Cheng Xi clutched at her forehead, staring at her desolate and empty apartment for quite a while in disbelief before finally calling Lu Chenzhou. “Where are my clothes?”“At my place.”
She tried to stay patient. “If they"re all gone, then what am I supposed to change into at night?”
Lu Chenzhou seemed very surprised. “Don"t you know where I live?”
Cheng Xi was speechless. “……”
Trying to communicate with someone who didn"t understand her was too difficult, and she was honestly quite exasperated that she had fallen for such a self-centered man. She could only comfort herself with the same words that she had used to to comfort someone else earlier: It"s all right. Men are just like that sometimes, and Lu Chenzhou is a man amongst men. So, hoping that he would be considerate or give advance notice was just a delusion!
After she comforted herself, she left to find a place to stay for the night. Tian Rou and Shen Wei"s places were too far away to even be considered, but Su Feng"s might not be a bad choice.
Su Feng lived very close to the hospital, but in the opposite direction of Cheng Xi"s apartment; she lived in the north, and Su Feng in the south.
Su Feng had just gotten off work when she received her call. After she picked up and heard Cheng Xi"s plight, she immediately said, “Then, let me come fetch you.”
See, women were so thoughtful and considerate.
When Cheng Xi climbed into Su Feng"s car, she immediately leaned back against her seat and exhaustedly said, “I think that I should find a wife rather than a husband to marry.”
Su Feng threw an unopened cup of yogurt at her. “What kind of craziness are you spouting now?”
“I"m not crazy, just casually grumbling.”
Su Feng smiled. “Did your rich boyfriend do something to annoy you again?”
Cheng Xi couldn"t help herself from frantically unloading all of her complaints. “……Seriously, he said that he was going to move in, and he just expected me to accommodate him like that. And to top it off, he even insulted my interior decor! Alright, it"s fine if he wants to renovate it—he"s rich enough to not care about eighty or a hundred thousand yuan. Fine! But was there really a need to say that he was going to do it in the morning and then take everything from my apartment out before nighttime? All without telling me anything? Is this really okay? Is it?!”
Su Feng was laughing uncontrollably at this point. She had never seen Cheng Xi angry before, and her complaining made Su Feng feel like she was about to go crazy from laughter. She even had to park by the side of the road as she clutched at her stomach and guffawed.
Cheng Xi was gloomy. “Is it that funny?” She looked outside, bit down on her yogurt"s straw, and reminded Su Feng, “We can"t stop here.”
Su Feng was shedding tears from laughing too hard, and as she wiped them away, she said, “Then stop teasing me.”
Even Su Feng had rendered Cheng Xi speechless tonight. “……”
Cheng Xi looked at Su Feng accusingly. “Dr. Su, I"m really trying to talk to you seriously. I"ve suddenly fallen from being a nice little member of the bourgeoisie to a homeless person. I don"t have clothes to change into, a place to stay, or anything to eat or wear. Can you pity me a little?”
Su Feng patted her comfortingly. “Alright, I"ll give you some things to eat, a place to stay, and even someone to sleep with. Don"t worry, I won"t let you wander the cold world alone.” But after she said this, she started uncontrollably laughing again. “But even if he didn"t notify you beforehand, then did he not at least prepare a place for you to stay?”
Cheng Xi didn"t want to talk anymore. Su Feng glanced at her as she asked, “So he did prepare one, huh? You don"t want to stay there?” She stretched out her hand and tugged at Cheng Xi"s scarf.
Cheng Xi resisted warily. “Keep your eyes on the road!”
Su Feng was driving attentively, and clicked her tongue several times in response. “Isn"t it nice to be young, to mess around like this?”
Cheng Xi looked at her exasperatedly. “You"re young too.”
Su Feng shook her head, looked at the rearview mirror, and focused on backing the car up. “As you said, why should I find a man to marry? At this age, with my money, a car, a house, and kids, there"s no reason for me to find a man who will only make me feel uncomfortable.”
After she said this, Cheng Xi stopped trying to persuade her. Everyone had their own way of living, and as long as it was healthy, there was no need for her to force Su Feng into something she didn"t want.
And so, the topic was dropped just like that.
Cheng Xi was too tired from work and didn"t want to make dinner, whereas Su Feng never cooked. So, the two of them ate out. Halfway into dinner, Lu Chenzhou called her. “You"re not coming?”
