Chapter 8

The air inside the room remained eerily silent for more than ten seconds.

After a long while, Li Sipei hesitantly reported his name.

Mi Zhao’s face heated up, and he awkwardly glanced at Li Sipei. Hearing this, he quickly pushed his phone over, allowing the other person to input his name.

After retrieving the phone, he looked down—

Huh?

He shares the same surname as Li Yan.

Li Sipei keenly sensed the change in his mood. His dark eyes deepened, “What’s wrong?”

Mi Zhao snapped back to his senses, shaking his head, “Nothing.”

Saying this, he took Li Sipei’s phone and typed his name above the number.

“I need to go back and tidy up. I can’t stay here with you. Contact me when you return to A City, and I can either go to find you or pick you up, whichever works.” Mi Zhao said carefully, “Contact me anytime if you need anything.”

Li Sipei obediently nodded, “Okay.”

At this moment, only the inner layer of the bedroom curtain had been drawn open, leaving a thin white gauze layer to block the outside view. Large amounts of sunlight passed through the gauze and landed on Li Sipei, then slid off his shoulder and onto the light gray wooden floor.

The room was very clean, and under the light, only a little dust could be seen floating.

The light and shadows made Li Sipei’s features and contours appear more three-dimensional. The edges of his black hair were tinged with a faint golden hue. The whole person seemed to be immersed in a halo of light. He stared at Mi Zhao against the light, his eyes focused, making Mi Zhao unconsciously freeze for a while.

For a moment, it felt like a tiny hammer had lightly tapped on his heart.

His chest was tingling with a strange sensation.

The feeling of being struck by such aesthetic beauty…

Mi Zhao suddenly regretted not bringing his tools with him. Otherwise, he could have started sketching a draft now. But, there’s always tomorrow.

When he spoke again, Mi Zhao’s voice was slightly hoarse: “So… do you have any plans? Do you need help changing clothes?”

Li Sipei turned on his phone to check the time: “The nurse will be here soon. They will help me, you can go ahead with your things.”

“Okay.” Mi Zhao put his phone away and stood up. He had already changed into his own clothes and finished washing up. Looking around, there was nothing else to do.

“Then, I’ll leave.”

“Mm.”

Mi Zhao walked toward the bedroom door under Li Sipei’s gaze, but something felt off in his heart. Was it a bit hasty to leave like this?

It wasn’t until he was at the entrance, changing shoes, that he suddenly remembered something very important.

Right!

How could he leave without the classic TV drama ending?!

Mi Zhao quickly slipped his slippers back on, grabbed his backpack, and strode up to the second floor. He opened the door, and Li Sipei was still sitting in the wheelchair in the same posture as when Mi Zhao had left.

Seeing him enter, Li Sipei’s calm expression revealed a trace of fluctuation. His lips slightly parted, but he didn’t speak.

Without saying a word, Mi Zhao pulled out his wallet, took out the only one thousand cash, and stuffed it into Li Sipei’s hand.

Li Sipei: “?”

“I only have this much cash on me. You can use it for now.” Mi Zhao had considered transferring money via WeChat but thought that for the first time, the sense of ceremony mattered more.

However, Li Sipei didn’t blink for a long time, seemingly stunned by Mi Zhao’s actions.

Mi Zhao nervously stared at Li Sipei.

What kind of reaction was this?

Did he think that the thousand yuan was too little?

Just as Mi Zhao was considering whether to make a WeChat transfer, Li Sipei finally snapped out of some trance, looked down at the stack of red bills in his hand, and then looked up at Mi Zhao, who had a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

“What’s this?”

Seeing that the other person didn’t seem to mind the amount, Mi Zhao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He feigned familiarity and leaned down to plant a kiss on Li Sipei’s cheek.

“Your pocket money.”

“…” Li Sipei visibly froze again.

Mi Zhao felt much more relaxed inside. As he went downstairs, he bumped into Ruan Xin, who was leading a team into the house.

Their eyes met, and Ruan Xin paused for a moment: “You…”

Wasn’t this the person Mr. Li met earlier this morning?

Mi Zhao smiled at her, revealing two small dimples on his cheeks: “Good morning.”

“…” Ruan Xin swallowed the confusion in her stomach, then absent-mindedly replied, “Good morning.”

Mi Zhao took a few steps toward her, tilted his head slightly, and counted the number of people behind her in his mind. He asked, “Are you all the caregivers for Li Sipei?”

Li… Sipei…

Including Ruan Xin, everyone stiffened, then simultaneously fell into a silent state.

Who was this young man?

Even the people from the Li family wouldn’t directly call Mr. Li’s name in front of them!

Ruan Xin’s eyelids twitched, a hundred thoughts flashed through her mind, but they all subsided when she recalled Mi Zhao coming downstairs just now. She nodded, “Yes.”

Mi Zhao responded, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Ruan Xin: “…”

Once Mi Zhao left, she immediately went upstairs to check.

Mr. Li usually wakes up early, so at this time, he should be up, which was convenient for them to go upstairs and take care of him.

After knocking, she pushed the door open and, as expected, found Mr. Li sitting on the bedside, but not on the bed, rather facing away from the door, sitting in the wheelchair.

“Master Li.” Ruan Xin softly called, but before she could move closer, Li Sipei’s voice stopped her.

“Go downstairs. You don’t need to help today.”

Ruan Xin was surprised and stood still for a moment before asking, “Should I get your clothes for you?”

