Chapter 33: Half a Face of Makeup (2)
To her surprise, he remained silent, only removing his glasses, folding the frames, and tucking them into his pants pocket. Shi Yi found it strange and turned to look at him...
In that instant, she witnessed him grab Zhou Wenchuan by the collar, his right hand forming a fist before delivering a brutal punch to Zhou Wenchuan’s face.
The force was so great that the sound of bone striking bone was audible.
The next second, he released Zhou Wenchuan’s collar only to strike again with another punch.
His movements were controlled, but his gaze was anything but calm.
Shi Yi was stunned as she watched Zhou Wenchuan, who had been standing right in front of her, lose his balance and crash into the pristine white wall. Blood immediately gushed from his nose. Just as Zhou Shengchen stepped forward again, Wang Man let out a cry and threw herself over Zhou Wenchuan, shielding him protectively while staring at Zhou Shengchen in terror.
"Young Master..."
It wasn’t just Wang Man who was frightened—Shi Yi and everyone else present froze, too.
No one knew what had happened or why Zhou Shengchen had acted this way.
His back was rigid as he silently stared at Zhou Wenchuan. Shi Yi couldn’t see his expression, only his silhouette and the shadow cast by the light, looming over Zhou Wenchuan and Wang Man.
"You’d better pray Wen Xing pulls through this. Take the Second Young Master to see a doctor."
Someone stepped forward to help Zhou Wenchuan and Wang Man away, quickly summoning a doctor to examine and treat his injuries.
The doctors were equally baffled—how had this man, who had been perfectly fine when visiting earlier, ended up in such a state? And the beating had clearly been severe. But since this floor was reserved for the family’s VIP wards, they couldn’t ask too many questions. They quickly contacted the examination team downstairs, whispering that Zhou Wenchuan needed a brain scan.
Zhou Shengchen motioned for Shi Yi to come to his side.
She walked over and gently took his arm.
The hallway gradually quieted down. A doctor approached and handed him some reports. Zhou Shengchen took them, frowning slightly as he retrieved his glasses from his pocket and put them on. He flipped through the pages while listening to their explanations.
Originally, her condition had been improving, though some indicators weren’t ideal. But for some reason, after meeting with Zhou Wenchuan today and having a heated argument behind closed doors, Wen Xing’s condition had taken a sharp turn for the worse. In just two or three hours, things had escalated to the worst possible scenario...
From time to time, he glanced at Wen Xing through the glass.
Shi Yi stayed by his side, watching the unconscious Wen Xing in the ward while occasionally stealing glances at him.
Like this, they stood motionless for over an hour.
An hour later, Zhou Shengchen’s mother arrived at the hospital. Soon after, someone briefed her on the situation. Before she could process her shock, a doctor approached and politely whispered, "Madam Zhou, there are some officials who wish to speak with the Second Young Master."
"Officials?" Zhou Shengchen’s mother was even more astonished.
"Let him deal with it himself," Zhou Shengchen suddenly interjected.
His voice was clear, even cold.
"Zhou Shengchen..." His mother looked at him in disbelief.
"Let him deal with it himself," he repeated.
His mother frowned. "He’s your brother."
"I only have one sister, and right now, her life hangs in the balance."
His mother glanced at Shi Yi, hesitating before speaking. "Come with me to the room."
Clearly, she didn’t want Shi Yi to witness their argument.
Zhou Shengchen didn’t refuse.
The two of them spoke in the room at the end of the hallway for a full half hour.She sat on the bench outside Wen Xing's hospital room, replaying the recent scene in her mind, clenching her fists.
Wen Xing, you must be okay.
Zhou Shengchen walked out of the room, followed by his mother. Shi Yi gave a slight nod to his mother before quickly following Zhou Shengchen away. As they stepped out of the elevator, they saw Zhou Wenchuan standing in the lobby on the first floor, one side of his face swollen, being questioned by two men in black suits. Her gaze swept past briefly but unexpectedly landed on Du Feng.
Du Feng stood by the entrance, speaking softly into his phone.
When he noticed Zhou Shengchen and Shi Yi, he paused briefly, his eyes lingering on Zhou Shengchen. Zhou Shengchen gave him a calm glance before wrapping an arm around Shi Yi's shoulder and leading her to the car.
