Chapter 73
Chapter 73
“Thanks, but I’ve been making tens of millions a month for a long time now,” Fu Zhi said irritably.
Ning Xi rubbed her hands together like a fly. “My bad. But hey, you’ll still have the chance to make over ten thousand a month in the future.”
Fu Zhi: …
He knew Ning Xi didn’t have anything good to say!
Xie Lanchen let out a snort of laughter.
Jiang Sheshe couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.
Fu Zhi looked at Xie Lanchen and Jiang Sheshe with a stern face. “Is it funny? How funny is it? Why don’t you tell me about it?”
Ning Xi was the one talking to him; what did it have to do with these two?
[Xie Lanchen and Jiang Sheshe really walked right into the line of fire. After all, Fu Zhi doesn’t dare scold Ning Xi, so he can only scold others, hahaha.]
[Am I the only one who thinks Fu Zhi’s glaring eyes look like an Angry Bird? I can’t find him scary at all, hahaha.]
[The Princess: You’re done for. I’ve put you on my list.]
Fu Zhi glared coldly at Xie Lanchen and Jiang Sheshe. With a stony face, he sent the group assignments to the Program Team, then sat in the courtyard without saying a word.
With a ding, everyone received the room assignment information for tonight.
“Youai Village Chief: Tonight’s power-holder, Fu Zhi, has assigned the houses for all guests.
House 1: Ning Xi, Fu Zhi, Wei Xuan.
House 2: Jiang Sheshe, Shen Yibai.
House 3: Ning Mingyue, Xie Lanchen.
guests, please head to your respective houses as soon as possible and arrange the rooms yourselves!”
“What the hell?” Jiang Sheshe was the first to shout when she saw the message.
Shen Yibai also frowned slightly.
When Ning Mingyue saw Xie Lanchen’s name after hers, a secret flash of joy and anticipation crossed her heart. However, her expression darkened when she saw that Shen Yibai was sharing a house with Jiang Sheshe for the second night in a row.
“Why are you in the same house as me again?” Ning Xi gave Fu Zhi a strange look.
“What? I felt like it. Is that a problem?” Fu Zhi snorted with a cold face.
[Fu Zhi is the master of saying soft things in a hard way.]
[If only your tone were a bit better…]
[If this guy just changed ‘I felt like it, is that a problem?’ to ‘I want to be in the same house as you,’ he probably wouldn’t have to cling to Ning Xi to get on this variety show.]
[The Princess: Don’t mind me. Simping for Ning Xi with a cold face is my hobby. It’s my destiny not to get the girl, I understand.]
Ning Xi shrugged. “Whatever.”
She just hadn’t expected that after the voice-activated light and cockroach medicine incidents last night, Fu Zhi would still be stubborn enough to want to share a house with her.
Oh, she seemed to have forgotten to tell Fu Zhi that the bathroom’s voice-activated light had turned red…
Seeing that Ning Xi didn’t object, the smile at the corners of Fu Zhi’s mouth became hard to suppress again.
Then, with a stiff face, he started shooing people away. “Alright, the message said everyone should head to their houses ASAP. I won’t see you out.”
As he spoke, he happened to meet Shen Yibai’s calm, emotionless eyes.
Fu Zhi felt a momentary pang of guilt.
He had originally wanted to put Shen Yibai in Ning Mingyue’s house, but later decided it was better to let Ning Mingyue stay alone with Xie Lanchen.
Besides, whether Shen Yibai stayed in the same house as Ning Mingyue or not, their feelings for each other probably wouldn’t change. He’d let him have his way this time.
The seven guests each went to their respective houses.
When Ning Xi arrived at her room, she was stunned to find Fu Zhi actually wiping her table.
“You…”
Fu Zhi’s movements froze. “I…”
“Did you do something to feel guilty about? Or did you purposely put something gross on the table?” Ning Xi made a logical deduction.
Fu Zhi’s forehead twitched, and he angrily threw the rag onto the floor.
Ning Xi slapped the table and stood up. “Throwing things in my room? Do you have a death wish?”
Fu Zhi quickly crouched down. “There was dirt on the floor! Can’t I use a rag to wipe it?!”
Then, he actually started wiping the floor with great seriousness.
Ning Xi: ?
[Fu Zhi: Guaranteed cowardice.]
Ning Xi pushed her luggage aside and sat on a chair, crossing her arms to see what kind of mischief Fu Zhi was up to.
