Chapter 143: I Bought a Watch Last Year

TL: The chapter title is a euphemism for cursing.

Cheng Xi didn’t feel like she had done anything wrong. As a doctor, she’d do her best to humor her patients, but as a girlfriend, she needed to have her own personality. This was a natural part of any relationship; both partners would have to learn and adapt to each other’s habits and behavior.

Cheng Xi didn’t go back inside. Instead, she remained outside and called Lu Chenzhou, but his phone was off. When he stormed out, he probably hadn’t brought anything with him, and his phone was probably somewhere in her apartment still. Cheng Xi could only think to call Tian Rou and demand, “Give me Baldy’s number.”

Tian Rou harrumphed. “You swindled me in the morning. First, tell me about what you did with your Director Lu last night.”

“We had a big battle that lasted over three hundred rounds. Is that enough for you?”

Tian Rou chuckled and was finally willing to give her Baldy’s number. But when Cheng Xi called Baldy, he said that he hadn’t seen Lu Chenzhou yet, and he even laughed at her desperate moves. “My, it seems that Chief Lu’s skills aren’t bad. You’re even missing him before nighttime! Yup, Dr. Cheng, I know that you miss him. You don’t have to explain, I understand.”

Cheng Xi couldn’t even formulate a response. “……”

Given Baldy’s offensive mouth, how had someone like Rou ended up liking him?

And then, with an inordinate amount of patience, she managed to wrangle Lu Chenzhou’s office’s phone number from Baldy. It was during this ordeal that she suddenly realized that she really didn’t know very much about Lu Chenzhou. She didn’t know the phone numbers of his close friends and family, his frequent haunts, what he’d do when he was angry…… She knew absolutely none of these things.

She reflected on this missing portion of their relationship.

And as she reflected, she continued looking for him. It turns out that he hadn’t gone back to the Lu household or to his office. Then, perhaps the only place he could go to was his own house?

Cheng Xi took a taxi there, but was still unable to find him.

In the end, she even reached out to a police officer for help, and he reminded her, “Is his car still parked where it was earlier?”

Cheng Xi was speechless that she had missed such a crucial detail.

Lu Chenzhou’s car was lying quietly in the district’s parking lot. Cheng Xi caressed her forehead, feeling like she had wasted her entire afternoon.

If he didn’t drive away, didn’t take his phone with him, and when she went back to her apartment and confirmed that his wallet was still at her place, then Cheng Xi could easily deduce where he actually was.

He’d mentioned that he had also bought the place next door.

Cheng Xi found a key in his wallet and tried opening the door next door. The floor she was living on only had two apartments on it; ever since she’d moved in, no one had ever lived in the other apartment. She slid the key in, and it opened with a smooth click.

Cheng Xi blinked before walking in. To her surprise, this apartment was actually already furnished, but because it had been uninhabited for a long time, the furniture looked somewhat old and in disrepair. This place was cleaned very well, however, almost to the point of being completely dust free. The cleanliness even somewhat intimidated Cheng Xi; she first went back to her place to grab a clean pair of shoes first before entering.

Lu Chenzhou was indeed inside. After circling around the apartment interior, she found him next to the balcony. He was currently cleaning, with a rag in his right hand and a spray bottle in his left as he stopped on the floor and seriously wiped down the furniture and the corners of the room. Behind him, the sunset gave the clouds a fiery tint as it also dripped down the side of his face, creating a quiet but dazzling moment.

Cheng Xi exhaled, walked over, and hugged him.

He paused for a moment. Cheng Xi was afraid that he’d break away from her grip again, so she hugged him even tighter as she whispered into his ear with a slightly sour tone, “Lu Chenzhou, why are you cleaning this place so thoroughly? Are you planning on raising a mistress here? Since I’ve made you mad, are you going to find a mistress to accompany you?”

Cheng Xi had absolutely no experience with coaxing a man, and as she said this, her heart and liver were trembling in trepidation. Indeed, Lu Chenzhou couldn’t even be bothered to deal with her antics. He lowered his gaze and coldly said, “Scram!”

“No. I won’t.” Cheng Xi decided to double down on her nonsense, refusing to let go of him. “We’re a couple. If you’re about to raise a mistress, I can’t leave, and I can’t let you leave either.”

Yup. She would make up an imaginary enemy to resolve their all-too-real conflict from earlier.

