Chapter 74: Once a week is not as good as last time...
During the half minute the elevator was rising, Fang Qingzhuo had a lot of random thoughts. He was thinking about how to start the conversation when he met Luo Shu later, asking her what her attitude was towards Shen Qianshu, and forcing her to choose only one between the two of them.
After exiting the elevator, Fang Qingzhuo looked for the corresponding house number according to the direction of the lights on every night. What caught his eye was a burly man clinging to the door lock. He immediately understood what was going on. His eyes suddenly became sharp, and he strode towards the man who was up to no good. Halfway through swinging his fist, he changed his mind, and so there was the scene where he shouted at the man of the house.
Luo Shu was holding the door handle, hesitating, when she received a message from Fang Qingzhuo on her phone.
[That person is still following me. I don't know if he'll dare come again in the future and perform with me.]
With a slight twist of her wrist, the door opened. Just as a gap appeared, the door was pushed open impatiently by someone. A hug with the unique scent of someone followed. She didn't even have time to see the face clearly. Only an afterimage was left, and he pounced on her.
Luo Shu passively staggered back two steps, and with the sound of the door slamming, Fang Qingzhuo hugged her tightly, pressing his whole body on her as if he wanted to embed her into his body and become one with her.
Luo Shu didn't know what to do with her hands, which hung in the air. This was her first intimate contact after so many years, and all the beautiful memories of their past came flooding back to her mind. She bit her lower lip and said, "Fang Qingzhuo, let me go first."
He didn't say a word, as if he couldn't hear anything, breathing shallowly against her slightly cool neck.
Luo Shu couldn't move at all: "Fang Qingzhuo, you hurt me."
The restraints around her body indeed loosened some of the suppressed force, and Luo Shu struggled to separate from him, thereby completely escaping from this unclear and abrupt behavior.
"Don't move, hold me for a while longer." Fang Qingzhuo finally spoke, and it was easy to make out the request in his usual flat voice.
The next second, the phone on the entrance chest of drawers vibrated and the screen lit up instantly, showing a simple three words - Chen Qianshu. Before Luo Shu could react, Fang Qingzhuo took the initiative.
"Did I tell you that I don't like you getting too close to other men?"
Luo Shu sucked in a breath of cold air as Fang Qingzhuo's hot lips brushed against the smooth skin of her neck, and then, a strong and restrained breath poured over that area.
"Luo Shu, when will you be more obedient?"
Even though she couldn't see the face, Luo Shu could still feel the bone-chilling chill brought by the voice.
The ringing call continued, especially the heavy masculine scent stained on the hair of the person in his arms. This alone made Fang Qingzhu jealous. After an entire afternoon, which brand of perfume could last this long? It had to be a knockoff, not afraid of irritating others. Besides, it was obvious it wasn't as expensive as his. He freed his hand and was about to answer the call to tell the third party on the other end, who was the one who ruined someone else's relationship and deserved to be punished, to give up on that idea. Unexpectedly, Luo Shu took advantage of the moment and pushed him out.
Luo Shu snatched the phone back before him. Because Fang Qingzhuo didn't answer, she cut off the call and replied with two words, "Something happened." Then she glared at the culprit defensively: "You helped me just now, and I thank you, but now I ask you to leave. This is my home. I can answer whoever I want and whoever I don't want to answer. As an outsider, you have no right to interfere."
Fang Qingzhuo turned a deaf ear to him, scanning the room for any signs of a man while mumbling to himself, "This afternoon's incident won't happen again. I don't want it to happen again."
This afternoon's events...
So, the feeling of being watched like a shadow wasn't just her sensitivity nor was it a coincidence. He was watching the whole thing from downstairs. Luo Shu couldn't believe it: "You're following me?"
"If you insist on misinterpreting concern as stalking, then I have nothing to say."
Fang Qingzhuo's eyes wandered over the small one-bedroom apartment she rented. He had done some research and found that the minimum threshold for planning a wedding was six figures. Her salary would definitely not be too low. Any normal person with a little bit of common sense would know to rent a house with property management and surveillance. But she found such a shabby place and was busy hiding from him without even thinking about safety.
Not getting the answer she wanted, Luo Shu suddenly raised her voice: "I'll say it again, please get out."
Rabbit was anxious, and Fang Qingzhuo refocused his attention on her angry face. Her hair was loosely tied behind her head. She didn't change her clothes today. She was still wearing the same loose white shirt tucked into light blue jeans in the afternoon. The half-exposed collarbone in the bow tie neckline echoed the waist and hip curves wrapped in the tight fabric, showing her graceful figure.
"Luo Shu, do you know what your behavior is called? It's called crossing the river and destroying the bridge."
