After carefully dressing up, Zhou Luming changed into a floral dress, put on a leather jacket, applied light makeup, grabbed her bag and keys, and headed out.
But a torrential downpour extinguished Zhou Luming's wonderful plans.
Zhou Luming had no choice but to go home to get an umbrella, walk to the parking lot, and drive to Xu Yan's house. But no matter how many times she rang the doorbell, Xu Yan still didn't open the door or respond.
Zhou Luming stepped back a few paces to check the window, but he couldn't see what was inside at all, because Xu Yan always kept the curtains drawn, making it completely airtight.
Zhou Luming always felt that Xu Yan's home environment was a bit strange. What kind of person would draw the curtains during the day and then use one-way glass to bask in the moonlight at night?
Could Xu Yan be a vampire?
Zhou Luming was amused by his own sudden thought; he had no idea that someone had approached him.
"This must be Miss Zhou?" A middle-aged woman carrying a shopping basket and holding an umbrella looked her up and down with a smile. "I'm Xu Yan's aunt, we share the same surname, you can call me Aunt Zhou."
"Hello, Aunt Zhou," Zhou Luming greeted her, then remembered that there seemed to be such an aunt. "Is Xu Yan home?"
"Miss Xu isn't home right now, but she'll be back at noon. You can come in and wait for her," Aunt Zhou explained as she led Zhou Luming inside.
"I'm here to clean Xu Yan's house, prepare some daily necessities, and cook her a meal while I'm at it," Aunt Zhou said with a smile.
Zhou Luming followed her inside. The room was the same as always, nothing had changed. But one thing puzzled her: it was raining so early in the morning, why had Xu Yan gone out?
"Aunt Zhou, are there any other people in Xu Yan's family besides you?" Zhou Luming asked.
“She just returned to China. She has no family or friends in Haishi. You are the first friend she made in China, oh, besides that online friend named Li Li, but Li Li is gone too. It's a pity about that girl.” Aunt Zhou carried the groceries to the kitchen. “I come to clean about once a week. The rest of the time, Miss Xu stays in this house alone. I was always worried that she would be lonely. Later, when I heard that you were coming to be her assistant, I was very happy. Finally, someone will keep her company.”
Zhou Luming thought to herself, "I was forced into this relationship with Xu Yan, and Xu Yan probably won't be happy about it. But since she has no friends or family, where will she go?"
"Aunt Zhou, let me help you." Zhou Luming rolled up his sleeves to help wash the vegetables.
Aunt Zhou didn't refuse. "It's the weekend. Do you need to see Miss Xu for something?"
"I thought I'd ask her to go shopping since she seemed bored at work, but I didn't expect her to sneak out early this morning."
"You can go shopping this afternoon; the rain should stop by then," Aunt Zhou said kindly.
Zhou Luming smiled sweetly and agreed. This Aunt Zhou seemed to know quite a bit about Xu Yan; she could take this opportunity to get more information out of her. "Aunt Zhou, how long have you been here?"
"It's been about half a year," Aunt Zhou recalled.
"Xu Yan hadn't returned to China yet six months ago, how did you two meet?"
"She helped me with my family matters, and that's how we met."
Just as Zhou Luming was about to ask further, he heard someone open the door and walk in. He wiped his hands with a rag, went to the door, and sure enough, it was Xu Yan who had returned.
"Great! Let's go on a date!"
Chapter 21, Section 21 - Repair
======================
Xu Yan decisively refused, "I'm not interested, I'm not going."
Zhou Luming pleaded persistently, "Xu Yan, just come with me. You don't have anything to do today anyway. I promise you'll have a great time and come back with a lot of goodies."
Xu Yan was sitting on the sofa playing on her phone. Her shoulders looked wet, and her hair was damp. "I'm very busy, and it's raining outside."
“The rain has stopped,” Zhou Luming smiled. “Besides, we’re going to an indoor mall, so you won’t get wet.”
Xu Yan finally looked up at her, her eyes seemingly filled with doubt. She turned to look at the sky outside, and sure enough, the rain had stopped.
"good."
Zhou Luming's eyes lit up immediately; he hadn't expected Xu Yan to actually agree. "Great! I'll warm up the car, and we'll set off right away."
Xu Yan tacitly agreed.
Aunt Zhou, who was busy in the kitchen, poked her head out and said, "I've prepared lunch for you, but remember to come back for dinner and have a good date!"
