How We Love - Volume 2 Chapter 7
Chapter 7 – “Are you…”
After listening to Xu Zhifei’s words, Mu Xiaonian couldn’t suppress the emotions surging in his heart: he didn’t dare to imagine what would happen if Xu Zhifei really did jump off a building that day; he also didn’t expect that his words that day would affect her so much. He felt the emotions that he didn’t dare talk about intensify in his heart. He had never seen a wealthy heiress who was able to become so strong and motivated after her downfall. But he was also at a bit of a loss, it sounded like Xu Zhifei and Yi Hua didn’t break up.
Xu Zhifei gradually adapted to her work and not long after, she told Mu Xiaonian that she had been promoted to the head of her department.
Mu Xiaonian felt that there was an idiom that was not quite right, the one that said “a phoenix that has fallen into grass is not comparable to a chicken”1. He thought that this grass-fallen phoenix Xu Zhifei was still a dazzling phoenix after standing up and shaking off the dry grass on her body. She would never fall so far as to become a grass chicken. Because of this, he had always felt a sense of inferiority in front of her, whether it be when her family was thriving or when her family had fallen like the present. No matter how good his craftsmanship was now, no matter how many socialites and heiresses sought after him, in front of her, he was still that man who would blush at the most trivial things and couldn’t bring himself to talk about what he felt inside.
Mu Xiaonian calculated that his salon had been open for a while and he had a small amount saved up. He decided to buy a house. He didn’t hesitate at all in choosing the location and directly bought the apartment next to the building where Xu Zhifei worked.
The house was already furnished and he could immediately move in after paying the deposit. The day he moved in, he invited Xu Zhifei over. Xu Zhifei walked around the house and oohed and aahed at everything, as if she didn’t live in a mansion before.
Xu Zhifei lamented to Mu Xiaonian, “Xiaonian, ah, Xiaonian, you’ve become like this in the blink of an eye! This is so unexpected! When we first met, I was so arrogant and you were only a small apprentice then! Now the tables have turned, I’ve become a poor degenerate while you’re the darling of the industry. Nowadays, if I want to find you, I have to make an appointment a few days in advance!”
Mu Xiaonian blushed. But this blush was different from the previous ones. He was angry this time. “Who told you to make an appointment? Tell me and I’ll fire him right now! I’ve already told everyone in the salon, you never need to make an appointment!”
Xu Zhifei smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t be angry! Ha… you’ve changed now that you’ve become the boss, your temper’s gotten worse! No one asked me to make an appointment, I was only teasing you!” Mu Xiaonian’s expression relaxed, he really couldn’t stand others looking at Xu Zhifei as if she was inferior now that she wasn’t rich anymore.
Xu Zhifei pulled him down to drink some beer and looked around the empty living room. She said spontaneously, “Xiaonian, you have a house now, it should be time for you to find a girlfriend, right?”
Mu Xiaonian choked. “Not interested at the moment,” he said lightly.
Xu Zhifei grinned and teased him, “Are you…”
Mu Xiaonian held his breath, feeling blood rush to his brain. He feared and at the same time anticipated for her to say, “Are you in love with me?”
“… gay?!” Xu Zhifei finished the second half of the sentence.
Mu Xiaonian felt the tension leave his body. He took a drink and tried to cover up the fluctuations in his emotions and then asked, laughing, “And if I am?”
Xu Zhifei hooked her arm around his neck, “If you are then we’ll go hunt cute guys together, sis!”
Xu Zhifei guffawed afterwards. Mu Xiaonian looked at her and laughed along. He laughed, and laughed some more, suddenly feeling that today’s beer had a bitter aftertaste.