"Mr. Chu, is it quite proper to discipline your daughter at the entrance of the Feng residence?"
The voice was languid, the tone playful, as if he was a spectator watching a play, but the veiled warning was crystal clear.
Chu Liangxia also turned to look.
The young man looked to be in his mid-twenties, with a resemblance to Feng Xuanming seen just earlier, likely Feng Ziheng's brother, Feng Zichen.
Dressed impeccably, with handsome features and an air of flamboyance in every move, his peach-blossom eyes held a hint of a smile, the very image of a carefree playboy.
Clearly, both Chu Yunxiao and Lou Ruhui recognized him.
So, Lou Ruhui slightly lowered her head, avoiding Feng Zichen's gaze, while Chu Yunxiao paused for a moment, taking some time to forcibly suppress his anger.
"Let's go."
Glancing at the car that had pulled up to the entrance, Chu Yunxiao coldly spat out a single word to Chu Liangxia.
Chu Liangxia stood still.
Chu Yunxiao, having taken a step, noticed Chu Liangxia hadn't moved, and his anger flared again.
At that moment, Feng Zichen came down the stairs, standing beside Chu Liangxia, and smiled at Chu Yunxiao, "Mr. Chu, let me take your daughter home."
"Fine," Chu Yunxiao's brows twitched, he gave Chu Liangxia a warning glance, telling her to take the opportunity, and then nodded at Feng Zichen, "Thank you for the trouble."
"It's no effort at all." Feng Zichen's face was the picture of amiability.
Then, Chu Yunxiao, with Lou Ruhui, got into the car and left Chu Liangxia in someone else's care with peace of mind.
As the car drove away, Chu Liangxia's tightly clenched fists finally relaxed a bit.
She quickly pulled out a tissue from her bag, trying to dab away the constant physiological tears from her left eye.
Noticing her actions, Feng Zichen looked down, and only then did he notice her swollen cheek, which startled him and he asked reflexively, "Does it hurt?"
"It hurts!"
Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, Chu Liangxia gritted her teeth.
Damn it, she really hadn't expected Chu Yunxiao to lose his composure and hit her.
Seeing her glaring eyes full of fury, Feng Zichen was initially somewhat annoyed, but noticing the tears brimming in her left eye, he suddenly lost his temper.
Well, whatever the reason, a crying woman is always right.
"It's not my fault anyway." Feng Zichen innocently touched his nose.
"Right," Chu Liangxia nodded, echoing as if it were only natural, "blame your dad."
"..."
Feng Zichen was left speechless.
Actually, when it came down to it, it was indeed his dad's fault...
After thinking for a moment, and not arguing with her, Feng Zichen simply said, "Let's go inside first. You should ice your face."
Pulling out another tissue, Chu Liangxia vigorously wiped her left eye, finally stemming the flow of tears, but her eyes were still red and shiny with moisture.
"Handsome guy," exhaling, Chu Liangxia looked at him with a sorrowful face and spread her hands, "I care about my face too."
Feng Zichen was stunned as he watched her.
"Pfft," after a while, unable to contain his laughter, Feng Zichen was highly amused, "Alright, alright, wait here, I'll drive you home."
With that, he turned and entered the house.
Chu Liangxia just stood there, waiting obediently.
There were hardly any vehicles around, and walking out would probably take a good half an hour, not to mention the discomfort brought on by the scorching weather.
Although her current predicament was mostly due to the Feng family, there were many other factors involved, and she wasn't about to take it out on someone she had never met before.
She hadn't waited long when Feng Zichen pulled up in his flashy BMW beside her.
The passenger side window slowly rolled down, and Feng Zichen waved at her from the inside.
Chu Liangxia reached to open the door and got in directly.
Tossing her an ice pack, Feng Zichen asked bluntly, "Address?"
"Shuiyunjian, Block C," Chu Liangxia gave her address.
"Hm?"
Feng Zichen, who was about to set the navigation, glanced at her curiously.
"It's my rental place," Chu Liangxia explained.
"You just graduated this year, right?" Feng Zichen sounded surprised.
"Lucky me, I'm kept by a rich man."
Chu Liangxia said nonchalantly as she fastened her seatbelt.
"..." Feng Zichen was momentarily at a loss for words before squeezing out, "Giving you just a rent, that's pretty poor."
