Volume One, Chapter 15: I Allow You Not to Be Careless

“What’s wrong with your foot?”

When Wen Li got up, Zhou Huaijing caught sight of what looked like blood seeping from her ankle.

“Hm?”

Wen Li hadn’t noticed at first, but following his gaze downward, she faintly felt a slight pain.

It was probably from earlier when Jiang Chen smashed the wine glass; since she was close by, she must have accidentally been scratched by the flying shards of glass. It wasn’t serious.

Zhou Huaijing acted as if it were a big deal and helped Wen Li into the car. Passing by a pharmacy, he stopped the car by the roadside.

“Wait here.” He got out and went inside the pharmacy.

Returning with some medical supplies for cleaning, he circled around to the passenger seat, opened the door, and knelt down, ready to tend to her injury.

Wen Li wanted to refuse, “I can do it myself—it’s no trouble.”

But Zhou Huaijing decisively took over. “I’m afraid you’ll cry again, and I can’t bear that.”

The moonlight cast slanting shadows, the world around quiet and still. Wen Li sat in the car while Zhou Huaijing knelt on one knee, focused and earnest.

He carefully dabbed a cotton swab soaked in alcohol on her smooth, delicate ankle, the coolness seeping through the tiny wound and into the skin.

An unexpectedly tender atmosphere blossomed between them.

Finally, Zhou Huaijing affixed a medical bandage adorned with a pink little bunny onto her foot, clearly pleased with his handiwork.

“Alright, be careful when you shower these days—don’t let it get wet.”

“Mhm, thanks.”

Waving his large hand, Zhou Huaijing tossed the leftover medical supplies onto the backseat. “No need for thanks, just send me the money.”

“The usual price, two hundred each way, so six hundred including today’s trip.”

“Remember, pay upfront—I don’t extend credit.”

As expected, you can’t get ivory from a dog’s mouth; even his gentleness was like crocodile tears.

Wen Li picked up her phone, opened their chat, and reluctantly transferred six hundred.

Back in the car, Wen Li sat silently in the passenger seat.

Feeling a bit awkward, Zhou Huaijing initiated conversation. “If what I said at the hospital upset you, I take it back. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“What did you say?”

Wen Li looked at him blankly, as if she truly didn’t remember.

“Nothing. Better that you don’t.”

Zhou Huaijing originally wanted to lighten the mood and cheer her up but didn’t know what to say. So he decisively shifted the topic to someone she cared about.

“Do you think tonight my dear little cousin might actually lose his temper and lay a hand on that—what’s her name again?” He hadn’t paid attention.

“He Qianqian.” Not even remembering her name properly—how rude.

Wen Li pursed her lips and answered confidently, “He won’t.”

Jiang Chen hadn’t even taken off his watch; he hadn’t seriously considered fighting. If he truly intended to hit someone, he wouldn’t have smashed the glass first or thrown it on the ground but gone straight for He Qianqian’s face.

He was probably just testing whether she’d speak up to stop him, like Qi Min did.

Zhou Huaijing said jealously, “Yeah, my little cousin definitely doesn’t know how to fight.”

Then he asked, “If he really did hit someone in front of you, would you be touched?”

Wen Li was speechless.

Touched? Did she have some twisted complex that required witnessing other women suffering to feel fulfilled and prove Jiang Chen’s love for her?

“How can you, a grown man, be so nosy?”

Besides, with you, the troublemaker, always there to stir things up, he wouldn’t even get a chance.

Zhou Huaijing said, “Just curious.”

Suddenly recalling what He Qianqian had said, Wen Li shivered and sat up, turning to ask the driver, “Did you… also live in Germany for five years?”

“Why do you ask?”

Zhou Huaijing kept his hands on the steering wheel, eyes on the road, not looking at her, expression unchanged.

As if it were nothing unusual.

Wen Li was uncertain, unable to read him. Mimicking his earlier tone, she said, “Just asking.”

Zhou Huaijing’s lips curled into a slight smile. “Go ahead then. I permit you not to be ‘just asking.’”

…Could they ever have a proper conversation without innuendo?

Even if she asked out loud, no one else could hear it.

“Which city?”

“Same as you—Frankfurt.”

“And why were you there?”

According to He Qianqian, Zhou Huaijing’s time in Germany overlapped with hers, but Wen Li had never heard of this before.

Besides, that was a chaotic time abroad.

After the Wen family sent her overseas, an unprecedented pandemic broke out, and nearly everyone was scrambling to return home. No one was known to be voluntarily going abroad.

Wen Li had no choice; why would Zhou Huaijing willingly go endure that hardship?

After a two-second pause, Zhou Huaijing casually explained, “Work transfer, responding to the party’s call, unconditionally obeying the organization’s arrangements.”

“Sure.” Wen Li didn’t believe a word.

Zhou Huaijing asked, “Surprised?”

“Yes, very.”

He was Zhou Huaijing, after all.

His ancestors were founding heroes of the nation—generations of pure red lineage, as red as it gets.

For the organization to send him abroad at such a dangerous moment was truly a sacrifice.

Wen Li teased, “With your status, I wouldn’t have guessed you’d obey the organization’s orders. Surely, they didn’t send you to spy and turn over some foreign president?”

Zhou Huaijing smiled knowingly and looked at Wen Li with meaning, replying with a question, “Then what do you think the reason is?”

Wen Li shook her head, indicating she neither knew nor cared.

After a while, Zhou Huaijing asked, “Have you ever thought about starting over?”

“What?”

Wen Li looked at him, puzzled by the sudden topic.

He said, “Leaving the Wen family, leaving Nancheng, starting a new relationship, starting a new life.”

His expression was unusually serious, a stark contrast to his usual cynical demeanor.

Wen Li asked, “You think I shouldn’t be with Jiang Chen either?”

She had considered starting anew, letting go completely, even tried—yet inevitably, she failed every time.

To relinquish a long, genuine love invested in over many years was no easy matter.

Zhou Huaijing sighed and said, “He’s not right for you.”

His tone was like that of a sage predicting the future, possessing an absolute god’s-eye view.

Just then, the car arrived at the gate of the Wen family’s old residence.

Wen Li said nothing, opened the door, got out, and bade Zhou Huaijing farewell. “Thank you for bringing me back.”