Chapter Seventeen: Gardenias and You Are Different

I didn’t understand what he was so happy about and reminded him, “Hey, if you don’t go soon, your beloved might be taken away by someone else.”

Zhou Chenyin squinted at me with a strange expression that sent chills down my spine.

Just as I took a step back, he grabbed my wrist.

“You wouldn’t be so kind as to send me to find Zhi Zi just like that. What trick are you really up to?”

I sighed. “I’m genuinely warning you so you won’t go crazy when she already has a boyfriend.”

In his past life, he often did exactly that. Whenever Zhou Zhi Zi felt she was losing control over him, she would use other men to make him jealous.

He would then unconditionally give in, as if his intelligence had been lowered.

“Come with me.”

He pulled me along, and although I was unwilling, I couldn’t break free. With all eyes on us, I couldn’t really start a scene.

So I could only glare fiercely at his back.

He pushed open the door to the VIP lounge.

Zhou Zhi Zi was lying on the sofa, while Qian Yushu stood before her, holding a draft of paper.

He was reading aloud in a very formal tone.

“Zhi Zi, please allow me to address you this way. You are as fresh and beautiful as the gardenia flower. From the moment I saw you, your image has been etched into my mind and constantly appears in my dreams...”

I glanced at Zhou Chenyin, signaling him to hurry in.

This was the perfect moment to interrupt the confession, declare my feelings to Zhou Zhi Zi, then the two of us could embrace, gaze into each other’s eyes, and kiss... everything just right.

“What are you standing there for?” I whispered.

“Stop pretending.”

He flicked my forehead, leaving me stunned.

What was I pretending?

He seemed quite pleased. “Zhi Zi isn’t interested in someone like that.”

As expected, the situation unfolded exactly as he said.

Faced with Qian Yushu’s confession, Zhou Zhi Zi’s response was... no response at all.

She seemed to have fallen asleep, breathing shallowly, her face peaceful. As for Qian Yushu, his confession was so timid it sounded like a mosquito’s buzz—pathetically small.

But I was certain Zhou Zhi Zi could hear him.

Because I saw her fingers twitch slightly.

She was very skilled at handling others’ affections—neither accepting nor rejecting, enjoying their admiration, and later brushing it off by claiming she was too drunk to hear anything.

Such a clumsy tactic, yet it never failed.

Seeing Zhou Chenyin’s confident look made me furious. “Don’t be too confident, or you’ll end up with nothing.”

“Zhi Zi isn’t you.”

A lump formed in my throat. “What did you say?”

He said coldly, “She’s innocent and pure about relationships. This is just drunken nonsense. If she were sober and heard this confession, she would reject it clearly.”

I gave him a cold look.

He kept going.

“You’re not worth as much. You threw yourself at me before, and now you’re ruining students. Sadly, no man wants you.”

He leaned close, voice low and filled with contempt and mockery.

I was furious but laughed bitterly. “I don’t need trash to like me.”

The smile faded from Zhou Chenyin’s face.

I stared him down defiantly. “Marrying you taught me one thing: I’d rather be single than be with someone without character.”

“Say that again.”

He ground his teeth, his sharp eyes practically blazing.

Of course, I wasn’t afraid of him. I once knocked him out with a wine bottle, and he didn’t do anything to me afterward.

“Is it your brain or your ears that don’t work? Maybe the wine bottle hit your head too hard?”

The last time I knocked him out, I even checked the back of his head—no bleeding, just a bump.

I left him in the private room.

When he woke up and left, I had no idea.

His eyes flared with fury. “You dare ask that!”

“So angry? Want to call the police and have the reporters write about it too?”

“Do you think I don’t dare?”

I laughed fearlessly.

Of course, he wouldn’t dare. Zhou Chenyin was extremely macho, possessive, and above all, cared about his image.

Being hit by a woman like that was something he would never admit publicly.

He might take revenge in secret but would never expose it.

After years of marriage, I knew him well enough.

“Need my help?”

I taunted maliciously.

He squeezed my wrist hard.

A sharp pain radiated from my wrist, but I kept my composure. “What’s this? Can’t win with words, so the great Mr. Gu plans to get physical?”

“Brother?”

Zhou Zhi Zi slowly woke up behind us.

Zhou Chenyin glanced at me steadily, then slowly released my wrist and walked toward Zhou Zhi Zi.

Qian Yushu’s eyes widened. “Brother?”

Zhou Chenyin’s face darkened. “Get lost.”

Qian Yushu panicked and ran out, locking eyes with me and urgently pulling me away.

When we reached a quiet spot, he asked anxiously, “Are they siblings?”

“Sort of.”

“But…”

“Yan Yan.”

I heard Zhou’s mother’s voice behind me. I answered softly and hurried away.

After the banquet, I stayed at the Gu residence.

It was because Zhou’s mother forcibly kept me there; I still needed her protection for now, so I agreed.

But I was restless in this place because everyone here was someone I despised.

Zhou’s father didn’t talk to me much—he was the typical stern and taciturn patriarch. Zhou’s mother, ever since I found out she was using me, I held no affection for her.

Zhou Chenyin and Zhou Zhi Zi? No need to mention them.

The whole family sitting around the dining table was too awkward to describe—just bizarre.

Until Zhou’s mother broke the silence, “Yan Yan, you’re a young woman living alone in the countryside. It’s not safe. You should move back.”

“No need. I’m doing fine there. After all, it’s where I lived with my mother.”

I appealed to her emotions.

Zhou’s mother sighed. “I know you miss your mother, but since she’s gone, keep her in your heart. Living alone in the countryside, that place is so remote and poor. What if something happens to you? Your mother’s spirit would worry.”

I lowered my head, silent.

A silent refusal.

Zhou’s mother looked at Zhou Chenyin and scolded softly, “You must have upset your wife. She just lost her mother, and you haven’t even comforted her.”

Zhou Chenyin said nothing.

We sat side by side, called husband and wife in name only, like strangers with no communication.

I looked at Zhou’s mother. “Mom, I really—”

“Move back.”

Suddenly Zhou’s father spoke.

As head of the family, his word was absolute. No one could argue.

Though I was unwilling, I couldn’t protest further.

As for Zhou Chenyin, Zhou’s father only said, “You move back too.”

My heart skipped a beat.

I had thought returning to the Zhou family home was better than going back to Zhou Chenyin’s place—if he came back, we’d be forced to share a room again.

It was almost unbearable.

But the usually rebellious Zhou Chenyin didn’t object this time.

I was even more certain he was taking the wrong medicine again.

After dinner, Zhou’s mother took me upstairs to see the room, then left me alone. Standing by the window, I shed every trace of reluctance.

Only now did a faint smile appear.

Step one of the plan.

It was going smoothly.