Chapter 37

It rained again sometime after midnight.

The temperature seemed to have dropped even further compared with the evening. Zhan Yao became a little cold in the middle of the night and actually got up on her own to find a thicker quilt from the cabinet.

Several scented sachets for perfuming clothes were stored inside. They smelled of gardenias, fresh and pleasant, with a faint sweetness of fruit mixed in. The fragrance was not overpowering at all, but perfectly balanced.

Breathing in the scent while falling asleep was surprisingly soothing.

Zhan Yao had a keen nose and quickly recognized that these sachets were the same kind as the ones in Yu Wanqiao’s wardrobe.

Because when she had woken up in Yu Wanqiao’s arms that morning, this had been the first scent to fill her nose.

It almost felt as though she were still sleeping beside her.

“…”

Zhan Yao paused, closed her eyes, and turned over again.

The quilt was soft and fluffy, wonderfully pleasant to the touch. Before long, she drifted back to sleep.

Had she not needed to return to the villa, Zhan Yao would not even have wanted to get up the next morning.

Yu Wanqiao had made porridge for her.

Zhan Yao put on the clothes Yu Wanqiao had prepared, washed up while still half asleep, and had barely stepped out of the room when she caught the aroma of food.

Making porridge took time. Who knew how early Yu Wanqiao had gotten up?

She had even prepared several side dishes. Although it was only breakfast, she still paid careful attention to nutritional balance.

After a brief pause, Zhan Yao walked into the kitchen and decided to help carry some things out.

“Good morning.”

Yu Wanqiao looked over. “Good morning, Yaoyao.”

“Did you sleep well last night?” she asked afterward.

“It was all right.” Zhan Yao picked up a ladle and slowly spooned the porridge into bowls. Looking at all the ingredients inside, there had to be at least a dozen kinds. She simply did not know whether Yu Wanqiao had added sugar.

“It rained again in the middle of the night, though. It suddenly got a little cold.”

“The temperature has dropped recently, and it won’t be very warm over the next few days,” Yu Wanqiao said. “Remember to wear a little more these next few days, Yaoyao, all right?”

Now that they were standing close together, Yu Wanqiao’s familiar scent once again drifted into Zhan Yao’s nose.

Zhan Yao met her gaze and inexplicably remembered several scenes from before. She instinctively took a step backward.

She felt like she would not be able to look at gardenias normally for quite some time.

“Mm, all right.”

“You too,” she added.

Yu Wanqiao nodded, then lowered her eyes and dropped several pieces of rock sugar into Zhan Yao’s porridge.

Seeing the movement, Zhan Yao froze.

She raised her eyes toward Yu Wanqiao and soon saw her smiling gently at her.

“…”

Stop pretending. You’ve already exposed yourself.

Zhan Yao thought teasingly.

It was obvious now.

You can read minds.

After breakfast, the two of them tidied everything up and soon set off.

Yu Wanqiao was going to the company as usual today, but before heading there, she still took a detour to drive Zhan Yao back to the villa.

The round trip wasted quite a bit of time.

Zhan Yao glanced at her phone and felt that next time, there was really no need to insist that Yu Wanqiao drive her home. She worked herself to exhaustion every day. Young Miss Zhan was not completely incapable of reluctantly taking a taxi.

But although she brought up the suggestion, Yu Wanqiao unexpectedly refused.

“Taking care of Yaoyao is something I should do.”

The car had already reached the villa. Yu Wanqiao got out first, walked around to the passenger side, and opened the door for her.

“Not only is it not tiring, I actually enjoy it.”

Enjoy it.

Those words were rather pleasing to hear.

Zhan Yao stepped out of the car and met her gaze for a moment before sighing softly.

“All right, then.”

“But I still hope you’ll think about yourself a little more,” she said, instinctively unauthorized copyglancing at the faint shadows beneath Yu Wanqiao’s eyes. “For example, get more rest and properly enjoy life.”

“The sky is pretty blue today, and it won’t be too warm. Instead of sitting in an office all day, you might as well go outside and walk around.”

“You understand what I mean, right?”

Yu Wanqiao nodded gently.

“I do.”

She agreed quickly enough.

Whether she truly understood or only claimed to was another matter.

Zhan Yao could not be bothered saying more. The morning wind was strong, and she was already starting to feel cold standing outside.

“Then you…”

She had originally intended to end with an exceptionally profound and slightly philosophical remark, but before she could speak, Yu Wanqiao beat her to it.

“I suddenly remembered something, Yaoyao. You forgot something.”

“?” Zhan Yao paused. “What?”

Yu Wanqiao took a ring from her pocket.

Zhan Yao knew its design and style all too well.

It was their wedding ring.

“I found it on the table this morning,” Yu Wanqiao said. “Yaoyao left it in my room.”

My. Room.

The atmosphere fell silent for two seconds.

A moment later, Zhan Yao cleared her throat awkwardly and pretended not to care.

“Oh. I probably left it there by accident.”

“Give it back to me,” she said afterward, lightly extending her hand toward Yu Wanqiao.

It was clearly nothing more than a gesture asking for the ring back.