Lu Chenzhou smiled coldly. “So you’re also this shamele……”

But before he could finish his insult, Cheng Xi leaned down and, imitating his previous actions, tilted his head towards her and kissed him.

For couples, although it was a bit shameless to forcibly kiss the other party while arguing, it was also quite an effective strategy to resolve conflict.

Cheng Xi was a good student. She implemented all that she had learnt, but her kissing skills were somewhat rusty, and she didn’t go any further than kissing his lips.

Lu Chenzhou looked at her, and she looked back at him with her bright eyes. He was very, very close to her, so close that his nostrils were filled with her gentle fragrance and the only thing that he could see in her eyes was the reflection himself.

Almost unconsciously, he opened his mouth and accepted her kiss.

Under the scarlet clouds of sunset, the two of them melted together, and all of their previous conflict dissipated away.

Lu Chenzhou said, “I waited here for you for so long.” His tone was cool, but there was still a trace of grievance within it.

Cheng Xi thought about how he must have looked as he cleaned and waited for her, and her heart melted into a little puddle of water. “I’m sorry that I made you wait for so long.”

She kissed him again, but he avoided it this time, softly saying, “I’m dirty.”

“I don’t mind it.” She smiled, pecked at his lips again, and also kissed his eyes and face. “I love you, as well as every speck of dust on your body.”

Cheng Xi honestly felt that she had never said anything this mushy before, but at least the result was good. Lu Chenzhou smiled, touched his forehead to hers, and cutely said, “Cheng Xi, you’re just trying to coax me into accepting other people.”

“Then, are you willing to accept them?” She wrapped her arms around his neck, and seriously said, “I’m an independent person, so I need to have my friends, family, and a career I love. All of these things are non negotiable for me. I cannot abandon them, so can you learn to love them as you love me?”

Lu Chenzhou didn’t say anything, instead responding by embracing her with his arms and a long and fierce kiss.

And so their conflict ended, just like this. Lu Chenzhou had learned how to compromise, and now knew that Cheng Xi had a bottom line, one that even he couldn’t cross.

He didn’t try to step past this bottom line again, but he still did a very childish thing. He put all of Cheng Xi’s old furniture in the apartment next door. The floor plans for the two apartments were the same, and after he “decorated” it with her old furniture, it felt almost exactly like her old apartment.

And then he even changed the directory; there was now a beautiful and eye-catching sign by the elevator that “considerately” labeled the apartment as “Dr. Cheng’s home.”

But it was pointed at the fake apartment next door.

╮(╯▽╰)╭

When Cheng Xi first saw it after getting off of work, she couldn’t believe that Lu Chenzhou would do something like this, and was slightly worried that someone would actually be misled by it. In a bizarre turn of events, Gong Hengjin was standing by the fake apartment’s door. When she saw Cheng Xi, she immediately stood up and timidly called out, “Dr. Cheng.”

Cheng Xi glanced at the fake sign, and then back at Gong Hengjin before unemotionally asking, “What’re you doing here?”

Gong Hengjin looked at her resentfully, and when she saw that Cheng Xi had no intentions of inviting her in, she could only bite her lips, bear with her shame, and say, “I’m here to find you because I’d like to ask a favor of you. Weiwei’s not willing to meet with me, and I’d like you to help me say something to her. Could she please not target me anymore…… I didn’t intentionally try to ruin her happiness. I…… it’s just that I love that man to death. I didn’t want them to get a divorce, and I didn’t want to have him to myself……”

“Wait, wait.” Cheng Xi massaged her own forehead, feeling a headache developing. “I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand your logic. However, if you need counseling, you can go to Renyi Hospital, area B, sixth floor, the psychiatry department. You can schedule an appointment with any doctor there, and they’ll help you. But I’m off of work right now. I’m sorry, but I’m not accepting any appointments right now.”

After Cheng Xi firmly rejected Gong Hengjin, she was about to head in, but then the elevator dinged. Cheng Xi turned around, and saw Lu Chenzhou walk out with an imposing appearance. Gong Hengjin took advantage of her dropped guard and suddenly leapt on Cheng Xi, pulling on her sleeves. “Dr. Cheng, you understand me, don’t you? Don’t you also love Lin Fan, while being with Director Lu anyway? Loving and having someone aren’t the same thing. Don’t you know that too?”

Cheng Xi was speechless at Gong Hengjin’s audacity.

She lifted her head. Lu Chenzhou had stopped moving. He was standing there, looking coolly at the two of them.

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