After Breaking Up With the Scheming Bad Woman 84

Chapter 84: “Stay Here Tonight.”

At nine o’clock at night, Huai Xing was flipping through the work schedule that Ding Rong had sent.

After returning to Haicheng tomorrow, she would be thrown into a busy schedule. There were industry conferences to attend, member private events to participate in, and new shooting tasks, and so on. She looked at the tight schedule and felt a sense of peace from it, because once a person was busy, they wouldn’t have so many thoughts to think about other things.

But at this moment, she was still in Jingcheng and could be considered idle. After turning off her tablet, the first thing that popped into her mind was what Su Qiao had said in the afternoon about Chu Wantang being sick. And she had not agreed to go and see Chu Wantang, had politely declined the little girl’s invitation, and had returned to the hotel after having dinner with the mother and daughter.

She knew that the information Su Qiao had revealed was not intentional, but she would suspect that Chu Wantang’s illness this time was intentional.

In this aspect, Chu Wantang was a repeat offender, a person with extremely low credit.

“…” Wait, why was she thinking of Chu Wantang again?

Huai Xing rubbed her brow, stood up, and began to pack her luggage. After she had done all this, she went into the bathroom to take a shower.

The fine water droplets fell on her body. She closed her eyes and still felt a little annoyed. It had clearly been a few days, but the hug from those few minutes was still lingering in her arms, and she couldn’t wash it away no matter how she tried.

Before that day, she had actually never seen Chu Wantang wear a qipao.

Chu Wantang’s private style was more casual and relaxed. Mainly because her external conditions were too superior, she would not look bad in anything. On social occasions, she would dress very formally, and her dresses were mainly long dresses. This was the first time she had worn a qipao.

The qipao fabric was high-end and comfortable. When they hugged, she could feel the seeping warmth, as if the moisture had been wrapped in the fabric, and that warmth actually lingered for a long time.

Not just the temperature, but also the familiar curve that she was familiar with.

After Huai Xing had dried her hair in front of the mirror, she looked at the empty space in front of her.

She took a deep breath, her brows faintly pressed down as she left the bathroom. She unlocked her phone and began to edit a message.

[I heard from Qiaoqiao that you’re sick.] No, delete. She couldn’t sell out the little girl.

[Did you not drink water tonight?] No, delete. It seemed a little too cold.

[I’m going back to Haicheng tomorrow.] No, delete. She didn’t need to report her schedule to Chu Wantang.

She repeatedly typed and then deleted, struggling for a long while. After much thought, she finally decided not to send a WeChat message.

In the time it took to take two breaths, Chu Wantang answered her call, her voice a little hoarse as she called her, “President Huai.”

Huai Xing sat on the sofa, her gaze fixed on a random spot on the coffee table. She touched her forehead, as if she had just discovered it, and asked, “Do you have a cold?”

“May I ask if there’s anything?” Chu Wantang said, quickly adding, “I’m sorry, President Huai. I have to cough.”

She deliberately held the phone a little further away, but for the next half a minute, all she heard was her somewhat miserable-sounding cough.

Huai Xing always held the phone to her ear. She lowered her eyelids, and the breath she was holding exposed her emotions in the air.

“Okay,” Chu Wantang said apologetically on the other end of the phone. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting for so long.”

Huai Xing’s upper body leaned forward a little, and she took a tissue from the coffee table and squeezed it in her hand. She looked at the crumpled tissue and only then asked, “Has your address changed?”

“…No.”

Chu Wantang’s voice was not only hoarse, but also a little muffled. “The password hasn’t either.”

In the past five years, she had fantasized more than once that one day Huai Xing would think of coming home to see, so nothing had changed.

Now, the fantasy seemed to have come true. Realizing this, she couldn’t help but want to confirm. “Are you coming over?”

“I forgot the password,” Huai Xing said.

Chu Wantang: “Then I’ll send it to you on WeChat.”

“…Okay,” Huai Xing said, pausing. “The two companies have a cooperation. It’s only right for me to visit President Chu.”

No matter what the reason was, the fact that Huai Xing was coming over was about to happen. Chu Wantang didn’t want to argue anymore, and she had no right to argue. The words she had heard at the Lu family’s manor were still embedded in her.

“Then I’ll wait for you,” she said again. “I’ll come to the door to pick you up.”

“You should stay out of the wind,” she refused.

Chu Wantang: “Mm.”

After hanging up, Huai Xing threw the crumpled tissue into the trash can.

The reason she had given was very legitimate, and there was no problem. But now, looking back, she would regret her decision just now.