"Then do you know what your current behavior constitutes? Breaking into a private residence. I can definitely call the police." Luo Shu retorted with his exact words, "You don't want to be known everywhere that a celebrity entrepreneur who's been on newspapers and TV is a scumbag who's harassed his ex-girlfriend."
"How do you know I don't want to?" Fang Qingzhuo suddenly attacked, gradually approaching her and cornering her in front of the chest of drawers. "You want to make it known to everyone, I don't mind. On the contrary, I'm very happy. Your classmates, colleagues, friends, I wish everyone in the world knew about our relationship."
Luo Shu had nowhere to retreat, her waist bumping against the edge of the counter, and she frowned. She stared at Fang Qingzhuo, who was only a few feet away, and said bluntly, "You're just blaming me for playing tricks on you back then. It's been so long, is that interesting?"
Fang Qingzhuo's brows were deep, and her rationality collapsed with just one sentence from her: "Then tell me what's interesting, that Shen Qianshu who can remarry?"
Luo Shu's tone was filled with dissatisfaction: "Why do you involve other people in our feud?"
"Without him, our problems would have been solved long ago." Fang Qingzhuo's tone was also dissatisfied.
Luo Shu stared at him coldly, "You're still as arbitrary as before. You haven't made any progress in these years except for your age. And who are you, Young Master Fang? You've always been the one to be fawned over, so you'll never learn to reflect on yourself."
Fang Qingzhuo's throat tightened for some reason. "What's so good about Shen Qianshu that you'd have to speak for him like this?"
"How did I speak?"
Fang Qingzhuo let out a breath, and raised one corner of his mouth in self-mockery: "He is trying to highlight him by devaluing me."
"You heard it wrong. It's not a disparagement, it's the truth."
As soon as he said this, Fang Qingzhuo felt his whole body shaking, especially his chest, which was shaking violently. Even Luo Shu was afraid that he would make her faint from anger and fall down in her house, which would be difficult to explain. However, Fang Qingzhuo disappointed her the next second.
"He's nothing but a despised illegitimate child who can't stand the light of day. How can he compare with me? How can he compete with me?"
Luo Shu had an expression of disbelief, as if she couldn't believe her ears, and couldn't believe that such vicious words could come out of his mouth: "Fang Qingzhuo, shut up."
Fang Qingzhuo's heart immediately sank, and he became even more stubborn: "I won't, he Shen Qianshu is..."
"Enough." He refused to change despite repeated warnings. Luo Shu was filled with grief and indignation. Her hand, which was leaning against the chest of drawers, suddenly touched the decorative vase on the chest of drawers. Without thinking, she grabbed it and threw it to the floor.
What made Fang Qingzhuo feel hopeless was the second half of the sentence, "You are not worthy of saying bad things about him," which fell to the ground along with the vase.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the room dropped to freezing point as the vase turned into pieces.
Fang Qingzhuo lowered his eyelids and looked down at the broken glass on the ground at his feet. His body was frozen in place, and his heart seemed to be trashed and thrown away there. It hurt so much that he dared not breathe, and the pain was so severe that he was about to suffocate. He blinked several times, trying to prove that everything happening at the moment was an illusion, but the reality was as real as surgery without anesthesia. Luo Shu actually quarreled with him with a vase, despite a look of disgust, just for that damn Shen Qianshu.
He suddenly burst out with resentment: "You were mean to me because of him, and you even hit me. I...you..."
When people are anxious, they often have trouble organizing their words. After roaring and venting, Fang Qingzhuo was unable to express his grievances. He kept stroking his forehead helplessly, forcing himself to pace back and forth calmly, like a mentally disturbed lunatic.
Maybe it was because he looked really scary when he was really angry. Luo Shu was so surprised that she kept staring at him, not daring to speak or move.
On the other side, Fang Qingzhuo temporarily suppressed the furious beast in his heart and turned to meet her half-fearful, half-shocked eyes. He was afraid that he would scare her again and make her hunch her back and reflect on her mistakes. He comforted himself that he was there to resolve conflicts rather than to intensify them.
"So, what makes him better than me?"
Luo Shu didn't want to flatter him against her conscience: "The good thing is that he is more upright than you."
The four words "aboveboard" are like the hand of evil that opens the cage of domestication and overturns the dominoes.
"He's honest and upright?" Fang Qingzhuo chuckled twice and turned back. "Luo Shu, can you please stop being naive? The Shen family is much more complicated than you think. Those two brothers are not good people at all."
He was the one who asked the question, and he wasn't happy with the answer. Luo Shu was annoyed: "Where do you get the nerve, where do you get the qualifications to criticize other people's character? I told you, you are not allowed to slander him anymore."
"Slander?" Fang Qingzhuo said without hesitation, "Compared to them, I'm nothing. After all, I can't do such a heinous thing as personally sending my own father to a mental hospital. Don't think hiding abroad for a few years can make up for it."
