Chapter 22: Slept all night at the sponsor’s house

Dazed and muddled through the wind and rain all night, Lu Weizhu regained consciousness to find the rain had already stopped.  

“Hiss…What happened to me…?”  

Her head throbbed painfully, her body was limp beyond belief, and Lu Weizhu’s memory was stuck at the café, just before Ning Wan appeared.  

“D…”  

Panting, Lu Weizhu pressed against the soft mattress and slowly sat up.  

“So uncomfortable…”  

It felt as if she had been run over by a car.

Lu Weizhu bit her lower lip.  

Her blurred vision gradually cleared, and she slowly made out her surroundings.  

“This is…Ning Wan’s house!?”  

Her memory still hadn’t returned, and Lu Weizhu was confused—why was she here?

And where had Ning Wan gone?  

She looked around, but didn’t see that infuriating figure anywhere. 

Lu Weizhu couldn’t figure it out no matter how she thought about it.  

“Mm…What’s this?”  

She wobbled to the edge of the bed and sat down. 

The Fever Patch on her forehead slipped off, still warm to the touch.  

Looking at the thing in her hand, Lu Weizhu was at a complete loss.  

She touched her head—her Cat Ear Hair Clip was nowhere to be found.  

The Maid Uniform she wore was a bit wrinkled, and Lu Weizhu’s face scrunched up like a steamed bun.  

“How long…has it been?”  

Still unable to figure out why she was here, Lu Weizhu slowly stood up.  

After taking the Fever Medicine and sleeping through the night, her body was a bit better, but her steps were still unsteady, as if she might collapse at any moment.  

“Ugh…My legs are so sore…”  

She didn’t want to think about what she had experienced. 

Anyway, anything involving Ning Wan was unlikely to be good.  

Lu Weizhu lowered her head and left the bedroom.  

“Yo, Little Kitten is awake?”  

As soon as she stepped out of the bedroom, Lu Weizhu saw Ning Wan.  

Dressed in a thin robe, Ning Wan held a book in her hand.  

Her tone was teasing, but surprisingly not sharp. 

Still, it annoyed Lu Weizhu all the same.  

“Miss Ning, why…am I here?”  

Lu Weizhu asked, pressing her hand to her forehead.  

For a moment, there was no reply. 

Ning Wan seemed a bit unaccustomed to Lu Weizhu’s serious tone.  

She really preferred last night’s fragile appearance.  

“You really don’t remember?”  

Ning Wan crooked a finger.  

“Remember what? Um…”  

Watching Ning Wan’s beckoning finger, Lu Weizhu took a few steps back, her face flushing red.  

Silent, Ning Wan looked at the now-serious Lu Weizhu and felt bored. 

Originally, she was quite curious to see Lu Weizhu’s embarrassed reaction after recalling her own wild behavior from last night. 

Even though she would have to tell her eventually, it was always more fun to let her remember on her own. 

At the same time, Ning Wan thought Lu Weizhu was rather stupid.  

“So dumb, probably drugged and still clueless the next day.”  

Ning Wan shook her head.  

Lu Weizhu tugged at her skirt, her mood soured.  

Of course, probably no one cared about her feelings.  

“You had a fever yesterday and were so out of it you didn’t even know up from down. Your boss said we were friends and asked me to take you home.”  

Ning Wan closed her book.  

“Little Kitten, how come I never knew you and I were friends?”  

Ning Wan smiled, looking at Lu Weizhu with a leisurely air.  

Being stared at with that half-smiling, half-not look, as if she were being roasted over a fire, Lu Weizhu didn’t know what to say.  

Hadn’t she told Yun Jie that her relationship with Ning Wan was bad? 

Why would Yun Jie think they were friends?  

It was impossible to understand Bai Yun’s way of thinking, but for Lu Weizhu, the more urgent matter was to answer Ning Wan’s question.  

“Um, I…I’m sorry.”  

