Chapter 4
"If you get a divorce and marry me, I will treat your child as my own."
Huo Zixi, unable to contain himself any longer, stormed over and demanded, "Chu Ci, you're not dead? If you're not dead, why didn't you come back? Why did you fake your death to deceive people?"
Shen Que's eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
She was approached in the middle of the night by two people: one demanding she get a divorce and wanting to marry him, and the other bringing up the topic of "faking her death."
These two people look a bit like gods, but they mentioned Chu Ci (a type of classical Chinese poetry).
Is it really the same Chu Ci who died in the shipwreck with her five years ago?
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m not Chu Ci. My name is Shen Que.”
Huo Zixi's eyes widened as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. Just as he was about to explode, he suddenly remembered something, winked at Chen Que, bent down and leaned closer, lowering his voice, "Are you afraid of my uncle?" As he spoke, he glanced to the side.
Shen Que blinked. For a moment, the way this person rushed over to question her gave her a sense of déjà vu.
I immediately shook my head. It's probably just the hippocampus effect. Sometimes in life, I suddenly feel like I've seen a certain scene before.
"I don't understand what you're saying. Who are you?"
"You're still pretending!" Huo Zixi roared, rolling up his sleeves as he spun around. "Chu Ci, him, Huo Junyan, you can pretend you don't know them, but you don't even recognize me. Fine, my friendship with you ends here."
Huo Junyan?
She knew the name; the actual person in charge of the Huo family in Beijing's elite circle rarely appeared in public.
No wonder I only met her once at the airport during the day, but found out where she lived that night and knew about her marital status.
But does she have that kind of connection?
Shen Que turned his head and glanced at his son's room. "It's too late today. How about this, we exchange contact information and talk somewhere else tomorrow?"
Huo Junyan lowered his eyes and stared at her intently, trying to catch something in her.
“I don’t know Shen Que,” Huo Zixi said, sticking out his neck.
Does that mean there's only something to talk about if she admits she's Chu Ci?
Just then, the elevator doors opened, and Zhou Yubai stepped out, his body visibly jolted. He probably hadn't expected to find three soaking wet men standing in the hallway in the dead of night.
Secretary Wu thought that once he found out that the man was already married and had children, President Huo's outburst in the rain would be over.
没想到会半夜敲人家的门，让人离婚嫁给他，她老公怎么不出来揍人？
So he wasn't home before, is he about to start a fight?!
Yay yay~~~
"President Huo?" Zhou Yubai was quite surprised when he saw Huo Junyan.
The three people at the door all looked at him. Shen Que hadn't expected anyone to come looking for her in the middle of the night. "Why did you come here?"
“I was worried about Xingxing after such a big incident, so I came straight here after getting off the plane,” Zhou Yubai said, looking at Huo Junyan. “Mr. Huo, is there something you need from my wife so late?”
I couldn't help but look him up and down, incredulous.
Huo Zixi turned around, "Chu Ci, is he really your husband?"
Before meeting her in person, Huo Zixi always thought that the woman in the surveillance footage just looked like Chu Ci and that she had come to stop his uncle.
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else. My wife’s name is Shen Que,” Zhou Yubai explained with a smile. “If you two have anything to discuss, you might as well tell me. …You should go back to your room and rest. I’ll take care of things here.”
The following sentence was addressed to Shen Que.
“If you start arguing in front of my house, the neighbors will complain about me. Why don’t we all come in and talk it over?”
Shen Que suddenly acted out of character and took the initiative to invite people in.
She didn't miss the fleeting change in Zhou Yubai's eyes when Huo Zixi called her "Chu Ci." In that instant, she seemed to see another hand reaching into the "fish tank."
For the past five years, she has been trapped in a giant "fish tank" where the corals, seashells, algae, moss, artificial rocks, and various creatures were all arranged by Zhou Yubai himself.
No matter which direction she tried, she could never leave the fish tank.
Five years ago, she woke up like a newborn baby, with no memory and no past.
