tidy
Yu Xi released her bicycle, took two steps forward, and stood face to face with Deng Yi and Zhou Ji'an.
She carefully examined Zhou Ji'an.
Deng Yi also turned to look at Zhou Ji'an.
They were both scrutinizing Zhou Ji'an's expression.
One possibility is that she's trying to determine if her praise is genuine.
Another possibility is judging her intention in saying that.
In the past, Zhou Ji'an always lacked confidence in front of people who were much prettier and richer than ordinary people. He would not know what to do with his hands or feet when people looked at him.
Later, he met Lu Jianni and they became good friends. Gradually, Lu Jianni helped him develop some self-confidence.
But now, with Yu Xi and Deng Yi, two people who are both prettier and richer than her, watching her at the same time, the little confidence she had painstakingly cultivated evaporated instantly.
"I've always thought you two were a perfect match, and it's a shame you didn't end up together." Zhou Ji'an, who had lost his confidence, blurted out his true thoughts. "But since things have come to this, you two need to handle your entanglement properly. It would be best to resolve it privately and not drag me into it. I'm just an ordinary person, and I only want to be an ordinary person. I don't want to be a tool for your push-pull."
As Zhou Ji'an spoke, he pulled his hand away and, before Yu Xi and Deng Yi could speak, said, "I'm going back first. You two can continue your conversation."
Zhou Ji'an, who hadn't run in a long time, braved the cold wind and ran all the way back to the villa entrance. Facing the locked door, he defiantly punched it.
She had originally planned to run home, grab her luggage, and immediately take a taxi back to the river-view apartment, but now she could only wait for Deng Yi to return.
Thinking that she would be alone with Deng Yi later, and that her actions just now would make things more awkward between them, she decided to call Shen Ruoheng.
Before Zhou Ji'an could even finish his thought, he had already tapped on Shen Ruoheng's phone and was getting straight to the point: "Auntie, I've arrived at Deng Yicheng's house in the east, but I don't know the password. Could you tell me?"
Shen Ruoheng: "Didn't Deng Yi tell you? This child, how could he do things like this?"
"Don't worry, I'll check it now and tell you right away." Shen Ruoheng flipped through her phone's notes app, found a string of numbers, and read them aloud.
Zhou Ji'an typed in carefully. The door opened, and she quickly thanked her, saying, "Thank you, Auntie. I'll hang up now and call you back later."
After the call was disconnected, Shen Ruoheng realized that if the child didn't know the password, she should have called Deng Yi.
She sensed something was wrong and immediately dialed Deng Yi's number, only to hear a busy signal.
Perhaps Xiao An called Deng Yi for help because Deng Yi didn't answer his phone?
Shen Ruoheng felt a little more at ease and looked at the person across the table, saying, "These things alone shouldn't be enough; we'll have to wait a little longer."
The person on the other end agreed, "Of course, these things can't be rushed; rushing them can easily lead to mistakes."
As Zhou Ji'an pulled out his suitcase, Deng Yi carried his bicycle into the house.
He didn't look well.
Zhou Ji'an stood at the bedroom door like a thief.
She wasn't afraid of Deng Yi getting angry; Deng Yi had never gotten angry at her before, not even when she made mistakes at work.
She was just suddenly angry at herself for not having acting talent and not being able to keep up with Deng Yi and Yu Xi's performance, so she recklessly laid her cards on the table.
Now, facing Deng Yi, who was left behind to clean up the mess, she felt somewhat guilty.
Deng Yi, having put down his bicycle, drew closer and closer.
Zhou Ji'an steeled his resolve and said decisively, "Why don't we take advantage of the fact that nothing has happened yet and that there's still time to get a divorce?"
"What do you mean, 'not too late'?" Deng Yi asked, his breath quickening. He hadn't expected her to actually plan to sneak away. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't have anything I want to do." He was too close to observe his reaction, so Zhou Ji'an had no choice but to step back.
Deng Yi breathed a sigh of relief, his expression softening. "Since there's nothing you want to do, wouldn't it be better to maintain the status quo?"
Zhou Ji'an thought for a moment, then half-probingly and half-revealingly said, "Anyway, Yu Xi knows that our marriage is fake, so it's hard to maintain the status quo, and if it goes on for too long, things are likely to go wrong."
"How is our marriage a sham?" Deng Yi snatched the suitcase from her hands and pushed her back into the bedroom.
Zhou Ji'an was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening and, while chasing after the suitcase, asked, "What do you mean? Didn't we agree on this?"
"What did we agree on?" Deng Yi feigned amnesia, laid down his suitcase, quickly unzipped it, and took out the clothes inside.
He grabbed all of Zhou Ji'an's underwear, swimsuit, and swimming trunks with his large hands. Zhou Ji'an, his face flushed, rushed in front of him, grabbing at them haphazardly, trying to pull them into his arms.
"How could you do this?" Zhou Ji'an simply nestled into his arms, blocking his view. "You promised to let me have a fake marriage with you."
