Chapter 127: “Ridiculous”

When it came to proposing, Hou Zihao’s performance was as unsuccessful as his high school confessions.

He was too eager, so he lacked finesse. For example, his first confession was in the underground parking lot of their high school; the second was on a bus—both odd and informal occasions. Which girl would easily say yes?

Proposing was even worse—he didn’t even take out a ring, nor buy flowers. He hurriedly asked her at the window. How could she possibly say yes?

So naturally, she refused.

Hou Zihao didn’t give up, realizing how ridiculous he had been. After some reflection, he fixed his mistakes. A few days later, he seriously ordered a proposal ring—big and expensive to show sincerity—and booked a classy restaurant. He bought a huge bouquet of flowers, knelt down to propose with a live band playing. Passersby were friendly and supportive, whistles and applause lasted all night.

…Then he got rejected again.

He thought, no worries, third time’s the charm. Maybe she’d say yes the third time. So he prepared for the third proposal on New Year’s Eve at his little apartment in Chaoyang—just the two of them. He decorated with candles and petals, dimmed the lights, turned on music, and knelt again with full sincerity. She seemed touched, almost about to cry.

But it was crocodile tears… She refused him a third time.

This time, Hou Zihao was completely defeated. Angry, he pinned her on the sofa and kissed her. At first the kiss was rough from frustration, but then he became irresistibly gentle. They were both a little dizzy from emotion. Zhou Leqi even heard him whisper in her ear, “Why won’t you say yes… if you’re not marrying me, who else would you marry?”

His tone was both helpless and aggrieved.

That night, she had drunk some red wine and felt a little tipsy. Under the dim light, the man before her seemed especially handsome and charming. He trapped her on the sofa, half-supporting himself as he held her, his forearm muscles beautifully defined, radiating masculine hormones.

…Really handsome.

She was tempted, her heart racing fast, suddenly craving intimacy. She reached up to hug his neck and tilted her beautiful face to kiss him. His heartbeat was almost twice hers, and his breathing grew heavy.

Thinking carefully, the last time they were this close was during quarantine, but the atmosphere was so bitter then. Who was in the mood to enjoy sweetness? Even the kiss tasted bitter. Now it was different. The restraints on desire had been lifted, and he couldn’t find a reason to hold himself back—he wished he could do it right then and there…

She was also caught in the wild tide of passion he stirred up.

The alcohol in her system wasn’t enough to make her dizzy, but the strong desire easily made her intoxicated. She felt herself being claimed. His hands were hot, tearing at her clothes as if branding her skin — there was no teasing or flirting, only an overwhelming desire that seemed about to spiral out of control after being suppressed for so long.

She was a bit scared of being consumed by this passion. A subtle feeling made her push him away. At that moment, her black hair was tangled in his fingers as she panted, “...I haven’t said yes yet, get up.”

He didn’t care at all. At this point, whoever stopped first would be the idiot. One hand grabbed her wrist, while the other was already undoing the buttons of his shirt. His sexy Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and the look in his eyes was scorching.

But then she suddenly said, “I’m warning you, get up... or I’ll tell my mom you’re bullying me.”

He: ...?

What the hell.

He gave up, staring at her for several moments, repeatedly checking if she was serious. Finally, seeing her increasingly stern expression, he relented, loosened his grip, and sat up from the sofa, lowering his whole mood to rock bottom. Irritated, he even unbuttoned another shirt button and slumped there in a “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” attitude, saying, “Just mess with me then. Sooner or later, I’ll die in your hands.”

He was genuinely unhappy.

Zhou Leqi had wanted to coax him a little, but her body felt weak and she hadn’t yet regained her strength. After a minute or two, she sat up, hugged him from behind, pressed her cheek to his back, and said, “It’s not that I don’t want to say yes to you, it’s just that my mom’s situation really is difficult... I can’t just ignore those factors and marry you directly.”

She paused, her voice softer, adding, “It’s obviously your fault, and I’m still not mad…”

The second half was a bit coquettish, a small tactful way to soothe him. In fact, she was overthinking it—he didn’t need her to deliberately please him. Just the first sentence, “It’s not that I don’t want to say yes,” was enough to clear the skies.

He sighed, silent for a moment, then said, “I’ll find a way to deal with your aunt’s situation. That problem definitely needs to be solved, but I think it doesn’t stop you from saying yes first... at least let me feel like I still have a teammate on my side.”

His voice was muffled, like a big dog sulking and wagging its tail.

She secretly smiled behind him, her eyes shining. Just as she was about to coax him some more, she heard him muttering complaints: “And you didn’t have to push me away just now, right? We’ve been apart for seven and a half years. So it’s just me who’s been missing you...”

