Don't Make Me Wait a Year Too

Li Zhiyi was taken aback.

Zhang Guifang was also stunned for a moment.

The words were out before she even realized what she'd said. But looking at this girl who had flown three hours in the middle of the night with her worthless son without shedding a single tear from start to finish, Zhang Guifang couldn't bear to let her suffer more heartbreak because of her son either.

"Auntie, it's not convenient for me—"

"What's not convenient about it?" Zhang Guifang cut her off. "It's past four in the morning. Where are you, a girl alone, supposed to find a hotel? Our place is small, but you can still rough it for one night."

Chen Zhi sat in his wheelchair, his head buzzing.

He glanced at the Lin family door next door, then at his own mother.

"Mom..."

"Shut up." Zhang Guifang shot him a glare without kindness. "I'm talking to Zhiyi."

Li Zhiyi hesitated for a moment before saying,

"Auntie, I really can just take a cab—"

"I'm not comfortable with you taking a cab to a hotel at this hour." Zhang Guifang pushed the wheelchair toward their own front door without looking back. "Come on, don't dawdle."

Li Zhiyi stood still for a few seconds before finally following.

When Chen Jun saw Chen Zhi in the wheelchair and Li Zhiyi standing beside him, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"How'd you get back?"

"Flew back."

"Flew?"

"Private jet."

Once inside, Zhang Guifang turned on the living room light.

A two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment, neatly kept.

Zhang Guifang went to the bedroom and brought out a clean comforter, laying it on the sofa.

"Zhiyi, make do for the night."

Li Zhiyi took the comforter.

"Thank you, Auntie."

Zhang Guifang then fetched a new towel and handed it to her.

"The bathroom's at the end of the hallway. The water heater switch is the red button on the left."

Li Zhiyi nodded.

After giving these instructions, Zhang Guifang turned to look at Chen Zhi, who had been helped onto the bed by Chen Jun.

She stood at the doorway, seeming to want to say something but holding back.

In the end, she only left one sentence.

"Get some sleep first."

The door closed.

The living room fell quiet.

Li Zhiyi sat on the edge of the sofa, listening to Zhang Guifang whispering to Chen Jun in the next bedroom. She couldn't make out the words clearly, but occasional phrases like "worthless" and "what a disaster" slipped through.

She picked up her phone and opened the photo album.

The latest photo was taken two days ago at Wanliu Academy. Chen Zhi was sitting on the sofa, his left leg propped on the coffee table, a pair of chopsticks dangling from his mouth as he directed her to bring the soup over.

In the photo, he was still smiling.

Li Zhiyi stared at it for a while, locked the screen, and placed the phone face-down on the coffee table.

She didn't cry. Not from start to finish.

And she never would.

Chen Zhi lay in bed and pulled out the little box Lin Wanwan had given him from his pocket.

He turned the box over and over in his hands, but ultimately didn't open it. He put it back.

"If you open it, I will never see you again."

Just then, his phone buzzed.

It was a message from Dai Damao.

【Zhi ge, did you get back safe? There might be a supply chain issue on the Meizu side.】

Chen Zhi read it and replied.

【Talk tomorrow.】

Dai Damao responded instantly.

【Okay Zhi ge, get some rest. Oh, by the way, President Pei logged into the company intranet once this afternoon. She checked the financial report for about fifteen minutes and then logged out.】

She'd returned her shares, emptied her office, blocked him on WeChat—and she was still sneaking onto the intranet in the middle of the night to look at financial reports.

【Got it.】

Then he opened his text messages and scrolled to the two sent by Pei Ningshuang from an unknown number.

"Don't actually run yourself into the ground. No one's coming to collect your corpse."

Chen Zhi stared at this message and typed a line in the input box.

【I'm home. Were you checking the financial report today?】

He waited a long time but got no reply. She probably wasn't going to answer.

Chen Zhi placed the phone on his chest and closed his eyes.

After tossing and turning for over ten minutes, he still couldn't sleep. He sat up, leaning on the edge of the bed.

Using his crutches, he carefully shuffled to the door and opened it a crack.

In the living room, Li Zhiyi was curled up on the sofa, the comforter pulled up to her chin, her back to him.

Her breathing was steady, as if she were asleep.

Just as Chen Zhi was about to close the door, Li Zhiyi suddenly turned over.

"Why are you up?"

Chen Zhi leaned against the doorframe.

"Can't sleep."

Li Zhiyi sat up, the comforter slipping to her waist.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Chen Zhi was silent for a moment.

"Zhiyi, do you regret it?"

Li Zhiyi was taken aback.

"Regret what?"

"Being with me."

The living room was dark, with only the dim light of streetlamps coming through the window.

Li Zhiyi sat in the shadows for a few seconds.

"Do you want the truth?"

"Yeah."

"Sometimes I do."

Chen Zhi's throat tightened.

Li Zhiyi continued.

"Like today. When you made me wait downstairs while you went up to apologize to her."

"Standing there, I actually felt really awful."

"Not because you went to see her."

"But because I realized I even had to fight for the right to be jealous."

Chen Zhi's crutches tapped lightly against the floor.

"But I don't regret it."

"Why not?"

"Because regret doesn't help. I've already fallen for you."

Li Zhiyi said this with such a calm tone that it left Chen Zhi unsure how to respond.

She lay back down and pulled the comforter up again.

"Go back to sleep. You need to take your meds tomorrow."

Chen Zhi stood there for a moment.

"Zhiyi."

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

Li Zhiyi didn't answer.

After more than ten seconds, a very soft voice came from the sofa.

"If you really want to thank me, don't make me wait a year too."

Chen Zhi's mouth opened, but in the end he said nothing and closed the door.

He lay back down in bed.

Outside the window, the sky was lightening.

The dawn in Jiangcheng came a little earlier than in Beijing.

From downstairs came the faint sounds of a breakfast stall being set up.

Chen Zhi's mind was a tangled mess.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard slight noises coming from the kitchen.

Someone was boiling water.

Chen Zhi cracked an eye open and checked the time.

Five forty in the morning.

He struggled to sit up, grabbed his crutches, and hobbled over to the kitchen door.

Li Zhiyi was wearing Zhang Guifang's apron, cracking eggs at the stove.

On the cutting board beside her, the scallions were already chopped.

Hearing the noise, she turned her head and looked back.

"Go back to bed."

"What are you doing?"

"Making breakfast for Auntie." Li Zhiyi poured the egg mixture into a bowl and stirred it. "They let me stay the night. I can't just freeload."

Chen Zhi leaned against the doorframe, watching her busy herself in the kitchen.

Her hair was tied up in a casual ponytail, revealing a sliver of the nape of her neck.

"Zhiyi."

"Yeah."

"Don't be so good to me anymore."

Li Zhiyi didn't stop stirring the eggs.

"That's not for you to decide."