Chapter 8#

Thinking of this, Zhao Rong’s eyes paused slightly.

He was too familiar with the name Lu Xingping. From the moment he returned to the Chen family, this name was frequently mentioned as his fiancé. Later, following Qiao Nanqi, he often saw Lu Xingping, whether at the company or at home.

Sometimes when Qiao Nanqi stayed at Lu Xingping’s house for too long, Zhao Rong had to act as a driver to pick him up.

Zhao Rong knew Qiao Nanqi. He was clear that even if Qiao Nanqi regarded Lu Xingping as a white moonlight, given their current situation, nothing crossing the line would happen.

But even if nothing crossed the line, he saw Qiao Nanqi’s attitude towards Lu Xingping in his eyes.

Qiao Nanqi never thought about hiding these from him.

Or rather, Qiao Nanqi never cared whether to hide it from him.

He regarded that marriage agreement as a chance to start, but Qiao Nanqi only regarded it as keeping a suitable and useful lover.

He still remembered that the day before he moved into Qiao Nanqi’s house, he packed everything and called Qiao Nanqi tremblingly.

On the other end of the phone, the busy tone rang for a long time as usual before someone answered unhurriedly: “…Who is it?”

Like the first call he made ten years ago, the same number, the same long wait. The clear boyish voice had been polished by time with deepness and magnetism, but Qiao Nanqi still hadn’t saved his phone number.

Zhao Rong was disheartened for a moment at that time, but his voice didn’t reveal any emotion, only saying with a smile: “I’ve packed up, tomorrow… how do I get in when I arrive at your house? Do I need to record fingerprints or something in advance…”

He knew Qiao Nanqi was busy and didn’t want to trouble the other party with such trivial matters.

“No need,” Qiao Nanqi said, “I’ll be home tomorrow, just come directly.”

Only then did Zhao Rong feel relieved.

It was at the tail end of deep winter. The last snow covered the entire Yang City continuously, and the world was silent and translucent white.

He used to hang out with those people and mix in various occasions to get close to Qiao Nanqi. He had all kinds of clothes and outfits, but most were bought for him by the Chen family. After packing for a long time, there weren’t many things he wanted to bring, only a half-height suitcase.

Originally wanted to drive, but on second thought, Qiao Nanqi might not have prepared a parking space for him. So Zhao Rong took a taxi. When he arrived at Qiao Nanqi’s door, he got out with his suitcase and let the driver go.

The wheels of the suitcase rolled over the snow, and together with his footprints, pressed a trail on the small courtyard in front of the door. The surrounding snow paved the ground, flat and steady, without any trace.

Zhao Rong looked around, walked carefully to the gate, and knocked gently.

He opened his mouth, and puffs of hot air came out with his voice: “Qiao—Mr. Qiao?” Zhao Rong used to call Qiao Nanqi “Mr. Qiao” or “Young Master Qiao”. They had just signed the marriage agreement, and Qiao Nanqi didn’t ask him to change how he addressed him.

There was no reaction from inside the door.

Maybe he just wasn’t in the living room.

Zhao Rong rang the doorbell. The doorbell sound, much louder than knocking, rang out in the silent snowy day. The temperature of Zhao Rong’s fingers was taken away by the cold metal touch of the doorbell button, and the outdoor temperature made his whole body shiver.

But there was still no reaction inside at all.

He was originally worried that the sound was too loud and would disturb Qiao Nanqi, so he just pressed it tentatively a few times. But after waiting for a long time with no reaction, he had to press the doorbell repeatedly several times.

But the villa was silent, not even a footstep could be heard.

Realizing that Qiao Nanqi was not at home, he called Qiao Nanqi.

This time, there wasn’t even the opening of Qiao Nanqi asking him “who is it”—no one answered the phone at all.

Qiao Nanqi didn’t know what was going on; not at home, and didn’t answer the phone. Zhao Rong had no choice but to call Xia Yuantu.

“I don’t know where he is either. I sent him a message this morning, and he hasn’t replied to me yet,” Xia Yuantu said, “How about you go back first? Come again tomorrow.”

The best way was, of course, to leave and come back tomorrow.

But he had an appointment with Qiao Nanqi yesterday for today. What if Qiao Nanqi came back right after he left? If Qiao Nanqi didn’t have time tomorrow, wouldn’t he have to trouble Qiao Nanqi to spare extra time to pick him up?

If Qiao Nanqi frowned slightly, Zhao Rong would want to smooth it out for him, let alone causing trouble for the other party because of himself.

Zhao Rong planned to wait.

But thinking wait a little longer, wait a little longer, unknowingly, this wait lasted a whole day.

When he came, he originally thought he would enter the house right after getting out of the car, with no time outside, so he only wore a thin trench coat. In such snowy weather, it was barely better than nothing.

The steps in front of the villa were covered with snow. Zhao Rong, wearing only a trench coat, sat on his suitcase and waited.

He turned up the collar of his trench coat, buried his chin in the collar, and looked down at the snow in front of him. Thinking that this was Qiao Nanqi’s doorstep, Zhao Rong felt less cold—at least he had walked for ten years and arrived at Qiao Nanqi’s home.

