Chapter 3: The Adonis Next Door (3)
The housekeeper, “That’s all.”
Qin Zhi Ai did not utter a word and collectedly left.
–
It’s already 1am, perhaps Gu Yu Sheng would not be coming back again tonight.
A month had already pa.s.sed since the day he instructed the housekeeper to ensure she consumed the contraceptive pills, and not returned.
To make matters worse, she had by all means avoided interaction with him after the housekeeper relayed his message to her, warning her not to bother him at any cost, resulting in them not having even shared a phone call, needless to say meeting each other in this one month.
Qin Zhi Ai stared dazedly at the nearby European-style floor clock whose hour hand pointed to one before gradually directing her gaze back onto the television screen showing a movie she was previously watching that starred her favourite celebrity. Having lost the mood to continue watching, she promptly switched off the television and proceeding upstairs.
Probably due to this reminder of Gu Yu Sheng, sleep evaded Qin Zhi Ai as she lay wide awake on the bed. Closing her eyes while her mind wandered, it was a long while later before sleepiness finally hit her and, with much difficulty, finally managed to fall asleep. However, at this moment, the landline telephone at the bed headrest suddenly rang.
The caller ID indicated the Gu-household main mansion’s land-line. Qin Zhi Ai picked up the phone and the voice of Zhang Ma¹ (张妈, Nanny Zhang), the Gu main household’s housemaid of over twenty years piped up, “Young Madam, sorry to disturb you at such a late hour. Old Master Gu (顾老先生) rang just now, saying that he will be arriving Bei Jing on the morning flight. He wants you and young master to come over to the main house for dinner……”
Zhang Ma operates under the orders of Old Master Gu and thus is probably the only one in the Gu family who would go against Gu Yu Sheng’s wishes to address her as ‘Young Madam’.
“As for young master, don’t forget to relay the message to him……”
But Gu Yu Sheng had warned her not to bother him at any cost…
Intuitively, Qin Zhi Ai wanted to ask Zhang Ma to call Gu Yu Sheng on her behalf but the words were caught in her mouth when another memory of him warning her on the day she moved into his house hit her.
He had mentioned that grandfather is his only kin in this world. If not for the despicable methods she used to coax grandfather into pairing them up, he wouldn’t even take a look at her, needless to say letting her live at his place! Furthermore, he warned and threatened her to keep their bad relations.h.i.+p a secret from grandfather. Adding that if grandfather ever vexes over this matter, he will not let her go!
Considering that she’s living together with him but still wants Zhang Ma to phone him on behalf, isn’t that blatantly announcing the dysfunctional relations.h.i.+p between her and Gu Yu Sheng to Zhang Ma? What’s more, Zhang Ma had been serving Old Master Gu for so many years……
Qin Zhi Ai contemplated for a moment before finally retracting the words she wanted to say and replaced it with, “I’ve got it Zhang Ma, I will inform Yu Sheng.”
After hanging up the phone, Qin Zhi Ai leant against the headboard and searched for Gu Yu Sheng’s number on her handphone, hesitating momentarily before finally dialing.
Qin Zhi Ai nervously held her breath while listening to the dial sounds emitting from the receiver.
First ring, second ring, third ring…… before the fourth ring, the phone call was mercilessly cut off by the other party.
Gu Yu Sheng had rejected her call……
Qin Zhi Ai pursed her lips. Instead of calling him again, she crafted and sent Gu Yu Sheng a message.
However, the ‘Message delivered’ notification never came, forcing Qin Zhi Ai to give Gu Yu Sheng another call. But unlike before, a different dial tone emitted from the receiver, the ‘busy-line’ dial tone.
¹张妈 literally translates to Mother Zhang. It is a highly respectful way to address middle-aged nannies in the North region of China.