You wouldn't have any improper thoughts about me, would you?
Seeing this in broad daylight, though not as terrifying as in the dead of night, still sent a chill down Wen Dai's spine. She continued walking. She rolled up her hoodie sleeves, touched the goosebumps rising on her arms, and then turned her gaze to Chen Sizhe, who stood calmly to her right. "Did you see that?"
The man who was slightly ahead glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and lazily forced out a sound from his throat: "Mmm."
Puzzled by his indifferent attitude, Wen Dai took two quick steps to his side and front, turned to face him at an angle, and walked backwards. "Seriously? Are you that cold? That woman is being haunted by a child ghost. I thought cultivators like you would at least intervene and do something to help, wouldn't you?"
Chen Sizhe took a step forward, put his hand on Wen Dai's shoulder, and pulled her back by her other shoulder. "Walk properly." The ambiguous gesture was fleeting, and he pulled away just as she was about to lean against his chest.
"Doing good doesn't mean meddling in other people's business. If there's no connection, there's no need to concern yourself with their karma. But you, you seem to really enjoy creating trouble for yourself." The sarcastic tone made one want to retort.
After leaving the hotel, they hailed a taxi. While waiting, Wen Dai dismissively retorted, "How am I making trouble for myself? It's fate that we met. If I have the urge to help her, then it proves that I am destined to help her. There's no such thing as meddling in other people's business."
As she spoke eloquently, sunlight streamed through the torn clouds, casting a golden glow on her face. Her beautiful features, enhanced by the natural light and shadow, resembled a portrait framed in a painting, a work of art created by nature itself.
A gentle breeze stirred, and a few strands of her long hair, tied in a low bun, fell lazily, brushing against her cheeks with an effortless vitality. Chen Sizhe shifted his gaze from her face to the traffic on the street. He remained noncommittal.
Wen Dai continued muttering, "If I run into her again when I come back, I'll go up and say hello, and then help her take care of things."
His eyes involuntarily drifted towards her again. He glanced at her, his lips twitching slightly, but ultimately remained silent. What he said was merely his own assumption; her experiences were likely far richer than his. To be worldly-wise yet not cynical is the rarest quality.
There's no need to dampen the enthusiasm that others are upholding.
Wen Dai had hailed the car on a ride-hailing app, and Chen Sizhe, completely unaware of her destination, was bewildered when they arrived at the mall. The car door slammed shut behind them, and a petite figure darted ahead. He followed incredulously, asking, "You said you came out to have fun, and this is the mall? Isn't the Lizhou Mall better than this one?"
The feeling of being dominated by Qi Ya when he was a teenager welled up in his heart. The woman Chen Sizhe had the most contact with was his own mother, and the shopping mall was the most boring and tedious place in his memory where he could never leave.
"You're right, but I just suddenly wanted to buy clothes. I can't exactly fly back to Lizhou to buy them, can I?"
Wen Dai, determined to treat herself well this time, didn't even turn her head.
Chen Sizhe, who had decided to accompany her out of Hengzhou out of fear that she would get lost, was filled with regret.
Wandering through the mall looking for the escalator, Wen Dai, who had only ever admired dresses online, now saw them in person. She entered a store of a well-known designer brand, her sights set on the dress she had long desired, but…
"Excuse me, this dress is only available for VIP purchase. Do you have a black card?"
Caught off guard and stunned, Wen Dai was about to slink away when a hand reached out from beside her. Slender white fingers held a black card and handed it to the saleswoman. At the same time, a deep, husky voice said, "I have one. Wrap this dress up."
So, stunned, Wen Dai turned her head and stared at him in astonishment. The latter, as usual, looked down at her with a disdainful attitude. While she stood there dumbfounded, he said in a rather strange tone, "What's wrong? Haven't you ever seen a kind person before? What else do you want? Hurry up and ask."
Wen Dai's gaze swept around the store before she shook her head and headed towards the cashier. "I don't want anything else." However, when she reached the cashier, Chen Sizhe paid before her. The man once again readily pulled out his card, swiping his card for over 100,000 yuan for a dress, and this miser remained completely unfazed.
He shoved the shopping bag into her hands. Wen Dai picked it up and, as soon as she stepped out of the store, she went up to him and asked curiously, "How come you're a VIP at this store? Why did you pay for my things? You're so generous."
