It was Jia Xiao Yu's birthday. She invited her dormmates to her family's seafood restaurant for a weekend gathering. Fan Xuan was traveling abroad and sent her best wishes remotely. Only Zhen Bao and Qian LeLe were able to make it. Jia Xiao Yu told Zhen Bao she could bring her partner, but Zhen Bao felt bashful about bringing Fu Ming Shi and was worried it would make her friends feel awkward.
Jia Xiao Yu's family seafood restaurant was quite far from Zhen Bao's university. Zhen Bao had to transfer metro lines twice before arriving just before 11:30am.
Jia Xiao Yu and Qian LeLe were chatting by a first floor window seat when they saw Zhen Bao push open the door. Jia Xiao Yu waved first, then Qian LeLe turned her head. As Zhen Bao approached, Qian LeLe stared at her in surprise: "We haven't seen each other in over a month, how does Zhen Bao look so different?"
"Do I?" Zhen Bao sat next to Jia Xiao Yu, feeling a bit flustered under their gaze.
"Your skin looks more delicate." Jia Xiao Yu joked as she pinched Zhen Bao's cheek, but pulled back after just a touch when Zhen Bao dodged away with flushed cheeks.
Qian LeLe chuckled knowingly, "The glow of love really is different. Zhen Bao's been with Boss Fu the whole summer break, right?"
Zhen Bao reflexively explained, "No, I was working a part-time job and stayed in the dorms all summer."
"I didn't say you didn't stay in the dorms, why are you telling us where you were?" Qian LeLe immediately saw through the truth.
Zhen Bao poured some drinks without responding.
After teasing her a bit more, Jia Xiao Yu and Qian LeLe ordered food and started chatting about their summer break activities. After the seafood meal, Jia Xiao Yu treated them to a movie, then they each went home afterwards. Zhen Bao took the subway again. It was summer break so there were many tourists in the capital city, making the subways more crowded than usual. Zhen Bao held onto the subway handle with one hand and kept her bag clasped in the other, worried about phone theft.
After two stops, she received a call from Fu Ming Shi.
"Out?"
Zhen Bao nodded, "Xiao Yu's birthday. We just got out of a movie. What time is it there?"
As a busy man, Fu Ming Shi had been abroad the past few days and visited his grandfather. He said he'd be back tomorrow.
"I'm downstairs from your dorm." Fu Ming Shi stood in a shaded tree outside the female dorms, asking helplessly "When will you be back?" He had wanted to surprise her, but didn't expect she'd have plans.
Zhen Bao's heart raced faster. She checked the subway schedule and estimated, "I still have to transfer once, probably 10 minutes or so."
"I'll go wait by the metro exit." After hanging up, Fu Ming Shi immediately walked towards the school gates.
Zhen Bao put away her phone, feeling sweet inside. She had missed him after not seeing him for four or five days.
After transferring metro lines and three more stops, she'd arrive near Zhen Bao's university metro exit. But just as Zhen Bao squeezed through the crowds heading outside, someone suddenly pinched her bottom viciously from behind! Zhen Bao was so frightened she forgot to react at first. She was pushed out by the other exiting passengers before she even realized what happened. Finally coming to her senses, Zhen Bao immediately turned back, but there were too many people entering and leaving the metro to identify who the molester was!
Qian LeLe had encountered something similar last semester and was fuming about it for days afterwards. Now, looking at the streams of passerbys, Zhen Bao was equally outraged. She was angry and upset, not even the impending reunion with Fu Ming Shi could alleviate the fury in her chest.
That person was simply a pervert, pinching with such force. She had only felt shock initially, but now it was starting to hurt. The more it hurt, the angrier she felt. Zhen Bao pursed her lips tightly, involuntarily scanning all the men exiting around her. She was too furious that, when someone suddenly grabbed her wrist, Zhen Bao was frightened again, nearly crying out.
"What's wrong?" Her expression was too distressed, Fu Ming Shi couldn't help frowning.
