Chapter Thirty-Eight: Because I Think You're Very Free
"Don't overthink it." Fu Hengzhi sighed, wondering what the other person was thinking about all day. "You should rest. I'll come see you again at noon."
After saying that, he hung up the phone, leaving Zhou Zhou speechless in the room, holding his phone.
Is what he said unreasonable?
Zhou Zhou pouted, handed the phone back to Aunt Feng who had entered the room, and then looked at Duan Yun sitting on the edge of the bed, and softly called out, "Mom, Hengzhi is quite busy, you and Dad don't need to have him come so frequently."
Duan Yun, who was about to peel an apple, paused, blinked, and said to Zhou Zhou with surprise, "Mother and son are of one mind, Zhou! How did you know I was planning to talk to your dad about having Hengzhi stay in the hospital to take care of you these few days?"
"Huh?" Now it was Zhou Zhou's turn to be confused. "Didn't you and Dad ask Fu Hengzhi to stay at the hospital to take care of you yesterday?"
Duan Yun: "No, we haven't had time to discuss it yet."
"..."
Zhou Zhou explained the matter in a few words, which made Duan Yun and Aunt Feng laugh heartily, but the person laughing was not the one in front of them.
Aunt Feng's eyes crinkled with laughter. "That's just how Hengzhi is. Sometimes he doesn't mean what he says. Actually, he's just worried about you."
Duan Yun smiled and patted Zhou Zhou's hand that hadn't been pricked with needles, much like a heart-to-heart talk between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, "That brat has been like this since he was little, all talk and no action."
After each of them finished speaking, they started laughing again, chatting about Fu Hengzhi's childhood anecdotes. Their expressions relaxed, filled with nostalgia for the past, completely oblivious to Zhou Zhou's expression at that moment.
His expression was one of shock mixed with a hint of doubt, and doubt mixed with fear.
Judging from what he said, isn't it highly likely that Fu Hengzhi...
You like him?!
Zhou Zhou swallowed hard; this plot development was unacceptable.
We need to dissuade the other party from having this idea.
As noon approached, Zhou Zhou watched Duan Yun and Aunt Feng leave, maintaining an awkward smile throughout as the couple sincerely wished them "a harmonious and happy marriage."
After the door closed, Zhou Zhou's lips drooped. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she had to make things clear with Fu Hengzhi. Although she had thought the same thing last time, it seemed to have ended inconclusively.
At the time, Fu Hengzhi said he didn't care about his private life. Zhou Zhou recalled every detail of their conversations, and it seemed that there was never a standard or formal outcome to their talks.
If you don't believe me, this time I'll make it clear!
No sooner had Zhou Zhou made up her mind than the door to the ward was pushed open.
After finishing his business in the morning, President Fu left his shift early and brought his private chef's lunchbox to the hospital.
As they entered the room, their eyes met. Fu Hengzhi's face remained expressionless. He nodded slightly and then looked away from the other person.
This made Zhou Zhou, who had just made up her mind, waver again.
There's nothing I can do. The other person's expression is too cold. It doesn't seem like they have feelings for me at all. What if I misunderstand? Wouldn't that be very awkward? We live under the same roof and see each other all the time. How am I supposed to get along with them in the future?
Zhou Zhou was so nervous that her legs were shaking.
Fu Hengzhi set up a small dining table on the hospital bed. His hands wobbled noticeably as he did so. He glanced at the other person's trembling left leg under the blanket and reminded him, "Don't move."
"Okay, sure." Zhou Zhou replied, only to realize something was off. What was with his practiced and obedient response?
The small table had a limited selection of dishes, but the combination of meat and vegetables was excellent, the portions were generous, and the taste was as good as ever. Zhou Zhou was completely captivated by the delicious food, while Hera's mind was filled with this dish and that dish, and she didn't even have a hint of her previous idea.
I only picked up my thoughts again after lunch break.
what to do?
Zhou Zhou wondered to herself, how could she tell if the other person had feelings for her?
Having been single twice, Zhou Zhou had no knowledge in this area, and asking directly would be too awkward. At his wit's end, he chose to seek help from outsiders.
It was Zhou Zhou's first time doing something like this, and he felt a little nervous. He lay flat on the bed, with the outdoor temperature reaching over 20 degrees Celsius at the end of May. He covered his head with the blanket, turned down the brightness of his phone screen, and looked serious as if he were doing something sacred and great.
Baidu: How can I tell if a guy likes me?
Search links popped up one after another, and Zhou Zhou, slightly taken aback by the various probing methods, felt as if a whole new world had opened up for him.
"Eight Actions to Tell If a Guy Likes You", "One Sentence to Test If a Guy Likes You", "How Someone Likes You Will Act"...
Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap.
While marveling inwardly, Zhou Zhou copied and pasted notes on his phone's notes app, planning to try it out on him later.
The note contained nearly a thousand words, all of it packed with useful information.
Zhou Zhou calmed down and began to try them one by one.
First, the other party will not make you wait in any way; for example, they will reply to messages instantly.
Zhou Zhou opened WeChat and easily found Fu Hengzhi's presence in the original owner's pitifully small number of friends.
