Chapter 55#
The starry night arrived with the wind.
The night had just fallen; it was a good time. Even in the rather desolate villa area, the sound of car engines passing by could still be heard from time to time.
In the midst of the faint bustle, Qiao Nanqi was home alone.
As usual, he went into the study, lit agarwood to calm his mind, and then opened his phone.
Many messages popped up on his phone—work, friends…
He set them all aside for the moment.
He switched accounts and opened the one that actually had only one friend added.
The account he had been using had long since been blacklisted by Zhao Rong, and he wanted to see Zhao Rong every day, to know everything about him. Using Xiao Wu’s account was not a long-term solution.
A few days ago, when he went home to feed the cats, a thought suddenly occurred to him—Zhao Rong didn’t know he had already bought the pet shop.
So he registered an account and added Zhao Rong as a pet shop employee.
He actually didn’t want much, just to lie in Zhao Rong’s contact list, to be able to look at his updates from time to time and send him a few words.
Like now, as soon as he opened it, he could see a new update from Zhao Rong.
— “The weather is so good.”
The attached image was a landscape photo taken from inside a window looking out.
Qiao Nanqi recognized the tree in the photo.
At that time, he was waiting for Zhao Rong by the small path of the nursing home. At first, Zhao Rong didn’t reply to the messages from the account that sent the cat photos, and he wasn’t in the mood to play with his phone, so he just looked around randomly.
Pedestrians on the road were sparse, coming and going occasionally. He had never observed everything around him so carefully. With a bit of attention, he remembered clearly the models of the cars passing by, the shapes of the clouds in the sky before they dispersed, the clothes of the passing pedestrians… everything.
There was also a worker, likely from the building under construction next to the nursing home. Thick cement clung to the soles and edges of his shoes, and he carried a sack in his hand, containing something unknown—perhaps something needed for work. He had come and gone several times.
And behind these pedestrians was that row of trees that had already lost all their leaves. Exactly the same as in Zhao Rong’s photo.
It seemed that when Zhao Rong posted this update, he was at the nursing home accompanying Zhao Ming.
There was nothing special about this landscape, but for Zhao Rong to post it like this, he was clearly in a good mood.
Qiao Nanqi instinctively twitched the corner of his mouth.
He sent the photos taken today according to his habit. To avoid being exposed, he added a few photos of other cats he had asked Xiao Wu to take at the pet shop all at once before.
After posting, he gave Zhao Rong’s update a “like.”
He originally wanted to comment, but he had truly never done such a thing. After holding it in for a long time, the few he thought of were all unsuitable.
So he directly exited, picked the three cutest ones, and sent them to Zhao Rong in a private message.
Zhao Rong didn’t seem to be busy with anything. Not long after the message was sent, while Qiao Nanqi was still staring at the chat box, a new message popped up.
— “Got fat.”
Clearly, he was talking about those cats.
Lying at home every day, being served like ancestors, how could they not get fat?
Qiao Nanqi smiled.
Except for asking a few questions at the very beginning, Zhao Rong’s response to these photos was at most a “thank you” or even just an emoji. Today, he actually took the rare opportunity to comment on the figures of those “ancestors.”
Combined with that update, it wasn’t hard to see that Zhao Rong was indeed in a good mood now.
So he said a bit more than usual.
“You seem very happy today.”
“Did something good happen?”
The other side replied: “Yes, you could say it’s good news.”
Qiao Nanqi wanted to ask what the good news was, but he was clear that the account he was currently using was just a stranger who had no relationship with Zhao Rong, and his own relationship with Zhao Rong was even more…
He had no right to ask.
He could only reply: “Congratulations.”
There was no more response from the other side.
Yet he was already somewhat satisfied.
He thought, if things could continue like this, slowly approaching again, it wouldn’t be impossible.
It was better than being hopeless.
Qiao Nanqi looked for a while longer before closing his phone.
Agarwood emitted faint, lingering wisps of smoke, and the study was filled with a scent that calmed the mind. Outside the door, a small kitten seemed to be scratching at the edge of the door.
There were occasional sounds outside, but inside the door, it was quiet, with only Qiao Nanqi alone. It had always been only him alone.
He opened the drawer under the desk and saw the stack of yellowed, curled envelopes inside.
There were thirty-seven of them, spanning a period of time, mostly about trivial feelings. The last one said he had discovered that he didn’t seem to be reading them, so he wouldn’t send them anymore.
After discovering the letter paper that day, Qiao Nanqi had returned to the house on Changxi Road and had someone pry open the mailbox to take these out. He had already read every letter inside several times. During these days at home, whenever he couldn’t sleep or woke up from a dream, he would sit here and take a look.
Today was the same.
After Zhao Rong finished replying to the message from the pet shop girl, he put away his phone and tucked both hands into his pockets.
Fang Zhuoqun, who was walking with him, asked him: “Who are you talking to?”
They had just had a meal together and were currently walking on the small path outside Zhao Rong’s house.
“No one much,” he said casually, “a girl from a pet shop. Didn’t I board those cats there? For work reasons, she occasionally sends me some photos.”
Fang Zhuoqun sincerely exclaimed: “Nowadays, even pet shop services are this good.”
Zhao Rong smiled: “I think she just simply likes those cats.”
“Could it be her intentions are elsewhere? I’ve seen the momentum with which you used to receive love letters.”
Zhao Rong shook his head: “Probably not.”
Not to mention that he had already discouraged her on the day he went to the pet shop, but in the chats over these days, the girl didn’t seem to have other intentions.
