Chapter 4
"Tap tap tap, tap tap tap."
"Snap!" The door opened, revealing a lifeless face through the half-closed door.
"What's wrong now?"
"This toothbrush head is too big, it's uncomfortable for me to use, and the bristles are too hard, they'll irritate my gums."
Qi Yaoguang held out the toothbrush, Gu Mengzhu rubbed her eyes, took the toothbrush, looked it over, and finally tossed it back.
"Wow, you're so nosy? You gamble your life away in casinos, even to the point of exhaustion and skipping meals, and now you're complaining about a toothbrush? Young Master, you're living under someone else's roof now, a tiger fallen into the plains being bullied by dogs. You should know how to be content, OK?"
He wiped the foam from his mouth and, taking advantage of his height, tilted his chin up to look at her:
"Oh, you're calling yourself a dog."
Gu Mengzhu wanted to curse but couldn't bring herself to say it, so she gritted her teeth and said, word by word:
"What I mean is, the good old days are gone forever! You're working for me now, you have no right to make demands, so stop complaining."
Qi Yaoguang crossed his arms, tilted his neck to one side, and looked at her sideways:
"Fine, forget about the toothbrush, but you should at least take care of the mosquitoes. I won't go into your room, there's a difference between men and women, but I'll sleep in the living room, where mosquitoes could bite me to death. If I die, no one will pay you back."
“You’ve been lying here for two weeks, and you haven’t shown any ability to pay me back.” Gu Mengzhu looked him up and down. “I’ll buy the mosquito net and mosquito coils later. But it seems your injury has almost healed. It’s time to go back to work.”
"Working? Fine." Qi Yaoguang walked back to the sofa, adopting a lord-like posture. "I don't care. The question is, is there anything I can do?"
"You have hands and feet, a worthless life. Besides gambling, what can't you do?"
He pretended to be dead and remained silent. Gu Mengzhu rubbed her forehead, walked to the chair next to the sofa, and sat down.
"Then let me ask you, what are your skills?"
"Singing, dancing, acting."
She first stared at him, snorted, and then gave a cold laugh.
"Since I'm off work today, I'll take pity on you and go to the job market with you. Get up, don't lie there like a dead man."
Qi Yaoguang reluctantly stood up, and the two went out together. She walked and stopped, he picked and chose; she begged and pleaded, he stood with his hands in his pockets, as if everyone around him was dead. Finally, she burst into a tirade against him:
"If I ask you to serve dishes, you say your arms will break; if I ask you to hand out flyers, you say you're withdrawn; if I ask you to be a host, you say you can't even fart three times; if I ask you to dance on stage, you do a terrible crawl; if I ask you to be the emcee to liven up the atmosphere, you wish the newlyweds a promotion, wealth, and a dead wife; if I ask you to celebrate someone's birthday, you play a suona on the spot? I'm begging you, have some decency. You're always so picky, you might as well go work at RT-Mart killing fish."
"Kill fish?" He put his hands in his pockets as usual, showing off his freedom, and glanced at her sideways. "I'm not good at killing fish."
Gu Mengzhu faced the wall, wishing she could smash her head against it to get some peace and quiet. After struggling for ages, they hadn't found a single temporary job and had to go home dejectedly. Gu Mengzhu was covered in sweat, feeling sticky all over, and rushed into the bathroom to shower first. Qi Yaoguang yawned and sat down on the sofa, but he felt uncomfortable and fidgeted for a while before finally pulling something out from under him.
"Hey, you can go take a shower now."
"This book is quite interesting."
He held up the book to her. Gu Mengzhu squinted, wiping the water droplets from her eyes before making out the dark, cloud-like cover. She hurriedly went over and snatched the book back, frowning as she smoothed out the bent corners. Her hair was still dripping wet; she wiped her hands on her clothes repeatedly before continuing to fold the book. Qi Yaoguang was quite puzzled by her behavior. It was just a book; why make such a show of it in front of him?
"I didn't know any English. I see it's marked up there, and it's fluorescent. Life, life is—"
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more."
She raised her head and asked him in a calm tone:
You came into my room?
Qi Yaoguang stopped laughing, stood up from the sofa, and looked down at her, scrutinizing her:
"Why would I go into your room? Let me tell you, I have no interest in that. I found this thing in the crack of the sofa, so don't accuse me wrongly."
"sorry."
A smirk played on his lips as he bent down, leaned forward, and asked in a sly, cheeky tone:
"You answered pretty quickly just now, you're quite capable. Were you a translator before?"
She flipped through a few pages to check for damage, and when she heard him ask, she looked up again. Seeing his face so close, her pupils involuntarily dilated, and she was slightly startled. Then she stared straight into his eyes.
"No, I just studied it in a Western literature class."
"Hey, aren't you embarrassed to be looking at you so closely?"
Gu Mengzhu made a disgusted expression.
Why are you blushing? Do you think you're so beautiful?
"Let me tell you, during recess in elementary school, the boy at the next table kept staring at me. That was the only time I blushed because someone was staring at me."
She held up her index finger to him, emphasizing it.
"I was so naive back then. I turned around and asked him why he was looking at me. He mocked me for being ugly and called me shameless. In the end, he told me he was looking at my deskmate. But my deskmate is a guy, so I don't know what he was looking at. But ever since then, I've known that you can't be presumptuous or make things up for yourself. Now, when people look at me, I just say, 'Hey! What are you looking at? You've never died, have you?'"
Qi Yaoguang suddenly shuddered, then quickly stood up straight, his eyes wide open, even filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.
That was close! I almost spat out my saliva.
Seeing his strong reaction, Gu Mengzhu found it amusing. She raised her eyebrows at him and asked smugly:
"Hey, are you dead yet? Still looking around?"
There will be no next time!
He pushed it aside and took two steps at a time into the bathroom.
"Hey, you don't want my clothes either? Don't cover me with my blanket in those dirty old clothes, hey!"
The only response she received was the loud slam of the door closing. Gu Mengzhu shrugged, yawned, and took her book back to her bedroom.
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