Incompetent Wife

It was 5:00 AM.

The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the light in the Wangjing hotel room was dim.

Chen Zhi opened his eyes, feeling a bit drained. He stared at the ceiling for a dozen seconds before slowly sitting up.

Beside him, Lin Wanwan was still sleeping soundly.

She was wrapped up in the blanket, revealing only a clean, makeup-free face and half of her fair shoulder. There were a few distinct red marks on her shoulder, traces left from last night.

Chen Zhi quietly lifted the blanket and got out of bed.

As soon as his feet hit the floor, he stepped on a piece of clothing. Taking two more steps, he saw a skirt, socks, and his own shirt with torn-off buttons scattered on the ground.

Last night had indeed been quite wild.

Chen Zhi bent down to pick up the clothes one by one, draping them over the single sofa nearby.

He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, opened the curtains a crack, and looked at the empty street outside. His mind began to ponder a very important matter.

He needed to get Lin Wanwan a belated birthday gift.

Yesterday, he had been running around non-stop, receiving and reciprocating gifts from Pei Ningxue and Li Zhiyi. But he had completely forgotten that his birthday was the exact same day as Lin Wanwan's. He had to make up for it immediately.

What would be a good gift?

Chen Zhi scratched his head, feeling this was more mentally exhausting than starting a business.

A bag? A watch? A car?

All too cliché.

Lin Wanwan came from a wealthy family to begin with, and now she was a big star. She wouldn't care about these materialistic things at all.

For a hopeless romantic like Lin Wanwan, what she wanted was emotional value.

It was romance.

It was the kind of sense of ceremony that would move her to tears, making her hug him and cry.

Chen Zhi sighed.

He really couldn't think of a good gift.

He turned and walked to the nightstand, picked up his phone, and prepared to search online for most romantic gifts for girls.

The screen lit up.

A 99+ notification instantly popped up on the top right corner of the WeChat icon.

Chen Zhi opened WeChat.

The screen was filled with messages from Pei Ningxue.

The timestamps ran intermittently from 11:00 PM last night all the way to 3:00 AM.

[Chen Zhi, what is the meaning of this?]

[You didn't come back at eight, did you really die out there?]

[Who did you go look for? That singer or that law student?]

[I spent so much money and energy to celebrate your birthday, cooked for you, bought you a watch, and you just eat, wipe your mouth, and turn around to accompany another woman?]

[Speak! Playing dead, are we!]

[You are dead.]

[Chen Zhi, let me tell you, if you don't give me an explanation today, don't even think about touching me for the rest of your life.]

[Chen Zhi, you just wait!]

[Heh.]

[Fine, you are tough.]

[I want to see how long you can hide.]

[Don't bother coming back.]

[I changed the door password.]

Chen Zhi read the messages with a complex expression.

In the latter half of the night, he and Lin Wanwan had entered a hidden storyline, and his phone was left on the living room coffee table completely ignored. So, he hadn't replied to a single one of these messages.

Pei Ningxue had been raging impotently all by herself for three and a half hours.

Chen Zhi could imagine the scene: Pei Ningxue sitting on the bed in her pajamas, gritting her teeth while sending messages. Sending one, waiting thirty seconds with no reply, and then sending another. The more she sent, the angrier she got; the angrier she got, the more she sent.

Like a helpless wife.

Chen Zhi felt a twinge of guilt, but he didn't have time to coax her right now. He had to solve the issue of Lin Wanwan's gift first.

Women know women best. A wealthy, beautiful woman of Pei Ningxue's caliber had high standards and picky tastes. Whatever she found romantic, Lin Wanwan would definitely fall for too.

Chen Zhi sent a message.

[Awake.]

As soon as the message was sent, "The other party is typing..." immediately appeared at the top of the screen.

Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow.

This woman actually woke up this early?

[You still know how to wake up? Why didn't you just die outside?]

Chen Zhi completely ignored her anger and cut straight to the chase.

[Let me ask you something.]

[If I wanted to give you a gift, what do you think would be romantic and something you would like?]

Over at the Wanliu luxury apartments, Pei Ningxue, sporting dark circles under her eyes, stared at her phone screen. She froze for a moment, then let out a cold laugh.

Now he knows he is wrong?

Wants to buy a gift to coax me?

Too late!

Pei Ningxue poked her screen forcefully, full of pride and resentment.

[?]

[Heh, a scumbag like you giving me any gift now is useless.]

[Even if you sent me 9,999 fresh flowers to cover the entire room and got down on one knee to propose right now, I still wouldn't forgive you!]

Chen Zhi looked at these few lines of text on the screen.

9,999 fresh flowers.

Covering the entire room.

He slowly nodded.

So women all like this kind of stuff.

