Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zhao Suiyu’s usual image was cold and aloof, the kind that kept people at arm’s length. I used to think he was unbearably smug, too, but after we had a kid, that filter shattered.

Zhao Suiyu had tried to be a strict father.

He had failed.

At that moment, he was still putting on his real-dad authority. “Zhao Yue, at this hour, you should be sleeping at home, not out with your mother making trouble.”

“But I’m not sleepy, Daddy,” the little girl said with perfect logic, not forgetting to promote us to her own father. “Mommy and Auntie Nanzhi sing so well.”

And so Zhao Suiyu’s gaze shifted back to me.

I felt a little guilty. Beside me, Meng Nanzhi’s eyes darted around even more.

There was no other reason. Zhao Suiyu was two years older than us, and ever since we were young, he had been the textbook example of someone else’s perfect child. Technically, we were peers, but for some reason, Zhao Suiyu just gave off this oppressive aura.

When I was a teenager, seeing him felt a little like seeing a teacher.

Who would have thought we’d later end up sleeping in the same bed and even have a kid together?

I had overcome the pressure Zhao Suiyu brought as that perfect child from other people’s families. That did not mean Meng Nanzhi had.

The two model-handsome guys stood up, looking so stiff they might as well have been caught in an affair.

I finally asked Zhao Suiyu, “Why are you here?”

The fact that he’d ended his business trip early was already surprising enough.

Zhao Suiyu looked at me and said, expressionless, “I heard you brought your five-year-old daughter to an entertainment venue and weren’t answering your phone. I came to see just how wild you were getting.”

He had clearly chosen his words with a lot more restraint.

Judging by the way he’d entered just now, that did not seem to be what he had meant.

“How did you know I was here?”

At that, Zhao Suiyu glanced in Meng Nanzhi’s direction.

Meng Nanzhi gave a guilty smile. “I just posted a Moments update.”

Then, through gritted teeth, she quickly mumbled under her breath, “Forgot to block your husband.”

“…”

As my husband and my best friend, it was only normal that they had each other’s contact information.

Later, I went to look at the post she had made. It was a video. At first, it was a selfie of her holding little Zhao Yue. Then she turned, and the camera caught me in a black lace tube top and jeans, along with the two shockingly handsome model-looking guys dressed as butlers behind me.

She had even tagged the location.

To be honest, I couldn’t blame Zhao Suiyu for charging over like that. It really was easy to misunderstand.

Now that Zhao Suiyu was here, his presence made the two handsome guys and Meng Nanzhi a bit more reserved, but not for long.

Since the kid’s father was here to watch the kid, and I was a married woman, the two model-handsome guys both went off to sing and dance with Meng Nanzhi. During the love-song duet segment, not a single person dared sing to me.

Meng Nanzhi was probably feeling the alcohol by then and no longer cared that Zhao Suiyu was present. She had the time of her life.

When I got tired of singing, I sat down beside Zhao Suiyu.

He twisted open a bottle of mineral water and handed it to me.

“Did you just get back?” I still remembered that I was, in fact, someone’s wife. “Was the business trip tiring? Do you want to take Yueyue home to rest first?”

The little girl sitting beside Zhao Suiyu finally showed signs of her battery running low, nodding several times like a chick pecking at grain.

“No rush. We’ll wait and leave together,” he said.

Because of how Zhao Suiyu had looked when he walked in earlier, I couldn’t help feeling like he was a husband worried his wife was going to cheat.

That worry was a little unnecessary.

Although Zhao Suiyu and I had indeed come together partly for mutual benefit, Zhao Suiyu, now in his thirties, had a steady maturity about him that only time could settle into a person. And time had been generous, leaving hardly any trace on his face.

He was at a dangerously attractive age.

After this thoroughly satisfying outing came to an end, the handsome guys, who had received a generous extra tip, were more than a little flattering toward Meng Nanzhi.

“Miss, come back and have fun whenever you’re free.”

The other handsome guy had a bit of a sense of humor. “It’s been ages since I earned money this cleanly.”

After he said it, he probably realized his words could be taken the wrong way, so he added, in a very unconvincing attempt to cover it up, “Miss, that’s not what I meant. I sell my performance, not my body…”

But when it came to providing emotional value for customers, sometimes holding hands or a little physical contact was unavoidable.

The handsome guy paused, then added, a little shyly, “But if it’s you, Miss, I can.”

“…”

He looked as if he would be willing to pay her instead.

Meng Nanzhi had that kind of charm.