Chapter 6: A Late-Night Scare

The winter night wind cut like a knife. After her shower, Song Yushu stepped onto the balcony for a breath of air, shivered, and turned back into the bedroom.

Sitting at the vanity applying her skincare, she got another international call from Singapore—her mother.

She put it on speaker and set the phone aside. "Mom, it's so late. Why aren't you asleep?"

"Did you talk to your dad? What did he say?"

Knowing her mother's temper, if she said the talk hadn't gotten anywhere yet, she'd probably fly back home tomorrow just to tear into her father.

Song Yushu hesitated for two seconds. "Dad said he's making arrangements."

"That's more like it. By the way, Jiaojiao, you still haven't dated anyone, have you?"

Her hand paused mid-motion over the face cream. She answered lightly, "Oh. Haven't met anyone I like."

"You—take a page from your best friend Jiang Wei. One relationship and she snagged the Zhou family's future head. If you found yourself a partner like that, your dad would worship you like a Bodhisattva. Your dad is such a snob—kisses up, kicks down."

Song Yushu said nothing, quietly watching the call timer on the screen tick by, second after second.

Truly worthy of former spouses—even their scoldings were word-for-word identical.

-

She slept until eight in the morning, freshened up, and headed out.

A friend's gallery was opening today and had invited her to visit. She hadn't seen them in a long time, so they'd probably grab a meal and hang out for a while.

By the time she got home that evening, it was already past nine. She glanced at the time—this late, Zhou Yancheng probably wouldn't come to drop off the car.

Song Yushu headed for the bathroom, planning to shower and sleep.

Half an hour later, she walked out in a bathrobe, hair half-dried, and headed for the kitchen fridge to heat up some milk.

WeChat chimed.

Z: Parking space number.

Song Yushu raised an eyebrow slightly. Returning the car at this hour—she tapped out the parking space number in reply.

Suddenly!

The front door of her home clicked and swung open on its own—without warning, eerie and sinister, especially in the dead of night.

Her scalp went numb instantly. She turned and bolted back into the bedroom on instinct, locking the door behind her.

But there was no sound from outside at all. Yet Song Yushu was panicking badly now.

She pulled out her phone and messaged property management, telling them to send security up quickly to check what was going on.

A second later, property management called.

"Miss Song, your door opened by itself? You think there's a burglar?"

Song Yushu held the phone to her ear, lowering her voice. "I don't know. Send security to take a look."

"Security is already on the way. Hide and don't come out."

"Okay."

A WeChat message popped up at the top of her screen. She tapped it open.

Z: Unit number.

Jiaojiao: 1702

Jiaojiao: Don't come up yet. I think someone broke into my place. I called security.

She sent two messages. No reply for several minutes—she didn't know if Zhou Yancheng had seen them.

After a while longer, she suddenly heard security guards' voices outside, seemingly searching the rooms.

Her bedroom door was knocked. Through the door she heard a guard say, "Miss Song, are you in there? We've searched the other rooms—no one. The smart lock might be broken."

Hearing that, she breathed a sigh of relief.

She opened the bedroom door and saw two security guards standing in the living room with tools.

"Thank you. Sorry for the trouble."

"No problem. Remember to deadbolt your front door tonight, and get the smart lock replaced tomorrow," the guard said.

Song Yushu nodded.

Just then, heavy footsteps approached. She and the two guards all turned to look.

Zhou Yancheng walked in from the entryway. Seeing her wearing only a bathrobe, he frowned slightly.

The guard looked at him and said, "This your boyfriend? Perfect—if you're too scared, have your boyfriend stay with you tonight."

Before Zhou Yancheng could speak, Song Yushu spoke up first to explain, "He's not my boyfriend. Just a friend."

The guard laughed awkwardly. "Sorry about that. We'll head out then—call anytime if anything comes up."

Only after hearing the door close did she confirm the guards had left.

Zhou Yancheng: "What happened?"

"Nothing. A false alarm—the smart lock broke and I thought someone had broken in."

He nodded and handed over the car keys. "Remember to change the lock tomorrow."

"Mm, okay."

Song Yushu took the keys and nodded. Maybe because she'd just showered, her cheeks were slightly flushed, making her look like she was blushing.

Her home hadn't had a man in it for a long time—and especially not a man like Zhou Yancheng, nearly six-foot-three. Suddenly the place felt full of security.

Zhou Yancheng wore a black suit, perfectly tailored—clearly a bespoke high-end piece.

Two buttons of his white shirt collar were undone, revealing a hint of his collarbone, lending him a touch of wildness.

"The car broke down last night. Thanks."

Zhou Yancheng briefly explained last night's situation, his tone as cold as if discussing business.

Song Yushu smiled and shook her head. "It's nothing."

A phone vibration broke the quiet of the living room.

Zhou Yancheng glanced at his phone—his driver calling. He declined the call and looked up at her. "I'm heading out."

"Okay."

Song Yushu followed behind the man to see him out.

Zhou Yancheng stepped outside, then looked back at her bathrobe, his voice cold and low. "Don't talk to men in a bathrobe again."

She froze.

Her pure, innocent eyes stared at him for two seconds before she quickly understood what he meant and hurriedly tugged at her bathrobe collar.

"I... I don't normally dress like this. Tonight was a special situation."

Zhou Yancheng said nothing more, turned, and headed for the elevator.

Only after watching him step into the elevator did she close the door. She leaned back against it and glanced down at her bathrobe.

She felt a little humiliated...

She used to really want to know what kind of person she was in Zhou Yancheng's eyes. Later, after he got together with Jiang Wei, Song Yushu realized Zhou Yancheng never saw her at all.

Now she felt like she was just a loose woman in his eyes.

Song Yushu straightened up and walked toward the living room, muttering to herself, "Whatever. I'm just an insignificant person."