I'm busy.
He never expected that one day he would actually hear these two words "I'm busy" from her mouth. In the darkness of the night, Shen Han stood by the window and laughed.
It was a feeling he couldn't describe at the moment, as if something that had been placed in the room suddenly grew legs one day and ran out on its own.
That feeling was extremely unpleasant.
Shen Han's eyes darkened, and he irritably tugged at his tie, heading to the bathroom for a shower. He needed some time to cool down, to really think about what kind of pills Su Shu had taken to treat him like this after just a short month.
The girl who had always been chasing after him, telling him "Shen Han, I like you," now seemed to live only in his memory.
That day, in her eyes, he saw a kind of gaze that was very alien to him.
Alien?
The hot water poured over his hair, and Shen Han's eyes suddenly opened amidst the steam.
Yes, it was alien!
Su Shu's gaze seemed to be looking at him from a very distant place, no longer the excitement she could not hide in the past, and Shen Han furrowed his brows.
He did not like this feeling.
*
After hanging up the phone, Su Shu went next door to check on Xiao'ai's sleep and cover her with the blanket before leaving the room.
Having hung up on Shen Han and refused his request, she knew Shen Han well; a man with inborn arrogance. Treating him that way, he would certainly not let it go. Su Shu gave a wry smile, deciding to put this matter out of her mind.
What could he do if he didn't let her off? At worst, she would suffer a bit, but the apocalypse was coming. She wasn't afraid of him. She worried instead that by that time, he would be overwhelmed himself.
She felt the issue with Shen Han wasn't serious, so she didn't take it to heart and went to wash up before bed.
Early the next morning, she took Xiao'ai with her, drove the car, and headed to the grain and oil market.
Carrying Xiao'ai, Su Shu moved through the market. Xiao'ai's little arms clung tightly around her, but her eyes were busily looking around, which Su Shu found amusing.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and with such lively eyes as Xiao'ai's, how could she possibly have the serious psychological issues that the orphanage director spoke of? Su Shu felt that Xiao'ai's silence must be due to her thoughts.
She wondered if it was due to something inherently good in her family or a sense of trust brought about by their blood connection.
Su Shu always thought Xiao'ai was very smart.
Because she had seen many times that Xiao'ai was very inventive when playing games at home, creating a variety of fun from the toys Su Shu bought for her.
Watching from the side, Su Shu herself found it fascinating; she could never have come up with that. From this, she believed that although Xiao'ai didn't speak, she was definitely not a foolish child.
Early in the morning, the farmers' market was filled with various scents floating through the chilly air.
The morning was damp and cold, so she dressed extra warmly today and carried Xiao'ai straight to the grain section first.
In the morning, the shops were almost all dealing with wholesale customers. Someone like Su Shu, carrying a child, was left to stroll freely as the owners and workers didn't go out of their way to serve her; after all, the big deals mattered more.
It didn't bother Su Shu. Carrying Xiao'ai, she moved deeper into the market, stepping aside for the incoming customers now and then, asking prices as she walked. Almost a full circle through, she had a rough understanding of both the wholesale and retail prices of all the grains, silently calculating how much she would need.
With the three million in hand, if she went by what she had experienced in her previous life, she and her little Xiao'ai could stockpile around a million's worth of grain and make it through the apocalypse with plenty to spare. She even felt that some would be left to trade with others or to get things done.