“What are you doing?”
Yang Zhao’s tone was unkind.
Hua Man fell silent. She had to admit that at this moment, Yang Zhao was like a dog guarding its food, staring at her with full hostility even though the piece of meat had only been placed down a few seconds ago.
She withdrew her blocked chopsticks and said innocently, “I thought you didn’t like others picking food for you.”
Yang Zhao indeed didn’t like others picking food for her, especially when those chopsticks weren’t serving chopsticks.
But Hua Man wasn’t just anyone. They’d even French kissed before—would she really care about something so trivial?
“Don’t make decisions for me casually.” As she spoke, Yang Zhao picked up the piece of meat and bit into it.
The taste was mediocre.
She frowned, finished eating the meat, set down her chopsticks, and looked at Yu Shan. “Replace the batch of chefs.”
“Yes, Miss,” Yu Shan nodded.
She thought of the cook who had served at the Yang Family for several years and couldn’t help saying, “Auntie Liu’s cooking was pretty good before. Should we invite her back, Miss?”
“No need.”
Auntie Liu had been close to Hua Man’s mother, Chen Yan, so she couldn’t stay at the Yang Family. Yang Zhao had already sent her to her grandmother’s place.
“After you finish eating, come find me in the beauty salon.”
With that, Yang Zhao left the restaurant.
Hua Man’s eating slowed to a stop. The vast restaurant echoed with the clink of bowls and chopsticks. The dining table was absurdly large, and sitting there alone made it feel even emptier and more desolate, which she wasn’t used to.
She finished the last bit of rice in her bowl and set down her chopsticks.
She used to need two bowls of rice to feel full, but now, faced with a table full of delicacies, she lost her appetite.
“Is Miss Hua not eating anymore?”
A maid asked cautiously from the side.
“Mm.”
Nodding, she unexpectedly looked at the maid. The girl seemed young, her eyes full of concern and respect when looking at her.
It was the maid who had passed the message last night.
She even looked a bit familiar.
Unintentionally, her gaze lingered, and the maid’s face gradually flushed red. Then, mustering her courage, she asked, “Miss Hua, is there something on my face?”
“Have we met somewhere before?”
She asked in surprise.
“You still remember me?” The maid smiled shyly. She took two steps closer to Hua Man and lowered her voice. “I was working part-time at Qingshui Ting before. I was there when the eldest miss hit someone.”
This mention immediately jogged Hua Man’s memory.
“You’re the one who called the police?”
“Shh—” The maid panicked and glanced around. Seeing no sign of the eldest miss, she relaxed. “Because of that, the manager fired me. Recently, I saw the job opening here and came to try. I didn’t expect it to be such a coincidence.”
She looked at Hua Man pitifully. “The eldest miss has already forgotten about me. You won’t report me to her, right?”
Hua Man shook her head. “No.”
In that situation back then, the other woman had bravely called the police, which showed she had a strong sense of justice.
“Thank you, thank you.” The maid breathed a sigh of relief and quickly added, “My name is Xia Qing.”
“I’m Hua Man.”
“I know.”
Hua Man pursed her lips. “You know?”
Xia Qing smiled embarrassedly. “They mentioned you during employee training. You’re the eldest miss’s girlfriend.”
Because of Xia Qing’s words, Hua Man was a bit distracted the whole way to the beauty salon.
She hadn’t expected Yang Zhao’s public stance to be that she was her girlfriend.
Was it because “lover” sounded too harsh, and keeping a lover might damage the Yang Family’s reputation, so she called her her girlfriend instead?
Then, when she had bluntly said in front of Yan Wei that she was her lover, had that upset her?
Thinking back carefully now, Yang Zhao’s expression after she said it had seemed somewhat intriguing.
But she hadn’t said much about it.
Should she pretend she didn’t know anything?
“Miss Hua, we’re here.”
The crisp voice pulled Hua Man’s thoughts back. She stopped and realized she had walked past the beauty salon. The guiding maid stood at the door, looking at her in confusion.
Hua Man took a deep breath and pretended nothing was wrong as she walked back.
As soon as she entered, she saw a group of people surrounding Yang Zhao for a hand treatment.
Yang Zhao lay on the massage chair, her hands being massaged by the maids. Directly in front of her was a large screen playing some TV drama.
Yang Zhao watched intently.
Hua Man’s gaze lingered on the massage chair beside her for a few seconds.
Sensing the movement of a shadow, Yang Zhao looked up and saw it was Hua Man. She lifted her chin toward the side. “Come here.”
Several maids stood by the massage chairs with tools in hand, heads lowered.
Seeing this, Hua Man instinctively clenched her fists.
