When he walked in, she was holding a wine gla.s.s and sipping from it as she sat on the hanging chair on the balcony. She was enjoying the night breeze as she flipped through a book, her days clearly relaxed.

Shen Zhining clearly didn"t come here often. The interior decoration was very simple, so once Sheng Jiaoyang had arrived, she"d rearranged her bedroom and even redecorated the living room and balcony. She"d also added a bookshelf, plants, a hanging chair, and some little puppets scattered around the living room. The puppets were recently gifted to her, but she didn"t have s.p.a.ce in the dorms. So, she"d just set them here.

The living room was no longer empty and cheerless. Instead, it was now a warm and homey area.

When Shen Zhining had entered, he almost thought that he"d gone into the wrong room. Only when he saw somebody step out did he remember that he"d agreed to let Xu Jiaojiao live here a few days ago.

“You"re back!” Sheng Jiaoyang stood up, greeting him with a smile.

Shen Zhining stared at her for a moment. n.o.body else was in the room, so she didn"t need to fawn over him. “Do you need something?”

Sheng Jiaoyang"s lips twitched, but she kept the smile on her face as she continued, “I"ve been reflecting on my actions for the past few days. I realised I haven"t done a good job acting as your fake girlfriend, and had even made other people suspicious. Therefore, I decided that from now on, I"ll work hard to act my part.”

Shen Zhining didn"t comment as he turned around to go upstairs.

After he"d washed up and went to read in the study, a knock suddenly sounded on his door. He frowned slightly and asked coldly, “What?”

Instead of waiting for his approval, the person on the other side of the door directly entered the room.

“I mixed some alcohol for you, drink it and see if it helps you sleep.” Sheng Jiaoyang smiled as she walked in with a wine gla.s.s.

“Get out!” Shen Zhining"s face darkened.

Sheng Jiaoyang thickened her skin and set the wine gla.s.s on the table. “Alright, then I"ll leave first. Good night!”

She lightly closed the door behind her.

Shen Zhining looked at the beautiful colour of the wine, and an image of Xu Jiaojiao happily sitting in the hanging chair on the balcony appeared in his mind. It"s not like he"d never seen women who liked to drink before, but this was the first time he"d seen such a self-enjoying drunkard.

When he finally reacted, the wine gla.s.s was already in his hand as he lightly sniffed it. The sweet aroma of fruit blended perfectly with the alcohol, making him feel like he was about to drool. He glanced at the door to see if she"d come back, then he took a small sip. It was like his taste buds were baptised by the wondrous flavour as the furrows between his brows relaxed.

Good flavour had the ability to make one recall the experience even when the taste had been forgotten. If they encountered a similar taste, they"d feel like something was missing and wouldn"t be able to help but long for that same flavour again.

Another day pa.s.sed with yet another banquet. It was actually still early, but for some reason, Shen Zhining told the chauffeur to go to the Northern suburbs. He entered the house and found that all the lights were off. He stood there silently for two seconds before using voice control to turn on the lights, noticing all the little puppets around the living room. He laid down on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest for a bit when he suddenly heard the door open. His breathing lightened, but he didn"t immediately open his eyes.

“How"d you fall asleep on the sofa?” he heard her mutter.

He opened his eyes and looked at the hand frozen in the air, along with the girl"s surprised expression.

“What were you going to do?” His gaze darkened.

“Uh, I saw that you looked exhausted, so I wanted to help ma.s.sage a few acupuncture points on your head.” She blinked, and to prove her words, she hastily added, “Do you want to try?”

He didn"t refuse, so Sheng Jiaoyang could only brace herself. Who told her to take advantage of him being asleep to tease him a little. Fortunately, she really did study ma.s.saging before and wouldn"t lose face.

Under the perfect amount of pressure from her soft fingers, the acc.u.mulated stress between his brows was slowly released and his expression gradually relaxed.

“Why did you only come back now?” He closed his eyes and enjoyed her soft fingers, taking the rare initiative to speak.

“Recently, a teacher targeted me for some reason. However, for the past two days at school, he"ll constantly block me and apologise, saying that I have to forgive him. I find it rather odd. If he regrets his actions so much, why did he target me in the first place? He"d even said that if I didn"t leave, he would.” Sheng Jiaoyang brought up her school.

“Did you forgive him?”

“I asked him why he targetted me in the first place, and he couldn"t answer. I"m sure there"s some other reason behind all this. If it was just him, then there wouldn"t be any need to hide the reason. So, I told him that if he won"t tell me the truth, then don"t ask for my forgiveness.”

“Mm,” he responded indifferently.

“Why aren"t you asking if he told me or not?”

“He wouldn"t say it.”

Sheng Jiaoyang was surprised and leaned closer. “How"d you know that?” Right then, Shen Zhining opened his eyes and the two locked gazes, their reflections visible in each other"s eyes.

Sheng Jiaoyang blinked and hurriedly raised her head, continuing to ma.s.sage like nothing had happened.

Shen Zhining also looked away as he said, “It"s just as you thought. If it was a personal reason, then it"d be easier to just say it and obtain your forgiveness. However, he didn"t tell you, which means that it"d probably be even worse for him if he told the truth. Everyone has moments of foolishness, but since he"s a university teacher, he still shouldn"t be that stupid.”

“When was your moment of foolishness?” Sheng Jiaoyang"s attention had clearly wandered off as she wondered what Shen Zhining"s moment of foolishness was.

Shen Zhining glanced at her and didn"t speak.

Sheng Jiaoyang pouted and didn"t say anything either.

To make them closer and tear away some of the wariness in his heart, the great and mighty Miss Sheng gave it her all and finally received a response. When they were about to sleep, she said good night and he actually reciprocated!

Although it was just a small movement like nodding his head, it was still a response. For her, it was a great start.

Sheng Jiaoyang laid on the bed and encouraged herself for a while as she texted Mei Niu about what had happened.

Lina very quickly sent back a "Good Luck!" sticker.

Sheng Jiaoyang was a bit surprised by how fast Mei Niu had replied and asked if she"d finished her work.

Lina said that they were waiting for the plane back to Rome. Immediately after, she sent another text saying that they were boarding and that they"d chat tomorrow.

Sheng Jiaoyang was originally going to ask Mei Niu what she was going to Rome for, but she had to force down her doubts and go to sleep. She still had to wake up early tomorrow to continue currying favour with the boss.

The next morning, Sheng Jiaoyang climbed out of bed with the alarm"s help and quickly cleaned up before going to prepare breakfast.

As a kitchen disaster and a master at inedible cuisine, Sheng Jiaoyang obviously couldn"t cook breakfast herself. Otherwise, not only would she fail to increase feelings, the evil boss would be poisoned to death.

Shen Zhining got dressed and came downstairs, pausing when he saw the dishes on the table.

“Good morning, Zhining!” Sheng Jiaoyang had just come in from the balcony holding a cut flower and scissors when she saw Shen Zhining. She warmly greeted him as she placed the flower in a vase.

Perfect! Sheng Jiaoyang looked at the romantic table she"d arranged. With soymilk, dough sticks, and dumplings, she was very satisfied with the result.

“Come and eat breakfast!” Sheng Jiaoyang smiled as she looked at Shen Zhining.

Shen Zhining stared at her calmly but didn"t refuse.

After eating the very family-like breakfast, she noticed Shen Zhining was about to leave and hastily came to walk him out as she asked, “Are you coming back tonight?”

Shen Zhining stopped and turned to look at her.

Sheng Jiaoyang grinned at him. “Come back and we"ll eat dinner together!”Previous ChapterNext Chapter