Although Pei Ningxue said "Even if... I wouldn't," Chen Zhi had seen this kind of sentence structure too many times across his two lifetimes.

Translated into plain speech, it meant: I want this, but you don't deserve it. If you actually give it to me, I might consider forgiving you.

However, this gift wasn't for Pei Ningxue.

[So you like flowers.]

[Then where in Beijing has the freshest flowers? I want high-end ones.]

Seeing this message, Pei Ningxue felt her anger subside just a little bit.

At least this bastard had some conscience and knew to buy the best.

[Miss Huajian.]

[Their roses are all air-freighted in, the best quality.]

Seeing the shop name, Chen Zhi nodded in satisfaction.

[Alright, this shop it is.]

[Help me order 9,999 roses, the kind that covers the whole room. Deduct the money from my card.]

After sending this, Chen Zhi conveniently tapped WeChat's location sharing feature.

[[Location Share: Wangjing XX Hotel]]

[I sent you the address. You have a wide network in Beijing, so please help me expedite it. Have them deliver it before 8 AM.]

The message was sent.

The other side instantly went dead silent.

The "The other party is typing..." prompt flashed for a second, then disappeared.

Flashed again, and disappeared again.

Chen Zhi waited for half a minute but saw no reply.

[Where are you? Do me a favor, I can't leave here right now.]

This time, a red exclamation mark appeared next to the message Chen Zhi sent.

Followed by a line of small gray text below.

The message has been sent but rejected by the receiver.

Chen Zhi looked at that red exclamation mark and stroked his chin.

Tsk.

Her temper is really getting bigger and bigger, she won't even do me a favor.

Since Pei Ningxue wouldn't help, he had to do it himself.

Chen Zhi opened his browser and searched for Miss Huajian.

The webpage that popped up was designed with a very premium feel. Chen Zhi directly dialed the order hotline listed on it.

Hello, this is Miss Huajian. How can I help you? The customer service representative's voice was sweet.

I want to order flowers. Chen Zhi lowered his voice and walked to the window. I want red roses.

Certainly, sir. How many would you like? We have packages of 99 and 520 roses, with exquisite packaging...

9,999.

S-sir, how many did you say?

Nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine. Chen Zhi repeated. I want them to cover an entire hotel room. The address is Room 501, Wangjing XX Hotel.

The customer service rep drew in a sharp breath.

"Sir, this quantity is simply too large. We might not have enough in stock at this store, so we'll need to urgently transfer stock from our other branches or even the main warehouse. Also... the price will be quite high."

"Money is not an issue. I only have one requirement: the flowers must be delivered to the hotel and arranged within two hours."

"This..." The customer service representative had clearly never handled such a massive order before. "I'll ask the store manager right away! Please hold on a moment!"

Chen Zhi hung up the phone.

Done.

He tossed his phone back onto the nightstand and turned to the bathroom to wash up.

The flower shop would need time to transfer the stock and set up. By the time Lin Wanwan woke up, she would be greeted by a room full of roses.

Wasn't this way better than gifting some designer bag?

Chen Zhi came out of the bathroom after washing his face. Drying his hands, he glanced at his phone again.

The flower shop had replied.

"Hello sir, we are currently gathering the 9,999 red roses. They are expected to arrive at the hotel around 7:30 AM, and we will have dedicated staff come up to arrange them. Would you like to add any baby's breath or eucalyptus leaves?"

Chen Zhi replied, "No need, just the roses. Just cover the whole place with them," and tossed his phone back onto the nightstand.

On the bed, Lin Wanwan rolled over. The blanket slipped down a bit, revealing her smooth back and a faint red mark on her shoulder blade.

Chen Zhi walked over and tucked the blanket back around her.

Lin Wanwan mumbled something, shrinking deeper into the covers, but didn't wake up.

Chen Zhi sat on the edge of the bed and began to calculate his next moves.

The flowers would arrive at 7:30, and the setup would take at least half an hour, so it should be done around 8:00. Lin Wanwan had been up tossing and turning so late last night, she would probably sleep until at least 9:00.

The timing was perfect.

When she woke up and pushed open the bedroom door, her eyes would be filled with red roses, 9,999 of them, covering everything from the floor to the coffee table, trailing from the sofa to the windowsill.

A hopeless romantic like Lin Wanwan would absolutely cry her eyes out.

Chen Zhi was incredibly satisfied with his plan.

He got dressed, tiptoed out of the bedroom, and gently closed the door behind him.

The living room still bore the traces of last night, deflated balloons, crooked ribbons, and that guitar leaning against the sofa. The cake box was open, leaving only a few smudges of cream inside.

Chen Zhi tidied up the things on the coffee table, put the guitar away, and threw the deflated balloons into the trash bag.

If they were going to cover the place in flowers, he had to make some room.