“What are you standing there for?” Seeing Hua Man not moving, Yang Zhao urged impatiently. “Hurry over. From now on, whenever I get a hand treatment, you have to do it too.”
Hua Man’s hands were fair and slender, very beautiful. Even if Yang Zhao wasn’t a hand fetishist, she’d be captivated by them.
Unfortunately, the only flaw was that they were too rough.
They had calluses that scraped uncomfortably against her skin wherever they touched.
This was one reason why, despite knowing some of Hua Man’s little thoughts, she still went along with it and hadn’t fully devoured her.
It was like finding a crack in an otherwise flawless mirror—you had to fix the crack before it felt right to use.
However…
Her gaze swept toward Hua Man’s knee, and she frowned imperceptibly.
Now there was another crack. Besides the hand treatment, she needed to find some scar-fading medicine. She didn’t like any flaws on Hua Man’s body, so that scar had to go.
Hua Man had already sat down on the massage chair.
But soon, she shot up again, as fast as a gust of wind.
Was there a needle in the chair poking her butt?
Everyone in the room turned to look at Hua Man.
“What are you doing?” Yang Zhao asked inexplicably.
Feeling everyone’s gazes, Hua Man’s face burned. She pursed her lips and maintained her composure. “Can I not sit in this?”
As soon as she sat, the mechanical stimulation at her lower back felt like an electric current surging through her entire body, making her scalp tingle and itch, utterly uncomfortable.
A maid nearby explained softly, “Miss Hua, sitting in this relieves fatigue. It’s very comfortable.”
“Manman.” Yang Zhao smiled ambiguously. “You’re not ticklish, are you?”
Hua Man denied it outright. “No.”
“How could it not be?”
Yang Zhao thought back carefully. No wonder when she kissed her, she always seemed to tremble—she had thought it was just Hua Man being nervous.
“So sensitive…” She sighed meaningfully, drawing out the words with an ambiguous undertone. “What are we going to do in the future?”
Hearing the implication, Hua Man couldn’t not think about it.
And it was in front of so many people. Hua Man took a deep breath and sat back down silently.
This time, with mental preparation, she didn’t jump up like before. She tried to adapt, and her tense body gradually relaxed as she got used to it.
Seeing this, Yang Zhao, who had been about to have the chair changed, raised her eyebrow slightly.
“Angry?” she asked with a smile.
“No.” Hua Man denied again and reached out her hand. “What needs to be done?”
“You just lie there comfortably. What needs to be done isn’t your concern.”
With that, Yang Zhao lifted her chin toward the waiting maids.
The maids immediately understood and began carefully treating Hua Man’s hands.
The room quieted down.
Yang Zhao continued watching her TV drama, but Hua Man couldn’t settle her mind.
She wasn’t used to being waited on.
She didn’t like being touched by others, even if they wore gloves and there was no direct skin contact.
“Hua Man.”
At some point, Yang Zhao turned to look her way again.
Hua Man looked over.
“You don’t look like you’re getting a hand treatment like this.” Yang Zhao sighed. “Did they make you uncomfortable? Why does it look like they’re torturing your hands?”
The maids immediately stopped, looking anxious.
Hua Man withdrew her hand. “It’s not their fault.”
After hesitating a few seconds, she added, “It’s me. I just don’t like being touched by others.”
Yang Zhao’s eyes flickered.
She didn’t like being touched by others?
Yet she’d touched her so many times, kissed her so many times, and hadn’t seen such resistance.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t suppress her smile.
“Since you don’t like it, then don’t do it.” After dismissing the maid treating Hua Man, she turned to her. “Stay here and keep me company.”
“No more?” Hua Man was surprised.
She had been worried Yang Zhao might get angry at her words, but not only did she not, she seemed in an even better mood.
It was truly baffling.
“Not uncomfortable?”
Yang Zhao raised her eyebrow and asked back.
Hua Man fell silent.
If she didn’t like it, she didn’t have to do it? Yang Zhao was suddenly so accommodating that she felt a little unaccustomed.
“Never again in the future?”
After thinking, she asked again.
“Mm.” Yang Zhao considered seriously. “Depends on the situation.”
She’d see when she could find time to personally give Hua Man a treatment.
Hearing this, Hua Man wasn’t too disappointed. Her mindset had always been to dodge it for a day if she could.
The room quieted again.
With no one fussing over her hands, the sensation from the back massage chair became even clearer and stronger. Once she adapted, it actually felt quite comfortable.
Tingly and numbing, it made her drowsy.
And she really fell asleep.
After discovering Hua Man had fallen asleep, Yang Zhao stared at her curiously for a moment before instructing the maids, “Turn the volume down a bit.”
She ignored the TV and just admired Hua Man sleeping.
She had no idea what she was thinking—even in sleep, her brows were furrowed.