“No need.”

“Okay.” Though puzzled, Ruan Xin knew well what she should and shouldn’t say.

When turning to leave, she inadvertently glanced at Mr. Li’s ear.

It was actually flushed.

Ruan Xin: “?”

Forget it, she didn’t dare think or ask any further.

•

Mi Zhao arrived at his place and began packing his things, while also calling the villa’s customer service center to arrange a car for the journey down the mountain.

After a hurried lunch, the car arrived at the villa gates just before 1 p.m.

After nearly three hours of travel, when the car reached the neighborhood where Mi Zhao rented a place, the twilight light had stained half the sky red.

After paying for the ride, Mi Zhao grabbed a suitcase with one hand and walked into the neighborhood.

A City is an international metropolis with sky-high land prices, and A University is built in an expensive location. As some alumni say, if you randomly hail a car outside A University’s gates, the person in the car might have their own Baidu Encyclopedia entry.

Mi Zhao rented a place near A University, so the rent naturally wasn’t cheap.

Nearly 7,000 yuan for a 50-square-meter two-bedroom unit. When he moved in, it was only semi-furnished, and Mi Zhao redesigned it according to his taste. It’s been fine living here so far.

However, while the community has an elevator, it’s been several years since the building was completed, and the facilities are outdated. The greenery and property management are not great, and there are often piles of garbage that haven’t been dealt with, with a stinky smell that can be noticed from afar.

At this time, it was almost mealtime, and parents were calling their wildly playing children home.

Several children ran past Mi Zhao, laughing and shouting like the wind.

They ran ahead, then pushed and shoved, stopping and turning to look at Mi Zhao. Their eyes sparkled brightly.

“It’s Brother Mi!”

“Brother is back!”

“Do you have candy, Brother? I want candy!”

Mi Zhao, with his back to the light, had an unreadable expression, but the corners of his mouth slowly curled up. He pushed the two relatively light suitcases forward.

“Help Brother push the suitcases upstairs, and I’ll treat you to something to eat.”

“Okay, okay!”

The children hopped around the suitcases, pushing them into the building while chattering.

Nearby parents saw this and just smiled helplessly, reminding their own children to return home soon.

Mi Zhao lived on the fourth floor, with four units per floor. The children, after getting out of the elevator, expertly pushed the two suitcases to his door.

Once inside, he casually slid the suitcases to the side and pulled out his phone to order takeout, choosing cakes and milk tea, which the children liked.

The place hadn’t been lived in for nearly a summer, so there was a thin layer of dust on the floor and furniture. Thankfully, Mi Zhao had covered the sofa, bed, and some important items with dust covers before leaving, so cleaning wasn’t too much of a hassle.

After the children left, happily carrying the cake and milk tea, Mi Zhao changed into old clothes, put on plastic gloves, and began cleaning.

After a busy session, the sky outside had darkened.

The streetlights in the community came on, and downstairs, there were elderly people taking evening walks, children playing, and aunts dancing to music, causing a noisy atmosphere. The sound vibrations made Mi Zhao’s temples throb.

This was the main reason he rarely came here.

It was too noisy at night, which disturbed his ability to get into the right mindset for painting.

Mi Zhao closed the window, drew the curtains, took a shower, changed into sleepwear, and collapsed on the couch. The air conditioning in the living room blew cool air, and he slowly scrolled through his phone for takeout options.

He had a strong taste for high-fat and high-salt foods. After a long day, he planned to order some Sichuan dishes, but suddenly thought of something.

His finger froze on the screen.

After a moment of hesitation, he compromised and backed out of the interface, switching to order a simple porridge meal from another restaurant.

After confirming the order, a payment success notification popped up, followed by a message from Alipay.

Mi Zhao checked it, and it was a transfer from Li Yan.

23,817 yuan.

It was 60 cents more than the bill he had sent, rounding it off to the nearest whole number.

Mi Zhao: “…”

He was suffocating.

His gaze dropped down, and below the transfer, there was a message.

【Can you add me back on WeChat? We can talk some more. I’m at Rizhao ressort. Where are you? Let’s meet up, please don’t torment me anymore.】

He chuckled and quickly sent a “block” gift package to Li Yan’s Alipay.

•

After waking up from his nap, Mi Zhao’s dry throat hadn’t improved much, so he went to the pharmacy downstairs.

The girl at the pharmacy asked the usual questions.

Mi Zhao paused for a moment, blushing and nervously began to lie, “I went to KTV with friends the night before yesterday, and my throat was like this after singing…”

The girl laughed, “You must have sung really hard.”

Mi Zhao: “…”

He recalled it for a moment.

Yeah, he really did sing hard…

But, honestly, it wasn’t something he could control!

After taking the throat lozenges the girl gave him, Mi Zhao awkwardly paid and turned to leave. But the girl called him back.

“Wait.” She came over, walked in front of Mi Zhao, and looked down, “What happened to your knee? It’s swollen. Do you need some ointment?”

Mi Zhao looked down—his knee was not only swollen but bruised. He hadn’t noticed it at all. He was wearing loose shorts above his knees, and the bruises were quite noticeable against his pale skin.

The girl, unaware of the cause, innocently smiled, “You can’t tell me you were kneeling and singing at KTV the other night, can you?”

Mi Zhao: “…”

What the heck, kneeling and singing?

Before his face could burn any hotter, Mi Zhao quickly paid for the ointment and fled.