Zhao Ai worriedly gazed at Fan Zheng"s back as they walked into the house. The man looked absent-minded. Before he climbed up the stairs, he didn"t even turn his head when he spoke. "I will work on my projects so don"t disturb me until dinner."
"Is he affected by what Zhan Rong said?"
At the thought that immediately popped up after hearing his words, she unconsciously pursed her lips before lowering her head and uttering a "yes".
She didn"t know what else to do. Therefore, she only watched him disappear into the second floor, stay there for some time, before realizing she looked stupid and hence deciding to leave.
Zhao Ai headed to her room which was smaller than the other rooms in the house, but bigger than the one she lived in for seventeen years at the village. After putting down the bags in her hand on the small round foldable table, she sat on the edge of the bed before lying down, staring at the white ceiling.
"... Fan Zheng must have been thinking about the encounter at the central square."
All of a sudden, a bit of nervousness and insecurity suddenly wormed into her heart. The feeling made her toss and turn in her bed before facing the door. Once again, she did not know what to do.
Every time she looked around her new living s.p.a.ce, she would be hit by a feeling of disbelief.
To those who had lived in a beautiful house most of their lives, it would be hard to understand her sentiment. Why stare so long at the painted concrete walls? And marvel at gla.s.s windows and wide bed with a soft mattress? Because it was like the difference between heaven and earth when compared to before.
In the village, the leader"s house was indeed the biggest and the most imposing, making it the envy of the other locals, but it was because they had thatched or nipa huts as a comparison. In reality, it was still just a house made mostly of woods and bamboo-woven walls, a far-cry from even the most humble dwelling in the city.
The roof was made of galvanized iron sheets. The front where the door was actually had hollow blocks as its foundation. The flooring of the bathroom and toilet was cement, unlike the leveled soil of the other houses.
But that was it.
No paint. The wood was exposed and visitors would easily see the termites sometimes popping out or making lines on some pillars. It smelled of decay and mold. Its only edge was looking bigger and a bit better, but every few years, there was also a need to change the pillars and plywoods, like every other residence.
In short, it was not even worth comparing to Fan Zheng"s house which she heard was only one of the numerous properties his family owned in this country.
As the country b.u.mpkin that she was, her sight was yet to turn to the huge wealth that Fan Zheng"s family had. Her simple mind only made comparisons limited to this room and her former room.
This moment though, she didn"t reminisce anything about her former life. Like Fan Zheng, she also couldn"t help but think of what happened earlier.
Zhan Rong"s words made her sad since in case Fan Zheng felt no more sense of responsibility for her, she would most likely have to part with this place. Recalling the moments they had in the past weeks, she felt some confidence rising within for being told by the other that he liked her. But it immediately faded away like a deflated balloon as a question popped up in her mind.
Was Fan Zheng feelings for her deeper than the friends.h.i.+p he had with Zhan Rong and the others?
Zhao Ai forgot the guy had just fought against Guo Hanying for her sake. She wallowed in insecurities.
Recalling how she was blamed for the prolonged suffering of the women and children sold to the Zhao villagers, she felt guilty. It stemmed from the fact that she had actually never thought of reporting to the police each time they went to town. A blunder caused by her lack of IQ and common sense present to normal city dwellers.
Zhao Ai knew she was not that smart. Because if she was, she would not have thought that angering outsiders would make them go away. She also would not have thought of taking a haunted house as her temporary residence while looking for a job.
The lack of exposure to TV, internet, and other normal civilization stuff caused her to have a narrow viewpoint, plus whenever she accompanied the villagers in selling their produce, they always made sure to not approach near places with security guards and police officers.
Zhao Ai sighed as she wondered how she would explain her side to Fan Zheng later.
"Zhao Ai, are you there?" Three consecutive knocks came from the door.
The sound knocked the girl out of her stupor, rendering her to push her upper body up in reflex. The female lead stood up and twisted the k.n.o.b before popping her little head out. "h.e.l.lo." She greeted the other housemaid standing outside.
"So you"re really back."
"Yes, Miss Mao. I was just resting. But if you have some errands for me to do, I would be more than happy to help."
"Hmm."
Mao Xiulan looked at the slim and pretty girl with lukewarm eyes. Towards this co-worker who seemed more like a little lover of their young boss than a housemaid earning her pay through domestic ch.o.r.es, she felt complicated. Many times the woman wondered whether to be annoyed that while the rest of the servants were working their b.u.t.ts off, this Zhao Ai was only in charge of accompanying the young boss outside, or to ingratiate herself with this girl to earn herself some small benefits.
"I heard Zhao Ai is just a little chick from the countryside which means young master Fan would get tired of her in a few months."
The middle-aged lady inwardly shook her head and decided to not change her way of treating the female lead. She said with an ever-serious face, "Chen Ning will go to the grocery store which is just a street away from here. Everyone else is busy,. You go accompany her since the list she got from Old Ke is quite long, meaning there would be more than three large bags."
The Old Ke mentioned was like a butler for the Fan siblings, although his real t.i.tle was a.s.sistant to Fan Zheng"s father.
Mao Xiulan was actually aware that Zhao Ai had just gone back from outside and had yet to rest for even five minutes. She waited for the girl"s response, planning to report to Mrs. Fan if ever Zhao Ai showed any arrogance.
However, Zhao Ai readily nodded and agreed. "I got it, Ms. Mao. Is she waiting for me outside."
After her eyes widened a bit, Mao Xiulan replied, "That"s right."
"At least, this gal is not delusional or with ridiculous superiority complex after being noticed by the young master," the older lady thought to herself after coughing to cover up her embarra.s.sment and watching Zhao Ai walked away.
An hour after the female lead went out with her colleague, they came out of the grocery store pus.h.i.+ng a cart.
"Sister Chen, are we going to walk the way back?" Zhao Ai asked with her eyes at the cart full of bags of ingredients and items.
The sun was still up high. Even if the house was only a hundred and fifty meters away, it would still be torturous to carry stuff while marching under the scorching weather. Personally, Zhao Ai had no problem doing that as she was a girl raised by her father to do household ch.o.r.es for him. Her skin was fair but not the type to tan easily. But the case might not be the same for her companion.
"Sister Zhao. We"re both maids, alright. But we also have to take care of ourselves. At least we should maintain our skin so once we"re no longer working as house helpers, we can find some decent partners."
Sure enough, the other girl protested.
"Taxi fare for a mere 150 meters doesn"t seem worth it though."
"Nothing we can do since are only two girls. Hold on, I"ll call a cab," said Sister Chen before attempting to walk towards the street to flag a taxi. The main street was quite the distance away from the entrance of the mart so Zhao Ai grabbed Chen Ning"s shoulder and said,
"Sister Chen, let me." To which the latter shrugged her shoulders at, "Up to you. I"ll guard these then."
Not long after Zhao Ai arrived at the loading-unloading area, a white car stopped by. It was still in the middle of the lane and not really close to the pedestrian side, therefore, the female lead was more than shocked when the car door suddenly opened. On that side, a speeding motorcycle was coming from behind. From inside the door, a body was suddenly thrown as if it was on purpose so that the person would be run over by that.
No matter how far-fetched and unreasonable it looked like, it did happen before Zhao Ai"s eyes.
"Ahhh! Blood! Blood! Somebody"s dying!"
The white car left before anyone could respond. People"s focus was first on the fat lady that screamed before going to the body lying motionlessly in the street. It had become a scene of chaos even though the oncoming vehicles, including the motorbike, had stopped because the others that regained their senses also began to make a commotion, filling the place with loud screams.