Hua Man didn’t sleep too long, but it wasn’t short either. When she woke, Yang Zhao’s hand treatment was nearly finished.
“You’re awake?”
Sensing the movement beside her, Yang Zhao turned, looking at her with a half-smile.
Hua Man clutched the thin blanket covering her and lowered her eyes. “Sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Yang Zhao tsked. “It’s just taking a nap. What’s there to be sorry about?”
“You’re my employer. I shouldn’t sleep at a time like this. It’s my negligence.” As Hua Man spoke, her brows furrowed even more.
She seemed to be relaxing more and more in front of Yang Zhao.
“Employer?” Yang Zhao laughed. “Didn’t you say you were my lover? Why are you still acting like a bodyguard?”
Hua Man froze.
“I already have bodyguards. Just be my lover comfortably. Don’t worry about so much.”
As she spoke, the hand treatment ended completely. She lifted her hands, admiring how much whiter and more tender they looked after the care, and felt greatly pleased.
She stood up. Seeing Hua Man about to rise too, she pressed her back down and looked at the others. “All of you, out.”
The maids left quickly, leaving just the two of them in the room.
Yang Zhao bent down, meeting Hua Man’s eyes. “Since you don’t want to be negligent, you should fulfill your role properly, bear your responsibility, and do your duty. Manman, when are you going to step up, and be a proper lover for me?”
As she spoke, she lowered her gaze to Hua Man’s lips.
Her implication was so obvious it was practically explicit, and her look so blatant that Hua Man couldn’t misinterpret it.
Without hesitating too long, she leaned forward slightly, about to kiss her, but Yang Zhao stepped back at that moment.
The distance between them opened.
Hua Man still held her chin slightly raised, frozen in place for a few seconds. She furrowed her brows tightly at Yang Zhao.
Yang Zhao smiled innocently, as if nothing had happened. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Realizing she’d been teased again, Hua Man narrowed her eyes. Probably because she’d just woken up, her mind wasn’t clear yet, and her body reacted before her brain—her hand reached out.
Without hesitation, she grabbed Yang Zhao’s neck and pulled her forward with a slight force.
Yang Zhao’s eyes widened. She stumbled forward a few steps, and before she could react, her lips were bitten.
It was just a simple kiss.
She was quickly released by Hua Man, who retreated a few steps in shock and suspicion. “You…”
Before she could finish, Hua Man met her gaze directly, her face expressionless, and said calmly, “Bear the responsibility, fulfill the duty.”
Hearing this, Yang Zhao burst out laughing.
So cute.
She couldn’t muster any anger at all.
She loved Hua Man’s voice and adored the way she said such things so seriously.
“Alright.” She nodded and touched her lips, her eyes curving into a smile. “Then I’ll look forward to your full dedication from now on.”
It was rare for her to turn the tables, and Hua Man’s heart was already stirred with waves of emotion. She suppressed her inner feelings and slowly calmed her mood.
Recalling how she had boldly pulled Yang Zhao over, and the surprised yet somewhat awkward expression on Yang Zhao’s face, Hua Man’s gaze flickered.
So Yang Zhao could show that kind of expression too.
Over the next few days, Yang Zhao’s schedule was packed full.
In the past, when she was just a bodyguard, Hua Man didn’t need to accompany Yang Zhao all day long. But now that she was her lover, she had truly become Yang Zhao’s accessory.
Wherever Yang Zhao went, she had to follow—unless Yang Zhao had other arrangements.
If she were alone, it wouldn’t be inconvenient at all. But now she had Hua Xi, who was about to undergo surgery soon, yet was emotionally sensitive and prone to breakdowns just like Yang Zhao.
Hua Man felt like she must have offended some deity this year, encountering two ancestors who went crazy from time to time one after another.
Hua Xi was likable enough when she wasn’t losing it, but once she did, Hua Man felt her head throbbing.
After not seeing her for several days straight, Hua Xi’s emotions spiraled out of control again.
When she received the call from Dr. Bai, it happened to be during Yang Zhao’s nap time, and Hua Man was in her own room.
“Miss Hua, I suggest you come over to see her. She’s extremely insecure right now and keeps worrying that you’ll abandon her.”
Hua Man stood by the window in silence.
Yang Zhao might not agree to let her go see Hua Xi.
After thinking it over, she asked, “Could you trouble Dr. Bai to pass the phone to Xiaoxi? I’d like to chat with her for a bit.”
Bai Qinghe agreed. “Sure.”
Bai Qinghe had probably been calling from outside earlier. As her footsteps sounded, the familiar piercing scream stabbed into her ears once more.
Hua Man frowned.
Was she trying to ruin her vocal cords with screams like that?