Five years ago, all that was known about her was Zhou Yubai's oral account and a few scattered photos, like a resume printed on an A4 sheet of paper.
The exhaustion from climbing mountains, the joy of reaching the summit, the delicious food, the bittersweetness of love—these feelings only exist in her memory; she has none of them.
Shen Que refused to give up searching for the past, but she was separated from it by a thick fog.
There is no resistance, no end, no direction.
The only clue is the shipwreck that occurred five years ago.
However, this sole clue seemed to have been manipulated, erasing traces of some people's existence, including hers.
If before, Shen Que had only thought that the two men were making a strange move in the middle of the night, or that someone had arranged for them to test her. After learning that he was a member of the Huo family in Beijing's elite circle, all she could think of was using his influence to climb out of the fish tank.
Just a moment ago, she seemed to glimpse the dawn breaking through the fog.
"Chu Ci" stands in the dawn light, or at least it is related to Chu Ci.
She couldn't wait to put them in the same fish tank in order to find a breakthrough.
Huo Junyan's gaze never left her. When he saw her step aside and let them in, the cunning look in her eyes unexpectedly overlapped with the lively and sly eyes she had five years ago.
Without thinking, he went straight into the house.
Shen Que turned on the living room light and asked them to keep their voices down. Seeing the water stains where the three had passed, he lowered his head, pursed his lips, and went to the storage room to get a towel.
When they came out, they saw Zhou Yubai had already taken off his coat, was wearing slippers, and was hand-grinding coffee. "Sorry, my wife only likes Yirgacheffe coffee beans, please don't mind."
Yirgacheffe coffee beans have a refreshing lemon and citrus flavor, which she likes. However, she doesn't know much about coffee, and other coffees with lemon slices seem to taste the same.
The reason I say this is simply because I don't like nannies making decisions on their own.
However, she did not correct her and immediately handed the towel to Secretary Wu, who was closest to her.
"Do you have any clean clothes?" Secretary Wu asked. "President Huo is injured, and I'm worried about infection of the wound, so it needs to be treated."
Just as Shen Que was about to say that there were no men's clothes, Zhou Yubai spoke up, "I'm sorry, we don't have any suitable ones."
Huo Zixi rolled her eyes. "It's really short, not suitable."
Shen Que's hand trembled slightly as he handed Huo Junyan the towel. Without looking up, his gaze swept over Huo Junyan's open collar, making his cheeks feel numb and prickly.
Under the living room's incandescent light, Huo Junyan finally noticed that her eyes were red-rimmed and there were faint marks on her face.
He took the towel and dabbed it on his neck and chin.
Shen Que turned her face away, and Huo Zixi took the towel from her hand and haphazardly dried her hair.
Secretary Wu gritted his teeth and got back to the point, "I've already had someone send the clothes over; they should arrive soon."
The only sounds left in the living room were the sounds of drying hair and grinding coffee beans.
The air seemed to freeze for a minute or two when Secretary Wu's phone rang. He was almost moved to tears. "The clothes have arrived." He glanced at Chen Que questioningly before opening the door and bringing the clothes inside.
"Excuse me, where can I change my clothes?" Secretary Wu asked apologetically, carrying a bag.
"here."
"This one."
Shen Que and Zhou Yubai spoke at the same time, but Shen Que was referring to the guest bathroom, while Zhou Yubai was pointing to the storage room.
Huo Zixi was already feeling unwell. She grabbed her clothes, pushed open the storage room door, turned around smoothly, opened the maid's room opposite the storage room, stood still, and turned around with a sour face.
Secretary Wu, with his keen eyes, glanced over and thought it was quite impressive; these young masters were really hard to please.
"Excuse me, Mr. Huo needs to have some medicine applied, so we need a slightly more spacious area."
Shen Que certainly couldn't let a stranger into her room to change clothes, but she didn't want to bring it up either. Huo Junyan had already turned and entered the guest bathroom.
He went to the guest bathroom to change his clothes. Huo Zixi pouted, glared at Chen Que, and went into the storage room. Secretary Wu went to the maid's room.