Unable to come up with a reasonable explanation, Lu Weizhu could only apologize hastily.  

“Let’s just say it was for my vanity.”  

Anyway, in Ning Wan’s eyes, she was just a gold-digger.  

“Miss Ning, I’ll be leaving now.”  

Feeling downcast, Lu Weizhu headed toward the living room door.  

“Wait.”  

Ning Wan called out to her.  

“Last night you chased after me calling me ‘Mom’, saying you’d do anything—how come you’re so cold today?!”  

With a half-smile, Ning Wan clearly wanted to see Lu Weizhu’s humiliated expression.  

“……!?”  

Frozen in place, Ning Wan’s words lit the fuse, and the lost memories flashed through Lu Weizhu’s mind one after another.  

Apologizing to Ning Wan, being cared for by her, and—most humiliating of all—mistaking her for someone else.  

Standing there, Lu Weizhu’s temperature skyrocketed, her face turned bright red, and she hung her head, feeling as if smoke would start rising from her scalp.  

“……….”  

Tongue-tied, Lu Weizhu had never felt so awkward in her life.  

This was even more embarrassing than the first time she met Ning Wan, by countless times over.  

She almost wanted to dig a hole in the floor with her toes and hide in a three-bedroom apartment. 

Just thinking about how she had knelt in front of Ning Wan last night, clutching her leg and begging, made her want to strangle herself.  

After a long while, Lu Weizhu took a deep breath and sniffled.  

“Miss Ning, last night was just an accident. I’m very sorry for losing control because of my own issues and causing you trouble. Please, could you not—”  

Lu Weizhu tried to move on from the incident with dignity.  

She looked at Ning Wan seriously.  

“Could you please forget about it?”  

There was a pleading note in her voice, and Lu Weizhu clenched the hem of her skirt with both hands.  

She really didn’t know how to face Ning Wan after this.  

“Forget what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  

Feigning ignorance, Ning Wan looked at the girl desperately trying to act proper, intent on teasing Lu Weizhu a little more.  

The favor had already been repaid, so now she owed Lu Weizhu nothing, and could do as she pleased.  

“Miss Ning…”  

Lu Weizhu couldn’t say another word.  

“The favor for that day you called someone to send me home is already repaid, Mistress. From now on, our relationship will be just as it should be. You can go now.”  

Ning Wan sat up straight.  

Her use of that title successfully crushed any remaining desire in Lu Weizhu to keep pleading.  

“I…understand…”  

Nodding slowly, Lu Weizhu left, moving awkwardly, arms and legs in sync.  

The living room door opened and closed, and Lu Weizhu disappeared from Ning Wan’s sight.  

“…Delicious.”  

Ning Wan was still savoring Lu Weizhu’s look of disappointment after her request was rejected and she was humiliated.  

Especially with that lingering blush on her face, the mix of emotions made her expression especially delightful.  

Ning Wan recalled again the scene of sleeping with Lu Weizhu last night.  

That girl kept calling her ‘Mom’, so restless, tossing and turning—she only settled down after being properly taught a lesson.  

“She’s much cuter when she’s all soft and clingy.”  

Ning Wan reopened the thick book on her lap. 

Its title: Pet Training Manual.  

“Maybe, I should look into her background.”  

Last night’s experience made Ning Wan realize Lu Weizhu’s family situation wasn’t great.  

But realization was one thing; Ning Wan still felt no pity for Lu Weizhu. 

After all, she’d given her so much money—having a little fun at her expense couldn’t really be called bullying, right?  

Without her, where could Lu Weizhu get that kind of money?  

Ning Wan smiled and shook her head.  

On the other side, Lu Weizhu left the Villa and walked alone down the main road.  

“How is it already twelve o’clock? I’m done for…”  

She wore a mournful expression—not only was she late for work, but there was no way to explain things to Lu Weiyu either.  

She had run into another big problem.  

“…Damn illness.”  

She kicked at the air a couple of times and hurried off to find a taxi.