Mr. Wu discreetly sized up the other man.
This “Boss Xiao” was quite young, with a solemn and dignified expression. Though he was clearly an outsider to the industry, every word Mr. Wu had said to the young entrepreneurial influencer had fallen into Boss Xiao’s ears.
Even Mr. Wu’s verbal slip-ups hadn’t escaped him.
Xiao Zhi was doing the math in his head. A hundred for an acrylic sample? Even if it were a hundred taels of silver, that price would still be too high.
He asked again, “Boss Yun has worked with you repeatedly. Why are you quoting such an exorbitant price?”
Mr. Wu was momentarily at a loss for words.
Hearing this, Yun Yi sat up straight, feeling an exhilarating sense of being carried to victory by a heavyweight.
Mr. Wu spoke, Xiao Zhi challenged, Yun Yi nodded…
After a few rounds, Mr. Wu threw in the towel.
He agreed to personally oversee Yun Yi’s crossbody bag order, guaranteeing shipment within a week. He also promised that the hair ties Yun Yi had just ordered would be ready at the same time as the bags.
“Just a verbal promise? No contract?” Xiao Zhi’s brow furrowed.
“A contract. We’ll sign a contract.”
Xiao Zhi didn’t budge, watching closely as Yun Yi put pen to paper. Only then did his brow relax slightly.
The salesperson enthusiastically took Yun Yi to look at the bag’s accessory materials.
Mr. Wu and Xiao Zhi stood outside the factory area. Mr. Wu insisted on offering a cigarette. Xiao Zhi took it, turning it between his fingers.
Looks like Boss Xiao isn’t impressed by Chinese cigarettes. Mr. Wu had no choice but to make small talk. “Where does Boss Xiao work?”
Xiao Zhi had looked at the globe—it had places like America and France. He answered offhandedly, “The Yan Kingdom.”
No wonder. His base is overseas. Mr. Wu lit his cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled as he said, “Did Boss Xiao study in the UK? Young and accomplished.”
Xiao Zhi had never seen a cigarette before. Watching Mr. Wu enveloped in smoke, he handed the cigarette back and said flatly, “Smoke less.” It’s bad for the brain.
On the drive back, Yun Yi chattered away: “Ugh, so my crossbody bags only went into production today. If I hadn’t come in person, they wouldn’t have shipped by the end of the month.”
Xiao Zhi glanced at her. “This workshop is subpar. Find another one.”
“You noticed that too.” Yun Yi looked troubled. She was still a rookie, having only started her own文创 brand this past summer. It had been hard enough finding a factory willing to take small orders.
Most of her products sold well, but there had been times when the quality didn’t match what she’d envisioned, leaving her stuck with entire batches of unsellable goods.
“In business, honesty comes first. That Wu fellow wouldn’t dare say much today because I was there. If I’m not here in the future, he certainly won’t be this easy to deal with.”
Those words hit her ears. Yun Yi quickly glanced at the passenger seat several times, confirming that he was still sitting there, with no immediate plans to leave.
But he would leave eventually.
The car stereo was singing “Ten years ago, I didn’t know you, you didn’t belong to me.” Xiao Zhi listened to this otherworldly melody and noticed the person in the driver’s seat had suddenly fallen silent.
Near the Yun residence, they encountered a traffic accident. The cars crept along. Xiao Zhi saw a car that had hit a two-wheeled vehicle. The owner of the two-wheeler was on the ground, arguing with the car’s owner about something.
Yun Yi said they were negotiating compensation.
Xiao Zhi asked, “Why not buy a car?”
Yun Yi said, “Cars are expensive.”
Back home, Yun Yi pulled her shoulder when closing the car door. Her brow furrowed in pain.
Xiao Zhi: “Go see a doctor. Now.”
Following his memory of what Yun Yi had said about hospitals and ambulances, he asked, “Where’s your thousand-li… your phone? Call 120.”
“No, no, no—it’s not that bad.”
The more Yun Yi said that, the worse Xiao Zhi’s expression became, as if she were on the verge of death.
“Go now.” The oppressive aura of someone accustomed to authority descended once more.
Yun Yi was a coward at heart. She only dared to mumble softly, “If I don’t go, will you chop off my head?”
