Chapter 66: The Jinx

Shi Youxuan held back a laugh and said to Sheng Hanyu, "I'm planning to do some laundry in a bit. Do you have any clothes to change out of? I can wash them together while I'm at it."

Had Yingzi suddenly become "virtuous"?

Sheng Hanyu felt the probability of that was basically zero; she was surely up to no good.

So he refused: "No need. When Zhang Ma brings food over later, let her wash them."

"Oh!"

She agreed and went upstairs, but soon a scream came from above, and then Yingzi came "thump-thump-thumping" downstairs to apologize.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I wanted to air out your quilt for you, but I accidentally knocked over the water glass, and the quilt is all wet... How about this? When you have the housekeeper bring the food, have them bring you a new quilt and a mattress too!"

Sheng Hanyu ignored her and went to the room to check.

Good grief, more than half of the large quilt was soaked, and naturally, the mattress was also sopping wet and impossible to sleep on.

The glass on the nightstand had indeed fallen to the floor and shattered, but that much water must have been splashed from a basin.

Carrying a food box from across the way was manageable, but making a big scene by hauling a quilt and a mattress would be too much of a commotion!

In order to drive Sheng Hanyu away, she had stopped at nothing.

"You take the quilt out to dry. If it's not dry by tonight, you can switch rooms with me," Sheng Hanyu said calmly.

Shi Youxuan protested: "Hey, why are you like this? I'm a woman, you know. Can't you be a bit more of a gentleman to a woman?"

"No."

She was so angry she nearly keeled over, but she still obediently carried the quilt out to dry.

Shi Youxuan hadn't had much contact with Sheng Hanyu, but she knew he kept his word; if he said he wouldn't be a gentleman, he definitely lacked the fine virtue of respecting ladies!

If the quilt didn't dry, she wouldn't have anything to cover herself with tonight.

The housekeeper arrived on time with breakfast, which consisted of soy milk, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, two-grain porridge, fried eggs, bacon, and a few small plates of cold side dishes.

The only thing Shi Youxuan was satisfied with regarding Sheng Hanyu was that he had a good cook who knew how to make food.

After finishing breakfast, the two of them each occupied a corner of the living room, each with a laptop to work online, not disturbing each other.

The sky gradually darkened at some point, and soon a gale blew outside, with bean-sized raindrops smashing down!

"Damn it, the quilt is still outside drying."

Shi Youxuan let out a wail, put down her laptop, and rushed outside, but she regretted it the moment she reached the outdoors.

The raindrops were mixed with hail, and the hailstones hitting the ground were the size of pigeon eggs, hurting terribly when they struck her head.

She wanted to run back; she didn't want the quilt anymore, as it would be soaked through even if she ran over now.

She hadn't expected the rain to be so sudden and heavy, as if it were being poured down, so dense that she couldn't even tell the direction.

Consequently, she ran the wrong way; she had intended to run toward the front gate, but instead went toward the backyard.

She realized her mistake and turned back, when suddenly the hail above her head stopped, and there was an extra person beside her.

Sheng Hanyu used his clothes to shield her head and dragged her back.

He seemed to be shouting something, but the sound of the wind and rain was too loud for her to hear clearly.

"Cough, cough—"

Shi Youxuan wanted to say, "Why did you come out?"

As soon as she opened her mouth, the strong wind choked her, and she coughed incessantly.

The wind, rain, and hail grew even more intense; if Sheng Hanyu hadn't been holding her, Shi Youxuan could have been blown away by the gale!

Sheng Hanyu pulled Shi Youxuan back and only managed to close the door after a couple of tugs. With the wind and rain shut outside, he lost his temper: "Are you crazy? Why would you run out in such heavy hail?"

Shi Youxuan's lips were trembling from the cold, but she still stubbornly insisted: "I, I was getting the quilt."

"You were getting the quilt?"

Sheng Hanyu felt that this woman usually looked quite smart, but now her brain seemed to be waterlogged.

He pointed his finger outside: "You're getting a quilt in hail this big? Are there only two quilts in this place?"

"Yes."

Shi Youxuan nodded earnestly; he had hit the nail on the head.

Sheng Hanyu was speechless.

