“Oh dear!” Speaking of this, Zhao Xiaokui suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. She had grown up, and no one had ever discussed such questions with her before. “Isn’t it about you and Rong Zhen? I don’t really understand the affairs of wealthy people like you. I just feel that marriage is a very serious matter. You have to think carefully about it, rather than turning it into a task merely to fulfill the wishes of the elders. This is your own life, not your grandfather’s or Rong Zhen’s grandfather’s.”
“And girls will suffer a lot when they get married.” Thinking of the teachings from her grandmother, Zhao Xiaokui suddenly felt that persuading Shen Zhifei was a daunting task. They had been comrades in life and death, and she couldn’t just watch Shen Zhifei jump into a pit. “If you and Rong Zhen are together without any feelings, you might end up playing separately. Rong Zhen is a man, even if he has numerous affairs, others will only call him charming and romantic. Maybe even more women will willingly throw themselves onto his bed. But it’s different for you. If you go outside and find a gigolo, some people will look down on you, criticize you for being indiscreet.”
“I don’t care how others see me,” Shen Zhifei said, but she still wore a pensive expression. “As for matters of marriage, I will think about it carefully. Thank you.”
Zhao Xiaokui felt satisfied with her persuasive skills and smiled triumphantly.
After the meal, Zhao Xiaokui suggested leaving.
Shen Zhifei hesitated, “But your health…”
Zhao Xiaokui waved her hand, “I have my own home. I can’t always stay here.”
Shen Zhifei pursed her lips.
She didn’t insist further but said, “Later, I’ll give you a bunch of keys to this house. You can come anytime.”
“No need, it’s too much of a bother… Well, okay.”
Under Shen Zhifei’s insistence, Zhao Xiaokui chose to yield.
Though she felt she probably wouldn’t need the keys Shen Zhifei gave her…
When she got home, she would lead a carefree life.
She would spend ten days or half a month relaxing before considering work.
As for what job to find…
Being a celebrity was out of the question; she couldn’t eat whatever she wanted all the time.
But she thought she could start a mukbang or something. Leveraging Zhao Zijin’s somewhat famous face, she could explore the world of global cuisine…
Just thinking about it made her feel delighted.
Shen Zhifei packed Zhao Xiaokui’s snacks and tossed them onto the back seat.
She drove, and Zhao Xiaokui sat in the passenger seat. Both fastened their seat belts and only then did Shen Zhifei ask, “Which of your houses are you going to?”
“Uh… Do I have many houses?” Zhao Xiaokui hesitated for a second.
Shen Zhifei looked at her, silent for a moment. It seemed that Zhao Xiaokui had no intention of hiding her differences in front of her.
She recalled the information she had found and said, “If I’m not mistaken, you should have seven properties under your name. One each in cities A, B, G, H, and X, and two in city S—one in the city center, a top-floor duplex apartment, and the other in the east district, a newly-built garden villa. I remember there’s even a swimming pool in that villa, larger than mine.”
So… so wealthy.
Turns out, she wasn’t a dirt-poor girl…
I mean, she had been a celebrity for at least four or five years. How could she not have any savings?
But houses were not the same as cash. The impact of Zhao Xiaokui, who had never seen these luxurious homes under her name, was not as strong as the five-million check Shen Zhifei had given her that day.
“Although I really want to see these two houses, I’m going home,” Zhao Xiaokui emphasized the word “home” and repeated, smiling, “I’m going home.”
She looked like a tired child returning home after playing outside with friends. Despite the fatigue and dust all over her, she was filled with nostalgia once she thought of returning home.
Shen Zhifei didn’t remember any other properties owned by Zhao Zijin, but considering that she knew Zhao Zijin and not Zhao Xiaokui, not knowing about the latter’s family properties was normal.
“Okay,” she said, “Where’s your home? I’ll drive you there.”
Zhao Xiaokui replied, “My home is in the North District, Qingmu Community, Unit One, Sixth Floor, Number Two.”
This was an address Zhao Xiaokui was extremely familiar with.
From elementary school to high school, whenever teachers asked to fill in the family address on forms, she didn’t know how many times she had written these lines.
As they say, familiarity breeds fondness. She hadn’t felt it yesterday, but after a day of buffer, today, thinking of going home, her heart was filled with uneasiness.
Shen Zhifei suddenly asked, as if not hearing clearly, “Where did you say?”
“Qingmu Community, ah. Qing is the color green, and mu is the wood of a tree.”
A hint of hesitation appeared on Shen Zhifei’s face. “You said Qingmu Community, is it the one near Jiankang Road? Across from Ginkgo Square?”
Having lived there for more than ten years, Zhao Xiaokui was extremely familiar with the surroundings of Qingmu Community. “Yes, yes, Ginkgo Square even has a 300-year-old ginkgo tree.”
Thinking about what she was about to say next, Shen Zhifei felt like her heart was stuffed with cotton, making it hard to breathe.
“If the Qingmu Community you mentioned is the same as what I know,” Shen Zhifei never thought her voice could sound so cruel, “that area has been included in the new development of the old city. Qingmu Community, along with a few nearby communities and Ginkgo Square, has just been successfully demolished.”
