Cheng Yan sat downstairs for a while, then went up.
“Miss Cheng, the room you stayed in last night has been tidied up. All your usual daily necessities have been replaced with new ones. If there’s anything else you need, please let us know anytime.”
Cheng Yan pressed her lips together. “Who gave the order?”
The guest room she’d slept in last night was fully equipped, all high-end, expensive brands. But these weren’t the brands Cheng Yan usually used.
Since signing the agreement, every time Cheng Yan came to stay at the villa, she’d been with Jun Jianqing. And as she stayed longer, she’d developed her own preferences for daily necessities, which the servants had long since memorized.
Last night had been late, and sleeping in the guest room was a spur-of-the-moment decision, so it hadn’t been specially prepared—anyway, the servants maintained the hygiene of all the rooms in the villa daily. These rooms were always ready for immediate occupancy.
But she hadn’t expected the servants to specifically tidy it up today, changing things to her usual preferences.
A servant said, “President Jun gave the order this morning.”
Even before asking, Cheng Yan had already guessed the answer in her heart.
Just as expected.
Cheng Yan: “Alright, thanks for your trouble.”
Her previously hesitant steps shed their hesitation, quickly making a choice.
Cheng Yan entered the guest room and saw the familiar setup. Her heart was filled with mixed emotions.
Someone was apparently still holding a grudge, yet didn’t forget to instruct the servants to carefully prepare the room. Though for President Jun, it was indeed just a matter of speaking a few words.
Cheng Yan muttered under her breath, “You were the one who told me to sleep in the guest room.”
She had done as she was told. How could she get mad at her for that?
If you had the guts, you shouldn’t have spoken up in the first place. She hadn’t even thought of doing that initially.
After washing up and putting on her pajamas, Cheng Yan thought it over and wondered if she should go back to the master bedroom to wait for President Jun, who was working late.
After all, Jun Jianqing had taken care of her quite a bit recently.
She’d go back to the master bedroom, and when President Jun returned from overtime, she could express her concern for her sponsor’s health in person.
Yes, that was it.
Having straightened out her thoughts, Cheng Yan took her phone and went to the master bedroom.
She waited on the sofa at first. Waiting and waiting, the person still hadn’t returned, and she got sleepy. Dragging her body, she temporarily laid down on the bed.
The moment her body touched the soft, large bed, a thought flashed through her mind—
This bed really was quite big.
But she was also quite sleepy, so she didn’t hold out for long. Her tired eyelids drooped, and she hugged the blanket, sleeping soundly.
She slept until the next morning, when her alarm clock went off.
Waking up to the alarm, the first thing Cheng Yan did was look at the other side of the bed.
Empty.
Exactly the same state as when she’d fallen asleep last night. Clearly, the owner of the villa hadn’t returned at all.
Cheng Yan looked down at her phone. Aside from a notification in the class group about a short meeting at 2:30 p.m. today, there were no other messages.
To avoid being late again, Cheng Yan didn’t delay long. She went downstairs, finished breakfast, and left.
Another busy morning of classes. During the noon break, she made a call to Aunt Wu.
“Did President Jun come back to the villa this morning?”
Aunt Wu: “President Jun didn’t return.”
“Alright, no other business.” Cheng Yan hung up.
The afternoon meeting lasted half an hour. She had a class at 3:10 p.m. On the way from the meeting room to the classroom, Cheng Yan flipped through her phone and clicked into her chat with Jun Jianqing. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, never pressing down.
Until the teacher arrived, she hadn’t typed a single word.
During dinner, Cheng Yan called again.
“Aunt Wu, did President Jun come back this afternoon?”
“President Jun is back. Miss Cheng, is there something you need? Should I pass on a message?”
Holding her phone, Cheng Yan said, “Nothing. Aunt Wu, no need to specifically tell President Jun either.”
Aunt Wu, though puzzled, said, “Alright.”
Cheng Yan hung up. She didn’t even go back to the dorm. Grabbing her car keys, she was ready to leave.
“Cheng Yan!” Jiang Luoying called out to her. “Weren’t we going to the study room? What are you doing?”
Cheng Yan looked back. “Sorry, something came up tonight. You go ahead.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she vanished from Jiang Luoying’s sight.
“What’s going on?” Jiang Luoying was baffled. “She didn’t go last night, and now she’s not going again today. Is this still the grind-till-you-drop Cheng Yan?”
Holding her books in place, Jiang Luoying couldn’t figure it out.
Cheng Yan drove towards the villa.
Reaching her destination, she turned off the engine, got out, grabbed her canvas bag, took a deep breath, and walked in with a normal expression.
“Miss Cheng?” Aunt Wu was somewhat surprised. “You came over tonight? I’ll go prepare dinner for you.”
The servants in the villa had long noticed the pattern: Miss Cheng only stayed at the villa three days a week. Once those three days were up, if you wanted to see her again, you’d have to wait until the next week.
They would gossip quietly among themselves that Miss Cheng was actually quite free.
After all, President Jun indulged her so much.
This week’s three days were already used up, yet today Miss Cheng had appeared at the villa again. They were all a little surprised.
“No need to prepare anything. I’ve already eaten.” Cheng Yan casually glanced around, smiling lightly. “Is President Jun upstairs? I have something to discuss with her.”
Aunt Wu’s expression immediately crumpled.
“What’s wrong?”