The car turned the corner and smoothly merged onto the brightly lit main road.
Shi Yi noticed him closing the soundproof glass and retracting the armrest between them. "Let me hold you," he said, pulling her into his embrace before she could respond. Shi Yi yielded to his embrace, wrapping her arms around him in return. "What exactly happened?" she asked softly.
His reply was equally quiet. "For a long time, Wen Xing's pre-surgery tests haven't met the standards. Zhou Wenchuan has been interfering."
Her heartbeat suddenly slowed.
She exhaled gently, steadying her voice as much as possible. "Why...?"
"To buy time," he explained. "After our wedding, I will officially take over all the Zhou family affairs. He needs the wedding postponed—preferably indefinitely."
Zhou Shengchen didn't elaborate further, slowly releasing her and leaning back on his own.
Shi Yi didn't press for more details.
Such as the matters between Zhou Shengchen and Zhou Wenchuan.
She thought these must involve too many of the Zhou family's secrets. If even Wen Xing's health could be disregarded, there were likely even more shocking and intolerable things at play. Life was already fragile, unable to withstand natural disasters or illnesses, yet in the Zhou family, one also had to guard against deliberate human harm...
And then there was Du Feng. The man Hong Xiaoyu longed to marry.
...She recalled the strange intuition she had when she first met Du Feng. Later, perhaps because Zhou Shengchen accompanied her and they dined with him as if nothing was amiss, she gradually dismissed that feeling.
It seemed that around him, everyone was like this—turning into someone else in the blink of an eye.
By the time they arrived home, it was already past midnight.
As they stepped out of the elevator, she rummaged through her bag for the keys, but Zhou Shengchen paused slightly. She looked up in confusion and saw someone standing by the corridor window—Mei Hang, dressed in casual clothes.
A late-night visit could only mean one thing: it was about Wen Xing.
Mei Hang wasn't part of the Zhou family. After this incident, Zhou Shengchen's mother naturally wanted to keep everyone away from Wen Xing. He had received the news but couldn't see her, so he had no choice but to seek out Zhou Shengchen.
The two men talked in the living room while Shi Yi brewed tea for them.
She closed the door and retreated to the study to read.
It had been quiet until suddenly, the sound of something shattering broke the silence.
Startled, Shi Yi pulled open the door. Mei Hang glanced at her through the doorway, offering an apologetic smile before turning back to Zhou Shengchen, forcing his emotions down. His voice was much lower now. "Sorry, I got too worked up just now."
Zhou Shengchen shook his head. "It's fine. At the hospital, I was even more agitated than you."
They both bent down to pick up the broken pieces."Don't pick it up with your hands," Shi Yi quickly stopped him, fetching a clean towel from the kitchen. Zhou Shengchen naturally took it and gathered all the fragments one by one, carefully wrapping them in the towel before handing it to her.
"Should I make you a fresh cup of tea?" she asked Mei Hang.
"No need, it's late," Mei Hang smiled, rising from the sofa and taking his leave.
After seeing off their guest, she collected his teacup and took it to the kitchen to wash.
The living room remained unusually quiet, and she felt something was off. Finishing quickly, she walked out to find him still sitting silently on the sofa, folding a piece of paper over and over again.
The paper grew smaller with each fold until it could no longer be folded in half.
Hearing her footsteps, he lifted his gaze and suddenly smiled. "At first, everyone believed a piece of paper could only be folded in half eight times. Later, theories proved that with a machine, it could be folded nine times."
"And then?" she asked, guessing someone must have challenged that too.
"Later, someone calculated it could be folded twelve times."
"Calculated?"
He hummed in agreement. "It's a math problem."
"Really?" Shi Yi crouched down in front of him, taking the paper from his hands. "Math people are so strange—even folding paper has to be calculated?"
"Strange?" He chuckled to himself. "Didn't you learn this in elementary school?"
"Elementary school?" Shi Yi was even more surprised.
She tried hard to recall—she definitely... hadn't learned this, right?
Had she? How would you even calculate something like this?
Lost in thought, she stared intently at the folded paper.
