjia and I usually don't interact with each other, I..."

"I know." Shuang Axi didn't want to listen to him talk about what happened between him and his girlfriend. Yesterday afternoon, she was at work when "Zhou Xing" called her and asked her to pick him up.

She put down the work at hand and rushed to the place. Before she entered, her arms were held down by several men who looked like bodyguards. Shi Lingjia, wearing sunglasses, stood in front of her arrogantly. Everyone in the box was laughing.

"Axing's taste never changes. Don't you think she looks a bit like me?" Shi Lingjia took off his sunglasses and stood next to her, his manicure digging into her flesh.

Shuang Axi's face was hurt by the pressure, and she subconsciously pushed Shi Lingjia's hand away, but the man turned around and hit her hard in the face.

Shuang Axi's ears rang for a while. The laughter in the box gradually died down. She was pushed out of the box. Shi Lingjia's condescending voice came from near and far, "Young girls nowadays are really amazing. They all know how to act like a fool."

"I have washed your suit and breakfast is on the table. If you have no other needs, I'll go to work." Shuang Axi picked up the suit on the back of the chair, and before she could put on her high heels, someone grabbed her wrist.

Zhou Xing pushed her heavily onto the chair. "What do you mean? What does Shi Lingjia's beating of you have to do with me? Why are you angry at me?"

"I'm not angry with you. I'm just going to be late for work." Shuang Axi didn't dare to get angry with him, and tried to comfort him with a soft voice, but Zhou Xing became even more unhappy.

"I pay you so much every month, do you really need to go to work?" Zhou Xing pulled Shuang Axi's shoulders and pulled her onto the bed. "Your sponsor needs you now. Do you want to go to work or stay with me?"

He stretched his hands into Shuang Axi's clothes more and more fiercely, and her work clothes were wrinkled. Shuang Axi felt humiliated and her suppressed temper completely exploded. She kicked him in the stomach, "No matter how short of money I am, I won't be the third sister!"

Her high heels were sharp, and Zhou Xing was kicked so hard that he took a long time to recover. He was about to scold her but suddenly froze - Shuang Axi was lying on the bed, tears dripping from the corners of her eyes into her hair, her eyes were red, but she was still biting her lips and refused to make a sound.

Zhou Xingxin was suddenly grabbed by someone. He raised his hand to cover the corners of her eyes. Shuang Axi closed her eyes and didn't want to look at him.

"Why bother?" Zhou Xing leaned over and hugged her tiredly, their figures overlapping. His voice was muffled. "You need money, I have money. Why should we both care about so much? I'm not married to Shi Lingjia yet. Stop it, okay?"

Shuang Axi clenched her hands. Zhou Xing's body temperature was scalding hot, and his entire weight was pressing on her. They were so close, yet she felt so far away.

There would no longer be such a long distance between the two of them. Shuang Axi raised her hands and hugged Zhou Xing. If Zhou Xing was willing to look at Shuang Axi again at this time, he would find that Shuang Axi's eyes were so cold and hypocritical.

Feeling Shuang Axi's response, Zhou Xing's mood suddenly lifted up. He pulled Shuang Axi to sit at the dinner table and said, "You eat first. I'll go wash up. Your place is a little too small. Why don't you just move to my place tomorrow?"

Ever since Tao Xingye sent messages to Lin Yu that night, he was like an elderly person who had learned to use a mobile phone. Every night before going to bed, when Lin Yu opened his phone, more than a dozen messages from Tao Xingye would pop up.

She never knew Tao Xingye was so talkative. If she replied to him, he would send her three more.

[Tao Xingye: When will you have a holiday?]

【Lin Yu: Estimated two weeks later.】

Tao Xingye: That's perfect. I need your signature for something, so you'll have to accompany me up the mountain. But don't worry, it won't be tiring. By the way, are you planning to move in with me?

【Lin Yu: Okay, yes.】

Tao Xingye: Are you a little tired? How about we talk tomorrow?

【Lin Yu: Good night.】

Lin Yu stared at the animated emoji that popped up on her phone, wondering if the person on the other end had their account hacked. This was Tao Xingye! Who would have thought that Tao Xingye would send her a goodnight emoji of a cute frog sleeping on a heart-shaped pillow covered in leaves?

Lin Yu looked at that expression. After being surprised, a sense of loss for unknown reasons enveloped her heart.

She had no talent for emotions, and she couldn't understand the relationship between her and Tao Xingye.

She couldn't completely accept Tao Xingye, nor could she completely hate Tao Xingye.

Sometimes I hate him, but at the same time I think he is...quite cute.

The phone screen gradually dimmed, and a scene from many years ago gradually emerged in Lin Yu's mind. Tao Xingye was holding Tao Damai, standing outside the railing of their school in white, looking at her with a smile.

She didn't understand why she could remember that scene for so long, and she didn't understand why Tao Xingye liked her.

I don’t understand, I don’t understand, I don’t understand at all.

Lin Yu turned off the desk lamp in frustration and pulled up the summer quilt to cover himself completely...