Translator: Qoob

  Editor: Nyxnox

  Cheng Xi looked at Lu Chenzhou, hesitating.

  He looked right back at her, the longing in his gaze evident.

  She was actually a little embarrassed by how direct his request was, and she blushed slightly as she replied, “It hasn’t even been a month since we last saw each other……”


  Lu Chenzhou smiled smugly as he sarcastically asked, “Ha. Do you think that doing it once a year would be enough?” And before Cheng Xi could reply, he started listing off a bunch of facts. “I read that a man’s sexual desire starts declining when they’re around forty to fifty years old, and when they’re sixty years old, they have almost no such desire. I’m only thirty one this year, so there are still twenty nine years of sexual activity remaining for me. Since you can’t handle doing it twice a day, that means that, at most, we can average having sex once a day. If we had sex at that rate for the next twenty nine years, then we’d be able to do it 10,585 times. However, we also have to take your ovulation cycle into consideration. If I can only see you once a month, and for only ten days or so per visit, then we can only have sex 120 times a year. That’s 120 sessions per 365 days. In other words, each session missed is the equivalent of losing three days. Cheng Xi, can you really compensate for my loss?”


  “.……”


  Cheng Xi stared at him open-mouthed. “No, I can’t!”


  His calculations……really rendered her speechless. “But isn’t today one such special occasion? You didn’t even tell me that you were coming……”


  Lu Chenzhou stopped speaking and just stared at her in silence until Cheng Xi couldn’t stand it anymore. In the end, she patted the edge of her bed and said, “Come, then. Do it!” They certainly couldn’t do it in the living room, as there was no privacy to speak of there, so the two of them ended up doing it in the bathroom. Lu Chenzhou pushed her against the mirror, and for the first time, Cheng Xi saw herself in all kinds of shameful positions.

  What’s more, she was extremely tired, so much so that, as she fell asleep, she swore to herself that she would find a new place tomorrow.

  She preferred doing it in a more traditional setting, where she could just lie down……

  The next day, she examined some patients in the morning and then ended up in a meeting with Ceng Xing in the afternoon. During a break, she asked the civil administration deputy chief if he knew if there were any good two or three-room apartments in a relatively good neighborhood that were for rent. The price didn’t matter; it was enough as long as the interior decoration was good and the surroundings peaceful.

  When Ceng Xing overheard this, he laughed coldly. “You’re really giving your all for this fellow, aren’t you? Don’t you remember why you’re here in the first place? Are you only going to regret your actions after he’s beaten you to death?”


  “It’s not what you think.”


  But Ceng Xing only continued to laugh coldly. “Then what is it? Isn’t he crazy? Didn’t he report you? Did you come to this desolate land of your own volition?”


  His negative emotions had stewed for the entire night, and he would no longer listen to any of Cheng Xi’s explanations. Cheng Xi also felt that she wouldn’t be able to clear things up satisfactorily no matter what she said, so she simply decided to stop talking.

  In the end, Ceng Xing could also only stop talking and resort to shooting daggers at Cheng Xi through his eyes for the rest of the meeting. Then, when they returned to their apartments, he instantly felt worse. Wasn’t he still staying next door to Cheng Xi? Lu Chenzhou was almost certainly still there, so in order to spite him, he waited for Cheng Xi so that they could carpool home together. However, the moment the two of them entered the parking lot, they saw a bright red BMW-X6 by the road. Lu Chenzhou was waiting for them in the car, and when he saw Cheng Xi, he stepped out, pointed at the car, and said, “A gift to you.”


  Ceng Xing, who was still driving Cheng Xi’s dinky old car, had been struck by an arrow to the knee.

  But clearly, Lu Chenzhou didn’t feel like an arrow was enough, as he continued to take out a folder from the car, and then from that a whole stack of photographs. As he handed them to Cheng Xi, he said, “These are the two houses that I’m the most interested in. Which do you prefer?”


  Ceng Xing’s curiosity triumphed over his envy. Just a brief glance at the photos revealed that, of the two houses, one was a villa in a beautiful and secluded part of town, and the other was a multi-story house, likely in some residential area, with exquisite decorations.

  But Lu Chenzhou was disdainful of the latter; he pointed at it as he critiqued, “This house is pretty close to the hospital, but the decor’s even worse and of lower standards than your original apartment……”


  Ceng Xing was reminded of the house whose contract he’d shown Cheng Xi last night, causing him to immediately storm off with an ashen face.

  Lu Chenzhou didn’t even glance at Ceng Xing, as if he didn’t exist in his world. Cheng Xi sighed at the troublesome situation as she worriedly looked at Ceng Xing’s diminishing back before turning back to Lu Chenzhou and weakly saying, “There’s no need to rent such a big house here, is there?”


