Chapter 269: He Still Likes Me

Xia Xi shoved her phone back into her pocket, and Zhou Du happened to walk up to her.

Zhou Du rarely gets up this early; he was so sleepy he could barely open his eyes, with sunglasses perched on his nose, and before he could say anything, he yawned.

"I told you not to come pick me up." Xia Xi glanced at his face; without looking she knew his eyes behind the sunglasses were sporting two big dark circles, maybe even red bloodshot.

Zhou Du waved his hand, indicating he didn't mind.

He pulled at his pants with both hands, squatted down, opened his arms to greet the two kids: "Long time no see, you don't recognize me?"

Zi Heng called out politely: "Godfather."

Youyou lunged straight into his arms, hugging his neck and cooing: "Godfather, I've missed you so much!"

"Tsk tsk, your little mouth is as sweet as honey." Zhou Du chuckled lightly as he lifted the little girl: "You've gotten plump, huh? How come you're heavier than last time?"

Youyou pouted, unhappy: "Godfather, don't call girls fat; this is just cute."

"Okay, godfather was wrong." Zhou Du apologized to her, then added: "Our Youyou is the cutest."

Huang Shiyu covertly sized up Zhou Du for a long while; since she could only see his lower face, she wasn't sure, so she tugged lightly at Xia Xi's sleeve and whispered, covering her mouth: "Is he that Zhou Du? The big internet celebrity?"

Zhou Du's fame is huge; it's no surprise he'd be recognized.

Xia Xi smiled and nodded: "He is."

Huang Shiyu blinked a few times, momentarily unable to believe it—she actually saw a multi‑million‑follower internet celebrity in real life.

Zhou Du held Youyou with one hand and took Zi Heng's hand with the other, then turned his head to glance at Xia Xi: "You guys just stay at my place?"

"No, I booked a hotel." Xia Xi said.

"Pfft, coming to Beicheng and still booking a hotel—my place is more than enough."

"My workplace is a bit far from yours, and besides, I brought an assistant." Saying this, Xia Xi introduced Huang Shiyu to him.

Zhou Du gave a nod to the person, counting it as a greeting.

"All right." Zhou Du sauntered along lazily, not pressing Xia Xi: "I've booked a restaurant; I'll take you to the hotel first to rest, then we'll have lunch together at noon."

Xia Xi had no objection.

Zhou Du's assistant was in charge of driving; considering their numbers, they used a seven‑seat business vehicle.

Zhou Du sat in the front passenger seat, Xia Xi with the two kids in the middle, and Huang Shiyu in the back.

After getting in the car, Zhou Du took off his sunglasses, turned half his body toward Xia Xi to speak, then suddenly noticed something; he narrowed his eyes, then widened them, stared closely for a moment, as if confirming it, the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly, a faint smile.

Xia Xi felt creepy from his smile and snapped irritably: "What are you doing, looking all shifty?"

Zhou Du seemed unsure how to start, pinching his sunglasses and scratching his head with the temple: "Are you seeing someone new?"

"I don't understand what you're saying." Xia Xi's face showed genuine confusion.

With the two kids present, Zhou Du didn't spell it out; he gave a light cough, sat up straight, planning to interrogate Xia Xi properly later.

Huang Shiyu, sitting in the back, roughly understood; she lowered her head, typed a line into her phone's memo, lightly tapped Xia Xi's shoulder, and handed it to her.

Xia Xi lowered her gaze, looked at Huang Shiyu's phone screen, which read: "Sister Xi, you have a hickey on your neck."

What? A hickey?!

Xia Xi's eyelashes flickered, and she instinctively reached for her neck; she was wearing a low‑cut black tee today, her hair tied up, so it was basically out in the open.

This morning she rushed to make congee for Xu Yanfeng and then dash to the airport, hadn't even done her makeup, so naturally she hadn't noticed the mark on her neck.

It could only have been Xu Yanfeng who made it last night.

After settling into the hotel, Xia Xi dabbed concealer over the several hickeys on her neck in a futile attempt to hide them.

To make caring for the kids easier, Xia Xi booked a suite; the two children were napping in the bedroom inside.

In the living room, Zhou Du sat with arms crossed, leaning on the sofa armrest, one leg planted on the floor, the other bent and hooked over the armrest; after Xia Xi finished her tasks, he asked about the thing that couldn't be said in front of the kids in the car: "Who's the new lover?"

Xia Xi had nothing to hide from him, and she answered frankly: "No new lover, only an old love."

