Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Teacher's Son
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Zhou Zhou stood not far away, holding a wine glass and watching Duan Yun and Sun Mei, who were surrounded by admirers. He occasionally took a sip of red wine. Seeing that Duan Yun was happy, he decided to take a stroll around.
The hall was decorated in a luxurious and elegant style, no less impressive than the Li family's last time. Among the wealthy families in high society, the Fu family was truly a breath of fresh air.
Zhou Zhou stood ramrod straight, pausing in front of the dining table, looking at the food laid out to entertain the guests. His stomach growled loudly, even though he had just eaten lunch. It seemed like his body was getting hungry a little too quickly. Thinking this, he picked up the matching utensils and began to feed himself.
Almost no one present was eating. Zhou Zhou thought for a moment, then picked up a small plate and went outside.
The greenhouse garden was open to the public and had small tables set up, presumably where the owners would enjoy the flowers and have afternoon tea. Sure enough, there was no one inside, so Zhou Zhou sat down at the table with peace of mind, enjoying the pleasant mood brought by the green plants and flowers while eating the food on his plate.
Beautiful scenery, delicious food, and fine wine—Zhou Zhou let out a long, contented sigh. What an idyllic life this was!
He had only sipped less than half of the red wine in his glass and set it aside, intending to stop drinking after finishing the glass, when someone suddenly poured more into it.
"Thank you." Zhou Zhou looked up and smiled politely at the person who had come in; it was a waitress.
"No, you're welcome." The waitress blushed.
Zhou Zhou continued to enjoy the food on his plate, and after waiting for a while, he realized that the waitress still hadn't left.
"..." Zhou Zhou swallowed the drink, looked at her with a polite smile and said, "No need to refill my wine, go and do your work."
The waitress, holding the wine bottle, pursed her lips and looked shyly at the handsome man in front of her. Seeing that he didn't recognize her, she blushed and whispered, "My benefactor."
"Huh?" Zhou Zhou didn't react for a moment. After blinking for a while, she remembered who the other person was and suddenly realized, "It's you."
Although he didn't know the name of the waitress who fell into the water at Li's house last time, he at least had some impression of her appearance.
"Did your boss punish you after you went back last time?" Zhou Zhou asked with concern.
The waitress shook her head and said gratefully, "The manager didn't punish me because of you. Normally, he would have deducted my bonus."
"Really? That's great." Zhou Zhou smiled slightly. "Then you must work even harder today."
“I will!” The waitress nodded. “If it weren’t for you last time, I would have definitely drowned. I still remember what happened that day. I didn’t have the chance last time, but I wanted to thank my benefactor properly.”
"No need, no need." Zhou Zhou waved his hand and smiled. "Saving a life is better than building a seven-story tower... no, helping others is a traditional Chinese virtue." He stumbled over his words and said something a bit childish, but he quickly corrected himself.
“My benefactor, um... my name is Li Mengmeng.”
Zhou Zhou: "It says on your employee ID card."
Li Mengmeng: "I know, I was afraid you wouldn't notice my name." Her face flushed even more as she said this, and she whispered, "After all, you wouldn't bother remembering a waitress..."
Zhou Zhou: "..."
There were only the two of them in the greenhouse garden, and the atmosphere seemed to gradually become subtle. Zhou Zhou noticed that the other person's face was getting redder and redder, and he began to feel a little restless.
"Why don't you go and get busy?" Zhou Zhou didn't want things to get too awkward, so she said tactfully, "It's not good for you to be alone like this, if others see you. Besides, your boss will be angry if he doesn't see you."
"No, he won't get angry when he's with you." Li Mengmeng shook her head.
So she's not leaving. Zhou Zhou could roughly guess what she was up to. He was so embarrassed that he didn't know what to say. The girl was standing right next to him, and he had no mood to enjoy himself anymore.
Zhou Zhou was clearly not very good at communicating with women. He wasn't sure if she could understand his implied meanings, so he coughed twice and said, "That man you were with last time didn't cause you any trouble, did he? I drank too much that day, and my husband was worried, so he came home with me first." He enunciated clearly, emphasizing "my husband" to highlight his status as a married man.
Hearing this, Li Mengmeng's expression suddenly turned serious. She bit her lip and said indignantly, "No, that person was drunk that day and said he wanted to keep me as a mistress... I refused."
"Is that so?" Before getting entangled, Zhou Zhou reminded the other party, "Girls should be careful when they're out working. There are a lot of people like this in society. It seems you're a modern, independent woman!"