Xu Yan said, "It's not a date."
Zhou Luming was overjoyed. "Okay, Aunt Zhou, I promise to make sure Xu Yan is satisfied with today's date."
Zhou Luming dragged Xu Yan out the door and shoved her into the car.
On the way, Zhou Luming secretly observed Xu Yan, who kept looking out the window at the passing scenery.
"This isn't the way to the mall, where are we going?" Xu Yan suddenly asked.
Zhou Luming said, "Yishan Cemetery."
Xu Yan, "A date at the cemetery?"
Zhou Luming smiled. "Are you scared to take you to meet my parents?"
Xu Yan said, "You finally remembered what day it is today."
“Today is my mother’s birthday, how could I forget?” Zhou Luming smiled, but it was a forced smile. “After my parents’ accident, the Zhou family took their remains, but buried them separately. In the end, they didn’t acknowledge my mother’s identity. I hated them at first, but now I don’t care anymore. After all, my grandfather left all his property to me. For the sake of such a large sum of money, I can forgive their heartlessness.”
Yishan Cemetery.
Zhou Luming bought a bouquet of flowers on the way, but when he found his mother's tombstone, he discovered that a fresh bouquet of flowers had already been placed in front of it.
"Huh? Who came to pay respects to Mother?" Zhou Luming asked curiously.
“It could be a friend of your mother, or it could be a member of the Zhou family,” Xu Yan said.
“The Zhou family wouldn’t come to pay respects to my mother. It’s probably one of her friends. My mother was a very popular person back then.” Zhou Luming straightened the bouquet he had just received and placed the bouquet he had bought next to it.
Facing his mother's portrait, Zhou Luming said, "Mom, please forgive me for not returning to China to pay my respects to you for so many years. I'm back today, and I've brought a friend with me. This beautiful lady standing next to me is named Xu Yan. She's very capable. I work with her now, and she'll take care of me. Please don't worry."
Xu Yan glanced sideways, moved her lips as if to refute, but after seeing Zhou's mother's portrait, she thought for a moment and remained silent.
Just then, a young man in sportswear walked over with an umbrella. He had dyed his hair blonde and was wearing limited-edition white and red sneakers. He was young and full of energy.
"Hi, cousin, I'm your cousin Sun Ren. We've met before."
"But I don't remember you." Zhou Luming greeted him with a perfunctory smile. "Did you put these flowers here?"
Sun Ren shook his head, "I just arrived. I didn't put the flowers there. Who else came to pay respects to my aunt?"
Xu Yan asked, "Why did Mr. Sun suddenly come here?"
Zhou Luming also looked at Sun Ren with a puzzled expression.
Sun Ren said with a grin, "Knowing it's my aunt's birthday today, I came to visit and also to see my cousin. Sure enough, I ran into you." He turned to Xu Yan, "Miss Xu, you came along too. What a coincidence. Grandpa entrusted my cousin to your care. I hope you'll take good care of her."
His gaze toward Xu Yan was intense, and his face was full of smiles.
Zhou Luming immediately realized that this guy had ulterior motives towards Xu Yan. She knew a little about this cousin. From the background information provided by Q, she knew that Sun Ren was a playboy who owned a bar, which wasn't doing very well and was entirely supported by his family. He usually associated with some rich second-generation kids and spent his days eating, drinking, and having fun.
It was definitely not a coincidence that he suddenly came to the cemetery today. Zhou Luming guessed that he came here for half of his own sake and half of his own sake.
“Since we’ve run into two ladies, why don’t I serve you? Where are you going next? I’ll do whatever you need.” Sun Ren volunteered.
"No need, we drove here ourselves, we don't need you," Zhou Luming refused.
Sun Ren said, "Let me come along, it might be useful."
Since the legs were on someone else's body, Zhou Luming couldn't do anything about it. Back in the car, glancing in the rearview mirror, he knew Sun Ren had been following them the whole way. Zhou Luming sighed and said, "Xu Yan, he's a playboy. You need to be careful."
Xu Yan countered, "What do I need to be careful about?"
"He's taken a liking to you, don't you—don't you feel anything?" Zhou Luming asked.
Xu Yan turned her head to look out the window, ignoring Zhou Luming.
Zhou Luming smiled. It seemed Xu Yan had no interest in Sun Ren whatsoever, and even couldn't be bothered to discuss him. He felt a surge of joy.