Chu Liangxia gave him a sideways glance, then continued to apply the ice pack to her face, not speaking again.
Feng Zichen also remained silent. After setting up the navigation, he started the car and left the mansion.
The drive was rather long, approximately one to two hours. Chu Liangxia was initially fine with applying the ice to her face, but not long after, drowsiness overcame her, and she fell asleep just like that.
She didn't even notice when the ice pack fell off.
When he had a moment, Feng Zichen picked up the ice pack and couldn't help but take a few more glances at Chu Liangxia.
A rather interesting girl; most other daughters, having been repudiated and then beaten, would probably be squatting on the ground crying their eyes out by now, yet this one acted as if nothing had happened—her mental resilience was indeed stronger than he had imagined.
However, he suddenly remembered the reason the Feng Family called off the engagement was because she had been "messing around" outside...
Being kept as a mistress, was it true or false?
While driving halfway there, Chu Liangxia's phone buzzed twice before she finally opened her eyes in annoyance.
She pulled out her phone from her bag, glanced at the remark, and then lazily answered after sliding to accept the call, "Sis, I'm busy being a filial son."
"Cough cough."
Feng Zichen, who had been paying attention to her, choked upon hearing her open with that remark.
Filial son...?
"Xiasha, I'd really like to offer my condolences, but I'm truly out of options here," Gan Mulan cried anxiously on the other end, her voice showing some urgency, "The studio is short-staffed, and they aren't satisfied with a high-quality trailer we've been working on for two days and nights. You can definitely get it done in two hours. Sister is begging you; we can discuss a good compensation... Or, does your family still need a filial son? I can come and substitute."
Chu Liangxia pressed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.
Gan Mulan was her senior, who had helped her a lot when she entered the TV station last year. Six months ago, when she left the TV station to establish her own studio specializing in video post-production, Gan Mulan would usually reach out to her when they were too busy.
Of course, the price wasn't low either.
After thinking for a moment, Chu Liangxia said helplessly, "Send me the video, and I'll get it to you by tomorrow morning."
"Thank you so much, Xiasha. Where's your house? I'll come right over to help you..."
Before she could finish, Chu Liangxia hung up the call.
She had no intention of continuing the fabricated lie and coming up with who knows how many more to cover it up.
Just then, the car encountered a red light. Feng Zichen stopped the car and turned to Chu Liangxia, raising an eyebrow, "Filial son?"
"My dad's dead," Chu Liangxia shrugged indifferently, "Just an excuse for taking leave."
"..." Feng Zichen was speechless for a moment before finally managing to squeeze out two words, "Childish."
Chu Liangxia pretended not to hear.
Unable to continue the topic, Feng Zichen could only wait for the green light and then continue driving forward.
In the following stretch of road, Chu Liangxia took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, leaving Feng Zichen, who had wanted to pry some conversation from her, unable to utter a single word.
Around two in the afternoon, Feng Zichen drove into the residential area and arrived below Building C.
"Hey..."
Just as Feng Zichen was about to call out to Chu Liangxia, he saw that she had already opened her eyes.
"Thanks."
Upon waking up, Chu Liangxia grabbed her bag, opened the car door, and stepped out.
"Wait—" Feng Zichen called out to her.
Chu Liangxia stopped her motion of closing the door.
Grabbing a baseball cap from the back seat, Feng Zichen tossed it to her, "Cover up."
Chu Liangxia reached out and caught the cap.
"Busy today?" Feng Zichen looked at her with a smile.
"Busy," Chu Liangxia nodded.
"Alright, I'll come by another day," Feng Zichen cheerfully decided, "Next time, you're treating me to a meal."
"Uhh."
Caught off guard, Chu Liangxia was about to respond when Feng Zichen forcefully stretched out his hand, snatched her phone, dialed his own number, then handed the phone back to her before unceremoniously closing the car door.
The series of baffling actions left Chu Liangxia speechlessly touching her nose.
Soon, Feng Zichen drove off.
And, just after leaving the residential area, Feng Zichen dialed a phone call.
"Bro, I've taken a fancy to your ex-fiancée," Xiaofeng squinted his eyes and said with utmost earnestness.
"..."
Click, the call was ended.
Glancing at the disconnected call, Xiaofeng chuckled ominously and then, unable to let go, continued to redial that number...