"False."
"Huh?" She looked at him blankly.
"I was lying," he laughed. "You couldn't have learned this in elementary school."
Only then did Shi Yi realize he had been teasing her. Zhou Shengchen stood up and walked to the bathroom to run a bath. It was rare for him to indulge in a soak, so she fetched fresh clothes for him. When she carried them to the bathroom, she found him in the middle of removing his trousers.
Perhaps because Zhou Shengchen's mother was tall.
All three siblings in their family were quite tall.
Standing beside the bathtub, his legs were long and straight. Thanks to careful upbringing, his posture—whether standing, sitting, or even now, slightly bent to test the water temperature—was impeccable.
Shi Yi placed the clothes in the bamboo basket.
After he settled into the tub, she approached and softly said, "Let me wash your hair for you."
"Alright."
Amid the faint mist, she poured shampoo into her palm and massaged it into his hair. "Keep your eyes closed." Zhou Shengchen obeyed, letting her guide him. Finally, she folded a warm towel and placed it beneath his neck, then carefully rinsed his hair with the showerhead.
After the rinse, his hair became soft to the touch.
Once it was slightly dried, he sat up straight, a few short strands falling messily over his forehead and covering his eyes.
"Feels good, right?" she said cheerfully, brushing the stray locks away from his eyes.
Those eyes remained calm and unreadable.
She leaned down and kissed his brow. "I know you're upset. I just don't know how to comfort you."
He gently pinched her chin, lowering her head further. "What did you used to do when you were upset?"
Shi Yi thought for a moment and smiled. "Read Shuowen Jiezi —because it didn’t require much thinking."He also smiled. "Last time I asked if you'd read 'Shuowen Jiezi,' and you said you'd read some. I found that quite interesting. Why do you like reading... well," he paused slightly to phrase it, "ancient 'dictionaries'?"
She laughed. "With all the time I had, I just flipped through whatever I could."
That enormous library—she'd spent ten years there and had only managed to read through two floors' worth of books.
The rest, she merely remembered some titles.
The hair on his forehead slipped down again.
In his eyes, there was nothing but the lamplight and her.
Her hand trailed along his hair, down the side of his face, over his shoulder, and further down. Finally, she cupped a handful of warm water and poured it over him, gently massaging his shoulders. Her hands were warm, his body was hot, and after kneading for a while, he caught her wrist. "Shi Yi?"
"Hmm?" She looked at him, her eyes holding only him.
Zhou Shengchen reached out and lifted her entire body into the bathtub, placing her on top of himself.
Shi Yi's pajamas were completely soaked. His hand easily slipped past all barriers, entering her body with tenderness, patiently teasing her the entire time.
A full hour passed with both of them lingering in the water.
By the end, she was utterly exhausted, yet he never took her. Finally, Zhou Shengchen carried her straight out of the bathtub. Only after they had both dried off and lay down on the bed did he whisper, "I'm sorry. Today... I'm not really in the mood."
Shi Yi didn't respond, too tired to do anything but tangle her legs with his and curl against his waist.
She was about to fall asleep but struggled to rouse herself for a brief moment, murmuring his name: "Zhou Shengchen."
He touched her hand and answered.
"I love you."
He hummed in acknowledgment. "I know. Sleep."
Reassured, she sank into deep slumber.
In her drowsiness, she felt something cool around her wrist—as if he had slipped something onto it.
The next morning, she woke early to find that he had taken out the eighteen-bead prayer bracelet she had carefully kept and put it on her the night before. She already wore the peace pendant he had given her, and now with the prayer bracelet, though Zhou Shengchen didn't say it, she could sense his fear—that something might truly happen to her.
After all these twists and turns, even she had begun to fear.
Fear that a single misstep could lead to something terrible.
When she and Zhou Shengchen arrived at the hospital, the people from downstairs the previous night were gone. But guards still remained at every entrance, monitoring Zhou Wenchuan's every move. Zhou Shengchen personally brought Mei Hang inside with him, and no one dared to stop them—after all, the Zhou family knew of Mei Hang's close ties to them.
They sat in the floor's private dining area.
The floor-to-ceiling windows offered a clear view outside.