Still wagging his tail.

She couldn’t help but laugh, feeling especially at ease leaning on him, and lightly tapped his back, saying, “But you rejected me back in Rome and during the hotel quarantine, didn’t you? So can’t I be happy and get back at you a little?”

Hearing this, he got even angrier and said bluntly, “Ridiculous. That wasn’t me rejecting you. Don’t you know what I was thinking then? I was being responsible to you, okay? And how many times have you rejected me since we met? When have I ever minded? Why do you have to take revenge on me, and use such an important thing as a proposal to do it?”

The more he talked, the angrier he got. After a pause, he continued complaining: “Seriously, it’s ridiculous.”

After two seconds: “Completely ridiculous.”

After five seconds: “Ridiculously ridiculous.”

So New Year’s Eve quietly passed with Hou Zihao’s endless tail-wagging complaints, and life continued on smoothly. Although Zhou Leqi showed no obvious moves on the surface, she was secretly laying groundwork for Hou Zihao, slowly starting to drop hints about her dating standards in front of Yu Qing now and then.

For example, whenever she saw a male celebrity on TV who looked a bit like Hou Zihao, she would mention liking sharp features, deep eye sockets, tall height; or when a weird male contestant appeared on a matchmaking show, she’d add that she liked someone with a good temper, gentler, and caring; or when hearing that a relative’s kid was about to take the college entrance exam, she’d chime in saying intelligence was important, that good students had good habits, and recommend medical school because doctors were great—stable and respectable, and could help family if anyone got sick.

In short, she was everywhere, often leaving Yu Qing puzzled.

On the other hand, Hou Zihao had been quiet recently, seeming much calmer. He no longer frequently took out the ring to kneel and propose in front of her. Although they still contacted and saw each other daily, the topic of marriage no longer came up.

Zhou Leqi thought this was reasonable but still couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy and lonely—she was probably a bit spoiled by him, used to his bottomless indulgence and doting. Now she didn’t know how to break the stalemate—she couldn’t bring up marriage herself, but... how much longer would they have to wait?

Sigh, she really was foolish. She should have just said yes on New Year’s Day.

The awkward situation dragged on through January.

Before the Lunar New Year, many old friends returned to City A, and the class group chat from their high school got lively again. Some active classmates were organizing a reunion—Zhou Leqi had only been added to the group a few months earlier by Hou Zihao. She didn’t know if the class always had an annual reunion, but she found it fun. When she heard about the reunion this year, she was a bit interested. Hou Zihao asked if she wanted to go together, and after thinking it over, she replied, “Okay.”

Actually, her family no longer lived in City A; they had sold their house. Normally, she would go to City D for the New Year. But Hou Zihao and Su Ruini planned to return to City A this year—to manage some of their family assets there and to handle some internal business restructuring at Hao Ting Company. Zhou Leqi decided to go back with Hou Zihao, telling Yu Qing she was going to meet high school classmates and would return to City D later to celebrate the New Year with her grandparents and other relatives.

Yu Qing agreed.

So Zhou Leqi took the same flight with Su Ruini and Hou Zihao. During the trip, Mrs. Su insisted her son sit separately while she sat next to Zhou Leqi. Besides chatting about family matters, they casually discussed work.

Su Ruini intended to bring Zhou Leqi into Hao Ting’s company.

The case involving Yuan Jianxin was still under trial. Although the verdict hadn’t come down yet, he would definitely go to jail and pay a hefty compensation to Su Ruini. Runyuan Assets was about to undergo restructuring. Hao Ting, which had been eaten away over the past seven years, needed a major revival. This process would be tough, involving organizational restructuring and capital resource integration. Su Ruini couldn’t handle it alone. She needed help, and Zhou Leqi, a former elite investment banker with sharp insight into markets and capital operations, was exactly the kind of talent she wanted to bring into Hao Ting to accelerate the company’s backdoor listing.

Su Ruini had mentioned this to Zhou Leqi before, but Zhou Leqi had never made up her mind.

It had been nearly half a year since she left SWD, and she still hadn’t found a job she liked. Because of the whistleblower letter incident, news had basically spread throughout the finance circle. She could no longer return to investment banking, nor could she work in the secondary market. The options left to her were actually very limited.

Should she switch to a client-side role? Go directly to Haoting?

Haoting had a solid foundation, and Su Ruini was a very intelligent and decisive leader. However, Zhou Leqi was still worried that her personal relationship with Hou Zihao might affect her work. She didn’t like to mix personal and professional matters, especially since Haoting was currently in chaos and rebuilding would be difficult.

She was truly very hesitant.