Xiao Zhi raised his eyes and studied her. “Your era has advanced medicine. If you’re injured, go get treated. Unless… you don’t have health insurance?” Given her family’s circumstances, that was entirely possible.
He looked around the Yun family’s villa garage. Hanging on the wall was a two-wheeled vehicle. He remembered Yun Yi saying, “Two-wheelers are cheap,” and “Not everyone can afford a car.”
Yun Yi was a bit confused. “I have health insurance.”
She noticed the obvious loosening of Xiao Zhi’s furrowed brow.
The doorbell rang. It was a delivery from the property management.
Xiao Zhi helped Yun Yi carry in several boxes of packages. Yun Yi was touched by the gesture—until she heard him ask the property staff member, “Miss Yun isn’t feeling well. Can you call an ambulance for her?”
The staff member, seeing a perfectly healthy, rosy-cheeked resident, said against their conscience, “Of course, of course.”
Yun Yi: “!”
Unable to talk him out of it, Yun Yi had no choice but to bring the ancient man to the First Hospital.
His striking appearance drew plenty of glances in the bustling hospital lobby.
While Yun Yi registered at the self-service kiosk, she noticed Xiao Zhi striking up a conversation with a hospital volunteer.
He had seen the two-wheeled cart that the elderly man in Xiao Family Village once sat in. He gestured as he described it: “Two wheels. She sits. I push.”
The volunteer’s gaze landed on the long hair tied at the back of his neck. Handsome men with long hair were rare in this country. Switching between Chinese and English, the volunteer asked, “Wheelchairs? You can borrow one over there.”
“…” Yun Yi tugged at his sleeve. “I’m not that bad off.”
A nurse walked by pushing a stretcher bed. Xiao Zhi’s gaze fell on it, and he seemed deep in thought.
“…Fine. I’ll borrow a wheelchair!” Yun Yi was genuinely afraid Xiao Zhi would come up with something even more extreme.
A wheelchair was better than being humiliated!
Yun Yi covered her face and sat down.
The volunteer mistakenly assumed Xiao Zhi was an overseas Chinese, which gave Yun Yi an idea.
Xiao Zhi’s strange behavior, Yun Yi explained away as: “He’s an ABC,” “Second-gen immigrant,” “Just learned Chinese after landing.”
She was seeing orthopedics. When the doctor examined her, he asked the patient’s family to wait outside the exam room.
Yun Yi told him not to wander off.
After the exam, the doctor prescribed four physical therapy sessions.
Yun Yi opened the exam room door and saw Xiao Zhi being cornered by an older auntie.
“You’re a local, aren’t you, young man? Do you have a girlfriend?”
“My daughter is a civil servant, twenty-four years old. She has a house and a car.”
Seeing Yun Yi come out, Xiao Zhi followed her like a bodyguard.
The auntie immediately lost her enthusiasm and said reproachfully, “Hmph. You already have a girlfriend, why didn’t you say so?”
Yun Yi was a bit blunt. “Auntie, this is a hospital, not a dating agency.”
The auntie was silenced by the young man’s girlfriend.
While waiting for their number to be called for the physical therapy, Xiao Zhi suddenly asked, “Is ‘girlfriend’ a match for marriage?”
Yun Yi said, “Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?” The ancient man, who had just barely figured out the difference between “female friend” and “girlfriend,” fell silent again.
“Two people dating call each other boyfriend and girlfriend. If they’re engaged, then it’s ‘fiancée.’ It’s different.”
“What do you do when dating?”
“Go on dates.”
Dates? What are those?
A middle school student waiting nearby couldn’t help but interject with a laugh: “Hold hands, hug, kiss.”
“…” Xiao Zhi was astonished by the bold customs of modern people.
Was this not the same as harassing a respectable woman? How could a man and a woman who aren’t even engaged do such things?
Even Xiao Qian, the number one libertine of the Yan Dynasty, wouldn’t dare.
Xiao Zhi then recalled the time he had encountered Xiao Qian outside the palace. That scoundrel was going to a brothel, wasn’t he?
Well, that figures. It’s exactly the kind of thing my royal brother would do.
The practitioner giving Yun Yi her physical therapy was an older doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. He said cheerfully, “Four sessions come with a free traction treatment. We’ll do the traction today.”
As he spoke, he had Yun Yi take off her jacket and fitted a traction harness around her head.