Despite being in the book for so long, the two of them have indeed not communicated through online means.
Zhou Zhou clicked on the other person's pure white profile picture, typed a message in the chat box, and sent it.
Zhou Zhou: Are you there?
Fu Hengzhi, who saw the message immediately, looked back with a puzzled expression and looked at the white blanket that was raised on the hospital bed less than two meters away from him.
"..."
Zhou Zhou was still secretly timing the stopwatch. The message had already been sent, and if there was no reply within ten seconds, it could become one of the pieces of evidence that the other party didn't like him.
Four, three, two, one...
Holy crap!
The blanket was suddenly pulled off, and Zhou Zhou was shocked. She quickly pressed her phone screen against the bed sheet, afraid that someone would see something.
"What are you doing?" Fu Hengzhi asked with a complicated expression, observing Zhou Zhou's every move.
"Go to sleep, go to sleep." Seeing the other person holding up their phone and showing him the 'Are you there?' message on the chat screen, Zhou Zhou almost burst into tears of embarrassment. He gave a dry laugh and made up a story, "Actually, I was testing the possibility of the blanket blocking the network signal."
"..." No surprise, no surprise, Fu Hengzhi told himself inwardly, remaining calm on the surface, and asked, "Oh, so have you come to a conclusion?"
"The answer is no," Zhou Zhou answered reluctantly, wishing he could crawl under the bed.
"Is that so?" Fu Hengzhi looked at him suspiciously, sat back on the small bed, and didn't lie down in a hurry, expressing his doubt about Zhou Zhou's quick turn of his back.
He squinted slightly and asked, "Is there something you need?"
"No, no." Zhou Zhou stammered guiltily, just as the second entry in her notebook was: I have patience with you.
Zhou Zhou swallowed hard, not even daring to look at the other person, and said tremblingly, "President Fu, I want some water."
Fu Hengzhi hummed in agreement, got up, poured a glass of water, and handed it to him.
After finishing his drink, Zhou Zhou handed the cup over, and the moment the other person put the cup on the table, he said, "I want to drink more."
Fu Hengzhi: "Okay."
After finishing the second glass of water, Zhou Zhou used the same trick again, shouting "I want more!" the moment the other person put down the glass.
"..." Fu Hengzhi turned around and gave him a cryptic look. "Hmm."
After finishing the third cup, Zhou Zhou was already too full to stand, but the test had to continue, so he said, "Drink."
The cup has a capacity of 250ml. Fu Hengzhi put down the cup in his hand, frowned and asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
No.
"Then why are you drinking so much water?" The other person's expression was awkward, but they didn't seem to be feeling unwell.
Fu Hengzhi: "Don't drink so much water after meals, it's bad for your digestion."
Zhou Zhou nodded, pursing his lips and remaining silent. Was this a sign of impatience? But somehow, he felt it was even more alluring.
After barely passing the first two tests, Zhou Zhou began to panic.
That would have been fine, but he stubbornly insisted on the third point, which was a quick verification checkpoint he had come up with. If he passed this one too, he would never be able to sleep in the same bed with the other person again.
For some reason, Zhou Zhou's first thought was about sleeping.
"Um, Mr. Fu, I have a question for you." Zhou Zhou tried his best to appear natural.
Fu Hengzhi nodded, "Okay."
Do you know what I'm thinking right now?
Zhou Zhou slowly raised his head, staring at the ceiling to avoid looking at the other person. He thought to himself that this ridiculous world would collapse one day. How could Fu Hengzhi have feelings for him? If they had divorced on the first day, none of this would have happened. Besides, his career didn't depend on him now. Sigh, he wondered how many days he would have to stay in the hospital. If it got too bad...
"I'll bring your laptop with me when I come this afternoon."
"!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhou suddenly looked horrified, staring wide-eyed at Fu Hengzhi, "How did you know?!"
Fu Hengzhi chuckled, "Because I think you're very free."
Otherwise, why would they do these strange things?
[Author's Note]:
Mr. Fu: It would be better to just ask directly. You make me think you have a lot of free time.
The above methods of probing are for the purposes of this text; please do not try them randomly!
Chapter Thirty-Nine is inappropriate; the gender restriction is too rigid.
Zhou Zhou was quite flustered, his eyes darting left and right, and he laughed it off, saying, "Are you free? No, I don't think so, haha, I'm just..."
When Zhou Zhou met Fu Hengzhi's deep and calm eyes, he couldn't continue making up a story. He felt that he had been testing him for a long time, and he might look like a fool in the other person's eyes.
I gave up.
With the progress stuck like this, it would have been better to have made things clear from the beginning.
Zhou Zhou seemed to have made a great decision. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and tried her best to appear calm.
She tentatively asked, "Mr. Fu, do you... like me?"
Zhou Zhou was embarrassed to say those words; this was the first time in his life he had encountered something like this.
They've lost all sense of shame; it's all because of this melodramatic world in the book.
Zhou Zhou carefully observed Fu Hengzhi's changing expressions, but saw that the other party remained calm and did not react for a long time.
It's too difficult; you have no idea what the other person is thinking at this moment.