Chapter 11

Their families could be considered old friends. They’d been visiting each other since the age of split-crotch pants, and later they attended the same school.
Ji Zhou had been quite lively as a child, but after his mother passed away, his temperament changed.
Over the years, let alone dating, he didn’t even have many close friends.
He was always indifferent with people, giving off the impression that he wasn’t easy to get along with. But Chen Huai understood him well—Ji Zhou looked cold on the surface, yet he was someone who valued loyalty and affection deeply.
Now, seeing that Ji Zhou had finally shown a bit of a sprout in the realm of feelings, Chen Huai was genuinely happy for him.
A man nearing thirty who never dated wasn’t good for his mental or physical health.
Chen Huai sat back down beside Ji Zhou, tapped the little side table (the kind for holding drinks), and leaned toward him with a joke. “Brother, it’s summer. It’s not springtime.”
Ji Zhou looked up at him, expression unchanged, as if the tender smile Chen Huai had glimpsed earlier had only been his imagination.
He said, “I lost. Dinner’s on me tonight.”
Chen Huai didn’t stand on ceremony. With one leg crossed, he lit a cigarette. “Alright.”
Half lounging against the armrest, he added, “Oh right. A couple days ago, my dad and I went out to eat and ran into your dad and your aunt.”
Ji Zhou didn’t respond. He twisted open his bottle cap and drank water. The lowered lashes hid the emotion in his eyes.
Not seeing anything unusual on his face, Chen Huai continued, “Your dad asked me about you—how you’ve been. I said I didn’t know, that I’d been busy lately and hadn’t been in touch.”
“Mm.”
“No idea if he believed it.” Chen Huai flicked ash. “My dad said your family’s been collaborating with Fengneng Group lately. Doesn’t President Feng have a daughter? She came back to China recently. Your dad asking about you at a time like this—don’t tell me he wants you to go back and get married?”
Ji Zhou gave a faint, almost inaudible hmph, face calm. “No idea.”
“My dad told me to persuade you to stop sulking with your family and go back to the company to work properly—said the family business will still be yours eventually. I’m seriously speechless…” Chen Huai curled his lip. “I’m telling you, my dad isn’t a good person either.”
Ji Zhou glanced sideways at him.
Chen Huai said righteously, “If he can be best friends with your dad—if he can empathize with your dad—what good could he possibly be?”
Ji Zhou snorted out a laugh. “Not exactly. They’re still different.”
At least Chen Huai’s father didn’t have any “white moonlight” first love, never tried to control Chen Huai’s life, and certainly wouldn’t favor someone else’s son over his own.
“No difference. Men are all the same kind of bastard,” Chen Huai said around the cigarette, grinning with a cynical ease. “Me too.”
Ji Zhou smiled faintly and didn’t take the bait.
Chen Huai blew out a smoke ring, then shifted topics. “Brother Ji, if you’re getting along with the girl, then try dating. Love—no matter how ugly a side of it you’ve seen—you should still keep a little yearning and fantasy for it. Bottom line, people need love to live. You might not know how to love, but someone will teach you. But you have to give others a chance first, right?”
Ji Zhou didn’t refute him. He’d always been a good listener, and in a way, he was learning to accept the advice of people who cared about him.
After a quiet moment, the phone on the table vibrated. Both of their gazes fell on the small screen.
Ji Zhou picked it up and opened the app.
He saw his last message: [Sorry—did I offend you?]
Mianmian: [Why are you apologizing all of a sudden? You’re making it so distant.]
Mianmian: [Penalty: you owe me a photo.]
Mianmian: [Anywhere is fine.]
Ji Zhou casually snapped a picture of the pool table and sent it.
Mianmian: [Is this your true form? Are you a pool table that gained sentience?]
Ji Zhou laughed and replied: [You said anywhere is fine.]
Mianmian: [Doctor, I showed you my legs and you’re still this stingy?]
Ji Zhou’s hand paused. He had to admit Mianmian did have a beautiful pair of long legs, but he hadn’t been paying attention to that on purpose. With her putting it that way now, the photo suddenly felt like it had taken on a different flavor.
“What, you’re not even dating yet and you’re already reporting your itinerary?” Chen Huai teased.
“No. Just taking something at random,” Ji Zhou said.
“Tch.” Chen Huai snorted and stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Mm.”
With his friend gone, Ji Zhou returned to Seek, unsure how to respond.
Yes, he’d seen the photo. Yes, he’d seen her legs. And then?
He sent a question mark.
Mianmian: [If you’re that shy, can I look at your hands instead? Okay?]
Ji Zhou wasn’t someone who got tangled up in hesitation.
Seeing her demands drop again and again, if he kept refusing as a man, it would be rather ungentlemanly.
And it was just a hand photo. What could be the problem?
Without looking for angles or using any technique, he held his right hand up to the camera, snapped a quick photo, and sent it.
Half a minute later—
Mianmian: [Husband.]
Mianmian: [I KNEW IT—you’re my husband I’ve never met!!!]
Ji Zhou: […]
The day had been fairly fulfilling.
After dinner with Chen Huai, the two separated at the restaurant entrance.
Chen Huai still had another round lined up and invited Ji Zhou along. Ji Zhou declined on the grounds that he had to work early the next morning.
On the way home, Ji Zhou got a call from his landlord.
With the lease nearing its end, Ji Zhou thought the landlord was calling to set a time to renew.
But the landlord went straight to the point. “Xiao Ji, the apartment… I’m not planning to renew the lease.”
Ji Zhou froze for a moment. “What’s wrong, Uncle Sun?”
Sun Youquan said, “My son’s job is being transferred back. He’s getting married next year. My wife and I talked it over—we’re going to renovate the big three-bedroom we’re living in now as his wedding home. As for the unit you’re renting, we’ll take it back to live in ourselves. We won’t squeeze in with the young people—saves everyone from feeling uncomfortable.”
“Really sorry about this, Xiao Ji.”