Seeing him, Zhen Bao immediately threw herself into his arms, secretly shedding a few tears. Her aggrieved feelings passed and her tears stopped flowing just as quickly. Fu Ming Shi held her shoulders, seeing her red-rimmed eyes, he guessed something must have happened in the 10-odd minutes since their call ended. With so many people around, it wasn't convenient to ask, so he first led Zhen Bao out of the metro station.
Once in the car, Fu Ming Shi asked with a frown, "Did you argue with someone?"
Zhen Bao shook her head, keeping her head lowered, unwilling to say.
Fu Ming Shi took her bag to check - her phone, ID, everything was there. The metro often had news reports, usually just a few common cases. Nothing was stolen, she didn't fight with anyone...
Thinking of another possibility, Fu Ming Shi's face darkened as he cautiously probed, "Someone took advantage of you?"
Zhen Bao turned her head to look out the window, her lips pursed in a pout.
Fu Ming Shi clenched his fist, staring ahead silently for a few seconds, before pulling his fiancée into his embrace and asking gently, "Are you okay?"
Zhen Bao mumbled affirmation, she was just angry.
"Did you get a photo?" Making sure she was unharmed, Fu Ming Shi's voice cooled.
Zhen Bao shook her head, mumbling into his chest, "It happened when getting off. I didn't see who it was."
Without a photo, there was basically no hope of finding the person for retribution.
His woman had been bullied by someone, Fu Ming Shi was even angrier than Zhen Bao, but his anger was futile. He could only comfort Zhen Bao first, "Let's go eat a big dinner tonight, don't think about it anymore."
Zhen Bao let out a deep breath, leaning back in her seat and asking Fu Ming Shi about his overseas trip.
Fu Ming Shi's work was always the same, nothing that could captivate Zhen Bao, so he only talked about his grandfather's health having recovered well, and he'd be returning this year. Hearing the elder was healthy, Zhen Bao cheered up and browsed the photos Fu Ming Shi had taken abroad on his phone.
When Fu Ming Shi parked the car at the villa, he suddenly said to Zhen Bao, "Get your driver's license."
Zhen Bao looked at him in astonishment.
Fu Ming Shi's expression was displeased, "Once you can drive yourself, stop taking the subway."
With so many people in the capital city, Zhen Bao didn't even dare ride a bicycle on the outside roads, let alone drive a car. She said softly, "It's not like I run into those kinds of people every time."
Fu Ming Shi stared at her silently.
Zhen Bao obediently poured him some water.
Fu Ming Shi's lips quirked up at the corners, "Fine, but from now on take a taxi when going out, don't take the subway anymore."
Zhen Bao hurriedly agreed. She could secretly take the subway later without him knowing.
They were still debating over the driver's license issue at home. Wang Xiu couldn't help but persuade Zhen Bao, "Nowadays all college students get their license. Young miss, you'll have to get it eventually, might as well take advantage of your free time now to get it early. Otherwise when you start working, you'll have to squeeze out time for it."
Fu Ming Shi shot Zhen Bao a "see" look.
After Wang Xiu left, Fu Ming Shi brought Zhen Bao a glass of water and sat down to continue, "You don't want my car? I won't buy one. My mom has five cars parked in her garage that she barely drives. But her cars are all over 100k, better I buy you a cheaper one so you won't feel bad if you crash it."
When giving Zhen Bao gifts, Fu Ming Shi had figured out she preferred the cheaper ones.
"Let me get my license first." With his badgering, that was the only option Zhen Bao could pick.
"I'll sign you up."
Zhen Bao tacitly agreed. Taking advantage of Fu Ming Shi using the restroom, she secretly checked the registration fees on her phone. Seeing how expensive getting a license was, Zhen Bao felt distressed again. When Fu Ming Shi sat back down, she tentatively said, "I'm busy recently and have a lot of courses in sophomore and junior year. I'll learn later. If I get my license now, I won't have many chances to drive anyway."
Fu Ming Shi just stared at her silently.
Zhen Bao appeased him by pouring him more water.
