A few peaceful days passed. Then Mo Liang picked a time to go out and pick up the birthday gift he’d prepared for Shen Zhiyi. When he got home, he carefully set up the room for her birthday.
The Small Cakes sat in the center of the table, with the gift box placed neatly beside them.
After finishing everything, he couldn’t help thinking how unusually quiet these past few days had been.
Xu Lingxue, Jiang Qing, Zheng Xianyun—those three bitches hadn’t sent him a single message. Great. Just great!
But even though he stuck to Shen Zhiyi every day, she’d grown colder toward him. She didn’t touch him anymore, and barely spoke to him.
Did she hate him now?
No, she couldn’t.
Mo Liang looked at everything he’d carefully prepared on the table and took a deep breath.
Shen Zhiyi would be so happy when she got home and saw this, wouldn’t she?
He glanced at his Cellphone. It was almost ten o’clock. Why wasn’t Shen Zhiyi home yet?
Had something held her up?
That was true. People had to work overtime sometimes. He tamped down his unease and kept waiting at the table. After a while, the door finally opened, and someone else came in behind Shen Zhiyi.
Zheng Xianyun?!
Mo Liang’s pupils contracted. Why was she here?
“Is this a birthday surprise for our Zhiyi?”
Zheng Xianyun glanced at the table, her voice full of amusement.
Shen Zhiyi was clearly a little surprised too, her gaze settling on the small birthday cake.
“Mm…” Mo Liang answered quietly, his eyes darting toward Zheng Xianyun.
“Oh, what a shame.”
“Our Zhiyi already celebrated her birthday with everyone today.”
Zheng Xianyun tilted her head, smiling with lazy malice. Mo Liang froze and stared at Shen Zhiyi in disbelief.
Shen Zhiyi gave a slight nod.
It felt as if someone had crushed his heart.
He’d spent so long preparing and waiting. Why… why hadn’t she told him sooner? Was he really so unworthy of an invitation?
“I’m going to take a shower.”
Shen Zhiyi acted as if she hadn’t noticed Mo Liang’s expression and turned toward the bathroom.
Only Mo Liang and Zheng Xianyun remained in the living room.
“Happy birthday, Shen Zhiyi?”
Zheng Xianyun sat down by the table without asking, picked up the little card beside the cake with interest, and read the words aloud in a teasing tone.
“You put a lot of thought into this.”
“Let go! Don’t touch my stuff!”
Mo Liang was already furious, and Zheng Xianyun had gone out of her way to provoke him. He rushed over to snatch the card back, but Zheng Xianyun grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back, pinning him to the Sofa.
Zheng Xianyun leaned over him, lowering her voice.
“You’d better not shout.”
She moved close to Mo Liang’s ear and spoke slowly, one word at a time.
“Otherwise, I don’t want Shen Zhiyi to see those photos either.”
“What exactly do you want?”
Mo Liang’s voice wavered. He was afraid Zheng Xianyun would really show Shen Zhiyi those photos. Shen Zhiyi would hate him, the Seduction Mission would fail, and Xu Lingxue wouldn’t let him off either.
“Why don’t we have a proper talk tomorrow, Mr. Mo Liang?”
The words sent a chill down Mo Liang’s back. How could he describe it?
It was like being Obito in Naruto, meeting Minato and not even getting a word out before the other person said, “You’re Obito, aren’t you?” Who could react to that?
“I won’t keep you. I’m off.”
Mo Liang watched Zheng Xianyun leave at her leisure, then collapsed onto the Sofa and lay there without moving for a long while.
How had things ended up like this?
Just then, the bathroom door opened, and Shen Zhiyi walked out, drying her hair with a towel.
She glanced at the cake on the table and softly said, “Thank you.”
“Mm…”
Mo Liang was a little dazed. Shen Zhiyi seemed… a little shy? He hadn’t seen that expression from her in days.
“I’m sorry,” Shen Zhiyi said.
She looked at the gift box, then at the Necklace around Mo Liang’s neck, her gaze unfocused.
Ever since she’d looked through Little Yellow Hair’s Cellphone that day, she’d had a knot in her stomach.
There were so many women in his contacts.
Was she actually jealous?
And all that money—how could Little Yellow Hair have so much?
She didn’t dare think about where it had come from.
And that night he’d gotten drunk—was it because of that woman named Jiang Qing? What exactly was their relationship? Had Little Yellow Hair gotten drunk for her sake?
She remembered Little Yellow Hair’s lips sometimes being swollen, and once his mouth had been split at the corner.
She didn’t dare think too closely about any of it.
On top of that, Zheng Xianyun had Little Yellow Hair’s contact information too. Though she’d given what seemed like a reasonable explanation, what about Jiang Qing? And who was Miss Xu?
Shen Zhiyi had no idea that after Zheng Xianyun snatched Little Yellow Hair’s Cellphone that time, Mo Liang had been so scared that he deleted most of his chat history and photos.
So Shen Zhiyi had only seen the messages where Jiang Qing asked Mo Liang to meet up. Otherwise, Mo Liang really would’ve been done for. But our poor Mo Liang had no idea about any of this.
That was why Shen Zhiyi had been furious after looking through the Cellphone.
When she got back from work, she’d worn a dark expression and vented her frustration by pinning Little Yellow Hair down for a round. For the next few days, she couldn’t be bothered to pay him any attention.
Today, she’d celebrated her birthday with Liu Yun, Zheng Xianyun, and some other friends. She hadn’t even considered inviting Little Yellow Hair.
But when she saw the birthday cake and gift he’d prepared so carefully, something stirred in her heart despite herself.
When Zheng Xianyun said the birthday celebration was already over, Shen Zhiyi had felt a little uncomfortable too, but she still nodded.
She wanted to see what kind of expression Little Yellow Hair would make.
When she saw his eyes dim in an instant, she admitted to herself that her heart ached for him. But whenever she thought of Little Yellow Hair still being entangled with other women, she grew restless.
Still, she’d decided to come and apologize to Little Yellow Hair.
“This is the gift I got for you, Big Sister.”
Mo Liang walked up to Shen Zhiyi with the gift box in his hands, presenting it like a treasure.
“Mm,” Shen Zhiyi replied, her heart suddenly aching.
She didn’t know if Little Yellow Hair had smiled like that for Jiang Qing too.
It hurt so much.
Why did it hurt this much? She’d only thought of him as a substitute for Su Xiaoyou, so why was her heart such a mess?
She really didn’t know what to do anymore.
Choosing either Mo Liang or Su Xiaoyou seemed wrong now.
“Big Sister, hurry up and open it!”
Mo Liang’s voice brought her back to the moment.
Under his sparkling gaze, Shen Zhiyi opened the gift box.
Inside was an exquisite silver bracelet. Its design was simple, but the craftsmanship was fine, and it was obvious at a glance that it had cost a lot.
But at that moment, she couldn’t stop thinking about where Mo Liang had gotten the money to buy it.
Had another woman given it to him?
That made sense.
Little Yellow Hair was so cute, and he didn’t have a job.
She was only a server at Shen Zhiyi’s Restaurant. She couldn’t give him much to begin with, so had he gone to other women instead?
“It’s beautiful,” Shen Zhiyi said, forcing a smile.
In the end, she was just too useless. Had she made him feel like he couldn’t rely on her?