“Hmm…not really.” Li Mengmeng said, taking a step forward, her tone full of implication, “I see many similar things around me…but I think meeting the right person is the most important thing.”
Zhou Zhou: "???"
The atmosphere became subtle again.
Zhou Zhou was shy around girls and didn't want to send them away, so he could only swallow his pride. Thinking this, he sighed and realized that today's flower viewing and food tasting had to end here, so he got up.
Seeing that he was about to leave, Li Mengmeng put down the wine bottle and came closer.
"!" Zhou Zhou's expression turned serious. He took a big step back and pulled out a chair to stand between the two of them.
No sooner had I finished doing that than a voice came from the entrance of the greenhouse.
"Li Mengmeng, is that right?"
Zhou Zhou looked toward the source of the sound and saw a man with an elegant demeanor walk in.
The man looked at Li Mengmeng and pointed towards the lobby, saying, "Your manager is looking for you."
Hearing the manager calling for her, Li Mengmeng's expression changed. She picked up the wine bottle and looked at Zhou Zhou reluctantly, saying, "I'm leaving now."
"Hmm." Zhou Zhou replied perfunctorily, glancing left and right, looking completely uninterested.
Li Mengmeng was a little sad to see this, but since there were other people around, she couldn't say anything and ran away.
"Phew~" Finally gone. Zhou Zhou sat back down in her seat, gave the man a helpless smile, and said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." The man seemed to know what trouble he had just encountered, so he walked over and sat down opposite him, smiled and said calmly, "It's inevitable to encounter such things. Sometimes the other party may seem to be targeting you, but in reality, they may be interested in the person behind you."
"Huh?" Zhou Zhou was a little confused. So the other party didn't actually want to be kept by her, but was interested in Fu Hengzhi?
It actually feels strangely reasonable.
"Thank you for telling me all this." Zhou Zhou smiled and raised his wine glass towards the other person.
This must be the daughter-in-law of one of the ladies present, someone of the same status as Zhou Zhou. Perhaps it was because they were of similar status and Zhou Zhou appreciated each other, plus the fact that the other person had helped him, that Zhou Zhou had a fairly good first impression of him.
The latter smiled slightly, took a small sip, put down the cup, and watched Zhou Zhou eat.
After a moment, he suddenly said, "My name is Yuan Qing."
"My name is Zhou Zhou."
“I know there are many people with that name.”
“It is indeed quite popular.” Zhou Zhou smiled casually and continued eating.
Yuan Qing watched Zhou Zhou's every move as if he were considering something, and after a moment he suddenly asked, "Are you the son of Teacher Zhou Hongping?"
[Author's Note: I completely forgot whether Zhou Zhou's father mentioned it before; I mixed up the names in the outline QAQ. If so, please let me know and I'll correct it.]
Chapter Sixty-Eight: Advising You to Get a Divorce
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The name Zhou Hongping was like a switch that triggered something deep within Zhou Zhou's heart; just a mention of it caused memories to flood back.
Zhou Hongping and Yang Peixue were the two most important people to the original owner of this body. Both of them died in a plane crash a year ago while flying abroad. It is said that the plane crashed heavily into the sea and disintegrated on the spot, leaving no trace of their bodies.
The overwhelming feeling of weightlessness in her heart and the suffocating sensation in her breath rushed over her. Zhou Zhou felt as if she were back on the day the bad news came, surrounded by flowers and applause in her graduation gown, and with the handwritten blessings from her highly educated parents. On that day, Zhou Zhou had just graduated and was about to embark on a brand new life... The memories seemed to be more than just these, but they were too complicated, like a ball of yarn that had been maliciously tangled together, making it difficult to extract any single complete line.
'Bang!'
"What's wrong with you!?" Seeing Zhou Zhou suddenly collapse onto the table, Yuan Qing panicked and rushed over to check on him.
"It's nothing." A tearing headache struck, and Zhou Zhou straightened her head, slowly raising it. Her once clear and bright eyes were now bloodshot. Suppressing her physical discomfort, Zhou Zhou forced a smile and said to Yuan Qing, "Yes, it is."
"What?" Yuan Qing was startled by the other party's reaction and didn't understand what the other party was saying for a moment.
“I am… the son of Zhou Hongping and Yang Peixue.” These two names were almost forced out of his blocked throat with great difficulty, and the last syllable of his voice was accompanied by endless desolation.
Is this a natural reaction of the original owner's body? Why am I feeling sad?
Tears welled up in Zhou Zhou's eyes, blurring everything before his eyes. He didn't speak, but he heard himself answering the other person.