Fu Ming Shi's lips curved up, "Fine, but from now on take a taxi when going out, no more subway."
Zhen Bao hurriedly acquiesced, turning her head to secretly take the subway later without him knowing.
That night, Fu Ming Shi really did take Zhen Bao out for a fancy dinner. One look and you could tell it was expensive, but the taste absolutely matched the restaurant's class. Zhen Bao ate with great relish, her appetite satisfied, and unknowingly forgot about the earlier subway incident. But Fu Ming Shi remembered. He stealthily snuck into Zhen Bao's room at night, turning on the lights to inspect her from top to bottom, finally discovering two faint bruises on her right buttock.
The handprint was still visible, showing how viciously she had been pinched!
He couldn't even bear to use that much force...
Pressing on the two fingerprints, Fu Ming Shi's gaze grew increasingly dark.
Zhen Bao was oblivious to what Fu Ming Shi was doing. She only realized the previously gentle man had suddenly lost control.
Finally stopping, Zhen Bao was nearly out of breath, lying limply in the pillows unwilling to move.
Fu Ming Shi lowered himself to kiss her sweat-dampened nape, "From now on, call me before going out. As long as I'm free, I'll take you there."
Zhen Bao had already forgotten about the incident. Hearing he was still bothered by it, she nuzzled against him with closed eyes, "Afraid something might happen to me?"
"You're so easy to bully looking." Fu Ming Shi helplessly said. No one would dare make a move if Zhen Bao had his mother's aura.
Zhen Bao harrumphed, "So you bully me every day."
Fu Ming Shi finally laughed, whispering by her ear, "Bully you every day? Are you trying to remind me to make up for the past few days I owed you?"
Zhen Bao's little face flushed red, burying it in the pillow to deny it.
That night, Fu Ming Shi made love to Zhen Bao twice more, tiring her out so much that she slept until ten o’clock the next day. Her face was flushed with a rosy glow, looking as tender as a freshly ripened peach, dewy and fragrant enough to seduce anyone. Fu Ming Shi was sitting at his desk working when he heard movement and looked back to see his fiancee's alluring appearance just after waking up. He almost couldn't help himself again.
"Good morning," he said, coming over to press a kiss on her.
His eyes were so infatuated when he looked at her that Zhen Bao inexplicably recalled her dormmates' teasing at the dinner yesterday. Puzzled, she asked, "What's different about me? Xiao Yu and the others said I seem to have changed."
"You're even more beautiful now," Fu Ming Shi kissed her eyes.
"Really," Zhen Bao said seriously.
Since she didn't believe the truth, Fu Ming Shi cupped her face and looked at her, still choosing to tell the truth—another truth: "Sexier."
Blushing, Zhen Bao covered his eyes, not wanting him to look at her anymore.
In late August, universities in the imperial capital successively started the new semester, and New Student Orientation also welcomed a new batch of freshmen to University A.
Zhen Bao's semester didn't start until September. She continued with her part-time job, but whenever she saw the newly enrolled students, she would think back to her own experience coming to University A last year, which made her feel suddenly old.
After eating lunch in the cafeteria at noon, Zhen Bao rode her bike back to the hospital. With her tasks finished, she went with another intern to observe the doctors diagnosing new pet patients, trying to gain experience.
"Zhen Bao, the lobby floor is dirty. Go take care of it," she was instructed.
Zhen Bao responded and brought cleaning supplies over to help. A pet waiting for its number had accidentally peed on the floor. The owner was very apologetic. Zhen Bao just smiled and mopped it up with a rag, finishing the cleanup. Just then, she saw a woman in her forties walk in through the door. She didn't have a pet with her and was poking her head around, seemingly lost and confused about what to do since it was her first time at the pet hospital.
"Do you need any help?" Zhen Bao took the initiative to ask.
"It's nothing. I..." Wang Xiu turned around and had said only halfway when she saw Zhen Bao. She was stunned and stared fixedly at Zhen Bao.