It was too late to take it back now, and she didn’t want to be a person who went back on her word.

…

As the night grew deeper, Huai Xing took a taxi to the entrance of the complex. She had been to Jingcheng many times in the past few years, and several times when she had passed by here in a car, she would turn her head away and not look at the main gate of the complex. Now, standing here again, looking at the still-familiar scene, she held the fruit basket a little tighter.

The security guards at the gatehouse had been replaced. When they heard the room number she was going to, they let her in directly.

Chu Wantang had called in advance to give instructions.

Huai Xing: “Thanks.”

Passing through the main gate, Huai Xing looked at the scenery of the complex in the streetlights, her lips pressed together lightly.

She followed the path in her memory, her long black hair swaying gently with her movements. A resident who was jogging at night brushed past her, and the sound of laughter came from the children’s area not far away. When she looked up, she could see that the banner that the complex’s property management had hung up to wish the college entrance examination candidates good luck had not yet been taken down.

A few minutes later, she entered the elevator. It was a little late, and she was the only one in the car. She calmly looked at the ascending numbers, but she was silently counting in her heart.

Exactly twenty seconds later, the elevator doors opened to the sides. She let out a deep breath, lifted her leg and walked out. She blinked once more, and she was standing at the door, her long lashes lowered as she reached out to press the password.

With a “ding,” the door opened.

She glanced at the warm light in the crack of the door and felt a little hesitant, or rather… resistant.

She had lived here for nearly five years, and her memories with Chu Wantang here were too many, so many that she hadn’t been able to delete them all in these five years.

Not only that, but she was now going to add a new part…

“Xingxing,” a slightly hoarse voice called back her thoughts.

She lifted her eyelids and looked at the person standing inside the door. In the time she had been hesitating, Chu Wantang had widened the crack in the door and had even taken out a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet.

Chu Wantang was wearing a mask, and her cheeks were all covered, only revealing a pair of eyes with a natural attraction.

Huai Xing looked at her, stood up a little straighter, and in cooperation with her changed form of address, she smiled. “I’m sorry to disturb Sister Wantang’s rest so late.”

She no longer hesitated and walked to the entryway.

Chu Wantang’s gaze was fixed on her, watching her change her shoes. After confirming that it was not a hallucination, she said slowly, “It’s not a disturbance.”

Hearing these four words, Huai Xing did not respond. As she walked in, she asked as a matter of routine, “Why are you sick this time?”

“I was in the office with the air conditioning on for too long,” Chu Wantang said, following her footsteps, and she turned her head to the side and coughed as she spoke.

“…” Huai Xing placed the fruit basket on the dining table. She didn’t want to shift her gaze, but Chu Wantang’s home looked no different from when she had left.

The sofa, the dining table, the curtains.

Everything seemed to be the same, and yet a little different.

Huai Xing sat down on the sofa. From her angle, she could see the closed door of the guest room. She couldn’t help but clasp her hands nervously. She then watched as Chu Wantang brought her a glass of water. She thanked her and held the glass, feeling the warmth from the wall of the glass.

The atmosphere was silent. Chu Wantang sat down on the single sofa, her hands on her knees, her five fingers curled up.

They had just had a fight three days ago. Regarding their current relationship with Huai Xing, she was a little confused, confused in that she didn’t know how to hide her feelings. She didn’t want to hit a wall with Huai Xing time and time again and challenge Huai Xing’s bottom line.

The last time they had had a fight was also because she had spoken first and had said the sensitive word between them.

Family…

That’s right. She was the only one who could no longer be family with Huai Xing.

She had not forgotten how much she had done to Huai Xing under the guise of “family.”

Huai Xing tilted her head back slightly and drank some water. She then held the water glass and suddenly broke the suffocating silence.

She said, “The fruit basket has peaches, cherries, lychees, and mangosteens.” She looked at Chu Wantang’s eyes, a smile on her lips. “I didn’t buy too much. You can just eat as you see fit, Sister Wantang.”

Chu Wantang met her gaze. “Is it sweet?”

“I tried it before I bought it.”

“Okay.”

“Mm,” Huai Xing nodded. There was a distance of about three meters between the two of them, and for a moment, they didn’t know what to say.

The reason for her visit this time seemed very legitimate, but only she knew what she was thinking.

Chu Wantang timely proposed, “Do you want to watch a movie?”

“No need. A movie is too long. I still have to go back to the hotel.”

“You don’t have to finish it.”

“…Alright.”

Chu Wantang took the remote control, pulled up the movie list, and chatted politely with Huai Xing about what movie to watch.

