Volume One, Chapter 44 He suddenly asked, "Do you still want to be with Liang Muzhi?"
Xu Zhi was taken aback. “What?”
“I’m not leaving tonight,” Liang Jinmo walked over and sat at the other end of the sofa. “I’ll sleep here.”
Xu Zhi stared at him, bewildered. “Why?”
There were still teardrops clinging to her eyelashes, reflecting fragments of light beneath the lamp. Liang Jinmo’s hand tightened slightly. He wondered how he could possibly leave under such circumstances.
He said, “There’s no point in discussing work tonight. Zhou He drank too much.”
Xu Zhi thought that wasn’t really a valid reason to stay, but…
After all, he was the one who found this place for her, and she couldn’t very well throw him out now.
He would sleep on the sofa, she in the bedroom—it was much like when they shared a hotel suite before. Nothing to fuss about, yet the feeling was subtly different.
Liang Jinmo glanced at the paper bag on the coffee table. “I bought a boxed meal when I left the city. Didn’t get a chance to eat it. You can heat it up in the microwave, have something to eat.”
Because of Chen Jing, she hadn’t had a moment’s peace all afternoon. He guessed she hadn’t eaten.
The kitchen and living room were open-plan. Xu Zhi took the meal to heat it up, her chaotic thoughts gradually settling.
With Liang Jinmo here, the urge to cry had faded, and…
That sense of being abandoned by the whole world vanished with his arrival.
Having another person in the apartment—it truly felt different.
The microwave chimed, signaling it was ready. Xu Zhi opened it absent-mindedly and reached out.
“Careful!” Liang Jinmo stood up from the sofa and hurried over, but he was still too late.
The moment her fingers touched the plastic container, she recoiled in pain, gasping, nearly crying out.
Liang Jinmo frowned, grabbed her hand, and pulled her to the sink, turning the tap to cool her scalded fingers.
The icy flow soothed the burn. After a moment, Xu Zhi realized how intimate their position was.
He stood behind her, holding her right hand beneath the stream, his left arm reaching around from the other side to adjust the water.
She was enveloped in his embrace, small and delicate.
She grew tense instantly. In a flash, memories of that drunken night flooded her mind.
All other thoughts were banished. She remembered returning home that night, her insomnia, and the dream she had in the early hours.
In her dream, she lay on the sofa beneath Liang Jinmo, and this time, he really kissed her…
She hadn’t dared revisit that embarrassing dream these past days, never realizing how starved she truly was.
Her heart thudded wildly; she felt nothing of the pain in her fingertips. All her attention was drawn to where he touched her—
His hand clasped hers, the soft friction of fabric; his chest nearly pressed against her back.
She caught the cool woodsy scent mingled with faint tobacco—a fragrance that always threw her heartbeat off balance.
“Does it still hurt?” he suddenly asked.
His deep, magnetic voice sounded right beside her ear, making her skin tingle. Xu Zhi replied softly, “It’s… it’s fine.”
Liang Jinmo did not let go.
The water still flowed.
She heard him say, “You should be more careful.”
Each word vibrated in his chest, and she could feel it.
She said nothing, instinctively shrinking back—only to press closer against him.
There was nowhere else to go. She should have spoken up, told him to let her go.
But she didn’t; her mind went blank, unable to think.
He suddenly asked, “Do you still want to be with Liang Muzhi?”
That question needed no thought. She shook her head, “Of course not.”
He turned off the water with his left hand.
The room fell quiet. His grip on her hand tightened slightly as he asked, “Then would you consider someone else?”
Xu Zhi felt her right hand, where he touched her, begin to burn. She didn’t know how to answer.
Her heart raced, threatening to burst from her chest.
Just as she was wound tight, a sudden ring shattered the silence.
Liang Jinmo released her hand and stepped back.
Xu Zhi felt a subtle sense of loss, dazed for two seconds before realizing—it was her phone ringing.
She hurried to the sofa, rummaged through her bag, and found her phone.
The caller was Xu Heping.
That call yanked her back to harsh reality. She knew exactly what Xu Heping would ask at this hour—likely about how things were progressing with Liang Muzhi.
Not only had things not progressed, their relationship had deteriorated to an unprecedented low.
She didn’t answer, just switched her phone to silent.
Looking back, she saw Liang Jinmo had brought the meal over, placing it on the coffee table. Seeing she had no intention of answering, he said, “Eat something first.”
There was only one meal—after all, he hadn’t expected to find her here.
The plastic container had two layers. Xu Zhi divided the meal into two portions and pushed one toward him. “Let’s eat together.”
Liang Jinmo accepted without protest.
So the two of them sat on the sofa, sharing the boxed meal.
Dinner was quiet. Xu Zhi felt the turmoil and desolation of her afternoon gradually calm.
Once they’d tidied up, it was late. Xu Zhi prepared to wash up. As she took her toiletries from her bag, she remembered something.
Liang Muzhi still had her luggage from school. He’d promised she could take it back this time.
Washing her face in the bathroom, she looked in the mirror—her eyes were swollen again.
Liang Muzhi used to make her feel she had someone to lean on. Now, he only made her cry.
This friendship really seemed to have reached its end.
But now, calm restored, she found herself feeling oddly lucky to have met Liang Jinmo at this moment—at least she hadn’t been left with nowhere to go.
After washing, Xu Zhi greeted Liang Jinmo and went to the bedroom.
She closed the door, changed into pajamas, climbed into bed, and pulled up the covers—only then did she remember something.
Liang Jinmo was sleeping on the sofa, but he didn’t have a blanket…
After a few minutes’ indecision, she got up, opened the door, and went into the living room, seeing Liang Jinmo had finished washing up and was about to lie down on the sofa.
The sofa was tiny—barely over one and a half meters long. She guessed Liang Jinmo was a little over one eighty; sleeping here would be cramped.
She suggested, “Why don’t you take the bed, and I’ll sleep on the sofa instead?”
Liang Jinmo picked up his coat, planning to use it as a cover. “No need.”
“There is, because…” Xu Zhi gestured across the sofa, showing its length, “You’re much taller.”
Liang Jinmo froze, looking at her with a complicated expression.