She looked Zhen Bao up and down. And Zhen Bao also had a strange feeling when she saw the woman's features, feeling like she had seen her somewhere before but couldn't remember exactly where after thinking about it.
"Are you a nurse here?" Realizing her lapse, Wang Xiu deliberately glanced around a few times before letting her eyes settle back on her daughter's face.
Zhen Bao smiled. "I'm an intern. Do you need anything?"
Her daughter's smile was a little like when she was young. Wang Xiu couldn't help but want to look a bit longer, afraid of giving herself away. She shook her head, peered inside, and said, "I'm waiting for someone, just wandered in to take a look. You're busy, I'll leave now." As she spoke, she started to walk out, but took one last lingering look at Zhen Bao before she left.
That strange stare made Zhen Bao involuntarily keep watching her. She saw the woman look back once more after walking out of the hospital, still looking at her. Seemingly not expecting that she would still be standing here, the other was clearly shocked before quickly leaving, almost fleeing.
Zhen Bao was left completely confused, carrying her cleaning supplies back inside. But in her mind, she still couldn't shake that strangely familiar face of the woman from the hospital. As Zhen Bao walked, her body suddenly froze, and she nearly dropped the mop in her hand.
Outside the University A gates, Wang Xiu covered her mouth and ducked into a car, but before she could even sit down properly, she had already started crying, hands covering her face as she wept out loud. Liu Wei came over to hold her while Wang Xiu continued sobbing, shoulders shaking. From the day she learned her daughter had been admitted to a top university in the imperial capital, Wang Xiu had been wavering, at times deciding to secretly come to the imperial capital and sneak a peek at her daughter at University A, just seeing her once without revealing their relation. At other times, she would veto herself, telling herself that once her daughter settled down well at university, she would leave immediately.
Swaying back and forth the whole summer, when she truly arrived in the imperial capital and moved her daughter into school, Wang Xiu had already gone to the airport but suddenly changed her mind again at the last moment, like something was pulling at her heart, impatient to rush to University A. Dating Fu Ming Shi, Zhen Bao was now something of a minor celebrity. Gossip news about her often popped up, which ordinary people might not pay attention to but Wang Xiu would rarely miss any of it. Thus, she also knew Zhen Bao had a part-time job at the hospital.
"She's grown up so much already..."
It was a long time before Wang Xiu choked out a complete sentence. Photos were different from seeing the real person. Seeing her daughter in the flesh made Wang Xiu's heart ache even more. For the first time in her life, she questioned her decision when she was young. Following Liu Wei, she attained the glamorous big city life she wished for, but she lost a daughter, lost her little Feng Bao whom she used to hold in her arms to sleep every night.
"Why not just secretly recognize her?" Seeing his wife so heartbroken, Liu Wei softened a little, though he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth. If mother and daughter recognized each other, they would surely be unable to resist meeting again afterwards. Meeting meant the risk of exposure. Even if Zhen Bao forgave them then, the public would still curse them to death for it. Liu Wei felt bad for his wife but didn't dare gamble, didn't dare bet their family's stability on it.
"Let's go, let's leave," Wang Xiu sobbed, urging him on.
Liu Wei patted her shoulder, signaling the chauffeur to drive the car away.
The couple left. Inside the hospital, Zhen Bao was preoccupied that afternoon at work, distracted. When she walked out after work, she would still instinctively keep an eye on her surroundings, feeling like since that woman had come once already, she might come again a second time. But outside, apart from some strangers, there was only Fu Ming Shi who had come to pick her up.
Zhen Bao tried hard to pretend nothing had happened, from the car ride to the villa. But she couldn't help constantly refreshing her phone and Weibo. If that woman wanted to find her, apart from meeting in person, she could also use these online channels. But there was nothing, as if she had only been dreaming, and the woman from the hospital wasn’t actually that person after all.
Zhen Bao couldn't describe her feelings, she just felt a little bad.