Although some of the messages sent could be easily misinterpreted at first glance, on careful thought, she had always been very appropriate, never saying anything deliberately ambiguous. If she really was interested, she probably wouldn’t stay stationary like this.
Maybe she just purely likes those cats.
Zhao Rong always has a better impression of people who are attentive in trivial matters, so he would chat a bit from time to time, treating her as a friend he wouldn’t meet.
Continuing from their previous topic, he said to Fang Zhuoqun: “So, are you going to be my best man that day?”
Fang Zhuoqun sighed: “I was thinking you’d be mine. If you get married before me, won’t you be unable to be my best man?”
“They don’t conflict. This is a fake marriage, not a real one. Besides, we don’t care about these things.”
“True. And after you get married?”
“To Zhuxi. But keep these two things—the wedding and my move to Zhuxi—a secret for me first.”
As Zhao Rong spoke, he suddenly felt someone nearby watching him.
He looked around; there were some pedestrians out for a walk, and he didn’t know who had looked at him. Maybe it was just someone passing by.
Fang Zhuoqun said to him: “My car is just ahead. You go home.”
Zhao Rong nodded with a smile.
After parting with Fang Zhuoqun, he continued walking home along the small path.
The moonlight was leisurely.
The wind made Zhao Rong a bit cold. He pulled his scarf and lowered his head, burying his chin in it.
Upon reaching the door, he was about to take out his key to open it when he looked up and saw someone standing at his doorstep.
He paused.
The visitor was a middle-aged man wearing old work clothes, with some cement traces on him, looking like a laborer from a construction site.
He had dark skin and somewhat fierce features. Half of his face was covered by the shadow cast by the streetlight, giving him a somewhat sinister and gloomy feeling.
Seeing Zhao Rong, the man gave a half-smile and said: “Third Young Master looks in good spirits; life has been good lately, eh?”
Zhao Rong suddenly understood where the feeling of someone watching him earlier came from.
He recognized who this person was—the driver for Chen Jingnian.
Chen Jingnian was his cheap father Chen Fengnian’s cousin, and Chen Zehe’s father. After Chen the First and Chen the Second ran into trouble, Chen Jingnian actually slipped away quickly and hasn’t been caught yet.
This driver appearing here now…
The place where Zhao Rong lived was in the city center, and most people in the neighborhood were either wealthy or prestigious. He didn’t know how such a person had managed to get in. Likely, after getting in, he saw Zhao Rong walking with Fang Zhuoqun and took a shortcut to intercept him at the door.
He frowned, and his hand in his pocket silently grasped the personal alarm.
He said: “What are you doing here?”
“Third Young Master has been doing well lately, but I’ve been doing very poorly, so I came to ask Third Young Master for some money.”
“I don’t have much money,” Zhao Rong said coldly. “Even if I did, the one you should look for is your former master. Didn’t he run away? Didn’t he leave you a way out?”
“Pah!” the man said, taking a few steps forward. “If I knew where he was, would I still need to come looking for you?”
Zhao Rong immediately stepped back several paces and said calmly: “That has nothing to do with me. The Chen family belongs to Eldest Cousin; you’re looking for me, but I have nothing.”
While they spoke, another person out for a walk passed by them.
Neither spoke until the person had walked far away, then the man said: “Young Master mentioned before that you might know about the old madam’s inheritance… Seeing that the Chen family is like this, yet Third Young Master is still doing so well, you certainly aren’t short of money, right?”
Zhao Rong stopped speaking.
He didn’t refute or admit it, but just gave the man a cold look, his gaze falling on a surveillance camera not far away.
Then, he said: “The security here is good. Do you want to try it?”
The man gritted his teeth.
He said: “I’ve stuffed my card number into the gap of Third Young Master’s door. If Third Young Master changes his mind—”
“Do you think I’d be afraid of your pestering?” Zhao Rong interrupted the man’s words.
He was no longer that “clueless person” who needed to rely on Chen the First or Chen the Second’s whims to live a few years ago.
He was also not someone who would admit defeat because of a simple threat.
This driver of Chen Jingnian’s was uneducated. Before becoming a driver for Chen Jingnian, he was just a thug, taken in by Chen Jingnian only because he had some physical strength and was fierce. He wasn’t a decent person and wouldn’t reason at all. For this kind of request, if he were to pay once just to settle things for now, there would only be a second and third time thereafter…
So despite actually feeling a bit apprehensive in his heart at this moment, his face remained cold.
“If you don’t leave, I’ll call security.”
The man clearly hadn’t expected Zhao Rong to be so firm.
In the past few years, Zhao Rong had seemed like a lucky waste who had gained the status of a son of a prestigious family, capable of nothing and without any temper.
Among those in the Chen family’s main residence, who hadn’t said that Third Young Master was a soft persimmon?
But one day, this soft persimmon had suddenly turned hard.
Seeing that Zhao Rong had already picked up his phone to call security, the man glared at Zhao Rong and walked away quickly.
Zhao Rong didn’t let go of the alarm in his palm, nor did he put away his phone.
He turned his head, watching the man’s figure disappear at the corner of the hallway before letting out a sigh of relief, opening the door, and entering the house.
On the floor inside the house was indeed the slip of paper the man had stuffed in from the door gap, with a phone number and an account on it.
Zhao Rong didn’t even look at it, directly tossing it into the trash can.
After entering, he immediately locked the door and called Xu Xin, asking him to pick him up and drop him off whenever he went out lately, and to hire a few people to guard near his house, just in case.
Afterward, he had someone come overnight to install security cameras and other anti-theft devices at the doorstep.
After all this commotion, by late night, he was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.