Halfway through cleaning, his phone rang again.

It was a call from Pei Ningxue.

Chen Zhi hesitated for two seconds before answering.

"Hello—"

"Chen Zhi."

Pei Ningxue's voice was unnervingly calm.

A chill ran down the back of Chen Zhi's neck.

Based on his combined experience over two lifetimes, the calmer a woman sounded, the bigger the disaster.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to confirm something."

"Go ahead."

"Did you just ask me to help you order 9,999 roses to be delivered to Room 501 at the XX Hotel in Wangjing?"

Crap.

He had accidentally sent the location and request to Pei Ningxue.

Pei Ningxue wasn't an idiot. She could figure out whose hotel room this was with her eyes closed.

"Well..."

"You asked your girlfriend to help you order flowers for another woman?"

"No—"

"Chen Zhi, do you think I, Pei Ningxue, have a particularly good temper?"

"Listen to me, let me explain—"

"No need to explain."

Pei Ningxue's tone remained perfectly calm.

"I've already ordered them for you."

Chen Zhi froze.

"What?"

"9,999 roses, right? I ordered them for you. It just took one phone call."

Chen Zhi couldn't process this for a moment. "You ordered them for me?"

"Mhm. Though I made a slight change."

"Changed what?"

"The color of the flowers."

Chen Zhi had a feeling this was definitely not a good thing.

"What color?"

"White."

"...White roses?"

"White chrysanthemums."

"Pei Ningxue!"

"9,999 white chrysanthemums are currently on their way." A hint of a smile finally crept into Pei Ningxue's voice. "Being delivered to Room 501 at the XX Hotel in Wangjing, signed by Chen Zhi."

"Are you crazy?!"

"I'm crazy?" Pei Ningxue finally dropped the act. "Chen Zhi, last night you ate the longevity noodles I made for you, accepted the Patek Philippe watch I gave you, kissed me, told me 'I love you, Pei Ningxue,' and then turned around and ran to another woman's hotel room to spend the night. And this morning you actually asked me to help you order flowers for her?!"

"Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?!"

Chen Zhi pulled the phone a couple of centimeters away from his ear.

"I'm really trying to explain—"

"Explain my ass!"

"Pei Ningxue, please calm down—"

"I am calm! I'm incredibly calm right now! I just wanted to tell you that your 9,999 white chrysanthemums will arrive in twenty minutes! You'd better intercept them before they get there, otherwise, when your little girlfriend wakes up and sees a room full of funeral flowers, what kind of reaction do you think she'll have?"

"Pei Ningxue! Cancel it right now!"

"I can't cancel it, they're already loaded on the trucks."

"You—"

"Oh, right, I also canceled the 9,999 red roses you ordered yourself. Miss Huajian has limited stock in all of Beijing. I intercepted the red ones and swapped them all out for white ones. Even if you try to reorder now, you won't be able to get them."

This woman was absolutely ruthless.

"Give me ten minutes." Chen Zhi took a deep breath. "Within ten minutes, I will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation. But right now, you need to stop those trucks full of chrysanthemums immediately."

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm begging you, okay? Pei Ningxue, Boss Pei, Miss Pei, I am begging you."

The other end of the line went quiet for a few seconds.

"I want to hear you say something out loud."

"Say what?"

"Say 'Pei Ningxue is the best woman in the whole world, and I, Chen Zhi, do not deserve her.'"

"..."

"Are you going to say it or not? If you don't, I'm hanging up, and the chrysanthemums will be there in twenty minutes."

Chen Zhi gritted his teeth.

"Pei Ningxue is the best woman in the whole world, and I, Chen Zhi, am worse than a dog! Happy now?!"

A soft chuckle finally came from the other end of the line.

"Fine, I'll have the drivers take the flowers back."

Chen Zhi let out a long breath. His back was completely drenched in sweat.

"But—"

Chen Zhi's heart leaped into his throat again.

"I'm not going to give you the red roses either," Pei Ningxue added leisurely. "If you want to give her flowers, figure it out yourself."

Click.

The call ended.

The 9,999 red roses had been intercepted, and the flower shop's entire inventory had been wiped out by a single phone call from Pei Ningxue. The chrysanthemums had been stopped, sure, but now he was left with absolutely nothing.

Chen Zhi paced back and forth in the living room, pulling at his hair.

It was currently 6:30 AM. Lin Wanwan was so exhausted last night, she would sleep until 9:00 at the absolute latest.

That gave him two and a half hours, tops.

Buy from another flower shop? Since Pei Ningxue had put her foot down, she had probably already warned every high-end florist in Beijing. Chen Zhi never doubted this woman's execution skills and financial power.

...

Everyone go to sleep for now, you'll definitely see an update tomorrow morning.