In the end, based on the movie cover, they chose to watch “Robot Dreams,” which looked very cute and had a high rating. After the opening credits, the two of them were silent—

This movie was a silent film.

Under the slightly dim light, Chu Wantang’s action of pressing her forehead was seen by Huai Xing. She raised an eyebrow and continued to watch the movie.

But only then did she discover that the TV had actually been replaced. The screen was larger and more high-end. They didn’t need to wear glasses, and the ultra-clear picture made everything very clear.

Chu Wantang’s peripheral vision was always on Huai Xing. Her cold was not fully recovered, and her throat was always itchy and she wanted to cough. And she couldn’t hold back her cough at all. Every once in a while, she would turn her head to the side, and a burst of coughing would sound.

After hearing Chu Wantang cough several times, Huai Xing turned her head and said very seriously, “Let’s just watch up to here. You should get some rest. It’s very uncomfortable to keep coughing.”

“I’m not uncomfortable,” she said, but as soon as she finished speaking, Chu Wantang turned her head again.

Huai Xing looked at her like this and pressed her lips together tightly.

After she had recovered, she took out her phone and opened the timer. At the same time, she stood up and stood in front of Chu Wantang, saying very seriously, “Last time at the Lu family’s manor, I borrowed about seven minutes from you.” She bent down and, by the faint light of the movie, looked directly at Chu Wantang’s eyes. “Can I return it to you now?”

As she spoke, she showed the adjusted timer time, on which the number “7” was clearly displayed.

The number seemed to be jumping, eagerly waiting to start.

Chu Wantang blinked, her eyes gradually reddening.

She really didn’t like to hear the word “return” from Huai Xing. She hadn’t touched the eight hundred thousand in the bank card, and now Huai Xing even wanted to “return” the seven-minute hug to her.

Yes, she admitted, she really wanted to hug Huai Xing.

In the past two months, she had seen Lu Zhenyue hug Huai Xing several times, and jealousy had filled every inch of her body. And between Huai Xing and Lu Zhenyue, there was no such word as “borrow.”

When it came to her, did a hug have to be calculated so clearly?

“No need to return it,” Chu Wantang said, her eyes looking light and cheerful, but the words she spoke made her heart ache. “I just happened to be by your side at that time.”

So I had the right to be “borrowed” these seven minutes by you.

Huai Xing did not back down and still maintained her bent posture.

The air flowed between them, and they couldn’t escape this somewhat tight and oppressive feeling. Not only that, but they had no choice but to be entangled in the fragrance on their bodies, which mixed together and entered their nasal cavities.

Huai Xing smelled the woody scent on Chu Wantang, and her throat moved slightly.

She thought for a moment, locked her screen, and threw her phone in the corner of the sofa. Her waist sank down again, and her right leg was on the sofa. She hugged the person in front of her without a care, and the distance between them was filled.

Chu Wantang was stunned on the spot and did not speak. She still followed her body’s instinctive reaction and raised her hands to hug her back tightly.

“Will you be able to breathe?” Huai Xing said softly, taking off Chu Wantang’s mask with her elegant fingertips as she asked.

Chu Wantang cooperatively moved her face away from her shoulder, waited for the mask to be taken off, and then pressed her face against her, feeling her body temperature.

It was a little cool at night. Huai Xing had changed into a light blouse before she left, and Chu Wantang was wearing a silk pajama. The temperature was transmitted through these two layers of fabric, which were like decorations, and flowed between them.

Huai Xing’s hand touched Chu Wantang’s hair, and she couldn’t help but wrap her fingertips around the ends of her hair.

One circle after another, and then she let go, repeatedly.

And she felt that it was not enough, so she mixed her own hair with hers, one straight and one curly, and they were entangled together.

The movie was still playing. Although it was a silent film, it had a relatively cheerful soundtrack in the beginning. The soundtrack seemed to have jumped out of the TV, jumped onto them, and jumped on the top of their heads, their shoulders, their backs, their fingertips…

But no one knew what was playing on the screen.

Chu Wantang closed her eyes, her heart beating very fast. Her illness was not fully recovered, and her throat was uncontrollably itchy again. She wanted to push Huai Xing away and cough again, but Huai Xing did not move. She had no choice but to turn her head to the side. At this moment, a hand on her back was gently patting her, easing her discomfort.

After she finished coughing, she wrapped her arms around Huai Xing’s waist, hoping that these seven minutes could be a little slower, a little slower.

“Xingxing…” Her love was as uncontrollable as her cough. She still called out softly, wanting to confirm its authenticity.

Huai Xing: “Mm.”

“Stay here tonight.”