Chapter 445: Last night I held back

Gu Zhiyan is different from Shen Xun.

Shen Xun really harmed Jiang Lai, with sharp hurtful words, aggressive actions, and silent mental deception.

While Gu Zhiyan's past offenses remained only verbal—language is naturally a sharp invisible blade—when Jiang Lai didn't care about that person, those offenses found it hard to become real attacks against her.

Jiang Lai never liked Gu Zhiyan from the start; even after learning she was a Gu family member, she never regarded Gu Zhiyan as a brother.

She had grown used to being an older sister at the Fuli Yuan; perhaps as a child she needed a brother, but she had matured long before.

Jiang Lai was cold toward Shen Xun, because in her eyes he was utterly unforgivable.

Gu Zhiyan suddenly realized and began to approach her life, and even went to beat up Shen Xun, who had harmed her, thus ending up in detention.

She still disliked Gu Zhiyan's former bluntness, would not readily accept this belated kindness, and still refused to acknowledge this sudden sibling bond.

But.

She felt annoyed over this small matter.

Clearly just a tiny pebble, yet it stirred ripples in her heart.

Jiang Lai frowned slightly.

After finishing his run, Ke Zhongyu saw Jiang Lai's face slightly furrowed, wiped his sweat with a towel, and stopped half a meter away from her.

"Uncomfortable?"

Hearing the man's slightly labored breathing, Jiang Lai lifted her gaze, seeing only that his short hair was soaked, his upper body half-naked, sweat soaking every inch of his skin.

"No." She shook her head, noticing the distance between them had grown a bit, patted the spot beside her, and said, "Aren't you tired? Sit here."

Ke Zhongyu remained standing where he was: "It's all sweat."

Jiang Lai looked at him: "I haven't showered in three days."

He didn't mind that she was covered in sweat.

Ke Zhongyu understood, wiped his sweat and sat down; Jiang Lai showed him the message Fu Youqing had sent her.

Ke Zhongyu glanced, his deep gaze landing on Jiang Lai's face—now he understood it was because of that frown.

Gu Zhiyan actually stirred Jiang Lai's emotions.

He reached out and pinched Jiang Lai's nape: "Don't worry about him; his own conscience won't let him rest, he's just looking for an outlet."

Jiang Lai nodded, her irritation greatly eased, and changed the subject: "Do you run every morning?"

"No." Ke Zhongyu told Jiang Lai his fitness frequency was once a week; he didn't need overly bulky muscles.

Jiang Lai wanted to know more about Ke Zhongyu, so she asked: "So you only work out on weekends?"

Ke Zhongyu: "Not either."

Jiang Lai was puzzled.

Ke Zhongyu stood up, ruffled Jiang Lai's head, messed up her hair before letting go and walking away, saying, "I'm going to take a shower."

Jiang Lai, with her somewhat messy hair, glanced upward; she found Ke Zhongyu's childish behavior speechless, yet couldn't help letting out a faint laugh.

She got up and followed him: "You didn't reply to me."

Ke Zhongyu: "You knew you'd get angry."

Jiang Lai: "I'm not narrow-minded."

Ke Zhongyu walked into the bathroom, turned to look at Jiang Lai who had followed to the door, met her bright, curious eyes, and helplessly confessed: "Last night I held back."

Jiang Lai: "……"

She silently reached out to have Ke Zhongyu close the bathroom door.

From behind the door came a man's low, soft chuckle.

Jiang Lai turned her back, her ears quietly blushing.

Last night after moving in, she hadn't properly looked around; now was a good time to do so.

Dade Xiaomu followed beside her.

The Shufang continued the style of Number Ten Courtyard: three walls of bookshelves, one floor-to-ceiling window, two long desks, plus a lounge area with a new coffee machine and juicer beside the sofa.

There were two wardrobes; Ke Zhongyu's clothes, shoes, ties, etc., were all neatly hung, but they occupied only two walls of one wardrobe, while the third wall was filled with women's intimate apparel, tags still visible, nearly everything one could need.

But Jiang Lai's suitcase still stood there.

Jiang Lai didn't think Ke Zhongyu would hang other women's intimate clothes here; it wasn't because she felt her place in his heart was uniquely special, but because she trusted his character.

So…

She suspected the intimate clothing hanging on that wall might be hers.

Dong dong……

The door wasn't closed; Ke Zhongyu stood at the doorway and knocked.

Jiang Lai turned back; he entered, his gaze following hers to that wall.

Ke Zhongyu: "Yours."

Although Jiang Lai had already guessed it in her heart, her heart still quickened a little, and she asked: "Did you move the whole shop over?"

Ke Zhongyu: "First moved to Villa Number One, then yesterday moved here."

He didn't deny moving the whole shop.

Jiang Lai took a deep breath: "You change clothes first; I'll go check other rooms."

Ke Zhongyu gave a light chuckle, watched Jiang Lai walk out, and thoughtfully pulled the door shut behind her.

The other wardrobe was empty.

But by noon, Secretary Guan led a mighty crowd that filled the wardrobes completely with clothes and shoes of all seasons, plus bags and jewelry from the cabinets.

Jiang Lai stood aside, at one point feeling shocked.

Secretary Guan laughed while leading people away before Jiang Lai could even react; Ke Zhongyu reached out and pinched her chin: "Just pick what you want to use. Mo Yi has prepared lunch; let's go eat."

Jiang Lai was again dumbly led by Ke Zhongyu to the restaurant.

After sitting down, she said: "We don't need to go shopping."

Ke Zhongyu: "It saves time and effort, but if you want to go shopping, you can go anytime—just bring me along."

He emphasized the last sentence.

Mo Yi couldn't help laughing out loud, echoing: "Miss Jiang, bring the Young Master along to carry things—he has plenty of strength."

Ke Zhongyu nodded.

Jiang Lai served him some vegetables, and also served Mo Yi: "Come eat, we won't go shopping for the next two days; we have new assignments to do."

Ke Zhongyu nodded: "Mm, staying in, you need more rest."

Mo Yi looked at the two of them with a smiling, squinting gaze.

In the afternoon, Jiang Lai sat on the balcony sofa, quietly zoning out; she hadn't wasted time like this in a long while.

As she sat there, she propped her head up and began to doze off.

Just as her head was about to hit the table, a broad, warm palm caught her cheek.

Jiang Lai blinked open her eyes blearily, saw Ke Zhongyu crouched in front of her, yawned, and asked: "Done with the call?"

"Mm." Ke Zhongyu nodded; it was a call from the designer, wanting to discuss the design drawings with him.

"Go sleep on the bed." He bent down to pick up Jiang Lai.

Jiang Lai shook her head: "I want to stay here a bit longer."

Ke Zhongyu saw how much she liked the view from the balcony, worried she might catch a chill if she dozed off there, so he got up and went inside to fetch a blanket.

The phone was placed on the table.

After a few seconds, another call came in.

"Ke Zhongyu, Assistant Zhou's call."

"You answer it."

Jiang Lai blinked, let out an "oh," swiped to answer, didn't pick up the phone, turned on the speaker; she had intended to call out to Assistant Zhou, but bathed in the afternoon slanting sun, feeling utterly languid, she only remembered to let out a faint yawn.

"Boss Ke, the Gu clan just rented an entire floor of an office building in the city center."

Jiang Lai's yawn halted halfway.