Cheng Xi very much wanted to play ignorant. “Go where?” Her apartment was completely empty right now! But since she was spending his money for the renovation, she couldn"t look a gift horse in the mouth. “I"m staying with a colleague.”
Lu Chenzhou was fl.u.s.tered. ……d.a.m.n, I miscalculated! o(╯□╰)o
Now, all he could do was start whipping the lash and hurry the renovation process up. There wasn"t any need to change out the foundations; all he needed to do was order new furniture, buy a new sofa, and other similar surface adjustments. Everything proceeded very quickly, and the renovation was finished in half a month.
When Lu Chenzhou"s grandparents found that he was helping Cheng Xi renovate her apartment, they became particularly happy, and the two of them even personally went to his office to instruct him. “When you renovate the place, remember to have any formaldehyde scrubbed away. Your skin"s very sensitive, so you want to make sure that the place is spotless when you move in.”
This point was fair, and Lu Chenzhou noted it down.
And then Lu Chenzhou"s grandmother said, “You need to marry her quickly, or else the wedding ceremony will be annoying to manage once she"s pregnant.”
Mr. Lu was shocked. He was just thinking about getting Cheng Xi in bed, and hadn"t thought about babies at all!
Yes, this was also a fair point. He didn"t want a baby, so he had to use contraception!
The move-in day was scheduled relatively soon. It was actually close to Qingming Day, and the weather was returning to a nice temperate band again. Conveniently, the move-in day was on the weekend, so Cheng Xi would have time to clean up after moving back.
Cheng Xi"s first look at the new place was when she moved back in. She was normally very busy, and couldn"t be bothered to visit while it was being renovated. Since her suggestions wouldn"t be taken into consideration anyways, she might as well leave it be.
She had expected that, like Lu Chenzhou"s personality, the apartment would be cold, ascetic, and perfectly symmetrical. However, in reality, her new apartment was bright and sunny. The blues and whites on the wall paired well together, and the overall atmosphere was very tasteful and stylish.
Cheng Xi made a few turns once inside. The master bedroom hadn"t changed much, but what shocked her most was the guest room, which had become a study. The original wardrobe had been removed, and the neighboring wall was replaced by a full row of bookshelves. The tatami mat by the window had also been removed, replaced by a big study desk, and there wasn"t a bed or wardrobe anywhere in sight. Mr. Lu"s plan had thus come to light—he didn"t want anyone staying over with them at all, and neither did he want any interruptions.
After seeing this completely different room, Cheng Xi didn"t know what to say. All she could do was ma.s.sage her forehead and console herself that it was fine. If she didn"t have a bed, she could just buy another again later. o(╯□╰)o
Even with regards to moving, Lu Chenzhou"s personal style shone through. A few large trucks came to move all of his things up the building and into the apartment, and then all the workers left. Then, he rolled up his sleeves and started to unpack everything.
Well organized boxes filled the entire living room, and Cheng Xi wryly asked, “Aren"t we going to find people to help unpack?”
Lu Chenzhou glanced at her. “It"s our home. Why do we need others" help?”
Cheng Xi fell silent, before finally nodding. “That"s true.” And then she also rolled up her sleeves and started unpacking and putting things in their proper places.
Actually, although there were many boxes, most of them were filled with books. Since they now had many large bookshelves, they had to fill them all. While unpacking, Cheng Xi realized the benefits of having a partner with OCD, as everything was packed nicely into the boxes. He had packed all of Cheng Xi"s things meticulously: her clothes, her pants, her shoes, her underwear (-_-）, and even her books were all organized neatly. Cheng Xi"s books were organized by subject, and each had a note on it, detailing where it had originally come from.
As a result, although they had plenty of things, once it was all unboxed, they were placed rapidly. It moved along without a hitch, until Cheng Xi reached an unmarked and unlabeled box. She was somewhat curious, and as she prepared to open the box, she asked Lu Chenzhou, “What"s inside this box?”
Lu Chenzhou turned around and glanced at the box before coolly saying, “A gift from Baldy.”
Huh? Baldy was the type to give gifts? Curiously, Cheng Xi cut open the wrapping tape with a pair of scissors and removed the tape, only to see a whole box of condoms!
The condoms" packaging were particularly striking, all packed neatly, labelled with descriptions like “original,” “super thin,” “super comfortable,”“super safe,”, and a variety of other similar words.
Cheng Xi didn"t know what to say. “……”Previous ChapterNext Chapter