Chapter 144: Chapter 144: What if, he can’t come over?
Whether Zhou Huaijin had guessed that Chi Wan was hiding in her room talking to Li Xingye was unclear. In any case, for the first time, he was a little impolite—not waiting for Chi Wan to come out, he simply opened the door and walked out.
By the time Chi Wan came out, Zhou Huaijin was already standing before the elevator doors. The overhead light cast his features into shadow, making them difficult to see.
Although not a word was spoken between them, Zhou Huaijin’s dejection was so obvious it was difficult to feign ignorance.
Chi Wan couldn’t think of a better solution, so she simply smiled and said her goodbyes.
Back at Zhou Huaijin’s apartment, he was sprawled on the sofa, having no desire to deal with the endlessly chattering Qi Jiayou beside him.
But Qi Jiayou was the baby of his family. Though he lacked the arrogance of a rich heir, he had been spoiled enough to master the difficult art of wearing people down.
Seeing Zhou Huaijin acting all detached and unconcerned with worldly matters after coming back from Chi Wan’s place, he grabbed Huaijin’s shoulders and shook him. "Huaijin! I rushed over the second my experiment ended just to bring you your keys! I didn’t even have time to eat!
"How can you not care at all whether I’ve eaten?! I smell butter and steak on you! You heartless bastard! While I was out there running alone in the cold wind, you were feasting on a gourmet meal! Do you have a conscience? Has your conscience been eaten by a dog? WAHHHH..."
Zhou Huaijin pinched the bridge of his nose. It was impossible to stay depressed with all this noise.
He rose to his feet in surrender. "Alright, alright, stop your wailing, my little ancestor. I’ll cook for you."
Qi Jiayou instantly shut his mouth and flopped down on the sofa. "I want steak, too."
Zhou Huaijin shot him a look and snorted coldly. "Oh, so you’re ordering now? I’m in a bad mood today. I’m only making you a meal on account of the keys. Don’t push your luck."
「Three minutes later.」
Qi Jiayou stared, dumbfounded, at the spicy beef noodles in front of him. "This is what I get?!"
Zhou Huaijin placed a pair of chopsticks in front of him, his face devoid of expression. "You said you wanted beef, didn’t you? There. Beef noodles have beef."
Qi Jiayou was rendered speechless, but that didn’t stop him from sitting on the floor and slurping up his noodles. "What’s gotten into you today? The way you’re acting, anyone who didn’t know better would think you’re lovesick."
Zhou Huaijin lay down on the sofa next to him, covering his eyes with the back of his hand, and mumbled, "How could I be lovesick?"
"Oh, oh, that’s good then."
But before Qi Jiayou had even finished slurping his mouthful of noodles, he heard Zhou Huaijin continue, "I don’t even qualify to be in a relationship..."
"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..." Qi Jiayou quickly grabbed the glass of water on the table and took two gulps before cautiously asking, "Junior Sister Wanwan is taken?"
Zhou Huaijin glanced at Qi Jiayou, unsure how to begin describing Li Xingye’s existence, and chose to remain silent.
Qi Jiayou took his silence as a confirmation and patted his shoulder with a look of pity. "Hey, forget it. Try to look on the bright side. To be honest, I was never optimistic about you and Junior Sister Wanwan from the beginning."
Zhou Huaijin had planned to suffer in silence, but he couldn’t hold back after hearing that. "Why?"
Qi Jiayou stated, as if it were obvious, "You’re four grades senior to Junior Sister Wanwan, you know what that means? The pretty-boy idols girls her age like have already been replaced by a whole new batch. So tell me, what advantage do you have?"
Zhou Huaijin: ?
He had wanted to retort, but following Qi Jiayou’s line of thought, a very serious question suddenly occurred to him: ’That Brother Xingye Chi Wan talks about... how old is he?’
’Since Wanwan calls him brother, he must be at least a little older than her, right? If he’s older, and has experienced so much more than Wanwan, could he be deceiving her?!’
At that moment, Zhou Huaijin didn’t know that Chi Wan had already met Li Xingye in person. In his mind, Chi Wan probably didn’t know Li Xingye’s true face and was merely captivated by the image he projected.
’If that were the case, how could anyone guarantee his sincerity? And how could anyone ensure Chi Wan wouldn’t be deceived by him?’
After all, the devices in Chi Wan’s possession, which stored only a fraction of a superpower, were already enough to shock them. The wielder of that power would surely be even stronger.
’With such power in the equation, if Chi Wan were to discover in the future that she doesn’t love the real "Brother Xingye" and wanted to leave him, wouldn’t she be at risk of even greater harm?’
For a moment, Zhou Huaijin was suddenly filled with apprehension.
In the face of a power that science could not explain, his own strength as an ordinary person seemed paltry. He didn’t even know how he could better protect Chi Wan’s safety.
Qi Jiayou had originally expected Zhou Huaijin to vehemently refute his words and, in doing so, reveal more information about his love rival.
But unexpectedly, Zhou Huaijin didn’t play along. He asked with a solemn expression, "Jiayou, tell me. A man who isn’t young, who’s seen his share of humanity’s dark side, and who also possesses incredible strength—when someone like that says he ’likes’ a person, how much of it can be real?"
Qi Jiayou was completely floored by the question.
He tried to process Zhou Huaijin’s words and came to a baffling conclusion. "Junior Sister Wanwan’s boyfriend... is Brother Yu??"
Qi Jiayou had also grown up hearing stories about Xiahou Yu as the classic "kid from next door" that parents always compared you to. So, when he put all of Zhou Huaijin’s clues together, his first reaction was: ’Brother Yu is older, right? The business world is dark enough, right? And with Brother Yu’s family background, do I even need to mention his ’strength’?’
’Putting it all together,’ he thought, ’the logic is flawless.’
’But still, for Junior Sister Wanwan to be so foolish as to get a workaholic like Brother Yu for a boyfriend? What was she thinking.’
Zhou Huaijin almost choked on Qi Jiayou’s guess. He said with a sense of helplessness, "It’s a hypothetical! Wanwan and Brother Yu have nothing to do with each other, so don’t go spouting nonsense."
Only then did Qi Jiayou calm down and think hard. "Well, I think it depends on the person. If this guy you’re talking about has seen all sorts of darkness but can still stay true to himself, then it makes sense he’d be attracted to a vibrant girl like Junior Sister Wanwan, right?
"I mean, think about it. If you’ve seen all kinds of dark things and people, and then you suddenly meet a radiant young woman like Junior Sister Wanwan—beautiful, lively, adorable, and charming—tell me, wouldn’t you fall head over heels?"
Zhou Huaijin followed Qi Jiayou’s line of reasoning and thought, ’He’s right, that’s actually pretty reasonable... Reasonable, my ass!’
He gave up. There was no way he could explain to Qi Jiayou just how dark the so-called "dark side" he mentioned really was—humanity in an apocalypse is far more nakedly brutal.
Although he knew it was wrong to judge an entire group based on one person, he desperately needed a legitimate reason to suppress his guilt and try to fight for a chance.
’After all, Wanwan is still young. She has her whole life ahead of her.’
’If, one day, that man could actually come from the apocalypse to Wanwan’s side, then he would accept defeat.’
’But what if he can’t?’
’Is Chi Wan supposed to hold on to this hopeless, cross-dimensional romance and let her life waste away?’