Wang Xiu didn't want her, this daughter. She had abandoned her once already. If the woman she saw today really was Wang Xiu, and Wang Xiu came looking for her but didn't acknowledge her again due to some reasons she had to do so, then Zhen Bao felt like she was abandoned by her again.
Zhen Bao felt unwell, she wanted to cry.
"I think I saw her," she said in Fu Ming Shi's arms that night, burying her face in his shoulder. "A woman around her age came to the hospital this afternoon. She looked just like her." A forty-something woman would definitely not look the same as a wedding photo in her twenties, but Zhen Bao had often looked at that wedding picture and knew Wang Xiu's youthful appearance. Moreover, apart from her eyes, she took after Wang Xiu in all her other features, so that sense of familiarity couldn't be wrong.
Fu Ming Shi's lust was thoroughly suppressed by her tears. He flipped over to hug her tightly and asked, "Did she say anything?"
Zhen Bao cried as she shook her head. "Nothing. She just left again."
After a moment's thought, Fu Ming Shi already guessed the reason. He told her softly, "Even if she wanted to recognize you, she wouldn't dare to."
Zhen Bao gave a bitter laugh. So her own daughter wasn't worth enough for Wang Xiu to keep in the scenic yet monotonous rural village, nor was she worth enough for Wang Xiu to risk affecting her current family. Then why did Wang Xiu even come? She hadn't thought of coming back to see her at all these years, but took the "initiative" to show up when she appeared here. Did Wang Xiu only remember then that she still had a daughter?
If Zhen Bao had still harbored a shred of hope for her mother before this, fantasizing that one day Wang Xiu would come acknowledge her—as long as Wang Xiu still wanted to make amends, she might have acknowledged this mother—then after today, Zhen Bao didn't hold any hopes whatsoever.
"Don't cry anymore. She has her own life, you have yours with me," Fu Ming Shi brushed aside her fallen hair and gently kissed her.
Zhen Bao tried hard to choke back her tears. Opening her eyes, her vision was blurred, but the blurred Fu Ming Shi still looked very handsome and gentle.
Her dad had left, her mom didn't want her, but she still had Fu Ming Shi, she had a new family now.
The empty place in her heart was filled by another emotion. Zhen Bao wrapped her arms around Fu Ming Shi's neck and looked up to kiss him, eyes brimming with tears, like a little chick ruthlessly abandoned by her cold-hearted mother, pitifully seeking refuge in another's embrace willing to take her in. Fu Ming Shi's heart melted into a puddle. He coaxed and kissed her back like comforting a child.
But Zhen Bao felt it wasn't enough. She wanted more fire.
Her hand had just shyly and suggestively moved to the man's waist when he grabbed hold of it.
"Don't move, or I won't be able to control myself," Fu Ming Shi pressed his forehead to hers, eyes closed as he spoke. What she sought now was psychological comfort. Fu Ming Shi wanted to oblige but he had less and less self-control around her. If Zhen Bao kept squirming, Fu Ming Shi was afraid this comfort would become impure, upsetting her.
In her heart, Zhen Bao grumbled, she didn't ask him to restrain himself.
For a moment, Zhen Bao gathered her courage, with both hands grabbed his shirt on his back, and then rolled it up little by little.
Fu Ming Shi understood, lowered his head, bit her pajama strap, and pulled it down, mimicking her.
In the deep of the night, sweat rolled down with hurried breathing. Zhen Bao clung to him wholeheartedly, embracing this man who was now closest to her in the whole world. Zhen Bao gradually forgot her troubles, only thinking of him, only wanting him, only wanting to give him all of her.
...
Zhen Bao fell asleep, carried by Fu Ming Shi to bed, almost instantly asleep, with a teardrop still wedged between her long eyelashes.
Fu Ming Shi lowered his head and licked away the unfalllen tear.
Zhen Bao was sleeping soundly. He was not tired at all. After covering her with a quilt, he quietly left the room and returned to his own bedroom, calling his assistant, "Find a way to get the surveillance videos this afternoon at the gate of University A and the hospital."