"This brand doesn't just do women's clothing. I paid for your purchase because the black card is mine; otherwise, would you expect me to borrow it in front of the sales assistant?" The person who had been so composed just moments before must have drowned in the lake. Chen Sizhe sharply turned to look at her, his tone strange: "You don't mean you're not planning on paying me back, do you?"
Okay, looks like he's still that miser.
"...I'll definitely pay you back, don't worry. Don't look at me like that, like I'm an ingrate. Thank you." Wen Dai moved her lips slightly, then turned her face away.
Even though she wasn't the one who just swiped the card, Wen Dai remembered to transfer the money back to Chen Sizhe. The thought of her balance suddenly decreasing by 100,000 yuan made her panic. She clasped her hands together, fidgeting with her fingers, her brows furrowed, regret piling up in her eyes. "But you bought it without even trying it on! Oh dear, I was thinking of trying it on first, what if it doesn't fit..."
Chen Sizhe glanced at her a few more times, his gaze lingering briefly on her eyes as she immersed herself in her own world, before abruptly withdrawing his gaze. "Seeing how clearly you went in with your goal in mind, I thought you already had someone in mind. So what if you didn't try it on? Can't you tell if it fits or not? I think it fits perfectly. Don't regret it later." His words were full of certainty and decisiveness. Wen Dai looked up at him, only to see a corner of his profile, her words stuck in her throat.
He saw through her. She knew he probably had.
But the fact that he didn't use a comforting tone was also a way of saving face for her.
...
The dress was handed over to the hotel staff to be dry-cleaned. Wen Dai planned to stay and play for a day after this job was finished. Once she returned to Lizhou, she would probably return to the "stay-at-home live-streaming mode"—online live-streaming allows customers to come to her, and most of the jobs are for consultation; some of the jobs involve small rituals, which require her to go out in the middle of the night to find a quiet place to perform them.
After all, all she needs to do now is maintain a good relationship with Chen Wenkang, who seems to admire her quite a bit.
The hotel offered dinner service, and before leaving, Wen Dai politely stood on the balcony and asked Chen Sizhe next door if he wanted to join her. She didn't mind, but after all, they were business partners now, and it wasn't appropriate for partners to eat alone behind each other's backs. It wasn't suitable to continue using the old approach of going it alone.
But as soon as Chen Sizhe came out of the room, she regretted it immensely, wishing she could glue her mouth shut after extending the invitation, because the first thing he said wasn't "Let's go," but rather—
"Why do you always ask me to go with you? You don't actually have any ulterior motives towards me, do you?"
Meeting his suspicious gaze, Wen Dai felt not only disbelief but also an urge to dissect him; she really wanted to open his skull to see how his nerves were structured.
The way they walked side by side toward the elevator seemed harmonious. Wen Dai sneered, "Me, having inappropriate thoughts about you? Dude, do I look like I have masochistic tendencies? I'm not a submissive, and I don't want to be subjected to dirty talk; talking to you is enough to make me furious. Do you have any manners? I only extended the invitation to my partner out of politeness, so please don't get the wrong idea."
"You really can't say anything nice, but can't you be a little more refined? We're talking about possibilities normally, but you've removed the 'possibility' from 'possibility,' and a third of your sentence is about sexual patterns." Some people are just naturally sarcastic, like Chen Sizhe. He reached out and pressed the elevator's up button, saying in an arrogant tone, "It's best if you don't have any improper thoughts. I don't want our good and pure cooperative relationship to be tainted."
The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing an empty room, making it easy for Wen Dai to enter and retort. She stood inside the elevator, turning her body to face the doors, her eyes not glancing in his direction at all, and suddenly blurted out, "You've never choked on a fish bone while eating fish, have you?"
Caught off guard by her sudden change of topic, Chen Sizhe instinctively raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. "Hmm?"
She glanced at him sideways, her eyes brimming with aggression that seemed ready to fire an arrow. She spoke clearly, "I think you're quite good at finding fault."
Her fox-like eyes widened instantly, and Chen Sizhe curled his lip as if to retort, but the elevator doors opened just then. He followed her out of the elevator, and the rooftop terrace restaurant was elegantly decorated. A waiter came to show them the way.