After Shi Youxuan took a hot shower and changed into dry clothes, she walked out of the room to find a steaming cup of ginger tea on the table, wisps of heat rising from it.

"I boiled it for you, drink it while it's hot." Sheng Hanyu was still busy with work on his computer, not even lifting his head.

"Thank you."

She picked up the cup and took small sips; she hadn't expected this cold-faced man to have such a thoughtful side, and she felt a little moved.

But only a little.

The rain outside grew heavier and heavier, and the housekeeper couldn't bring food over, so they had to solve lunch by themselves.

The refrigerator had everything, but there was no one who knew how to cook.

Shi Youxuan heated two cups of milk, then took out some bread and popped it into the microwave for a ding, took it out, and placed it on the dining table: "Eat."

Fortunately, Sheng Hanyu wasn't picky; as long as there was something to eat, it was fine. After the two finished lunch, the rain was still pouring down, showing no signs of letting up at all!

"Will there be a flood?" Shi Youxuan was a jinx; whatever she said came true.

The artificial lake between the two villas was originally a low-lying area, and it would usually rise when it rained, but it was never a big problem.

This time the rainfall was so heavy and sudden that all the rainwater from the mountain flowed into the artificial lake, and the water level rose at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Although it wouldn't cause a flood, both villas were surrounded and turned into "isolated islands," making it impossible to travel between them.

As the sky gradually darkened, Sheng Hanyu asked Shi Youxuan: "What's for dinner?"

"Milk and bread." The answer was very crisp.

However, the man frowned and refused: "No, boil some porridge. Any kind of porridge will do."

He originally felt this request wasn't excessive, but for Shi Youxuan, it was very excessive indeed.

She protested: "Why should I be the one to cook? Before you arrived, I always ate milk and bread; I could eat that for a week straight and be fine."

"It was you who suddenly came to disrupt my life and then started bossing me around? If you want to eat porridge, cook it yourself; there is rice in the kitchen." She swallowed her saliva as she spoke.

The steaming, sweet, and soft porridge—she wanted to eat it too.

Sheng Hanyu said calmly: "I don't know how."

"I don't know how either," Shi Youxuan also spoke the truth.

"Achou doesn't know how to cook either, it tastes terrible." He didn't know why he suddenly thought of Achou.

Logically, Achou was just a servant, and not even his own servant; there was no need for him to keep thinking about a servant, but he just kept remembering Achou, which was very unscientific.

Shi Youxuan felt guilty and didn't make a sound.

Sheng Hanyu asked instead: "Do you know where Achou went?"

"I don't know."

She intended to end this topic immediately, so she stood up and went to the kitchen: "I'll go cook porridge for you."

She didn't know how to cook porridge, but she could learn.

Nowadays, there are tutorials for all kinds of dishes online; she just needed to follow the examples.

She washed the rice, put it in the pot, added water according to the ratio, and then plugged in the rice cooker and pressed the porridge button.

Shi Youxuan discovered that cooking didn't seem that difficult; there were bags of pre-cooked meat and pickled vegetables in the refrigerator, so she just had to take them out, tear them open, and put them on a plate.

The meal was served; although simple, it looked quite decent, at least much better than what Achou cooked.

Sheng Hanyu picked up the bowl and took a sip; the heat control was a bit off, but it looked like porridge.

Achou could produce three types of food in one pot: sticky on top, undercooked in the middle, and scorched rice at the bottom.

"It's alright, much better than what Achou makes."

Shi Youxuan had already composed herself by this time, drinking her porridge slowly and calmly saying: "Why do you keep mentioning Achou? Is she a girl too? You really aren't picky at all, keeping any woman on your mind..."

Sheng Hanyu's expression turned very ugly, and he shut his mouth, not mentioning Achou again.

After cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks after the meal, Shi Youxuan was surfing the internet in her room when suddenly the room went pitch black, with only the screen still lit—the power was out!

The air conditioner stopped running, and the room quickly grew cold.

"Achoo—"

She wrapped herself in a quilt but was still shivering all over, her hands and feet ice cold.

Sheng Hanyu's room didn't even have a quilt, and the mattress was still wet...

How was she supposed to stay here for the night!