Upon arriving at the shopping mall, they found there were no parking spaces available. Sun Ren rolled down the window and said, "Ladies, please come with me. I have a reserved parking space."
As a result, the two cars parked in a reserved parking space in front of a bank in the complex. Sun Ren is a high-net-worth client of this bank, and someone will always reserve a parking space for him.
"You two take care of the shopping, and I'll handle the card payments and carry the bags," Sun Ren said with a gentlemanly air. "Please enjoy yourselves, ladies."
"Oh? Really?" Zhou Luming said before Xu Yan could, "Then we won't be polite!"
We should take advantage of any opportunity we can. This kid actually dared to make a move on Xu Yan, so we'll make him bleed.
After a while, Sun Ren's face gradually turned pale.
Rare, discontinued shoes, hats, and bags are one thing, but displaying a sports car in the mall is a bit much, isn't it? Zhou Luming even dragged Xu Yan into that sports car? Are they going to buy a car in the mall?!
Zhou Luming caught a glimpse of Sun Ren's expression and chuckled. Xu Yan, sitting to the side, noticed the smile on her lips. "Someone in the Zhou family is watching you. Sun Ren's sudden appearance today isn't for anything good."
Zhou Luming was taken aback. "What?"
Xu Yan continued, "Your grandfather had another reason for letting you come with me. He felt that someone in the Zhou family wanted to harm you and didn't want you to come into contact with the Zhou family too early."
Zhou Luming was speechless.
The Zhou family...want to harm her?! Q: Why wasn't there a warning? If impersonating Zhou Luming would be life-threatening, that would be a different price.
Although Zhou Luming wanted to deflate Sun Ren's arrogance, he didn't actually intend to utterly defeat him. After a moment of shock, he took Xu Yan's arm and led her into a brand-name clothing store to continue picking out clothes for her.
Seeing that she quickly returned to normal, Xu Yan asked, "Aren't you scared?"
"With you protecting me, I'm not afraid," Zhou Luming said. "This one looks really good, why don't you try it on?"
Xu Yan couldn't resist and was stuffed into the changing room by Zhou Luming.
Sun Ren then walked up to Zhou Luming and said, "Actually, I went to the cemetery early this morning. Guess who I ran into when I went to the cemetery?"
Who did you meet?
“Xu Yan,” Sun Ren smiled, “didn’t you know she paid respects to your mother before you did?”
Zhou Luming quickly replied, "Of course I know, I asked her to go."
A lingering fear gripped her; Xu Yan had always suspected her identity, which was why he had gone to the cemetery specifically to wait for her on Zhou's mother's birthday. If she hadn't gone, things would have been terrible. Thankfully, Q had reminded her of this, otherwise she would have been exposed.
“So that’s how it is,” Sun Ren said thoughtfully, recalling the past. “Back then, my maternal grandfather didn’t acknowledge my aunt’s status, so my uncle took her away from the Zhou family to live independently. Because of my grandfather’s obstruction, they never registered their marriage. After you were born, they didn’t inform the Zhou family, so for a long time, my grandfather didn’t know that you existed as a granddaughter. It wasn’t until my uncle and aunt died in a car accident, leaving you all alone, that my grandfather sent someone to find you and make amends to you…”
“The Zhou family only has one man, your uncle, and your maternal grandfather left almost all of his property to you—” Sun Ren said. “But I really don’t understand, if your identity was in doubt, your maternal grandfather could have chosen to do a paternity test. Why did he still let Miss Xu stay with you to manage your inheritance?”
Zhou Luming thought to himself, "Do you really think Grandpa Zhou didn't have me do a paternity test? Luckily, Q is incredibly resourceful and secretly replaced the sample sent to the lab, otherwise we would have been exposed long ago."
“Grandpa trusts Xu Yan’s judgment more than science. After all, what he’s going to leave me isn’t just bank deposits, but also shares in the Zhou Group. Xu Yan is going to assess my abilities for Grandpa. If I’m not capable enough, Xu Yan won’t leave the inheritance to me,” Zhou Luming said. “Grandpa said he wanted me to work for Xu Yan, but actually he was entrusting her to take care of me, train me, and find me a very good teacher. He really went to great lengths for me.”
Sun Ren smiled, "You seem to know Grandpa quite well..."
"Although I never lived with my grandfather, we share the same bloodline, so I think we have some connection."