To her surprise, after Fu Zhi finished mopping the floor, he actually left obediently.
This left Ning Xi completely baffled.
She stood up and checked the table and floor Fu Zhi had wiped. Aside from having no missed spots, there really wasn’t anything strange about them.
“…He’s definitely plotting something.”
Ning Xi pondered for a moment before reaching a conclusion.
Meanwhile, Fu Zhi was in the courtyard washing a rag, feeling exceptionally good-even a bit smug. From now on, he was Ning Xi’s most loyal servant.
He refused to believe that after growing up with Ning Xi and knowing her inside and out, he could possibly lose to Xie Lanchen in the end!
Just then, Fu Zhi’s private phone chimed.
He checked it casually, but the moment he saw the content, his smile froze.
“Ah Zhi, why did you put Yibai and Sheshe in the same house?”
Ning Mingyue and Fu Zhi had slipped away from their respective cameramen to chat in a secluded spot outside the courtyard.
Fu Zhi looked somewhat impatient. “What do you mean ‘why’? It was a random assignment.”
He finally understood why Ning Xi had been assigning things so haphazardly yesterday. These people were truly annoying, coming to interrogate him over every little thing.
Ning Mingyue hadn’t expected Fu Zhi to take such an attitude, and she was momentarily taken aback.
Her eyes reddened slightly. “Ah Zhi, I know you grew up with Xiao Xi and your bond is deeper. I suppose it’s my fault for having such a weak constitution back then. If I hadn’t gone abroad because of my illness, perhaps our relationship would be closer than it is now…”
Fu Zhi didn’t understand why Ning Mingyue was suddenly bringing this up.
However, seeing her on the verge of tears, he eventually said, “The past is the past. There’s no point in talking about it now. As long as things are good between you and Shen Yibai, that’s enough.”
Ning Mingyue forced a faint, strained smile.
“Yes, there’s no point. If I hadn’t gone abroad back then, the engagement between the Shen Family and the Ning Family wouldn’t have fallen on Xiao Xi’s shoulders…”
“The engagement wasn’t something you, Shen Yibai, or Ning Xi could decide. You can’t blame anyone for it,” Fu Zhi said with striking composure.
When Shen Yibai’s mother was terminally ill, she had indeed intended for Ning Mingyue to be his fiancée.
Unexpectedly, during that time, the Shen patriarch’s mistress and illegitimate son were exposed. Driven by fury, the mother passed away shortly after.
Coincidentally, Shen Yibai and Ning Xi were kidnapped by human traffickers and went missing.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the father brought the illegitimate son into the household, officially making him a Young Master of the Shen Family and giving him the right to become the heir.
Then, Ning Mingyue fell ill and went abroad, causing the engagement with Shen Yibai to be completely sidelined.
To everyone’s surprise, Shen Yibai and Ning Xi eventually returned unharmed.
Ning Xi’s father then took the initiative to suggest that Ning Xi take Ning Mingyue’s place in the engagement, since no one knew when Ning Mingyue would be healthy enough to return to the country.
That engagement had lasted for twelve years.
As for Fu Zhi, he had gone from being initially delighted that he, Brother Yibai, and Sister Ning Xi could be together forever, to gradually loathing the engagement. Seeing Ning Xi smile at Shen Yibai had become an eyesore.
When he realized he might actually like Ning Xi, Fu Zhi had panicked and tried to distance himself from both of them.
But it was impossible.
He couldn’t live without Ning Xi.
Years ago, from the day Ning Xi saved him, he had cared for her even earlier than Shen Yibai had.
So, Fu Zhi had begun using his own methods to set things right: as long as Ning Mingyue returned to the country, everything would return to the starting point.
And things had indeed gone as he expected…
“Ah Zhi, can you keep helping me? Lately, I feel like Yibai…” Ning Mingyue looked dejected.
Fu Zhi grew even more irritated watching her weep. Shen Yibai had already decided to break off the engagement; what else could he possibly do to help?
Right then, a young woman’s voice rang out, full of vigor.
“Well, well, Fu Zhi! You actually made Mingyue cry?”
In the next second, Ning Xi delivered a sharp smack to the back of Fu Zhi’s head. Her expression was cold and ruthless as she declared, “If you make her shed a single tear, I’ll make you bleed a whole pool! If you break my sister’s wings, I will destroy your entire paradise!”