“What are you saying?” Zhao Xiaokui widened her eyes. “You’re, you’re joking, right?”
She seemed like she wanted to laugh, her lips pulling back, but only a somewhat awkward, almost crying expression emerged.
She lowered her head to check the phone’s navigation. Accidentally opening and closing a few apps, what should have been a simple task took her several minutes.
Zhao Xiaokui handed the phone to Shen Zhifei, “Don’t tease me. How could Qingmu Community be demolished? Look, you can still find it on the map.”
Shen Zhifei looked at her without speaking, only with a gaze filled with pity and sympathy.
Under the scrutiny of such eyes, Zhao Xiaokui restrained the dry smile on her face.
She gripped the phone, lowered her head, looked at her own fingers, and the location of Qingmu Community marked on the screen, softly said, “Can you take me there to have a look, just a glance, is it okay?”
Shen Zhifei thought she might cry out loud, but she didn’t. She just kept her head down, very silent, her hair hanging down on both sides of her face, concealing her current expression.
So Shen Zhifei didn’t see Zhao Xiaokui’s eyes, which were red like a rabbit’s.
The journey to the North District was silent.
Neither of them spoke. Shen Zhifei drove quietly, and Zhao Xiaokui kept her head down. No one knew what she was thinking, but the thin carrot-shaped stress reliever in her hand was almost deformed from her squeezing.
The car found a spot to stop, far from the dusty construction site.
The buildings hadn’t officially started construction, but various machines were busy leveling the land, digging foundations, and doing preliminary preparations.
In this bustling scene, there was no trace of the once-old community.
“Why was it demolished…” Shen Zhifei heard Zhao Xiaokui muttering to herself, “It wasn’t even renovated for many years. Why did they decide to demolish it just like that…”
“I remember that ginkgo tree, it’s over three or four hundred years old, a protected species, right? Will it survive if they move it?”
“Um… um, do you know when Qingmu Community was demolished?”
Zhao Xiaokui suddenly turned her head and asked. Her eyes were red, opened wide as if she could prevent tears from falling by not blinking.
“Last month, on the 28th.”
“The 28th, it was only half a month ago…” Zhao Xiaokui whispered. Shen Zhifei heard a choked sob in her voice. “…It was only half a month ago.”
Shen Zhifei didn’t know what to say. She could only pat Zhao Xiaokui’s shoulder. “Don’t be sad.”
Zhao Xiaokui dared not look at the bustling construction site. She turned around, leaning her head on Shen Zhifei’s shoulder. Shen Zhifei soon felt the warmth and moisture emanating from her neck.
She gently stroked Zhao Xiaokui’s hair.
“…Half a month.” Zhao Xiaokui tightly held onto her clothes, her voice suppressed to the extreme, containing a pain that seemed incomprehensible to others. “Half a month… I was just a half month late coming back… just half a month… Why couldn’t they wait for me, just a little longer, wait for me…”
Her words sounded unreasonable.
The redevelopment of the old city was a government-planned project. Even Shen Zhifei, let alone Zhao Xiaokui, might not have the ability to delay the project.
But Shen Zhifei knew she wasn’t complaining; she was just in pain.
“I hate myself so much. Why didn’t they let me come back earlier? Why did I have to delay for so long… Why…”
Zhao Xiaokui hated herself for not being brave enough, for not returning to the human world earlier.
She hated herself even more for not staying at home after the college entrance exam, for learning to drink like adults. If it weren’t for alcohol poisoning, she wouldn’t have crossed over.
Returning home was an obsession that Zhao Xiaokui never forgot, even when she committed suicide in the mermaid world.
But the moment she saw Qingmu Community turned into a construction site, her obsession collapsed, like the construction site before her, leaving only ruins in her heart.
No need for words, Shen Zhifei could feel the deep pain in Zhao Xiaokui’s heart.
Words seemed pale at this moment, so Shen Zhifei could only embrace her, constantly stroking Zhao Xiaokui’s back and hair.
Zhao Xiaokui’s crying remained restrained; all her sobbing was suppressed in her throat.
If pain couldn’t be vented, it would ferment. So the more Zhao Xiaokui suppressed herself, the more Shen Zhifei felt distressed.
She didn’t know what Zhao Xiaokui had been through, why a young girl like her carried such a heavy burden of pain.
Holding Zhao Xiaokui, in the passing traffic, Shen Zhifei lowered her head to the girl’s hair and gently kissed it.
As she lifted her head, her gaze caught a suddenly slowing-down van.
“Oh my god, oh my god, the one cuddling with Shen Zhifei is Zhao Zijin, right? Am I not mistaken, right?!!! Top-level gossip! Definitely top-level gossip!”
In the van, the paparazzo holding the camera retracted it.
He checked the photos he inadvertently took—
In front of the black business car, two women with matching clothing colors were hugging each other, as if wearing couple outfits.
One of them was facing the camera, tilting her head slightly. Her long, sharp eyes were both sharp and dangerous. The woman in front of her was tightly confined by her arm, like prey firmly held by a large carnivorous beast.