These ten years couldn’t be said to be simple, but to say difficult, not really difficult either, because he walked through them unknowingly.

He was actually not someone good at actively pursuing others.

Even before this, he just used everything to get close to Qiao Nanqi, finding ways to talk to Qiao Nanqi more, understand Qiao Nanqi’s preferences more, and provide help to Qiao Nanqi based on his understanding of the plot without anyone noticing. All this was silent and trivial, without so many twists and turns.

He could cultivate a smooth playboy style in the colorful world, but he couldn’t use those things on Qiao Nanqi at all.

He could rush in front of Qiao Nanqi holding an umbrella in the heavy rain, leaving all the space under the umbrella to Qiao Nanqi, but he wouldn’t say “I want to be with you” to Qiao Nanqi under the colorful lights in the alcohol-filled night venue.

Not that he couldn’t, but he didn’t want to.

Only when Qiao Nanqi was willing to let him disturb, might he get slightly closer. If Qiao Nanqi didn’t want to be disturbed by him, he would only stand silently by the side.

Very clumsy.

So he actually didn’t expect to be with Qiao Nanqi from the beginning.

Being able to reach this step now was already a pleasant surprise.

He was used to waiting.

Even if the wind and snow were cold, Zhao Rong could still endure.

He waited at Qiao Nanqi’s door for an afternoon, calling three times during the period with no response.

By nightfall, the starry night had just fallen, and the entire residential area lit up with warm yellow street lights, sprinkling on the white snow from both sides of the road, calm and gentle.

Qiao Nanqi’s car rolled over the snow, the engine sound coming from far to near, pulling a parallel tire track, and stopped by the big iron gate in front of the villa. There seemed to be two people in the car.

Zhao Rong was clasping his hands trying to keep warm at this time, his exposed skin already numb from the cold.

His first thought was whether sitting on the suitcase looked too stupid, and hurriedly stood up. Before he could set the suitcase upright, he saw Qiao Nanqi getting out of the driver’s seat.

The man obviously hadn’t been outdoors, wearing only a dark blue sweater, very casual, not like just coming back from work. His expression was relaxed, his eyes deep but not solemn, unhurriedly walking around the front of the car to the passenger door, opening it for the person in the passenger seat.

Sitting there was a young man, thin and tall. Even sitting, the originally spacious front seat still appeared somewhat cramped.

He was lowering his head, unbuckling his seat belt, leaving Zhao Rong a regular and good-looking side profile. Even with only half a face, even under the blurred warm yellow street light, it was enough to see the superior features and noble temperament.

Qiao Nanqi wasn’t wearing thick clothes, yet he still stood by the car door, waiting for Lu Xingping to get out of the car, before leading the person inside.

Zhao Rong stood in place, watching helplessly as the calm and indifferent Qiao Nanqi led the smiling Lu Xingping forward, until they walked in front of Zhao Rong.

Qiao Nanqi’s footsteps paused, glanced at him, stunned for a moment before saying: “I decided to go out temporarily.”

He didn’t even ask why Zhao Rong was still here.

Lu Xingping was surprised: “Zhao Rong, you’re wearing so little, how long have you been waiting? Snow has piled up in the seams of the suitcase.”

Even if there was no contact in private, Lu Xingping and Zhao Rong had a marriage contract.

Seeing him appear with Qiao Nanqi suddenly now, their clothes obviously not for any work occasion, Zhao Rong naturally could see the subtlety, and was also a bit embarrassed.

“Ah…” Zhao Rong was a bit dizzy from the cold, not knowing what to say first for a moment, “Mm.”

Qiao Nanqi said: “Come in.”

Zhao Rong carried his luggage and followed Qiao Nanqi and Lu Xingping into Qiao Nanqi’s house.

Qiao Nanqi first arranged a guest room for him casually, let him rest by himself, and then went into the study with Lu Xingping.

Zhao Rong carried the luggage upstairs by himself.

Just as he closed the guest room door, he couldn’t help sneezing.

The first time he came to Qiao Nanqi’s house, the first day he stayed here, the meeting gift was a high fever for several consecutive days.

On the third day after the fever subsided, Young Master Qiao came back late at night from a social gathering. Zhao Rong vaguely heard the noise, woke up from his sleep with a splitting headache, only to hear this person say in his ear: “Go take a shower. When coming out…”

“Don’t wear clothes.”

Outside the window, the drizzle was continuous, and the wind didn’t stop, bringing coolness into the room in waves, making people drowsy.

Zhao Rong was almost asleep. Blown by this cold wind, remembering that high fever more than a year ago, he really didn’t want to experience it again, so he hurriedly got up, planning to find a coat to put on.

Walking, he thought about what to do with Lu Xingping.

He didn’t want anything now, just wanted the plot to return to the original trajectory. He would continue to walk the line of the cannon fodder in the original work, obtaining a “miserable cannon fodder ending” of “having nothing except that little money”.

But to do this, he had to fulfill the marriage contract with Lu Xingping.

What exactly was the relationship between Lu Xingping and Qiao Nanqi? Zhao Rong was actually not clear.