That money was given to Zhen's family by Grandpa Fu. Zhen Bao's father did not resent Wang Xiu. The Fu family was also too lazy to investigate such a small amount. But Wang Xiu appeared again and made Zhen Bao shed so many tears, the anger that Fu Ming Shi had deliberately suppressed arose again.
Perhaps when Zhen Bao had to drop out of school because she had no money and lived alone in an old house to self-study, Wang Xiu was taking her other children to go shopping, spending money that originally belonged to Zhen Bao. Perhaps tonight when Zhen Bao was sobbing in his arms, Wang Xiu was having tea and watching TV with her family.
Two days later, the assistant sent Fu Ming Shi two surveillance videos. Fu Ming Shi sat alone in the office and soon found the woman in her forties described by Zhen Bao in the video. The woman looked like Zhen Bao, and her exquisite makeup and shrewd eyes matched the image in the wedding photo.
Looking at the video at the school gate again, Fu Ming Shi also found Wang Xiu's current man.
Fu Ming Shi took screenshots separately and asked the assistant to investigate the identities of the two.
Zhen Bao knew nothing about what Fu Ming Shi did. After the summer part-time job ended and she got her salary, Zhen Bao cheered up again and indulged a little. That night, she took Fu Ming Shi out for dinner.
"Xiao Yu and the others have all returned to school tomorrow." On the way home after watching a movie, Zhen Bao meaningfully said.
Fu Ming Shi pretended to be confused. "Then pick a time and I'll treat them to dinner as promised last semester."
That was not what Zhen Bao wanted to say. She looked at him and said in a low voice, "I'll move back to the dormitory tomorrow night."
In fact, she had lied to her roommates at the last gathering. She had lived in the villa for most of this summer, only moving back to the dormitory when Fu Ming Shi was on a business trip. But now that school was starting, Zhen Bao didn't want to live such a...passionate life anymore. She wanted to settle down and focus on her studies.
Fu Ming Shi kept looking ahead, and it took a full three minutes before he spoke again: "Come back to the villa to stay at least one night a week."
It was already very good to be able to negotiate these terms. Zhen Bao obediently agreed.
However, that night when Fu Ming Shi pressed her down again, Zhen Bao suddenly regretted it. She should have said it tomorrow...
The next day, Zhen Bao returned to school with two black eye circles.
Jia Xiao Yu, Fan Xuan, and Qian LeLe stared at her, letting their imagination run wild about the ambiguous implications of her dark circles. Zhen Bao couldn't stand them and escaped to the bathroom. Then Fu Ming Shi treated them to dinner in the evening. In front of Fu Ming Shi, the three women turned back into well-behaved college students, each trying to appear more proper than the next.
In her sophomore year, Zhen Bao had more and more specialized courses. She went back to the villa once a week to fulfill her duty, and spent the rest of her time concentrating on her studies. The school notified that they could apply for scholarships, so Zhen Bao decisively applied for the highest level scholarship. After the review ended, Zhen Bao obtained a spot as she wished.
"Treat us, treat us!" On the day the scholarship was issued, the three roommates yelled in unison.
Zhen Bao was happy to take them out for grilled fish.
After the meal, Zhen Bao returned to the dormitory and transferred money to Fu Ming Shi. The amount included all the money Fu Ming Shi had transferred to her card under various names since they met, plus the 10,000 yuan on her meal card. Zhen Bao hadn't touched most of the large transfers before, so even after working part-time for a year, it was not difficult to pay him back now.
Fu Ming Shi's phone call came in shortly after.
Zhen Bao smiled and went out to the balcony to answer.
"What do you mean?" Fu Ming Shi was also on the balcony, his voice frighteningly cold.
"I got a scholarship, so I transferred that money to you. There's still about 2,000 yuan in my card, enough for me to spend." Zhen Bao said excitedly.
Hearing her laugh, Fu Ming Shi's sudden anger instantly subsided.
It turned out this woman just wanted to be independent. He had thought Zhen Bao wanted to break it off with him.