"So for your own sake, you'd better stay away from that Shen, otherwise I can't guarantee that something unexpected will happen."
Luo Shu's pupils widened slightly at his blatant threat.
In Fang Qingzhuo's eyes, her reaction was naked heartache, displeasure, anger, and protection.
Coldness permeated his eyebrows and the corners of his eyes, and the harsh cold light in his pupils almost pierced through her.
"You're defending him so much, are you two together?"
"I've been dating him all day today. Where did you meet him?"
"What else did he do besides hugging you and kissing you?"
The series of furious questions was unbearable to hear. Luo Shu suppressed the urge to slap him: "Fang Qingzhuo, what right do you have to interfere in my private life? We have no relationship anymore."
"Answer me." Fang Qingzhuo interrupted her harshly, put his hands on her shoulders, pushed her back and pushed her onto the cabinet.
Their eyes met, both breathing heavily. He slowly lowered his neck, avoiding her gaze. After a moment, he changed his tone to a helpless low voice: "I really don't want to go to the point of breaking up with you. Can you please like me again and be with me again?"
He was warning her one moment, and discussing with her the next moment as if he had taken some wrong medicine. Luo Shu stared blankly at his thick black hair.
"Let's each take a step back."
Fang Qingzhuo raised his head suddenly, his Adam's apple rolling, "You can lie to me, but be smart and don't let me find out like today."
Luo Shu said nothing, staring up at Fang Qingzhuo who was enveloped in the soft light of the entrance hall.
"It's okay for you to contact him, just remember to keep it secret from me and don't let me know."
He made a statement that made no sense at all, but he acted as if it was natural.
In the silent confrontation, Fang Qingzhuo had no choice but to reveal an expression of compromise at the end of his rope.
"Once a month."
Luo Shu still clenched her teeth, unable to utter a single comment or thought.
"Once every two weeks."
He was like a desperate gambler who had lost many times and finally put all his chips on the line. "Once a week, Luo Shu, no more than that."
Luo Shu's expression gradually changed from disbelief to talking to a deaf person, and finally she concluded that Fang Qingzhuo was possessed by a demon.
She brushed away the two palms hanging from her shoulders and spoke each word with such intensity that each word seemed like an indestructible iron nail welding him firmly into the losing camp: "You're dreaming."
"Don't even think about it in this life."
Fang Qingzhuo only felt that the temperature around him suddenly dropped by dozens of degrees. Hailstones as big as eggs hit the back of his head, bent spine and back. He had no way to avoid them and was seriously injured.
Things were going wrong, wrong, terribly wrong, and yet he had been so magnanimous, so subservient, so humble, so why was Luo Shu still so determined not to let him have an easy time? The reason was obvious.
Recalling this, Fang Qingzhuo's handsome features twisted slightly, his heartbeat like a drum protested beside his ears, and the paranoid emotions hidden deep in his eyes froze into ice in an instant: "Luo Shu, I ask you again, do you want the man you almost married, or me?"
Unfortunately, Luo Shu's stubborn temper flared up at this moment, and she didn't notice his change at all: "I want you to get out now."
"Okay, okay." Fang Qingzhuo's face instantly turned pale as he listened to her answer from beginning to end, not a single word of which was what he wanted. He looked at her with a look of determination that broke his defenses unconsciously, and his voice became louder. "You would rather have a married man than look at me. Do you care about him that much?"
Then, in a rage, he clamped her jaw and lowered his head to seal the lips that had once kissed him tenderly but were now slandering him.
Luo Shu was completely forced to accept his direct demands. His ruthlessness did not seem like he was joking with her at all. This kiss with a retaliatory nature was not like the previous ones. It was as domineering and unreasonable as Fang Qingzhuo himself. She bit his soft lips in anger. He was stunned for half a second in pain. Luo Shu broke away from the one-sided passionate kiss and then pushed hard. Fang Qingzhuo was caught off guard and was slightly pushed away, followed by a slap on his left cheek.
Her movements were too smooth for him to defend himself. The tip of her tongue brushed across his cheek, and it hurt. This was the third time she had slapped him.
"You're getting better at beating me."
"You're getting more and more used to being beaten."
He caught Luo Shu's resentful gaze, and an ambiguous ripple appeared at the corner of his lips, as if he was amused by her, or as if he was provoking or flirting with her.
"Then praise me."
"Neuropathy."
"Then let me praise you."
Luo Shu subconsciously believed that any compliments coming out of his mouth could not be good words.
After a moment, a laugh was heard in the warming air.
"I've made progress. This time I learned how to fan myself at home, but..." Fang Qingzhuo happily squeezed out the last four words from between his teeth, "Not as good as last time."
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