Deng Yi moved his hands, and when she took the opportunity to retrieve her belongings, he tightened his arms around her with his free hands, teasing her with ill intent: "When did I ever say such a thing?"
"The chat history is still there." Zhou Ji'an didn't expect him to deny it. She hugged her underwear tightly with one hand, took out her phone with the other, opened WeChat, opened her chat with Deng Yi, and showed it to him.
"Take another look," Deng Yi reminded him.
Zhou Ji'an thought to herself that she hadn't misread it; it was indeed a message he had sent her.
Will you marry me?
"I can give you anything."
She looked up at him and saw the teasing in his eyes. Only when she looked at the two messages did she realize the problem.
He never left any evidence that he had forced her into a sham marriage.
Because after he sent those two messages, he kept negotiating and drafting agreements with her on the premise of a fake marriage, so she naturally remembered his message "Do you want to marry me?" as "Do you want to have a fake marriage with me?"
Deng Yi said unhurriedly, "We have a legally obtained marriage certificate, a public wedding, and we've even dated. If this is considered a fake marriage, then in my opinion, no one in this world is truly married."
"It's too late for you to regret it now." Deng Yi loosened his grip, giving the stunned person in his arms enough room to breathe. "You can't like anyone else for now either."
In the end, who knows who will regret it first?
Zhou Ji'an's heart pounded, feeling uneasy. He asked, "Did you say the same thing to Yu Xi? Did she believe you?"
The turmoil has subsided for now.
Deng Yi relaxed considerably. "Yu Xi and I are just colleagues. Her suspicions are not important to me. I don't need to explain to her."
Zhou Ji'an's heart stirred. When she thought of the similar explanations and reassurances Deng Yi had given her when she was jealous in the past, she felt that her actions today were childish and pretentious.
"I just don't want to play along with you in front of her when she knows our marriage is fake. That would make me look like a joke," Zhou Ji'an admitted.
"If you don't always think about cooperating with my acting, you won't have such worries." Deng Yi smiled gently, tucked the hair behind her ear, and naturally pinched her earlobe with his fingers. "Don't suddenly run away again in the future."
Whether it was the heat from his fingers or her deep shame about her behavior that day, Zhou Ji'an felt his ears burning and guiltyly denied, "I didn't suddenly run away."
Deng Yi: "If you didn't suddenly run away, why are you pulling a suitcase?"
Zhou Ji'an: "I'm packing my luggage."
Deng Yi's laughter grew noticeably louder as he looked down at the "luggage" in her hands. "It needs to be packed properly."
The phone rang, and Zhou Ji'an, feeling uneasy, prayed that the phone would ring until Deng Yi answered it.
"I need to take this call." Deng Yi reluctantly let go of her. "You pack your luggage carefully."
Deng Yi, who was answering the phone, walked out of the bedroom and stood not far from the door to take the call, giving Zhou Ji'an ample time and space to pack his luggage.
Zhou Ji'an didn't know how to pack. She had only brought two days' worth of clothes, and after thinking it over, she decided to put them back in her suitcase.
Deng Yi, who was outside the door, suddenly said, "Put it in the dressing room, and the computer in the study."
His phone was still to his ear, and the person on the other end seemed to be still talking.
Zhou Ji'an looked around hesitantly, then pushed open a door, grabbed a few simple clothes, opened a cabinet door at random, and stuffed them all inside.
"Didn't you say you wanted to tidy up properly?" Deng Yi hung up the phone and followed her into the walk-in closet.
Zhou Ji'an felt embarrassed again, as if she had seen him not cleaning properly that morning. He leaned against the cabinet door, looked at him, and said, "I know, you can leave."
"Aren't you scared anymore?" Deng Yi not only didn't go out, but also hooked his arm around her waist, moved her to his side, and helped her tidy up.
Seeing him wantonly handling her things, Zhou Ji'an no longer cared about being afraid, only thinking about stopping him, "There aren't many things to begin with, you don't need to tidy them up."
"Then buy a few more and put them in." Deng Yi folded her light pink underwear and panties and put them in the drawer.
Zhou Ji'an gave up struggling, pressed his forehead against the cabinet door, and whispered, "You really are strange."
"What's strange about packing my wife's clothes?" Deng Yi deftly put all her clothes into different areas.
"Are all men like this? They'll go to any lengths to get a woman into bed." Zhou Ji'an was increasingly bewildered by his behavior, and his defenses were crumbling.
Deng Yi looked at her and said, "I'm not doing all this so that you'll sleep with me."
Zhou Ji'an turned her head and leaned against the cabinet door again, her body and mind trying to find a stable foothold. She looked at him, skeptical of his words.
"I'm doing this because I want to. I don't want you to divorce me, or at least not so soon."
His tone and eyes were sincere, and Zhou Ji'an did not detect any scheming or deception.
She could no longer see him clearly.
He always acted as if he had feelings for her, but when she thought about how they were together under the premise of a fake marriage, she couldn't believe that his feelings were real.
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