  Lu Chenzhou replied with a questioning tone. “Why do I need to rent it? Don’t I have enough money to buy it?”


  Another arrow landed in Ceng Xing’s knee.

  The reason why Ceng Xing had bought such a run of the mill three-bedroom house was because he thought that they would eventually leave Gansu. Thus, it would only ever be a temporary residence, so there wasn’t any need to buy a spacious house.

  It was just like how he had been driving Cheng Xi’s car with absolutely no intention of buying his own. It wasn’t because he couldn’t afford one, but rather because he didn’t need one. A car was just like a suit of clothes—wasn’t it considered intimate for him to share one with Cheng Xi?

  But in the end, it had just caused him to be humiliated by Lu Chenzhou.

  He very much wanted to storm back and yell, “You maniac, do you think that you’d be this rich if it weren’t for your family? Look at what happened to Donglai because of you! Where do you find the gall to run to Gansu and flaunt your wealth?!”


  Cheng Xi also felt that something was wrong with Lu Chenzhou. “.……We don’t need such a big house, do we?”


  Given Lu Chenzhou’s behavior, Cheng Xi felt that she’d be able to stay here for at most three more years, and in the future, she’d only be stopping by from time to time. Thus, from a financial standpoint, buying such a large house really wasn’t worth it. It was too large to easily rent out, and also so large that it’d be hard to sell……

  “Bigger is better.” He pointed at the villa. “Then let’s get this one.” The villa wasn’t particularly tall, just two stories high, but it still had a fair bit of space. Lu Chenzhou even considerately added on, “Even if Chen Jiaman goes crazy and tries to jump off of the balcony, it wouldn’t kill her.”


  Cheng Xi was speechless. It took her a moment before she could reply, “But it’s a bit far from where I work.” In reality, she thought that it was too big.

  Lu Chenzhou pointed to the side. “Don’t you have a car now?”


  Cheng Xi took a single glance at the blindingly red car before she automatically started massaging her forehead. “Given where you currently live, I thought that you didn’t like large houses.”


  “Yes.” Lu Chenzhou surprisingly didn’t disagree. He actually preferred Cheng Xi’s old apartment, but that was only if they were alone! When there was someone else in the mix, he’d rather have the house be as big as possible—that way, the other person could be given a room far away from them.

  Lu Chenzhou then picked up his phone and made a call. She didn’t know whom he was talking to, but he clearly said, “The house by the lakeside…… Yes, I’ll be moving over immediately.”


  “.……”


  Lu Chenzhou hadn’t changed one bit; once he decided on something, obtaining her permission was just a matter of formality.

  So with that, Cheng Xi was forced to move away. Lu Chenzhou had even arranged for movers to come. They arrived shortly after he closed on buying the house. The team was composed of two men and two women; the men were in charge of moving furniture and the women of tidying up the house. Cheng Xi didn’t have to do anything herself. She just had to give them instructions.

  Chen Jiaman was somewhat disturbed by all the change, prompting Cheng Xi to hold her hand as she explained, “Nothing’s wrong. We’re just moving to a better place.”


  Cheng Xi didn’t plan on breaking the lease for this apartment, as in her mind, she’d return to this place as soon as Lu Chenzhou left. After all, its proximity to the hospital was very convenient. Furthermore, because this was a temporary place to stay, she hadn’t brought much over—just two bookshelves’ worth of books and some clothes. Actually, what took up the most space was Chen Jiaman’s drawings and tools. Cheng Xi packed everything up neatly, and just the frames took up half a trunk.

  And Cheng Xi hadn’t even brought everything to Gansu.

  She didn’t know how Lu Chenzhou had managed to do it, but by the time Cheng Xi and the movers arrived, the new bed and sofa that he ordered had arrived, as well as a new desk, new kitchenware, and even a whole cart of fresh vegetables, spices, and sauces.

  Cheng Xi couldn’t help but be impressed.

  As the movers brought everything into the new house, Lu Chenzhou began cooking. When everything was set up, and while Cheng Xi was tidying the place with Chen Jiaman, dinner was ready.

  In order to show her sincere reverence for Lu Chenzhou, Cheng Xi told Chen Jiaman, “Mr. Lu’s really worked hard today. Come, let’s toast him first.”


  Chen Jiaman looked shyly at Lu Chenzhou, raised her glass in imitation of Cheng Xi, and then called out, “Daddy……”


  Cheng Xi was very surprised. Lu Chenzhou had arrived very late last night and left even earlier in the morning. He had been gone all this time, and this was the first time they’d met properly during this trip. She didn’t expect that Chen Jiaman would still recognize him.

  But what surprised her even more was that Lu Chenzhou actually toasted them back. After he finished his drink, he looked at Cheng Xi and nonchalantly said, “Let’s have a baby.”