Aunt Wu said, “Oh, Miss Cheng, you should have told me earlier if you had something. I could have helped pass on the message. President Jun isn’t at the villa right now.”
Cheng Yan was slightly taken aback. “Didn’t she come back?”
Aunt Wu checked the time, looking troubled. “About fifteen minutes ago, President Jun just left.”
“…”
Cheng Yan’s expression went flat for a second. “When I was on the phone with you, did President Jun hear?”
Aunt Wu seemed to realize something as well. She hesitated. “I suppose so? President Jun asked who was calling, so I told her.”
“It’s fine. It wasn’t anything urgent anyway.” Cheng Yan comforted Aunt Wu. “Since President Jun isn’t here, I’ll head out first.”
“Miss Cheng, why don’t you stay here tonight? It’s getting dark. The road back might not be safe.”
Cheng Yan refused. “It’s fine. I’m going.”
She drove away again.
In the study room.
Jiang Luoying was unconsciously chewing on her pen while thinking, when suddenly someone sat down in the empty seat next to her. The noise, though very light, still disturbed her train of thought.
She turned her head, looking at the person who had settled down with surprise.
“Didn’t you say you had something? Why are you here again?” Jiang Luoying lowered her voice to a whisper.
Cheng Yan took out her books and pen, her voice neutral. “Done with the errand.”
“Oh, oh, oh.” Jiang Luoying pushed her book over and whispered, “Then help me look at this problem. I just can’t figure out the approach.”
Cheng Yan glanced down at the problem she pointed to, picked up her own pen, and swiftly wrote out the solution steps on scratch paper.
Jiang Luoying watched her calm expression, the answer flowing from her pen at first glance. She was utterly impressed.
Taking the answer Cheng Yan had written, she whispered, “Ah! Why didn’t I think of that?”
Then, burying her head, she focused on understanding the solution.
Cheng Yan sat in the study room for two hours.
At 9:30 p.m., when Jiang Luoying looked up to pack her things, she noticed there weren’t many people left in the study room.
She glanced at Cheng Yan, who was still beside her and hadn’t moved. She whispered a reminder, “It’s 9:30. You’re not going back to the dorm?”
Cheng Yan looked up, checked the time. It was indeed 9:30 p.m.
Pulling her mind away from her studies, she found her emotions had only been suppressed, not completely gone.
“You go ahead. I’m not going back to the dorm tonight,” Cheng Yan said.
“Alright.” Jiang Luoying picked up her backpack and stood up. “Bye-bye. See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
After Jiang Luoying left, Cheng Yan packed up her bag and left too.
She drove to Zhu Jingran’s place. The other party was already waiting for her downstairs.
“What’s with the sudden urge to ride a motorcycle in the middle of the night? In a bad mood?” Zhu Jingran led her towards the garage, asking with concern as she unlocked the door.
“A little.”
Zhu Jingran glanced at her, but the night was too dark to make out her expression clearly. “Want me to come with you?”
The garage door opened, revealing her motorcycle, covered with a dust cover, meticulously maintained by Zhu Jingran.
Cheng Yan suddenly didn’t feel like riding anymore.
“Forget it. Let’s just drink.”
“…” Zhu Jingran was speechless for a moment, then locked the door again. “So, bar or buy some alcohol and drink here?”
“Don’t feel like a bar.”
“Fine, fine, fine. Come on, let’s go buy some booze.”
The two went to a nearby supermarket and bought several cases of beer. They sat down leaning against the sofa, each grabbing a bottle, popping the caps, and drinking straight.
“Alright, spill. What’s going on?” Zhu Jingran said. “Let me guess… trouble with President Jun?”
Cheng Yan took another swig, wiped her mouth, and said sullenly, “Something like that.”
“Mm… figured as much. So, what’s the reason?”
Cheng Yan was silent for a moment, then, with the help of the alcohol, briefly explained the whole situation.
“…”
Silence hung in the air.
Cheng Yan asked, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Zhu Jingran looked at her with a complicated expression. “I want to hit you. You idiot, you don’t know how good you have it.”
“President Jun treats you so well. Can’t you be a little more considerate of someone who’s sick? She told you to leave and you actually left?”
“Ah, you’re hopeless, Cheng Yan. You wooden blockhead!”
A wooden blockhead?
She wasn’t really a wooden blockhead.
“What did you say? I didn’t hear clearly.” Zhu Jingran leaned closer.
Cheng Yan said, “I did the wrong thing, didn’t I?”
“Of course!” Zhu Jingran exclaimed.
“But you don’t know the situation at the time. Her words… there was a hint that she was depending on me a little. I was a bit—”
“A bit what?”
Cheng Yan had nothing to hide from Zhu Jingran anyway.
She took a big gulp of her drink and said in a low voice, “A bit scared.”
“?” Zhu Jingran was confused. “What are you scared of? Isn’t this a good thing? I dream every day that Qi Lu would depend on me like that. If that happened, it’d mean our relationship is progressing well!”
Cheng Yan frowned. “You don’t understand.”
“…” Zhu Jingran rolled her eyes. “I really don’t understand you on this one.”
“Our relationship isn’t what you think it is,” Cheng Yan said.
Zhu Jingran: “?”
“We’re in a kept and keeper relationship.”
“???”
“I’m only interested in her body.”
“???”
Wait, who was keeping who again?
Who was interested in whose body?
This is completely backwards?!