Xia Xi's old love could only be Xu Yanfeng. Hearing that, Zhou Du dropped his playboy posture, sat up straight, raised his eyebrows: "Did you get back together with the Xu guy?"

Xia Xi looked at him, fell silent for a moment, then told the truth: "No."

Zhou Du twitched his upper lip, let out a light scoff: "Then you two are still playing it pretty fancy."

Xia Xi: "……"

She couldn't explain, tugged at the corner of her mouth: "It's not what you think."

Zhou Du lifted his gaze, tipped his chin up slightly, wearing an expression that said, "Do tell."

Xia Xi: "How did you become so gossipy?"

Zhou Du still didn't know she was living with Xu Yanfeng; explaining the whole backstory would be a hassle.

"Is this gossiping?" Zhou Du retorted, "I'm just concerned about you—don't confuse good and bad."

Besides Xu Yanfeng, the other person Xia Xi owes is Zhou Du, who still carries a black pot on his back to this day. Feeling guilty, her demeanor in his presence naturally drops a notch.

"Last night, he got drunk." Xia Xi rubbed her eyelids with her knuckles, her gaze drifting elsewhere.

Drunk and disorderly?!

"No!" Xia Xi loudly denied; after a while she sighed, deciding it was better to just tell him plainly so he wouldn't conjure up a bunch of nonsense: "He found out Zi Heng is his son, we'd been negotiating child custody for a long time, finally reached an agreement, I promised him one request, and for now I'm living with him; after the term ends we'll have nothing to do with each other."

Zhou Du's eye sockets widened with her words, until they were almost bulging out.

Xia Xi gave a dry, grim little smile; she had guessed this would be his reaction.

Zhou Du forced his expression back to normal: "You said after the term ends we'll have nothing to do with each other? How long is the term?"

Xia Xi felt saying it out loud was a bit absurd, paused a few seconds, then mumbled: "Um… one… one hundred… days."

She stammered; Zhou Du didn't catch it, turned his face, pulled his ear with his hand toward her: "How many?"

Xia Xi steeled herself: "One hundred days, but only over ninety days left."

Zhou Du laughed so hard he hiccuped, his throat continuously making inhaling sounds, as if he'd heard the funniest joke ever.

"Do you really believe Xu Yanfeng is doing this for child custody? Don't blame me for being blunt—guys like him have plenty of women willing to bear his children; going through all this rigmarole isn't really about the kid, it's about getting to the kid's mother. Xia Xi, I'm saying you're getting dumber and dumber—you used to be a genius ace in school. They say pregnancy makes you stupid for three years; it's been way longer than that—are you still stupid?"

Xia Xi was left stunned by his words for a long while.

She had always used the child as a shield to explain Xu Yanfeng's series of actions, believing everything he did was for the child; last night Xu Yanfeng's words woke her up, although they were drunken talk, but as someone said, words spoken in wine are true.

Moreover, now that Zhou Du has exposed it, she can no longer deceive herself.

Xia Xi stared blankly at the person before her and asked him, "Do you think he still likes me?"

"Miss, isn't this obvious?" Zhou Du clapped his hands, spread his arms, and said, "Think about it—back then he saw you and me… cough, cough, in that state, and he could still say things like 'If you're drunk and not sober, I can pretend this never happened'—he must be terrified of losing you. I'm a man too, but I have to say, someone like him is rare to find. I really don't know what love potion you gave him to make him utterly devoted to you."

Xia Xi's heart gave a "thump" and suddenly beat especially hard.

She nodded and said, "I think so too."

She also thought Xu Yanfeng still liked her.

Seeing that Xia Xi was no longer so resistant, Zhou Du realized a reconciliation was possible, and his eyes lit up with gold as he asked, "So then?"

If the two of them could reconcile, Zhou Du would be pleased to see it happen. Over the years, he had never seen a man who suited Xia Xi as well as Xu Yanfeng does.

Previously, he most disliked Xu Yanfeng's aloof Young Master manner; put nicely, it was elegant and restrained; put bluntly, he always wore a sour face, as if everyone owed him millions. Xia Xi still indulged him, went along with him, treating him like a treasure to be pampered, and he felt stifled for her sake. Later, after that incident, he too became genuinely convinced of Xu Yanfeng.

Xia Xi pressed her lips, lowered her gaze, and remained silent.

Zhou Du seemed to recall something, took a sharp breath, and asked, "Are you worried about his father?"