"Are you alright?" Zhou Yubai, still holding the coffee grinder, took a few steps closer, lowered his voice, and glanced warily at the guest bathroom. "What do they want with you?"
Shen Que's eyes showed a hint of confusion. "They are looking for Chu Ci (a type of classical Chinese poetry)."
Zhou Yubai's pupils widened slightly, and the muscles on his face seemed to twitch uncontrollably for a moment before he chuckled and shook his head. "What does that have to do with you?"
“I don’t remember either.” She shook her head.
Zhou Yubai paused for a moment, then gently coaxed, "I mean it definitely has nothing to do with you."
When Secretary Wu came out of the maid's room, the two people in the living room were stunned for a moment. Was it thirty seconds? Secretary Wu stood at the door of the guest bathroom, carrying a bag, and looked at them apologetically.
Huo Junyan changed into some dry casual clothes and walked out barefoot.
"Your injury?"
Huo Junyan shook his head.
Seeing this, Shen Que silently went to the shoe cabinet in the entryway and found a pair of disposable slippers brought back from the hotel. Huo Zixi finally changed her clothes, picked up her own leather shoes, and saw that Shen Que only had a pair of slippers. She pulled a long face, opened the shoe cabinet herself, looked around, and took a pair of slippers to put on.
Suddenly, everything went black.
Chen Que stared at those big feet and squeezed himself into the rabbit-ear rhinestone women's sandals.
Words fail me.
She was certain that she couldn't possibly know someone like that.
"What are you looking at? You're not going to argue with me about something like this, are you?"
Shen Que twitched the corner of his mouth. "How could that be?"
It's strange, why isn't she averse to it? She clearly hates it when unfamiliar people touch her things.
Huo Zixi sat on the sofa, probably also feeling that the slippers were really inappropriate, so he put his feet out and stepped on them. "I saw a traditional Chinese medicine doctor a few days ago, and he said that I have coldness in my body, so I need to take care of myself."
Shen Que wanted to facepalm, so he smoothed his hair. "Um, is the coffee ready?"
Zhou Yubai turned around and brought coffee from the dressing table, placing it one cup at a time in front of the group. Huo Zixi took a sip of coffee and said, "The quality is so-so. Mr. Zhou lives a very simple life."
As he spoke, he looked around the living room.
Secretary Wu immediately understood the implication and glanced at President Huo out of the corner of her eye, "The Zhou family's company ranked among the top ten in the city last year, and their publicly available financial statements are very impressive."
"Top ten in the city? You live in such a shabby place, Mr. Zhou. You're too stingy. If your competitors knew, they'd think your Zhou family was having financial problems." Huo Zixi clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Chen Que's gaze shifted, and he asked sincerely, "I bought this house. Is it shabby?"
Huo Junyan looked up as he held his coffee, a hint of inquiry flashing in his eyes. He then took a sip of his coffee; the subtle orange hue indicated that her taste hadn't changed.
Huo Zixi turned his head and asked, "Are publicly available financial statements of any value?"
Secretary Wu smiled, "It's like a wife cake without a wife in it."
"Gentlemen, please stop joking," Zhou Yubai said, hands in his pockets. "What exactly is the matter, Mr. Huo?"
Huo Zixi slammed down his coffee cup. "Chu Ci, why did you marry someone like that? He's a kept man."
Zhou Yubai raised his voice, "I'll emphasize again, my wife's name is Shen Que, you've mistaken her for someone else."
Just as Huo Zixi was about to retort, Shen Que suddenly stood up, walked to her son's room, and gently opened the door. Xingxing's little arms were draped over the edge of the bed, and the toy she had been holding while sleeping had fallen onto the carpet.
Shen Que looked at his sleeping son, smiled gently, bent down to pick up the toy and put it aside, covered him with the blanket, touched his son's chubby feet, tested the railing, and checked the temperature and humidity in the room by the light of the wall lamp before tiptoeing out the door.
Four men were standing in the living room, blocking half of the light.