After Wen Dai and Chen Sizhe were seated, a waiter placed the menu in front of them and then, with a hunched back and a smile, recommended: "If you two are interested, you can try the chocolate lava cake. We will write your names on it in gold leaf right here. The black truffle steak is also good. If you'd like, our chef can arrange the Kobe beef into a double heart shape..."
Wen Dai found it increasingly bizarre as she listened. She stopped flipping through the menu, glanced at the waiter, and asked hesitantly, "Isn't there... nothing normal? For example, do the steaks have to be arranged in a heart shape?"
"Oh, of course not. It's just that if couples are dining together, using two hearts would be more in line with the atmosphere."
The smiling waiter had a pleasant voice, and the ceiling lights cast a soft glow, a few rays of which caught his eye. At first glance—he seemed like a rare person who truly loved his work. Perhaps it was because of the high salary.
Wen Dai glanced at the menu, at the prices that made her feel full at first glance.
The person sitting opposite her didn't say anything, but they were already judging her with their eyes.
She tilted her head back and looked at the waiter at the table, who was full of enthusiasm for his work and trying to make more recommendations. She spoke each word almost as if she were clenching her teeth: "We are not lovers, just business partners."
The waiter then realized his slip of the tongue and apologized repeatedly, but his apologies only made things worse: "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Because you two are both very good-looking, you look like a married couple when you walk together. I was just prejudiced. I'm really sorry."
Wen Dai gave up on the conversation. She lowered her head and casually selected two dishes from the menu with her fingertips. Chen Sizhe, also seemingly uncomfortable with the waiter's unintentional remark, hastily ordered his food. Unaware of each other's difference, neither of them ordered steak.
In the end, Chen Sizhe paid the bill, and Wen Dai transferred 110,000 yuan to him via online banking. The restaurant in the seven-star hotel was not to be underestimated. Even though she only ordered two dishes, it still cost her nearly 2,000 yuan. Adding the price of the dress, she lost 110,000 yuan.
As if her soul had been ripped out, Wen Dai followed Chen Sizhe blankly. This time, entering the elevator was no longer a private space for the two of them. The opening elevator doors revealed someone Wen Dai never expected, making it hard not to marvel at the fate that had brought them together.
The woman who had been haunted by the child ghost when we left the hotel was standing in the corner. Her smooth, shiny hair was tied into a messy low ponytail, and the clothes she wore were of excellent quality. Her lifeless eyes and withered face were set in this body, giving people a strange feeling of incompatibility, like a round hole and a square piece of wood.
I intended to wait for her to come out before going in, but the woman stood there like a shell, her head almost touching my shoulder, her neck just an ornament.
"Are you alright?" Wen Dai took two steps forward and walked to her side, while Chen Sizhe behind her reached out and pressed the door open button.
The woman mechanically turned her head slightly, her dim eyes meeting Wen Dai's gaze. Her lips remained closed for a long time, her throat sounding as if she were struggling to open it. Her hoarse voice made one feel a dull ache in their own throat: "I...I'm fine."
Wen Dai's pupils underwent a very subtle change, freezing for a moment before regaining their original brightness. She whispered an apology, then directly took the woman's hand to feel her pulse, from the cun, guan, chi positions to the palm. The lines between her brows became more and more obvious. "What have you done? You even did something like summoning a spirit from the underworld?"
Unexpectedly, the young girl from this casual gathering saw through her scheme. The woman, who was deeply depressed, perked up slightly. She looked Wen Dai up and down, her throat bobbing, and then spoke with hope in her voice: "You can see through me? Then can you help me? I really... don't know what to do." She lowered her face again, tears welling up instantly. She covered her cheeks with her raised hand, and her sobs echoed in the elevator.
Chen Sizhe, who had been holding the elevator button, had finally run out of patience. He let go of the button and stepped inside. After the elevator doors closed, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Wen Dai moved over and pressed the button for her room's floor. She glanced sideways at the woman leaning against the elevator wall, sobbing with her face covered. A choked voice escaped from the woman's fingertips: "My husband is dead, and my child is dead too; I have nothing left but the money he left behind."
"Besides the money he left me, I have nothing left"—Wen Dai's heart sank, and her gaze fixed on the woman.
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