Yet Yu Wanqiao smiled, gently caught her fingertips, and—just as she had on the day she proposed—carefully slipped the ring onto Zhan Yao’s ring finger again.

“It looks beautiful,” she said softly.

Her fingertips gently stroked the skin around the ring and lingered there for a long time.

She truly seemed to like Zhan Yao.

Even something so small was enough to satisfy her.

Zhan Yao paused and instinctively looked at Yu Wanqiao’s face again.

The moment their eyes met, she unconsciously asked, “Are you coming home for dinner tonight?”

It sounded almost like a wife questioning her lover about when she would be home.

“I’ll come back,” Yu Wanqiao said after several seconds, nodding gently.

“Oh.” Zhan Yao withdrew her hand. Holding it up for so long was making her arm sore. “Then I’ll have the kitchen prepare your dinner.”

After speaking, she did not leave immediately.

Nor did she look away from Yu Wanqiao’s face.

As though she still had something to say.

Yu Wanqiao noticed.

“Is there something else, Yaoyao?”

“Nothing.” Zhan Yao looked away.

Only after several seconds did she say, “I just wanted to tell you that I’m in a pretty good mood today.”

Proud as Young Miss Zhan was, she was always straightforward when arguing with someone.

But when it came to showing concern, she inevitably became roundabout.

Even so, Yu Wanqiao understood.

And remembering the promise Zhan Yao had made not long ago, she tested the waters a little further.

“So what Yaoyao means is… perhaps I might be fortunate enough to hear you play the piano for me tonight?”

Zhan Yao looked at her in shock.

There was no way she could believe Yu Wanqiao did not know how to read minds.

The day passed quickly.

The performance from two days ago had been a huge success. Even though it was already over, enthusiasm remained high, and recordings and photographs from the event could still frequently be seen on the university forum.

There were some of Zhan Yao too.

They had been taken surprisingly professionally. The lighting, background, and overall atmosphere were all handled beautifully. Combined with the lovely piano music, Zhan Yao instantly gained a large number of male and female admirers, and the posts about her remained extremely popular.

Someone had even specially given her the nickname “Piano Goddess” and asked when they would be able to hear her perform again.

Did they think just anyone could hear her play whenever they wanted?

Zhan Yao clicked her tongue.

If they wanted to listen, they could send her money first.

Young Miss Zhan had never lacked flattery growing up. Her friends back home could praise her so extravagantly they practically made flowers bloom with their words. Compared with that, the comments on the forum were nothing.

She skimmed through a few before quickly losing interest and switching to Weibo.

She had originally intended to see what other news was trending lately, but the moment she opened the hot searches, Yu read the original at bailiantales.com Chu’s name appeared several times in a row.

And not under just one topic—

【Yu Chu】

【Yu Chu Relationship】

【Yu Chu Cheating】

Closely following them on the rising searches were:

【Yu Chu’s Awkward Acting Compilation】

and

【Yu Chu’s Comments Before Fame】

Put together, all those topics immediately brought one word to mind before she even clicked into them:

Disaster.

Still, wasn’t this downfall a little too fast?

Apparently, the only reason no one had dug into his past before was because he had been too irrelevant.

In the mood to watch the drama unfold, Zhan Yao casually clicked into one of the topics.

Yu Chu had always marketed himself as a pure, innocent little puppy. Forget dating—he supposedly even blushed whenever he stood beside a woman.

Who would have guessed that his private life was so wild?

Having one girlfriend was already enough to ruin that image.

But apparently, he had several.

These women had probably all been deceived by him and had no idea about one another’s existence.

Until last night, when one girlfriend suddenly posted screenshots of their conversations on Weibo and exposed him for cheating.

After that, several more girlfriends emerged one after another.

Every one of them had voice recordings and photographs.

The entire internet was stunned.

Countless spectators rushed to Yu Chu’s Weibo to condemn him. Some particularly ruthless people even made several memes of him, combining them with idiotic statements he had posted before becoming famous—

【I hope my future girlfriend unauthorized copy won’t be too smart. Ideally, she should be a little ignorant. That way, she’ll never leave me.】

【What’s wrong with male chauvinism? It’s a traditional virtue that’s been passed down for thousands of years.】

【That actress? So what if her work has gone international? In the end, won’t she still have to return to the family and have children for a man?】

Absolutely revolting.

If Zhan Yao kept reading, she felt like she might develop a stye from sheer disgust.

But something even more irritating happened.

The fan who had argued with her last night had actually created another account and continued bombarding her private messages.

Zhan Yao sighed.

【Wake up. Your gege’s whole image has already collapsed.】

The reply came almost immediately.

【Nonsense! This was all fabricated by unscrupulous marketing accounts. Those so-called ex-girlfriends are just clout chasers too. They’re only doing this because they can’t stand seeing our Chuchu become popular.】

【Just wait. The company will definitely step in and clear his name!】

Was that so?

The moment the fan sent that, Zhan Yao’s browser happened to push a notification.

Coincidentally, it was also an update on the scandal.

Zhan Yao backed out to look, casually took a screenshot, and sent it into their chat.

【Mm. Or they might step in and issue a contract termination statement instead.】