Meng Ruozhao thought that after playing golf, they would still have to go for dinner.
Who would have thought that when it was over, after Yan Qiubai changed his clothes and came out, he said that he still had something to attend to.
"I'll have someone take you back."
As he said this, his eyes were fixed firmly on Meng Ruozhao.
It seemed as if he wanted to see reluctance or anger on her face.
As long as she showed it, he would surely change his mind.
But Meng Ruozhao was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook her head.
"It's okay. You go ahead with your business. We'll find our own way back."
There was not the slightest hint of reluctance in her words. Instead, she even seemed to heave a sigh of relief.
Yan Qiubai frowned, and his eyes darkened at once.
He, the young Master Yan, had always been the one that others vied to please.
When had he ever offered the other person several chances to smooth things over, only to be blatantly ignored?
He got angry, but Meng Ruozhao didn't notice.
Or perhaps, she noticed but didn't want to care.
She seemed to have completed her task. She quietly rubbed her stiff waist from sitting and planned to go to her shop to finish the painting she hadn't completed.
Yan Qiubai stared at her, his eyes gloomy. After a moment, he let out a cold laugh and turned away.
Only then did Meng Ruozhao realize belatedly that he was unhappy.
What was wrong again?
Hadn't she accompanied him for an entire afternoon and been very obedient?
"Meng Ruozhao, do you think you can control Young Master Yan by putting on a high - and - mighty attitude?"
"Don't you know he's seen all kinds of tricks? Your affectation of being aloof will only make him loathe you faster."
Du Xixi sauntered over, no longer hiding the sarcasm in her tone.
Meng Ruozhao gave a faint smile, showing no sign of anger, but her tone was not polite either.
"That's just what you want, isn't it? After all, your intention of being a mistress is almost written on your face."
Seeing that Meng Ruozhao had directly exposed her, Du Xixi flew into a rage. Her delicate face turned red with anger.
"I knew him first. If it weren't for your dirty tricks, this engagement would have been mine. So you're the mistress."
Oh, so she wasn't even pretending anymore.
Meng Ruozhao still looked at her coldly.
"So, how exactly did I use dirty tricks to steal your engagement?"
Du Xixi was so angry at her attitude that she lost all reason.
"You just..."
After saying these four words, she suddenly came to her senses, glared at Meng Ruozhao fiercely, and said,
"Are you trying to trick me?"
She wasn't completely stupid, but unfortunately, she hadn't said anything useful.
Meng Ruozhao put on an innocent look.
"You said first that I used dirty tricks. I'm just asking you to prove it."
"However, you're reacting so strongly. Could it be that you've been hiding something about my past?"
Du Xixi didn't look at her anymore and quickly walked outside.
"You're crazy. I'm too lazy to talk to you."
She didn't seem too lazy to talk; instead, she seemed afraid of letting something slip.
Meng Ruozhao watched her back and squinted her eyes.
There must be a lot of things about her past that had been hidden.
Just thinking about it made her a bit annoyed. She was too lazy to go back and face that family, so she simply took a taxi to her own shop.
In the following days, Du Xixi avoided her, and Yan Qiubai went on a business trip.
She didn't have time to care about these things.
Because she had suddenly "gotten a flood of orders"!
To be honest, the location of her [Fuyunxuan] wasn't very good, and the prices weren't cheap either.
Normally, it was considered good if she could get two or three orders a week, but in the past week, she had received several orders in a row.
She was so busy that she didn't even have time to catch her breath. She even went to the shop on the weekend.
The rain at the end of June came suddenly and violently.
Meng Ruozhao was burying her head in threading a needle in front of the embroidery frame when suddenly she heard the wind chime at the door jingle.
When she looked up, the young man who pushed the door open and came in, carrying the damp mist of the rain, just happened to come into her sight.
He pushed the door open but didn't walk any further. Instead, he stood on the threshold, breathing slightly heavily.
His white shirt was soaked through by the rain and had become semi - transparent, clinging tightly to his heaving chest. If you looked closely, the mermaid line on his abdomen also appeared and disappeared with his breathing.
The water droplets rolled down his sharp jawline to his protruding Adam's apple and accumulated into a small puddle in the hollow of his collarbone.
Meng Ruozhao's silver needle suddenly pricked her fingertip, and a drop of blood oozed out, just like her inexplicably accelerating heartbeat.
"S - sorry..."
He met her gaze somewhat awkwardly, and soon a puddle of water formed under his feet.
"Could I borrow a place to take shelter from the rain?"
His voice was deeper than she had expected.
Meng Ruozhao paused in pressing on the blood drop.
A strange sense of familiarity crept up her spine, like butterflies fluttering in the depths of her memory.
This inexplicable feeling made her unable to speak for a moment. She just stared at him blankly.
Perhaps afraid that she would drive him away, the man spoke again.
"I have an interview at three this afternoon."
When he looked down at his watch, his wet hair fell and covered his eyes and eyebrows.
"But the landlord changed the lock, and I can't go home to change my clothes."
These jumbled words made Meng Ruozhao get up.
As she got closer, she noticed that the third button of his shirt had somehow come undone, revealing a small patch of honey - colored skin.
For some reason, she suddenly thought of the trembling almond tofu in the steamer this morning.
"Come in first."
She sometimes stayed in the shop, so she had some simple toiletries prepared.
After letting the man in, she took a clean, unused towel and handed it to him.
As she got closer, she smelled a faint scent of pine that even the rain couldn't wash away.
While the man was drying his hair, he also calmed down a bit and briefly introduced his situation.
He said his name was Pei Jiangmu, and he was a graduate student at that famous art academy in Haicheng.
Because he owed the landlord two months' rent, when he went back today, he found that the landlord had suddenly changed the lock.
When he said this, the knuckles of his fingers clutching the towel turned white.
Meng Ruozhao leaned against a cabinet not far away and noticed that his watch was an antique Jaeger - LeCoultre, but the watch strap was badly worn.
"The interview is very important to me. I want to buy a suit of clothes..."
When he said this, the rain was dripping from his trouser legs onto the blue - brick floor, leaving dark marks.
So he was going for an interview. No wonder he was dressed so formally.
It was already twelve o'clock. He saw this clothing store and decided to come in.
Actually, Meng Ruozhao mainly did high - end custom - made clothes for customers. There were no ready - made clothes in the store, and besides, the clothes here were not cheap.
But the man tilted his head slightly, his eyelashes fluttering gently, casting a shadow under his eyes. A tiny tear mole was on the corner of his eye, looking like a drop of blood.
When his wet eyes looked up at her, they were so clear that one could see their own reflection.
He was like a small animal soaked by the rain, with water still dripping from its fur, but stubbornly nuzzling its nose into your palm.
His Adam's apple rolled slightly as he swallowed, and even that tear mole moved subtly.
Meng Ruozhao's heart skipped a beat.
She knew where this sense of familiarity came from - she had seen him in the temple a few days ago, and they had even talked.
The person who seemed to be bathed in the Buddha's light that day had returned to the mortal world, looking dejected and awkward in the heavy rain.
In the end, she softened her heart.
"Wait a moment."
She hurried back to the workshop. After a while, she came back with a set of Chinese - style suits.
This was originally meant to be a gift for Yan Qiubai, but now, somehow, she took it out and handed it to Pei Jiangmu.
"Try it on."