They sat on the southern side, while Zhou Wenchuan and Wang Man occupied the opposite end.
An eerie scene.
Yet, aside from Shi Yi, everyone else seemed to find it perfectly normal. She thought perhaps that in these family power struggles, even after life-and-death conflicts, one still had to arrange a dignified funeral for the other.
After sitting for a while, Zhou Shengchen left temporarily to check the day's reports.
Only she and Mei Hang remained.
Shi Yi glanced casually downstairs and spotted Du Feng again.Who exactly is this person...? She never asked Zhou Shengchen, partly because she felt guilty for bringing this "trouble" to the Zhou family. Her gaze lingered too long, and Mei Hang noticed, following her line of sight before casually remarking, "Isn't that the Interpol officer from your friend's side?"
"Interpol?"
"These people investigate terrorist activities, drugs, arms smuggling..." Mei Hang paused slightly, as if considering his words. "He's been investigating the Zhou family ever since the shootout in Bremen."
Too much information flooded her mind at once.
Shi Yi quickly pieced together everything that had happened since returning from Germany.
So the Bremen shootout wasn't an accident after all... which meant... Zhou Wenchuan was likely behind it. Later, when she returned to China, this Du Feng appeared. Did Zhou Shengchen know? He must have—even Mei Hang was so well-informed, how could he not know this officer's identity?
Watching Du Feng's retreating figure on the first floor, she murmured absently, "Is he... investigating Zhou Wenchuan now?"
Mei Hang neither confirmed nor denied, offering only a cold smile. "The Zhou family's second young master is certainly worth their thorough investigation. I think... they're probably close to reaching a conclusion."
Zhou Shengchen remained deep in conversation with the doctor. Her heart fluttered uneasily, and she didn't respond.
Compared to Zhou Wenchuan's situation, she was far more concerned about Wen Xing's life...
"Last night..." Mei Hang's gaze deepened as he looked at her.
"Hmm?" Shi Yi didn't understand and met his eyes.
"I'm sorry for breaking your teacup."
Realization dawned, and she smiled. "It's alright."
They weren't valuable teacups anyway—she didn't know why he'd bring it up again.
He smiled too. "Let me treat you to tea?"
Without waiting for her answer, he stood and went to ask the restaurant staff for two cups of hot Hong Kong-style milk tea.
He personally brought the tea and placed it before her.
"Thank you," Shi Yi laughed. "I thought you'd treat me to Chinese tea."
"Chinese tea... probably can't compare to what you brew."
His voice was low as he spoke, half-joking yet seemingly sincere.
Shi Yi felt awkward and tried to change the subject. "Wen Xing, she—"
Mei Hang softly interrupted her. "If Wen Xing pulls through this time, I'll take her abroad to settle down," he said. "I'll take care of her for the rest of my life."
"She definitely will," Shi Yi said with a smile. "If she knew you said that, she'd surely recover."
"But first, I have to help Zhou Shengchen finish what he wants to do," Mei Hang shook his head with a bitter smile. "I don't know what I owed him in my past life, to follow him so recklessly in such thankless tasks."
His tone shifted quickly—this time, it was clearly a joke.
Shi Yi burst out laughing. "Past life? Too many people owe him."
Mei Hang couldn't help but chuckle. "Really? You know?"
"Really, I know." Shi Yi smiled, telling him in a playful tone.
Such a smile...
Mei Hang seemed lost in thought, and Shi Yi looked at him questioningly.
Suddenly, he said softly, "Shi Yi, don't smile at me. I'm afraid... I might fight him for you."
She froze.The way Mei Hang looked at her in that moment reminded her of the couplet Wen Xing had mentioned at the Zhou family's old residence—the one used to choose a wife... Soon after, she earnestly told Mei Hang, "Alright, I'll remember it."
Mei Hang smiled openly, with a sense of melancholy from having spoken his heart, and raised his cup to drink his own milk tea.
Once, by chance, she had brewed tea for him. He had kept it in mind and now returned the gesture.
Feelings arise without knowing why, and love remains unattainable.
Yet all they had was this fleeting connection over a single cup of tea.
(End of Chapter)
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