She turned slightly to avoid Zhou Yubai's outstretched hand. He gave her a loose hug, his voice very low, "How is Xingxing?"
"fine."
"Let's find Xingxing a new kindergarten. The current one is close by, but it's so irresponsible."
"The kindergarten teacher changed her phone number and sent a message in the group chat, but I didn't see it. I thought it was an unknown number during the day, so I didn't answer. It was my fault." She only contacted the kindergarten teacher after settling everything at home.
Shen Que's temper flared up again. "Xingxing was injured because of the nanny. I will not give up pursuing this matter."
"Injured?" Huo Junyan looked at her. "Is it serious?"
Shen Que was slightly surprised, but still told the truth: "Minor dislocation, subcutaneous bleeding."
"Is it that serious?" Secretary Wu's eyes widened.
"I'm sorry," Huo Junyan said softly.
The two spoke almost simultaneously.
Shen Que narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting between Huo Junyan and Secretary Wu.
Huh?
From this angle, the two people look a bit like those seen in airport surveillance footage, except her attention was focused on the nanny dragging her son, and she was so angry that she didn't even finish watching the video.
Airport staff said the person who rescued the person was slightly injured, but left because they were in a hurry to catch their flight.
Did you just say that President Huo was injured? Could it be that Huo Junyan was the one who saved Xingxing?
He mistook her for Chu Ci at the airport and came to her door in the middle of the night. It turned out that she was the same person who saved his son at the airport. Didn't she say she was in a hurry to catch a flight?
With so many coincidences combined, could it really be just a coincidence?
It's not convenient to check the video now, let alone ask directly.
If it really is them, and she has the video but pretends not to know them, that would be awkward.
"The doctor said that children have a strong ability to heal themselves, I'm sorry to have worried you," Shen Que said vaguely.
“I’ve had the company’s legal department follow up on the matter of holding the nanny accountable,” Zhou Yubai suddenly grabbed her wrist. “Let’s move back home. If something like this happens again, I’ll really be worried to death.”
Chen Que: ?
This house is her home.
Huo Junyan suddenly stood up, his body swaying slightly. Secretary Wu behind him quickly steadied him, saying, "Mr. Huo, your injury needs to be treated immediately."
"Uncle, you got caught in the rain. If you don't treat it soon, your wound will get infected."
Shen Que looked at him, it seemed he had injured his leg and was putting his weight on one leg. "Is it serious? Should we go to the hospital right away?"
Huo Junyan gave Shen Que a deep look, said nothing, turned and left, with Secretary Wu and Huo Zixi quickly following.
"I'll take you."
Zhou Yubai saw the person into the elevator, turned around and went back into the house to close the door. "These people are really too strange, they're just inexplicable." As he spoke, he picked up the rabbit ear diamond sandals and threw them into the trash can. When he looked up, he saw a deep look of dissatisfaction in Chen Que's eyes.
He glanced at the slippers. "I'll buy them back for you exactly as they are. Don't you hate it when other people use your things? You'd throw them away if they even touched them?"
Five years ago, when she first woke up, she was indeed like that. She didn't know anyone, remembered nothing, and only had Zhou Yubai by her side. She was both dependent on and repulsed by him, and her emotions were unpredictable, like an unreasonable and perceptive child.
“I’m not as pretentious as you say,” Shen Que pursed his lips and stepped aside. “It’s getting late.”
Zhou Yubai understood what she meant. "It's almost dawn. Shall I rest on the sofa?"
Shen Que lowered his eyes and stood silently.
A moment later, he walked to the door. "By the way, how do you know President Huo?"
“When we bumped into each other at the airport, he mistook me for Chu Ci,” Shen Que joked, tilting his head. “It’s like she owes me a debt of love.”
"There are people in the world who look alike but have no relation whatsoever. Don't overthink it. Leave Mr. Huo's affairs to me. You take good care of Xingxing."
Shen Que watched him leave with a smile, then closed the door. Her hand gripping the doorframe, the warm, innocent smile vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, hard gaze.
Zhou Yubai, ah.
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