The tall man, who had just been holding her jacket, had had a soft expression. But when he saw a rope fastened around her neck, his face instantly changed. He pulled her head away and reached out to knock off the traction harness.
His aura, his stance—he looked like he was about to start a medical disturbance.
The old doctor said, “Young man, calm down. Let’s talk this through…”
Yun Yi’s eyes fell on the traction harness, frantically checking to see if it was broken. Medical equipment was expensive to replace!
Afraid that this ancient man might have a stress reaction and do something crazy, in her panic Yun Yi grabbed his hand. “It really is treatment. The doctor said my neck is stiff, and this is traction therapy.”
“Doctor, he just came back from abroad. He’s never seen a traction harness before. I’m so sorry!”
As she spoke, Yun Yi shook Xiao Zhi’s hand.
He looked down at their intertwined hands and let her hold it. To his credit, he obediently followed her lead and apologized: “I’m sorry.”
The middle school student watching from the hallway lit up. What’s the difference between this and being in a relationship?
During the massage therapy, Xiao Zhi stood by watching, occasionally glancing at the clock on the wall. The doctor didn’t dare act carelessly—on top of giving the full thirty minutes, he added an extra ten minutes of loosening up the patient’s muscles and bones.
Xiao Zhi stared at the clock on the wall, thinking: What is this? It seems to be some kind of moving sundial.
When the session ended, he ferociously whisked her away in the wheelchair.
Catching sight of someone else covering a patient’s legs with a blanket, Xiao Zhi stopped the wheelchair by jamming his foot against the wheel. He grabbed the hem of his hoodie, peeled it up and off in one motion.
Just as Yun Yi was about to turn around, a hoodie descended from the sky, wrapping itself completely around her.
His scent surrounded her from every angle, flooding straight into her lungs.
Xiao Zhi pushed her all the way to the hospital parking lot, bundling her—hoodie and all—into the driver’s seat.
Yun Yi carefully fastened her seatbelt, mindful of her shoulder injury.
In the Yan Dynasty, any family of even modest means had a carriage driver—yet somehow the Yun family had none.
Poor. Still too poor.
Xiao Zhi felt a pang of bitterness. Here I am, a dignified emperor, unable to produce even half a piece of silver.
“I’ll return it.” He turned and walked back with the wheelchair. “Don’t you dare wander off. Wait for me.”
The Porsche’s window rolled down, and Yun Yi’s head popped out after him. “Hey, hey, come back! I’ll return it!”
The tall figure walked farther and farther away, disappearing into the crowd, gradually fading from sight.
Just as Yun Yi was about to dial 110 for the 99th time, Xiao Zhi returned.
From the underground garage, through the emergency room, then to the outpatient building—these winding paths would confuse even a modern person, let alone an ancient one.
So how did Xiao Zhi remember the way? Did he have a built-in GPS? “Xiao Zhi, Xiao Zhi, navigate to return the wheelchair”?
Not only had he returned the wheelchair, but he was also holding two things in his hand.
There was a gift from the hospital’s dental department—something you could only get by scanning a WeChat QR code. Yun Yi had no idea what method Xiao Zhi had used to obtain it.
And there was also a box of chocolates.
Yun Yi took it. Belgian seashell chocolates. How could the hospital possibly have these?
Unseemly scenarios flashed through her mind: robbery, theft, fraud.
When Xiao Zhi had gone to return the wheelchair, a young foreigner who looked somewhat like a foreigner himself had seen Xiao Zhi and assumed he was also a foreigner. He asked Xiao Zhi for directions to the dental department.
The foreigner babbled at him. Xiao Zhi babbled back. Fair enough—neither understood a word.
Then Xiao Zhi remembered the volunteer who could speak a foreign language. He led the foreigner over to the volunteer.
Once the two communicated, the location of the dental department was sorted.
It was the foreigner’s first time seeing a doctor in China. Overcome with excitement, he insisted on dragging Xiao Zhi all the way to the dental department entrance. That box of chocolates was his thank-you gift.
Chocolates, toothbrush, mouth mirror, cute cartoon tooth guardian figurine, pit and fissure sealant brochure… Yun Yi’s lap was piled high. She looked like a little squirrel stocking up for winter. She tilted her head and asked Xiao Zhi, “Where did you go?”
Xiao Zhi broke into a smile. “Went hunting.”
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