“I am their son.”
Two lines of clear tears streamed down the other person's cheeks. Yuan Qing took out a handkerchief from his dress pocket and handed it to the other person. Perhaps knowing that he had touched a sore spot, he did not ask any further questions. His voice was also slightly muffled as he said, "I know. You can wipe your tears first."
Zhou Zhou wiped away her tears, composed herself, and faced Yuan Qing with a wan smile, saying, "Do you know my father?"
Yuan Qing: "...He is my mentor."
Zhou Hongping was a doctoral supervisor at H University in J City. He was a professor at a young age and had a great reputation in the academic world. Yang Peixue was a classmate of his, and the couple had similar status. Their deaths were a huge loss to the academic community. Zhou Hongping had many students, and Yuan Qing was just one of them.
“My family wasn’t well-off, and Mr. Zhou took good care of me during my school years because he knew that going to school was my only way out.” Yuan Qing said with a self-deprecating laugh, “If he knew that I’m now married, he would be very disappointed.”
“Father is not that kind of person.” These words almost came out of his mouth. Zhou Zhou didn’t even think about it. It was more like a subconscious rebuttal. Why? Was it based on the original owner’s memories?
Zhou Zhou fell into deep thought, but Yuan Qing across from him clearly didn't notice his troubles. After hearing his rejection, she shook her head and continued to immerse herself in her own topic, swirling the wine glass in front of her, watching the liquid swaying inside, and said softly to him, "I've been looking for you."
Zhou Zhou looked up, a blank expression on his face. "Looking for me?"
Yuan Qing nodded, "My teacher would occasionally talk about his family during his free time, mentioning that he had an only son in college. When I learned of his and his wife's passing, you were the first person I thought of."
"Thank you for worrying about me." Zhou Zhou expressed her gratitude for the other party's kindness.
"So what about you?" Yuan Qing didn't rush to accept the other party's thanks, but instead cast a questioning glance at him.
"What?"
“Those present today are all female relatives or accompanying daughters-in-law.” Yuan Qing made his point clear because he didn’t understand why the other party had chosen this path. “Today, the person present with you is the wife of the chairman of Fu’s Enterprises. The current head of Fu’s Enterprises is their CEO, Fu Hengzhi, and he…”
“He is my husband.” Zhou Zhou interrupted him, her brows furrowing slightly. In his opinion, the other party had already made things clear, but she still explained, “We are very much in love.”
“You two just got married.” Yuan Qing looked at him disapprovingly, her tone suddenly sounding like someone who had been through it all. “In their social class, same-sex marriage is just something to play around with. Once the novelty wears off, you’re worthless and can only be discarded like an object.”
The other party's lecturing tone made Zhou Zhou uncomfortable. "Our parents are best friends."
"So after Teacher Zhou and Teacher Yang passed away, they chose to have you marry their son?"
"This is a form of care."
"Then why not adopt you as a godson or use some other method?" Yuan Qing smiled sarcastically upon hearing this. "It's just because we're afraid you'll pose a threat to the Fu family's existing assets."
“But aren’t you also married?” Zhou Zhou didn’t intend to bring this up, but Yuan Qing’s words implied that the Fu family was good to him. He could clearly feel how good Fu Hongjiang and Duan Yun were to him, as was Fu Hengzhi. Even the Fu family’s nanny treated him like her own son. This made Zhou Zhou instinctively resent Yuan Qing’s words, and he said without any mercy, “Then does what you said earlier also apply to you?”
"Don't be like that, I didn't mean to sow discord." Seeing that the other party seemed to be starting to be hostile towards her, Yuan Qing softened her tone and smoothed down Zhou Zhou's agitated state. "I'm just worried about you, afraid that you've been wronged in the Fu family. After all, you are the teacher's only child."
The other party did not answer his question directly, so Zhou Zhou turned his head away and said dryly, "Thank you."
"Sigh." Yuan Qing realized she seemed to have angered the other person and was annoyed at her own poor communication skills. Instead of talking about the Fu family, she changed the subject, "Are you still in school?"
"No, I'm at home."
"You're a stay-at-home dad?!" Yuan Qing's tone was a little excited.
Zhou Zhou looked up at him and finished her sentence, "I'm at home writing novels."
“Working in literature is fine too.” Yuan Qing took a sip of the liquid in his glass, but after being exposed to the air for so long, the red wine had lost its original flavor, causing him to frown and stop. He then asked, “Are the books published in the market?”