The earliest time he met Lu Xingping was in university—Lu Xingping and he were alumni. However, they didn’t see much of each other at school, mostly at various banquets or playful occasions.

Zhao Rong was able to get in touch with those people around Qiao Nanqi earlier thanks to Lu Xingping’s introduction. They couldn’t be considered familiar, really having no private dealings, so before Zhao Rong moved into Qiao Nanqi’s house that day, Zhao Rong didn’t know Qiao Nanqi had Lu Xingping as such a white moonlight in his heart.

There was no such thing in the original book at all.

He had read “The Return” so many times, and Lu Xingping was just one of the few friends Qiao Nanqi trusted, with no extra blank space or ink spilled.

But now, for some reason, Lu Xingping had such an unshakeable position in Qiao Nanqi’s heart.

Although he cared very much at first, he was afraid Qiao Nanqi would be unhappy, so he didn’t dare to ask at all.

But he must know now.

Although in the original book, Lu Xingping didn’t pin his feelings on marriage and had someone he liked but wouldn’t be with in his heart, he had disrupted many plots, and maybe Lu Xingping now was also affected by his butterfly effect.

Snatching someone from Qiao Nanqi, a male lead, was scary, but he was mentally prepared. Anyway, his identity in the book was a cannon fodder opposing the male lead.

But he couldn’t possibly rush to confess to Lu Xingping knowing nothing, right?

Zhao Rong felt a headache just thinking about it.

Before he could figure out anything, Qiao Nanqi suddenly called him.

Zhao Rong was curled up on the sofa in a daze. The phone vibrated on the coffee table a few times, and the ringtone startled Zhao Rong. Only then did he react suddenly and reached out to answer the call.

The voice from the other end was low and wrapped with magnetism: “Why did it take so long to answer?”

Clearly, he picked it up in less than three seconds.

Dog thing.

But when Qiao Nanqi, this big male lead, was about to settle all the villains, it was obviously not a good choice for him, this cannon fodder, to anger the male lead.

He swallowed the “dog thing” that was about to blurt out, and still used the usual gentle tone to say: “Sorry, didn’t notice just now.”

The impatience on that end was calmed a bit by his soft words: “At home, right?”

Zhao Rong was stunned: “What?”

“I’ll be at the door to pick you up in about five minutes.” Qiao Nanqi said unhurriedly.

Zhao Rong: “?”

His phone was still held to his ear, but the other end had crisply gone silent.

He was stunned for a while, then suddenly remembered that Qiao Nanqi had told him about this last week.

Today, Qiao Nanqi’s father, He Nan, came back from a business trip out of town. Qiao Nanqi set a time to welcome He Nan and wash away the dust—of course, few in the upper-class circle of Yang City didn’t know about the messy matters between this father and son. Saying welcoming and washing away the dust, who knows what kind of “father and son harmony” situation it would be.

In the past, Qiao Nanqi wouldn’t bring Zhao Rong along, but the meeting with He Nan was an exception.

After all, not long after they signed the marriage agreement, Qiao Nanqi took advantage of the time when He Nan relaxed his guard to stabilize the inheritance rights in the Qiao family and the voice in the company. He Nan initially thought Qiao Nanqi being with Zhao Rong was a concession, but later found that Qiao Nanqi was still the same as before, only then knowing that Zhao Rong didn’t stand on the Chen family’s side at all.

So He Nan hated Zhao Rong along with him.

Qiao Nanqi bringing Zhao Rong was purely to anger He Nan.

Zhao Rong actually disliked going, but thinking that angering He Nan would make Qiao Nanqi happy, he was happy to oblige.

He had been to such occasions several times in the past year or so. No need to do anything, just sit there leisurely and bring out all his skills as a rich playboy.

Zhao Rong had experience in this long ago.

He was just a little surprised that he could forget such a thing that Qiao Nanqi had informed him of long ago.

Really gratifying, remarkable progress.

Five minutes was too hurried. When Qiao Nanqi called, Zhao Rong was still lazy on the sofa in pajamas, prepared nothing.

When Zhao Rong ran to the rear door wrapped in a scarf, a tuft of hair was even sticking up, too late to press down.

The driver opened the door for him. He sat in and saw Qiao Nanqi sitting on the other side. The car was filled with the faint elegant orange scent from the freshener, and faintly some agarwood scent from Qiao Nanqi.

Under the sunset, the car window on Qiao Nanqi’s side was facing the bright yellow sunlight, outlining a layer of light halo for him. His face was flat, no arc could be seen at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were a bit sharp.

He didn’t turn to look at Zhao Rong, just said: “I waited for you in the car for four minutes.”

Nine minutes from notification to going out.

Zhao Rong looked at the rearview mirror in front, pressing down that tuft of disobedient hair on his head, feeling his speed was quite fast. After all, he had forgotten this meal long ago, and only started rushing into the bedroom to change clothes after Qiao Nanqi hung up.

He blurted out: “That’s quite good.”

The engine sounded, the car started slowly, and the scenery on both sides retreated.

Qiao Nanqi turned his head to look at him.

Zhao Rong’s movement of pressing his hair paused.